House!

Well it certainly feels like summer out there at the moment. It will be a rude shock when the spring weather returns and the arm/leg warmers have to come out again, but for the moment the whole of London is enjoying an early respite from the long, cold winter we’ve suffered. And predictably, with the rise in temperature, the aircon in the office has packed up!

It’s funny how the rise in temperature makes you remember all the sensations from summer riding. Bottles of water that warm up within half an hour, the dry ragged throat from commuting too fast down the Embankment in heavy traffic, the splat, splat of bug-hits on your face as you go past hedges and bushes by the side of the road – all sensations that are strangely welcome after a winter of picking through ridges of frozen slush, clothed in three layers of windproof attire with gloves so thick that you can barely change gear. Roll on summer!

I’ve done no racing since my last update – as usual the rash of early season races ends and there is a fallow period before the crits all start up. I’m as yet undecided whether to go for Palace or Eelmore this year as the main mid-week race. Both are infinitely preferable to Hillingdon though! Hog Hill would be good too, but it’s just to much of a schlep in the evening and I seem to have nothing but bad luck there – broken wrist, broken wheel, etc. Thankfully my Enve wheel has been returned from Wheelbuilder.com in the US – it needed a brand new rim, which was rather expensive, even with the crash replacement discount. Can’t recommend Wheelbuilder highly enough though – quick, friendly and professional. All I need to do now is do justice to the fantastic set of wheels.

The non-bike related news is that we have finally got a house. After several attempts on other properties where we were outbid (significantly outbid as well) we have finally purchased a house in Wimbledon after a protracted negotiation period – from initial offer to exchange was nearly three months of nail-biting, faffing, firing solicitors, finding and hiring new solicitors, juggling finances and dealing with the mortgage companies. It finally all came together last week so we celebrated with the bottle of champagne that has been chilling in the fridge since January! Now begins the process of engaging builders, sourcing kitchens, deciding on windows and room layouts and sorting out the garden and storage. At some point I’ll have to seriously start considering bike storage as well. There’s a lot of work to do over the next 5-6 months before we are able to move in. Exciting (and expensive) times!