This was a great day! We had a lovely full english breakfast this morning and set off with a steady pace. Lunch was a chicken sandwich along the road with some jelly babies as dessert. (my cycling treat).
Stats for today are:
55.45mi
2859 cals
Max speed: 30.18mph

We are leaving extra early tomorrow morning as it is stopping at home tomorrow! We want to get there early to do all sorts including sorting out the bikes. The one bike still has a free wheel problem which needs fixing.
Saw lovely gardens again today but also lots of road kill. That is always the draw back of cycling as you travel slowly enough to see it.
Now off to a pub for a good meal !

Day 3 stats

I forgot to mention the stats yesterday ! Ok here goes: 3641 cals; 71.15mi; max speed 37.47mph.

Day 4 and stats.

Stats for day 4:
77.52mi; 4065cals; max speed: 32.96mph.

The day started bad. I thought we were leaving later and left earlier. On top of that we couldn't have breakfast as it was still closed when we left. We cycled onto Wells to have breakfast there which for me was a pasty. I just couldn't get started today. I struggled for at least the first 20mi if not more. We had lunch at the King William pub in Hallen which was great! A great guy called Alex gave £10 to my charity and Claire and Jenny from the pub donated too. Good sights today was the Clifton suspension bridge and going over the old Severn bridge. See the Twitter updates on the right hand side for photos. The last 25mi were hell. Maybe my big lunch kicked in maybe just tiredness but I just couldn't anymore. Our plotted route also didn't take us to our Inn but we had to cycle another 3 mi to get to it! Very psychologically bad!!

Well on the up side we now have 2mi less tomorrow!

Oh. Just for those that wonder about diet: we don't eat loads of cakes. We had so far just your normal breakfasts with a semi light lunch but a descent dinner. We only have 1 pint of cider each every evening and NO drink during the ride.

Day 3 !

So we did day 3 ! Whoo hoo ! Some highlights: I raced wet rabbit, saw really pretty Somerset villages all with thatched roofs and flowing climbing roses, broke my speed record downhill and did 71mi in one day on my bike, a first! Food wise we went wrong. A banana for breakfast, 2 slices of toast in Exeter and a cream tea in Honiton - that's it. I was starving when we eventually got to Street. After a long walk we found a pub which has no football! Some highlights for tomorrow is 2 bridges: the famous Clifton suspension bridge and then the old Severn bridge into Wales. Some mean Mendips waits for us before we are done though.

Day 2 - 13 June

I didn't sleep very well last night. I was full of body aches and everytime when I turned I woke up. Everything ached. Back, legs, neck,wrists. Just about all of it. We had a steep ascent out of the hostel this morning which nearly finished me off and then the predictable hill and downhill routine started. We had 2 ferries today. It was great reaching Plymouth but even better when we left it as there were too much traffic too cope with. Outside Plymouth we started the Dartmoor hills. We had some close encounters with sheep and saw some baby ponies on the top. Poor weather set in about 15mi from our finish and we got drenched. At last we arrived at our Sparrow Hawk hostel where we had a lovely hot shower. Tomorrow its 70mi !! Oh well we will get it done somehow.

Stats for Day 1

I forgot to give the stats for day 1 : 63.92 mi from Land's end excluding the 6mi the morning from the YHA. Average 10.3mi mph. Max speed 35mph. 3593 Cal burned during the day.

Day 1

Day 1 done. Great big hills and hills and hills. I fell over on a steep hill when my chain came off. Usually this happens only when I'm nearly stationary ! There were some spectacular descents too. Went to Trelissick Gardens for a good break then onto King Harry Ferry to get to the other side of the river. The YHA was ok and the views excellent !

Your message: A tiring day done. Only 15mi cycling and 872 cal burned but one hill out of Penzance was so severe that for the first time in 3yrs my Garmin screeched at me with a message 'heart rate too high ' ! Anyway, we've arrived at the YHA in Land's End and the weather is spectacular ! Gorgeous evening, the sun still high and it is past 8pm. You can see the sea from here as the hostel is quite high up on the hill. In a way it reminds me of Cape Town. Tomorrow is a late start as we booked breakfast for 8am and we need to be at the start at 9.30am. That is when the official photographer comes on duty ! The days following will be earlier starts. I will upload photos to my Flickr photo stream and the link is on the right. As this is an email I can't insert them here. Now for a little relax before bedtime.

