You can say what you want...

but England on a lovely sunny day is absolutely glorious! Rolling hills and green meadows with winding country lanes where you need to dive into the hedges when a car comes past!

But I think I have to be fair here. My ride yesterday was in lovely fabulous weather but it wasn't in England but in Wales. Although we live in a village in England, Wales is very much my preferred spot to get some good cycling! I did a short 20 miles yesterday afternoon which was a very funny trip. I have a patch of country lanes which you could use repeatedly to create different routes with even the added option of some hills.

Today was another active day but not always in the saddle. I had an early morning spinning class at 6.45am and then ventured out to Liverpool, taking my Brompton along. The Brompton is such a great invention, I really fell in love with my bike! He is nifty and looks really the part. Today I was again in full office gear and made some heads turn!

A mission for tomorrow is at least a couple of bike rides. Both will probably be short again. I need to take my dog to her groomer and I have this fabulous idea of cycling there - about 6 miles - with her in her Basil dog basket. See the picture...

I need to get train tickets for another journey next week so I thought while I'm waiting for her, I can just as well cycle to Wrexham and get the tickets from the station or I can do another circular ride and fetch her on the return trip.

I have also called on some friends so do a short bike ride tomorrow after 7pm. Again it will be probably not more than 15 miles but hey, it all adds up doesn't it?

 I have a few more pictures that I would like to share with you.They were taken over the weekend when we did a ride after coming back from the CTC AGM.See the yellow rapeseed field in the background?

Out is the winter gear and in with the summer cycling pants and gloves. Whoohoo!

I still haven't decided which bike I will take. My support has offered to carry my pannier for me provided that it isn't too heavy. This afternoon I spreaded all my intended LEJOG items on the bed and carefully packed the pannier and I'm happy to say that all fits in (one pannier!).

So I can put the handlebar bag on my Dolce and take her for at least the first part of the route. I might just swap bikes when I get home on Day 6  as the big hard part has been done - through Cornwall and Devon.

Have you seen my route? I have put all the distances in both miles and kilometres as I know some of my friends and family works in metric. I will soon post the routes which are all drawn on Bikemap, on the blog as well.

At the end of May I have a Shropshire ladies cycling weekend. Nine ladies from the Fabulous Ladies CTC group are all going down to Bridges Youth Hostel for a weekend of gossip and cycling. Hopefully I can get some good mileage in that weekend apart from a few pints (I'm not drinking at the moment so this will be a bit of a bugger!)

Happy cycling!

First time for everything!

Do you remember the photo of Thunderbird that I posted a while ago? Mmm. I can hear you say. What is that again?

So to remind you, Thunderbird is my Brompton folding bike who has a happy little resting place in my dining room. Occassionally I take him out for a ride to the local village shop but nothing too seriously. Well, an ooportunity has come along and Thunderbird has been released and been used like a proper folding bike today.
I had to get to Manchester and the time was well planned to used Thunderbird as the preferred method of transport after the train.
All went well I have to say. I manage to turn quite a few heads ( I need to get used to that!) as I was on the Brompton with full office gear including high heels. I refused to wear a helmet and cars gave me a real wide berth. It was a great experience and I'm already looking for more opportunities to use Thunderbird.

My legs were still aching from Sunday's 50 mile ride. I'm sure the 30 miles I did on Saturday did play a part too, but it didn't feel like that when I started on Sunday afternoon.
However, my Sunday ride has now left me very confused. I have a lovely road bike, a very smart Specialized Dolce which I used on Sunday. With Stephen on his Trek hybrid, which he intends to use on LEJOG, and me on the Dolce, I manage to ride well in front of him on Sunday. Usually that is a sight which is very much reserved for me, with Stephen with his much stronger legs in front of me. But this time, with my better bike, I outrode him. What a GOOD feeling that was! Dare I say a bit of his own medicine??

Thoughts were racing through my head...can't he carry my one pannier and I can take my Dolce? I promise to pack light and use only one pannier...that will mean that I will be riding on my faster better bike and be able to keep up. That mean quite a lot to me. Last night I was paid a fabulous compliment when he said that I rode very well on Sunday. Ooo, that was such a good comment, coming from him :-)

In 2007 he used a small pannier system from Topeak which fits onto a road bike. I did have a look at it but it is SO small! Really too small to use, even if I pack very light.

Well, confusion continues in my cycling world so I will battle on with the decision on what I will do. I will keep you posted.

Ladies Ride to Boat Museum

It was quite disappointing when I went downstairs this morning and saw the raindrops against the window. Well, I did say last night come rain or shine I will ride today so I guess I had to be prepared for any kind of weather.

Arriving at the Kingsway Community Cafe was slow. It was spitting and I just couldn't get going. Slowly more ladies arrived including a friend from the village and when we set out, we were 6 including me.

We went out towards Ellesmere Port and then headed for the Boat Museum


A nice bowl of soup, a roll and some butter soon warmed me up. We met up with another couple of girls from the Wirral ride group and then said our goodbyes to head back home. The pictures left was taken on our ride back. The Higher Ferry picture was when I was on my own riding towards the pedestrian bridge over the Dee.


Oh yes. I met up with a dodgy character along the canal. I stopped briefly just before a bridge to allow a man and his dog through. I thought I will ask if I can access the road further along and he started to tell me which route I should follow. The only thing is that his directions were totally out and he was pointing in the wrong way. I decided to follow my own sense (just as well as I was right after all). When he realised that I'm not going to follow his directions he became a bit abusive and said 'Well, follow your own silly route. Is that a SATNAV on your bike?" I didn't want to admit to the Garmin on my bike (Hey, it is worth a few hundred pounds) so I said no. But as soon as I started moving (carrying my bike up the steps from the canal towards the road) the Garmin made a noise as the movement sensors kicked in.
"Oh" he said " is that your phone?" I decided to agree on this. I really didn't want to become a crime statistic. I was all by myself along this canal with this man and he was far too interested in my Garmin for my liking!

I was soon on my way and pedalled like hell!!

Weekend plans

So roll on weekend!

Reading other people's blogs is very interesting but is also very demoralising at the same time. I have few that I follow. One particular blog is that of Jenny and Alan who is also starting LEJOG on the same day as us. Here is their blog link:  http://alan-jenny-lejog2010.blogspot.com/

Jenny and Alan are training hard. No, I mean they are training REALLY very hard. They have done several long distance rides over weekends (breaking the psychological barrier stuff distances) and is now concentrating on shorter rides, but faster. In the week they also go to body pump and spinning classes. I am absolutely in awe about their dedication and training schedule!
The sad thing is that Jenny/Alan is much younger than me and Stephen (well, they look much younger on the pictures I have seen), they will have road bikes (we have hybrid bikes, so ours are a tiny bit heavier) and we will be carrying all our own luggage whilst they use a company called Bike Adventures http://www.bikeadventures.co.uk/ who will be supporting them along their way - carrying their luggage and ensure a comfortable stay every night.
Unfortunately we didn't have that kind of funds available (the camping option for one person is £795 - that is the cheapest option). Basically Jenny and Alan have everything in their favour, they just have to turn up and pedal! AND they are VERY fit. I'm in an absolute panic when I read their posts as it just emphasise how little prep and training I have done so far.

