Tour of the United Kingdom......

That's what the Tour of California could be right now. The rain and grey clouds makes the weather a bit like a good summers day in the UK. For a number of years I bike commuted a 40mile round-trip when living in the UK and spent many hours out on the bike in soaking wet clothing. I have found grit in places you never thought you would find grit. Everyday I would have my rain-jacket in my bag because you just never knew when it would rain.

Even the winter days here in the Mid-Atlantic are good days for back in the UK. At least we have a good proportion of sun in the winter and it can be pretty much guaranteed in the summer. Yeah it can get very cold and very hot but that sure beats the miserable conditions of rain and general "crap-ness"!

I guess that is one of the reasons that Sarah and I decided to put down roots in the Mid-Atlantic area. After all if we liked the rain and clouds we could have moved to Seattle!

You Can Take The Boy out of England But You Can't Take England Out of the Boy....

If I dare say it, Sarah's birthday was this past weekend....yes I know, only 21! and we headed off to Fairfax, VA to relive the late 1990's where none other than Oasis were finishing off their US Tour.

Being from England we were fully submerged into the whole Britpop music scene during our late teenage years and then into college. The undoubted powerhouses of the Britpop genre were Oasis, led by the Gallagher brothers, and to a slightly lesser extent Blur, led by Damon Albarn (now of "Gorillaz" fame). Sarah had previously seen Oasis back in our hometown in the early 1990's but for me it was my first time and they didn't disappoint. The concert was great and for a full two hours the sold out stadium was rocking to classics as well as songs from their new album.

Not only was the music great but seeing the boys of the "Madchester" era was so funny and it was clear from some of the Americans around us that they couldn't understand what either Noel or Liam Gallagher were saying when they addressed the crowd! Without a doubt the highlight musically was the rendition of "Champagne Supernova" but also when Noel was comparing the White House to his own....apparently Noel's house is a bit bigger but not as white!

It's always funny when we get small glimpses of the "Motherland", generally it makes us reminisce and hark back to memorable moments of our youth (not that we are old now but....). Good times.

Just to leave you on a final note from Liam Gallagher, "You were Great.....but not as Great as us!"

UK Vacation Pictures.....

Yeah I know this weekend was a busy one and I will get round to posting a race report and a run-down of the NASCAR session shortly. In the meantime however I have loads of photos from our UK vacation to download and here are some of them......


The Banks Family in Thorpe Bay

A trip to Spain at Casa Toft

The Toft Sisters...for one night only!

Ben and Sarah's Wedding

The pictures are in the original format so I need to get round to adding some descriptions, rotating etc etc....but they were in demand so here there are!

The UK.....Report # 3

We are now back in the good ole' USA leaving behind the awful weather of the UK and arriving to sunny skies and 85 degrees! Sarah was singled out by the nice folks at US Customs and Borders Control and sweated for a few minutes while they checked her documents.....they let her in :-)

Yes the weather in the UK is generally as bad as people say it is and it was a good job that I had taken some armwarmers and a windvest back with me....I bet I looked great running along with a running t-shirt and cycling armwarmers! Anyway the one good day of weather we did have was fortunately the day of Ben and Sarah's wedding and that topped off a great final weekend that saw all of the old crew (with the exception of Chris...who probably decided that leaving the heat of the Middle East for the grey of the UK wasn't a good idea) back together again for one very long night of typical English revelry (Read: plenty of drinking, poor dancing and even worse singing).

Now I have to download all the photos so that they can be put up on various blogs and facebook pages! Hopefully I will get that all sorted this week at some point.....besides this weekend is busy, busy, busy! More details to follow!

The UK......Report #2

Well in the 10 days since I last blogged much has happened and Sarah and I are on our last legs trying to get to see everyone before we fly home on Labor Day. Since time is short I will just give a quick rundown on the highlights of the trip so far.....(photos will be posted when we get home and on the flickr site).

