Potholes!! Some of them would need a ladder to get out of them. It's also very busy (even at 6.30 in the morning).
As you have probably deduced, we eventually decided on London to Derby as originally planned. We took 14 hours to get back to Derby, which included 9 and a half hours of actual cycling time at an average of 14.7 miles per hour. I have never been so glad to see a 'Welcome to Derby' sign, although by that stage we were still pretty strong and kept a good pace going through the city, including a failed attempt at setting off a speed camera! We beat the welcoming committee to the finish line, so we clapped them in having driven all the way from Ashbourne.
Worst bits of the day were getting up at 4.45 am having gone to bed just before midnight, and then the miles between 95 and 110, just because I was bushed and couldn't eat any more energy bars. Thank goodness for bananas and Jeremy brewing up from the back of his car. What a star spending his entire day meeting us at assorted pubs along the way....hang on, perhaps there is some method in his madness!
The highlights were breakfast in Hertfordshire at Simon and Phillipa's, the tuna pasta bake and apple crumble which Tracy cooked for us on Friday evening and the fantastic English countryside we came through thanks to Carl's route, Martin's Tom Tom and Paul's programming of the aforementioned route into the aforementioned Tom Tom. We would have still been going had we relied on reading maps.
Between us we raised well over £2,000 for Ilam School, a massive thank you to everyone who sponsored me, it really helped me through the training to know I'd got all of that support. I'm also very grateful to Donna and the children for preparing a great bath and pasta dinner for when I got home.
My legs (and rear quarters) have been fine over the rest of the weekend, carrying loads of chairs and tables on Sunday afternoon was a bit of a struggle but I'm now raring to get back out on my bike.
It's been a hard slog and my old mucker Nige was never far from my mind. He's got a bigger, infinitely more important challenge on his plate. I feel fortunate that I can go out and ride my bike when I want, 'cos I know he'd love to be out there too. Get better soon old lad and the mountain bikes can come out of semi-retirement!
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Buzzin'
This is a quick apology to anyone that comes across me in person over the next couple of days, I have already filled myself so full of energy drinks, bars, pasta, rice etc. that I am as high as a kite. Goodness knows how I am going to sleep, I feel totally full of energy. Should last until about 7.30 a.m. on Saturday!
Our bags were dropped off with our support driver last night, I have spares of things I don't even have in the first place, if that makes sense! Let's just say every eventuality is catered for, a few times over.
It's looking odds on that we will be going Derby to London because there is going to be a strong northerly wind which I have NO interest in cycling into. This does mean that we will be going downhill as well....doesn't it? Hitting London in early evening doesn't fill me with joy, though. I reckon I'll put a courier sticker on my backside and ride like a complete spanner just to blend in. I once cycled from Euston to Victoria, and followed a cycle courier who was heading the same way, no idea how I'm here to tell the tale. The best thing to come out of London has to be the train to Brum.....in my opinion.
I wouldn't want to be sitting next to me on the train back if we do finish in London. Not only will I be at the wrong end of the minging scale, but I will undoubtedly sleep/snore/slobber. Nice.
Preparations are slightly interrupted tonight for me to go and see Editors in Wolverhampton. Cannot wait! This also adding to my manic behaviour.
Our bags were dropped off with our support driver last night, I have spares of things I don't even have in the first place, if that makes sense! Let's just say every eventuality is catered for, a few times over.
It's looking odds on that we will be going Derby to London because there is going to be a strong northerly wind which I have NO interest in cycling into. This does mean that we will be going downhill as well....doesn't it? Hitting London in early evening doesn't fill me with joy, though. I reckon I'll put a courier sticker on my backside and ride like a complete spanner just to blend in. I once cycled from Euston to Victoria, and followed a cycle courier who was heading the same way, no idea how I'm here to tell the tale. The best thing to come out of London has to be the train to Brum.....in my opinion.
I wouldn't want to be sitting next to me on the train back if we do finish in London. Not only will I be at the wrong end of the minging scale, but I will undoubtedly sleep/snore/slobber. Nice.
