So since I put the 40.1mph on the clock I've calmed my riding down a bit, still the same daily occurrences with other road users, all of us battling for the award for 'most important road user' but all in all things have been steady.
Last week I had the opportunity to go away to the Howies Do lectures. Those of you who know us, or read our blog will know that Howies are very good to us when it comes to kit for riding in. Each year they donate a percentage of their profit (1% - they call it an Earth Tax) to creating a series of lectures to help folk out.
We were invited last time but sadly couldn't make it as we were launching our company! This time there was no stopping me, it was a fantastic opportunity and I met some amazing people.
Apart from some amazing lectures in a wealth of subjects
THE DO LECTURES there were some amazing people there. Each of them with their own 'Do' and a passion for making a difference. It was a very refreshing chance to speak to people with plenty of drive and energy who were doing some amazing things.
One of the lectures was about the campaign for real bread, a chap dedicated to getting people to make their own bread. Sounds daft but in fact it was incredible. Learning about what's in bread and why it's like that (to meet demand that sort of thing) and why we should make bread, share the skill and pass the knowledge on. It reminded me that I used to make bread, so for all of you out there reading this, here's a recipe to try:
450g of flour (in the super market you'll see all sorts of flour for
bread making, but pretty much you can use anything)
2 heaped tea spoons of bicarbonate of soda
350ml of beer
150ml of water
large pinch of salt
It's easy - preheat oven to 200
Sieve all the dry ingredients together, add the beer
See what it looks like, add the water bit by bit if you need to
Don't make it too wet, or too dry
It'll end up as one large bit of dough
Too wet add more flour
Too dry add more water
I do the whole thing in a large food processor
Dust a surface with flour and shape it how you want, I put mine in a loaf tin but you can just whack it on a floured baking tray
Put the whole thing in the oven for 30 mins then turn the oven down to 180 for the last 20 mins
Take out the loaf, tap the bottom, if it sounds hollow its done, if not put it back in. Mine usually looks something like this..
So all in all I had a great time at the lectures (next week they'll all be online) and returned to work refreshed. This week has seen a few changes but really the thing I'm most keen on is letting all the staff know how good they are and that without them we wouldn't have a company this great.
Have a good weekend, happy baking.
Will
We've got a student in today who's making a short film about what we're doing, he's out with Luke at the moment (following some recycling) and will be out with me later to film some cargo, then later on today he'll be back out to film the pedicabs in town. 
It means that for us there are going to be some fantastic changes, we'll be able to disconnect from the grid and rely on just the sun and the wind for our power. We'll have sunpipes to light the offices and batteries to store all the energy we need to run computers and power lights when it gets dark. 
One of these (not sooo big..)..
and then we can keep this chap here on top of the ice and not swimming in the water..
I thought it was an opportune moment to snap a bit of 'Pedicab Spirit, out riding in the blizzards, on the snow, snaking through stationary traffic, making our deliveries and collecting our recycling, nothing holding us back, no cold engines, no snowed in vehicles, just efficient bikes and procedures being operated by a team of dedicated staff determined to get the job done whatever. So whilst out and about we noticed a lot of trade waste around, uncollected, when I got back to base I checked the web and sure enough, the Council had cancelled:
The question - Do you know where you're going? The answer on a sliding 1-10 with 10 being the best possible and your answer being something like - 'We have a clear picture of where we're going along with a set of clear targets and the plans that will help us to achieve them'. Now I don't think there is anything wrong with that answer but it certainly doesn't fit with how we tend to do things and does that mean that we don't know where we are going? Not at all. In fact our major successes have been built on the flexibility to adapt to change and create new products hence our answer - 'Yes (we know where we're going) but we're going to explore a bit on the way'. Surely getting there is part of the adventure! 
We're raising some really good funds, online we have cleared £500 and I know that of the 20 team members that most have plenty more up their sleeves. If you haven't donated and want to you can do it here . On Sunday we are having a party at saxtys there will be a hog roast, plenty of fancy dress and some special prizes to be raffled! Come along, everyone is invited!
lots of lovely rosehips. They are packed full of Vitamin C and this time after the first frost they are the sweetest. My enthusiasm for a spot of foraging was rekindled at the DO lectures when I met foraging expert Yun Hilder a really interesting chap who makes the most of what nature throws his way. Whilst on the subject of the DO lectures and food I should point you towards this place the Carreg Restaurant a fantasic little place with some great food if your ever heading toward deepest Wales..
So last night was the Pride of Herefordshire awards. A chance for people in Hereford to be recognised for things they are doing, in their words...
I think with those glasses people might think he's trying to catch children in his cage..
and since I've been back I've been really busy doing things; foraging for wild food, making bread, getting involved with things, motivating myself and generally getting my oomph back as it had mysteriously disappeared (and I didn't even think it had).
You can see his talk here and if you do one thing this week I suggest you watch it. Make a brew, take 40 mins out, alone, and sit down and listen. It totally changed my view of where we are with climate change, what will happen, how we will change it and how our mindset should be in relation to it.
Sadly I don't think there's much we can do with them but we will take them down to SPOKES who will recondition them and hopefully sell them on to someone who can make use of them. Who knows maybe they might be perfect for a spot of BIKE POLO now that we have the mallets all we need to do is get some beers and a court and start playing hard
and hopefully by the time we're up to speed and playing well the apple juice we pressed on the weekend will have turned in to cider to reward out efforts!
We were invited last time but sadly couldn't make it as we were launching our company! This time there was no stopping me, it was a fantastic opportunity and I met some amazing people.