Tomorrow is another CTC Ladies ride, this time to the Boat Museum near Ellesmere Port. I intend to cycle up to the meeting point and also cycle back home (obvious I guess if I cycled up) which will increase my ride distance tomorrow by 13 miles (6.5mi one-way). Stephen intend to do a 28mi route which he plotted tonight on www.bikemap.net . I bought him a Garmin Edge 705 with heart rate monitor and cadence sensor as an anniversary gift. I couldn't think of anything better (I have one of these too - bought it 3 years ago) to give him. So he is going to use his Garmin tomorrow for the first time to navigate him on his plotted route.

Hopefully both of us will have some mileage done tomorrow afternoon - even if it is just 30 miles I will be happy. I will do some Twitter updates as we go along and also upload some photos when I'm back home.

There is just 5 weeks left in which I need to get fitter and faster and lighter. This will be the most challenging 5 sporting weeks of my life!

Ness gardens...

OUCH!! My upper legs and my knees hurt and it was only 32mi today. I have to add that it was against a terrible north westerly wind for the journey to Ness but it was a bliss coming back. We managed to cut a whole 15min off our journey time. At one time I was pedalling at 25mph down along the Dee whilst my companion whizzed past at 31mph!! That was on the way back though...

Tomorrow seems like a no go as the wind will increase and stay a north westerly. Maybe a run will do just fine...

And May has arrived...!

Finally I'm back home.

The last two weeks were really hectic. A couple of days in Northallerton which was followed by a full five days in Southend-on-Sea disrupted my training schedule severely.

I tried to use every opportunity last week - from walking to the venue to a couple of runs in the morning and using the stairs instead of the lift in the hotel - but overall the progress was miserable.


The picture below is one I took last week of the dedicated cycle lane running past the Civic Centre in Southend-on-Sea.

Well, I'm back home now and we are planning a bike ride this morning after a stint in town. I went with the girls' group to Ness Gardens in the Wirral and thought that it was a great ride to do. So after town, we will go off and cycle the route up to Ness.

Have a lovely bankholiday Monday!

Business away...

Two weeks in a row I have now been away on business. Last week I've been away two nights to Northallerton and this week I'm away for 5 days to Southend-on-Sea.

All of this has got a very detrimental effect on my training. Sitting down for most of the day and usually just following the crowd for having a meal, it is quite a struggle to maintain a good balance between being hungry and not being hungry. It is also a REALLY big struggle to get some exercise build into my day. I've resorted to running and walking 1.1mi from the hotel to the venue. I managed to do a return walk yesterday but only a single walk this morning. By the time we finished it was well past 7pm so we were shattered and wanted to go for dinner to get back to the hotel.

The weather is really nice. I went for a run yesterday morning but failed miserably this morning. I decided to do a lie in instead which wasn't good for many reasons. The sun was beautiful streaming through the curtains and if it wasn't for my laziness I was out there. I have to admit: I have some places today on my legs which feels like they have been exercised! So I did something good yesterday!

One of the things which I was impressed about was Southend-on-Sea's cycling provision. I have to admit I haven't seen a huge amount but the bit in the centre of town is great. They have a segregated cycling lane running past the Civic Centre which is very well used. There are also great crossings for cyclists across very busy streets which is excellent. I will post some pictures very soon.

Hopefully another short run tomorrow morning and looking forward to trying to avoid eating :-)

Wirral Belles Breast cancer ride to Ness gardens

The day started really awful. I set off from home well in time but got a puncture just after crossing Higher Ferry bridge. This was SO annoying as I had the day all planned out and I could just see how everything is fizzling away. A quick call home and my mechanic arrived, fixed my puncture, put me and my bikie in the car and headed for Bache station where I was meeting a few others of the group. I rushed to the platform to buy a ticket from a machine which screen you could hardly see in the sunlight whilst my mechanic offloaded the bike and put the wheel back on.

Lots of fun on the train as Jo didn't know she couldn't buy a ticket on the train anymore and had to jump on without a ticket - the manager was in the other coach so a bit of trauma involved!

When we arrived at Port Sunlight, the group that was gathering there was about 17 strong, so all together 20. We set off in marvellous sunshine just after a photo ceremony and lots of pink balloons were tied to the bikes.

 The ride to Ness Gardens was just 8mi so really no distance at all. Arriving there we parked the bikes and got some tea, coffee and cakes from the shop. It is really a lovely place and worth a visit if you are in the vicinity.

The masterplan was to cycle back home rather than getting back on the train so that I can get my mileage in - I did that and arrived home with 29mi on the odo and 1305cals burned! Great stuff!
The route back was excellent. I managed to find the cycle route that goes along the dual carriageway easy and cycled half of the way on a segregated bike path - bliss!

Hopefully I can do another short ride tomorrow as it seems that the weather will definitely play along. I'm off to Northallerton on Monday afternoon for two days and I'm thinking of hooking my bike up on the trailer and take it with for a quick ride - maybe I should just take the Brompton along. My lovely bike has finally arrived - see the picture so I can now be mobile where ever I want!

Meet Thunderbird in its folded position. Lovely colours, not so?

Beautiful daffodils just outside Dodleston

What a lovely sight when you come around the bend at Dodleston. Spring is the loveliest season to cycle but unfortunately also the shortest.

This weekend saw me going along the East Cheshire lanes and also dipping into the North Welsh hills. I certainly felt yesterday that I've done some good cycling on Saturday as my upper legs felt a bit tired. I guess the best would be to go out today for another ride, sometime late this afternoon.

Some of the local news this morning is that a cyclist has been killed yesterday afternoon in North Wallasey, which is close to Liverpool. So sad. It was such a great day for cycling.

A great cycling weekend

This was a brilliant cycling weekend and cyclists all over were out enforce. I had two great rides: one on Saturday with the local women's CTC group and again on Sunday morning - weather too good to be missed.

The picture here is of one of my three bikes, the one which I will use to do LEJOG on. She is my Specialized Vita Sport and a fabulous bike. Light and great gears.

I briefly stopped outside my village to take some pictures of the Daffodils that are out and took this lovely picture of my bike.

Tomorrow's ride! I did 27.5 miles today with the local CTC Fabulous Ladies group which was great. We had stunning weather and I hope tomorrow will be the same.

Cycling coaching

I've been debating for a while whether to get a coach/Personal trainer or not. Well, reality has set in and I'm not as flush as I thought I am. I still need to save for the upcoming bike ride - meals and so on - so I'm taking it the easy way.

I ordered a few books...Oh dear, I can hear you say...and will be trying this on my own. Well, it is a journey, isn't it?

