3 days to go....

Since Sunday I've been thinking every few hours "where will I be this time next week", and then trying to estimate how far up the country I will have got!

Funny thing is, when I woke up this morning, I thought "where have I got to cycle to today?", and then pretty much straight away thought "oh no, I don't want to get on my bike again"!!

I guess I've been living the trip a bit too closely the past few days!!

5 Days and we're off

I just realised that I said nothing about this weekends rides being the last training I plan to do before the ride.

With less training this weekend, I had more time at home. Jules and I used the time to prepare for the race. I've packed my kit-box & bought a few spares (tyres, tubes, brake blocks etc). We ran through the route which Dave has done and excellent job on. We sorted the house out so people have places to sleep on Friday night. I think we're pretty much ready.

Each day that goes by now, another thing happens which feels like a step closer to the race. On Friday, the team shirts arrived & Ciaran, Simon & I tried them out on our ride. It's going to look SO cool when the whole team gets together!

This time next week, we'll be cycling past Wales!!!!

Yikes

Ciarans winter warmer!

I did the same 40 mile route twice this weekend. On Saturday with Ciaran, and on Sunday with both Ciaran and Simon.

I had wanted to show Ciaran the route that Rich's friend Fraser had taken us on a week ago, but Ciaran had also wanted to show me a route he does over the winter for base training. Basically it takes in a bunch of hills.

Funny thing was it was largely the same route that Fraser had done (except we did not do White Down hill on Ciarans route, instead looping back on ourselves and heading back the way we had come.

I felt rubbish on Saturday - especially on the hills. Not sure why, maybe lack of sleep. I was out late on Thursday night at the Times Charity awards where CHASE had been nominated for a prize. Thankfully I felt much better on Sunday. So, apart from not drinking I will now need to make sure I get enough sleep up to the ride!

The Garmin was also not on top form on Saturday. When I loaded the route onto my computer when we returned, the route itself looked right, but the elevation was way off. It was quite wet and cloudy, so I wonder if it could not get a good enough signal. I've included the two elevations below so you can see how far out it was (the top one is Sunday and looks right to me)!

Some lovely hills before breakfast

Off cycling on my own again. I managed to drag myself out of bed in time to leave at 6am again. I was aiming to get back by 9am, and planning just to do some hills.

I couldn't help thinking about the people doing the London to Brighton today. I wonder how they are getting on. I was tempted to text Maire (on my team, who is doing London to Brighton) to wish her well and tell her I was doing more hills than she was. Couldn't decide if this would make her feel better or worse, so decided against it.

I set out to try and do the same route that Fraser had shown us yesterday, but ended up missing a left turn and just seeing where I ended up.

It was a beautiful morning, and as soon as I got down off a hill I tried to find another one to go up!! I'm not going to describe the roue because it was not exactly a straight line. However, you can see the profile of the hills in the picture!

Hilly Hundred

You see the thing about Rich is that he's a bit random. You either choose to go along with him or you get scared & steer well clear. Todays plan was to meet up on the Windsor loop, then go do some Surrey hills & meet a friend of Rich's called Fraser en route. After I'd got my hundrd in I could duck out and go home while Rich continued to cycle with Fraser, and then when he'd had enough he would cycle home again (after all it's only 50 miles...). Rich's plans are always complicated.

Skeptical, I set out alone for Windsor at 6am. It was the first time I'd cycled alone for a few weeks, and I found my mind wandering thinking about the race, thinking about Fraser (my Fraser, not Rich's friend...) and thinking how blummin cold it was.

I arrived at the loop in good time, and decided just to cycle round it as I was early rather than phone Rich. As it turned out Rich was running late, so I got a complete circuit in before we met up. By this time I'd done over 30 miles.

We set off back towards Guildford following the route I'd taken to get up there.

"Right, let's get started" said Rich - he was looking forward to getting some hills in. I took him up Pebble Hill (out of West Horsley) as a warm up. Then a nice long downhill towards Ranmore, and up Ranmore via Crocknorth Road. Once we'd got to the top, we did a U-turn straight back down and up the long descent we'd just dropped down in order to meet Fraser at Shere.

As it turned out, we were a bit early to Shere (I'd thought it would take longer to get back up the hill), so we did a quick blast out through Gomshall and back.

By this time we'd done over 60 miles, so I was pleased when Fraser called to say he was in the Lucky Duck tea-room. We had a quick break & Fraser bought us some tea. I'm sure it was the nicest tea I've ever tasted.

