Incredible. This time in 4 weeks we would have completed (all being well) the first day of 14 arriving in Lostwithiel.
So the week just gone, was a good one for rides. I had the mid week commute home with 44km and then yesterday (Sunday) I had a 93km ride. The Sunday ride was not as much as I had hoped for, but to be honest I wasn't feeling it. I was quite down, not sure why though? The ride was good the weather was pretty much perfect. I certainly noticed at the end of the ride again my resting hate rate was back to normal quite quickly. I think I do need to concentrate on the warm down and doing so for longer. A slight tangent from the Land's End to John O'Groats ride; went to see The Muppet Show Sunday evening and that was awesome and great feel good movie.
Now that the days have moved into the Summer time time, my plan over the coming weeks is to go for short rides. 20-40km twice maybe three evenings a week. I would like to really work hard to build on my fitness levels as the big ride approaches in the coming weeks. My ideal would be to be back if not better than my fitness in about July/August 2011. I was cycle 5days (sometimes 7days) a week and really noticed my stamina increase.
I have numerous tasks that need to be completed, none more so than finalising the route. This week along with the evening rides, route tweaking, I think outstanding kit must be selected and prepared to be purchased. Our Alzheimer's Society t-shirt and jersey's need to be ordered too.
In terms of fundraising there is a slow trickle of donations coming in, which is fantastic, but I really need to get this going. I am a long way off my desired target off £5k, which is a little disheartening, but up until last week I had not been advertising hard.
Great news from the government this week too: "Extra funding for research into dementia forms a central plank of the government's attempts to tackle the "national crisis" in care." ..."Dementia is thought to affect about 800,000 people,"... Although this is a good step in the right direction from the government, I still want to help our sufferers and carers.
Thank you to everyone who have made donations to date, the contributions have been sensational and shall go a long way to helping those suffering and research.
Please donate whatever you can: http://www.justgiving.com/e2ecr
Monday 26 March 2012
Wednesday 21 March 2012
Mid week commute
Its fair to say that the commute home this evening was a very interesting experience. Not only was the ride in my opinion flat to my normal rides, but it was a eye opener with regards to being traffic fit rather than cycle fit.
I cycle every weekend, cover some good distances and its all around the Surrey hills. This evenings commute was probably the flattest I have cycled in some time, but also the busiest in terms of traffic. Although my cycle fitness was fine to cover the 27miles ride home, my traffic fitness was a little rough round the edges. It is amazing the various types of road user/driver that I faced this evening. Also other cyclists who a handful I might add should get some bloody lights on their bikes! It angers me to see some riders with no lights.
Scenario one: I had a white (large) van in stationary to crawling traffic at the lights, two lanes of traffic; with a filter lane to the left. This was not accessible due to the quantity of vehicles in the que. So the van driver, no indication continually crawls to the left until such time as they've shut the door and can't move forward anymore without mounting the curb. Any indication NO. Never saw or acknowledge me - three front flash lights.
Scenario two: Approaching a round-a-bout with six exits including the one I am on and I need to take the 5th i.e. the last one. I therefore had to travel all the way round. A breeze. My road positioning and vehicles waiting to join all perfect. No one jumped out, those on the round-a-bout gave good space. Totally different experience to the traffic light filter lane NO indication situation.
The ride also gave a brilliant opportunity to test the Garmin Edge 800 GPS again, particularly on the unexplored roads. So how it was it? Awesome, it totally lived up to my expectations and I even had the unfortunate opportunity to test the road relocation function and it worked a treat. I knew the area vaguely, but not well enough to be confident in my direction after taking a wrong turn. Why did I take a wrong turn anyway? Like car GPS if there is a very sharp left or right, it is treated as a turning, so I unfortunately took that turning - not the end of the world mind. However allowing road relocation was a great decision. It lead me back onto the route I had planned, without having to go back on myself.
To summarise tonight's ride: good, flat, but certainly need to increase my traffic fitness. You most certainly need to spend more effort on watching, listening and waiting for other traffic than just going out for a weekends ride. Good eye opener though for the weekday rides during LEJOG.
Please don't forget to donate: www.justgiving.com/e2ecr
I cycle every weekend, cover some good distances and its all around the Surrey hills. This evenings commute was probably the flattest I have cycled in some time, but also the busiest in terms of traffic. Although my cycle fitness was fine to cover the 27miles ride home, my traffic fitness was a little rough round the edges. It is amazing the various types of road user/driver that I faced this evening. Also other cyclists who a handful I might add should get some bloody lights on their bikes! It angers me to see some riders with no lights.
