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!

Morning Turbo with Mr Sugar

I had originally planned to train last night, but ended up working late again. Also, I was not feeling great, so I got an early night and a good nights sleep so I could get up early this morning to train before work.

Since the clocks changed again, it's too dark in the morning to go out on the road (must buy myself a proper light), so it was back on the turbo. I watched the iPlayer again, and Wednesdays episode of The Apprentice. Very entertaining.

Another 15 miles...

Turbo to Torchwood

Back on the turbo tonight. I watched another episode of Torchwood, which I'm getting quite into now. The first 50 minutes went quite quickly. I then watched the brilliant penguin April fools joke from the BBC.

Got my 15 miles in anyhow....

Drizzle

Having Turbo'd on Wednesday, I figured I'd wait til this morning to get up early and get some miles in.

Alarm went off at 5am, and I was out on the road at 5:10. Just did my Guildford-Effingham-Guildford route (approx 15 miles), which took about 50 minutes.

Traffic was quieter this morning than the previous occasion. I hardly saw any cars at all.

I think a good summary of the ride would be 'drizzle'

Saved by the BBC iPlayer

Long weekends are great for getting some miles in and having a bit of a break, but they make the short weeks harder to do the miles in between.

Decided to have a break on Tuesday, so planned to do something today and Thursday.

Didn't have a good day on Tuesday. I think it was a combination of post-long-weekend-blues, plus I was thinking about Fraser a lot. Consequently, I didn't feel like getting up early this morning, so I got back on the turbo for the first time for a while.

I've watched all my Christmas DVDs now, so I thought I'd try out the BBC iPlayer. It was fantastic! I watched an episode of Torchwood and then a news bulletin. I was surprised how good the quality was, especially as I was using a wireless network, but the sound was completely uninterupted, and the picture only froze on the occasional frame - certainly not enough to become annoying. Well done BBC!!!

Did the full hour, and around 16 miles or so, and felt good afterwards.

Need some better lights!

When I got home from work today, I just did not feel like sitting in the garage on the turbo. I decided therefore to go out on the road for a ride. I managed to go almost to Effingham and back in about 50 minutes (so almost 16 miles) which I was quite pleased with, but it was a bit scary as my front light is more a 'be seen' light than a 'see' one!!

It was fine unless there was any traffic coming towards me, which there was, most of the way....

Still, the time & the miles went much more quickly out on the highway than sat in the garage!

Jetlag

We flew in on Monday morning from the "red-eye" flight. Scariest landing I've ever had, as we it was in the middle of the worst storm in a while in the UK. I seriously thought the tip of the wing was going to hit the ground first when we hit surbulence very near the ground on landing. It certainly felt like the left wheel hit the groud before the right one which is unnerving at the speed 777s land.

I went straight to the office, so was not planning to train on monday night, but to sleep instead!

The plan was to train on Tuesday and Thursday. However, because I'd been away in NY for a week, things had stacked up a bit back in London, so I got home quite late on Tuesday. Things had similarly stacked up at home too; post, messages & Race For CHASE admin to catch up on. Hence I didn't train Tuesday after all.

Finally on Wednesday I got back on the bike, albeit 'only' a turbo session, but it felt great. I only did an hour (or just under 20 miles) but it was good to start racking the miles up again.

Given we have a 100 mile training ride on Saturday, and feeling tired again on Thursday, I decided not to train. It's going to be interesting to see how my lack of training translates to a lack of performance on Saturday. I heard that many of the other riders have already clocked up their first hundred miler.

The morning of the first training ride

It's 7am. John & Tim stayed over last night, and we managed to go to bed before midnight and without drinking any alcohol. This may not sound shocking to you reading this, but to me the idea of either of these two staying over and the ideas of an early night & no alcohol are somewhat incongruous.

At 8:30 we'll be setting off on our first team training ride. Simon has planned the route, but I think it involves cycling to Chichester. Take a look on the map....Guildford to Chichester & back....it's going to be great!!

I've had a bad week as far as training is concerned (hence the lack of posts). Monday was a rest day. I intended to Turbo train on Tuesday, but I spent too much time trying to readjust my saddle (it had been moved during the service) and fit my new cadence sensor (which works, but seems to stop the speed sensor from working). Wednesday I'd arranged to meet up with a friend who I haven't seen one on one for ages. Thursday Jules and I went out for a meal for valentines night, which was lovely. We went to Vivat Bacchus; fine wine, lovely food, great service - recommended!

