Sick Scout

'I feel sick, Bill'. Those are the words that I heard just as one of the scouts threw up at the top of our first climb. So, now that I have your attention.....
The last weeks training was great, and even though it lacked the mileage that I was hoping for, it still was quality. First off, we have purchased a new Spin bike at the Sports Centre which is absolutely amazing! The Star Trac ESpinner is just like a spinner, but has a display which does a spin class for you. Yes, a real live instructor (well he's a bit wooden with his comments 'You can do it') takes you through a class. Choose what you want and away you go. This was a great way to 'motivate' and had me sweating it in true style.
Then we had the MTB rides. William had his 5th (!) birthday on Thursday and we did the playframe party thing. Great to see a few dads and mums running through the playframe with the kids. The girlies ran around like they were five and Vix did a great job with the cake (a guitar) and the organising. She really is fantastic like that.
The next day, John S and I went for a ride at Bedge. We had planned on doing the Singletrack lap twice, but my rear mech went out due to shonky maintenance (I should have changed my cables months ago). Then the Scout trip on Saturday.
The lads (all 10 of them), Maynard and Stuart took them on the family trail at Bedgebury. They all did a great job and as a treat we had them do a 'special section' of the singletrack. It really hit home how much fun riding can be when you see the look on the kids face. At the end of the section, I asked them if they liked it and would they want to do it again? Resounding YES from all and it was climbing up to the top to get in another run. This time with a little bit of the skills section thrown in for good measure. All in all, a great result. Most of them will get their badge for it, and Maynard was really pleased to see that we ended right on time.
So, this week I am in Bristol for a bit of idea sharing/comparing, and then off to France to see if the Pyrennes still are as challenging as they were last time.