Scenario one: I had a white (large) van in stationary to crawling traffic at the lights, two lanes of traffic; with a filter lane to the left. This was not accessible due to the quantity of vehicles in the que. So the van driver, no indication continually crawls to the left until such time as they've shut the door and can't move forward anymore without mounting the curb. Any indication NO. Never saw or acknowledge me - three front flash lights.
Scenario two: Approaching a round-a-bout with six exits including the one I am on and I need to take the 5th i.e. the last one. I therefore had to travel all the way round. A breeze. My road positioning and vehicles waiting to join all perfect. No one jumped out, those on the round-a-bout gave good space. Totally different experience to the traffic light filter lane NO indication situation.
The ride also gave a brilliant opportunity to test the Garmin Edge 800 GPS again, particularly on the unexplored roads. So how it was it? Awesome, it totally lived up to my expectations and I even had the unfortunate opportunity to test the road relocation function and it worked a treat. I knew the area vaguely, but not well enough to be confident in my direction after taking a wrong turn. Why did I take a wrong turn anyway? Like car GPS if there is a very sharp left or right, it is treated as a turning, so I unfortunately took that turning - not the end of the world mind. However allowing road relocation was a great decision. It lead me back onto the route I had planned, without having to go back on myself.
To summarise tonight's ride: good, flat, but certainly need to increase my traffic fitness. You most certainly need to spend more effort on watching, listening and waiting for other traffic than just going out for a weekends ride. Good eye opener though for the weekday rides during LEJOG.
Please don't forget to donate: www.justgiving.com/e2ecr
Sunday 18 March 2012
5 weeks to go
Another week has flown past and once again I'm looking back on the last seven days and now looking forward to the next.
I had a series of three rides, but all short (it was mothering Sunday weekend so I had to give a little). Two rides on Saturday 40k and 20km, and one on Sunday 40km again. These were all brilliant tests for my latest purchase, the Endura Fltye Jacket (from Evans Cycles).
I bought this jacket because of its specification and high recommendations. I totally agree. This jacket is superb, well made and a great design; it does have some cons - but you have to really search for them in my opinion. I set off on Saturday morning in the rain, cycled non-stop through the rain and arrived home in the rain. It was fair enough to arrive home with pretty wet legs, I had not worn water proofs on the bottom half, but the top half wow. Completely dry. Nothing. I had probably cycled about 15km of the 40km with the under arm vents open too, but still the top half was perfectly dry.
In some reviews there was mention of a knocking sound - I too had this knocking sound, but I had filled the front pocket with lots of stuff. When leaning forward on my race bike it made an odd knocking sound, but this is a minor con. Perhaps the most commented about con I have read its the becoming too hot and sweating etc. My view on this is; if you buy a jacket to stay dry and it does exactly that, then perfect. Essentially you are going to sweat in any jacket particularly if you are a hairy person. No further comments your honour. Except for; if your looking for a waterproof jacket, try this on for size and then buy it.
The short rides also gave a good opportunity to test the Garmin Edge 800 GPS some more. I think I have now perfected how to use it. I say that but I am sure on my next ride I will find another good enhancement. The device is at its best when you prepare and then go. Not go and the start tweaking the course set up etc. Its navigation and prompts for a device of its size is great. If you have travelled 5metres past your turn it instantly tells you OFF COURSE. This can only mean one thing, a massive reduction in extra lost miles whilst on the LEJOG ride. More importantly, no going down a massive hill only to find we should have turned left before the decent.
So this week sees a new addition to my training, cycling home after work. I will start with once this week, but increase to hopefully 3x maybe 4 per week. This will be good as its an additional 26miles in the saddle each day. Cycle fit. It is key to be cycle fit for this ride and hopefully by increasing my number of rides, not just individual distances it shall aid the 14day ride.
I noticed at the end of todays ride my resting rate had returned almost immediately once getting off the bike. Figures crossed this shall be the case after bigger distances.
I will start to really work hard on the fund raising this week too, which is going to be helped by the launch of the refreshed site e2ecr.
Please don't forget to donate: www.justgiving.com/e2ecr
I had a series of three rides, but all short (it was mothering Sunday weekend so I had to give a little). Two rides on Saturday 40k and 20km, and one on Sunday 40km again. These were all brilliant tests for my latest purchase, the Endura Fltye Jacket (from Evans Cycles).
