I saw Raymond Pettibon last week

One of my favourite songs. MINUTEMEN------PARANOID CHANT
I try to work and i keep thinking of world war three i try to talk to girls and i keep thinking of world war three the goddamn six o'clock news makes sure i keep thinking of world war three i got a mile of numbers and a ton of stats of warheads a million chinese with warheads i don't worry about crime anymore so many gaddamn scared faces i keep thinking of russia of russia paranoid stuck on overdrive paranoid scared shitless

I Met Raymond Pettibon Last Week

Here are some grotty punk flyers scanned in

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I'm sure I hadsomething I wanted to blog

But I can't for the life of me remember what it was.

I got asked last night 'Excuse me, is that GT track bike?'
I had to answer 'No it's a convert.' It felt like saying 'No my tits aren't real, sorry.'

Snowdon is one of the other 3 peaks

I go up Snowdon at least once a year, usually via the Llanberis route that sort of follows the train tracks up. This year was slightly different type of ascent for me in that I tried to go up as fast as comfortably possible, this would be part of my 3 Peaks training. I jogged, yomped and staggered up, not really slaughtering myself but I wasn't just ambling. It was pretty wet and very cloudy all the way up from about 500feet which sucked so there were no views at the summit.
The 3 Peaks Cyclocross race is pretty insane. Check it out on the interweb. I'd managed to get a much sought after place in this years. I've spent the last 2 months riding as much as possible in the Welsh hills, scrambling up insanely steep climbs, running in sand dunes, sprinting up thousands of steps, carrying my bike up long grassy hills, riding off road and doing all kinds of daft stuff that I thought would help me finish the race. I certainly ain't a fast or strong rider, but I'd hope to be ADEQUATE enough to get to the end of it.
As it is, I doubt I'll even make it to the start line, all that training (probably too much shoulder bike carrying) has damaged the cartlidge between the discs of my neck so I haven't been able to ride or train at all for nearly 3 weeks now. Last physio session is only a few days from the start so things aren't looking good.

The Shelf and the Bwlch Penbarras

I took Gabe out one night for a few hours on my road bike to sample the amazing panoramic views and a couple of hills I ride in Denbighshire, North Wales. We started half way up Moel Famau and headed out towards Ruthin and rode up the 3 miles climb of 'The Shelf'. We then turned around and rode back and went onto the savage climb known as the 'Old Bwlch'. This is a pretty tough climb for anyone and I've seen many blow up and have to walk up sections of it. On any large group rides that I've been on the call out of, 'everyman for themselves' goes out at the very start of this climb. I find that when you get to the first cattle grid it will take the same amount of effort to get to the notorious hairpin bend, no matter what don't give up, once you get past that bend it is a little bit easier until the last 200 metres which kicks up just enough to have you back out the saddle.
It has been in the 'Killer Climb' page of Cycling Weekly and got an overall rating of 8.5 out of 10.
Some Bwlch Penbarras facts:
2.25km/1.4 miles long
260 metres of climbing
25% at various points

Fell Ride

There's some sort of radar on top of Great Dunn Fell, referred to round here as 'The Golf Ball'. It sits just next to Cross Fell, the highest point in the Penines which form the eastern wall of the Eden Valley here in Cumbria. Feeling all tough guy because I Nick dragged me up 'The Back of The Bulk' on his road bike - I tried to ride the dead-end of a road up to it.

I thought this would be the more civilised than Heartside, the other road up this side of the fell which would be buzzing with motorbikes this time on a sunday. There wasn't anything civil about it though. It's too steep. After nearly keeling over on the steepest bits I'd have to run and jump on my bike again, once it got a bit tamer, just to get the peddles round. Wrong Gear, totally.

Coming back down wasn't any fun either. After almost wearing through my tyre in the first hundred metres I got a puncture. That fixed, I'm not embarrassed to say I, walked the rest of the steep bits and only got on when I could safely woosh out onto a flattish bit.