Goals Goals Goals

Today I ticked off another of my cycling goals.

Since I got my new road bike I have set myself five goals:

1. Ride to Matock 35km
2. Ride to Bakewell  60km
3. Ride the Chatsworth-Bakewell circuit 72km
4. Ride the Chatsworth-Bakewell-Winster circuit 88km
5. Ride to Buxton 125km

I would like to think I can acheive these goals by the end of the year, however this will more than likely depend on the weather, which if its anything like today will make things tougher.

Bangkok Flooding 2011

Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra as annouced that the worste is probably over in this years monumental flood! This is Thai Elite speak for:-

 Bangkok City centre as survived again, so we'll be able to go shopping later in the swanky Shopping Malls!!

Unfortunately, for the Northern and Eastern parts of Bangkok, the normal Thai people have had to sacrifice their homes, livelihoods and in some cases their lives so the Central part of Bangkok can go on as normal. Whilst I wouldn't wish the floods on anyone, maybe if the central part of Bangkok had shared a bit of the pain, then maybe it wouldn't have been as bad for others.

It also means, that be the so called important bits of Bangkok have stayed dry there will be no need to do anything about future flooding. This is going happen year after year until Thailand as a country do a few of the following.

• Stop cutting down more forests and Jungle
• Have a proper flood and irrigation plan that will protect the population
• Stop building Das in very sensative areas
• Stop all building on flood plains (Including Airports)
• Do something about it now, not when its too late

A couple of these pictures were taken less than 2km from our old house in Pathu Thani, God knows what that Soi is like....

Bangkok Floods get worse

The floods in thailand this year have been terrible. However in Bangkok at the moment things seem to be coming to a head.

The run off from the North of the country are slowly, but surely moving towards the capital and then the sea. Unfortunately, not everyone in Bangkok will be worried about getting wet feet. The Government is sacrificing the Northern and eastern parts of the city to save the central part of time. (Strangely were most of the rich folk live)!

Pathum Thani were I used to live as been inundated for the last 48 hours, the Express Way is closed and several major Industrial Parks that employ 100,000's of workers have been sacrificed in order to keep the water away from the centre.

People we know have had to move belongings up to the second floor and one of Nuch's friends as been trapped upstairs now for several days with 2m of flooded water down stairs.

The Government have handled the situation so poorly that no one is listening to them and are fending for themselves. This as bought out the best and worst of Thai society. Profiteering is rife and the "I'm all right jack" mentality is as strong as ever. 1000's of car drivers parked their cars on the Express way to keep them dry, this being at the expense of normal folk trying to get back to their homes.

I' m seriously worried for the people that I know in Bangkok, I only hope the next week will see some respite from the high water and that people can get back to living their normal lives without having to repair to much damage to their houses.

Diabetes, me and cycling

Since I started riding my bike and enjoying taking excercise, I've noticed that I have to really watch where and when I eat or drink and also what I eat and drink when I'm the bike.

Today was a classic example. I went on a 1-1/2 hour ride which I was really pleased with my performance. I got back home qabout 11am. I felt hungry, but I got ready to go out. WE went shopping and at around 12.30pm as we were walking around Westfields in Derby I suddenly lost proper vision and had a mild blackout. Luckily in "Build a Bear Workshop" there was a seat for bored adults and I gladly took it.

I'm coming to know the symptons and what to expect when I have a Hyperglycemia attack, feeling dizzy, blurred vision, sweating and being irritable amongst others. It occurs when your blood sugar drops below 3.8mmo/l and can cause many more problems.

A quick visit to the food court sorted the initial dizziness, but even now, 6 hours after it happened and an hour in bed I still don't feel myself.

Tonight I'm going to have a good high carb and protein meal and drink plenty of fluid before bed.

This isn't going to go away, so I'm going to have to be ultra careful when I do another hard workout. Look what I eat before, during and after excercise.

Bad Thai Flooding

Over the past four weeks, Thailand has been experiencing some of It's worst flooding in living memory. Heavy monsoon rains and several Super Typhoons in the China Sea have added to the deluge. All this seems to be heading for a Perfect Flood in Bangkok with two King tides coming up in the next two weeks.

The flood surge as slowly, but surely heading south from the North of the country. The main Chao Prya river that runs through Bangkok as burst the banks of all the Towns and Cities to the North and several Dams have been forced to let water go. This as of course made the situation worse.

However, everything will be fine for Bangkok! Bangkok's Govenor "Sukhumbhand Paribatra", seen in the picture took a bhuddist statue to a Temple to pray for the water to subside. So thats OK then! Other loon schemes include having a convoy of Tugs to push the flood water out to sea.

I've been in Thailand during a flood and there is a lot of water about, also componded by snakes trying to find dry ground and even alligators causing trouble. Lets hope that the predicted flood yet again leaves Bangkok largely unscaved.

Next Smart Phone

I don't much like referring to my new phone as a "Smart Phone"! After all the phone is only really as smart as the person who is using it, which doesn't say alot for the phone when I'm using it.

For the past 3 years I've been using the iPhone, first the original and for the last 2 years the iPhone 3Gs. Just lately the competition have caught up and even surpassed the Apple product.

Today, Apple were set to unvail the latest iPhone, everyone was ready for the iPhone 5! Unfortunately, what was presented was the iPhone 4S. This new phone only seems to be matching the features of their competition. Features like 8mp camara, HD video, dual core processor. Catch up, catch up.

The competition, HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S II both have all these features and have been around for several months. They have a bigger screen and currently cost the same as the iPhone, the bigger screen is a definate advantage. Although the bigger screen means less battery life.

The biggest single thing that is making me want to change will be not having to use iTunes to upload my music or pictures. something i'm looking forward to.

My New Bike

Yesterday, I took possession of a brand spanking new Road Bike.

Too those people who don't know me too well, I raced bikes of all disciplines from 14-34 years old. Mostly at a very pedestrian rate, but towards the end of my time I strung a couple of good seasons together. Due to ill health and my move to Thailand I've never been able to get back riding seriously, I've tried several times, always with the view to start racing again, now I've come to the conclusion that I'll probably never race again, but I'm determined to get fit using my bike and aim to be an enthusiastic Sportif Rider. A posh name for someone who rides a lot, but doesn't race.

Through to Christmas I want to get something like fit and then maybe get out to Mallorca next spring for a week riding the best road and routes in Europe, before spending a good summer riding both my Road Bike or my MTB. Maybe!!! I have just bought a Boardman Team Comp. Before anybody asks which Bank I robbed? I got it through the "Cycle to work Scheme". A brilliant scheme which at the end of the day gives you at least 45% off a bike. This bike is the lightest I've ridden at just over 8kg, a massive change from when I ride in the 80's and I spent more on a bike that weighed over 10kg. Technology and Far East production rule.

Today I ride up to Matlock and back, only 22 miles, but in my current form it could have been a killer. I must admit I found it easy and next week plan to double the amount. Although the riding conditions today were perfect! This week I also plan to try and cycle to work a couple of times.

Hopefully on a few months I'll be thin enough to wear Lycra and not give anyone who sees me nightmares.

Here comes summer..

Today in the UK the temperature is set to hit a massive 27C and be sunny. This is a record temp for the UK in October, sadly three months too late to be called a summer.

I'm not complaining, I love hot weather, especially when my new bike is due to be picked up today!

However on a seperate weather forcast, it is also predicted that we will see some snow by the end of October, and people from other countries wonder why the British have a fixation with the weather..

Thailand is also experiencing some saviour weather, they have nearly a month of flooding that as claimed over 150 lives and with no rest in sight, things look set to get worse until the rainy seasons run off from the North reaches the sea.