As the evenings are getting darker we're resisting the desire to hibernate, and instead we're increasing our ranks of GoodGym runners! This week we welcomed 4 runners new to GoodGym, and 1 runner new to Oxford. Welcome Penny, Anna, Ellie, Meghan, and Stephanie; lovely to meet you all.

This week Ben was the proud wearer of the Garland of Joy - congratulations on getting to your 10th Good Deed in record time Ben!

Be-garlanded, and lit up with head-torches we set out into the night...this week heading West to the Broken Spoke Bike CoOp.

The run though Oxford Centre is beautiful with all the old buildings lit up in the evening, but a bit challenging dodging other pedestrians. We successfully made it through with no collisions and no-one separated from the group, and circling around behind the Oxford Castle we were soon at the door of the workshop.

Broken Spoke Bike Co-op are a community cycling project who teach people how to fix and ride their bikes. They also recycle and refurbish donated second hand bikes. To recycle them as responsibly as they can, they take the bikes apart into their components, reusing whatever they can.

This is where GoodGym come in: dismantling bikes is a time consuming task, and many hands make light work!

Caitlin greeted us at Broken Spoke and explained a bit about their aims for the Co-Op, then dishing out aprons, gloves and tools she put us to work. We had 5 bikes to dismantle, and pile of wheels - these were bikes and wheels which were too damaged to refurbish and get back into use, so instead they get stripped down to become spares or for the metal to be recycled. Although very few of us had ever taken a bike apart before we set to work straight away - after all you can't do much harm to a bike that's being scrapped anyway! In no time at all we had 5 bikes and 15 wheels done, and gained some confidence with bike tools - a WIN-WIN. After cleaning up post-task (top tip: add used coffee grounds to your soap to clean off bike grease) we tip-toed back out into the drizzley night for the run back to base.

Rather than run the exact same way back we took a more circuitous route. Looping round the edge of the city centre we paused at the Ashmolean Museum to use their steps for calf raises and jumping exercises (FITNESS!), then ran the reverse of the Oxford Half finish sprint, before wiggling down Queens Lane and stopping for 1 minute of wall-squatting - don't worry gang - no-one thought we looked odd ;-). Avoiding a collision with the Ghost Tour headed the other way we popped out onto High Street and zoomed back to the Cowley Road.

Broken Spoke Bike Co-Op would like to make our visits a regular thing, so keep an eye on the website for the next Good Deed there.

Is it getting cooler? I think the weather’s getting cooler. It’s still incredibly hot though, and a determined band of Islington’s GoodGymmers braved the heat to help out the Rose Bowl with a summer clear up of their outdoor space. After a quick intro by Paul Bown’s stand-in (yours truly) while he’s on holiday, the supportive group were willing to trust me with the GPS. Huge welcome to Wei (give him a cheer), who on his first group run fit right in and got stuck right into tonight’s task…

The Rose Bowl has been a key community centre for decades, with a specific focus on programmes for young people including music, sports and arts. They make some of their revenue hiring out their spaces, so keeping them looking tidy is really important. Ceri, Ops manager at the Rose Bowl described some of the activities on the site and its history and importance, and encouraged us to be ruthless with the ‘jungle’ as she described it.

This year’s particular target is the bamboo that didn’t get the hint this time last year. Difficult to get rid of, we’re helping the groundskeeper stay on top of it at least. The ground was soon covered with branches and brush, and we filled 3 large containers to the brim, with plenty piled high and ready to go next time.

A lot of sweating, lopping, sweeping and tidying later, and the group can be proud of the difference we’ve made. Ceri Is An Islington Angel - providing us with cold, deliciously cold, water, juice and those little slices of fruit that take you back to childhood, or last week if you're lucky. The refreshment stop (and the distribution of mini Oreos) slowed things down on a hot summer's night, so that the looming cloud of a sweaty fitness session soon dissipated and we just had time to get back to the Hub to stretch and share some news - the Rutland Full, Half & Marathon Relay and Yorkshire Marathon and 10 Mile Race are approaching fast though there's still time to sign up, but this week it's the (location as yet TBC) GoodGym Social this Thursday!

Thanks to everyone for supporting this newbie run leader! Thanks to back markers and gentle encouragers James, Beth and Aidan and of course Steve C for being on his best behaviour.

23 Goodgymers ran 5km and helped the Single Homeless Project move four tonnes of woodchip/mulch

Welcome along to Tom, Kate and Liam whose first time it was last night - lovely to have you along!

In the news this week:

1. Well done to Steve Coman who cycled the 120 mile Dunwich Dynamo on the weekend!
2. Good luck to Kike, and 10 other Goodgymers who are doing London Triathlon this weekend.
3. Sign up for August's Long Run here - Dom's got a great route planned!

After our intros and warm up we headed north-east over Highbury Fields and via Highbury Barn to the Single Homeless Project Hostel on Highbury New Park Road. This fantastic charity helps provide housing, support and services to homeless people. Our task this week was to move four tonnes of a woodchip and mulch cocktail from outside the house into the garden.

Armed with four shovels, two wheelbarrows and four bags an orderly cycle began - as tonnes of the stuff headed into the garden Frances pointed out where to empty it - the first focus was trees, bushes and then plants. A team of four spread the mulch around the trees etc as it came in.

More mulch please!

The size of the mulch pile was communicated in car model - from Maruti (Mulch) Suzuki, in Mini, to Jeremy Clarkson tiny car! Good comms guys. Meanwhile the rest of the team weeded, cut back overgrowth and swept up. Good work!

Over 30 minutes we made a huge difference to our Islington community - awesome sauce! Before leaving we took a super cool football serious photo :)

On our way home we did a 1km time trial around Highbury Fields - everyone was fast and furious!

I'm away for the next two weeks, next week Steve Lee will be in charge and the week after Graham - look after them.

PB out