Less than 50 days to go - more training needed.

Really need to step up the training efforts now and stop being such a fairweather cyclist!
Off tomorrow morning for a ride out to Ongar again . . .

An opportunity to say a big thank you as well to everyone who has sponsored me so far . . . I am currently running various auctions on eBay that will go towards the sponsorship money and on the 28th May I will be running a car boot stall in Hertfordshire to help raise some more. The car boot is aiming to be in the guiness book of records as the biggest ever so would be good to see some of you down there.



Big thanks also to Jon who sent me a great new top to inspire the rebith of training so I shall be riding out spotty tomorrow in the Cola Light colours. - cheers *see pic*

I am still hoping to raise 800 pounds more before the end of june so if you haven't managed to already please follow the link at the top right of this page and pledge your pennies for a worthy cause.

Back soon with aching limbs . . . .

Catching up to do

Seems like I overdid it on my first hill ride up North. Day 2 meant an easier ride out in cheshire was necessary and one which mainly avoided hills. Due to a bad knee the ride was accompanied by my dad and a small pack of ibroprofen which were taken liberally. It was a nice ride out though and we managed to get 40 miles in taking my tally up to 105 miles for day 2 so I was still quite chuffed.

Day 3 we aimed to head out and ride with the Birkenhead Noth End Cycling Club. Travelling out to the start of the ride I was struggling a little but as we headed out again into cheshire at a healthy 17-18mph my defunct knee was feeling not too bad at all and I thoroughly enjoyed riding out with a small group who were well above my standard of cycling. Must point out that for these guys it was a leisurely 60 mile club run - for me it was quite a challenge. So all went well and we stopped off for tea and cakes after about thirty miles and then made our way back towards the chester high road and finally into Pensby. . . .

About 1 mile from home my knee decided enough was enough (or the ibroprofen wore out) and I struggled to get home using mainly my left leg...

Unfortunately this meant that my personal target of 200 miles over the weekend was not going to be achieved... i did set out on sunday to try and complete the 30 miles but just 2.5 miles from home had to turn back.

Since then I have rested the knee until I felt it was ready to take another long ride.

Today I have completed my 3rd cycle into work and unfortunately the knee situation doesn't seam to have improved so I think a trip to the docs may be in order...

Bit miffed now but still might try a small ride out on saturday!!

Big thanks at this point to everyone who has sponsored me. . I am about a quarter way there with my sponsorship money and I shall soon be standing outside tescos with a silly green wig on to try and raise more. . . come on thats gotta be worth paying to see!

Tell me why I dont like Hills . . . .

So the time came round fairly quickly to my trip to the Wirral to visit the folks and begin my training in earnest. .



Woke up at 8:30 this morning. . bit of a drizzly and breezy day. . got ready and left at about 9:30 after a healthy breakfast. Today was my Hill initiation day and I was looking forward to going out on the bike into North Wales. . . Our ride started from Pensby on the wirral out through heswall along the Chester High road to a place called shotwick where we turned down and followed the dual carriageway down to the river dee and across the Flint Bridge and up to Northop. Still no hills . . . or only very little ones and we had done about 20 miles. . . we then arrived at the first Hill. Halkin Mountain (name makes it sound worse than it is but not much worse) so from riding along between 14 and 20 mph we suddenly ground to a 7mph climb . . . only for about 3 miles but what a looong 3 miles. At the top of this Hill I realised there was a new art to master and that was cycling and breathing at the same time.



At this point my excitement about the rest of the climbs we were bout to make was dwindling as I realised I was not half as fit as I hoped I was. So we climbed a bit further until we reached Rhes-y-cae. At this point the rain started and we made a quick pit stop to put on the waterproofs before making our decent.