Without taking anything away from any other good books there might be out there, I thought I will share with you what I found. I ordered four:

1. Weight Training for cyclists by Ken Doyle and Eric Schmitz
2. The Long distance cyclists' handbook (second edition) by Simon Doughty
3. The time-crunched cyclits - Fit, fast and Powerful in six hours a week by Chris Carmichael and Jim Rutberg
4. Bicycling magazine's Training Techniques for cyclists edited by Ben Hewitt

I found all of them useful in some sort of way, particularly the first two and have now devised a training programme consisting of weight training and distance cycling for the next 9.5 weeks till the Big Ride.

I'm happy to share it and will be posting it here if I can work out how to paste an excel spreadsheet so that it still looks the part!! I will try and scan it as a picture, hopefully that will work.

The programme is an ideal so I will strive to get this done as it is set down but if I can't make it on a day due to work commitments I'm not going to sulk about it, but try to catch up later.

I have set up power, strength and core weight training programmes from the first book which complements the actual cycling done in a week, again happy to share those individual programmes if you want.

Ok!! Here we go above, it seems to have worked. Now to get the cycling going...

30 Miles of Devon !!!

The planned ride was for 50 miles. Who were we kiddin' ???! We set out in good weather but fate was against us. My mum-in-law was taken ill yesterday and is in hospital. So our ride was very much decided by the hospital visiting hours.

The hills were absolutely awful. They were just everywhere and constant! To think that on our second day on LEJOG we have to negotiate this twice over.

Arrival at Killerton saw us too early for the teashop which was a pity. I really needed my cup of tea at that moment. We made the decicion to turn around, take the same route we came on and see if we can improve our average speed !

If you are interested, the details are on the map above. When I'm back home I will be so much more appreciative of the North Wales hills !!

To coach or NOT to coach!?

I'm seriously thinking about getting a proper coach. This is a massive challenge and I want to do the best I can to make it successful including the BEST prep.

Although I've ordered some good books on cycle training, especially endurance training, I feel I need to sign up to a good coach. Reading in a Cycling mag very recently I came across an article on coaching and that everyone could benefit from a coaching session. There are a couple of coaches quite close to where I live and maybe I should knock on their doors. I know it won't come cheap but a proper cycling coach will be better than a 'normal' PT coach...what do you think? Comments SERIOUSLY invited!

Spring 50 Sunday 28 March 2010

Spring 50 Tourist Trial

What a difference a day makes! Looking out of the window the skies are grey and it is raining. Yesterday seems so far away although my aching legs remind me that is happened very recent!

I've just downloaded the stats from the Garmin to check on what actually happened yesterday and it is a real mix. For those who haven't read my post from last Sunday, we did a dummy Spring 50 last Sunday and comparing it now with the real thing looks interesting.

Last sunday average HR: 147
Yesterday: 157

Max speed last sunday: 33.8
Yesterday: 32.8

Something which I did last Sunday was not stopping the Garmin when we sat down for lunch, and yesterday I did do that, so technically I messed up as my averages and my overall time is now skewed with stopping time. Grrr! Seems that I will have to cycle this 50mi again to get the right measuremets to see if I have improved. Well, I guess that would be a good thing and there are still Saturdays and Sundays left.

I'm urgently looking for some training plans that can help me train for the next two months. I have the commitment, I just need the tools. Can anyone advise me of good plans / books that would help with endurance and weight training for cyclists?

I will post the map and detail of the ride seperately as it seems I can't use Firefox!

How much can you do on your own?

My exercise yesterday was my lunchtime spinning class, taken by a really good PT instructor who I've known for several years. I guess he is about as old as I am or maybe even older. Why I'm mentioning this is to indirectly say that he isn't one of these youngsters that you get at the gyms. Don't take me wrong, I have nothing against the young ones but I have a bit more respect for someone who is older than the average trainer but is still a very good PT instructor and who is keeping his body in tip-top shape.

We all know that as you get older your body slows down, even for men and it takes more and more to get and keep those flabby bits off.


I had this brilliant idea whilst I was spinning away during the session to ask him about PT sessions, so after the class I plucked up courage and went over where he was packing his stuff away. To say that I was shocked was putting it mildly! The sessions starts at £30 per session and if you buy bulk (7 sessions) then it is £10 off. I have to admit I don't know anything about PT sessions so maybe this is the going rate but I didn't know it was that much. I politely took his number and said I will get back to him. He said that a session isn't just an hour. It is more like 2 or 3 hours so it might be worth it.

Back in the cloakroom I started pondering about this and finally decided that it might be a very good idea but only if we can do it my way. What I have in mind is 7 sessions, one per week which enables me to build onto the base that he is setting during the PT session and that would also not be so hard on my purse. My time also doesn't allow me to have more than one session per week. I haven't yet spoken to him but will present this idea soon and see what he says...

I know that £200 is quite expensive but hey, there is only so much you can do on your own. I have now been training since 1 February and I'm still not riding the bike as quick and easy as I would like, thinking that I'm not probably in my 7th week of training? Remember my earlier post on the LL diet that I couldn't do due to the rigid way they structure it? I was then thinking that all the money saved (£66 per week) could buy some PT sessions!

My cautious nature has however kicked in and I'm already thinking maybe I should only buy one session as a taster and see if I like it before splashing out on 7 sessions and depart with £200. What if I don't like it or think it is not for me? Maybe I can ask him for a taster session, maybe at a reduced rate? I don't want to come across as too cautious though. Remember I will be at his mercy when I'm exercising and he will definitely stretch me far!

I will give him a ring tomorrow (too busy today; on the train to London and his number is at home anyway) and speak to him, setting out what I want...be firm!

Hopefully I can step my training up a gear. I'm sure coming 12 June I will not regret the efforts I've made to get fit.

Sabotage!!! and good news...

Regret is a big 6 letter word. I'm really annoyed with myself. Evertime when things are on track I seem to be losing it. Well, seem is putting it lightly. I AM losing it!!

Let me start with the good news first. I've done a whopping 51 miles on Sunday.

We've decided to cycle the upcoming Spring 50 last Sunday. The actual event is this coming Sunday so we thought we'll do it to check the route and also use it as a training event. My average cycling speed was only 10.6 mph which is a bit ridiculous. 
However, in defence I may add that there were many hills and total elevation gain was 650m which is enough for a 50 mile route. It was quite a difficult route to do and I struggled for most of the way. Quite silly really. The feeling to get back home was absolutely great though!

What is nice is that I now have a benchmark for next Sunday.Hopefully I can do a bit better. The picture on the right has a distant cyclist in it...my LEJOG partner!

So why am I losing it? Well, weight-loss is at a standstill but has nothing to do with plateaus or anything like that. Purely me that is sabotaging my own success which is such a shame. Sunday's effort made me drop at least a couple of lbs but only to be ruined by me not sticking to my diet yesterday and also having some wine (when I vowed NOT to drink in the week!). I had a spinning class this morning which was then missed due to feeling way too lazy to get up. So an opportunity to burn 500cals this morning totally missed...

I'm struggling to focus and find it quite tough. Has anyone got some tips perhaps??


Below are my results.

