Noodle on a Bike

Ste's little girl Nieve, has only been riding a bike for a couple of weeks. But she's got the bug big time. We went out riding on Saturday and she completed a FIFTEEN MILER with no problem. Then today she completed about TWENTY MILES without a complaint. She just seems to have limitless amounts of energy. If she carries on like this, She'll be doing The Trans-Penine with us next month.

Southport to Hornsea

TEAM LARD are planning to do the Trans-Pennine Cycleway.
Yep, that's right. for some reason we've decided to cycle from Southport on the West Coast to Hornsea on the East Coast. A distance of 215 miles (346Km). Ok, I know that doesn't sound a lot, but when you consider that we never ride our bikes more than about 10 miles without stopping somewhere for a beer. It's going to be virtually impossible.
We're planning to camp along the way, but in typical Lardy Boy fashion, we've got nothing planned and don't even know if there are any camp-sites en-route. I'll keep you informed of the plans in this blog. We HAVE decided on a date though. The first May Bank Holiday. that gives us about 5 weeks to get fit enough. . . . . Help Us!

Team Lard Website

I decided to do a new TeamLard Website. More out of guilt, than anything else. I'm off work today and theoretically I could have driven down to Beddgelert for the day and drove back, this evening.
But it's bloody freezing, and i didn't fancy doing anything strenuous after doing a night shift. besides, I'm back in work at 6am tomorrow for a week of earlies.
So to make up for it, I decided to give the Team Lard site a new look. I've moved it onto my 1and1 webspace and I've ditched the iWeb software and used Good Old Rapidweaver. So hopefully It will be able to do a few more things, that the old site couldn't do. And a bit faster too.
All that remains is the help of the Lardy Boys, to feed it some content.

Link:- teamlard.co.uk

Klunkerz

While everybody's off having fun, on their bikes, and I'm sitting here, waiting to go to work. I started thinking about the first time I got into bikes. Not 1989, when I got my first Mountain Bike, but about 1977, just after the skateboard thing was dying out.

Me and Ste built ourselves a couple of cool bikes. Ste's was his dad's Raleigh Wayfarer with the biggest pair of cow horn handlebars, in the world. Mine was some little 20 inch wheeled thing which i found dumped in the back entry. I took it home and sprayed it Ford Escort Lime Green. I put the rear wheel from my Raleigh Chopper on it and my chopper handlebars. We used to ride them for miles. We took em into Liverpool town centre and had riding in places we shouldn't have. I particularly remember riding down the escalators in Lime Street Station and then through the underpass to St Georges Hall. We rode up and down the famous steps and then proceeded to head for the Pier Head. There was an enclosed footbridge, across The Strand at Brunswick Street. We spent a long time there. . . . . there were escalators at one end and we just rode up and down them, all day.

We were limited to where we could ride them, only because we were 13 and 14 and obviously couldn't travel anywhere by car. But in a way we were mountain bikers, even then.

I remember reading Motocross Action a couple of years later (when I had left school and was working), and there was this piece in it about Mountain Biking the new craze. There was a picture of a bike that looked remarkably like Ste's Wayfarer. Mountain Biking was being born, But now I was "Too Old" to be doing that stuff. It took me another 10 years before I was (im)mature enough , to take the plunge and get myself a bike again. I wish I'd done it earlier.

A couple of nights ago, Ste put me on to this film that has just been released on DVD "Klunkerz" It's a documentary about the birth of the mountain bike in California. But it was happening all-over the world at the same time.

I'm sure we invented the mountain bike in the UK :)

I Can't go Camping , This Easter.

This Easter will be the first time i've ever missed my annual mountain biking trip. Due to work commitments (I never thought I'd be writing that in my blog!) and the lure of mega bucks (That's a given) I'll be happily(?) Spray Drying stuff and generally saving kid's lives!!!

So Here's a little vid for you Lardy Boys, who will be missing me loads, especially Spike, you had better go!!!

John, just give Beerdy 40 quid (each) for those pedals. I'll take no less.

Ste, drink a box of wine for me, on Friday

THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN! p.s. The rabbit skates might catch on :)
Cab Calloway was the coolest man around. This proves that Bohemian Rhapsody wasn't the first music Video, by about 40 years. Look at that drummer in the background! You can see where Keith Moon got his tricks from.
I really do wish i was going too :(

THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN! p.s. The rabbit skates might catch on :)