Planes, Meatballs and the Titanic

Well, when I woke up this morning what an awesome day! Blue skies and everything. Decided to go for a cycle with Timolo to Ikea and Decathlon to try find some decently priced cycling shorts! We've been buying lots of gear over the past few weeks trying to get everything sorted for the Alps and the cycle tour. 

The route we took is a 14mile round trip, definitely do-able if it involved a stop off for Ikea's Swedish Meatballs! Not entirely sure if meatballs are Swedish...these ones also contained pork and beef. Crazy stuff. 

                            

So we set off and it was a little cloudy but I figured I would be fine, it was only meant to rain in the Mournes 

I thought, that's why we hadn't gone climbing. Should have checked the forecast!! Had a nice stop at the new Titanic building which you can see in the pictures below, its pretty cool! So busy though! We explored the giftshop for postcards (and couldn't find any, surely a massive mistake!) and the toilets (I thought they would have something unique about them, maybe a boat for a toilet handle or something. No such luck.) before heading on to Decathlon!

Decathlon doesn't have a bike rack outside! They have benches, lampposts (which are toooo thick for my lock), lots of lights, benches but no bike racks. We cycled down to Ikea and found MASSIVE motorbike racks, at least that's what they looked like. Should have taken a photo. Ended up locking the bikes in a trolley stand! You'd think a shop that sells bikes would have a rack outside...very silly. Ended up buying bottle cages and cycling shorts though the girls ones are double the price of the mens...yet exactly the same...sexist Decathlon!!! 

We then ventured for a hard earned break to Ikea and took advantage of their cheap, possibly not the highest quality yet tasty meatballs. Perfect for budding cyclists. I quite liked that the meatballs were square and came with a 'gravy' that tasted a bit mushroomy! Timolo got his fix for the day when he watched a few planes take off, went mental when he couldn't identify one of them! Plane encyclopaedia I think not! I'm only messing, its nice to know he doesn't know everything though!

Finally, in the rain, blue skies gone, we headed home. I really should have bought mudguards. And worn a waterproof. And not worn shorts. But I did really enjoy cycling back in the rain, after the initial coldcoldcoldahhhwetback feeling I was attempting to splash cars and I cycled through puddles, I don't think they noticed. Made us think we need a different system for the tour though, if we get that wet and then have to camp it might be a bit miserable! Definitely going to wear waterproofs anyway!

Oh and Timolo has found his new favourite toy - a goldie chain that came with one of my dresses. Little bit OCD about it now just waiting until he goes to the shop and forgets he has it on.

Cider and Mars Bars

Well, the day has finally come. I finished all my final exams yesterday, no more exams at Queen's! And my undergraduate career has almost come to an end. It's quite a strange feeling to be honest, it really hasn't sunk in only I don't feel guilty watching cooking shows or looking up bike things. The exams were really hard, as you'd expect for final year so I'm glad they're over! I was so tired afterwards I went and got a haircut then watched 90210, drunk cider and had a mars bar! The freee cider I won from The Armagh Cider Company. It was so lovely!

I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do next year, initially I wanted to do a PhD and I still do, but I didn't get any offers and not many replies back!! So I've applied for a MSc at the University of Nottingham in Immunology and Allergy. It seems like a good course and a good uni. The project is 5 months long and a masters is actually a whole year instead of a typical academic year that I'm used to. The gym is so cheap, its something ridiculous like £25/year membership whereas I used to pay £18.50 a month at QUB. Most of all I guess I'm looking forward to living with Timolo :) in a lovely house with friends! I want to do the masters so I can live with Timolo for a while and the masters will help me decide if a PhD is definitely what I want to do. Plus, I'd love to get some experience in a lab outside of QUB. There's a guy who is working on DCs so I'm hoping he would have an available project.

So in the mean time I've been slowly planning bits of pieces of the summer! Most important thing is to get things sorted for the Alps and get the panniers for the cycling trip. As part of the training and a test for the gear we're cycling to Monaghan in June just to check things actually work! I can't decide on what pannier bags to get at the moment, Ortelib's are very popular and have good reviews but quite pricey. Maybe a cheaper version would be better, but then I would have to compromise on how waterproof it is, attachments and the fastening mechanism. I really like the roll top idea, I think for touring things can't get wet! It'll be miserable if everything gets soaking and we just get cold. I quite like the Carradice Dura bags but not the way they're fastened so I might just roll a dice!