I bought this jacket because of its specification and high recommendations. I totally agree. This jacket is superb, well made and a great design; it does have some cons - but you have to really search for them in my opinion. I set off on Saturday morning in the rain, cycled non-stop through the rain and arrived home in the rain. It was fair enough to arrive home with pretty wet legs, I had not worn water proofs on the bottom half, but the top half wow. Completely dry. Nothing. I had probably cycled about 15km of the 40km with the under arm vents open too, but still the top half was perfectly dry.
In some reviews there was mention of a knocking sound - I too had this knocking sound, but I had filled the front pocket with lots of stuff. When leaning forward on my race bike it made an odd knocking sound, but this is a minor con. Perhaps the most commented about con I have read its the becoming too hot and sweating etc. My view on this is; if you buy a jacket to stay dry and it does exactly that, then perfect. Essentially you are going to sweat in any jacket particularly if you are a hairy person. No further comments your honour. Except for; if your looking for a waterproof jacket, try this on for size and then buy it.
The short rides also gave a good opportunity to test the Garmin Edge 800 GPS some more. I think I have now perfected how to use it. I say that but I am sure on my next ride I will find another good enhancement. The device is at its best when you prepare and then go. Not go and the start tweaking the course set up etc. Its navigation and prompts for a device of its size is great. If you have travelled 5metres past your turn it instantly tells you OFF COURSE. This can only mean one thing, a massive reduction in extra lost miles whilst on the LEJOG ride. More importantly, no going down a massive hill only to find we should have turned left before the decent.
So this week sees a new addition to my training, cycling home after work. I will start with once this week, but increase to hopefully 3x maybe 4 per week. This will be good as its an additional 26miles in the saddle each day. Cycle fit. It is key to be cycle fit for this ride and hopefully by increasing my number of rides, not just individual distances it shall aid the 14day ride.
I noticed at the end of todays ride my resting rate had returned almost immediately once getting off the bike. Figures crossed this shall be the case after bigger distances.
I will start to really work hard on the fund raising this week too, which is going to be helped by the launch of the refreshed site e2ecr.
Please don't forget to donate: www.justgiving.com/e2ecr
Sunday 11 March 2012
6 weeks to go
Brilliant couple of rides with this weekend.
I completed a 90km ride on Saturday with 2 category hill climbs (1) cat 4 and (1) cat 5. The ride started after about 10km with the cat 5 climb and that was a great way to get the body warm and settled in to the next few km's. I tried to consume a good amount of food whilst making this ride, but at the end of 90km, how can you consume 3000+ calories? This is a learning curve that dad and I will certainly need to consider whilst doing 90km+ during the Land's End to John O'Groats ride. It is highly likely that we will be burning this amount every day for 14 days so we do need to ensure that we are keeping the intake up. The weather on Saturday was essentially perfect with next to no wind and good light, with some brilliant sunny spells. 3hrs 40mins (roughly) with good breaks to complete this ride which is the first of its kind this year (2012). I will now aim to stretch my legs on this type of distance every weekend - rain or shine.
Today we (the wife (Lucie) and I) ventured out on a 45km ride on reasonably flat route, but great in terms of peddling time. Due to the flatness of the route where we cycled there was the need for continuous peddling, which was great. Lucie had the chance to extend the distance that she is used to. As I know to well, you can't just jump in to 100km+ you need to work up to it. Although I am used to long distances, the 14days of continuous cycling will certainly be a shock to the system. If I can train my body to be used to cycling (cycling legs or cycle fit) then Land's End to John O'Groats should not be too much of a shock. As the the first day approaches there are some nerves which are kicking in - I just hope everything will be okay.
I need to start looking on finalizing the route, finalizing the kit and ensure I am happy with everything. I do still need to purchase some new tops and some better padded shorts etc. I have also revamped the e2ecr website and this should hopefully now be the final one to run with. This will be updated as often as possible.
Please don't forget to donate: www.justgiving.com/e2ecr
I completed a 90km ride on Saturday with 2 category hill climbs (1) cat 4 and (1) cat 5. The ride started after about 10km with the cat 5 climb and that was a great way to get the body warm and settled in to the next few km's. I tried to consume a good amount of food whilst making this ride, but at the end of 90km, how can you consume 3000+ calories? This is a learning curve that dad and I will certainly need to consider whilst doing 90km+ during the Land's End to John O'Groats ride. It is highly likely that we will be burning this amount every day for 14 days so we do need to ensure that we are keeping the intake up. The weather on Saturday was essentially perfect with next to no wind and good light, with some brilliant sunny spells. 3hrs 40mins (roughly) with good breaks to complete this ride which is the first of its kind this year (2012). I will now aim to stretch my legs on this type of distance every weekend - rain or shine.
