The missing bike mystery

Its all gone horribly wrong - these lovely bikes were donated by Druid Cycles (which is particularly sad, as they had some bikes nicked themselves recently) and were supposed to be sold after our Pedal Pushers Party so the money could go to Brigadoon, and now they have mysteriously gone missing from the Haggerston - if anyone knows their whereabouts, please take 'em back so we can sell them, or donate a decent whack to Brigadoon directly. Very sad - they were lovely little bikes :-(

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Well, its been an interesting couple of weeks... after a string of nasty little winter colds, I was finally feeling fit and feisty and, due to training plan having gone right out the window, thought best to get back on the cycle to work route. Nothing too strenuous, just pootling through the park, when a nice polite chap rang his bell to pass - I pull in, too close to my cycling buddy behind me - bikes kissed and we hit the tarmac. My knees were never all that pretty, but now -Ugly.

After limping around for about a week (I'm too old for this game) I awoke with a sense of purpose yesterday - Good Friday, long weekend, lots of sunshine - time to see if my endless list of kit will fit into those tiny little panniers. Thankfully, with a bit of squishing, it does, not counting the fact that I still have to get inner tubes / first aid kit / extra tent pegs, and carry some food. So I loaded up the bike and was rather pleased with the result, it almost looks like it belongs to one of those nutters who think cycle touring is fun - oh yeah, that'd be me :-) Good!

So there it was, all packed up and ready to go - I felt duty bound to give it a little whirl around the lanes. Which was all well and good until I hit a slight incline. BAD. Never mind, 4 weeks today and we'll be on Day One cycling up and down them mountains in Cape Breton - loads of time to get fit...

We Pushed our Pedals and Partied

Every picture tells a story... and I seem to have uploaded these in reverse order. Just waiting to rescue the money we took on the door (we are a logistically challenged family, especially after a few pints), put the spankingly lovely Look Mum No Hands hats in the post to the prize-winners (because they were the one thing I forgot and left at home) and auction of the fabulous kids bikes from Druid Cycles - and Brigadoon kids will be all the better for it! Let me tell you - fund raising is HARD. But fun :-)

Pushin' our Pedals

All ready (well almost - ok - not quite) to hit the road to London this evening for our Pedal Pushers Party tomorrow - yay! Today has been cake bake day - Welsh Cider Cake, Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes, iced Carrot Cake Cupcakes and Chocolatey Flapjacks - mmmm. And I haven't eaten a crumb, they're all going to make a few dollars for Brigadoon tomorrow, how virtuous am I. We have a few party picnic games lined up for the daring or slightly drunk, and even my two lovely daughters are now the proud owners of these pretty bikes so they can join in the fun - so I think that's a perfect excuse for me to take the gentler route along the canal to Lee Valley cafe with them, just to keep an eye on them of course, while my husband and son head off with the fit and feisty riders into the wilds of London for a bit of a stretch. Perfect.