Flax Seeds - too much information

As something of an experiment in further weight management, I have started eating flax seed again. Last week I was eating just a couple of big mouthfuls of whole seeds washed down with some water which seemed to be fine, no significant affects other than keeping things moving and getting down to 92kg again for the first time since January. Apparently your body is not able to break down the husks of the seeds, but there is some soluble fibre released that does something along the route.

After a slightly cheat filled weekend (with >160km/100 miles of cycling) I was a couple of kg up again this week so I have decided to switch things up and try grinding the seeds in a pestle and mortar before I eat them. The result should be that I am able to digest some more of the goodies within the seeds and also take advantage of more of the goodies and fibre inside.

The effect is quite noticeable!

Weight wise, there hasn't been a great deal of progress, however, it has only been a day, I didn't exercise yesterday and I ate a lot of strawberries and cream last night so it's not easy to tell the effect. I'll stick to eating them every day this week and see what happens other than not wanting to venture too far from the bog during the morning...

Race Wheels

Well after 2 or 3 years of longing, wishing, bargaining and a self examination I have finally bought myself a set (second hand) race wheels.

I can't really justify them, but I can't really justify the rest of the bike either and they look really cool.

I need to get a cassette and some special brake pads before I can actually use them, but I don't have another race for a couple of weeks so there is no hurry other than really wanting to give them a spin. I also need to glue the rear tubular tyre on which will no doubt be a messy affair involving colourful language throughout...

Bike race report

Well the first bike race of the year is over and it went as usual, I got dropped.

I have been training fairly consistently since March and I think I am actually in pretty good shape, and the first 2 laps of the 5 we were racing went reasonably well. There was just one problem - me. I had been sitting happily in the middle of the pack and not having trouble keeping up with the group. At some point there was a group of 4 riders making a break up the road. I thought it may be an idea to try to get up to them, but I resisted the temptation and stayed in the group. A couple of km later the same thing happened again, but this time my ego got the better of me and I decided to chase them.

Bearing in mind that our average speed at this point had been 41kph (25.5mph) I was being really naive to think that I could catch up to them on my own, but I went anyway. After 2km of turning myself inside out trying to catch them, the group swept past me and the break away and I was left trying desperately to recover from my effort.

I felt like I had recovered in that my breathing as back to normal but the next few accelerations through a village and some sharp corners left me struggling to get back into the group each time until inevitably I was left riding on my own.

I did another lap on my own and then called it a day and went home to watch the Tour of Italy in the tv and get the barbecue going.

We had a quiet bank holiday weekend with J in Hamburg with T&B to watch Denmark play Brasil at football. We relaxed, dithered in the garden and I had another nice long bike ride in the sunshine yesterday. It's raining again today so maybe that was all the summer we're getting. It's happened before...

Chives

I went for a long sunny bike ride yesterday and had to stop and take a picture of this field full of chives as it was such a beautiful colour.

I also took the opportunity to check what felt funny in my bike helmet whilst I was stopped and was happy to liberate a fairly large bee.

Coaching

At the start of the year I decided that I would try getting some coaching for my cycling this year so that I could get the most out of my racing and training.

I had been in touch with a coach based in the UK for a while through an internet forum (he coaches at a high level and is apparently well known and respected) and I agreed with him that he would make a 2 month program for me for the cost of one months coaching rather than the usual minimum 3 month minimum sign on period.

I agreed to that and sent him some money at the end of February. Unfortunately, I have only had a couple of mails from him since then and not a jot of coaching. I have mailed him once a week or so to remind him that I am still waiting, but to no avail.

I just send him the following mail, perhaps I'll get an answer to this one, but I'm not hopeful:

Hi Dave

With my first race of the season tomorrow, perhaps I shouldn't loose faith in you before I know how my form is. However, despite how great it has been having my own personal coach over the last few months, I just haven't noticed the improvements in performance that I was hoping for. As a result I have decided that it would be a better investment for me to buy some race wheels and leave my coaching up to Chris Carmichael and Joel Friel, after all, their advice is relatively inexpensive and whilst they probably won't answer my mails either, at least they never said that they would.

Maybe you would like to make a contribution to my new set of (used) race wheels by returning the money that I sent you and we can leave it at that?

Have a lovely weekend, I hope the sun is shining wherever you are.

Best regards

William

Race wheels

I have been after a set of race wheels for a while after agreeing with MK that I could get some when I lost enough weight.

I managed to loose the weight, but then I couldn't decide what I wanted or in any way justify the price. However, now that I am getting my 2011 bonus, I am on the cusp of getting a used set so that I can set the racing scene alight! (Well participate in a race with gear that is considerably better than I can justify)

Away Days

J is away on a school field trip for the next couple of nights so the house is quiet and MK is worrying as only a mother can (or should).

I pointed out that we are more likely to hear that he has not behaved himself than been in a terrible accident and she wasn't worried about that, but apparently that didn't help anything.

