I tend to be eaten alive when it comes to any kind of blood suckers, gnats, mossies etc. The best way to describe it is that I’m everyone else’s insect repellent. For some reason they just love me. It’s like one smells me and then calls its extended family around for dinner. Yes, and long lost uncle Bob who lives on his own is invited too.

It is not really the biting that annoys me, yes I get bitten (though way more than others) and it doesn’t itch that bad. What the main annoyance is, is that they swell up like no tomorrow and then become very warm, really burning. And then there is the oozing of what ever it is, looks a bit like amber on a tree, but it is not nice to look at either.

Years ago I was on holiday in Sweden with me old folks, while my dad was setting up a picnic my mum was busy applying protection on me. She first sprayed something on me and then she used the wet towels, while she was moving up my arm with the wet towel the BB’s just jumped over her hand to land again. Needless to say that that picnic got cancelled double quick.

I have been bitten on my my face next to my eye and it looked like I had a massive shiner but without the colour. And I couldn’t see anything for the best part of that day. And when I get bitten on my hands they are out of action for up to 12 hours.

Monday just gone I got a bite on my ankle and I couldn’t bend my foot because of the swelling and it was oozing for the King and Queen.

If the Church of Parasite Warding has a holy water, that holy water is DEET. DEET was developed by the US Army during World War II to assist with jungle warfare and keep soldiers from being eaten alive by aggressive hordes of mosquitoes and other jungle lovelies.

Around 20 years ago I was InterRailing around Europe for a month with my best mate. After one night in Greece I woke up the words “what the *beep* is that” from my mate. And then we started to count and gave up counting at 85 bites on my back alone. Lucky for me the army of BB’s who had a staff meeting with free buffet didn’t have what ever it is that causes me to ooze from the bites after. We gave up counting bites on me but started on my mate and the grand total was four bites in a month.

And so I could go on.

Most people swear by Jungle Formula but it does not even help on me, ok I have never tried the extra strength ones, 50% DEET, as I have just learned about it today. I have tried eating extra garlic which didn’t work, even tried the battery powered ultra sound things, still go bitten.

The only stuff I have found working is something that contains a high level of DEET. Yes there is some side effect with it like it can melt plastic and remove paint. But when it come to the choice of getting eaten alive or a bit of paint falling off, Long live DEET.

Over the years I have only tried two repellents that have worked, one from Australia and one from Sweden, but for the life of me I can’t remember what they are called and how much DEET there was in them. I must pay more attention when it comes to stuff that works since I get bitten so much.

Lifehacker.com have a good article about how to make your garden BB proof, with a good clean up and plant some plants that have mosquito-repelling oil in their leaves, read more here. They also have a article about how to avoid getting bitten this summer and what to do when you got bitten by a biting barstard, read more here.

I need to find something that really work, since I would love to do more cycle touring, camping and that we are going to Australia and New Zealand in a few months time. Yes I have read about the sand files in NZ and I will be bringing chemicals to that war, Geneva Protocol or no Geneva Protocol.

I was in the local pharmacy the other day and was told that antihistamine would help on the swelling and the itching, why haven’t I heard about this before. The pharmacist also gave me (well I paid for it) some Herbal Insect Repellent from A.Vogel which contain stuff from the Neem tree. The pharmacist said that he have had good success with it, so let us see how it works on me the next time I’m out and about.

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For you Facebook addicts here is a LEGO version of it, Facebook literally in lego.

Over on theoatmeal.com they have made a graph about their memory of LEGO. As much as I agree with it I still have to disagree with it, if you are a real LEGO fan you will have LEGO harden feet. A bit like walking on hot coal you get used to it and never feel that you are stepping on a piece of LEGO. If you are an elite you will be able to tell what size LEGO you are stepping on.

My biggest memory of LEGO is after a long break away from LEGO. The rush down memory lane which was brought back by the sound and the feeling from me running my fingers through the LEGO.

With background as a graphical, mechanical designer etc I have played plenty with various plotters and printers over the years. But this one is probably the coolest I have seen – LEGO printer for mac

If you haven’t heard about TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), you are missing out. TED have had over the years some very remarkable people speaking for them, from the funny, educational, fantastic to Hillel Cooperman. Who spoke, and wore a great t-shirt, about Legos for grownups. Well worth the very short five and a bit talk about LEGO and when it is becoming a slightly mad obsession, did I just say that?

And I will finish up with a tribute to one of my favourite programmes on the box atm Futurama, all done in LEGO – Marvel at Futuramas New New York in LEGO

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A few weeks ago I got a Garmin Dakota 20 GPS mainly for us to use when touring. Don’t get me wrong I do love the old paper maps, could spend hours looking at them. But a GPS will cut down the faffing with them while on route as it is easier for us to find out where we are, if we should be off the beaten track or in other words – lost.

