A few videos…

Here are a few videos that I took in the past month.

On one of my rides I stopped for a scenic break and met the lady above in the video. Her and her husband and friends were on their way into London on their boat house. She told me they barely took off a few days ago and the trip will probably take them a few weeks. I also got the opportunity to work the locks which was really cool. The video only shows the closing of the first gates since I ended up helping them open the second gate and letting the flood water in. It’s pretty damn cool how it works. There are a few locks along the canal so I will definitely be getting a full video soon when I can.

Out of pure boredom I made the time lapse video above. It’s the view out of our back window from the living room. It’s sunrise to sunset.

The above is a time lapse that I did from a 30 mile ride around some paths that I found. It’s mostly dirt, gravel, and sand but has some paved section as well. I am riding my road bike with the new Mavic Open Pro wheels which are pretty bullet proof and the 28c tires (at 70psi)  rides decently smooth.

McDonald’s Great Taste of America

Last week on Facebook I posted…

“McDonalds UK is having the “Great Taste of America” tour. I’m actually excited and looking forward to trying them all and seeing how legit they are (and setting myself up for disappointment probably)!

Each week they are having a new American inspired Sandwich. The Menu includes Louisiana BBQ, Chicago Supreme, Arizona Nacho Grande, California Melt, and New York Classic!”

I still have every intention of trying all of them. Last week we had the Louisiana BBQ sandwich and I have to say… it was rather good! The bun was better than the standard buns they usually serve with everything else. It was by no means artisan but it was good. The BBQ sauce reminded me of the McRib even though this was beef and the McRib claims to be pork, the tastes of the two sandwiches are very similar. If I could order again (which I can’t since it was only available for a week), I probably would.

We also upgraded the fries to crisscut. They were somewhere in between Carl’s Jr and Chick-fa-la crisscut fries, seasoned but not overly. It definitely tasted better than the standard fries and even came with a sour cream and chive dip that tasted like ranch. The dip was good but I thought it went better with standard ketchup.

I’m looking forward to trying the Chicago sandwich this week. I’ll probably do the crisscuts fries again.

While on the top of food, I was stoked to find Rolling Rocks here! Rolling Rocks is one of the favorite light easy drinking kick back beer. They came in a four pack which is pretty common here. The labels were stickers though as oppose to the painted labels we get back in the states. The taste seems right… possibly a little lighter.

We also found a Krispy Kreams doughnut! We were planning on coming back after dinner to check it out but it was closed by then so we never had a chance to. According to their website we should be able to find some at gas stations around here. I might go on a mission later and find some…

Sealing the deal

So today sealed the deal. I found some MORE dirt trails that goes all the way into Nottingham. I rode the whole thing on my commuter bike and had a blast! I am totally going to get some open wheels and fat tires for the road bike now!

Some fun trails…

Last Friday I found some pretty nice dirt trails. I totally regret not bring my mountain bike now!!! I was able to ride the majority of the trail on my commuter bike (700c x 28 tires) though. The trail stretches about 7 miles one way (out and back). I’m pretty sure with some fatter tires I can easily ride it on my road bike…

Hemlock Stone

On Tuesday I went out for a long run and stumbled on this thing…

 

It’s way bigger than it looks in the pictures. If you’re curious as to what it is, wiki has the answers… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemlock_Stone

A look at retail stores in the UK

Last Monday I didn’t have much planned so I decided to ride out to the nearest strip mall which is still about 3-4 miles away.

 

The first store I went into was Halfords. It’s pretty similar to Pepboys with basic maintenance goods and lame accessories.

 

I was impressed that they carried Team Dynamic Wheels though…

 

Halford doesn’t just carry automotive parts. They also carried bikes. When I first walked in I saw a few of the bargain bikes up front and pretty much just ignored them. But when I went upstairs I realized that the whole second floor was nothing but bikes and they carried some decent stuff.

Prices seemed pretty competitive. I might go back there to pick up a wheelset. They had some Mavic Open Sport rims on Shimano 105 hubs that would be perfect for the roads here. More on that later.

The next store I dropped into was Matalan. It is similar to a… mini JCP? They only carried their house brands.

