It’s all about the running books on this trip to Stellenbosch. So far I have gone through this book about an unassuming bloke from the North East of England, who, in 1984 won a bronze medal at the Los Angeles Olympic marathon. He is the last Briton to win a medal in this event. He did it on sheer [...]

Having taken inspiration from our very own Lesley I thought i could do a similar blog post (but with less crammed into the day/morning!) charting my morning ride with Toby Jameson, who is my new ‘roomy’ out here in Stellenbosch whilst we get ready for racing in East London at the Ironman 70.3 South Africa next w/e.

07.30: [...]

Last night I had a very African experience - both culinary and cultural - whilst taking in the New Year. We had a large group meal at Moya, organised by Tim as an extension of their wedding celebrations. It was a lot of fun, and a very memorable and relaxed way to wind up 2009. [...]

Yesterday Tim and Kelly were married at a beautiful wine estate called the Grande Provence just outside of Franschoek, which is a stones throw from Stellenbosch here in South Africa. It was a fantastic day, set in a stunning venue and thankfully the weather was just ‘one of those days’ you couldn’t wish to change. [...]

Phew .. after a whirlwind last few days in the Shire I have arrived in Stellenbosch; my winter home from home.

It was hard leaving home this time, much harder than it has been on previous trips away and sitting in Heathrow Terminal 5 on Xmas Eve alone is not something I would stick on a [...]

Maybe because I’m away soon - real soon in fact - our bike ride yesterday in the snow of Glentress seemed so much more enjoyable than it could’ve done. I mean it was pretty darn chilly up on the hillside out of the trees, the snow/ice on the trails was way past hard pact and [...]

Last night I caught up with Mike & Jenni through in Dunfirmline. Other than it being great to have a 6 month catch up with one of my best friends that I have know since the year dot, I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was really lovely to see their little 10 month old [...]

Some light hearted fun here from a friend of Nikola, which I think each of us with a site associated with triathlonteam finds pretty entertaining (lack of Italian notwithstanding!) and uniqie!

Last Wednesday the annual Stirling Sports Council Awards evening was held in the very impressive venue that is Stirling castle. I was lucky enough to have been nominated by my club - Stirling Tri for the Senior Sports Person category. Having been won by a very distinguished group of athletes over the years - including winter and summer [...]

Thanks go out to Eric Wynn for these cracking shots taken at Clearwater. Having long admired his snaps of top athletes from many a major race around the US, it is nice for me to be caught by his lens also.
Somewhere around about the half way point - one of the few sections not amongst [...]

I’m home, I’m unpacked (well, the bike can well and truly stay where it is for a little longer, let’s not get carried away) and feeling a lot closer to human after the travel. Therefore I have had some time to reflect properly and objectively about Clearwater at the weekend. I still stand by my initial [...]

I’ll take some inspiration from  Conrad here after his own World Championship experiences last month - sometimes you give you’re all and it’s just not enough. I’ll write more about my thoughts on the race soon, probably once I am home in Stirling.
However, for this evening at least, where there might not be a top ten [...]

Finally, it’s nearly time to race. We arrived here in Clearwater yesterday morning and got settled in. The weather is certainly very un-Floridian (so the ‘locals’ say) at the minute - yesterday was remarkably chilly and the wind continues to blow with some strength today. I’d be happy for it to create a bit of [...]

Clearwater is fast approaching - its Tuesday night here in Florida as I write, and yet it seems much closer to kick off. I’m starting to get that simultaneously ‘excited and nervous’ feeling, which is good and bad. - Good that i’m feeling it, but bad that there are 3 more days for it to [...]

I can get 70 miles to the gallon on this hog! - I couldn’t resist a link to some memerable ‘Dumb and Dumber’ quotes …. its’ potentially my most favourite film (i know, but it is) and therefore I can’t help but laugh (generally out loud) to myself each time I head off down the driveway [...]

Last week when I had a wander around Lance’s bike shop here in Austin, Mellow Johnny’s, I took the below picture of this even more famous picture. I have it framed on my wall at home in fact. I see it every morning when I wake up for swimming. - Sometimes it doesn’t work I am [...]

…Volleyball team. Not my usual choice of sport (especially not this version of volleyball … thinking beach to be honest) but since Terra (my wonderful homestay) is the team massage therapist, she had free tickets, and I thought I should go experience something of US culture that I haven’t previously had the chance to. - [...]

I just got a couple of nice images from the weekend drop into the inbox. - Inside the last 5k of the bike, as I took the race lead. Pity I didn’t hold onto it for a bit longer ….. I’m working on that though. As Toby would say “drop ‘em like they’re hot”.

Photo credit [...]

Just about to hit my bed after a lengthy pre race day … always things to do - a bit of exercise to loosen off, a trip to the race site to familiarise, race briefing plus I was asked to join in on the Pro Q&A Panel which was interesting, not least since Victor Zyemtsev from [...]

I knew before I came that Austin was famous for Lance Armstrong. I learned recently that it is famous for its live music culture. And I learned when the plane landed that it is the capital of Texas. All good so far from what little I have seen of it. Hopefully I will get out [...]