I set off for Kent at 5.30 on Saturday morning. The weather was fantastic and I had a really nice route down the A25 then on to the A20. It was as I got onto the A20 that i got a bit lost - the road goes two ways you see and I went the wrong way. It was when I saw singposts for Brands Hatch that I suspected the error of my way. This probably added 6 miles or so. But I was in Kent and enjying the views. I crossed the South Downs between Lenham and Faversham. Possibly the scariest bit of the ride was on the A299. As I was brought up knowing this road to be dangerous I had a bit of a psychological barrier. But the adrenalin was pumping and I was certainly travelling at a good speed.
In the end I travelled the 102 miles at an average speed of 16.5 miles an hour which I was really pleased with as the majority of the roads were pretty undulating.
When I got to my Dad's my shoulder was aching, still the kids were pleased to see me and after applying a lot of ice to the shoulder it felt a bit better. As this was the last chance to get a long ride in before the event I think it was worth the pain.
Monday 16 June 2008
Friday 13 June 2008
Diary update weeks 21 and first part of week 22
Week 21 started pretty well after the team rides. On the Tuesday I dropped off Rich's bike at Evans for its service. The person I spoke to at the shop clearly considered customers to be an inconvenience. However I managed to drop the bike off after answering 20 questions about when it was due to be serviced had I got permission to drop it off a couple of days early etc. I decided to ride to work on the Wednesday making pretty good time both to and from work. That evening I went to the gym with the wife and I have to say that my quads were struggling a bit. Friday I picked up Rich's bike. Everything seemed to be ok so I let Rich know he could collect it anytime.
Saturday was a 5am start with me getting to e's at 6am to join e, Ciaran and Simon for a 100 mile ride. Simon was cycling to a friends who lived 90 miles away in Oxfordshire so we tagged along for the first 50 odd miles before turning round and coming back. The weather was excellent, not too hot but with glorious sunshine. The countryside was absolutely wonderful, and I really enjoyed the ride. I think that e was struggling a bit but he seemed to get stronger throughout the ride. We ended up doing just over 12o miles and got back a bit later than I had hoped.
When I got home the eldest kid was very keen to try cycling with her stabilisers, after a couple of goes she was getting the hang of it so I ask the second eldest if he would like to have a go without stabilisers on his bike. Of course he would and pretty soon we had two kids cycling without stabilisers. A real red letter day. They were so pleased with themselves and I was extremely proud.
Sunday we take the kids swimming so I could not go out until 11 o'clock. But I managed to get 55 miles in before getting home and having a relaxing time with the kids (who ofcourse wanted to go out on their bikes ;-))
Week 22 I decided to ride into work on the Tuesday morning. Rich came round at 7am to pick up his bike and after a cup off tea he drove off and I cycled to work. The ride was going well right up until the last road before work. It is a dual carriageway with a cycle lane. I was happily going along the cycle lane with the traffic stopping coming up to a roundabout so I started to slow down when a driver made a snap decision to turn off the road. This cut me up and I went smashing into the side of her car. I am not sure who was more shaken me or the driver. It was the witness who told me that the dent in the side of the car was where my head hit it!! The driver quite rightly accepted all responsibility and liability and was extremely apologetic. (In the words of the witness the driver was lucky that it was me she hit and not one of the children who use the cycle lane and path as with all my training I am probably in the best shape of my life. The impact on a child could have been fatal. )
The obvious damage to me was my arm was bleeding, a lot of damage to my bike and my cycling shorts.
After getting all the details of the driver and the witness I walk the last couple of hundred yards to work. Where I got my arm bandaged up and rang CTC to register the accident. All day I was feeling a bit light headed so I got the wife to collect me from work at lunch time. I spoke to my doctor and he was confident that I did not need to go to A&E . Wednesday my shoulder and back began to hurt so I saw the nurse on site at work and she instructed my to have Physio the next day and put ice on the injuries. This I did. When I saw the Physio on Thursday she felt that I took the brunt of the fall on my right arm and shoulder so she spent the session working on these injuries. Her conclusion was that riding this weekend will not impact on my ability to do the event at the end of the week. But I should expect to feel some pain. So I will be seeing her again on Monday and Thursday next to continue the treatment.
