ice land

happy new year everyone!

wow, it's been a full couple of weeks, what with christmas and new year celebrations, catching up with friends and family and now i'm finally in dubai, helping set up our new office here.

had the wretched cold/flu again, so came into the new office at 1pm local time yesterday still sweating like a badger!! i started to write this sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes, as our new furniture and computer equipment had only just arrived with two diy'ers to put it all together - desks, chairs, cupboards etc - incredible really as we only bought it the previous day.

on a positive note i've missed the arctic conditions in the uk this week, it seems i was lucky to leave london when i did and the news says it will go 20c below, crazy! beautiful weather here in dubai, a cool 27 degrees, clear blue skies and bright sunshine, great views of the city and the tallest building in the world, as i ride in a taxi to the office in healthcare city - a great address for our business 'healthcare international'.

had a wonderful christmas in malmsbury with mum, barney, carine and the girls, plus 5 dogs!! flic and ron came up to the cottage during the week which was brilliant, then a mad fancy dress party at the tunnel inn pub and finally a wonderful new years day in the brecons, with chobe and maddy. a stunning 18k hike up and around pen y fann, through deep snow, cold winds, but clear blue skies, absolutely stunning. funny thing is pen y fann at 886m is only 66m taller than the tallest building in the world which opened in dubai on monday evening, the burj khalifa dubai!! i arrived tuesday morning so missed the opening sadly.

heading up the first hill from brecon


chobe and maddy enjoying the snow


reaching the top of the spur, you can see the top of pen y fann in the distance


you can just see someone coming down from pen y fann


chobe with her windproof on - with the windchill it was about minus 20!


heading down the back of pen y fann toward merthyr tydfil


so the dakar....
been catching snippets of the 2010 dakar, frustrating though as i can't get eurosport, but the 5-8 minute summaries on youtube suffice footage looks awesome, inspiring!! unfortunately an italian biker, luca manta, is fighting for his life having had a terrible crash yesterday and is suffering massive head injuries. the race goes on....

jago's wife bought him a wonderful christmas present, training with patsy quick in malaga, and he has invited me to join him if i can ride then at the end of feb.

met a few lads out riding their enduro bikes and it turns out one competes in the cec series and the other owns the land they were training on, they have kindly invited me to join them. first cec race is on 28th feb....can i do it???

i picked up my bike before new years and relocated it in a new lock up close to the cottage. so now i have a great space i can work on the bike in. considering it was stolen, the only damage as far as i can tell is a broken throttle cable.

so when i return to blighty at the end of next week i'll be working on the bike, can't wait, it's been nearly 5 months since the crash.....

see you soon