Coast 2 Coast 2009

Day 1
We had an early start on Saturday with a long drive to pick Rico up. Packing the van was straight forward enough and we only had to chuck one seat out of the van as its seatbelt didn't work. The seat mechanism on this van is AMAZING. The travel time went quickly and the next thing we knew we were at Whitehaven.

When we had all got ourselves set we went to the start point. It's tradition to dip a wheel at the start and the end of the trip, having been caught out by the ramp before I warned everyone that it gets very slippery towards the bottom. Stunt man Ste showed his determination by skidding ankle deep into the sea!

Now underway the first day starts gently and ramps up, easing you in. We had a puncture from DNM's mean machine in the first 40 minutes and we struggled to get the Halfords air gun tightened wheel nuts off. A passerby had a large 15mm spanner which did the trick. So puncture repaired we left the steady climb out of Whitehaven and went into the lumpy hills heading toward Keswick.
It was apparent from this point that DNM was finding things tough. With the heavy bike with insufficient gearing and lower fitness he was suffering up the hills. However mental strength is one of his major advantages and he forced his way over every climb. The group trying to stay together on the flats and stopping at the hill tops. I have never seen someone suffer so much without a single moan.

We stopped at Loweswater (one of my favourite places on the trip) and took a few photos. After this point there was a long hard ascent but we had our first stop with the support van at the top. The climb was harder than I remembered and everyone suffered. Ste started a bit too hard at the bottom with the climb becoming fully visible after the first bend. He suffered for it the rest of the way up.

With a long rest at the support van for food and bike servicing it was time to push on. We were about to do the off road descent into Keswick. It was a fun section, not too technical but judgement was required with some nasty off camber sections. iT was first to bite the dust with a spectacular 30mph skid and flip. On surveying the crash site we found another helmet visor, I guess he wasn't the first. Fortunately no real damage done. Another comedy moment from iT in Keswick with a "SPD Moment" while waiting for DNM, he fell while stationary in front of a busy pub and several passers by. Much laughter :)

The final climb of the day was up to and over old coach road. It was 6pm (later than I'd wished) and DNM had a slow puncture. To push on we just pumped it up and went for it. I'd seen pictures of this climb and it looked easily passable. What we were met with was 2 miles of seriously tough loose ascent that was un-ride able. When we did eventually get to the top the view was amazing. The sun glowing over the hills we'd just ridden. Ste had hit a mental wall it was so tough, he was finding it hard going. DNM marched over the tops. I was starting to worry about the amount of light we would have at the end of this road. We finished in darkness. It was a depressing finish to a good day with great weather. Bikes thrown in the support van we sped to the B&B for food and beer. The food was good and Black Sheep was on the pumps. Everyone looked very tired, bloodshot eyes and fatigue. We had an early night.

Day 2
After a frankly poor breakfast (read cold) we headed to the finish point of the day before. Some fine tuning required on most of the bikes after the previous nights mad dash through boggy terrain. Today DNM's mean machine made it 300 yards (it had a brand new inner tube that morning) before puncturing on a thorn. Easily repaired we made our way to Penrith.

This was the hardest day we would have to endure and the sole target was to get as many miles out of the way as possible so we could finish early on Monday. It was lumpy from the off with some very fun single track descents and one very tough twisty ascent. We went past our B&B (which I won't be using again) after 5 miles and took our time towards Penrith. The second tough climb came on the way out of Penrith with a constant ~12% climb for ½ mile. That woke the legs up and me and Rico had a little sprint for the support van at the top.

Next stop, Hartside.

The Hartside climb is so long we agreed to go up at our own pace. Lasting roughly 5 miles it's tough. I paced myself to the quickest man, which in this case was Ste. After the hard time he had at the end of the day before he was a man possessed. Bear in mind he wasn't using SPD's he was able to keep a good steady pace and leave iT and Rico behind. iT arrived shortly after us and Ste was still lying on the floor, thoroughly knackered.

