Summer for a day! I need to oil my naked bits.

Wow! Summer arrived yesterday, 23c shorts and a short sleeved jersey and glorious sunshine, of course it didn't last and the rain arrived last night and it was only 7c when I got up this morning. This follows on from getting sunburnt on my ride on Tuesday which was not as hot but just as sunny and I was somewhat overdressed and had far too much cloting on.

Sunburn is not something that I have thought too much about, but if you are out for 4-5 hours in the heat of the day when the sun is shining it follows that you should be using some sunscreen on uncovered bits otherwise redness and pain will occur. I now have some waterproof suntan lotion "as supplied to the GB Olympic team" so fully expecting to go faster once it is applied.

Training this week has been up and down, well down and up. On Monday I could hardly turn the pedals, I just felt tired and lethargic. Tuesday wasn't a lot better on a long 66 mile ride which I "toughed it out" and by Tuesday evening I had a bit of a sore throat. Maybe I had picked up a bug. Not feeling great on Wednesday I had the day off but felt much better the following day so decided on a "hilly" 50 miler up towards some biggish hills near Beconsfield and Old Windsor. Felt good and looking at my ride data in Strava when I got back I had done PR's on all the major hills so well pleased. I will now be doing a couple of easy rides before doing an 86 mile hilly sportive around Watlington on Sunday. Aiming to average 15mph for this one.

It is now only 100 days until the Ride London event and I reached another milestone this week of 3,000 miles completed training for it. Felling confident and excited :-)

To sponsor me for the Ride London 100 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and to motivate me on those hard training rides then please visit my fund raising page.  

I need arm warmers like these.....

The last 7 days have seen my biggest 7 day mileage so far 305 to be precise and feeling pretty good on it. Todays ride was lovely, clear blue skies and thankfully the wind had died down as well. The difficulty is knowing what to wear, especially when the morning is pretty cold but getting warmer as the day goes on. Removable layers I think is the answer so I will be ordering some arm and leg  warmers that can be removed once it gets a bit toasty, I like the ones in this picture although I can't see where she will store them when she decides to take them off!

And that saddle looks much too high by the way.

Tomorrow will be a day out of the saddle for a well earned rest. There are now only 28 days to go until the London Revolution ride which will be a real test of my stamina. 185 miles over 2 days around the outskirts of London which will be my virgin century ride on day 1 - 102 miles. Day 2 includes Box Hill and the Hearne Hill Velodrome. Looking forward to it but with trepidation.

Nice Bum! Sexual harassment on the bike on route to Box Hill.

Ok, I did all my diversity training when I was at work and all the bullying and harassment courses and telling someone they have "a nice bum" would be taboo in the modern workplace.

When a pretty young girl winds down her car window and shouts "nice bum" as I'm cycling along its quite flattering! Thats' what happened to me yesterday as I got out of the saddle to ride away from traffic lights. Now before I get too carried away with myself the full phrase shouted at me was "My mum thinks you have a nice bum" which is not quite the same is it?


Yesterdays ride was a long one down to Box Hill and back. I have been a bit nervous about Box Hill for a while, I needn't have been, although you climb a fair height it is over a longish distance and the climb is a very even gradient, the roads are good and once I hit a rhythm I flew up. I could have done it faster but didn't know what to expect so kept something in reserve. Box Hill is one of those places that cyclists flock to but on a Wednesday daytime I only saw two others. A 70 mile round trip to do it was a good ride out, warm(ish) but still very windy. As the wind was coming from the South it was easier coming back than going.

Now thinking about a new bike.....here are some options

 To sponsor me for the Ride London 100 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and to motivate me on those hard training rides then please visit my fund raising page. 

Floods and protests in the New Forest!

Best laid plans went awry at the weekend when I received an e-mail from the organisers of the New Forest Sportive to say that the Sunday event was cancelled due to the weather. The event site and part of the course had been flooded but the clincher seemed to be the fact that the car park was a quagmire. Very dissapointing.

There had also been protests in the New Forest by a few locals who objected to cyclists invading "their forest" and frightening and injuring the horses and other wildlife. This seemed to have been whipped up by the local papers. On Saturday some of the protestors removed or changed the course signs, threw drawing pins on the road and abused some of the cyclists and there was one incident where a motorist drove into a cyclist. The view of the protestors was not shared by a majority of locals though, many who rely financially on events like this. It was also pointed out that in the last year 60 ponies had been killed by cars or other vehicles as against 0 by cyclists.

News Report

It never ceases to amaze me how people in our country seem so opposed to other people enjoying themselves. We saw it when the London Marathon started, the Olympics and any other event that might have some minor impact on an individuals life. "We are not opposed to people cycling, we just don't want them cycling on OUR roads" was one quote. I suggest getting a life.

Right, off my soapbox now. Instead of riding this event I decided to try out a ride with Farnborough and Camberley cycling club something I had been thinkingabout for a while, we met in Farnborough and about a dozen riders headed off towards Windsor. The pace was fast and for a while I wondered if I would be able to keep up. I needn't have worried, it soon slowed a bit and riding in a group made it easier anyway. Not sure if I will join or not, it would always mean loading the bike in the car and driving there. Why no club in Bracknell? Perhaps I'll start one.

It doesn't stop hurting - you just get quicker.

This Sunday I have my second sportive ride, 86 miles in the New Forest. Keenly watching the weather forecasts which seem to change every hour. It now looks like it will be either wet or dry, the temperature will be warm or cold the sun may or may not shine but the one thing all the forecasts agree on is that it is going to be mighty windy up to 38mph! Fine when its behind but not much fun in any other direction.  Its going to be an early start as well to get to the New Forest by 7:30am. Very much looking forward to it .