Uncategorized Running Street Running Track Running Trail Running Treadmill Running Cycling Cyclocross Downhill Biking Indoor Cycling Mountain Biking Recumbent Cycling Road Cycling Track Cycling Fitness Equipment Elliptical Indoor Cardio Indoor Rowing Stair Climbing Strength Training Hiking Swimming Lap Swimming Open Water Swimming Walking Casual Walking Speed Walking Transition Swim to Bike Transition Bike to Run Transition Run to Bike Transition Other Backcountry Skiing/Snowboarding Boating Cross Country Skiing Driving Flying Horseback Riding Inline Skating Motorcycling Mountaineering Paddling Resort Skiing/Snowboarding Rowing Sailing Skate Skiing Skating Snowmobiling Snowshoeing Whitewater Kayaking/Rafting Wind/Kite Surfing

Geocaching Fitness Recreation Race Special Event Training Transportation Touring Uncategorized

Time:

04:52:28

Distance:

51.85 mi

Elevation Gain:

650 m

Calories:

2,451 C

CTC Ladies ride on Saturday 13 March

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

What a great cycling weekend this was! First on Saturday, doing a 10mi ride with the local CTC Ladies (see attached link for details) and then on Sunday, doing a great run of 30.4mi down to Malpas in Cheshire. My legs were aching when I got back home and I can still feel the sore this morning. We had to battle a bit of wind, especially on our way back yesterday so it wasn't a straight forward nice ride. We were determined to go out 'whatever the weather', and were very pleased with ourselves when we managed to finish what we set out to do.

I burned a brilliant 471cal (10mi) and 1451cal (30.4 mi) on Saturday and Sunday. There was a huge hill just outside Malpas which gave us some good exercise! Tonight is another spinning class and my legs will probably complain but I do think they need it to 'unwind'.

 My LEJOG partner outside the Red Lion Hotel Garage (interesting name, sin't it?)

I've received a Dutch cycling newsletter this morning from the Fietsberaad people and they mention a good piece of cycling research that was done amongst European cities called 'Bicycle policies of the European cities: continuous and integral' . The document can be found here: http://www.fietsberaad.nl/library/repository/bestanden/Fietsberaad_publicatie7_Engels.pdf

Don't worry! It is in English. It is a document worth reading and will give you some thought about what can be done here and elsewhere.

Happy cycling!

My new Thule 3 bike carrier

I promised a photo of the new bike carrier and here it is: The only difference is that mine can load 3 bikes where this picture is only a 2 bike carrier.

The carrier can tilt forward to enable you to open the boot and it rests on the towbar ball. As it has its own lights at the back, my car made a new different sound whenever I had my indicator on. Quite funky!!

Fitter Faster Harder Stronger !

 I think I'm getting fit...slowly! I have come to this conclusion at around 8am this morning after doing my early morning 45min spinning class where I've struggled to burn more than 300cals and before you say I haven't made a big enough effort - I did!

I read yesterday that Lance Armstrong's resting heartrate is only 32 - 34 beats per minute! Imagine how much effort he needs to put in to burn about 500cals at that heartrate. So the bigger and slower you are, the more cals you burn and someone who is getting fitter needs to put in extra effort to reach the same rate. Or do I have it wrong here??

I had a wicked gym session yesterday by doing 30min gym work which included weights and core training, then 75min of spinning. The grandtotal of 705cals was logged!! Unfortunately I am not shifting any weight at the moment which is a bit demotivating. According to my plan I was supposed to have dropped a stone by now and go below 11st but this is not happening. I'm slightly annoyed and slightly upset but not too much. I measured my waist last night and since 1 Feb I've lost 3.5 inches. That means I've lost an inch during March, when my weight seemed to have stabilised.

I know all about muscle vs fat and if you get to look leaner your weight doesn't always move down. I have one of these fancy Tanita scales which measures body composition and according to that my bodyfat is still the same as it was 4 weeks ago. Annoying!! I bought the scales about 18 months ago and since I bought it, it has calculated my body age at 58. That is probably my biggest motivator, to get that down to my own age and maybe even go younger ;-)

I have a no training day tomorrow coming up due to work and will be doing a lovely Ladies bike ride on Saturday, although it will be a short one.

Talking of short...I am quite short at 5ft 3 and the bike carrier we have is something which carries the bikes on top of the car roof. That is impossible for me to manage so I have had a look for several months now for something else and found it. It is a lovely bike carrier which uses a towbar and looks like a little trailer from behind. Only problem is that my car hasn't got a towbar...until today. I've taken the plunge and is fitting (now!) a towbar onto my car and will also be driving away with a lovely new Thule bike carrier capable of carrying 3 bikes, could be upgraded to 4. I will get a picture up soon for you to look at.

This carrier is quite cool as it also tilts forward if you need to get into your boot and it is also lockable which included the bikes, so you can stop at Services and pop in without being afraid that someone will nick a bike from your carrier.

Back to weight issues...I will give myself till end of March to lose my remaining lbs to get down below 11st and then use April and May to lose the last stone. That should be slow enough weight loss. I need to stay focussed, drink plenty of water (it did slip these last wto weeks), stay away from carbs and maybe work on some different exercises like running instead of just spinning.

Thanks for reading!

'Hub' to encourage cycling opens in Stockton-on-Tees

'Hub' to encourage cycling opens in Stockton-on-Tees

Great initiative!!

Helmet hair and perspiration prevent women getting in the saddle!

This is just such a true piece of research. That is why at CTC we don't enforce the use of cycling helmets. If you look at the Cycle Chic web blogs it is fabulous how well women can look on bikes, without being in lycra!

Helmet hair and perspiration prevent women getting in the saddle

Despite the gold medal winning success of British female cyclists in Beijing, research commissioned by Cycling England reveals that many women are missing out on the benefits of regular cycling due to concerns about post-cycling appearance.

Men are still three times more likely to cycle than women. Today’s poll suggests that the perceived effect of cycling on appearance, together with a lack of confidence in cycling on the road, is behind this gender imbalance. Two thirds (64%) of women say they never cycle and just 2% cycle every day.

Women are three times more likely to cycle indoors on an exercise bike (14%) than to work (4%). When it comes to cycling to work, it seems that fear of being anything less than well groomed in front of colleagues is an off-putting factor. Among 18-34 year old women:



* 58% wouldn’t want to arrive at work sweaty
* 50% would be worried about getting wet in the rain
* 38% wouldn’t want to have to carry a change of clothes
* 38% say there is nowhere to shower at work
* 27% would be concerned about ‘helmet hair’
* 19% wouldn’t want colleagues to see them without make-up or stepping out of the office shower



Although concerns about appearance are most prevalent in the 18-34 age group, they are replicated across women of all ages.

Safety concerns are also a factor: 53% of women say that safety is an issue and 42% say they lack the confidence and skills to cycle on the road. When asked what would make them feel more reassured about cycling on the roads, a quarter (26%) would consider cycling if there were shower facilities to freshen up at work and 16% would be more likely to cycle if they had received proper cycle training to equip them with skills and confidence.