Rico was a further 2 minutes behind with DNM out of site (2 mile line of sight). We went to the van to wrap up warm as it was blowing a gale at the top. Looking over the terrain we'd just climbed a small red speck was just rounding the corner. DNM was winding his way up. I went down the descent to meet him with some Kendal mint cake and a few motivational words. He made it to the top.

Ste was fixing a slow puncture and when finished we headed into the cafe for some well deserved cake. Normally the descent off Hartside is 40mph+. However today (and Monday) we had a headwind. This made our exciting descent in a somewhat boring 20mph roll. On the way down Rico had a puncture which he fixed at the bottom while me, iT and DNM headed on in front. The next climb came as a complete surprise to me. It was immense. I laughed as we rounded the corner with DNM as it was just huge. Me and iT had a steady ride up together with several stops to wait. Ste and Rico eventually caught us. This climb took us over an hour, the descent was worth it and the smell of burning disc brakes was incredible at the bottom. And now the ascent to the highest point on the trip. This climb wasn't as bad as the previous two and the whole group got up in reasonable time. I had become concerned with the time again (approaching 7pm) and wanted to have more of a relax in the B&B that evening, so had gone ahead to find Alana in the support vehicle (that was out of mobile reception) and get her to collect us. The others had done another climb when we got to them and we were on the 88 mile marker. 55 miles to do on the last day!

That night the food was great, the beer was flowing and we had a great time. It even turns out DNM had pushed himself so hard that sheep had asked him why he was pushing his bike to which he replied "I know I'm supposed to £$%&ing ride it". The landlady was a great hostess and the band was excellent. The female singer had a nice voice too (Sinead Livingston). iT and DNM weren't listening to her voice though; they had other things on their minds... The dirty old men! We witnessed a numb fingered DNM play the live bands guitar in a solo which was incredible. Good times and late night.

Day 3
Monday started well. I'd slept solid and woke up fresh, something to do with the beer. As soon as I went downstairs I was treated to a good cooked breakfast, but no black pudding! We loaded the bikes into the van and again went to the finish point of the night before. It was wet, very cold and the cloud cover was very low. To be honest it was miserable. We had to cover 55 miles and the group were at their weakest. However we had 2000ft to lose and only 2 big climbs. Fortunately the first climb came early after a fun twisty descent on wet roads, a nasty little climb out of Allenheads that was sheltered by pines. The cold really bit but the sun was trying to burn through. We got to the top and waited for DNM. Stuntman Ste was having "saddle" issues.

DNM was soon over the top and we had a great 6 mile descent at 25mph. After passing the B&B and grabbing some extra layers from the support van we headed towards Stanhope where the biggest climb of the day was. On the way we hit a very nasty climb that kicked the teeth out of everyone. It was 2 miles long and wasn't listed on the map. I'd forgotten about it and at the top we had to break the news to DNM who thought he'd done the 2 climbs of the day. Fortunately he took it well and now had to look forward to a single track descent falling through the fields at 35-40mph. At the bottom there was a T-junction and again the smell of brakes was incredible. I sprayed some water on my front disc and it hissed and evaporated before it hit the ground.

We were now in Stanhope with the last climb (I think) of the day. It averaged 15% and went on for 2 ½ miles. I would possibly say that this is the steepest hill I've every climbed. I made it to the top of the first section and waited. Everyone turned up apart from Ste who'd had a puncture. After waiting a further 5 minutes the others set off to the peak while I waited. After 10 minutes I went down to see what was happening. He was about to get on the spare bike, he'd no spare inner tubes and the last one was split at the valve. I setup my mountain bike for him and used the cyclo-cross bike from the support van. Unfortunately I had to get up the hill again and the cyclo-cross bike's gearing isn't as forgiving. Alana drove the van to the top and got the others sorted while we made our way to the top.