Summer is continuing unabated and apart from being too busy at work to keep anyone happy with the myriad of different things I need to do, life is good.

Summer has arrived

It is unbelievable that we had the fire list last Wednesday and yet the last couple of days have been really rather warm.

It has been fantastic to see the sun and feel warm, despite having to spend the days at work, it it great to fell warm again and to finally be able to ride my bike with short sleeves and shorts instead of having to wrap up.

Long may it continue.

Football

This morning we were watching J's team playing. (they were not good)

This afternoon I am watching Brøndby play with L and BHP. They're a bit better.

At the beach

It's cold and very windy but the sun is shining.

Legoland

We had a really nice trip to Legoland at the weekend. Saturday was, unfortunately, absolutely freezing with the air temperature around 7C and a very strong, cold wind blowing. Brrrr.

There was a party in the Legoland hotel in the evening and after a pleasantly uneventful nights sleep, we had a second day in the park that was thankfully much less cold. The kids really enjoy the rides in the park and there are new things that they can do each year as they get bigger and are allowed into more rides.

Catholic Church

I suppose that I have to bear in mind that my son goes to a Catholic school, but reading again about the repeated sexual abuse of children by catholic priests in Ireland in the 1970s only re-confirms my intense dislike of the Catholic Church.

The article is here

For the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland to fail to take responsibility for his inaction is totally inexcusable. That is tantamount to admitting that he didn't know right from wrong simply on the grounds of not having received adequate training on how to handle the situation.

How anyone can be in that position and not take action in the face of evidence of child abuse would be difficult enough to accept from anyone, but from someone who has gone on to be the leader of the church in that country beggars belief.

Legoland

We're off to Legoland for the company family trip tomorrow

We´re expecting weather something like this so there will be warm and waterprrof clothing packed.

The weather sucks

I managed to get out on my bike yesterday evening after the kids were in bed and do a good interval session without getting wet. I am supposed to do the same session today but so far it has been wet and windy all day.

You can tell that this is not in Denmark by the presence of a  mountain in the background!

The Japanese cherry tree is following the annual ritual of losing all of it's blossom within 24 hours of it first appearing and I am beginning to yearn for some sunshine and warmth. I remember that it was warm for the weekend that BHP and I were in France last summer, but before that, I simply can't remember the last time that I was in some hot weather. It must be a couple of years by now.

Just another day

There's nothing exciting to say about today. J is at school, DK is at nursery, MK is at work and so am I. At some point this afternoon MK will take DK to an physiotherapists session, but that is it for the interesting stuff.

I put some things up for sale on the internet last night. I seem to have sold an old bike already (which was otherwise going to the tip) and I am hopeful that I will be able to get shut of the rest of the stuff pretty soon.

It already feels like it's been a very long week but we can look forward to a trip to Legoland next weekend and then a 3 day week next week as we have a public holiday on the Thursday and the day off on Friday.

New stuff

I got my new computer yesterday and it is rather nice. Very fast with a nice big screen but the drawback is that it is rather big and heavy. Oh well you can't have it all (unless you have a higher budget than me).

I got home at 7 last night after 6 hours driving on top of a days work yesterday. The Toyota was still at the garage after having the summer wheels put on so I decided to walk down there to fetch it with the spare key. The 20 minute walk turned into a 40 minute walk when I found that it was safely locked inside the workshop.

Bother

I walked back this morning to get it which wasn't such a bad way to start the day.

Here are some more camping shots

Jacksons of Old Arley purchases still going strong after years of (infrequent) use

I think a door or some sort of wildlife net would be a good idea on the shelter

Sausages

The view from our bedroom

It's unbelievable how much wildlife there is hidden in that picture and how much noise it all makes between sunset and dusk.

The mouse that ran past my face also scared the life out of me!

Camping 2

It was cold b the morning but some hot porridge sorted that problem out.

Camping with J

I am having some serious IT issues, but here are a couple of pictures from my camping trip with J last Friday

Bikes update

The new bikes have been a big success with the kids.

J of course hopped straight on the new one and rode it like the wind - no surprise there.

We were not expecting DK to be quite so quick to take flight, but after only a couple of sessions on it, he is riding on his own without having had any stabilisers fitted at any point. I'm impressed to be honest and also very happy about it, but not quite as happy as he is.

We have a long weekend starting tomorrow so I'll try to get some photographs for next week.

Camping

I have been trying to take one or both of the kids camping for nearly 2 years but as soon as there is some good weather, we are busy and as soon as we have time, the weather is crappy.

This weekend looks like it will be an example of the above squeezed into 3 days. We have a bank holiday on Friday so camping is a possibility Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights.

Thursday has a fantastic forecast, but J has both gymnastics and football in the afternoon and evening meaning that he will not be free until nearly 7pm and he will be exhausted.

Friday will not have such great weather and the temperature will be down to around 2C so I think it will be too cold. I am tempted to take him anyway or maybe go on my own tomorrow night. However, I think camping alone would be extremely boring so I am 99.9% certain that I'm not going to do that.