 Really looking forward to summer, its going to be challenging but really epic!

It's Working!!!

Wahooooooooooooo! Experiment in the lab finally worked!! We decided to just do the positive controls and get them to work by altering the method. Turns out there was lots of things wrong, just little things but it all adds up. Get to find out on monday if the proper experiment works. Fingers crossed! I now have the motivation to start tackling my dissertation...

My shoulder is better as well. Really nice feeling! I woke up on Tuesday after 4 days of pain and the pain had just disappeared. Quite a strange sensation but very good. Decided to go climbing that evening so just did some easy bouldering. On Thursday I climbed a route, just picked what looked relatively easy. It was on panel 2, blue juggy route but overhanging. Decided it looked alright, it is a nice climb but you have to get used to getting your feet up high then doing a power move. Some big stretches in the route (not surprisingly seeing as it was set by a guy who is 6ft4) but some flowy moves. Turns out they're a 6a, I didn't have any trouble with them apart from the fact my stamina has completely gone after not climbing for 2 months! That I could climb a 6a relatively easily is very cool, it feels like my climbing has improved massively this year. 

After teaching climbing yesterday decided to start leading again. I've never really gotten into leading. I get quite scared and I'm terrified of falling even a small distance. I really don't like the sensation. However, everyone has to get over things at some point so I've decided to start tackling it. I know how to clip and all the safety talk, I can teach leading to freshers but never felt myself that I particularly enjoyed it.

I guess I wanted to be at a higher standard of climbing before I started leading. I need to feel comfortable and confident on a route. Timolo and I decided I would just climb skittles, practise clipping technique, positions and if I felt uncomfortable I could come down. I completely trust Timolo so this is a huge factor in how I climb. I find I don't worry about my belayer so can concentrate on remembering to breathe! Something I tend to forget when I get panicky...

Climbed 2 panels of just rainbows. The first panel was fine, felt very comfortable and the second I did get really scared. I wanted to try and lead a route but just starting thinking oh no what if I fall how do I do this I'm so tired etc etc. Had to just take some deep breaths and stop for a minute. Finished it fine and the climbing is in no way hard. Just my silly head!

Trying to think positive about leading. I'm going to practise some more on Tuesday, maybe climb with 2 colours and do part of a route. We shall see!

Now, back to the dissertation...

Happy Sunday!

Timing is Everything

It is a really awesome bike.  

Need to get better at this blogging business. Will update more often! I kept thinking I should do it then I procrastinated for so long I started to avoid it.

Anyway, since Boxing Day I have:

1) Bought a bike

So pretty :)

It isn't entirely the same as this one, since mine is the girls version so the frame is a girly one and  colours are slightly different. It's still white though and awesome! Apparently it had just sat in someone's garage for 20 years or so. It has original tyres and its so fast! I went for a bike ride Belfast-Lisburn and back the other weekend. Really good, need to work on changing gears as theyre on the frame and a little stiff. Almost fell off the first time I tried to change them.

2) Ordered myself a bike helmet, lights and a pair of warm reflective gloves.

 

Now I can finally ride to Timolo's house in the evening. It definitely has started to get darker later on though. Botanic Gardens now shut at 5pm instead of half 4. Really excited :)  The helmet is brilliant. It's a climbing/cycling helmet which feels lovely and light. Really like the design on the top as well, I shall be the coolest biker around with my hi-vis and helmet gear!

3) I started driving lessons!!

Finally. It's actually very very exciting and I know I must seem excited a lot (no jokes please) but it really is epic. This morning I went 35mph and drove on my first round about. Makes me happy! My instructor is very nice as well. He never gets annoyed even when I make the same mistake a few times. Recommended so far. His name is Gary Wilson. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Wilson-School-of-Motoring/273836986301

It's helping me get to used cycling on the road as well as I'm learning how drivers think. I get quite nervous cycling on the road atm, always assuming someone is not going to see me which is probably a valid worry.

Ah well, that's about it. I mean I had exams but I'd rather not chat about them! Experiments aren't working in the lab but I'm sure they will soon... Started lectures again today, looking forward to getting stuck in.