I did have a quick dip into GeoCaching, pretty much treasure hunt with your GPS. I can see the fun in it and it pretty amazing that there is all these little treasures hidden all over the world. Though I don’t think it is something I will pick up and do much of.

What really tickles my fancy right now is OpenStreetMap, as free wiki map that you, yes you, can update and add too. I have already found a few places that were wrong to what is there in real life.

One thing I don’t get with the auto routing that you can set your GPS to do is how the heck it plans/plots a route. Sometimes it does not make sense whatsoever. Yes it is some sort of mathematical calculation the GPS does and it comes up with a suited route for us to take.

Last night I plotted out a route to take to work, yes I knew where to go but I’m trying to learn how to use this Dakota 20, before our big trip down under. So to see how it would warn me about an upcoming turn, I planned it to take a left one road earlier than I normally take when I head east from where we live.

Planned route: Head down Studdridge Street turn left into Chipstead Street then right onto New Kings Road, simple.

Route taken: Head down Studdridge Street turn left into Perrymead Street then right onto New Kings Road, simply because that is what I do every time I go that way and I forgot to follow the GPS.

Route re calculated route: As you can see on the map a big massive loop around. And the GPS was dead keen on that route until I got onto New Kings Road. It is funny that it does not see that Perrymead leads up to New Kings Road and it would be shorter to continue all the way to New Kings Road than doing the detour loop. Even when that right tour into Ryecroft Street is less than 50 yards away from New Kings Street.

Well I take it that this GPS thing is still learning and would get better in time. So lesson learned from this do not blindly rely on you GPS.

I have learnt that you can plot a Track to show you where you are going, a trick I picked up over on yacf.co.uk very helpful bunch over there. So when the Auto Routing wants you to go somewhere you can see if is on track so to speak and is not sending you on a wild goose chase.

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I had a splendid day, didn’t have time to talk to you all long enough, I think there was at one point 40 odd people there. I do hope that you all managed to get a bounce, eat enough and drink.

The last few days before were a bit depressing since everywhere I called the companies couldn’t provide me with a bouncy castle on the day. But two days before I found a company who honestly did’t sound like they would pull through on the day, they did and we all managed to have 6 hours or so of fun.

One thing I forgot to say when I posted this the first time around. When the bouncy castle was up, the general mood of the day was happy and joking. Talking about what you did as a kid, if you have seen the new play ground in the park etc. Then when the bouncy castle was taken down the conversion become all about tax, politics and war. So if you have a birthday coming up do get a bouncy castle, you will not regret it :)

A special thanks to my family and friends from Denmark and France who came over to make this a grand day out. And also to my friends here in the UK who some of them did a very long journey to get here, looking at you Adam. And the friends who I do not often see but still managed to arrive, yes we need to catch up soon.

Some special thanks, if you are not here it is not that I forgot you.
CrinklyLion aka Kat : Thanks for THAT cake, it was numnum! Hope you all managed to taste it.
Ham : We didn’t get to cut your cake before the next day and you all did really miss something there numnum!
Martin Patrick : Short meet but always great to see you, look an eagle (points over there and runs away :) )
Charlotte : Thanks for the brilliant photos, beers and eggs (it does smell a pit in the flat now :) )
The rest of the yacf “clan” : Thank you all for coming, see you on a pootle sometime soon.
Family (UK and DK) : Thank you so much for coming it was great to see you, hope you didn’t get too scared off my mad friends :)
Tony : It’s been a long time, good luck in Argentina
Bam aka Granddad : See you next year to your 40+10 :)
Bo : Get these kids out of the house and come and visit more often so that we can go riding with the yacf lot.
Peli aka Vicky : Extra special thanks to you for the meet and great of everyone who arrived, good job there girl, love you !

LINK : All the photos here – The Big Four Oh Bounce. No order taken from a few friends cameras, both the grand tour of London the day before and on the day.

Thank you.

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But, as there always is a but, the fecking LHT is the reason that I can’t ride my other bicycles any more. As my good friend at my LBS said … “Over the years as you get older you might find that you want to raise your handlebars a little bit as time goes on. You my friend have gone and done it, raised the bars by at least 20deg on your Surly and there is no way that you can go back again“.

And then there are the Brooks saddles, I do have a Brooks bum and there is no way I’m going back to other saddles.

Dirty Pia : My beloved MTB, which I have done umpteen miles on without any problems. Now I’m in agony after a few miles, too much weight on my hands and arms because of the forward leaning position. And then there is the saddle, how the heck did I manage all these miles before on that sharp brick ?