At this point it was midday and with 30 miles remaining on a gentle downhill old railway embankment I was confident we could get to Sunderland for 3pm. Things went smoothly for the rest of the day with the exception of DNM's left crank falling off with 2 miles to go. Hand tightened it made it to the finish. Stuntman Ste was eager to dip his wheel into the sea and went racing down the ramp to hit a 1ft deep patch of soft sand. Needless to say he fell at the start and the end... consistent!

Ste even dipped the wheel of his fallen friend.

I enjoyed myself and learnt a lot about organising an event like this. Alana was fantastic and without her we'd have been in trouble on more than one occasion. Keith, well words can't describe how well he did. iT and Rico had solid rides and I look forward to seeing Ste with SPD's.

I shall definitely be asking these boys if they want to make another trip in the future.

751 hits 0 comments

World Track Championships

After a long period without updates let me brush some of the dust from this site with some pictures from the World Track Championships. Unfortunatly I forgot my Minolta so I used the Nokia N95 which wasn't the best.

We arrived in Manchester Saturday afternoon to the Travel Lodge hotel. It was what I expected, cheap and cheerful. It cost us £47 for the room for 1 night. We just dropped our bags into the room and went into Manchester for a look around. The weather was shocking, really thunping rain. We had a good explore and went around the Arndale Centre then went to Wagamamas for dinner. Its been a long time since I last went to Wagamamas and it really is a fantastic place to eat!

Anyway after getting back to the hotel with some booze I sat down to watch match of the day before going to bed. The bloody TV wasn't tuned in very well... I went down to reception who looked at me gone out and said its normal...

Great!

After noticing that and a few other 'issues' with the room I noticed sticky patches on the carpet, bits of hard black stuff on the sheets and a lamp that didnt want to stay upright. The divan looked 20 years old. The breakfast was no better in the morning. It might be the snob in me but if they can't even get the basic's right should the be in this industry? I don't think I'll use a travel lodge again.

Anyway turning up to the track after walking through some not so nice areas of Manchester was magnificent. The track is as amazing as people have said.

We had a walk around before the events started and found a picture hung on the velodrome walls of a fellow Ashfield rider:

After a few events with the Brits not having the strongest athletes Victoria Pendleton's first Kieran round win was a fantastic boost. Holland had a very impressive team for the final day taking many wins. Unfortunatly when it came down to it Vicky just got pipped in the final by an American. The crowd cheering and suddenly groaning stuck in my mind. Matthew Crampton looked to be getting a well deserved medal but got pipped by the last rider in the 1km time trial. He was 2nd rider out and held the lead until the very last few riders. He's certainly got potential and it one to watch in the future.

I shall definately go for more days next time. I must give track cycling a go!

537 hits 1 comment

Portable Apps

My job has recently required me to use my pen drive an increasing amount. While even the neatest folder layout makes things simple nothing is as good as this application I've been playing with. Free and downloadable from PortableApps.com is a fantastic start menu for your USB drive. If you use your drive for repairing other's PC's or just to transfer files it makes sense to stick a nice UI into the mix.

This would be useful on any USB storage device including external hard drives. Applications that are not designed for the program but run standalone can easily be added to the menu including installers. Programs designed to work with this software will save all their data to the USB device so alterations such as adding bookmarks will appear on every PC.

For web developers this would be a god send as you can install XAMPP (apache, php, perl, mysql + more) onto the drive and run Adobe Dreamweaver Portable from menu. This would make your USB device a full web server and editing suite.

I give this software a firm 10/10.

547 hits 0 comments

Children in need 2007: Warwick Univeristy

For children in need this year Super Ann (Super Kevs feminine alter ego) organised, as every year, a bit of a dress up, raffle and cake sale. Yum! Now new to the department and not to be out done I chose to dress up as my TV hero Moss from the IT crowd (If BOFH was a TV series he would be an evil Moss).

