Dont eat your uncle Iain

Ok, today's post wont talk too much about bikes as I need to explain why my nephew Ollie has green poo.

First the cycling update: I was back on the turbo again; managed approx 14 miles in an hour, so pretty much the same as last time. I got home in good time, so was ready to start training at 7:30, but then found I had a flat tyre, so had to fix that before I started. Consequently it is now nearly midnight, and I have finished my training, eaten my tea (pancakes!) and made a few updates to the website.

Jules got me the most amazing birthday cake for my party on Saturday (see photo). I got a piano for my birthday present, and hence the cake is supposed to be me playing my new piano. After the party on Sunday, Tim brought two of his boys (my nephews), Josh & Ollie, back to the house for an hour or two. We had a great time together, and at the end of the day, we let them take some of the cake with them. They were keen to take their icing and marzipan model of Uncle Iain, particularly Ollie.

The moral of this story is: dont eat your uncle Iain, or your poo will go green!

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.

Lost cadence sensor

I set out for another ride this morning. Only 27 miles (when did the words "only" and "27 miles" get permission to sit next to each other in my vocabulary?!). My bum was a bit sore to start with after the ride on Saturday, but soon warmed up.

As we set off, I noticed my cadence sensor had fallen off - have to order a new one I guess. The ride was good; except my knee was aching a bit on the up-hills. We adjusted the saddle a bit & that seemed to help. We finished the ride in under 2 hours.

On arriving home, I realised I could figure out where I lost my cadence sensor by looking at the route from the Garmin - there would be a point from the ride yesterday where the cadence would go from "something" to "nothing". I found the point on the ride & went to have a look, but it just happened to be near the junction between the Hogs Back and the Farnham road into Guildford - not an ideal place to find a small piece of plastic with a magnet in it.

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...

Why do I still feel guilty?

Yesterday I had good intentions. I had signed up for a 90 minute spin session at the gym, but it was full. I therefore decided to do some work on the turbo.

However, when I got home Jules & I realised we had a few bits to do on the website, and some preparation for a meeting with CHASE about the ride today.

I therefore convinced myself that it made sense to have a night off training (after all I had done 40 miles the day before....my second longest bike ride ever....). I felt awful.

So today when I got home it was straight on the turbo trainer for an hour. It was a good session, and I was pleased with my performance, but I still cant beat off the guilt for not doing anything yesterday!

40 miler!

Ciarán, Simon and I set out for a longer ride this morning. The weather was better than it was supposed to be according to the weathermen, but nonetheless quite blustery which made the going a bit tough at times.

We set out in a similar direction to my 35 mile route, but continued on into Bramley, then Chiddingfold, Haslemere, Hindhead then up to the Hogs Back back to Guildford. It was a good ride, with a particularly horrible hill out of Hindhead right on through Haslemere. According to my Garmin, we went from 200 ft to 850 ft. I need to work on my ascents - but I'm definitely getting better the more I do. The best thing was coming down the hill the other side - we hit 35 mph at one point.

I'm still not quite used to the distance you can achieve on a road-bike. I can't believe I cycled to Haslemere today....

I now have a turbo...

I was planning to go to the gym tonight to do a few more miles. On my way to the gym, I passed a bike shop, and popped in and bought a turbo trainer so I could do my training at home.

Great idea, except it took me a little while to put it together, so I ended up training til 21:30, and eating after that. Still, I managed to do the equivalent of 13 miles bringing my total to 68 miles for my first week of training. Not bad.

I had treated myself to a Garmin Edge 305 GPS thingy, which you attach to your bike so it can monitor a whole bunch of stuff you might be interested in (including cadence which I've discussed in previous postings). It makes tracking your progress really easy, with the added benefit of showing you where you went on a map in case you want to do a route again (or avoid one...).

35 miler - Happy New Year!!

I can't quite believe I'm out on my bike again, but what a great way to start the New Year!!

Paul & I decide to go out on a slightly longer ride, but less hilly, so we can a) get some more miles under our belt and b) focus on getting our cadence up.

We're aiming to do 25 miles, but we miss a turn and end up doing 35. This is another difference with the road bike compared to the mountain bike - you can really cover some distance. We cycled from Guildford to Dorking (via Cranleigh) - it felt great! It would have been a significant drive, and we did it by pedal power!!

It was a miserable day however, and I have to confess I felt like giving up, getting a hot drink & booking a taxi when we unexpectantly ended up in Dorking. Fraser popped into my head to keep me going though, and when I arrived home I felt fantastic.

My first ride alone

New Years Eve, and I figure I should get out on my bike. I decide to try the same route as we did for the kickoff meeting. 22 miles later, and I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. My average speed is up, my average heart rate is much the same and my cadence is up.

Over the past few weeks I've had to learn a lot about cycling (I'm a complete novice at road riding; my only experience being on a heavy, but comfortable mountain bike). Here are a couple I had never previously heard of

1. Cadence - this is the speed the pedals are turning. Apparently at the moment I need to stay in a low gear and keep my cadence high
2. Turbo trainers - this is a machine you mount your bike on such that you can ride all evening in the comfort of your own home....must get one
3. Zertz inserts - these are inserts to the frame of your bike which apparently absorb some of the vibrations and make the ride more comfortable. I bought these. Compared to my mountain bike, my new road bike is not as comfortable!

It's real

Today a group of people met for a quick bicycle ride (22 miles) followed by some lunch and a discussion about a much longer ride this coming summer.

Everyone seems up for it, and suddenly this mad idea I had after my son, Fraser, passed away seems very real. We agreed that in 26 weeks time we will cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise money for CHASE childrens hospice where Fraser spent much of his 2½ years and in particular his last week. The tough part is we will be doing it in 5 days as if it is not challenging enough.