St. George's Day

I didn't realise until this morning that it was St. George's Day, it's brought on all sorts of reflections, some a bit political but I'll expand without getting too soap boxy later on. As ever the blog will be a family catch up followed by some other stuff and finishing with all things cycling.

Left to right: Bruce, Charity and Timmy

It's been a quiet week in The Lindsley household. The main news is that I can confirm that my lack of oomph was viral not tree pollen related! How do I know? Well, Lee, Mrs Lindsley got it next and as per usual she developed a chest infection. This brings back all kinds of bad memories of those dark covid19 days! Thankfully Lee has responded well to antibiotics and apart from a  residual cough is on the mend. Also poorly this week is Timmy the dog! Poor thing has a tummy bug and not to be too graphic, he's a bit loose! In summary, it's not been a great week but we're okay!

Happy St. George's Day everyone...is a phrase not often heard. Our Celtic cousins celebrate their patron Saints enthusiastically but in England it's not quite the same. National pride is not something we do well in England due to a mixture of post-colonial shame and well...the polar opposite! The only time I really remember celebrating St. George was as a scout at the St. George's Day parade. It's with some of those scouting values that I wish we could celebrate a national day in England. Those values are about helping others, being inclusive and also being: trustworthy, loyal, courageous, considerate and respectful. With that in mind I've been reflecting on the reaction this week to asylum seekers being placed here in the Rothwell House Hotel. The more extreme reactions were escalated by irresponsible remarks from our local MP and the BBC who chose to report those remarks with no balance or counter argument. I would prefer if my representative in the House of Commons would remember the UK's responsibility to refugees and share my pride that the UK is bound by international law to provide a safe place in which to seek refuge. Climbing down off the soap box now!

I've had a much better week of cycling. On Tuesday I joined the RFW Good Bean Cafe ride. On a blustery day we headed out to the excellent Mint and Ginger coffee shop before taking on some of the Welland Valley's best hills. We went up the infamous Neville Holt and Stoke Dry hills and then followed this up with another beast out of Harringworth...whoever said Northants was flat, never cycled around the place! I coped a lot better than the previous week but the group did still have to wait for me on the hills.

Harringworth viaduct

Around Eyebrook Reservoir and briefly into Rutland!

Mud loving mountain bikers

On Thursday it was back to mountain biking. The trails are drying out and becoming more rideable but there's still a lot of thick mud around. I was more tired after 15 miles mountain biking than I was from 55 miles road cycling earlier in the week.

To finish the week I did my standard 17 training route. This finished off my exercise goals for the week with 80+ cycling miles, 6+ running miles and 12+ walking miles.

Happy Peddling