It's been a while since I've seen Fraser, and I'd fogotten just how fit he is. Whilst we were drinking our tea, he told us about how he had won the Dorking 10k race for the third year in succession a few weeks ago having completed a triathalon earlier in the morning!! He is currently in training for an iron-man race in July.

After tea, Fraser decided to show us one of his routes & we took the long hill up out of Shere up Sandy lane and on to Hound House lane. This was a fantastic climb - I've only ever done it coming down, and remember thinking I didn't fancy doing it in the upwards direction, but it's actually quite nice; gentle gradient for 3 miles or so.

Sharp left & a long descent into Peaslake then straight up a hill again across towards Holmbury St Mary. Another nice long descent through Holmbury and Abinger Hammer. A short blast along the A25 and then left up White Down hill. I hadn't appreciated that White Down hill is a bit of a legend (along with Leith Hill & Boxhill) amongst local cyclists. Up until this point, we'd all been sticking together on the uphills and I noticed that Rich & I were more out of breath trying to talk than Fraser was. However at White Down hill, Fraser just disappeared leaving Rich and me looking like amateurs!

The top of White Down brings you onto Ranmore common again, and we turned along my normal route towards Boxhill.

Time was ticking on (I'd said I'd be back by 1pm), so I decided not to join them on Boxhill, and turned back towards Guildford. I was worried I wasn't going to make my 100 miles I'd been aiming for, but Rich seemed confident I should do it; and since everything else had gone well with his random plans, I had no reason to doubt him.

I decided to go back via Polesden Lacy because I thought it would be flatter. Wrong! Still it was a new hill I'd not done before. When I say I went via Polesden Lacy I mean it quite literally, and cycled all the way up to it before realising it is a dead end!

Back down to the A246 and my morning training ride home through Effingham.

Rich was wrong by the way. My Garmin said 99.98 miles by the time I got home!

Quick fifty

The plan yesterday had been to leave around the same time as we will be leaving on the ride itself, and to do approx half-distance by lunchtime. Hence we were very pleased to do 111 miles and still be back in time for lunch.

After the bad start yesterday, I was determined to get out on the bike again. Having spoken to Ciaran and Paul, I had a 6am start option with Ciaran for a "quick fifty" (as he described it) or an 11am start with Paul for a similar distance.

I opted for the early start so Jules & I could have the rest of the day enjoying the fastastic weather we're having.

Ciarans route is very similar to the 50 we did last Sunday afternoon except it goes slightly north of Bentley and on up to Crondall, then back through Farnham to the A31 and along the Hogs back home.

Again we set out at a good pace. I was feeling so much better today (thank goodness!). I was zipping up the hills on the long slog from Milford to Haslemere through Grayswood, and my heart rate stayed nice in the 160s.

Between Liphook & Bentley we were cycling into a headwind which slowed us down a bit, and we made our first stop just north of Bentley. The scenery around there is just wonderful, and today I was in more of a mood to enjoy it!

We got home after 2:55 in the saddle, and only then did I realise why Ciaran's "quick fifty" is so quick: it's only 47 miles long!!!

Still; a good time for a hilly route & into the wind for a good portion. I think I deserve the rest of the day off!!

No more alcohol

On Thursday night we had a work function, and I decided it would be nice to have a few beers. BIG MISTAKE! I didn't have loads of beer; probably 4 pints of Guinness. I got home in relatively good time, slept well, and didn't feel too bad the next day. Little did I know I was going to regret drinking that much on my next ride.

During the day on Friday I emailed Ciaran, Simon & Paul to see what they had planned for this weekend. Turned out Simon was planning to cycle to the Cotswolds, so the rest of us decided to join him for the first 50 miles or so, then turn back.

We set off at 6am, but the forecast was good, so I only had a single layer on. It was quite cold to start with, and I was pleased that we began the route with a climb up the Farnham road out of Guildford onto the Hogs back. Once on the Hogs back, we set off at a cracking pace and before long we were in Farnham. I'd noticed it being a bit hard work along the Hogs back, but put it down to the speed we were going which was much faster than normal. However, as we climbed up the past Hale and towards Odiham, I noticed my heart was pounding away much faster than normal. I was taking it fairly easy on the hills (because of the heart rate), but still my heart was going at 185. Then, even worse, at the top, where my heart rate usually quickly recovers to 130-140 or so, it stayed at 160.