Phillip Darnton, Chairman of Cycling England, said: ’It’s very worrying that we have such a gender imbalance when it comes to cycling in this country. Women, and in particular mums, have a key role to play in encouraging greater take up of cycling in general – so it’s vital we get more women on their bikes. This research highlights some of the perceived barriers that prevent more women cycling, such as showers in the workplace. Our 17 cycling towns and cycling city, Bristol, will be working hard to make cycling more appealing to everyone’.

‘Concern about safety is understandable but we need to remember that on-road accidents are in long term decline. Cycle training is key to getting more people cycling more safely, more often. Bikeability - the new cycling proficiency scheme for the 21st century - is predominantly marketed to children but I would urge anyone keen to develop their cycling proficiency to take up this training.’

When it comes to female cycling, the UK is behind mainland Europe where male and female cycling rates are broadly equal. A number of initiatives are now in place to inspire and encourage more women and girls to take up cycling. Exeter-based Emma Osborne, a Sustrans Bike It Officer, has run a successful project called Beauty and the Bike to show teenage girls that cycling has a key role to play in looking and feeling good.

Emma Osborne said: ‘Cycling from A to B doesn’t have to mean you arrive dishevelled at your destination. In fact cycling is one of the best things you can do to promote health and wellbeing. Cycling doesn’t have to be a race – you can take it at your own pace without having to work up a sweat or don Lycra cycling wear.’

‘Women who cycle regularly look and feel great, and with increasing numbers of celebrity female cyclists looking chic on a bike, we hope more women will feel inspired to take to their bike and feel the benefits of choosing to travel in an active way.’

To find out more about Bikeability visit www.bikeability.org.uk



For further information contact:
Jo Dyson / Sophie Stringer/ Gill Corish
Tel: 020 7260 2700 Email: cycling@bluerubicon.com
About the Research

The research was conducted for Cycling England by YouGov, who interviewed 1,099 women, online between 11th and 13th August 2008. The men cycling three times as much as women statistic is taken from the Department for Transport National Travel Survey, 2005.
About Cycling England

Cycling England is an independent, expert body funded by the Department for Transport to promote the growth of cycling in England. Further details about Cycling England’s work programme can be found at www.cyclingengland.org.uk
About Bikeability

Bikeability is cycling proficiency for the 21st century, designed to provide children with the on-road skills they need to handle modern traffic conditions. It was launched in March 2007. Further details about Bikeability can be found at www.bikeability.org.uk
About Bike It

Further details about Bike It and the Exeter-based Beauty and the Bike scheme can be found at www.sustrans.org.uk

What a bugger!!!

My site has been hijacked by another site called:http://julia-89.blogspot.com/ !!

And it was the countdown ticker!! I haven't been to my blog for the last few days so I'm not sure when this happened but tonight, when I wanted to blog, this site above 'took over' my blog everytime when I opened it. And it just keeps try re-directing you to where you could 'earn money'. DON'T USE THE COUNTDOWN ticker!

Anyway....where was I before all of this stupidness started...??

Oh yes, I wanted to say that I'm on a plateau. Now I'm not sure which plateau that is but I'm stuck on weight at the moment but will try my hardest to move some this week.
Last week was a mess with all my driving. I was almost everywhere: Melton Mowbray, Manchester, Nottinghamshire, London, York and Northallerton. Too much driving for one week I would say.

It is SO difficult to keep a diet going when you are constantly on the road and is relying on meeting refreshments to keep you going. I could hardly turn up with my slimfast shake now could I?

I didn't do any spinning at all. The best I did was was my bike ride on Tuesday which was ok I guess. Oh yes and I did go to the gym yesterday but it was a measly 450 cals I burned and that was just core training and treadmill.

My next spinning class is tomorrow morning early, 6.45am. But that will mean a good start to my week and a great opportunity to get back on the spinning bike.

My 'tour' cycling jerseys arrived on Friday!! Here are a couple of pictures:





It is a pity that it is still so cold. It does mean that I won't be able to wear the cycling jersey by its own for (quite) a while!

Oh, and just to rub it in...:-) My total weight loss for February was 9 lbs!

Vote Bike!!

1002_VB_Manifesto_Design(1)_.pdf (application/pdf Object)

CTC Birthday rides

CTC Birthday Rides: Join CTC Cornwall for a week of rides and social events 10/02/2010

The annual Birthday Rides are an established part of CTC’s rich history. First held in 1970, when CTC decided to run a week-long cycling holiday as a build up to the CTC Centenary in 1978, the formula now sees CTC member groups invite guests to camp or lodge with them for a week, and share their favourite rides, scenery and tea stops. The event is based at a fixed centre with the venue moving around the country each year.

In 2010, the Birthday Rides will be based on the south coast of Cornwall, near Falmouth. Between Thursday 19th and Wednesday 25th August, CTC Cornwall invite you to share:

-A choice of four road rides per day to suit all ages and abilities – from rides for familes of 10 to 20 milers, to rides for the more experienced cyclist from 60 to 80 miles. Rides are self-led, so you can choose when to leave and who to ride with, and route sheets for each ride – including tea stops – are provided;

-An option of half-board or self-catering accommodation in 3 star en-suite flats at the Combined Universities of Cornwall (near Falmouth) with laundry, bike store, shop and sports facilities; or camping nearby at Penryn Rugby Club with hard standing for motor homes;

-A full social programme including an optional boat trip on the River Fal and coach trip to the Eden Project; evening entertainment including film screenings, hog roast and ceilidh, and the annual Birthday Tea taking place at Pendennis Castle.

In conjunction with the Birthday Rides, ‘A Taste of Kernow’ 200, 100 and family 50km Audax rides will be taking place on Sunday 22 August.

For further information, please visit www.ctcbirthdayrides.org. An early bird discount applies to bookings made before 10 April 2010.

Notes for editors:

CTC - the UK’s national cyclists' organisation, with 70,000 members and affiliates in 250 clubs across the UK, is the oldest and largest cycling body in the UK, established in 1878. We provide a comprehensive range of services, advice, events, and protection for our members and work to promote cycling by raising public and political awareness of its health, social and environmental benefits. For more information see www.ctc.org.uk.

The end of February

And here we are at the end of February 2010. It has been a four week journey and so far I think, it has gone very well.
I have lost a total of 9lbs in February, having started at 11st11 and weighed in today at 11st2. Whoohoo!! My bodyfat percentage dropped as well which I am really pleased about.
I have lost 4% of body fat which is really great.

I'm just back from a spinning class and burned 323 cals. That was the lowest so far for a spinning class. On average it is above 500cals.

Well the days to doing LEJOG is really getting low now. 102 days is really not much at all, so a slight panic is setting in. I've still got SO much to do!!

This week will be particularly challenging. I'm out all week except for Tuesday when I will try and do a double spinning class, one early morning and one in the afternoon, after 5pm. Apart from keeping up with my exercise, it is always a challenge to take my diet with me where I go. And if you are most of those hours in a car or on a train, it is difficult!

