Finally, the blog is up and running again.

After suffering almost total power failure from May onwards in 2012, lots of time has been spent in catch up.

Firstly chasing miles; the 200,000 mile point continued to beckon after some disappointing long rides in 2012. The most frustrating and entertaining event being GSR 1000km, where my cycling orthortics took their own exciting trip to Oz via London, Stansted, Paris, China, Sydney and Melbourne. They finally caught up with me at Port Campbell as the long distance Abandonneurs (me, Paul Cribb, Howard Dove, et al) rolled to the 100km point on our ‘ride to redemption’, the GSR 300km from Port Fairy to the finish. The year ended on 13,108 miles, with the home straight of 100,000 to ride for entry to the 300,000 miles club being passed by the end of February this year.

Riding was made more challenging last year when my Graves Disease went out of remission. Persisting with a couple of 1000km brevets delayed getting well a tad and proved very frustrating. Completing these rides became impossible; a completely new experience for me. Thankfully, my immune system has decided to play ball again and I’m back in remission.

100% pedal power was finally restored via my podiatrist kindly sorting new orthotics for me, in exchange for some dosh. It turns out that carbon orthotics have less miles in them than me; apparently they are not designed to do 50,000 miles before replacement. My podiatrist has commanded that my orthotics are MOTed annually so I’ll regularly be pedalling to Muswell Hill, rather than on regardless.

2012 allowed lots of a-wheel photographic opportunities that led to a nine month Flickr upload backlog, now mostly cleared. I’ve enjoyed reliving a kaleidoscope of bike-enabled memories including leading BikeBuddies rides to the Olympics, becoming a Sustrans Active Travel Champion, taking part in several Origami rides and finishing with an aquatic Rapha Festive 500.

The last nut to crack has been uploading some randonnee/ audax ride reports that had collected virtual reality dust in the inner sanctum of the Mac. The following ride reports have finally been added; 2011, the year of the double PBP, chasing an ISR patch in double quick time and riding with the herd around Texas Rando Stampede.