This was fine for a little while, but after a few more hills I was exhausted. We were still managing a fairly good pace, and north of Odiham we went through Basingstoke, Newbury and on up to Wantage. By this point we'd been going pretty much non-stop for 3.5 hours and had just under 60 miles under our belt.

For the last 10-15 miles of this, I had not been enjoying it at all. The scenery was fantastic, the weather was good, the roads were quiet, but I felt rubbish.

When we stopped, I said I needed a bit of a rest. I was even thinking of just getting on the train home.

After 15 minutes or so, a short snack, a good drink and a little lie down, I made myself set off again. Ciaran, Paul & I setting of in one direction and Simon the other.

From where we stopped the road was a little undulating, but generally down hill for a few miles. I found myself at the front, and decided to try and set a good pace. Suddenly Fraser came into my mind (as he has done on a couple of times when I've felt low during training), and I had a little cry.

Next time we came to an uphill, I felt much better. My heart was more normal (160-170), and recovered quickly afterwards. So I much more enjoyed the route back through Reading, Wokingham & Bracknell. By the time we got home, we'd done 111 miles in 6.5 hours cycling which we were quite pleased with. The whole ride took a little longer than we planned due to the longish stop at Wantage, but I was so glad I pushed myself to do the rest of the ride.

I can only think my body was still processing the alcohol or something, but lesson learnt! No more til after the ride.

Sore Bums!

So much for a good nights sleep. The thing about a long bike ride is that you sweat. Therefore you spend a lot of time taking on liquid to make sure you dont get dehydrated. On the ride yesterday and after I got home, I drank just under 5 litres of liquid (a combination of carbohydrate drinks, protein drinks & electrolytic drinks). Unfortunately if you dont get the timing right, and sweat off all the extra liquid you've taken on board, your body has to get rid of it some other way.

Therefore I did not get the good night sleep I had hoped for!

Joining John & Tim for breakfast, I was complaining about my bum. It felt uncomfortable enough to share my discomfort with some other guys - you know? Anyway John piped up that he thought it might have something to do with the saddles, which Tim & I found most insightful.

Simon had fixed his tyre, so the 7 of us were up, breakfasted and ready to go by 7am. Just before setting off Henry stated that his bum was so sore that it felt like he had been violated in his sleep.

We spent some time trying to decide which of Henry & John's observations were the funniest.

The good news was that as soon as we set off, I realised that in fact the pain in my bum was not as bad as all that. Nope - it was much worse when I sat back on the saddle!

We did my 60 mile loop over the 5 mile ascent between Borden & Hindhead. On the way up that hill, after about 40 miles, Henry's knee started to get very painful & Ciaran's rear sprocket broke hence they both had to drop out of the training ride. Hopefully Henry's knee is just because he did such a big jump yesterday in terms of his longest ride.

Back at the house again, we stopped for some sandwiches & a drink. If it was hard first thing this morning to get going again after 150 miles yesterday, it was even harder to get going again this afternoon having done that PLUS 60 miles this morning already!!

Still, set off we did, and we completed the final 50 in 3 hours which was pretty good. This time Ciaran & Jules followed us around for much of the route in a car to get some more photos.

250 miles this weekend. The longest I've ever done, and the most I will do prior to the ride itself.

Yikes.

Final team training ride - day 1

Up until this weekend, there has always seemed to be a long way to go and a lot of training to do efore the main event. Suddenly this no longer seems the case. John & Tim both stayed the weekend for this ride, and when we said goodbye on Sunday having cycled 250 miles we realised the next time we'd see each other would be on the race itself.

Indeed there are only 3 weekends left before the ride after this team training ride, and one of those is supposed to be a rest weekend. So I guess we are about as ready as we are going to be!!

John & Tim arrived late on Friday night. All of us had had a busy week, and all were ready to get a good nights sleep in time for the ride on Saturday morning.

7 of of the 8 riders had made it this weekend (Rich is on holiday). At 7am we all set off on the Guildford-Brighton-Portsmouth-Guildford route we've done in the past.

In Brighton we cycled along the sea-front on the brilliant cycle-lane. Tim somehow managed to hit a glass beer bottle despite many calls of "bottle" from riders in front of him. Luckily he did not get a puncture & we all complimented him on his steering abilities.

