What A Difference a Week Makes

Anyone who travelled to Leek wouldn't have been able to recognise the team that won 3-0 in comparison with the lucky 2-1 home win lat week against bottom side Quorn.

Right from the get go Belper looked the better side yesterday and took the game to Leek. A Mark Ward Header and a Glyn Cotton volley from 25+ yards saw the Nailers 2-0 up after 26 minutes, then the referee decided to get involved and sent off Chris Adam & Ant Danylyk for nothing more than a scuffle. Thankfully this didn't ruin the game and Belper went on to win 3-0 at a stroll. The pitch was awful and it may have been that both sides would have played better on pitch something close to flat - which this wasn't.

So thats another three points and another goal for Jon Froggatt, his 20th of this season and his 50th in the past two seasons for Belper. Imagine how many he could have got playing in a good side (which we haven't been for most of the past two seasons - small runs excepted) ?

Thats Froggys 20th of the season hits the net

The rest of the photos are here: Leek v Belper Photos

Cycling this week was retracted to just two outings on Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday was the usual 10 miles  although with the evenings getting lighter I may be able to return to doing the Heage run in the not-too-distant future. Friday I decided that I would try something different. I started off with the ride into Allesttree and back to the Little Chef at Little Eaton but instead of going back through the village and onto Eaton Bank I stayed on the road back to Kilburn, carried on to Street Lane at Denby and back through Heage. Street Lane is a long uphill drag but nothing like as though as Mill Street, Chesterfield Road. It also makes it a 20 mile round trip so that is definitely one for the itinerary. Total time for the ride was 1h 19m 00s at an average of 15.2 mph. Ok so Mark Cavendish et al won't be worried by that time but it is the joint second fastest average since I started and both of those times were over lesser distances (12.5 & 8 miles). Perhaps there is a sign that fitness is improving, oh yes and It was windy so there are improvements to be made - watch this space.

Total riding mies since returning to the bike is 794.17 with this years total now standing at 213.66.

What a Sunset

Just after tea, about 5 minutes past 6 Sally said "have you seen the sky" which I hadn't at that stage. As soon as I did I rushed off upstairs to get my camera, knowing that sunsets like this don't last very long at all.

Fired off a few shots from the bedroom window and came up with this collection:

 There are also signs of life in the garden - these were taken on Sunday

With temperatures up to 16 today it's not surprising that things are starting to bloom. The weather forecast is for it to turn colder from tomorrow but that only means it will be back to the average temperatures for February, about 9 or 10 degrees,

More over the weekend 

Footballs Back ! - Yawn

The football is back but not as we know it ! Yesterdays home match against bottom of the table Quorn was a very poor game of football, from both sides. Belper took the lead with a penalty from Jon Froggatt, his 19th of the season (to add to the 30 he got last season)

Froggy Slides home the opener from the spot

On chances Belper just about deserved it but a draw seemed the mostly likely result until Chris Adam fired in an added on time winner.

Chris Adam fires in the late winner

The strong wind probably had the biggest impact on the football although it looked as though both sides had forgotten how to play the game during the recent break for bad weather. Quorn had lost their last two games 3-5 and 0-8 so anything other than a home win would have been acceptable despite the manager saying Quorn shouldn't be underestimated.

The match photos are here: Belper v Quorn

My favourite snap of the day was this one of a cloud appearing over the horizon

My one and only reader did me a big favour by picking up a bundle of Cycling magazines that I won on ebay. He kindly presented me with an invoice from 'Norton Couriers Inc. of Sheffield.

I do have a few queries against the cost of £87.00, namely:

Payment for cycling magazines purchased via ebay - £5. I'm ok with that one

First Monthly instalment of "Don't tell Sally" fee £10 - thats out as soon as she saw me arrive home with 4 carrier bag full of magazines so we can knock that off straight away.

Delivery to Belper & return to Sheffield, 65 miles at 50p a mile £32.50. Well I know for a fact he was coming to the match anyway and he has admitted that he only lives 1.5 miles away from the address, so thats 3 miles at 50p per mile = £1.50

Unpaid wager (Failure to arrive for agreed race up Mill Street) £5 - I think you'll find it was Ken who didn't turn up due to 'a puncture' so he owes me the £5.

Compensation for pain and suffering caused by character abuse via text messages £20 - again thats a case of pots and kettles. Only Friday night he called me a 'pillock' via text so that can go as well.

VAT @ 20% 14.50 - I think we'll reduce that by a few pounds

So lets see where we are then. 

Magazines £5

Mileage £1.50

Total £6.50

20% VAT = £1.20

Total £7.20

Now as I recall I actually gave him £10, plus I paid for his Goalden Goal Tickets (£2) and got him a programme (£1.50) total £13.50

So by my reckoning HE owes ME £6.30 tha nose !

Managed to fit in three rides this week, a couple of tens on Monday & Wednesday and another 16.4 on Friday in the drizzle. The front mudguard came loose during the Wednesday ride just as I came down Whitemore Lane so I diverted home unfastened it and finished the ride. Tried to put it back quickly on Friday before going out but it kept rubbing so I took it off. The result of this was a very dirty bike that I have just spent 1 1/2 hours cleaning before settling down to watch Stevenage take on Spurs in the FA Cup on ITV.

A Few More Random Photos

Coming home from work a couple of weeks ago there was a brilliant sunset which I tried to snap with the Ixus - originally I thought the photos were just blurred. Thankfully I didn't delete them off the card and saw them today. Ok so they are blurred but in a dreamy artistic sort of a way. The one with the tree is my favourite but they both have appeal.