Preparations are slightly interrupted tonight for me to go and see Editors in Wolverhampton. Cannot wait! This also adding to my manic behaviour.
Monday, 21 May 2007
Eat Drink and Be Merry
Mostly, this week, I will be eating anything I can lay my hands on! Only six days to go so it's all about fuelling up for the big ride on Saturday. My plan is at least one energy drink and bar a day in addition to my usual extensive fodder. I will then build up the food intake from Thursday onwards with plenty of pasta, rice, spuds etc. If I'm understanding it correctly, I need protein earlier in the week as well and leading up to the day.
I've then get all manner of drinks, bars and gels ready for Saturday itself, and I'm hoping to take in a few tea shops for coffee (yes, I know I said tea) and cake. That should do the job! I'll probably be too much of a porker to ride.
I'll keep the riding to a minimum this week, just the odd hour long jaunt. I will be watching the weather forecast very closely. I had a 30 mile ride on Saturday morning which would have been tough enough, but it was blowing a hoolie! I really don't like cycling in the wind. The 5 day forecast up to Friday looks good, dry, sunny and light winds. It looks hot around Wednesday but is cooling down on Friday so I will be keeping everything crossed, sunny, not too hot and no wind would be ideal, but no wind is the main focus!!
I've then get all manner of drinks, bars and gels ready for Saturday itself, and I'm hoping to take in a few tea shops for coffee (yes, I know I said tea) and cake. That should do the job! I'll probably be too much of a porker to ride.
I'll keep the riding to a minimum this week, just the odd hour long jaunt. I will be watching the weather forecast very closely. I had a 30 mile ride on Saturday morning which would have been tough enough, but it was blowing a hoolie! I really don't like cycling in the wind. The 5 day forecast up to Friday looks good, dry, sunny and light winds. It looks hot around Wednesday but is cooling down on Friday so I will be keeping everything crossed, sunny, not too hot and no wind would be ideal, but no wind is the main focus!!
I saw my brother over the weekend, he is a crazy cyclist, as I may have already mentioned. In his list of credits is John O'Groats to lands End, the coast of England and Wales, the coast of Jockoland, north to south of both Spain and France and a 3 week trip across America!! However, his best mileage day is 135 miles, which was revised to 140 when i told him we thought London to Derby would be 140. Believe me, if I get to Derby and the mileometer is reading 140, I'm going to have to be in pretty bad shape for me not to do another mile around the block!!
Most of his rides have been on his own and 'unofficial', he did point out that he did 135 miles whilst he was still at school, on a 3-speed racer and wearing a duffle coat and jeans. Geeeeeek!!!
Anyway, my next post might actually be a report on how it went, so I hope to be up to doing it probably on Sunday.
Wednesday, 16 May 2007
Life is like a Box of Chocolates
Forrest Gump had some great one liners, but the one most relevant to me this week refers to his being shot in the 'boo-tock'. Which is how I feel. Let's say some chaffing occured on Sunday and climbing into a hot bath was a fairly slow process afterwards and sitting on hard chairs is quite painful right now. Enough detail? No pictures I'm afraid.
The 100 miles went relatively well, I say relatively as I was a spent force by the end of it, although we did give it some hammer, averaging 14.9 mph (that's an ooh, as it was 15.5 for most of the way) and the heart rate was averaging 138, quite high for a bike ride. I enjoyed it though, and whilst I know the 140 miles of the real thing is going to be tough, I reckon if we take it easy, it should be doable.
I don't know why I felt so good but I do have a number of theories;
1. Training in the Peak District is good, I haven't done lots of long rides but most of them have been very hilly, and it must be good preparation. Once you are south of the A50, Staffordshire is somewhat flatter and it's easier to keep a reasonable pace going.
2. I'm good at carbo stacking, i.e. I'm a greedy whatsit. I could eat for England and I think my efforts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday served me well.