We are planning our summer holidays. Inevitably it includes some cycling! The CTC (Cycling Touring Club) is having their annual birthday rides in Cornwall this year which really appeals. Lodging will be in Penryn at Exeter Uni campus and will be over 6 days. Each day has a choice of 4 bike rides with a variety of distances to cater for everyone. In the evenings are good entertainment and breakfast and dinner are included in the price. Now to find the money to go...!

I have no further news on my Brompton which is a bit disappointing. I was promised a phone call to sort of give me an idea of when the Brompton will be ready but nothing came yet. My bike voucher has arrived about a week ago and it has a deadline of 60days on it. I phoned the bike dealer to let them know and they told me that they don't think there will be a problem. So watch this space!

BikeBritain - Coming August 2010

BikeBritain - Coming August 2010 Seems ok. Tickets are a bit pricey!

Cough cough

I'm ill.

What a disappointment. I started to feel unwell on Saturday midst my prep for my schooldays party and it has now really progressed to a full-blown cold. I woke up in the middle of last night with runny eyes and nose. There was no chance of me going back to sleep so I spent most of last night, well between 1am and 4am, watching ice-skating from Vancouver. It was really beautiful stuff but it was also a very lonely time. You can (almost) hear yourself breathe! Nobody else is awake and you know that! Everyone else is sleeping (snoring) away and here you sit and feel sorry for yourself.

Well. It certainly interrupted my training. I was due for a double spinning session today, one this morning and one this evening but being sensible, I cancelled. Another wasted day. Urghh.

Due to work commitments, I won't be able to go to any spinning tomorrow either but hope to go on Thursday.

On another note, I was invited to submit interest to attend the Copenhagen Velo-City 2010 conference in June. What a shame, but I will have to skip it as I will be in Scotland that time cycling the last few legs of the LEJOG.

I've submitted the link and description to the conference below, it really looks like a fabulous opportunity! I hope a lot of UK planners go so that we can get real cycling provision in the UK.

www.velo-city2010.com

www.velo-city2010.com

For those who don't yet know about this wonderful opportunity!

Velo-city Global 2010 - Different Gears, Same Destination
World’s largest Global Conference on Cycling

Copenhagen, June 22-25, 2010

Networking Across Disciplines, Countries and Cities - 2nd Announcement out now!

The European Cyclists' Federation, the City of Frederiksberg and the City of Copenhagen are excited to invite you to the first ever VELO-CITY GLOBAL 2010, a conference that brings together city- and transport planners, decision makers, cycling experts, NGOs and researchers from all over the world to discuss the potential and challenges of cycling.

We believe that the time is ripe to explore and unleash the potential of the bicycle as a tool in tackling global challenges like obesity, pollution and congestion, not least in the cities, where more than 50 % of the world’s population live. Velo-city Global 2010 will serve as a platform for the exchange of knowledge, research and ideas and experiences across borders. Already now we have confirmed Janette Sadik-Khan, Jan Gehl and John Whitelegg as plenary speakers and more contributors from around the world will be announced soon.

Government outlines vision for an active England

News : NDS



The Government wants to see access to cycle training for every child, creating a generation of new, safe cyclists according to Transport Minister Sadiq Khan.

This is one of the aims of the 'Active Travel Strategy' - published today - which outlines plans to put walking and cycling at the heart of local transport and public health strategies over the next decade.

The other aims of the strategy include:

- Every major public sector employer to be signed up to the Cycle to Work Guarantee

- Cycle parking at or within easy reach of every public building

- Sufficient secure bike parking at every rail station

- Local authorities introducing 20mph zones and limits into more residential streets to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists

FT.com / UK - Early boost for English cycling scheme

FT.com / UK - Early boost for English cycling scheme

A programme to encourage cycling in six English towns has led to an early rise in the number doing so similar to that seen in the first years of London’s cycling boom, the government body responsible for the initiative will say on Tuesday.

The results suggest the six cycling demonstration towns could see long-term increases similar to those in the capital, where the number of bicycle journeys has more than doubled since 2000, according to Cycling England.

The six towns and cities – Aylesbury, Brighton, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lancaster – saw an average 27 per cent increase in the number of trips made by bicycle between April 2005, when the scheme started, and April 2008.

The increases come against a background of gradual long-term decline in cycling in England outside London as car ownership rises and growing traffic deters cyclists.

Phillip Darnton, chairman of Cycling England, warned it could take a considerable time for the towns to see a change in travel habits on the scale of ­London’s.

“I do think that people have to be entirely realistic about the scale of the behaviour change we’re talking about,” he said.

From 2005, the six towns and cities – chosen from 31 local authorities that originally applied – started investing about £10 per person annually to encourage cycling, compared with a normal annual spend of 70p per head elsewhere. The extra spending – about £14m across the six authorities – was funded equally by Cycling England and the local government.

Local authorities had initially assumed that they should encourage cycling by providing new facilities, Mr Darnton said. But Cycling England had argued against that, focusing instead on training.

The organisation urged each town to provide cycle training to children to encourage them to cycle to school and to focus on encouraging other potential cyclists such as students, employees of large companies, women and families, and those travelling to ­stations.

The biggest increase over the three years was in Darlington, where the number of trips made by bicycle increased 57 per cent, while cycling levels in Aylesbury rose only 2.4 per cent.

The programme is set to be extended to more towns, and Bristol was chosen last year as England’s first cycling city.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010.

Results!

1136 cals on my double spinning session yesterday!! I meant to be going till 800 but went passed it and felt good so I kept going.

It was great!!

National Cycle Plan to be paired with Active Travel Strategy Bike For All >> The essential resource for everyone who cycles... or is thinking about it.

National Cycle Plan to be paired with Active Travel Strategy Bike For All >>

Watch this space!! The Government is publishing its Active Travel Strategy on Monday 22 February.

End of the week - here comes the weekend!

Now who doesn't look forward to a weekend? The scales this morning told a lovely story. I have so far 'only' lost 6lb since I started but my bodyfat has consistently crept down and this morning it changed from two ++ to just one + and came in under 40% bodyfat.

Now the hard bit starts to keep that up and keep it going down. I couldn't keep my spinning class today which was a big pity. I think every one missed is a missed opportunity to keep weight going down. I went to town and came home too late to unpack the grocery bags and to leave for the gym. That sounds like a real feeble excuse now that I wrote it. At the time it just doesn't feel that way. I like being on time and really must be in the car 20min before class start to get there, get into the gym, up the stairs and onto the bike. People flock to the class and is spinning well in advance of the class, so eager are they.

My next class is at 13.30 tomorrow and the masterplan is to keep going after class for another 30min (take my own music) as there isn't another booking for the studio after my class. I burn on average 500cal at a session so hopefully I can push this up to about 800cal tomorrow!

I do need it as 1) I missed tonight and 2) we have a party on tomorrow evening which means there will be drinking and eating.

