Category Archives: Training

Over the hills and far away

Apparently Wednesday is back to meaning hills again. Well for this week anyway – I gather Alan has mad TT plans for future Wednesdays. Each to their own, à chacun son goût, etc. Believe it or not, I think I probably prefer hills…

We did a 35 mile 3 hill loop – Shipham Hill, Burrington Combe, and Old Bristol Hill – the various lumps being joined up by a fair amount of blatting around on the top of the Mendips where the wind was. Where the wind usually is. But since it was also warm and sunny and both my arms and legs were out, you won’t hear me complaining. I’m sure that makes a nice change for you all 😉

And when the hurly-burly was done, and the battle was not lost but won*, we settled down outside The Oakhouse to bask in our glory. Well in the sun anyway 😉 I could have had coffee. Alan did. But hey, it’s half term, it was my day off, the sun was shining (as I believe I may have mentioned one too many times now), so I opted for something a little more refreshing instead *grin*. I admire Alan’s willpower in not joining me…such restraint! 😉

Cycling time: 2:20
Distance: 34.9 miles
Avg: 15.0 mph
ODO: 9574.6 miles

It all went a lot better than I was expecting; for some reason my PMA has been AWOL for the last week or so. And you know what? It was my fastest time up Old Bristol Hill ever! Looks like I earnt that gratuitous pint after all 😉

*And yes, I’m misquoting deliberately 🙂

Ace of Spades

Ok, so I was going to rest. And I did. Honest. Thanks to some house/dog sitting I was doing, I spent all day on Saturday (minus one emergency out of hours vets trip – don’t ask!) and Sunday morning doing very little other than being curled up in a chair reading. However by the middle of Sunday afternoon, home again, I’d more than reached my (notoriously low) boredom threshold, and sitting around the house on my own was doing me no good at all on many levels, so I forced myself out of the house and went for a stompy hilly walk. After which I inevitably felt much better (though two days later my shins are killing me!), and which I rounded off nicely with a couple of pints outside The Lamb when I serendipitously bumped into a couple of mates. It’s nice when things work out that way 🙂

And then on Monday, after a little prompting from him, Alan and I did a coffee run to Fairyland to see what variety of the weird and wonderful would be out on a Bank Holiday. It did not disappoint, there were some fabulous characters on display, and the coffee at Heaphy’s was just as good as ever, especially when enjoyed sat outside in sort of sunshine. Sunshine that came with a killer wind of course, which we weren’t looking forward to fighting all the way home… Still, that sunshine and the relative warmth meant that it was the first time my pasty legs have been unveiled in this country this year, which should not go un-noted 🙂 Ace of Spades

As we were preparing to leave, things started falling from the sky. Not rain. Nor pennies from heaven. Nope. Playing cards! From up on a roof somewhere, they came one by one, until there was a little stream of them. Maybe someone was bidding a symbolic farewell to a gambling habit…or maybe someone was just having a really bad game of solitaire…who knows? It was the cause of quite some hilarity all around though 🙂 The first card dealt me was an 8 of spades but, arriving on the floor just as we were about to set off, was this little beauty 🙂 I crowed a little, and the leather-clad bikers at the nearby table appreciated the symbolism too *grin*. No need to think of a lyric-related title today – it was sent to me from on high 😉

Maybe that injection of cheerful is why the ride home turned out to be much easier than expected. Or maybe it was the double espresso 😉 Either way it all went well, I was feeling good again, and I wasn’t wiped out afterwards, so I guess I’d rested enough. Just as well, I don’t think I could take any more!

Cycling time: 1:41
Distance: 29.2 miles
Avg: 17.2 mph
ODO: 9539.7miles

If the hat fits…

I’ve been a tinsy bit busy this week…can’t imagine why…but I have managed to ride twice. Not that either of these rides went entirely according to plan.

On Wednesday, to compensate for not getting any exercise in on Monday and Tuesday, I planned myself a 60 mile route. Not the world’s most exciting route, to be sure, but with nowt better to do, and nowhere else to be, I figured I might as well. Get out there, enjoy it, etc. However thanks to the bl**dy wind (will it ever stop?), which eventually I really couldn’t face fighting anymore, I gave in, turned right, headed for home, and it turned out to be just 40. Tant pis *gallic shrug*.