After 90 miles and 5 hours in the saddle, we arrived at The George pub in Cosham, just outside Portsmouth. We were met there by Jules and spent an hour eating a hearty meal and taking team photos. We were all feeling pretty good, although the drunk guy in the pub managed to upset Jules by giving her a hard time about how much money was going to charity and how much was going to us. Having put him straight (by the way, we are essentially funding it out of our own pockets, so all proceeds go directly to CHASE; indeed everything on the JustGiving website has already gone to them). We left him a card with the website address on it, so hopefully by now he has read the site and decided to sponsor us!!

After lunch, Jules joined us for some of the route again taking photos of us, but this time on the road. It kind of worked well as a practice for the support vehicles on the ride itself. We met up with her a few times up until Wickham, then the route got a bit complicated, so we next saw her just outside Arlesford. Here she produced cakes & nuts & bananas which were a much welcomed change to the energy bars!!

Just after this stop, we noticed Simons rear tyre had a strange kink in it causing vibration to his back wheel. We all agreed it didn't look healthy, but having no spare tyres with us we pressed on. After 130 miles, Simon's tyre finally gave up with a pop that sounded like a gunshot. Unfortunately this meant he missed the last 20 miles or so which he would regret the following day.

After our fall a couple of weeks ago, Paul & I were keen to avoid the Hogs back, so we got off the A31 at Runfold & rode parallel to it through quaint little villages.

We finally arrived back after 8.5 hours in the saddle and with 145 miles under our belt. We all felt great. Henry had beaten his longest ride by 50 miles, and John's knee was fine.

In the evening, Simon had invited us all round for dinner. This was a great opportunity to discuss the logistics of the event itself & raise any concerns people have. Richard (and his wife Debbie who must have been bored silly) and Jules joined the riders for many bowl-fuls of pasta & sauce.

Should sleep well tonight!

Happy Birthday little chap

Today would have been Frasers 3rd birthday.

I knew it was going to be a hard weekend for Jules, so I only planned to do a few 50 milers early in the morning so we could spend some time together for the rest of the weekend.

However when I woke up on Friday morning I was really missing him. I've had very few bad days at work in my 10 years at my company; but Friday was one of them. Seemed like all my projects needed attention (which is fine, and is just my job), but it was one of those days where it would have been nice if things had been quieter. I almost took the day off, but I knew it was going to be one of those days from the emails & voicemails I'd had from Thursday. Ah well.

I managed to leave work pretty sharp, and by that time had decided I was not going to cycle at all this weekend.

Jules and I have had a lovely weekend sorting through the many fantastic photos we've got of Fraser: Fraser even sent us some nice miserable bank-holiday weather so we didn't feel bad about staying in the house all weekend!! Thanks little fella!!

Zero miles this week, but feeling good for it!

Training ride 4 (Day 3) - oh dear

I couldn't fix my gear problems last night, so arranged to pop round to Simon this morning to see if he could figure it out.

We figured my derailleur was probably bent, and I decided to take it to Beyond Mountain Bikes for them to take a look.

The guy at Beyond quickly confirmed our suspicions, and also straightened the gearshift, checked the wheels & brakes & generally gave the bike a quick once-over.

By the time this was all done, I wasn't really in the mood to get back on the bike, so Jules and I spent the afternoon gadding about doing nothing in particular which was very enjoyable!!

Training ride 4 (Day 2) - dropping like flies

Having rested his knee as much as he could overnight, John was still in pain this morning. He took the bike out for a quick ride, but decided it would not be a good idea to accompany us today.

Rich, Paul & Simon all showed up for the 7am start, but Simon had some problems of his own related to some friction between part of his body and his saddle. Hopefully this is sufficient detail for you to imagine why Simon was not comfortable joining us today.

So then there were three.

Paul, Rich and I set off on the same 145 mile route that Paul and I had done a couple of weeks ago; Guildford-Brighton-Portsmouth-Arlesford-Guildford.

We set off at a cracking pace. Taking it in turns to go up front for 5 miles each, we were soon zipping along the coast from Brighton to Worthing. It took us 2 hours 50 minutes to do the first 50 miles, where we happened to cycle past Rich's grandad, so we popped in to say "hi" and have an energy bar.

Next stop was at just under 90 miles just outside Portsmouth where we stopped at a pub for some lunch. This had taken us 5 hours exactly, and we were ready for a break and some proper food.