3. I may have stumbled across the secret of Aussie sporting success,......there is something in their beer (it certainly ain't beer that's in their beer). If this is the case, then I have made a case for a case of Tooheys to always be on hand. I drank more than my share of it on holiday and it hasn't done me as much harm as say, a few Riggwelters. Still, given the choice, I'd always go for the Rigg!
I managed a short recovery ride on Monday evening, as much to stop my bike rusting up. We did get a tad wet on Sunday, all the way back from Tamworth to be precise. My 'waterproof' socks acted like wet suit booties once they were full of water, although you can't get the pleasure of warming your legs in the same way as with a wetsuit by....well if you don't know, it's not for me to tell you.
That's me for now, can't sit for too long at the minute without discomfort. Thank goodness for 1 year old wee Archie, it means we have plenty of pseudo cream in the house.
The 100 miles went relatively well, I say relatively as I was a spent force by the end of it, although we did give it some hammer, averaging 14.9 mph (that's an ooh, as it was 15.5 for most of the way) and the heart rate was averaging 138, quite high for a bike ride. I enjoyed it though, and whilst I know the 140 miles of the real thing is going to be tough, I reckon if we take it easy, it should be doable.
I don't know why I felt so good but I do have a number of theories;
1. Training in the Peak District is good, I haven't done lots of long rides but most of them have been very hilly, and it must be good preparation. Once you are south of the A50, Staffordshire is somewhat flatter and it's easier to keep a reasonable pace going.
2. I'm good at carbo stacking, i.e. I'm a greedy whatsit. I could eat for England and I think my efforts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday served me well.
3. I may have stumbled across the secret of Aussie sporting success,......there is something in their beer (it certainly ain't beer that's in their beer). If this is the case, then I have made a case for a case of Tooheys to always be on hand. I drank more than my share of it on holiday and it hasn't done me as much harm as say, a few Riggwelters. Still, given the choice, I'd always go for the Rigg!
I managed a short recovery ride on Monday evening, as much to stop my bike rusting up. We did get a tad wet on Sunday, all the way back from Tamworth to be precise. My 'waterproof' socks acted like wet suit booties once they were full of water, although you can't get the pleasure of warming your legs in the same way as with a wetsuit by....well if you don't know, it's not for me to tell you.
That's me for now, can't sit for too long at the minute without discomfort. Thank goodness for 1 year old wee Archie, it means we have plenty of pseudo cream in the house.
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
Sydney and Back
OK, it's been a while since I posted an update and the big day is getting ever closer. I have a reasonable excuse having been in Aussie for three weeks on holiday, and then on my bike for quite a bit of time since I got back. I've yet to get more pleasure out of blogging than looking at Sydney Opera House, or even grafting up a Peak District hill in the wind and rain....and long may it continue.
Australia was a time of plenty of beer, food that is bad for you interspersed with early morning runs in Queensland (hot!) and Sydney (spectacular!). It somehow takes the pain out of exercise when you are doing it somewhere interesting. I managed to get out on a bike once, around Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, it took about an hour and a half, which included half an hour getting lost in the university campus, it wasn't even during bar opening hours.
Since I got back I've done around 160 miles and I have a big 90 miles ride planned with a fellow Londontoderby participant this Sunday. As he said, it's either going to be a wake up call which comes too late, or I'll be left feeling okay that i can do the last 50 or so miles from memory!
I've even been moved to clean my chain, and what a difference it made to the ease of pedalling. It makes sense I know, but I have NEVER done it. I will be a more regular cleaner from now on. Again, I always reckon if I've got time to tinker with the bike, then I should be on it, much more fun for an anti-engineer such as myself. Not that I am against any engineers, of course, it's just that I rarely look at anything and wonder how/why it works, and I'm glad of it as well.
I'm also eating energy bars and drinking energy drinks nearly every day, as I need to get my insides ready for consuming them on the big day, if your body isn't used to them they can react badly with stomach cramps etc. I wish I still thought a Mars bar would do the trick, but of course it doesn't.
