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!!

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!

Back to Chichester

John cycled down from Bishops Stortford to Guildford yesterday afternoon. He did really well, as it's 80+ miles and he was by himself.

He stayed with us on Friday night and then Paul joined us on Saturday so the three of us could cycle to Worthing via Chichester. John only wanted to go to Worthing where he was visiting family. I say "only", but Guildford to Worthing via Chichester is around 50 miles which is quite impressive the morning after an 80 mile bike ride the previous afternoon! Then Paul and I would head home, hopefully ending up between 90-100 miles.


View Larger Map

We set off around 6:45 after a breakfast and juice. We travelled down past CHASE and out towards Godalming then Haslemere. I dont recall cycling south on this road before. There were some great hills!! (although "great" wasn't a word I heard John using!). After 30 miles or so we stopped for 2nd breakfast at Singleton. I must have driven through it many times, but had never realised what a beautiful little village Singleton is.

I had Google'd a route into the Garmin around the back of Goodwood racecourse to avoid having to go through Chichester centre. Once again, I was really pleased with the Garmin under these circumstances. It was not an obvious route, and certainly not one that any of us had done before, but we found our way down to the A27 without incident. Then it was just a case of blasting along the A27 for 20 miles until we hit Worthing. This part of the trip was very quick due to the road being pretty flat.

At Worthing, about 1/2 mile from where we were dropping John off, we noticed Paul had a puncture. So we stopped and changed his tube and said farewell to John.

Paul and I were feeling great. 50 miles already, and we were doing fine. Just outside Worthing, coming up the A24, there is quite a long hill and we realised why we were feeling so good; the wind had been behind us on the way down!! It was tough going, and it took us pretty much the same amount of time to go 40 miles home as it did to go 50 miles down there! Although part of that was due to Paul getting another puncture, and us stopping to pump his tyre up a few times and eventually changing the tube again at Cranleigh.

When we eventually got home, I felt the best I've felt after a ride of that distance. Maybe I'll manage a ride tomorrow, although the weather forecast predicts snow.

Leith Hill is easy!

Leith Hill is easy
Leith Hill is easy
Leith Hill is easy
.....
if I keep telling myself, perhaps one day I'll believe it!

Paul and I went out for a 50+ miler this morning. We both left at 7am, and met up at Clandon. Paul has a good 50 mile circuit which takes in Ranmore Common and Leith Hill to warm up with for 20 miles, and then a 25 mile stretch of fairly flat road meandering around Cranleigh and finally 5 miles back to Guildford up Newlands Corner.

We made pretty good time really, 3 hours 20 minutes of cycling, so we were back by 10:30ish.

Paul was looking strong, so I drafted behind him for the last 20 miles. Certainly a lot easier going than it was on Friday!!

Cycling to Stratford on Avon - am I mad?

We'd planned to go see my mum for Easter today (especially as my nephew Stewart will be there), so having Google-mapped a route & found it possible to cycle, I decided this would be a good training opportunity.

The route from Guildford goes via Bracknell, Henley, Wallingford, Oxford, Woodstock and Chipping Norton and is almost exactly 100 miles by the time I've tweaked it into the Garmin.

Ciaran called last night, and said he'd accompany me for the first few miles, and we set off at 7am. As normal, the weathermen got it wrong, and the piece about sleet/snow & cold temperatures was wrong, but they did get the wind right. Typically, my route heads straight into where the 23 mph wind is coming from. Hence it was slower going than I've been used to recently, but we did ok.

We stopped for Breakfast at Henley feeling great, although I noticed my tyre was flat so we fixed a puncture and set off again. Ciaran was kindly doing most of the work with the wind because he knew he had it behind him for the return trip, and I was drafting behind him.

Things got a bit slower as we climbed the Chilterns, as the wind picked up a bit or we were a bit more exposed to it. Either way, it was tough going at times. 10 miles from Oxford Ciaran decided he wanted to go all the way to Oxford because a) It would be great to be able to say he cycled to Oxford and back and b) he would make his first 100 miler of the year! This suited me just fine, and we clicked over 50 miles just before the ring-road at Oxford. We had a quick break and a snack, and then I noticed I had another puncture! I only had one spare tube, so we had to actually fix this one :-(

Because of the wind, it had taken us 3 hours 40 minutes to get here, and I new the next 50 miles would be harder without Ciaran as a wind-break.