Even though I'm off the alcohol I can't really guarantee that I would totally abstain tomorrow night. The party would be fun! I haven't been to something quite like this for a while. The theme is schooldays and it is a 60th birthday. In honour of the birthday boy I took some effort today to get me something which resembles a school uniform. I'm not sure about my new shirt though. I fitted the white one but it was too tight and too see-through for my liking. I then went for the black one but the comments I got back was "Mum! It looks like you will be going to a funeral!" as my skirt (a nice shortish one) was also black and so is my pumps.

Maybe I should get the white shirt but maybe at another store? I will see how I feel tomorrow.

We have another episode of '24' to watch so I need to get going...thanks for reading. I will let you know tomorrow what my Cal burn rate was!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for LA Spin

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for LA Spin

This morning's spinning class results. I had to crawl out of bed and nearly didn't go. Well I'm really pleased I did because the results paid off - 506 cals later...

A new week, always a fresh start

So here we are with the third week's start. I went on the scales (as usual) this morning and lost only 1.4lb for the week BUT 1.6% bodyfat. Now I guess I have to see this in a positive light as somewhere the new muscles must start showing up and hopefully this is it.

I had a meeting in Milton Keynes today which only started at 11.30. It has advantages like later rising times but also some drawbacks like no car parking at the station. The car parking allocation at my local station is woefully inadequate and if you are not there by 8am (at the latest) you will not get a space.

So this presented me this morning with an opportunity to cycle the 6 miles to the station, get my bike on the train and use it in MK to get to the venue which is 1 mile from the station. This is quite rare and an infrequent novelty so I grabbed it with both hands today!

Unfortunately my train back home from MK was cancelled due to a brake failure so I got delayed by 60min. Standing with a bike on a wet and cold platform leaves you with little room for movement. I couldn't go to the bathroom, wasn't motivated to go back to the ticket office (a lift involved and a long walk) to find out about alternatives, so I sat waiting for the next service.

If I was on my scheduled service, I would've got in a t 4.15pm with daylight to spare. Now I will be faced with dusk and the fact that I left my front light home (accidentally) this morning. At least I have my back light!

Tomorrow morning is another early spinning class. I was helping out with the village pantomime this past weekend which left me with little time to go to the gym. I have some more classes booked for later in the week.

I SO want to crack the magical 11st mark within this or next week. I haven't been able to do that for about 4 years so it will be quite an achievement.

Hubby also felt that he wanted to contribute to my efforts so he invested in some supplements which boast to increase weight loss. Well, all should help!

Thanks for reading!

Bike helmet activist's own study finds no significant benefit in wearing one | road.cc | The website for pedal powered people: Road cycling, commuting, leisure cycling and racing

Bike helmet activist's own study finds no significant benefit in wearing one | road.cc | The website for pedal powered people: Road cycling, commuting, leisure cycling and racing

At my last Ladies Cycle ride start, a man came over to us (we were just about to put our helmets on) and start arguing for the wear of helmets. The more we tried to say that there is no evidence to suggest that wearing helmets is beneficial, the more he argued that we should wear them!

In the end we just ignored him and put our helmets on after a while (we were going to do this anyway).

It has been shown and demonstrated that more teenage girls will start cycling if we can ditch the helmet which, especially for women, are seen to be uncool and 'squash' your hair (do). It has also been proven that cars drive more careful past cyclists who don't wear helmets.

I was driving early on Tuesday morning in my hometown and saw two women who were very well dressed, wearing no helmets but instead just a winter hat to keep them warm. They looked very elegant! One lady was riding a bike similar to dutch bike.

Less women will be put off cycling if we can cycle without helmets.

We want the choice!!

Mythbusting on Highway 535 on Vimeo

This is cool: The cyclist takes the lane on a 55 mph divided 4 lane highway with 12 foot lanes and 8 foot shoulders.

Mythbusting on Highway 535 from Keri Caffrey on Vimeo.

To accuse a cyclist of being militant, selfish or rude for riding in the lane is nothing more than car-centric bias assuming the bicycle driver is of lesser status than the motor vehicle driver — especially in context of how easy it is to see and safely pass a cyclist.

Those of us who choose to ride in the lane vs the shoulder do not insist that others make the same choice if they are not comfortable with it. We simply provide information to allow others to make the choice based on something more than knee-jerk fear of the unknown. The only thing we insist upon is protecting our right to ride in the part of the road where we feel safest and most comfortable.

Spin those wheels!!

Spinning class is quite addictive! I've attended tonight's and already looking forward to tomorrow morning's which is at 6.45am.

I took my Garmin to the class and put it on a training programme where I needed to burn 500cal for the session. Spinning class ended and i had 40cal more to go, so I joined the main room and went on the treadmill for less than 2 minutes when my calorie target was reached. Yippee!

My willpower was strong today and I didn't cheat apart from having a few ovenbaked chips tonight (as a meal) with my other half. I had lots of water and that continues.

I have a bit of a challenge coming up. I'm sleeping over in a hotel on Wednesday night and usually I will have a glass or two red wine and a lovely meal but I'm in a different frame of mind now so wine is OUT! I will have to tell the cook what I want for dinner which is a small portion of protein and lots of veg.

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
- Ursula Le Guin

Extreme Adventure at the End of the World~ Patagonia Adventure Race |

Extreme Adventure at the End of the World~ Patagonia Adventure Race |

Tarrarrarra...tarrarrarra..! Here comes an announcement !

And I'm happy to report that I have lost 4lb and 2.5 inches the last 7 days. I will give myself a pat on the back and say:

'Well done girl! But don't get complacent and don't feel demotivated if next week's loss isn't that great. Rome wasn't build in one day. As long as you've tried your best and the scales keep going down, you've done well.'

Bring on the week!

Sunday escapades

I was determined last night to make the most of today and be as active as possible. My gym bag was packed and church clothes put in. The active clothes were put on the side so that I don't need to look for them this morning when I crawl out of bed at 7am.

Well, the clock went at 7am and I jumped out of bed (amazing how well you feel if you haven't had any alcohol past your lips the last 7 days) and quickly got dressed.

Made a cup of tea, put the chicken with veg in a casserole and put the oven on timer so that there is a lovely meal waiting when we get out of church.

Then off to the gym. I did about 15 min on the bike and felt that yesterday's 28 miles were still sitting somewhere. It crossed my mind that I should probably think about getting muscle recovery drinks for post-workout. That will help the fatigue in my muscles. Next followed some weights for upper body and a 18 min running session on the treadmill.

I took my Garmin with to measure calorie burn but as it was set for on a bike, it took me a while to get it to recognise that I WILL burn calories even though I am not moving (like on a bike)!

I got it going and after the workout the calorie burn stood at 327cal burned. I guess I can add another 80 cal at least as it needed resetting after it started registering and by then I've been on my bike for about 10min of the 15 already.

I left at 9.30am in time for church. After lunch we took Jazzie for a walk at a local National Trust garden and I hopefully burned more cals as it was about a 2mile walk. Not long I know, but there was a hill involved!