I will try to blog more next week after this weekend's trial ride, so if anyone sees two very worried 40 year olds anywhere on the road between Ashbourne and Tamworth on Sunday, give us a wave but don't expect too much enthusiasm back. I'm just hoping the cakes at Kingsbury Water p[ark cafe are still as good, otherwise I'm in trouble.
finally, as Jasper Carrot once said, "What about the Villa....?!?!?". Bring it on Martin!!!
Australia was a time of plenty of beer, food that is bad for you interspersed with early morning runs in Queensland (hot!) and Sydney (spectacular!). It somehow takes the pain out of exercise when you are doing it somewhere interesting. I managed to get out on a bike once, around Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, it took about an hour and a half, which included half an hour getting lost in the university campus, it wasn't even during bar opening hours.
Since I got back I've done around 160 miles and I have a big 90 miles ride planned with a fellow Londontoderby participant this Sunday. As he said, it's either going to be a wake up call which comes too late, or I'll be left feeling okay that i can do the last 50 or so miles from memory!
I've even been moved to clean my chain, and what a difference it made to the ease of pedalling. It makes sense I know, but I have NEVER done it. I will be a more regular cleaner from now on. Again, I always reckon if I've got time to tinker with the bike, then I should be on it, much more fun for an anti-engineer such as myself. Not that I am against any engineers, of course, it's just that I rarely look at anything and wonder how/why it works, and I'm glad of it as well.
I'm also eating energy bars and drinking energy drinks nearly every day, as I need to get my insides ready for consuming them on the big day, if your body isn't used to them they can react badly with stomach cramps etc. I wish I still thought a Mars bar would do the trick, but of course it doesn't.
I will try to blog more next week after this weekend's trial ride, so if anyone sees two very worried 40 year olds anywhere on the road between Ashbourne and Tamworth on Sunday, give us a wave but don't expect too much enthusiasm back. I'm just hoping the cakes at Kingsbury Water p[ark cafe are still as good, otherwise I'm in trouble.
finally, as Jasper Carrot once said, "What about the Villa....?!?!?". Bring it on Martin!!!
Monday, 26 March 2007
Cheers Mossy!
Has anyone else got one of those super reliable, always there when you need them friends.....unless they've been on the sauce? I've got a few, and one in particular known as Mossy.
He lives in Burton which is where I was doing my FA coaching badge assessment yesterday (Sunday). I was very organized and dropped my kit at the leisure centre on Saturday in order that I could get up at 0'dark thirty to cycle back over on Sunday morning. The plan was then to drop my back pack including my kit, a pair of football boots, a pair of trainers and a hefty A4 folder from the course with Mossy and ride back.
All went well in the morning, I managed to drag myself out of bed at 6.15 a.m. despite the clocks having gone forward and the youngest Sadler having made a late appearance on Saturday night and keeping me up beyond midnight! Arrived at Burton in loads of time having covered 25 miles in just over one and a quarter hours. I then played football for the best part of three and a half hours.
Whilst we were waiting to have the course signed off I thought I'd get in touch with Mossy to arrange a drop off. The weather had improved somewhat since 6.30 a.m. so I thought I would shed a few layers as well. But no Mossy. Texts, calls, you name it, nothing. I wasn't going to ride across town to try and find him so I had to set off with the pack on my back.
The weight, added to the fact that I had been giving it some on the football pitch, and it was uphill mostly back to Ashbourne meant it took the best part of 1 hour 45 minutes to get back and I was bushed. As I rode into Ashbourne the text came through "Just got up, been on the ale, are you still in Burton?" I won't tell you what my reply was.
He was suffering a mystery virus bought on by a mixture of Guinness, vodka and red wine and had just (at 4pm) rolled out of bed.
Needless to say he won't be top of the list when it comes to driving the support vehicle on 26th May.
(Oh and yes, you can now call me 'coach'!)