So the weekend before CIN I went shopping for the appropriate props. I went to the fancy dress shop and picked up some thick framed glasses and a huge afro wig. I also went to the charity shop and found a really bad short sleeved shirt. As the day loomed I finally found a tie worthy at Oxfam.

So with a snip of the wig (to bring it down in size) I dressed up with turned up jeans, white socks and trainers, the tea cloth shirt and awesome tie.

Yes, yes you're right. The wig was massive! Next time I wear this I'll have a go at it with hedge cutters. But in donning the outfit I not only got my photo taken with countless students, I probably scared half the academics in the building to death too. I went to the pub at lunch and was amazed by one student who was wearing a full batman outfit. I felt underdressed! It was fantastic and will definitely be a contender for next year. And at the end of the day when raffles and cake sales had finished the final tally was a whopping £574.57. A fantastic effort.

550 hits 0 comments

Crayon Physics: The future of puzzle game design?

Many, many years ago I remember seeing lemmings for the first time and thinking "wow".It was as fun as it was addictive and it became an instant classic with sequels coming out every 6 months.

For the first time since, another puzzle game has made me pause and again say "wow". Crayon Physics takes advantage of the new physics in games craze and pulls it off brilliantly. While the fully polished version is not yet out a playable prototype version that initiated the whole concept is available here. The website includes instructions to get you going and a link to the tiny 5mb download. A video of the deluxe game is available and worth a watch:

Have fun and let me know what you think. Kloonigames

1493 hits 0 comments

The fascinating work of an ex-colleague

Many years ago I spent some time working alongside a gent named Edward Earl. It appears he's doing rather well for himself. His talents seem to have progressed ad nauseam. Even I find his music calming and it's not my favourite genre by far. Give his site a read:

EdEarl.com

Well done Ed.

467 hits 0 comments

Stress: The confusion created when one's mind overrides the body's basic desire to choke the living daylights out of some idiot who desperately deserves it

Well as some of you may know I've recently taken new employment. It's a big step moving area, leaving friends and family and all that you've come to love. But at some point in everybody's life (to some people it will happen many times), you have to take a leap of faith and risk treading proverbial excrement.

I'm now living the dream! But, I have reason to stop and wonder what happened to those before me. My experience so far has been great. There are friendly people, with a distinct (boring) lack of secretarial back stabbing and I'm working alongside a great character that has a very good understanding of his job.

But upon clearing the office out and finding documents from the late 90's I also came upon personal files from my predecessor's predecessor. He left just over a year a go, and seemed to be in such a rush he left mortgage and pension documents. Baby photos from when cameras were first invented. He even left his 5 year service award. Did he even clear his desk?

Similarly I've found out my predecessor left after just a year due to the pressure and dissatisfaction of the general exam process. Is there something I should know? Does a big scary dragon screaming loudly riding a chariot of fire appear outside the office? Thankfully I have 6 months before my time is up (June / July exams). I guess the only thing to do is put my feet up and wait for the shit storm...

265 hits 0 comments

Vista Windows Update Error Code 0x8000ffff

Having just received a reasonably new Dell for some software installs I noticed Windows Update was not working. Having tried unsuccessfully for a period of time I went to the web. Large volumes of Dell owners appeared to be having the problem. Was it a problem with the Dell Vista image?

No. If you're receiving the 0x8000ffff error and have the following in your C:\Windows\Windowsupdate.log file:

2007-10-18 16:03:28:785 1056 d08 Agent WARNING: Failed to evaluate Installable rule, updateId = {5602BEAB-6C34-4447-B2AF-7A3C923453A1}.101, error = 0x8000FFFF
2007-10-18 16:03:35:813 1056 d08 Handler FATAL: UH: 0x8000ffff: EvaluateApplicability failed in CCbs::EvaluateApplicability

The solution: Right click "Computer", select "Properties" and then Rate the system. It works. I have no idea what relevance it has but for some reason Microsoft have released no publications about the bug on their knowledgebase.

567 hits 0 comments