Hills suck but descents are great - if you look at the picture above you'll notice a dip between 2 hills in the distance. From where we had just stopped we must have travelled almost half way to that dip without pedaling and although we had to keep alert flying down narrow country lanes scattered with sheep poo it was a welcome break from our 7mph climb. The descent turned super steep after about 2 miles and I found myself having to use the brakes considerably to avoid getting a bit of cross country practice along the way. After reaching the end of this heavenly descent we began another climb up between the two hills on our way towards Ruthin. At the top of this climb we had another quick rest and photo opportunity . . .




nice outfits. . . . . so after another descent which took us almost into Ruthin I was feeling pretty pleased with my progress so far . . at this point we must have done about 30 odd miles and a fair few hills. So we stopped quickly to see if there was anyone in at my uncle's (Chris, just to verify this you have a tortoise-shell tabby cat (not funny lynn) with a shiny blue collar! and a doorbell that rings twice when pushed once) . . . anyway at this point we headed off again and as we did my dad announced that I wasn't going to like the next hill. Just to get things clear. . I wasn't particularly fond of the first 3 hills which didn't seem to need an introduction to their hilliness so I was sure as hell not going to like this one.

The Bwlch is the name for this long uphill slog that nearly brought my first training ride to a grinding halt. Although not a particularly steep hill this cleverly engineered bit of road is designed to sap every little bit of strength I had left, and if a speed of 7mph felt a little bit slow and embarrassing on the first few hills then my speed on this one was nothing short of shameful. At the top of this hill I was greeted by grinning dad who seemed to have enjoyed the bwlch far too much and had to wait for me to catch him up.

We stopped here for tea and Eccles cake which I found strangely hard to consume and then started to make our way back to the Wirral and home to Pensby.

At the risk of this blog turning into a short novel the journey back consisted of lots of aching moaning and suffering amusing cramps in muscles I don't think I have ever used before. Incidentally getting cramp while being clipped in to bike pedals can have some interesting results. All in all a great initiation into hills and a good 65 mile first ride. .

Lazy derby weekend. .

Well I totally failed at this weekends training run . . after the usual 18 miles per day work commute I was determined to do an early morning ride on Saturday to top up the mileage for the week . .I failed miserably. A late wake up call meant Saturday was mainly occupied by the derby game - where my small team put in a great performance to remain unbeaten in this seasons 2 derby matches! Followed this by a quick game of badminton with my buddy Piers in the newly built sports centre at the end of the road and then reveled in England's rugby victory again with my (scottish) buddy Piers (thanks for the 20 notes) , accompanied by several cans of stella!

Sunday I didn't do much better . . . managed a morning ride into the office, and decided to come back via the canal route from islington through to the lea bridge road - big mistake. Just as I made my way onto the canal, I stopped to let some old lady past while leaning against the wall, lost my balance and unceremoniously fell to the floor still clipped in . . . ouch, dented pride..

Watched the Wales Ireland game in the afternoon whilst missing the opportunity to go out on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. So feeling guilty I got on the phone to arrange a visit home to do some training rides with my dad. (He is the the fit & healthy one in the family) So I have 4 days on the weekend of the 24th February where I can get in some serious rides - possibly in North Wales so I can get a quick initiation into hilly riding. No getting out of this one!

London to Paris. . .

Training began this weekend with a ride out from sunny leytonstone on Sunday morning towards Epping, Chipping Ongar and then returning through nice open country roads against a nice headwind, back home. . . via buckhurst hill, a round trip of about 35 miles which had me exhausted after only 2 hours 10 in the saddle. This was the second time I had made this journey - the first time being on new years eve as a test to see if I would be up for this kind of cycling challenge - if anything it seemed harder second time round. . . . (much) more training needed.

I intend to ride out the same route on saturday morning just to see if it will get any easier.

My daily commute of about 18 miles doesn't seemed to have prepared me for a ride of this length so I think I'll have to put a lot more work in!




This is my single speed bike recently bought from ebay and converted for use as a winter trainer . .

Following a blow out of my back tyre on Oxford street last night (2nd in as many weeks) I have been riding a bit more cautiously. I have resorted to keeping the back tyre pressure under 80psi until I am confident it won't happen again. . . looking forward to tomorrow morning's ride to work while we enjoy some milder weather . . .