He lives in Burton which is where I was doing my FA coaching badge assessment yesterday (Sunday). I was very organized and dropped my kit at the leisure centre on Saturday in order that I could get up at 0'dark thirty to cycle back over on Sunday morning. The plan was then to drop my back pack including my kit, a pair of football boots, a pair of trainers and a hefty A4 folder from the course with Mossy and ride back.
All went well in the morning, I managed to drag myself out of bed at 6.15 a.m. despite the clocks having gone forward and the youngest Sadler having made a late appearance on Saturday night and keeping me up beyond midnight! Arrived at Burton in loads of time having covered 25 miles in just over one and a quarter hours. I then played football for the best part of three and a half hours.
Whilst we were waiting to have the course signed off I thought I'd get in touch with Mossy to arrange a drop off. The weather had improved somewhat since 6.30 a.m. so I thought I would shed a few layers as well. But no Mossy. Texts, calls, you name it, nothing. I wasn't going to ride across town to try and find him so I had to set off with the pack on my back.
The weight, added to the fact that I had been giving it some on the football pitch, and it was uphill mostly back to Ashbourne meant it took the best part of 1 hour 45 minutes to get back and I was bushed. As I rode into Ashbourne the text came through "Just got up, been on the ale, are you still in Burton?" I won't tell you what my reply was.
He was suffering a mystery virus bought on by a mixture of Guinness, vodka and red wine and had just (at 4pm) rolled out of bed.
Needless to say he won't be top of the list when it comes to driving the support vehicle on 26th May.
(Oh and yes, you can now call me 'coach'!)
Monday, 19 March 2007
Weather Everywhere
How daft is our weather? On Saturday afternoon I was subjecting the Staffs moorlands to the dubious pleasure of me in my cycling shorts for the first time this year during a jaunt around Uttoxeter, Cheadle and Ellastone. By Sunday evening I was confined to the turbo trainer and the garage as it was snowing.
Having said that it was very windy on Saturday, it's quite scary when you get a crosswind on a bike, you almost have to lean into the wind to keep in a straight line and pedalling down hills to keep speed up going into the wind is a strange sensation.
Crikey, how dull am I, jabbering on about the weather. Can't be as dull as my recreational time yesterday afternoon at Villa Park. Olly and I endured the full 90 minutes of Villa versus Liverpool, if they are one of the best teams in Europe, there's hope for us all...and Villa were denied a fairly clear cut penalty, but then you'd expect me to say that, wouldn't you. Up the Villa!
I have to admit to being faintly amused by Freddie Flintoff's escapades this weekend, not impressive less than 48 hours before playing for England, but going out, having too many beers, pinching a pedalo before having to be rescued from the sea does sound like a good night out. A bit like my dad on my stag do, but that's a different story altogether! Let's just hope Freddie wasn't singing Suspicious Minds, that could have turned it into a diplomatic incident! If I was a betting man, I would guess Kenya are going to be for it on Saturday.
(Thanks to Brian Mac for being my first sponsor!)
Having said that it was very windy on Saturday, it's quite scary when you get a crosswind on a bike, you almost have to lean into the wind to keep in a straight line and pedalling down hills to keep speed up going into the wind is a strange sensation.
Crikey, how dull am I, jabbering on about the weather. Can't be as dull as my recreational time yesterday afternoon at Villa Park. Olly and I endured the full 90 minutes of Villa versus Liverpool, if they are one of the best teams in Europe, there's hope for us all...and Villa were denied a fairly clear cut penalty, but then you'd expect me to say that, wouldn't you. Up the Villa!
I have to admit to being faintly amused by Freddie Flintoff's escapades this weekend, not impressive less than 48 hours before playing for England, but going out, having too many beers, pinching a pedalo before having to be rescued from the sea does sound like a good night out. A bit like my dad on my stag do, but that's a different story altogether! Let's just hope Freddie wasn't singing Suspicious Minds, that could have turned it into a diplomatic incident! If I was a betting man, I would guess Kenya are going to be for it on Saturday.
(Thanks to Brian Mac for being my first sponsor!)
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