This weeks cycling blog

A bit of a quiet week for me cycling wise largely due to it being a bit of a busy week Family wise. For those who don't know my daughter, Niamh, broke her clavicle (collarbone,) when she fell during the hurdles at an athletics event. Yesterday she had an operation to pin and plate her injury. All good service from KGH as the consultant at fracture clinic made a decision on Thursday and she had the procedure the very next day. Niamh was looked after very well by the nursing staff (Nurses rock,) but unfortunately the doctors let us down a bit. Having arrived at KGH for 07:30 on Friday, prepped and ready for the procedure a different consultant proceeded to have a conversation in front of Niamh about how he disagreed that the procedure needed to happen. Our little girl who may look older but is in fact just twelve burst into tears. After some stressful conversations it was left to us to decide whether to go ahead or not. That's not great care and there will be a complaint. It is however done now and we're hoping for a good recovery and then Niamh can get back to scorching tracks all round the country. Hopefully she won't be asked to do the hurdles again! The last thing to say is that Skylark at KGH is a very nice ward and a credit to our NHS.

Broken Niamh

So back to cycling. On Sunday I took Sam for a spin around he cyclocross track at the bottom of Rothwell Rec. Here's the route and there's a video of how he got on.

With Niamh needing lots of looking after I couldn't ride today due to taking Sam to his Saturday morning sailing at Pitsford. As he sailed away I took the opportunity to have a 29r ride around the reservoir. I've always felt that Pitsford and in particular Brixworth Country Park are a fantastic resource for the county. There's something for everyone here as the 7 mile circuit is popular with walkers, runners and of course cyclists. It also has a stack of geocaches if that's your thing. The fly fishers were out in force today and of course there was the sailors. My aim was to do four laps but after bumping into a mate and his kids and having a good catch up I stopped at three. Besides the Test match had started and there's nothing more satisfying that beating Australians at cricket. As I type the Aussies are 6 down, so there's lovely! As per usual riding my bike filled me with joy and I'm sure people think I'm a bit deranged as I grin away. Who cares, I love cycling. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Dam

Sign to let you know where you are

Well maintained track, beautiful surroundings

Lots of families out

Sam is sailing one of those white dots in the distance

What a great week it's been for sport, Wimblebore aside. The Tour de France has been excellent. I really feel for Tony Martin who has done a 'Niamh,' to his collarbone. Really nice bloke who deserved a few extra days in yellow. The usual drama of 'when will Cav get a stage win?' Ended yesterday when he got revenge on Andre the Giant Greipel and of course Team Sky have a British rider in the box seat as Chris Froome already wears yellow.

Ok so now for a new feature in the cycling blog. Many of you have been asking about my Dad's special blue product, the energy drink that we loved so much on D2D. This video shows you how it's made. Apologies to Chris and Andy, this may affect sales...




 Happy Pedalling