The end of 2012 was very busy for me and my cycling almost came to a stop.

I was managing over 100 miles a week after the school holidays, then had to work away in Scotland, Crete and Cyprus, so apart from a couple of weekend mtb rides the commute to work came to a stop.

And being mad fools, we acquired another rescue Beagle, called Wicket to keep Bosley the Beagle company.

So the choice of cycling, walking Bosley and Wicket or writing this blog !! Well it's been a while but here goes.

In 2012 I cycled 2854 miles, had numerous punctures, a snapped rear mech, replaced a chain, a front chain ring and a rear cassette, but these parts were for my mountain bike which gets a lot of abuse.

I have been knocked off my bike, luckily no injuries, had a car overtake and turn left forcing me to turn left as well, and a couple of people reverse their cars out in front of me.

But I have enjoyed every mile that I have ridden.

While out cycling you see so many different things:

  • lambs and calfs being born, rescuing a sheep that was tangled in fence wire, a stoat poke its head out of its burrow like a little periscope.
  • a well dressed couple on a cold Sunday in the middle of Cranbourne Chase, no coats and smart shoes slipping and sliding up a muddy track. Then I saw their 4x4 abandoned in a stuck in a hedge.
  • Cycling out to the Dorset Gap and reading the visitors book, and I quote a man who has written, "I'm cold, wet, hungry, I'm stuck in the middle of Dorset, my wife has left me, she's taken the dog and the house and it's just started raining..." makes you realize that life isn't all that bad.
  • Riding around Whitecliff and spotting a man leaning over to pick up his dog's mess, when his mobile phone drops out of his top pocket straight into the mess. I nearly fell off my bike lauging so much.
  • Stopping to fix a man's puncture, who was from Brazil.  How much? he asks when i'ts fixed. When I say I don't want any money I'm just happy to help, he grabs me in a big hug saying thank you.
  • And the last one is blasting down some single track in Wareham forest having to skid to a stop, as lying in the track is a young couple having sex. The bloke jumps up and runs to hide in the trees leaving the poor girl laying there naked. Who said chivalry is dead.

So now it's 2013. Father Christmas didn't get me a new bike, just some socks and pants. But I did also get some seal skinz winter gloves and some winter cycling boots,warm dry feet at last.

Since the new year I have been cycling as much as possible covering 190 miles, commuting to work every other day, with a couple of rides home via the prom, and finding a stretch of the old railway line that runs from the Avon causeway to the Fairmile in Christchurch.

My weekend rides I have just been cycling around Wareham forest as it's just too muddy to venture anywhere else, - I did a cycle ride around Beaminster which was a mud plug most of the way round with a lot of the bridleways washed out.

To finish I got sent this on facebook: 

I don't ride a bike to add days to my life, I ride a bike to add life to my days.