Snowdrops and Dis-appointments

Blogging three weeks in a row! Standard format, family then cycling. This week has been the usual ups and downs, some frustrations and of course a lot of outdoor activity!

It's been a soggy old week but the dogs couldn't care less. Today was the best walk of the week in alternating sunny and foggy conditions.

Lee's chest infection is clearing up which is lucky because it's no thanks to nonsensical NHS systems. Earlier in the week she still felt rough at the end of her 2nd course of antibiotics. So Lee played the "can I get a GP appointment," game and then they decided to send her to a different health centre to see a chest specialist. There she was told they couldn't prescribe further antibiotics and steroids until she'd had a chest x-ray. In order to do this she was advised to go back to her GP...by that time all GP appointments were gone! What an utterly bonkers system. There are so many things that are great with the NHS but this is an area where it's all wrong. Lee hasn't had a GP appointment and consequently no chest x-ray...thankfully things appear to be improving despite this! Niamh also had a similar experience of being shunted around an overwhelmed system. I truly hope the next government can undo the 14 years of austerity that contributed to this silly mess. It would be easy to descend into a political rant at this point so I'm just going stop right here!

Sam was also home for the weekend. He usually stays in his room on the xbox but this weekend he's sat with us in the evening and we've had some great chats. He's so committed to his history degree and is forming some very interesting views on the world. We are very proud parents!

On Tuesday I joined the Good Bean Ride at the RFW clubhouse. Unfortunately I was having a bit of an issue with my front tyre going flat. So I ended going home where I topped up the sealant and changed the valve core. This did the trick...

So I just headed back out on a reverse route until I met the group coming back the other way. Then it was a splendid ride with a tailwind back home again. 

For most of the week it's been indoor rides due to the weather. We even cancelled our Thursday MTB ride due to persistent rain, if we lived a bit further north it would have been snow! For my indoor rides I use rollers and GCN training videos. You can have a more sophisticated set up with smart trainers and apps like zwift but this works for me!

Today I needed a few miles to finish my goals for the week. I set out on a tried and tested route to get those done. Because I like round numbers I had to add an extra 5km loop to get to 50km!

There are signs of Spring everywhere. My ride this afternoon was brightened up by snowdrops! The daffodils are also showing but no flowers yet.

I was still having those political thoughts as I rolled through Naesby where the decisive battle of the English Civil War took place. I wondered how popular Oliver Cromwell would be these days...I mean even Suella Braverman wouldn't ban Christmas...would she? I also thought about those chats with Sam. One of which is why do we call the Civil War the Civil War when we had centuries of civil wars before that...also there's nothing particularly civil about pikes and muskets!!!

With walking and cycling I've chalked off another 112 miles for the #nhs1000miles challenge. Not as good as last week but I'm happy with that in this tricky weather.

Well that's about it for this week.

Happy Pedalling  

Keeping going...

Thanks to everyone who read this blog last week, especially those who left kind words of encouragement. I'll try to write more regularly but you know I've made this promise before. As usual the blog will follow the format of a family update and then some cycling stuff!

Lee has been unwell again! For a long time since leaving hospital Lee's lungs have been relatively healthy, she does have reduced function but her asthma is well controlled and she hasn't had many chest infections...until now! This one has hung around for a couple of weeks and has needed steroids and antibiotics! 

In better news it's been Amy's birthday. She requested my home made pizzas for her birthday meal and to compliment these Lee made a salted caramel toffee popcorn cake. Sam was home too so we had a right cookathon. Amy is coeliac and that comes with the challenge of making a gluten free base and cake. Having used pre made gluten free bases before I bought a ready mix pack to try to make it more special.

Well I won't be doing that again! I used the pack above and it was rubbish. It doesn't make a dough, it's more like cake mix that you pour out. Sometimes it's better to stick to what you know!

One  of the benefits of life as an independent therapist is that I give myself Tuesdays off. From September to January this means I have time to go to Corby Capers, our cyclocross training session. For the rest of the year it means I can join the Good Bean Rides. So called because the meeting point is the Good Bean Cafe in Corby.

My first GBR back was a very hilly trip that ended up as a 100km fondo. It's was my longest ride of the year so far and definitely a lot of fun! The elevation for a place without mountains is huge...we climbed the equivalent of Ben Oss a Munro in the Grampians...not quite the height of snowdon but well in excess of Scafell Pike. Our coffee stop was to the Pickled Village in Bulwick It's a really nice place but we did catch them out by having 12 cyclists turn up all at once!

I also give myself Thursday morning off. This is great because we have a weekly mountain bike ride in Wakerley and Fineshade Woods. Big credit must go to Alan Brown for thinking up and leading these rides. It doesn't get boring because the woods, being weather and season dependent, are never the same too weeks running. This week it was gloriously sunny but also incredibly muddy!!!

Today we had an extra special Sunday club run. It's the cyclocross world championship weekend and the plan was to get back to the club house before the u23 female and men's elite races. We had another very hilly loop around the Welland Valley, a nice coffee stop at Rural Relaxing in Medbourne.

The RFW clubhouse is just lovely. It's a little stone building with a bar, TV screens, changing and training facilities and a very nice log burner. With good company, food and great beer on offer it would have been easy to spend all afternoon there...I'm sure some of my clubmates are still there now! I came home after the u23 because there's always stuff to do...I watched the men's elite race doing the ironing!

My objective this week was to increase my distance so I can make a big dent in the #nhs1000miles. 151 miles this week compared to 60ish last week! If you're wondering why I still do this after leaving the NHS...well I asked and everyone said they wanted me to carry on! I'm hoping to get that 1000 miles done some time in March!

Happy Pedalling