I dont really want to dwell on the length of our lunch stop (see previous posting), but we stopped for about 1 hour. There was a great atmosphere in the pub, as everyone was ramping up for the FA cup final in which Portsmouth were playing.

Feeling refreshed (and somewhat full) we got back on the bikes for the home run.

From Portsmouth the route heads North-North-West up to Arlesford and then turns North-East up the A31. For the first section of this part of the ride, we realised that the "easterly" wind was actually a "north-easterly", and the going got considerably tougher with the last 30 mile stretch to look forward to entirely into the wind.

We still made pretty good time considering the hills, and we joined the A31 after 110 miles and 6.5 hours of cycling (ignoring the 1 hour break).

Pretty much as soon as we join the A31, there is a big climb from Arlesford to Four Marks. This was hard work and directly into the wind; it took us 30 minutes to go that 5 miles.

However, we knew that at the top of that climb it was a fairly easy and largely downhill run for the rest of the way home. Unfortunately at the top of the hill it started to rain, and suddenly got quite cold. Hence the next few miles were a real drag, and we just put our heads down and watched the back wheel of the guy in front (we were still taking it in turns to do 5 mile stints up front).

At Farnham there is a large junction called the "Shepherd and Flock" roundabout, and just after that the road starts to climb up the "Hogs Back". At this point Paul was up front, with Rich and I drafting close behind him. Suddenly Paul was on the floor, and Rich and I had both crashed into him; all of us lying on the inside carriageway of the A31 - not a nice place to be. Just at that point there is metal expansion bar where the A31 crosses a bridge, and it is at a horrible angle for cyclists. Paul's front wheel had caught in the gap & just slipped away from him because of the rain.

We got off the road as quickly as you can imagine we would, and shook ourselves down. Thankfully no-one was hurt too badly, but Paul and I both damaged our bikes. I could not get any of my bottom three gears, and hence hills were a struggle, also my gearshift had bent round at a strange angle. Looks like I wont by cycling tomorrow.

The last 8 miles or so were done at a very sedate pace while we allowed the adrenalin to work its way out of our system. We finally did the 145 miles in exactly the same time as Paul and I had done a few weeks previously; 8 hours and 45 minutes.

Lovely Jules had cooked me a roast chicken which I eagerly devoured after a good soak in the bath!!

Training ride 4 (Day 1) - complicated meeting up

Training ride 4 did not start well.

Initially it looked as though we would have between 6 and 8 of the team, but first Henry then Ciaran then Tim decided they would not be able to make it due to one thing or another. Of the remaining 5, only 3 of us could make the full 3 days we planned to do; Paul could make Friday and Saturday and Rich could make Saturday and Sunday.

Since John was coming down from Hertfordshire, Paul, Simon and I decided to cycle up and meet him half-way so he could cycle back with us and join us for the ride on Saturday. We decided to set off at 9:30am aiming to meet up near Amersham/Chesham around midday.

When Rich heard of our plans, he decided he could join us after all, at least for the morning, and since he lives near where our intended meeting up point was, we decided to meet at his house.

So Rich set out at 7am to cycle to John's house, and Paul, Simon and I set out at 9:30am to cycle to Rich's. Rich & John met up at 9:30, and then cycled back from Johns to Rich's, where we all met up. Keeping up?

Hence, having cycled just over 45 miles, we stopped for a snack & a cup of tea at Rich's house, and then set off back to Guildford.

There has been some debate within the team about the length of lunchstops on the ride itself (some want to minimise them to 20 minutes or so so we get there faster & can rest more in the evening, and others think we should allow 60 minutes to allow us to rest, feed & digest properly en-route). It was interesting to observe therefore that we stopped for around 55 minutes; especially as we were at Rich's house, and Rich was towards the 20 minute end of the spectrum! It was also observed that one reason our stop was as long as it was was because we were waiting for Simon to complete a business phone-call: Simon was more towards the 60 minute end...

Anyway, far be it from me to stir up tensions within the team, so probably best not mention the length of our lunchstop if you happen to talk to anyone on the team....

After another 20 miles or so we stopped for an energy bar and took a look at John's chain which had been making some clicking noises. It looked as though one of the links was almost sheared, and we decided we needed to go back via a bike shop to get it looked at before the big ride tomorrow.