I can hear the whizzz of bike wheels!!

 Last minute stuff done, money drawn and stamps bought for postcards that will be send along the way. Dog is in kennels and instructions to our house-sitter on paper.

Neighbours on neighbourhood watch and milk cancelled. Hopefully I thought of everything!

My phone has been set-up to email to the blog, upload photos to the blog via Flickr, update my status and location via Twitter and Facebook as well as send the critical GPS signal to the map on the blog. I also have two back-up phone batteries in case one dies during the ride. The only thing I can't control is the mobile phone reception :-(
So hopefully there will be T-Mobile reception along the way for me to enable posting on a regular basis.

I have another BIG thank you to say...

THANK YOU USN !!

Ultimate Sports Nutrition sponsored us some products which is absolutely fantastic!! Protein bars, supplements, T-Shirts, waterbottles and recovery drinks.We have divided the drinks between the first phase of the ride and the second phase (after Day 6) when we can replenish our stocks.


Train tickets are pinned up against the notice board and will be valid tomorrow - just as well that I looked at the tickets as we are departing a whole hour earlier than my mechanic thought!! Imagine if we missed that train...oh dear...

The next time I'm blogging will be during the journey down, will keep you posted about the ups and downs of long distance train travel :-)

Happy cycling!

Sponsors !!

One more very precious day to go before we head south. My pannier has been unpacked and the contents spread on the guest bed which will help me ensure that I take everything I need.

We have a BIG thank you to one of our major sponsors:

The Bikefactory in Chester serviced our bikes for free and also suggested that we bring them around for a quick check-up when we are passing through Chester on Day 6. They have also given us innertubes (2 sizes for the two different bikes) as well as energy gels for quick refuelling along the way.

THANK you Bikefactory!! This is very much appreciated!

One day to go....

Thanks to our teeth sponsors!!

Thanks SO much to Overleigh Orthodontics!

They supplied us with 6 small 19ml Colgate toothpastes (each) as well as with Fluorigard rinse for our trip ! Very generous, thanks again.

Your sponsorship is very welcome.

Two and a half days more to go then we're off!

I'm not sure if time flies when you are having fun but the days are going so quickly and there is still a lot to be done.

We had a packing ritual last night. All our stuff that are going with were dutifully laid down on the bed and agreements were reached on who is taking the dual use stuff like toothpaste and shower gel. Everything fitted into two panniers and although it is tight, everything is necessary.

I'm taking the absolute minimum.

1. Two sets of cycling clothing - one on me and the other one spare
2. One set of evening wear - a lightweight pair of cotton trousers, a thin fleece for the cooler evenings and a T-shirt which is still to arrive in the post from one of our sponsors
3. One pair of lightweight shoes - I thought of taking flip flops but my mechanic said no. I need better shoes when I'm walking to the pub.
4. Toiletries - all in miniature versions. I have been collecting them for about 4 months now and need one batch for the first 6 days until we get back to home base and then another set for the second leg of the challenge. Also miniature versions of make-up! Well at least a lippy and a small mascara. I need to look a bit better in the evening.
5. Electronic equipment and accessories like cables to connect the Garmin and camera for downloading; a SD card reader; my solar charger with all the little nozzles and the cables (quite cute and compact)
6. First Aid kit including Deep Heat and Chamois Cream

Stuff that is not yet packed but also need to go is a cap for days when it is safe to cycle without a helmet and it is sunny as well as a small amount of washing powder. I've tried using squirty soap whilst in Shropshire and it wasn't really nice...

The bikes went onto the stand last night and new brake blocks were fitted to my Vita and the other bike was given a oil treatment to stop a click in the pedals.
I've managed to secure a couple more sponsors which will send me some stuff. Hopefully they will arrive on Wednesday. I've also called our local orthodontist - Overleigh Orthodontics who has agreed to sponsor us a couple of small tubes of toothpaste each. This sounds rather strange but if you feel the weight of a normal sized tube and you have limited space and weight you will understand that every gram counts!

