Along with another 26999 people (of which, 7 others were from my company), yesterday I successfully completed the London to Brighton Bike Ride!

We managed to cycle the 55 miles from Clapham Common to Madeira Drive in Brighton in about eight and a half hours, and I’ve personally managed a pleasing £150 in sponsorship for the British Heart Foundation!

Despite the fact that I ache like a bastard this morning, I’m definitely going to do it next year, and hopefully raise even more!

I was quite surprised how much I’ve actually enjoyed it, and how brilliant the whole atmosphere was. I was expecting it to be just people cycling, and cycling, and cycling, and …, but it wasn’t really. The best bit was realising people were cycling down towing loudspeakers attached to an iPod and playing out their CD collections – that really cheered me up! And a big thank you must go out to the kids that lined the streets and soaked me with their water pistols – it was welcome relief in the heat!

I now know where the entire black population of Brighton go clubbing! There were so many people there wishing they were American rappers, it was hilarious. I also managed to survive the night without too much trouble.

So, in order to help anyone else out who might find themselves in this situation in the future, here’s “Mark’s Rough Guide to Not Getting A Cap in Ya Ass”:

1. Drink – It will make everything just that little bit better
2. Dance like you don’t care – You stand out like a sore thumb anyway, so you might as well enjoy it (see point 1).
3. Dance with your shoulders – Most music, you can dance by moving your hips only. To survive you need to move your shoulders in a popping motion as well. See points 1 and 2
4. Hold Your Ground – Men will dance with their back touching yours and will try to push you out the way. Stay firm. Hold your ground. They will go away eventually. May need dutch courage for this (see point 1).
5. Avoid the guys in white vests – They are huge. Or if you feel like a challenge, see point 1 first.

I guess the reason is that I have been quite busy recently. Not one thing in particular, but lots of little things here and there! So in no particular order:

• I’ve hurt my shoulder rowing
• Saw “The Darkness” the other day in Brighton – Amazing
• A particularly fabulous person bought me “Alice Cooper – Classicks” – he still rocks.
• At work, I’ve been pimped-out to the Web Development department – expect a rewrite of this site soon!
• Volunteered to do the London to Brighton Bike Ride this year – should be fun!
• It’s my birthday this Friday – Rich, doesn’t seem like a year ago you came down for my last birthday! Feel like doing it this year?
• Broken my second iPod in one year
• Bought iPod shuffle (see above! Can’t break the HDD in that little bugger!)
• Plus many more things I have forgotten about!

I’m soooo glad I went, and I definitely want to see them again!

It was absolutely amazing. It was the first time that I had been, and although I had heard stories about it, nothing compares to actually experiencing it.

The main town procession was just brilliant. The amount of effort and work these people must put in is just unbelievable. Afterwards, I went to the Cliffe Bonfire. I have never seen so many fireworks. It must be the best display that I have ever been to, and all for £5.

If you were involved, well done to you – you gave me a brilliant night out!

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Tom suggested that several of us enter a lottery to get tickets to the UK leg of the "Red Bull Air Race". Fortunately, I was lucky enough to win a vehicle ticket (i.e. the ticket is for your vehicle, not the number of people in your car!), so we decided to head along.

So yesterday, we ventured down to Longleat (a bit of a long trip), for what turned out to be quite a fun day out. None of us had any real interest in planes, but watching the pilots through those things around was pretty damn amazing.

The nightmare began at the end of the day. It took us 3 hours to get out of the car park (about a 200m journey!), and we then ended up queuing pretty much all the way to Stonehenge.

In all, the journey home took as about 8 hours! Ridiculous. It was a shame, because I actually enjoyed the day a lot, it’s just that the journey home has put a bad taint on things!

I think last night I had the best night out that I have ever had – it had to be seen to be believed, but it involved dancing like idiots and falling through a bar in Wetherspoons.

Anyway, this time, I managed to take pictures myself, so I should be uploading them later on today.

It’s called “Mound Running”, and basically, all you need to do is to find a large field, which is a big boggy, and has thousands of low, wide mounds (about 1″ high and 12″ by 24″ oval size), that are about 12″ apart – like the field at the back of the campsite I was staying on.

Then all you have to do is to run along the top, only stepping on the mounds.

I became quite good at it, and apparently it was very funny to watch. Unfortunately, no one saw fit to video it on their mobiles, so I can’t prove anything. Damn.

Lots of stories to tell, pictures to upload, that kind of thing.

Interestingly, I managed to find a pair of those sandals with the bottle opener in the sole, and took a couple of pictures, which I will try to upload. When I showed all my friends them in the shop all of them had the same initial reaction: “Wow, cool!”, and then some of them realised, and some of them I had to point out, the fact that it would just pick up all the crap that you walk in. They were rather expensive as well (£35), which I would rather just pay for a good pay of shoes, and the green and yellow ones are nasty (although they did do a nicer colour – a sort of dark khaki brown).

Anyway, I’ll post more information when I can be bothered/have the time.

I went to my first BBQ of the season on Wednesday night, very enjoyable time, but it got dark a bit quick and was a bit cold.

Unfortunately, I seem to have lost the £30 that my mates paid me back (for the food), so if anyone finds 30 quid in the Brighton area, please return it to me…. Ta.