After about 80 miles John's knee (which had been niggling all day) began to get extremely painful. So the last 10 miles to the bike shop we had phoned were not at all comfortable for him. The good news was though that having been to the bike shop, they told him that the chain, front socket & rear socket were all "completely b*ll*x*ed". They did a temporary fix so he could do the ride tomorrow, but that it would need a proper repair. When they told him what this would cost, John got a good hour or so respite from his knee.

On returning to Guildford we were greeted by Val & Belle who had volunteered to help us with some stretches after our ride and cake cooked by Gilly. What a FANTASTIC way to finish a bike ride. The shoulder and leg stiffness that normally coincides with finishing a long ride were noticably improved by Val & Belle's attention, and the cake was delicious!! Thanks to them all!!

By this time, John's knee was sore again (or rather he had got used to the idea of the work necessary to his bike and noticed his knee again), and he had a long soak in the bath. Not looking good for a ride tomorrow.

56 Miler Part 3

I had to do it again! Maybe if I really push I could break the 3 hours, but at least I could try out the 'shadow rider' feature on the Garmin.

I must admit, it was hard going to start with and I found the Garmin a bit confusing to start with. I knew I was either ahead or behind, but it was not immediately apparent which. The funny thing was that, on the assumption that I was behind, it kind of motivated me to push harder. This made me more tired, and the gap between the two got bigger. I became more and more paranoid that I was dropping futher and further behind!!

By the time I got to the long 5 mile hill, I gave up worrying about it, and just pushed as hard as I dared whilst making sure I had enough energy to get home again.

It was only when I got home, and the Garmin beeped a little congratulatory tune at me to tell me I had beaten my Friday time by 5 minutes.

168 miles over the weekend, all at an average speed well over 17 mph! Not bad for a quiet weekend!

56 Miler Part 2

Paul was up for a ride this morning, so I thought I'd repeat the route I did yesterday.

Dont tell Paul that I told you this, but he's fitter than I am. Hence I was secretly quite pleased to have him drafting behind me for once. It made a nice change!!

I thought we would go quicker as a pair (in fact, I was hoping we could do it in less than 3 hours), but for some reason it took a few minutes longer. Makes me realise how hard I was pushing to get back in time for Jules yesterday!!

It was only around half way around that I remembered the Garmin has a 'shadow rider' feaure where you can effectively race yourself if you are doing the same route. Maybe I'll have to try again tomorrow!

Anyhow, pleased with progress; two 56 mile rides averaging over 17 mph.

56 Miler Part 1

I decided to take it easy this weekend, as I did a good distance last weekend, and wanted to give my body a bit of a break. Having said that, I was at a wedding on Friday afternoon, so I thought a quick 50 miler might be in order!

Once again the 2 G's (Google & Garmin) came up trumps, and I found a nice route of 56 miles down the A31 to Alton, then up to Hindhead and Haslemere and across to the A283 and back to Guildford.

I wasn't paying attention when I planned the route, and so didn't notice that I couldn't get off the A31 where I wanted to, and hence the route ended up being a bit longer than planned.

I'd promised Jules I'd be back by 10, and set off just before 7am. It was busy - Friday morning rush hour, but I made good time and was searching for the way off the A31 after an hour.

Then travelling from Borden to Hindhead I found a fantastic hill. It wasn't too steep, but it went on for about 5 miles. Must show it to Paul tomorrow!

By 9am I was in Haslemere and wondering how on earth I was going to get back to Guildford by 10am. I pushed on hard, and surprised myself when I got back in just after 10. 56 miles in about 3 hours 10 minutes!

Send May Fayre

Tracy had organized a stand at Send May Fayre today. She had lots of friends bake cakes, and also had contacted a load of local companies to donate prizes for a raffle. Part of the attraction (not sure if that is the right word...) was that Paul & I had to spend all afternoon on the turbos in front of the stand.

I have to say that the stand looked great. The 4 hour turbo session went by pretty quickly because there was always something going on or someone to chat to.

We didn't go that quickly, but then it was quite hot, and we needed to be able to talk to people. Hence we kept our heart rates at 130-140 for 4 hours. I dont think we sweated too much. We did around 45 miles according to the Garmin - although I doubt it's accuracy on a static turbo.

At the end of the day, we had raised over £300 - well done Tracy!!! And of course Paul & I both completed our longest turbo session!

My longest ride yet

Following a week of not quite getting around to doing much training (at least, after my ride on Monday), I was keen to get out for a ride again this weekend.