Tuesday 19 - Friday 22 August - Visited Sarah's parents in Spain.
Saturday 23 August - Sarah's sister Diana (and partner Richard) came to Southend for a visit and BBQ (the English weather lasted just long enough for it!)
Sunday 24 August - Trip to Reading to see friends (good pub lunch!)
Monday 25 August - Trip to see nieces (and Brother and Sister-in-Law) including a proper English Cream Tea!
Tuesday 26 August - Day trip to Dover to see Vicky and her new apartment...also walked along the White Cliffs of Dover!
Wednesday 27 August - Visit to Grandparents and then into the City of London for drinks and meal with College and School friends.
Thursday 28 August - Visit to see Theresa and the kids

So it's been a busy, busy vacation so far with no let down this weekend as we have Ben and Sarah's wedding :-)

Fortunately the first week home was a rest week training wise and I managed 9 hours over in Spain including some great open water swims and runs amongst the Orange Groves. This week has been back onto the full training and so its been a matter of getting up early and getting it done before heading out for the day. Only trouble has been getting to bed before midnight, which we haven't managed so far....not too good when you get up for training a few hours later!

Without a doubt though the vacation has been great and it has been awesome to see everyone again.....it is amazing how things just pick up from when they were left! Friends and family are the best.

The UK.....Report #1

We are back in the UK and after three days of cold, windy and wet weather (a typical English Summer!) we are off to sunnier climates to visit Sarah's parents in Spain. So far the days have been pretty hectic and even though it has only been three days we have seen so many people and caught up on the latest going's on in and around Southend-on-Sea. I've also managed to workout (certainly helped with the jetlag) and squeezed in a swim at my old school pool yesterday....definitely an experience that was, with no swim lanes and a general free-for-all in a 20m pool!

The best thing so far....getting the entire Team Banks together, including nieces (one of which we were seeing for the first time!)



Adios......

The Motherland awaits......

Finish work at 12pm....airport at 3:30pm....flight at 6:40pm....7hours of hell....arrive London 6:30am.......check bike 6:35am! The Motherland awaits....

A Bit Like London Buses.....

You don't see one for hours and then two come along at once!

Sarah and I have only just booked our flights to visit the Motherland and today in a rush to grab the decent flight times and good prices, we also booked our flights down to Clearwater for the Worlds in November. You don't have a vacation for months (Charleston in February) and then you book flights for two in a matter of days!

Both should be great trips and Clearwater will be the ending of a long season, just the right time to spend a few days on the beach after the final race of the year (and before winter sets in here in Maryland). Before then however, we have lots of training to do and we have to navigate the infested waters of a trip to England (last two weeks in August)......

Anyone would have thought that going back to England would be an easy trip to plan and one where we can have a two week rest amongst friends and family. Not so fast....except for the four days out in Spain visiting Sarah's parents, which will be relaxing along the Mediterranean Sea on the Costa Blanca coast, the rest is a matter of trying to squeeze everyone and everything into a few days. It will be a positive whirlwind of activity.

For the past week or so we have been trying to organize a schedule for while we are in England and it appears to be working out well at the moment....with the exception of a few stubborn people ;-) it looks as though we will be able to see everyone! The trick now will be getting in some decent training (only a month away from ChesapeakeMan) and not succumbing to the healthy english diet of fish & chips, beer (none of the "Lite" stuff) and stodgy puddings (desserts!).....oh yeah and trying not to catch a cold in the delightful English weather!

Creative menu, huh!

Amusing.....

I'm not sure if you ever get to read the "Cul De Sac" cartoon series by Richard Thompson, but it is in the Sunday magazine of the Washington Post. The one above from a couple of weeks ago made me laugh out loud and made me think of our nieces back in the UK (including one that we haven't met yet!)

Speaking of the UK, Sarah and I finally bit the bullet and booked our flights back to the UK for the last two weeks in August....the rising gas prices affect flights prices too and as we found out, it ain't cheap to fly across the Atlantic. No wonder this is the first time in over three years that I would have been back!.....at least on trans-atlantic flights bikes go free and so I will not be without the bike for two weeks just a month prior to ChesapeakeMan :-)