Cycling time: 2:33
Distance: 39.9 miles
Avg: 15.6 mph
ODO: 9482.5 miles

On Friday Gary H and I did the usual kind of Sweets coffee loop. The man who “hasn’t done any training” hasn’t gotten any slower as a result even if that is true though, and keeping up was hard work. I wish I could do no training and still be that fast! *sob*. Ah well, we’re all built different, right?

Cycling time: 1:43
Distance: 28.0 miles
Avg: 16.2 mph
ODO: 9510.5 miles

However after both these rides, I was WAY WAY tireder afterwards than I should have been. Even after resting in between rides. Proper bone deep stuck on the sofa weary. Too many sportives? Too much else on my plate? Not enough food (distinctly possible and probably not helping either)?

So, however gorgeous it may be out there, and typically it really is, I am not riding the bike today. I’d like to but… I may not tomorrow or Monday either. Just as well I don’t have a sportive this weekend right? I get the feeling I may need a break. Sometimes you have to listen to your body I guess. We’ll see… Maybe I’ll go walking instead? And maybe I’ll ride anyway. I wouldn’t put it past me 😉 Still today, if you want me, I’ll be sat in the sun somewhere being busy doing nothing.

In the meantime, as the photo above reveals, on Monday I was duly installed as the Mayor of Axbridge again. It went well, mostly, the usual hiccup, but nothing that doesn’t happen every year, and my two were awesome. Kudos to my mob 🙂 So here I be, with a new hat and everything. The Cycling Mayor once more, in more than name alone 😉

BTW I’d like to thank Paul from The Lamb Inn, in Axbridge, and Butcombe Brewery for donating the beer for my Mayor Making. Credit where credit is due. Nice beer too 🙂

PS: for those of you currently enjoying the unusually lovely weather on The Tour of Wessex, I think you’ll find that’s because I’m not there, and I shall be invoicing you all for my non-attendance shortly 😉

Fly you fools

After the rain has fallen, which it did all day yesterday when I should have been riding and therefore wasn’t, comes today. When it was neither raining nor windy, which would appear to be somewhat of a rarity these days and as such should be taken advantage of. So Alan and I went out for coffee. And cake of course 😉

Apparently I should have been going slower, and I should stop surging up hills. I’m sorry, surging up hills??!!! I’m fairly sure Alan must have mistaken me for someone else 😉 As for the speed thing well, yes, I know we have a sportive on Sunday, so it may not have been wise, but the legs were working and when they’re working and I have it together, which would appear to be somewhat of a rarity these days, they should be taken advantage of 😀

Cycling time: 1:40
Distance: 28.8 miles
Avg: 17.2 mph
ODO: 9341.9 miles

Too many people take second best

Ok, I’m lying. Of course it doesn’t have to be perfect. What’s perfect anyway? And good enough is frequently good enough 🙂

Today was about checking the legs were ok before the Black Rat this weekend. Ok, I’m lying. Again. It was actually about seeing if I could go up a hill without another meltdown. In the company of Alan once again, who will also be with me on Sunday. We actually had sunshine, warmth, and no wind. No word of a lie. Yes, I know, miracles do happen! 😉

And as it turns out, that hill? Yes I could. Burrington Combe. Again with the not a lie 😉 Best time up it in a year as it happens. Not just this year. A year. Good enough 😉 And I wasn’t pushing it, because I’m still too scared to do that. But clearly there’s some form lurking somewhere there, when everything else is under control. And having earnt some fun, Longbottom and Shipham were an absolute blast. So t’was short but sweet as rides go, but well worth it on the PMA front 🙂

Cycling time: 1:16
Distance: 18.9 miles
Avg: 14.8 mph
ODO: 9313.1 miles

I’m a survivor

Today was an ACG ride. A very well attended ACG ride. Though our numbers were a somewhat movable feast, there were, for the most part, around 12 of us. Guy led us on a merry dance around the Levels to Fenny Castle for coffee. And then off up and down the Mendips for those that fancied such antics.