Ciaran turned home and whizzed off with the wind behind him, and I set off with my head down towards the lovely ring-road at Oxford.

I got through Oxford fairly quickly (it's about 8 miles from where we stopped to the junction with the A44 and I did it in about 25 minutes). The shelter provided by the buildings meant that the wind was not as noticable, and the cycle-lanes through Oxford centre made the going very easy.

Jules had left the house around 10:30 with the plan to meet me after 60 miles or so. So I gave her a quick call to say I was on the A44, so she should not be able to miss me. I grabbed another quick snack & a drink, and put my head down again towards Woodstock. By now the wind had really picked up, and because the A44 is so exposed, the going was very tough. It took me 45 minutes to go 7 miles and I was really struggling. I was in my lowest gear and it felt like I could barely move. At one point I was litterly blown sideways off the road.

I was very glad when Jules finally caught me up, then immediately disheartened as she appeared to beep in a friendly way as she passed me as if to see "see you at mums" and then entirely relieved to see her waiting in the next layby!!!

As it turned out, we met up at a pub called the Duke of Malborough. It had just started to sleet, so I decided I'd had enough training for one day, and sat down for a hugh lasagne & chips and a pint of bitter lemon and soda-water.

Figure of eight

Paul & I decided that it was high time we did the 50 mile circuit and the 20 mile circuit. So Paul devised a cunning figure of 8 circuit of approx 70 miles which we started at 7:30 in the morning. We were back by 1pm, but had a couple of stops for snacks & drinks, so were only cycling for 4.5 hours. Quite a decent pace - you begin to think that the LEJOG route might actually be achievable after all.

Life begins at 40

Today I turned 40 years old. I started my new year with a 50 mile bike ride (what else) - hence the first person to see me that old was Simon, who seems to be my de facto training buddy these days. He didn't say I looked old or anything, and none of my joints suddenly gave way on the ride, so maybe being 40 isn't so bad after all.


We set out around 7:30, and the temperature was -2 degrees celcuis. That's quite cold if you haven't tried it. We managed almost exactly 50 miles in just a little over 3 hours, so I was quite pleased with that pace; especially for an old fella.



This is a picture of me on my return when Jules presented me with a pile of cards which all appeared to have the objective of rubbing it in how old I was.

We had a bit of a gathering in the evening which was fun, and I even managed to stay awake after the ride, through setting the house up with balloons and food and drink, through partying til 1:30 Sunday morning.

Got some great presents including 6 bottles of Scotch. Simon got me a head-warmer thing to go under my helmet when cycling....would've been nice this morning! I also got some compressed air canisters for quickly re-inflating a tyre which are very cool.

Now we're getting somewhere!!

It's getting light earlier now, so we set off sharper today. Mad Paul still insists on cycling from his house to mine, so he ends up doing an extra 14 miles or so on me. I'd like to say he needs the extra training, but in fact the reverse is true; I'm sure I used to be fitter than he did. When did that happen? :-)

Anyhow, we set off at 8am with promises from the weathermen of rainshowers later in the morning. It seems that whatever the weathermen say is pretty much the most likely thing not to happen. So it was today. The rain never materialised, although it was a bit blustery. Largely the same route as last weekend via Haslemere, but with an extra 10 miles added at the southern end. 55 miles!!!!! Feeling good now. 50 miles was a mental objective for me. Better think of another one now. And that blummin hill at Hindhead felt a lot better today.

Ciaran, having told Simon we were starting at 8, woke up at 8 for an 8:30 start. So we set off without him and he promised to catch us up. We took a slight detour 8 miles in at Cranleigh, and it must have been at that point that Ciaran caught up and overtook us. I'm obviously not taking any pleasure thinking of him pushing himself for 50 miles trying to catch us up, but he got home about 30 minutes before we did!!!

Going for another ride tommorrow morning. Will be interesting to see how my bum feels...