What training to do between the two sportives though? Well I needed to get last weeks ride out of my legs and make sure I didn't overdo it in advance of next weeks ride. The answer has been a recovery ride on Monday followed by couple of  mid week medium length tempo rides and an easy spin the day before. The tempo rides went really well especially the first one, I would have averaged over 17mph for the 33 mile route had it not been for getting stuck behind a sightseeing bus in Eton and then a very slow passage through Windsor due to roadworks, traffic lights and lots of heavy traffic. The effort though is still the same as it was 6 months ago when I started. The difference is I am now much quicker, in fact 25-30% quicker than when I started out I'm also getting up hills much better, it still hurts but not for as long. Losing weight also helps with the hills. This week I reached a new milestone of 12st 8lb which at my height puts me into the "Normal" BMI range for the first time in I don't know how long. All in all then its all going according to plan (what plan is that then?)

To sponsor me for the Ride London 100 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and to motivate me on those hard training rides then please visit my fund raising page. 

Confidence boost in Woking...yes Woking!

So the day of my first big test arrived on Sunday - the Evans Cycles Ride-It Sportive in Woking. For those who don't know a Sportive is a timed cycle ride where all the riders start at different times so its not a race!

The day before I went for a short 1 hour spin through Windsor Park, high cadence and easy rolling were the order of the day just to get the legs moving. Then off to Twickenham for the Saracens v Ulster Rugby match - a good game that Saracens won quite easily and I managed to stay off the beer!

The ride was obviously on my mind as I had a poor night waking at about 4am and unable to get back to sleep a mixture of excitement and anticipation. At 6:00am the temperature was -2.5c hopefully it would warm up before the start. A breakfast of porridge toast honey and homemade flapjacks plus plenty of fluids to make sure I arrived fully hydrated was the order of the day and then getting all my kit together, energy drinks, gels and of course my bike. Fortunately I only got half a mile down the road before I remembered I had left my drinks bottles in the kitchen!

Arriving in Chobham there were hundreds of other cyclists all getting ready to go. Registration was quick and easy and my timing chip was stuck to my helmet, maps, energy race pack provided so I was good to go! Feeling quite apprehensive and nervous I lined up next to some of the other riders. A short briefing on signage and we were given the ok to start.

The first few miles felt very easy especially as the adrenalin had kicked in, the trick was not to go off too fast or try to go with faster riders and then "blowing up" half way round. I hooked up with a few riders going at the same sort of speed but what I found was that as soon as we got to any sort of hill I was considerably faster and stronger and in the end eased away from them. I arrived at the first feed station feeling pretty good, stuffed a load of food down, filled water bottles and decided to go fo the long route. No turning back now! I think a majority of people had opted for the medium length ride so much of the long loop was done pretty much on my own apart from one guy who followed me for miles without attempting to share the workload. Hope you enjoyed the tow. I eventually dropped him on the climb back over the Hogs Back.

Still feeling good at the second feed station I knew I only had 23 miles to go and there was another feed station before that. I didn't really need to stop at the last feed station - but I did anyway.

Now if you are going to fall off probably best not to do it in front of all the people at a feed station. Which is exactly what I did. Failing to unclip I just gently dropped into the gutter. I have only ever done that once before. Even worse I couldn't get unclipped once I was on the ground so thanks to the other rider who came to my assistance :-). There are some occasions when you feel such a prat.

Anyway with nothing hurt apart from my pride I made the final dash to the finish and for the last 10 miles I averaged over 17mph. My official finishing time was 6hrs 17mins for the 89.3 miles and my moving time was 5hrs 50mins with an average speed of 15.3mph. You can see the route and stats of my ride here. I was well pleased with that especially as my previous longest ride was only 66 miles. I'm now full of confidence for being even faster on the closed roads of London in August.
 
 To sponsor me for the Ride London 100 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and to motivate me on those hard training rides then please visit my fund raising page. 

Will this cold weather never end!

As I sit looking out of the window pondering going for a ride today I can just see a few snowflakes floating in the wind and its 2c with a windchill that according to Metcheck makes it feel like -3c! This is April its not supposed to be that cold for goodness sake. The relentless cold spell has made motivation a bit of an issue especially for the long rides where frankly you just get too cold when out for 4 hours or more.

This weekend I have the first of several Sportive rides that I have signed up for. I have 2 choices, either a 60 mile ride or the full 90. I'm probably not quite ready for the 90 but hey, no one ever got anywhere without seeing how far they could push themselves. I think it will come down to how I feel on the day and what the weather is looking like. I know I can do the 60 so 90 would be a real test. I remember doing the first London Marathon and the advice given to first timers was "Start slow and then get slower" good advice I think.

Training wise my last two rides have been good, a "hilly" 50 miler on Monday was very good including over 2,300 ft of climbing up some hills that I wouldn't even have attempted a few weeks ago. I wouldn't say I flew up them but I got up them with something in reserve. The steepest was Kiln Lane near Bourne End which peaks at over 15% at a couple of points. Yesterday's ride was a flat 25 and very windy but I held a good pace all the way round and ended with a PR up Lily Hill Road. The saddle sores are still there but getting better - I hope!

On the nutrition front I am now a dab hand at making flapjacks, this weeks efforts taste great, made with Golden Syrup instead of Honey and with half Peanut Butter in place of just butter. Look out great British bake-off !

Having started this blog entry talking about the weather here is a picture I saw on a forum taken up in Yorkshire at the top of a pass. Perhaps we haven't had it too bad down here after all.