I’d really like to have joined them for that latter part. Cycling me is feeling pretty good at the moment and although I know I still ill compare with my peers going up hills, I also know that I will get up them and that I am getting up them better than I have been. However it was not to be. There were indications early on that ups and me were not going to be friends today. But on the flat after that, hey, I can do that, and I did, and I enjoyed it. I’ve not been out with the ACG in quite a while, and catching up with everyone, be it on the bike or over coffee, was lovely. But while they were all drinking coffee to wash down cake, I had to use mine to wash down shiny pills.

Chris on Cheddar Gorge

So I decided that I would go up Old Bristol Hill with them, see how it went and then make a call for the rest of the route. I think it’s safe to say this did not go well. It went well from a Strava point of view to be fair, which is weird, but from a pain perspective? Really not so much so. Doing more of the same was clearly going to be neither a good idea, nor pleasant. So it was time to bail. Chris very kindly volunteered to join me, or escort me, or just generally make sure I got home in one piece. Which I/we did, because by then it was mostly a case of fighting the killer headwind on the flat along the top and then trying not to let it take us by surprise on the way down the Gorge. I wasn’t entirely all together though, and I’m not sure how well I’d have done without the company. Gratitude be due 🙂

Apologies to all for bailing. It’s really not my thing. Mea culpa, but I didn’t really have a choice. Hey, I was still out for a couple of hours, I made it up a big hill, the sun came out, the hills were green, the sky was blue, and the flowers were not all yellow. It was very pretty out there and once again, I’m a survivor 🙂

Cycling time: 2:13
Distance: 33.3 miles
Avg: 15.1 mph
ODO: 9294.2 miles

We just gotta be strong

Dichotomy. Maybe that’s what I am. Or that’s what I was today. Two things which are entirely different. Or maybe it’s more like the angel vs devil on your shoulders thing. There was the cycling me, which felt pretty good, unlike Alan. And the other me who has been happily stabbing me with a pitchfork all day.

Sometimes you can ride your worries away. Sometimes you can ride away from your worries. Although that does tend to involve riding back to them but hey, the break is good. Today riding pushed it away for all but some of the ups, and I didn’t feel the effects of pushing through it all until I stopped doing so. I was pretty happy out there, all told. Maybe I should have stayed on the bike – life’s alway better on the bike. Or at the beach 😉 But beforehand I didn’t think I could do it, and I still did, and that’s just the way it is 🙂

Things go in circles. Or cycles. Well I do anyway 😉

Cycling time: 1:49
Distance: 27.9 miles
Avg: 15.3 mph
ODO: 9260.9 miles

Room to breathe

Life has been a bit stressful this week. But riding has given me some room to breathe 🙂Alan and I have been out twice this week. Once to Fairyland. Once to the seaside. Both fairly flat, and both fairly fast. I’m not on the best form this week, thanks to the usual, but it’s been good to be out there. And without company I probably wouldn’t have gone out there at all. I’m lazy like that 😉

Cycling time: 1:44
Distance: 29 miles
Avg: 16.7 mph
ODO: 9121 miles

Cycling time: 1:55
Distance: 32.5 miles
Avg: 16.9 mph
ODO: 9153.5 miles

Thanks Alan! 🙂

Free to be whatever I choose

Time to ride the bike in the sun and see if the legs were still working. Which they were. On a route that was carefully planned to maximise the use of tailwind across the levels. And it was nice out there, as you can see. I had a good time 🙂

Cycling time: 1:43
Distance: 27.5 miles
Avg: 16.0 mph
ODO: 9002.1 miles

Today is MaxiMe’s birthday so, just for once, that’ll be all for me today. Priorities 🙂

One of these days the sky’s gonna break…

…but until it does, there’s still time to ride in the beautiful sunshine 🙂

Looks like Alan and I must have been pretty desperate for good coffee though – look at us go! 😉

Cycling time: 1:36
Distance: 28.8 miles
Avg: 17.8 mph
ODO: 8906.6 miles

As the sportive season rolls on, the Exmoor Beauty is next. I’m hoping it goes well…fingers crossed, wish me luck, etc. It’s a big ‘un….but I’ll explain that later…

You see I’d write more; but I have places to be & people to see. I’m attempting to have a life 😉

More letters from the sky soon enough 😉