Everything electronic has been put in place ready to blog, update and upload. I have linked my Flickr account to my blog and my phone, I have set my phone up to email blog updates through and the GPS tracking is also ready to be activated when we leave. Another little nifty app, called 'Socially' works very well to update both Twitter and Facebook at the same time. NO reason for not updating my position!

So the countdown continues!

Happy cycling!

So can I blog remotely ?

Another training run done today. With only 5 full days left before we get on the train , thoughts are now drifting towards the packing detail and what can / not go. I got two well recommended items this week which will definitely make itself into my pannier. I ordered a lovely small travel hair dryer from John Lewis. I saw Maxine using hers during our Shropshire weekend and it was invaluable. After a full day in the saddle, a girl really wants to shower, and put something less lycra on. A bit of civilization ? I also got Chamois cream which is supposedly better than Sudacream. Fish and chips on Thursday evening to give us enough time for packing and organising. And we will be off ! This post was written via my phone on email. Hopefully it will reach the intended blog ! Happy cycling.

Bring it on !

So who followed me all the way round Shropshire this weekend? As a special treat, I had the live tracking switched on to test it out and make sure everything goes to plan when we are on the real thing. I do know that it amused my family quite a bit as they did follow me and even called when the tracking seemed to stop. Unfortunately that was out of my control as there were no mobile reception at Bridges YHA or surroundings. So mostly I was followed but seemed to vanish into thin air whenever we approached the YHA!
 I would miraculously appear the next morning, probably about 5miles or so away from the YHA, on the next bike ride ready to be followed.

I really had a marvellous time! A room full of girls - who chopped and change a bit over the few days but mostly stayed the same - was great. We even thought back of school days when on activity events and all sorts :-)

I did four rides over the four days. Setting out on Friday took me to Farndon where I met up with Sue and Susie and setting off on our 53mi journey down to Shropshire.The whole weekend was uneventful apart from one puncture which happened to someone who could actually repair it too! Very convenient !

The first ride, which happened on Saturday, took us over Long Mynd which was in less than ideal weather. It was light rain down at the YHA but as we progressed up the mountain, it became worse. At the top it was very foggy and very cold. My fingers (which were in summer gloves) ached and really needed TLC.

We climbed a total of 2635ft after leaving the YHA until we were back there again. It was a long winding climb followed by a very steep descent which literally took my breath away.I was worrying about my brakes and not for no reason. When I took my bike out of the YHA shed on Sunday morning, it was squeaking due to all the grit and grime it gathered during Saturday. The brake blocks were also looking suspicious - it looked like it was burned as something that looked like burnt ash fell of the blocks!

After well deserved hot tea at Church Stretton, we visited Acton Scott Working farm where we had lunch and a look around.

The evenings were delightful with very tired girls heading for the showers, putting some descent clothes on (after being in Lycra all day) and heading for the local pub where we all had some really lovely food.

Sunday morning was bright and sunny. No rain and no wind, a great day for cycling. We headed on towards Montgomery which is just inside the Welsh border. We went for lunch at The Ivy House (which served gorgeous quiches) and then winded up the hill towards the castle which had a stunning view towards Wales. From there we cycled towards The Bog and just made it (with about 3 minutes to spare) to the visitor's centre where Sue rushed in and convinced them that there are six thirsty girls cyclists outside ready to demolish their cakes and Brownies (which were gorgeous!)

After the cake and tea we went up Stipenstones to get to the best descent I've ever had! Super fast downhill (over lots of cattle grids) reaching speeds of well over 30mi an hour (not me...I got scared and used my brakes!). The total ascent on Sunday was 3713ft which is higher than Mt Snowdon ( at 3560ft). Just imagine my aching legs after that climb!

The evening saw us having our dinner in the YHA as the Pub didn't do Sunday evening meals but we did head that way for after dinner drinks. There were even a lovely fire that awaited us at the Pub.

Monday morning was the long ride back home. Great descents and beautiful country lanes with lots and lots of flowers along the way. Hubby joined us halfway from home and 51 miles later and I was back home after a GREAT weekend out!

THANK you everyone! It was marvellous!

Cycling weekend

Well at last the weekend is here. I off to Shropshire today with the ladies cycling group and as a special treat to everyone, will switch my tracking on so real time tracking is enabled on the blog. Hopefully this test run will be fine and any bugs sorted out completely before the REAL LEJOG starts!

