• The upside of lockdown is that I've been enjoying a lot of warm summer's evenings in the woods and fields with my old mucker @david_oxberry and other Whitstable Wobblers. We are blessed with endless fine trails to bomb about on like we're 11 years old. Normally at this time of year I'd be flat out with back-to-back trips. #cycling #cyclinglife #outsideisfree #ridewithmates #cyclocross #crossisboss
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    The upside of lockdown is that I've been enjoying a lot of warm summer's evenings in the woods and fields with my old mucker @david_oxberry and other Whitstable Wobblers. We are blessed with endless fine trails to bomb about on like we're 11 years old. Normally at this time of year I'd be flat out with back-to-back trips. #cycling #cyclinglife #outsideisfree #ridewithmates #cyclocross #crossisboss
  • Rode today to remember Richard Byatt who left us much too soon a year ago. Many of his trip- & clubmates from @SanFairyAnnCC rode socially distanced and stopped for thermos coffee and WhatsApp chat at 11.30. If you've not read his https://www.justridethebike.com/my-cycling-journey it's recommended. Esp in mental health week. We miss you, fella! RIP RJB ❤
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    Rode today to remember Richard Byatt who left us much too soon a year ago. Many of his trip- & clubmates from @SanFairyAnnCC rode socially distanced and stopped for thermos coffee and WhatsApp chat at 11.30. If you've not read his https://www.justridethebike.com/my-cycling-journey it's recommended. Esp in mental health week. We miss you, fella! RIP RJB ❤
  • Post-lockdown update 2/2: The business is alive and well, just on hold. No debt, very low fixed costs, all assets in full ownership, a full order book, and a very loyal and growing clientele. I am very luck to have you and it means that I'll be ready to go as soon as we can. The business will survive and will be ready to go when the opportunity arises, but to see me through my own income gap until the time when it starts operating normally I do need employment. My normal back-up is cover teaching at 3 Kent schools, which are all now closed for the foreseeable future, of course. So, does anyone need a man with a van (with or without seats) and trailer? Or a tutor (geography and PE to A level, plus a few other bits), could be online? Or I'm pretty open to ideas really! You may be wondering how all that very generous government support will help me. I'm afraid that the answer is not a lot beyond the ability to get a cheap loan. I am neither PAYE nor self-employed but a company director paid (mostly) in dividends and there are as yet no proposals for me and thousands of tiny one-person businesses like mine. The other option is generous grants for small business rates relief, but as I run the business from home to keep costs low, it means I have no property on which to pay rates, so there are no grants for me. I suspect that I might be paying for it later though, don't you? Anyway, that's me updated. I am very grateful because many in this emergency will not be as lucky as I am, either from a medical or economic point of view. I'll be putting this message out soon on my usual mailing list too. Stay in touch. Can't wait to see you all again. On y va! KBO! Angus 🙂👍
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    Post-lockdown update 2/2: The business is alive and well, just on hold. No debt, very low fixed costs, all assets in full ownership, a full order book, and a very loyal and growing clientele. I am very luck to have you and it means that I'll be ready to go as soon as we can. The business will survive and will be ready to go when the opportunity arises, but to see me through my own income gap until the time when it starts operating normally I do need employment. My normal back-up is cover teaching at 3 Kent schools, which are all now closed for the foreseeable future, of course. So, does anyone need a man with a van (with or without seats) and trailer? Or a tutor (geography and PE to A level, plus a few other bits), could be online? Or I'm pretty open to ideas really! You may be wondering how all that very generous government support will help me. I'm afraid that the answer is not a lot beyond the ability to get a cheap loan. I am neither PAYE nor self-employed but a company director paid (mostly) in dividends and there are as yet no proposals for me and thousands of tiny one-person businesses like mine. The other option is generous grants for small business rates relief, but as I run the business from home to keep costs low, it means I have no property on which to pay rates, so there are no grants for me. I suspect that I might be paying for it later though, don't you? Anyway, that's me updated. I am very grateful because many in this emergency will not be as lucky as I am, either from a medical or economic point of view. I'll be putting this message out soon on my usual mailing list too. Stay in touch. Can't wait to see you all again. On y va! KBO! Angus 🙂👍
  • Post-lockdown update (1/2): Well, after a bit of downtime from social media (mainly spent howling with my head in my hands and fixing the shed roof) since the onset of the coronavirus restrictions I thought I'd better let the world know that I'm still here. As Churchill often put it, we just have to KBO! Firstly, *thanks* to so many for so many messages of support. This will obviously have a big impact on a little business like mine, and sometimes the road ahead looks insurmountable but maybe it's a bit like riding your bike up a big mountain. You do sometimes feel like getting off and packing it all in, but then you remember that it will be over soon and then you'll get that view and that ride back down to a cold beer and dinner with your mates, and at the end of it you'll be stronger and leaner to get over the next one. The messages I've received from so many people are like having that crowd, or maybe just an idiot in a floppy sunhat and fake Birkenstocks, cheering you on as you labour up Mont Ventoux. It really has made a difference and meant that I forget my troubles for a while and get on with getting on with it one pedal stroke at a time! KBO! Thanks especially to the vast majority of 2020 clients who have granted me the kindness of postponing, when they might have cancelled. If everybody does this then the business can survive. So, thanks from the bottom of my Birkenstocks to the top of my floppy sunhat. I will update you all soon. The business is alive and well, just on hold. No debt, very low fixed costs, all assets in full ownership, a full order book, and a very loyal and growing clientele. I am very luck to have you and it means that I'll be ready to go as soon as we can. ... see next post for 2/2!
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    Post-lockdown update (1/2): Well, after a bit of downtime from social media (mainly spent howling with my head in my hands and fixing the shed roof) since the onset of the coronavirus restrictions I thought I'd better let the world know that I'm still here. As Churchill often put it, we just have to KBO! Firstly, *thanks* to so many for so many messages of support. This will obviously have a big impact on a little business like mine, and sometimes the road ahead looks insurmountable but maybe it's a bit like riding your bike up a big mountain. You do sometimes feel like getting off and packing it all in, but then you remember that it will be over soon and then you'll get that view and that ride back down to a cold beer and dinner with your mates, and at the end of it you'll be stronger and leaner to get over the next one. The messages I've received from so many people are like having that crowd, or maybe just an idiot in a floppy sunhat and fake Birkenstocks, cheering you on as you labour up Mont Ventoux. It really has made a difference and meant that I forget my troubles for a while and get on with getting on with it one pedal stroke at a time! KBO! Thanks especially to the vast majority of 2020 clients who have granted me the kindness of postponing, when they might have cancelled. If everybody does this then the business can survive. So, thanks from the bottom of my Birkenstocks to the top of my floppy sunhat. I will update you all soon. The business is alive and well, just on hold. No debt, very low fixed costs, all assets in full ownership, a full order book, and a very loyal and growing clientele. I am very luck to have you and it means that I'll be ready to go as soon as we can. ... see next post for 2/2!
  • Enjoyed a socially-distanced group ride today. 3 of us on the same route (mostly) with staggered departures à la individual time trial, all linked up using WhatsApp's live location feature.
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    Enjoyed a socially-distanced group ride today. 3 of us on the same route (mostly) with staggered departures à la individual time trial, all linked up using WhatsApp's live location feature.
  • So, who's up for a Century tomorrow? I will need all the company I can get. P.s. if you spot the man in this photo tomorrow you can claim a free flapjack. He's very rarely spotted on a bicycle.
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    So, who's up for a Century tomorrow? I will need all the company I can get. P.s. if you spot the man in this photo tomorrow you can claim a free flapjack. He's very rarely spotted on a bicycle.