Doncaster/Humber bridge/Doncaster

I jumped at the chance when I was invited out for a cycle ride with my brother in-law, Dave, last week, to ride to the Humber bridge and back to Doncaster.

It was a great ride which I really enjoyed and gained some insight to what it is going to be like doing long rides.

So far, I have only ridden a small number of 25 mile rides and was looking forward to testing myself on a longer ride.

There was a group of approximately 30 riders, a big group for me, who usually rides on my own! I rode around the mid-pack mark because I know that riding in the slip stream of another rider saves me around 30% of energy. I felt very comfortable riding around the 20/21 mph mark and realised after a couple of hours that when Matt and myself are doing long rides there is going to be no other riders to hide behind and that what I was experiencing is likely to have no resemblance to our ride!

Riding a group is ace, for a number of reasons;

1. Seeing the riders around me riding close together and keeping less than a meter gap between my front wheel and the next riders back wheel.

2. Having brief chats with different riders as we swap around in the group and listening to the chains running around the gears and the tyres humming on the tarmac.

3. The feeling of being close to other riders when keeping it tight to reduce wind drag and the actions of my legs, ankles and feet when turning the pedals.

When we got to the Humber bridge the group stopped for a snack that had been kindly brought by a couple of people who where acting as a back up support team. I found that eating often helped me keep strong and maintain good energy levels.

After around 60 miles I spent around 10 minutes at the front, which felt great. There was 2 of us side by side and we were riding at 21/22 mph, up hill. The reason why I wanted to ride at the front was to get a feel for what it is like to save 30% energy and Wow what a difference.

I felt like I had good power in my legs and I wanted to keep going, however, after a while the guys behind took over the front position as I started dropping back to have a rest tucked away in the middle of the pack. At this point, a warning sign started to come up as my legs felt very tired!! After a tough 5-10minutes and a banana my legs felt like normal and I was off again, feeling good and ready to ride for as long as I wanted.

I had a couple of draw backs on the ride. When you ride in a group it is courtesy to point out holes in the road, cars coming and parked cars which you have to pull out for, however, there at times when you don't see what is lying on the ground when you are so close to other riders.

For me it was when I hit a hole, so hard that not only did I get a puncture I cracked the wheel rim and then roughly 15 miles from home I ran over a large stone and punctured BOTH tubes, unbelievable.

When I have been going out on rides I ride without taking a spare tube and pump because I have a belief that by leaving them at home I also leave punctures there too. From now on, I will take a tube and pump as there are other factors that can happen which I need to be prepared for.

The journey took 5 hours 44 mins, with a 20 min food break. The distance was 91 miles, max speed was 39 mph, max heart rate was 167 and average heart rate was 128.

Good stats for my first ride over 25 miles!!

Balancing the wheels!!

Full of exuberance and totally motivated for our ride to John O'Grotes, I started cycling, whilst carrying on with my swimming and at the same time was busting out some long hours at work.

A little too much, so my body gave me a cold sore, and began to give me the feeling of being run down. As soon as I could feel the cold sore, I stopped training because I know my body is saying 'you have to stop, rest and pay attention to what you are doing!'

What did I need to pay attention to? Balancing the wheel. Being more specific about my training.

I now swim Tuesday, Friday, Sunday and cycle Monday to Friday.

Swimming involves technique and speed on Tuesday and Friday and we do a training session on Sunday, which is awesome fun.

Cycling involves completing a 25 mile ride at a steady pace for one more week and then I will be doing different sessions which include longer distances and interval work (I love doing interval work :-)).

I feel like I am getting to kill two birds with one stone at the moment. The reason why I swim is so that I can be fit enough to jump on my motocross bike and ride with good fitness straight away. Now with the inclusion of cycling, my fitness is improving even more and I think that by the time we have finished the ride, I will be ready to race again.

If I continue training and start practicing on my motocross bike, I imagine that I will be feeling competitive come the new season of 2010. Oooh, now there's a thought that makes me lick my lips :-)

For now though, I'll look after the seeds I have sown :-)

CT Scan

I have been to the hospital to have a CT scan on my wrist to check that the scaphoid bone, which was operated on, is heal correctly. My visit to the doctor last week was fun. My appointment was supposed to be 3 months after the opperation, this appointment was 15 months afterwards!!

My first visit with the doctor, he mentioned that there was about 40% success rate with the operation and that I would have restricted movement.

Before I went in to have my operation, I wrote on my hand which was to be operated on 'anything is possible' and 'everyone is amazing', I wanted him to do a good job for me :-)

We decided (the doctor and I) after the operation to have my lower arm in a cast to stop me doing daft things, such as ride Kates motorbike and cut my pot off so I could drive the hire car on holiday in America (well I only rode fairly slowly and it was nearly time to have the cast removed when we where on holiday!).

The cast was removed and I was to take it easy for 9 months. In 2 months from this time I was racing in Iceland and won the championship!

My plan for the visit to the doctors was to find out how good the bone is and then own up! The bone has healed well and I have very nearly full movement of my wrist and nearly full power grip, compared to my right hand!

The doctor was really chuffed so I told how soon I was riding, then racing and winning. It was great to watch his face as he smiled, listening to my tales :-)

I'll be signed off after we have the results of the CT scan.

All is good!

What is involved with cycling from Land's end to John O'Grotes

The reason why I am doing this ride is because it's something that I have dreamed of doing for many years and this is a great opportunity for me to raise money for the Bluebell wood appeal, our local children's hospice who I like to donate money to when we do any fund raising.

I have already received a donation (thank you Karen) which is great because I am now totally committed to successfully completing the ride.

I have 2 great reasons to do the ride which are providing me with plenty of motivation. Now it's time to consider what is involved with cycling from Lands End to John O'Grotes.

1, Planning the route - We need to choose a route that is direct and yet misses the major roads (including motorways!). The trip will be just short of 1000 miles.
2, Accommodation - We are planning on doing the trip in 7 days. As our daily distance is likely to vairy the use of a motor home will be ideal. This way we can stop when we want without having to find B&B's.
3, Finance - Fuel for the motor home, food, bike equipment.....
4, Equipment - The bike, shoes, clothing, speedo & mileometer, GPS (map/route planning), drinks & nutrition, laptop (for blogging, recording heart data, downloading photos and sending e-mail) and most importantly bike conditioning.
5, Planning - scheduling the training so that I am ready in time for the ride, whilst maintaining a well balanced work, relationships, family, spirituality relationship that will work alongside my health & fitness and personal development which I am working on which come with achieving the trip.

At this moment in time, I think that this is all that is involved with the trip, there could well be additions!

As training develops I will blog about how I am going to achieve each of these areas that's involved and finally I will consider what else I can do with my new experiences that I can use in the future.

In the meantime, I'll keep on pedalling.