Happy cycling everyone, keep looking at my Tweets and photos which will come thick and fast over the weekend.

Moving along swiftly!

So here we are on Day 15 of the countdown! I still feel very frantic about my training, as if I haven't done anything really significant and yet when I do cycle along familiar paths, I am doing it with ease.

We've since had an offer from a friend to overnight with them when we are passing Carlisle so with a bit of adjustment, Day 8 has stretched with 20 miles and Day 9 has thus 20 miles less. I guess that is OK. I know I will probably curse when I pass through Penrith thinking that I could've binned the day then especially as the previous day is such a stinker with 91 miles to do! I've never cycled 91 miles before in my life. It will be such a mind barrier broken. Maybe this will provide me with the impetus to start Brevet runs next season.

My sponsorship has had a good push over the last two weeks. I've had a lot of promises and some really good donations so I'm now just passed the halfway mark, I still expect a few more to come in, especially a few people that I really think ought to sponsor me!

I bought a lovely little gadget for our ride today. I got the idea from Mark Beaumont  who used solar chargers to power his equipment. I don't have as much stuff as he took on his Americas trip so a charger that take charge of mp3 players and phones will suffice. Here is it on the left.

I've also caught on another idea from a fellow LEJOG cyclist who has approached a few companies to donate some products for her LEJOG trip. This is work in progress!

I thought I will also share a recent picture of me and my lovely Brompton coming back from a business meeting.  She is a great bike, aptly named Thunderbird! She really makes heads turn and I think that is great fun.

Coming weekend will be lots of fun. I'm joining my Ladies cycling group for a weekend of cycling. Pack in as much miles as I can which reminds me that I really need to plot my extra rides for the weekend.

Happy cycling!

Technology galore!!!

Thinking back to ten years ago, I am absolutely astounded to the progress that computer technology has made. I still remember my first mobile phone. What a big bulky brick that was! It was a Siemens (do they still make mobile phones??) and very very basic. The price plan was exorbitant and I could barely afford it.
However things has moved on so rapidly, it is (nearly) unbelievable.

Just thinking about what I did this morning to my blog. Not only can I blog about my fitness journey but I will also be able to share with everyone my routes (which has been dutifully plotted) AND you will be able to follow my progress on a map. I think I will be a (moving) red dot! I'm a bit anxious though as I don't plan to take my laptop with on the route so I need to rely on computers at the places we stay and there could be a long queue. All of the tracking will be down to my current mobile phone. I will also be able to upload pictures to the blog courtesy of Twitpic and Flickr.

The weekend was absolutely marvellous! Proper summer weather which has this morning been replaced by a coolness in the air. What a shame! I noticed on Twitter over the weekend that people are already complaining about the heat. It is really funny that the weather can never be perfect in this country. If there is lovely hot summer days there are complaints about the heat, when it is raining there are complaints about the rain and not to mention the colder days. Just accept the weather and continue with life I think!

I did do some cycling over the weekend. I joined the CTC ladies group for a ride to the Eureka Cafe in Parkgate rd where we just sat chatting for a while. Next weekend will be a total different story. I'm off on Friday to Bridges YHA Hostel for a weekend of cycling with a group of 10 girls and I intend to pack the miles in starting with cycling to Bridges, not driving. I will be carrying my panniers which will be a good start of the weekend. As a test I will be turning the tracking button on so you can follow me around as I do my miles. Hopefully it will work. Even though technology has progressed, it is sometimes such a let down too.


Hope for more miles this week.

Happy cycling and good luck to everyone that is out there doing LEJOG like Kirsty Hepburn, Antony Last and Ali and Sue

Photo time!

Me and my Vita with the pannier packed ready to go to Penzance !

I thought I will be brave and pose for a picture. I took the Vita for a ride today and loaded the packed pannier onto the bike. The ride was short, just 9 miles so no distance really. The bike behaved well, although I think I should take both my panniers after all and redistribute the weight as having everything on one side was a bit wobbly.
I'm planning a longer ride tomorrow and aim to go in the morning if I can get past my concience to abandon my desk and put extra hours in this evening and tomorrow afternoon!

I also found a good cycling blog to read. Have a look at  Charlotte Barnes's blog

Happy cycling!

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!!

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