Also on the card was a shot of the Boardman in mid clean on the bike stand (complete with Lottie exciting stage right)

Yesterday I was waiting for Sally to pick me up and I saw the sky over the hospital (right hand side of photo) - hadn't realised initially that I had also captured a lone cyclist making his way towards Mickleover.

Snow Go

Looks like the snow is finally on it's way, with temps up to 5.6 today there are signs of the grass re appearing at the front of the house. Temperatures are definitely on the rise although a trip round the corner on my bike this morning to pick up some cable ties proved that looks can be deceiving. My hands were frozen by the time I arrived !

Yesterday was a rideless but not bikeless day. I spent a couple of hours changing over the equipment from my Peugeot to my Boardman. Tyres were swapped over, Garmin sensor swapped, and the mudguards changed. The mudguards were a real pain. They went on the Peugeot no problem but the Boardman was a different kettle of fish altogether. Still not sure they are not going to start rubbing but tomorrow should tell.

When we arrived at Ashbourne yesterday there was a blackbird sat in the tree by the drive - managed a shot of him with the ixus before he flew off. Not quite up to Nortoners Robin photo standard but not bad for a snapshot.

Had another look through the photos on the card in the ixus and therefore I offer you these

Artist on Whitby beach

Sunworshippers at Whitby

Wind Turbines near Bridlington

Cromford Canal

Old Railway coach

Cromford Canal

Another Footballess Saturday

At least Hucknall had the decency to call the game off today rather than go through the farce of waiting until mid morning tomorrow. No way was there going to be a game tomorrow thanks to a bit more snow yesterday (on top of what we still have from last time) along with the forecast of -5 tonight. It's not quite 5pm now and already the thermometer is showing -0.5 outside.

Last night I had to resort to the turbo trainer due to the cold weather - interesting comparison with 'proper riding'. Was clocking up 2 minute miles rather than the 4 on the road and clocking times speeds of 30+

5 miles in 12m 45s is twice the road speed, a bit like time training. Makes you sweat a bit though as theres no wind to cool you down and no 'downhills' to free wheel on.

This morning we had a trip to the Opticians - over £500 for four pair of glasses (and two pair were supposed to be free ! - although the other opticians we went to quoted me £465 plus frames for one pair !). I chose a pair of wraparound sunglasses with reaction lenses as my second pair that I can use for cycling in the summer.

Talking of cycling - despite the snow still being around the main roads are quite clear so I went out and did 10.25 miles this afternoon. It was just above freezing when I started and just below when I finished. Best to be sensible and not take any risks in this weather, one crash and I could be off the bike for weeks just as the better weather starts to arrive (hopefully).

Plenty of snow around but clear roads

Theres snow on them there hills

Cat prints in the snow

Tomorrow I'll probably set abut changing things over on my bikes - pedals mudguards etc so that I can use the Boardman for the Winter rides although the tyres are a lot smoother than they are on the Peugeot so I may swap them over too (which will be a fun job !!)

New and Old Photos

The snow was still here today although thankfully no more added to it. We cleared the drive this morning to ensure we could get off it in the morning to go to work.

This afternoon we walked over to Andys to drop some photos of his new grand daughter. The original plan was to go and watch the Derby v Forest match on TV but it was called off this morning due to the snow (although the pitch was ok the roads were not good enough to allow the Forest fans to travel the 14 miles down the A52 apparently - although the game between Newcastle & Villa and Chelsea & Man Utd went ahead without a problem - how did that happen ?)

Before setting off for Andys I got out my old Ixus 800si out of the drawer and found that the memory card had photos going back to 2009. So as a special treat I've decided to add a few to the blog. Bit of a mixed bag these.

Lottie decides snow is not for her

View from my office window this morning

A visitor takes refuge on the bird table today

Mike shows off his new snow shovel

Wood and Rust at Bridlington

View along Whitby beach to Sandsend

Whitby Beach

Whitby

Reflection in a Newcastle office window

Lone fisherman at Scarborough

Whitby Abbey

Beach Huts at Whitby

Street entertainer in York

I can't remember where this was - somewhere in Yorkshire

View across the allotments today

View down Mill Street - not a day for cycling up it

Winter Comes to Belper

February 4th will be recorded as the day that the snow came to Belper for the first time this Winter. A hard overnight frost (-7) meant there was no chance of todays game actually taking place even without the formality of an 11am pitch inspection.

The snow itself started around 2pm today ad as I write this at 8:15pm the snow is currently at it's heaviest.

The early snow begins to settle

Just a light dusting at this stage

6 hours later

No sign of a let up

The forecast is for the snow to clear overnight and the freeze. Looks like we'll have a cold day tomorrow then a bit warmer from Monday. This means Tuesdays game may be on at home to Leek. Currently this is our 2nd longest unbeaten run of the season !

700 up !

Just a quick one tonight. Went out at 6pm and the temp was already down at 0.3 degrees. Did 10 miles which brought up 700 miles since I started cycling again last July. When we got back the temp had dropped to -0.8 below freezing.

New pedals arrived for the Pinarello today along with the pedal spanner, all I need is time to swap everything over from the Peugeot to the Boardman and get the Pinarello set up (need some lightweight bottle cages as I don't want to put the heavy old ones on the new machine).

Weather forecast is for lots of freezing nights for the rest of the week so Saturdays game must be in doubt already.