an old favourite

Here's a lovely picture from a surf kayaking trip to Portugal with Ewart and Andy. Not sure of the date but it was about 10-11 years ago I think. 

If you look closely you can just about make me out about to dro in. 

Good to be back

Due to work, courses, exams and changing jobs, relocating and much more it's been much too long since I was last here.  Hopefully this will change.
A few weeks ago we headed to Snowdonia for a week of playing in the mountains. It's been too long since I've headed up any higher than Dartmoor but have picked 2015 as the year to get back up there with the aim of doing some more winter stuff once the snow returns.

This time we settled on a chilled week scrambling up and around a few places such as Snowdon and Moel Siabod to give Al an easy introduction to the sport.  We also had a few new pieces of kit to test, namely a Berghaus Civetta 2 jacket, Craghoppers Compresslite Jacket and a few pairs of their trousers, North Face Womens Point 5 NG Jacket, Paramo Cascada trousers, RAB Down Gillet, as well as Scarpa Womens Rebel Lite boots as well as a few other things we've been given to test out (reviews to follow).

There'll be a write up of the trip soon once I've had time to cull through the millions of photos and unpack the van.

TTFN

New Toys

Alice's new toy beforeand after

My not so new toy

Riding on New year

I went riding on woodbury New Years day with Jim and Robin, Lou, Laura and Dan met us up there as well (all 3 keen to try out their new Xmas presents) and we knocked out a sweet loop of the Common.When we got to Mini Afan, the girls headed up the fire road back to The Castle while the boys blasted around the jump
Here I demonstrated to Dan how great Mud Tyres are as I held the line while they slip slided around (Dan's now got a pair)
On the way back I then demonstrated how slow said tyres are on the uphills.




Oh wait a minute, I made a mistake, Robin didn't come as he was "unwell" after a night partying and stayed in a semi comatose state on Dan's sofa ;-)

Later Dudes

BMX Bandits

I'm biting the bullet again and gonna get another BMX to replace the steel beast in the garage.

Hopefully using it will increase my fitness and bike skills. You never know, I might actually get better at last.

The plan is to use it on the BMX track and parks around Bristol on the days when I don't have time to get to Afan, Cwmcarn or FOD with the grown up bike.

his is either a good idea or I'll end up with knackered knees, wrists and elbows.

Stay Tuned

Addicted to Coke

as most people who know me will testify I have been known to easily drink litres of Diet Coke in a day or shift. This stuff is really addictive and when I've tried to give it up in the past I've suffered severe headaches and generally feel crap. So I'm going cold turkey this month and quit. Hopefully the addiction will pass and I'll be able to enjoy the odd glass now and again without the crazy cravings I normally suffer from.

With my dentist's appointment coming up I decided this was the perfect time and it's been 3 weeks without a drop. Had my first can yesterday and I don't feel the need for another. Good oh :-)

Weight loss have plateaued, but I'm getting thinner (the tape measure is my friend again ;-))so have decided to book a Personal Training session once a week now. Doing a lot of work using whole body exercises and kettel bells at the moment rather than the old school techniques of masses of low intensity cardio and they seem to be paying off.

It also helped that by booking 12 sessions at once the cost came down from £30 per hour to £16.67. Winner

stay tuned for more updates

Dan's Stag

A fair few things to catch up on this year,

Dan and Laura got married which meant I was 'dragged' to Download on his Stag weekend(one of them anyway). ACDC rocked as did Senser and 30 Seconds to Mars, oh and don't forget Killswitch Muthafucking Engage.

Angry Sailor (please note Perrot might look mild mannered but be warned he kicks like a mule!!)

Lovely weather right up until the last day when it shat it down

more of the same

and finally the warrior that is Ed Perrot

FOD

Headed over to the Forest Of Dean with Alice last weekend, I have to say that it rocks. Loads of different trails, we hit up the Downhill runs, they have the lot, big jumps, rooty tech, fast and flowy, bermed and jumpy.

I took the Kona Howler and loved it, although I felt a little under biked at times it more than held its own and I was able to keep up with some of the big boys on £3k machines ;-).

Alice took her Meta 5 and really started to push herself. After riding on Saturday we headed straight to the Dianese shop in Old market and they sorted her out with a sweet set of body armour/spine guard.

back there first thing Sunday morning and now that she was armoured up Al started jumping the lips rather than just rolling the. We even have photo evidence of her in the air (Corkscrew is a wicked fun trail)

off to Devon this weekend for Lulabum's birthday and to try out the new stuff at Holden on the Saturday. then maybe Mini Afan or Triscombe on the Sunday and back to FOD on Monday.

Did i mention that they run a sweet uplift service there as well?