Friday was spent preparing for the training ride today. Jules had been trying to get some tee-shirts done for the team photo, and we ended up buying blanks & printing our own transfers. It took ages!!!

Anyhow - wish us luck!

Working at home

I had a slightly odd day today. 6 months ago I booked my follow on appointment for a dental check-up. At that time I was working at home every Wednesday to spend more time in the evening and before work with Fraser & give Jules some extra support mid-week. I would therefore try and book Fraser's hospital appointments, check-ups etc for a Wednesday so I did not need to take more time out of the office and I could be there to hear what the experts had to say. I would also book appointments for myself on a Wednesday again so as not to have more time out of the office.

So today I was working at home on a Wednesday again, because I'd booked my 6-monthly dental appointment on a Wednesday. It's amazing how often silly litte things like that come up and remind you of Fraser.

What it did mean however was that I could go for a quick bike-ride before work. I cycled out to Beyond Mountain Bikes in Cranleigh and back. Found out it is exactly 8 miles from my front door to the front door of the shop. I pushed it a bit harder than normal so I could get back in time to have a shower & start work in good time. Consequently I managed 16 miles in just a smidge over the hour. Very pleased - especially as I did 14 turbo miles last night.

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!

Here's to the other halves...

I was back on the turbo on Tuesday night, and felt fine. I was pleased about this given the miles I'd done over the weekend. I did a full hour, and approx 15 'turbo miles'. Note: I've set the resistance on my turbo such that my average speed, and normal gear & cadence mean that my heart rate is similar to what it would be on the road. This is not an exact science, but I reckon my 'turbo mile' is about as near to a real mile as I'm likely to get. Having said all that, 15 miles is the furthest I've gone in an hour so far; hence I was pleased.

The plan was to Turbo train tonight too, as I have a work function on Thursday. However, I managed to get home before Jules did for the first time this year. She has been so great about letting me train, and ensuring I have something to eat when I've finished, that I decided it would be nice to treat her to a meal and have an unplanned relaxing evening.

So....another one of those days of rest

Back on the turbo

2 nights of turbo training following a long day in the office. Not good. At least the cold feels better (must be that hot toddy). Thursdays session didn't start til 8:45, so I didn't do a full hour.

Pretty busy at work now, not seeing much of Jules. She's been great so far giving me time to train & making sure I've got food to eat afterwards. This is going to be tough on both of us though. Might book a day off work so we get some non-Race-for-CHASE time together.

Blummin colds

I still can't seem to shake a cold I've had since Christmas. Everyone seems to have it at the moment. Today my throat was sore again, and I started coughing. Decided not to do turbo tonight and get an early night.

One of the guys at work was complaining of a "one sided sore throat", and I think I've got the same thing.

Nice hot toddy and an early night. Probably worth noting my hot toddy recipe here. It really is a miracle drink if you want a good nights sleep:

1. Place a thick slice of lemon & a good squeeze of lemon juice in a large tumbler
2. Fill the glass 3/4 full with boiling water (use a teaspoon to stop the glass cracking)
3. Add 2 generous teaspoons of honey
4. Add a good slug of Bunnahabhain single malt scotch (I know....sacrilege...but it tastes great...trust me!)
5. Drink, enjoy & sleep :-)

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!

The 2nd week

Although I was back at work on 2-Jan, last week was my first full week back since Fraser died. I'm realising that the trick to this challenge is going to be finding the time to get the miles in. Sunday morning was easy enough. Simon joined Paul and I on our 35 mile route via Dorking. I felt great after that ride - much stronger than on New Years day. Could it possibly be that this training is paying off already?

I had a work function on Thursday night, and planned to keep Friday clear, so I turbo-trained on Monday and Wednesday with a break on Tuesday. Because I had a shortened turbo-training session on Wednesday due to working late, I also went out for a short 15 mile ride on Saturday morning.

This brought my weekly total to 72 miles (including the turbo). Thats 4 miles further than the first week which is good, but not as good as I had hoped. Having said that, my average speed is up 1/2 mph and my average cadence is up 5.

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...).