Tomorrow is the start of week 2. I need to weigh in tomorrow morning first thing and the spinning class is booked ofr 17.15. This time I will take the Garmin to register the cals burn and hopefully recording will go smoothly as I now know what the set before I go to the gym!

Thanks for reading!

Manley Mere pictures

Here are some pictures of our Ladies ride today.

Ladies Ride

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Ladies Ride

The day started very foggy but soon brighten up. We had a marvellous day out - it was time for the CTC Ladies Ride of the month. I covered 28 miles as I also rode in but then dropped my bike off at the bike dealer for its first service.

I used my Garmin 705 today to track the route we did. It was a great ride, the sun was a bit reluctant but in the end it was lovely. We headed out towards Manley Mere. I have never been there, so it was nice to go somewhere new.

It seems they have upgraded the faclities, the restaurant inside is gorgeous, with a little nook and a fire in the middle. Pictures are up for those we want to see more detail.

We had lovely ladies on our ride, and best of all, a bunch of new ones! Money was collected for our ladies weekend away (cycling) in Shropshire at the end of May and quite a few are going.

It takes only one child...

...to bring you back to earth!

My daughter walked into the house after school today and I excitedly called her upstairs.
"Look!" I said. "I'm on a website!" and I showed her my interview by Tim Bland that was published today on the "Daily Cycle" website.
She cautiously looked over my shoulder and said " Why did you write so much? You should've written less!".
And I came crashing back to earth. For a few moments in time I felt famous but that has now vaporised. I read the article again and again. Did I really write too much? Maybe I should've kept it shorter. I went away for a cup of tea and came back to the screen. No, I don't think I wrote too much. I wrote what I wanted to say, not more and not less. Thanks Tim!

I attempted another class today. What a disaster! It was a very exclusive class with only 6 others taking part and I now know why. It is SO very hard!! My abs is absolutely non-existent and here I walk in pretending to be able to do all those exercises for Abs and Backs. Partially through the routine my muscles cramped and without noticing, I started to use my neck to raise my upper body instead of my using my Abs. When I walked out of class (yes I stayed until the end but was totally defeated) I had such nausea. I'm definitely not going back there for a while. Maybe when I'm fitter!

I was late (5 min) for this class as my quote from my Bike dealer arrived and I had to go online to enter it onto the Cyclescheme website and request a voucher. I phoned our Finance section yesterday who said that the voucher could take about two weeks to complete. So, not wanting to put this off, I requested my voucher, jumped into the car and headed for the gym.

To my surprise when I got back home, my voucher was in my inbox ready for printing. I had an email after I requested it to confirm that it was submitted but then dashed off. The next email, confirming the approval came through exactly four minutes later!! Superfast!! It wasn't at all expected so you can probably visualise my excitement. Tomorrow I will be handing it in as my Vita bike needs to go for its service after my CTC Ladies Ride.

I need to go and feed the family...thanks for reading!

Very excited !!!

I am SO excited I just HAVE to share this! I've just ordered myself a folding bike! And..it is a Brompton! Yes, yes. I know I have given the earlier impression that I am after a Dahon but failing to track down any local suppliers I opted for a Brompton from my local cycle store. When I phoned them yesterday, they mentioned that they have a black S type in store and suggested that I come and look at it.

Sitting at my desk this morning just didn't do the trick so I got in the car to have a look at this bike. My employer has recently signed up to Cyclescheme so I am dead keen to use the benefit and as I've always wanted a folding bike, this will be the one to go for.

I have to admit, the black Brompton didn't turn me on at all. It looked way to uninteresting so I have taken a deeper plunge and ordered a bespoke Brompton with two colours of blue! Yeah ! Unfortunately now the waiting starts. Firstly getting the voucher sorted out and secondly waiting for the Brompton as the lead time between order and delivery is about 10 - 12 weeks :-(

Anyway, I'm soooo excited :-) ! You can probably tell...

New beginnings

Inspirations are everywhere we look but it is up to us to take note and act on them. After reading a fellow blogger's blog of tonight, I decided that I should get myself onto a higher level and stop faffing about. So onto the Gym's website and I managed to book 5 classes for the next week.

I am from Uni days not a big fan of Gym classes. We had aerobics in our Uni Hall and I usually only figured out the movement when the instructor has already moved onto the next sequence. I usually felt like a fool and decided that it isn't for me. So for the last 20 years or so I have avoided anything at a Gym that had remotely to do with 'Classes' and instead tried to follow some sort of exercise routine that I developed myself. (Not that you could really see any results...)

OK, so my first spinning class is tomorrow morning at the very early hour of 6.45am. (What have I been thinking when I booked THAT!?) I also booked a few others of those (most of them are full, they seem very popular) and I also booked a Abs and Back workout. Ouch!!! I'm already NOT looking forward to that.

On the diet front it all is going well. I'm now on Day 3 and haven't crooked once. I've decided to slip from a VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) to a LCD (Low Calorie Diet) which means I have two shakes a day and one 600 cal (max) meal. I bought some slimmer steaks yesterday and had green cooked veg and a steak yesterday evening. Today I did the steak meal at lunchtime and did a shake for the evening. The scales says that I've lost 2.5lbs so far...so good start! I'm steering away from anything that has too much carbs in and I don't have rice, bread, pasta, potatoes and carrots (yes carrots are high in carbs). I focus on lean protein (steak, chicken and tuna) and green veg like broccoli, cabbage, spinach and lettuce.

Oh yes and big news is that I've yesterday decided on which charity I will support with my LEJOG ride. After reading other blogs (and see which charities they support) I have decided to support the Alzheimer's Society. It is the one disease which I am absolutely dreading on getting when I old. It has such phenomenal impact on you and your family, almost like being the living dead. So (I must have been psychic or what?) was quite pleased with myself this morning when one of the main news stories today was about Alzheimer's (Dementia) and the impact on family life and the lack of government funding for research. So, fellow readers, please sponsor me?? Even a small about will help and hopefully many small amounts will grow to a big amount. My target is a modest £1,000.

Let's keep the winter blues at bay and look forward to the sunny days ahead!

2007 - Manchester to Liverpool

 

What a day this was! This was Kascha's first BIG ride (and her only one so far). We had a very easy slow ride as it was really important that the joys of cycling stay rather than having a good arrival time! Here we are with our certificates at the end. All smiles!

Dahon Curve SL Folding Bike 2009

My next venture is to buy a folding bike. I know nothing about folding bikes but know that it must be light, have some gears to enable me to ride flats (or not) and be comfortable to carry. I found this one on the web that looks good. If there are any other suggestions and advice, please send it on!

I survived day 1

All that I could think about today was food! All because I couldn't have what I wanted. That just shows you that it is all addiction and psychological.

Anyway, I had my shake and another shake for lunch.

The joys of mobiles.

Great stuff ! I have just set my phone up to do mobile blogging. No:-) I dont have an iphone. I have a Nokia 5800 which is the Nokia version. I hope this all will make it easier for me to do blogging when I am on my ride !