Chutney : My Speed Pro TT from Dahon, which I have climbed Col de Tourmalet on without any problems, ok I was cream knackered but it was not the bicycle’s fault. The position on that is also too much leaned forward and the brakes are not there compared to the Tank.

Stella : My Peugeot road bicycle which I have fixed, is also a bit too much leaned over for comfort, but along with Brooks saddle (Team Pro). It is still very much ridable as a pootle around town bicycle, though long distances are out unless I raise the bars a bit.

My little Tank, is just so comfortable, nice and high position where I can see what is going on when commuting. Just rolls, ok not fast, but this is not a racer at all. As I keep saying, four wheels and a sofa is what the Surly LHT compares to. And it has brakes that just work: they stop me on a dime, loaded or not. Brilliant control when riding loaded or not. And then there is the Brooks Saddle, some like them, some don’t and I do love it, comfy :)

So my stable has too be rethought. Pia is going to be retired since she will cost too much to upgrade as the group set is worn out. Chutney is going to be sold as parts for others to use. Stella I will keep as she is as she is still fun to ride on quick short rides.

Though this leaves the question what N+1 should I get ?

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Bananas: Just because they contain anti cramping agents aka potassium. And is not to sweet and just help with the fuelling of your legs. Pack it in with some peanut butter and jam in a sandwich and use it to nibble on while riding.

Chocolate bars: Plain chocolate, with nuts or fancy energy bars with chocolate is a great way to graze your way a ride.

Jelly babies: Simply the best little snack to keep the hunger/bonking at bay and will keep you legs turning that extra mile.

Carbonated drinks: I can’t normally drink this stuff, but for some reason I can drink Irn-Bru. It is as sweet if not sweeter than many other drinks, as an alternative to water or energy drinks.

Chocolate Drink: Especially the Danish one called Matilde Kakao Milk I have defined as the EPO of our drug intake while cycling. If you can feel you are running on empty but it is not time for a slap up meal or rest, drinking one of these will get you back on track. Plenty of fuel in there and will get you home.

Flapjacks: Now this drug has many disguises and yet not really a drug as such more fuel. These range from my favourite ones with a layer of chocolate on top with peanut butter within, over to the ones that has fruits inside.

Cake: Probably the most dangerous “drug” of them all as an cyclist will find it nigh impossible to say no to a slice. Any elevenses or tea stop is not really an a stop without cake. And I’m a firm believer that that extra slice does not hurt if you are cycling.

Ice cream: Well what can I say, the pieces de la resistance, NEVER ever let a chance for ice cream go you by.

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I can’t for the life of me understand how Anne managed to cycle around the world, over some of the highest mountains, through some of the driest deserts, on just some dried fruits, nuts and water. Her statement that a cyclist does not need a lot of food before a long day’s cycling just blows my mind, because we can’t do anything before we have a hearty meal.

We haven’t toured much but we have already fallen into a nice ritual while touring which pretty much is centred around food.

Breakfast:
Pretty much as soon as we got up our little Jetboil is busy with boiling water for our tea. If Britain could build an empire on tea, it will for sure get us 30-40 miles down the road. For then to cook some porridge, if we have we will add some raisins and bananas.

If we don’t have porridge we will have bread, mostly baguettes, with cheese, tomatoes and if we have peanut butter or Nutella.

Elevenses:
This is quite often just a banana or an energy bar of some sort. But it is unheard of us to stop at a cafe and not indulge in tea and cake. This is the best part of cycling, that extra slice of cake doesn’t count if you are exercising.

Lunch:
This where we are either hunting down a pub lunch or, if that fails, a cafe. Or we will pop into a supermarket to get bread, tomatoes, cheese and some sort of meat for me. And then have a picnic in a park, square or just by the road side. But the main part of our lunch is pudding such as a cake, a doughnut or the cyclists’ favourite, chocolate.

Afternoon tea:
Pretty much like elevenses, but it all depends where are are cycling and how far we are riding, because afternoon tea could easy lead into dinner.

Dinner:
This where we relax after days cycling and need to fuel up for the next day’s cycling. If we are in a country where eating out is cheap we will go to a local restaurant. Though if we have been to a pub or restaurant for lunch we quite often cook our own food.

Such as pasta and sauce where you will just need to boil it for five to eight minutes or so, or pasta with a simple sauce added. Couscous is also something that is easy to cook, add boiling water less than five minutes later you got food. You can either get a pre seasoned pack of couscous or just add what fancy your tickle. We tend to supplement that with bread, cheese, salad if possible, and of course pudding such as chocolate mousse, or the like.