 

About a week before we had driven by the Plaza and we noticed that there was a Wickes. We thought it was the same Wickes furniture stores that we have back at home so we totally forgot about it. Anyone that knows me knows that I love tools! So I went online looking for the UK version of a Home Depot and guess what? Wickes is UK’s version of a Home Depot. And to be honest, it was the reason why I rode out to the strip mall to begin with.

 

It was pretty disappointing but I suppose that’s to be expected. The store was smaller than an Ace Hardware. It was probably closer to the size of a CVS and the selects were blah.

Pound Stretcher and Sports Direct are exactly what you’d expect. Pound Stretcher is a discount store. It reminds of a Pick n Save… do you guys even remember that place? Do they even exist anymore? I would’ve said it was like a Dollar Tree but they had stuff that ranged from a few pence to £50. Sports Direct is kind of like a Big 5. Lots of cheap sports related products scattered everywhere.

The last store I visited before the rain poured down was TK Maxx… you read that right… TK, not TJ. It’s the same company as TJ Maxx but in the UK, Ireland, Germany, and Poland, it’s TK Maxx. Admittedly, TK Maxx was cleaner and in my opinion had a better selection of clothes than TJ Maxx does.

 

Found some decent roads to ride…

I realized today that I’m actually a bit behind on my blog postings. Time to play catch up now.

Two Fridays ago, I decided to take the road bike out for another spin in hopes of some decent roads. I learned previously that the paths on google maps were not to be trusted. Not so much that they were wrong, it was just they weren’t very road bike friendly. I posted on a UK bike forum asking where all the smooth, clean, minimal traffic roads were and pretty much got laughed at. Apparently none exists… however, someone did recommend a local route that was used for a supportive last year (a supportive is sort of like a century or a gran fondo).

I loaded the map on my phone and started riding out of town. The first few miles in town were sketchy. The same old narrow roads with buses and big rigs passing you by but after a few miles you start leaving the city and things changed quickly. The roads are actually a bit smoother and traffic was very minimal were you could ride the whole road on the descents. The scenery speaks for itself. The whole route is anywhere from 40-100 miles depending on which options you took. I only did the first 10 miles until I turned back around because I didn’t want to ride out too far into the middle of nowhere by myself. I’m definitely excited to try the whole route with Tran one of these weekends.

Oh, I also learned that you cant ride with 100psi in your tires here, I was bouncing off every dip and crack in the road.

Chillis here is not like Chillis there…

I was looking for places to eat around Nottingham and saw that they had a CHILLIS!!! First thing that came to mind was their baby back ribs (not because they’re good but because of the jingle!)

I got pretty excited to be honest, yet another American restaurant in England I thought (more on this in a future post)… but then I looked closer and saw that it was… what…? Indian food to go…? When did Chillis start selling Indian food I thought to myself…

I did a quick search and found this about them…

“Chilli’s is a local family run business.

We look forward to serving you our wide selection of delicious Indian Cuisine, we invite you to order order from our exclusive new Takeaway in Lady Bay, West Bridgford.

Here at Chilli’s we are constantly improving our service and quality to give our customers the best experience which is why we offer high quality ingredients and an impeccable service.

We have some very special dishes – different than anywhere else in the Country.

Our Chef is proud of his signature menu and would like to recommend the Lamb Kalimirch and the Goan fish curry in Sherwood, and the popular Chilli Signature dish also available in Lady Bay all made with fresh ingredients and spices – that everybody loves!

To join us and try these dishes please call your most desired branch and place your order!”

Do these people have no shame! They straight out stole the Chilies logo!!!!!

 

 

Sunday – Donington Park National Circuit

On Sunday we came back for race day!

Saturday – Donington Park National Circuit

On Saturday we went to Donington Circuit for Round 2 of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). The race weekend also included Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain, Ginetta Junior Championship, Renault Clio Cup, Ginetta GT Supercup, and Carrera Cup of Great Britain. Saturday was mostly open practice sessions and qualifying but by the end of the day there were a few races for Formula Ford, Ginetta GT, Clio Cup, and Ginetta Juniors.