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!

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.

Back to Windsor

Rich & Paul had planned a long ride for Saturday, so I decided to join them for the first 50 miles or so.

I wanted to be back around 10am, as Jules is helping the CHASE support team at the London Marathon tomorrow, so we wont get to spend much time this weekend otherwise.

Paul wanted to set of at 6am, so I headed out at 5:30 so I could get to his house by then. Finally I get the extra bonus miles before we meet!!

Once there, we quickly set out for Windsor & Rich's infamous 'loop' just to the west. We made pretty good time really, although Paul got another puncture next to Windsor Great Park which lost us a bit of time.

We managed to miss Rich somehow on his loop, but met him back at Fifield just up the road from where Paul had his puncture.

Although we had made good time getting up there, Rich set off at a much faster pace, and before we knew it we were almost back at Woking. Rich had a route in mind, and took us off to Pyrford and then on to East Horsley where I peeled off home, as time was getting on.

By the time I'd got home I'd done almost 70 miles by 10:15 in the morning!

What a great day!!

We had such a great day today.

Everyone showed up at our house for the start of the ride. Rich was first and last to arrive; he got here early in order to do some extra miles prior to the training ride. Everyone else was at the house in good time to set off at 8:30am, and Rich returned from his warm-up at exactly 8:30am. Much credit to Lucy for training him; in the pre-Lucy era, he would have been late!!

We set off for CHASE Christophers, where we were welcomed with tea, juice & Gilly-made flapjacks. It was cold, so we were glad of the tea, and the flapjacks were wolfed down in seconds.

We were greeted at Christophers by Bridget Turner, Director of Care. Also the Mayor of Guildford, Mike Nevins, was there in his mayoral vehicle, gold chain & cycling shorts!! Then Andrew Castle showed up to see us off on our first group training ride. We got some great photos in the shirts that Jules had created yesterday.

After the photoshoot, we had a tour of Christophers. Having spoken to the team afterwards, I know that this was an inspirational experience, and for some an emotional one. Certainly it was a good reminder of why we are doing all this training - not that I needed one given the time I spent at CHASE with Jules & Fraser. The tour included a visit to an empty Mistral room; the special bedrooms where children are laid to rest after they die and before their funeral. When we were at Christophers in Fraser's final week, we got to know another family quite well and unfortunately their son had died a week ago. The combination of knowing their little boy Finlay was in the other room, and memories of Fraser were too much for me, and I missed this part of the visit instead taking some quiet time with Gilly in the sanctuary.

The rest of the tour was fine though, and I was pleased to see the positive reactions the rest of the guys had to the various activity rooms available to the kids and families supported by CHASE.

Around 10am, we set off for Chichester. For the first 30 minutes or so I was cycling on pure adrenalin! It was such a great way to start the day with the tour, and the Mayor and Andrew, but then to be out on the road with the whole team of 8 for the first time just felt fantastic. We have come a long way in 6 weeks.

Ciaran left us at Chiddingfold to go skiing, but seemed really pleased with the team's performance. We got to Chichester in good time, and stopped for drinks and snacks at a tea shop on the high street.

We even got some sponsorship money from some random person on the street - thankyou whoever you were!!! Note to self - be better prepared for this next time we are in a town centre.

On the way back we realised why the run down had been so good; we had had a tail-wind. Hence the ride home took a little longer, but we still managed over 70 miles in 4 hours and 45 minutes which seemed like a good first team outing.

It's light at 07:30 now

Simon and I set out around 07:45 to meet Rich in Windsor at 09:30. We get there in fairly good time, although we did a slight detour via Horsell which added a couple of miles. Tried my first energy bar. Quite tasty.

Rich sets off at a fair old pace (seemed like 18-19 mph, where we had been doing 14-15 mph). I think Rich eased off a bit, and also we got used to the faster pace, and we cycled round for an hour or so ending back pretty much where we started in Fifield.

To be fair to Rich, we met at 09:37, and said we needed to be back at Fifield to head home at 10:30. He got us there at around 10:32. This is most out of character for Rich. Lucy has trained him well!!!

Poor Simon was getting a bit tired towards the end, but he did twice as many miles as I did on Saturday (he cycled to Twickenham and back).

Enjoyable ride. Pretty much 60 miles in 4 hours (ok just under 60 miles and just over 4 hours, but near enough to feel like progress).

So thats 90 miles this weekend, and over 400 miles so far.

Lonely ride to Beyond Mountain Bikes

Today I set out for a short 30 mile route via Beyond Mountain Bikes. I remember when I bought my bike from them back in December, I joked about cycling home on it (thinking it was a long way). Now I cycle there, and do a further 22 miles afterwards...

I was hoping to pick up my new cadence sensor, but it had not come in yet. Bought some new shorts, a new light (my old one packed up), some energy bars and some Zym electrolytic drink. Oh yeah, and bought a bum bag to put it all in so I could get it home!

Bumped into Paul just after Milford. We were both looking for the Shackleford road, but neither of us thought we had passed it. Paul had been out for a while, and needed to get home (he'd already almost got to Farnham after a wrong turn at Elstead). Hope he's not too late!

I managed 30 miles in 2 hours. Felt much stronger today, and am looking forward to another long ride tomorrow. Planning to meet up with Rich near Windsor. The scary bit is Rich has organized the ride, so you never know what will happen....