Snacks:
Throughout the day I will be grazing on energy bars, flapjack, nuts etc. Bananas are great since they contain something that helps against cramps. Chocolate and jelly babies are a favourite snack of ours, just to get us that boost and prevent us from bonking on a climb or before the next meal. Peanut butter with jam sandwiches, you can even add bananas to that sandwich, are great snacks between meals.

Drink:
Then there is water, we drink quite a lot of it and never turn down a chance to refill our bottles. Even on a cold’ish and damp day in Wales we went through quite a few litres and kept reminding each other to drink. Because there is nothing worse than dehydration and it takes a long time to get over.

This is pretty much our daily food intake when we are touring and even if we don’t, we just like food. Which is why we both cannot understand how Anne managed what she did on so little. We have yet to tour in a less developed country were food is less abundant, which leads me to one of my worst nightmare, hunger.

So, over to the hurting of muscles when you’ve done a lot of exercising. My main thing is to remember to drink and drink beyond your thirst. To help you lift that extra Kg or run mile you can get the energy drinks to give you that extra boost. Though I find that they all taste horrid, fake and do not really give you that oomph, well for me at least. I think that they work as well as the poor man’s energy drink, 3/4 water and a pinch of salt and 1/4 orange juice and eating healthily. Milk (protein) will do a great job as an after the ride drink. Pasta and spuds (carbohydrates) is a must before any ride or exercising. Though I have found that “no taste” Torque recovery/energy drink is drinkable for me and does help when doing a hard ride. Not to speed through day but to have the power to last the day.

I have found that eating and drinking often will get me up any mountain, such as Col de Tourmalet (yes not fully loaded). I made it a rule to stop every 2Km to have a little rest where I get a bite to eat and something to drink. I’m not the fittest or fastest cyclist and Tourmalet is 2,115 metres gaining 1,268m, an average 7.4% with a maximum of 10%, which doesn’t sound much, but keep that going for 17.2Km.

I hear people does that from bottom to the top do it just over an hour, I did it in an hour and 30 minutes’ish but I’m cheating as I started in Barèges which is a third up the Tourmalet and I was utterly knackered. And needed all the food and drink that I could possible stuff in me that evening.

I know I should but quite often am just too tired (read : lazy) to go out and do a recovery ride after a long hard ride. Say that you did a hard 60-80 miles day one, the next day you do a a nice relaxed pootle of 20 mile. Just to keep you legs going, but also that second day is also used to refuel with water and food.

If you had decided that you want to lose some weight, great, but don’t rush it. I managed to lose 5 stones (20+Kgs) over two years, but I still eat what I used to maybe even more. Yes I stopped drinking beers as much as before and stopped eating that kebab late at night. Above all don’t go out there and do 30 miles bicycle ride or 10 miles run if you haven’t done it before. It will just do more damage and you will hate it because it hurts. Do it slowly, build it up, get used to your new regime and remember to rest now and again. And above all eat well, you can even enjoy the odd slice of cake if you keep at it.

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My friend Bettina of velo-re.com fame, got the tyres and turned them into belts, of which I got one. Pretty much the only use I have for these “great” tyres after only 1800′ish miles.

Bettina and velo-re take old bicycle tyres and inner tubes and turn them into belts, wallet and bags. Velo-re have just started to use inner tubes as belts too – they’re rather funky.

Velo-re not a bad place to retyre (see what I did there, ok getting my coat) your old tyres into something useful.

LINK : velo-re.com – We make belts from recycled bicycle tyres, inner tube and assorted stuff…

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One of my all time favourite arcade games is Pac-Man and now someone have made this machine, so that you can play all your old 80′s arcade games. LINK : Lego Arcade Machine Overloads My Nerd Senses

For some reason it tickled me funny bone, no real use for this machine though many hours of fun I would say. LINK : The Most Useless Lego Machine

Not for the people who suffers arachnophobia, but now that is a mighty cool looking tarantula. LINK : Giant Lego Tarantula Grosses Me Out

NASA is about to pack up their space shuttles, I have been following them since they started (yes I’m that old) but they never really delivered what we kinda hoped back in the day. Ok there is the space station and the Hubble space telescope that they have serviced over the years. I never got the first version by LEGO of the shuttle but this new one looks very cool. LINK : Lego Designer Digs Into Shuttle Adventure Set

LEGOs board games and the up coming LEGO Universe just looks way to cool. So while we wait here is some other LEGO things that you shouldn’t miss this year. LINK : This Season’s Must-Buy LEGO Sets

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The great and slightly mad people at Google has brought the actual bath top that DNA spent much time in thinking.

And today I had the chance to see it :)

So please don’t forget your towel on the 25th of May and wear it with pride.

Always remember your towel

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