Velodroming

 Much catching up over the past two days..and another to come..I hope to miss out on Sunday!

Helping my clubmate race as well...one bronze and one silver so far.

Pirate's elder daughter came over from Bristol..I had photos and papers and clothes for the three of them..we had a good couple of hours chatting.

Repeated again with a friend who used to be joint secretary of the allotment society in Cwmcarn, with me.

Then up to see son #3...and got fed supper and invited to stay overnight. Their son was staying over at his girlfriend's home, so there was a bed spare!

Son #1 came over this afternoon to the Velodrome and saw a lot of his contemporaries racing....he needs to do a lot more riding to get that fit!!

He fitted a new rear wiper on my car , then we went for a walk before I faced the traffic back to Somerset. That took an hour more than usual with traffic backed up over ten miles going down from Bristol, as a campervan had broken down in the middle lane of the motorway .

Rest and repeat tomorrow..and I am going to check the map for less congested roads....the main culprit is the roadworks on the new Severn bridge....

Round and round

 Pirate and friends had an hour of fun this afternoon on the boards.

Invercargill and Bluff..a full day!

 We were up bright and early and at the velodrome just after 9.

Breakfast had been a little sketchy as I had placed the milk and yoghurt in the wrong side of  the fridge freezer.....still, a huge banana and mixed fruit and nuts was a good start!!

Pirate had a good hour on the boards, with the track and a coach all to himself, and a hire bike..all for 40NZD...it would have been a hundred more on Cambridge!!

He was a little rusty, having not been on his bike for nearly a month....but really enjoyed it.

A trip into the city to top up his phone...and us!

Unfortunately our favourite café is no longer..The Zookeepers...the building is being redeveloped...but the new building owners have bought the rights to the name, so who knows.  

It was full of memorabilia, photographs and murals linked to the Tour of the Southland cycle road race. I think I took photos when we visited, so I will try and find that blogpost and link to it. Zookeepers only a couple of photos but you get the idea!

Then we headed further South ..as far as you can without getting your feet wet...to Motopōhue or Stirling Point.

You can see the small ferries going past on the rough crossing to Rakiura/Stewart Island.

No way were we doing that!

Pirate had a good long nap in the back of the camper car, then we had a short walk on the coastal path.

Well you have to have that one!!

Back to the Velodrome then, with some nifty navigation by pirate, including a gravel road, avoiding the busy main roads!  We watched a training session and caught up with a friend who was part of it during a break, before getting a Chinese takeaway and heading back to Riverton/Aparimu 

Too busy...

 Too busy to write!!

Getting tickets bought, now trying to tie all the ends off, get jobs done, apples pressed, juice processed...

Pirate has been busy working out how to get the workshop weatherproof...

So a trip out was welcome....and he needs to ride the boards every six months to keep his accreditation.

Man at speed!!

Weather

 We had a day away yesterday..only in Glasgow...but the weather was good! Of course we were indoors most of the time in the velodrome, talking to friends before and after Pirate's session on the boards.

Davy is a good coach..and was a brilliant rider.

Today we have outdoor jobs to do..but outdoor is cold and windy and the humidity is in the 90% range....so if it isn't actually raining, the air is damp!!

The roofing materials are ordered, but we can't do much I until they arrive. 

Which makes the weather conditions even more frustrating!!

Preparation

 He is as ready as he will ever be..and looking forward to tomorrow.

Good thing the racing will be indoors..we have just had heavy rain causing flooding and landslides and more forecast over the weekend

Dundee day out

 We had our weekly (weather permitting) trip to Dundee today.

As it was school holidays here it was a delay free drive for all of the 120+ miles up there.

It is a long drive, but we are trying to combine going there with doing other things.

Today was supposed to be picking up materials from a ceramic supplies company, but things hadn't got together in time.... hopefully next week.

We had three more riders today and it is good to see such a great facility being used.

We had our usual picnic late lunch before Perth on the way home, but the level of traffic and low standard of driving on the A9 gave us cause to turn away from the rat race through Bridge of Allan to Stirling. Let's have a look at the castle we thought.....

Only booked places in the car park....but the attendant said we could have a short break from driving...nice to find someone in a good mood! That called for a special treat, ice cream from the van!!

The Wallace Monument from the castle...it is a huge tower.

We did get a good view on our way out of town...

I think we would be better off having a day out by bus to Stirling and have a day there with a camera and drawing book....

walk in Glasgow 3

 We walked back from High Street along London Road, past the old carpet factory building

 

and council flats opposite the factory

 
 and many other beauties

 up to Celtic Park football ground

 and over the road to the Emirates Centre which includes the velodrome where we had an hour on the track in the morning

 

and leaving Glasgow in daylight for a change to drive home.

a bike day

 Today we sent off the riders, at minute intervals on the Ayr Roads Cycling Club's Hill climb time trial.     This is looking back down from the Nic o' the Balloch as the last spectator breasted the climb by the finish.....and this is the view the other way from the top.

 and here they all are, with the finishing times being read by the top timekeeper.

Then The Pirate and me went to Glasgow for a session on the velodrome....hard work and preferable to this morning....warm and dry!!