50+ and proud of it.

Right. So I win a bike bottom bracket on eBay and the normal stuff happens with the chap (or chap-ess) posting said item. A few days later, a "sorry we missed you card" drops on the mat. Normally, on none-delivery, the postie either takes the parcel to the main office in town or, takes it to the local Post Office - a five minute walk up the road. This time it was "Your parcel is four miles away in the next village" - WTF? I check online and find that the Post Office shuts on a Wednesday afternoon else I would have driven there and then in the smart. I read the note again. Yup, it's in the next village. And, rather lazily, the postie has only written my address on it, not my name as well. So, I cycle to work the next day as normal and afterwards cycle the four miles past my village to the post office. "Hello, have you got a parcel for me? It's a bottom bracket, so it'll only be about so big". I held my hands in front of me to give the la...

Well, I did it. I did the London To Brighton Cycle Ride last Sunday on behalf of Demelza House Children's Hospice, and to be honest, it was a bit, well, uninspiring. It was quite simply 4,000(ish) people cycling from London To Brighton - and not much else. There simply wasn't the comradery that I expected. Not many people took the time to pass the time, they just got on with it. "Nooo, look straight ahead, ignore the old chap trying to make conversation!" This had the result of half of the 4,000 simply getting in the way (and me getting in the way of the other half). It was fairly obvious that a lot of people had only bought a bike the week before and were probably regretting it. I have never known so many people walking their bikes on the flat. The slightest incline brought them all to a grinding halt. At some point after about 10 miles, my cycle computer stopped working, which was annoying to say the least. I didn't realise how much I used it. The firs...