Has it really been nearly 14 months since I posted anything blog-worthy? I’m not sure why though. It’s not like I’ve been a hermit for the last almost-year-and-a-half.
I think I had a slightly sub-conscious New Year’s resolution that I would start my cycling training earlier in 2018. So early in fact that, for the first time, I took part in the No Excuses Cambridgeshire Sportive this weekend. Continue Reading
At work we are particularly good at a sweepstake. Usually this involves picking a team out of a hat and waiting patiently for an inordinate amount of time until you either win or lose. Not here. Here we spend an inordinate amount of time making up extra rules and finding a way of making food enter the equation.
So here I am; baking for our work Bake-Off sweepstake because my baker (Andrew) lost in the final. Continue Reading
I’m so proud of Jill. Not only did she get her first proper road bike last week, but she decided to christen it with a 40 mile ride around the Norfolk Broads (having never even covered that distance before). This is what happened … Continue Reading
Months of preparation and hundreds of training miles under my belt. Pockets laden with energy gels, Jelly Babies and carbohydrate drink sachets. Tyres pumped. Garmin charged. Time to go.
I set off for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park at 5:45am with a flutter in my stomach as I embarked on my début century and first Prudential RideLondon 100 adventure … Continue Reading
Most of the time my usual weekly routing involves a couple of evenings doing various things, and weekends with a chance to relax or catch up on that ever-growing list of household tasks.
There are also times when the other things I get involved with all happen at the same time. That’s sods law I suppose, but to be honest I wouldn’t have it any other way. The last four weeks was just like that! Continue Reading
It’s been a busy few weeks, so this post aims to catch up on the weeks where I’ve been unable to post anything due to other commitments … Continue Reading
Five weeks in and riding the bike has never felt better, but with a weekend dedicated to working at the Duxford air show it was never going to be a complete week of training. It was also a weekend where Saracens were due to play in the Aviva Premiership final and I couldn’t miss that for anything … Continue Reading
I’ve got one last jaunt the with the Donahue Sisters this evening with Meridian Theatre, one of the many amateur theatre groups that I am involved with. As an experiment I thought it might be interesting to see if I could “live tweet” from the Welwyn Drama Festival to give an account of what it’s like doing theatre under competitive conditions …
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The week 4 notes say “ride without hard efforts this week”, so it was a perfect week to start looking at nutrition for the ride – particularly reacquainting myself with the vast range of energy gels on the market and then proving to myself that I could stomach them in the middle of a ride …
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Week 3 is when the rides start to ramp up a bit and you spend a little more time on the bike. That is great in principle as it gives you a good chance to see how your legs are feeling over some longer distances, but can easily be kiboshed when you injure your back doing a simple thing like moving some compost in the garden . . .
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