Today we (the wife (Lucie) and I) ventured out on a 45km ride on reasonably flat route, but great in terms of peddling time. Due to the flatness of the route where we cycled there was the need for continuous peddling, which was great. Lucie had the chance to extend the distance that she is used to. As I know to well, you can't just jump in to 100km+ you need to work up to it. Although I am used to long distances, the 14days of continuous cycling will certainly be a shock to the system. If I can train my body to be used to cycling (cycling legs or cycle fit) then Land's End to John O'Groats should not be too much of a shock. As the the first day approaches there are some nerves which are kicking in - I just hope everything will be okay.
I need to start looking on finalizing the route, finalizing the kit and ensure I am happy with everything. I do still need to purchase some new tops and some better padded shorts etc. I have also revamped the e2ecr website and this should hopefully now be the final one to run with. This will be updated as often as possible.
Please don't forget to donate: www.justgiving.com/e2ecr
7 weeks to go
With now only 6 weeks to go and missing my post last week (so there are to be two posts tonight) there is a good amount to catch up on...
At the 7 weeks to go point I had completed two rides with load totaling 90km. However this was filled with probably the best combination of riding weather. The first 45km was in damp, but sunny and a slight head in places. It was also my first ever experience of carrying a load other than just a back pack. The panniers were awesome. I did decide to purchase the Altura Dryline 56 Panniers and it turned out last weekend was the perfect time to test them. I found the adjustment of the bags to fit and clip onto my rack, very easy and with no complications. I would most certainly recommend these panniers. To back up my reasoning its fair to say cycling in the damp but with the sun, you did ride through the odd puddle. Did my over night cloths or anything for that matter in the pannier become wet; no. My maiden voyage with panniers went with great success; even through a trickey one-way-system.
And so the ride home on the Sunday. wow. so the ride started immediately with rain, which is no issue - I'm not a fair weather cyclist. However I was not prepared for the fourth coming sleet and then the (out of the blue) thick heavy snow and massive drop in temperature. The snow, but particularly the drop in temperature really hit me hard. I had only taken spring and rain stuff with me, no snow/winter riding clothes. This was a massive mistake and its fair to say that Sunday's ride was a very big struggle.
The positive to come out of last weekends rides were the tests I put my newly purchased panniers through. They literately had all types of weather conditions thrown at them and I would certainly agree with other reviews I have read. ( Altura Dryline 56 Panniers ) Waterproof - yes. Large loads - definitely. Value for money - Yes (from Wiggle) They have a very large main compartment and then a small (not medium) area for bits 'n' bobs. They fastened nicely and kept all my belongings in perfect condition.
The lesson learnt from last weekend, take some winter gear with me just incase!
At the 7 weeks to go point I had completed two rides with load totaling 90km. However this was filled with probably the best combination of riding weather. The first 45km was in damp, but sunny and a slight head in places. It was also my first ever experience of carrying a load other than just a back pack. The panniers were awesome. I did decide to purchase the Altura Dryline 56 Panniers and it turned out last weekend was the perfect time to test them. I found the adjustment of the bags to fit and clip onto my rack, very easy and with no complications. I would most certainly recommend these panniers. To back up my reasoning its fair to say cycling in the damp but with the sun, you did ride through the odd puddle. Did my over night cloths or anything for that matter in the pannier become wet; no. My maiden voyage with panniers went with great success; even through a trickey one-way-system.
And so the ride home on the Sunday. wow. so the ride started immediately with rain, which is no issue - I'm not a fair weather cyclist. However I was not prepared for the fourth coming sleet and then the (out of the blue) thick heavy snow and massive drop in temperature. The snow, but particularly the drop in temperature really hit me hard. I had only taken spring and rain stuff with me, no snow/winter riding clothes. This was a massive mistake and its fair to say that Sunday's ride was a very big struggle.
The positive to come out of last weekends rides were the tests I put my newly purchased panniers through. They literately had all types of weather conditions thrown at them and I would certainly agree with other reviews I have read. ( Altura Dryline 56 Panniers ) Waterproof - yes. Large loads - definitely. Value for money - Yes (from Wiggle) They have a very large main compartment and then a small (not medium) area for bits 'n' bobs. They fastened nicely and kept all my belongings in perfect condition.
The lesson learnt from last weekend, take some winter gear with me just incase!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)