Getting ready and in touch with our feminine sides

Entering the last week before we go was an odd experience.

I thought this would be a time when the challenge would hit me and I would start to realise what I has let myself in for. However, as Friday the 15th rolled around the more foreboding thing on the horizon was the leg waxing we had scheduled.

If you read back through these blogs this had been a perennial topic of conversation and consternation. When Richard fell off his bike in a story that becomes slightly less believable with each telling (two playboy bunnies In a convertible Aston Martin at last telling) and then spent twenty minutes picking small stones out of his leg the casting vote was placed.

Which left more questions.

1 Who on earth would wax the legs of three men

2.Where on earth would they do it.; and then (more worryingly)

3.  How far up your legs do you go???

After enlisting the help of some friends we found a friendly beauty therapist who volunteered to give up her Saturday and day off to help.  The fact this was the niece of a good friend of the group is purely coincidental.

Ready to go

A local farm shop called Bellis brothers also volunteered to allow us to set up an ad hoc waxing clinic outside its main gates where we could have our hair ripped out of our legs whilst passing shoppers could watch claiming "it doesn't hurt that much" or "look at the pain on this guys face!" to their spouses and small children respectively.   It seems Beadle caught onto something in the human psyche a long time ago and there really isn't much that people like more than the sight of a fellow human in relatively safe pain.

Mike went first which was a bit of a waste as to be fair he does not have a leg hair to start with.  This is blamed upon wearing wellies a lot as a youngster.  So there you go ladies a useful hint for a future of reduced grooming is to have worn wellies.

The one hair being removed

Richard then followed and instigated a game of how many other people can be involved in waxing your legs. The highlight being the pensioner who donated a pound to use tweezers to extract one hair.  We have no clue.  Honestly, not one.

He also let his daughter and wife have a go and started a trend of pained looking husbands and grinning wifes as below:

"love yoouu"

I went last. Primarily because being the most masculine (the privilege of writing the blog) I have had the most hair on my legs.  So lets be honest here, it doesn't really hurt that much there is just a stinging sensation akin to nettles a second or so after the wax is removed.  Except for my knees.  They hurt.

So after my wife and son also had a go I was eventually free to leave the table and continue with my day safe in the knowledge that having the bottom half of my legs waxed and the tops not with a pair of rugby shorts was not a look that would be catching on soon.

Family event

 Our thanks to Sam Nicklin for her help with this and also to Bellis Brothers.  We can all say we were in very safe hands and she did a great job so if you decide you would also like your legs waxed then we all recommend the 1st 4 Nails and Beauty salon in Vicars Cross where Sam works.  Its a family run business that offers the full range of nail and beauty treatment for all so not restricted to just leg waxing for men. :-)

Chester loop again

Looking forward to a Saturday and Sunday ride to keep the stamina point we headed off on the loop of the Chester and the Sunday off to Corwen

As these are rides we have done before there is not too much additional
Info to give except for noting some interesting statistics.

1. The average speeds were pretty consistent across the two rides despite the Chester ride being quite
Flat and the Corwen ride including the steep climb out of Wrexham.

2. My average heart beat on the Chester ride was 13 Bpm lower than when I did the same trip with Jamie about a month ago. Given the conditions were similar on both occasaions I am taking this as a good sign.

3. There was a point on the ride where I decided to overtake our very own jack Russell Mike (has to be at the front). In order to inxrease my speeds by about four miles an hour on a relatively flat road, my heart rate increased by around 20 Bpm. Note to self. Dont bother in the future. :-)

The last point of note was the interesting variety in our choice of clothes for the Sunday ride. Getting up at six thirty to head out it is hard to judge what the weather will be like.  As its Wales, rain is  reasonably safe bet at some point during the ride but actually the heat or lack thereof is more of a consideration.

The sun just starting to creep through...

Mike went for safety with long leggings, jacket overshoes and duvet whereas I was more optimistic in shorts and under armour with cycling shirt. The main reason for this is I have found a cycling jacket gets hot very quickly and therefore I would rather than run the risk of getting wet but staying cool on big climbs.

As a result for the trip I now have five different under armour tops ranging from arctic to nevada and a variety of shorts and leggings to try and accommodate whatever the british "summer" throws at us.

I look forward to repeatedly looking at the bag over the ten days, looking outside and thinking in time honoured fashion. "what shall I wear?"

Whatever it is hopefully the helmet hair beneath wont be repeated. :-)

Scared by my own reflection