Tour de No Telly

CH recently got rid of the television from our house, in an effort to declutter our lives and have more time to do other things...........of course this has resulted in us having lots more time to do what else but cycling stuff! HOORAY!

However I recently realised that the Tour is fast approaching and am curious to see how CH will manage this without a telly in our house? Shall keep you posted as the saga unfolds.

I did the trek to go and see CH at work today and as I walked through those great big doors there it was.............a bike I dream of...............A bike that is built for glorious comfort. Beaming out at me from the Schwinn range was this beauty......

I made sure that I didn't leave without making it clear that one of these would be warmly welcomed into our already over populated bike shelter.

OLD RED

Besides, I imagine old red must be feeling like the odd one out at our place and may need some company, as he is surrounded by road bikes and McRad (CH's latest addition to the collection). Poor Old Red is like a rose among the thorns.

Knickers, Knickers, Knickers

Working with two and three year olds on a daily basis means that knickers are a fairly popular conversation point, whether it be them sharing which latest super hero features on the front panel or them simply quoting ‘Well I don’t like them, just cos, well they always give me a wedgie, undies do.’

I never thought knickers would feature so prominently outside of my work life until this week…………

With the rain clouds consistently delivering on their promise and providing us with a constant drizzle, it has been near impossible to keep up with the mountains of washing that magically appear around our house. As a result, clothing supplies have been running low, which proved to cause some trouble for CH.

Whilst he can easily manage to organize a clean kit for each day of the week, organization doesn’t extend to anything outside of cycling clothing. Each morning this week I have emerged from my slumber to be greeted with the mild panic of CH as he returns from his ride to discover that he has no dry or clean underpants left. The door opens as he makes his march out to the clothesline to retrieve a pair of knickers and places them in front of the heater on full blast to try and dry them in time to get to work. One would think you may learn after this happening once……..but this scenario was repeated daily with CH, who had it down to a fine art by Friday.

He survived the week without too much drama, until Saturday………….With wet weather, busy weeks and a slight lack of organization, we weren’t exactly spoilt for choice in the underwear department and CH has no choice but to drag out his very last pair of underpants and don ‘The Brown Hornets’, as they eventually ended up being called. Whilst at a race and changing from his kit back into normal clothes ‘The Brown Hornets’ were spotted by some of his Bike Buddies (BB’s) who were highly offended by the colour of these underpants and voiced this loud and clear through creating numerous ‘nicknames’ for the underpants and having a dig at CH. After being the ‘butt’ of a number of jokes due to his unfortunate undie choice, CH couldn’t get those knickers off quick enough when he got home.
I, of course was still wondering whether I should be more concerned about CH’s underwear choice or the fact that his BB’s cared so much about what CH was wearing under his clothes?

The weekend came to it’s grand finale with us getting ready to head out to a party. As I stood at the mirror blow drying my hair, CH appears in the reflection……….I look up and see his jaw drop, before crying out “We have a hair dryer! I can’t believe I have been drying my undies with the heater all week when we have a hair dryer. The hair dryer would have done a way better job!’

I guess we live and learn?

All in a Day

Cuddle time stops at 4:30am as Cycling Hubby (CH) promptly vacates the bed to tend to his other true love.....the bike. CH conveniently returns once all the washing has been done, house vacuumed etc etc. He wreaks of coffee, as he truly believes he will not survive a day without a hit of caffiene and a few hours cycling. Once he has stripped himelf of his fugure-huggng kit and created yet another pile of lycra to washed, he is showered, dressed and off to work (at the bike shop), slapping a quick kiss on my cheek, and casting one last longing glance at his bike as he rushes out the door.

Upon his return from work, I wonder what will be tucked under his arm when he walks through the door........ a parcel, bike catalogue, wheel, perhaps a cycling magazine. Yet another thing to add to our house, which resembles a cross between a cyling shop and bike museum, rather than a humble home. After CH has overcome the excitement of his new addition, we sit down to dinner, which looks like a meal for four, however quickly disappears, thanks to CH going back for seconds, thirds, fourths etc. while I still work my way through my first helping.

As we retire for the evening and retreat to bed, the room comes to life with the dull glow of the computer screen as CH checks roadgrime, his cycling team blog, ebay and all the other cycling related websites that clutter our favourites panel. I put down my book and drift off to sleep wondering if it is at all possible for one to overdose on cycling?

4:30am.............the cycle begins again.