Paul had suggested we go for a longer ride, and Ciaran and Simon were going to join us for part of it. I google-mapped a route from Guildford to Brighton, along the coast to Portsmouth, and then back up the A31 to Guildford again. This looked like it would be something between 140 and 150 miles, and offered Simon and Ciaran the option of turning back to Guildford at Worthing or Chichester depending on how time was going.

Paul, Simon & I set off around 7:30am; Ciaran couldn't make it.

It was a slightly different route to Brighton than our previous ride. This time we went over "Devil's Dyke" instead of "Ditchling Beacon". We had some debate over which was worse. Ditchling goes from 130ft to 750ft in a mile. Devil's Dyke goes from sea level to 170ft in 3 miles, then down to 120ft and back up to 460ft in 2 miles then down to 320ft to 460ft in a mile; a total climb of 670ft spread over 8 miles. I still say Ditchling is harder, but Devil's Dyke definitely took longer!

After that it was a nice cruise down into Brighton where we (ok...Simon) found a cafe which served sausage sarnies & cups of tea. We convinced ourselves this was the right thing to do, and sat down enjoying the summer breeze from the seafront.

Refreshed, we set off with the wind behind us along the coast towards Portsmouth. Going through Arundel we were reminded it was the bank holiday weekend by the amount of traffic. I'm sure our journey was quicker than many of the people sitting in that queue!

Between Arundel & Chichester, Simon turned of towards home and Paul and I continued towards Portsmouth.

Just outside Portsmouth, we turned off towards Wickham for a nice bit of cross-country riding out of the traffic. This was really enjoyable, although we lost our way a couple of times because I had not put enough way-points into the Garmin. This didn't really matter though, and we made our way through the country lanes eventually ending up at Arlesford.

Now on familiar ground, we upped the pace a bit for the homeward leg of the journey. We lost about 20 minutes because I got a puncture between Four Marks and Alton, but other than that we are well-used to the A31 and it is good fast easy-going. Having said that, the up-hills were getting harder and harder the more miles we did, so I was extremely glad to get home.

This was my longest ride yet at 145 miles and we did it in a good time of 8 hours 45 minutes!! Rest day tomorrow!

Surrey Hills

Having conquered Shap, I was inspired to do some more hills. So I set out for another 50 mile trek across the hills near my home.

I actually ended up doing more ascent & descent than I had in the Lake District, but the hills were much smaller!!

The Dreaded Shap

I had offered to help my mum clear out my great aunt's flat in Blackpool on Saturday. Hence I took Friday & Monday off in order to get some miles in while I was up there.

Friday morning was spent at an appointment at the bank (I closed my accounts after 22 years!). Thankfully the lady that saw me handled the situation very well, and quite understood my reasons for moving, so the meeting was less stressful than I had feared.

Then we set off for Blackpool. We made good progress up the M42, but around junction 11 of the M6, things started to slow down a bit. I managed to get off the motorway, and was very soon glad that I had, because they had closed it due to a nasty accident. Everywhere anywhere near the motorway was complete mayhem. Consequently it took us over 7 hours to get there and I did not get time for my planned evening bike ride.

Saturday was spent clearing the flat, then Jules & I headed up to the Lake District so I could see what the infamous Shap was going to be like.

We were only able to get accommodation in a village called Glenridding, and I planned a 50 mile route from there to Shap via Windermere and Kendal and on to Penrith.

I set off at 5:30 so I had a chance to get back to the hotel before they stopped serving breakfast.

What I hadn't really thought through was that I had to go over Kirkstone pass to get from Glenridding to Windermere. This involved a 1000ft climb in 3 miles (Leith hill is about 500ft over the same distance by comparison).

The Garmin came into its own again to get me cross country from Windermere to the A6 just north of Kendal avoiding the main road. Then I started my ascent of Shap.

I have to confess that after Kirkstone pass it was a bit of a disappointment. Admittedly it is a 10 mile uphill climb, but only 700ft, so more gradual than Boxhill. I can see its going to be a bit demoralising, because you think you've hit the top, and it just gets steeper. Then when you do get to the top, there is a sign that says "Shap 2 miles", which makes you think you're still not there, but Shap itself is just a village a couple of miles beyond the summit.

Still - I know what I'm letting myself in for now.....and I'm sure after the 100 or so miles I'll have done before it on the race itself, it will seem much much worse!