Get A Haircut Or Get A Real Job

Bondy in a Beige Brigade shirt with a beige Jeep found in Amsterdam

I was in London this weekend, and sporting the New Zealand supporters uniform - the beige brigade shirt, went to a local pub to watch New Zealand (a.k.a The All Blacks) play England. The manager of the bar was charging 5 pound on entry, and as he was of course English, was not happy that his team was being well and truly beaten by the mighty All Blacks.

There was some light-hearted comments made by all about the relative performance of each team, and as he must have become frustrated, asked me a question loud enough so all could hear:

Bar manager: 'So, did they give you a short back and sides?'
Bondy: 'No, it is a radiation haircut'
BM: 'what????'
Bondy: 'I had a brain tumour the size of a tennis ball, as you can see from the scar, and 6 weeks of radiotherapy, which is how I got my hair cut'
BM: '...'
Bondy: 'and....you have no comeback???'
BM: '....'
[at which point the bar burst out laughing at the bar manager]

A great lead-in to the 44-12 victory to the All Blacks.

In the triathlon world, I am entered in the Nederhorst triathlon here in Holland on July 6th, which is a 500m swim/20km cycle/5km run. This is much shorter than the Monaco Ironman, but will be a great warm-up race. I also have another lead-in triathlon on 9 August on the island of Texel which is 1000m swim/40km cycle/10 km run. I can't wait to see my training come to fruition!

Incredible Hulk or Ironman?

The conflict within

After seeing the two great movies The Incredible Hulk and Ironman, I am left wondering whether or not this is an internal conflict that is happening within me since my brain operation in December and the 6 weeks of radiotherapy that followed.

My similarities to The Incredible Hulk
- Exposure to radiation

- The Incredible Hulk's name on his birth certificate is David Banner. My name on my birth certificate is David Bond


My similarities to The Iron Man
- The use of machinery and apparel to achieve great speed and distance. For example, on Sunday, I biked 110km with an average speed of 30km/hr. With the help of a friend's wetsuit, I swum 2km on Tuesday, followed by a day that included 50km of cycling.

- I am competing in the Monaco Ironman race

It was hard to avoid the existence of this conflict given that a local clothing store is even selling underwear promoting it...

So it is still not clear which one of these superheroes is going to win the fight within me, but just to be on the safe side, take the advice of David Banner:

'Don't make me angry, you won't like it when I'm angry'

Stepping It Up A Notch

As the Monaco Ironman race on September 7th draws closer, my triathlon form also continues to improve.

In swimming I was lucky enough to borrow a triathlon wetsuit from a friend of mine. Normally I would swim 1 km in 20 minutes, but with the wetsuit I swum 1 km in 17:30!

In running I am now running 4:20-4:30 min/km on a normal 10-15km run.

I was in Cesena, Italy last week for a good friend's wedding, and managed to get the opportunity to run up one of those fabled 'hills' that we don't have in Holland where I am based.

The monastery that overlooks Cesena (1733)

See the exact course that I ran by clicking the following link [be sure to click show elevation at the bottom of the map]:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/italy/47023-cesena-forlì-cesena/710564368321

My cycling is also coming along nicely with a 60km ride on Friday by myself - in true Ironman style - with an average speed of 30.2km/hr