Saturday was a 5am start with me getting to e's at 6am to join e, Ciaran and Simon for a 100 mile ride. Simon was cycling to a friends who lived 90 miles away in Oxfordshire so we tagged along for the first 50 odd miles before turning round and coming back. The weather was excellent, not too hot but with glorious sunshine. The countryside was absolutely wonderful, and I really enjoyed the ride. I think that e was struggling a bit but he seemed to get stronger throughout the ride. We ended up doing just over 12o miles and got back a bit later than I had hoped.
When I got home the eldest kid was very keen to try cycling with her stabilisers, after a couple of goes she was getting the hang of it so I ask the second eldest if he would like to have a go without stabilisers on his bike. Of course he would and pretty soon we had two kids cycling without stabilisers. A real red letter day. They were so pleased with themselves and I was extremely proud.
Sunday we take the kids swimming so I could not go out until 11 o'clock. But I managed to get 55 miles in before getting home and having a relaxing time with the kids (who ofcourse wanted to go out on their bikes ;-))
Week 22 I decided to ride into work on the Tuesday morning. Rich came round at 7am to pick up his bike and after a cup off tea he drove off and I cycled to work. The ride was going well right up until the last road before work. It is a dual carriageway with a cycle lane. I was happily going along the cycle lane with the traffic stopping coming up to a roundabout so I started to slow down when a driver made a snap decision to turn off the road. This cut me up and I went smashing into the side of her car. I am not sure who was more shaken me or the driver. It was the witness who told me that the dent in the side of the car was where my head hit it!! The driver quite rightly accepted all responsibility and liability and was extremely apologetic. (In the words of the witness the driver was lucky that it was me she hit and not one of the children who use the cycle lane and path as with all my training I am probably in the best shape of my life. The impact on a child could have been fatal. )
The obvious damage to me was my arm was bleeding, a lot of damage to my bike and my cycling shorts.
After getting all the details of the driver and the witness I walk the last couple of hundred yards to work. Where I got my arm bandaged up and rang CTC to register the accident. All day I was feeling a bit light headed so I got the wife to collect me from work at lunch time. I spoke to my doctor and he was confident that I did not need to go to A&E . Wednesday my shoulder and back began to hurt so I saw the nurse on site at work and she instructed my to have Physio the next day and put ice on the injuries. This I did. When I saw the Physio on Thursday she felt that I took the brunt of the fall on my right arm and shoulder so she spent the session working on these injuries. Her conclusion was that riding this weekend will not impact on my ability to do the event at the end of the week. But I should expect to feel some pain. So I will be seeing her again on Monday and Thursday next to continue the treatment.
Monday 2 June 2008
Diary update week 20
This week start with Monday morning and me getting up at stupid o'clock to catch a plane to places foreign. So much for the Bank Holiday. It was not until Thursday morning that I got home and unfortunately work prevented me from getting any exercise. The good news was that I was able to put together my e-mail requesting sponsorship and I was overwhelmed by the response, for all those who have sponsored us - Thank You. If we are still undecided as to whether to sponsor us, I urge you to look at the Chase website - it will be the best money you invest this year!!
Friday I managed to get anyway from work early enough to join the wife taking the kids swimming which was fantastic. Then we all went back to the mother-in-laws and whilst the kids had their dinner I left for home on the bike. It was just over 17 mile which I covered in under an hour on a really nice route, so I was very pleased.
Saturday and Sunday, were the last of the team rides. Unfortunately Rich could not make the ride but everyone else was there. It was a 7 o'clock start on Saturday and we did the normal 150 mile route down to Brighton across to Portsmouth and back to Guildford. We stopped at the same pub as last time where we met Jules and had another wonderful portion of Fish and Chips plus lots of water. Once we had finished the meal it was back on the bikes. John's knee was holding up really well and we made pretty good time. We met up with Jules again at Four Marks were we had the a lovely piece of banana cake and a lot more water.
We got back to Guildford a bit later than we had hoped and after a quick shower we all went over to Simon's for a great pasta meal and then a chat about the event logistics. It was good to have everyone together including Jules and Richard from the support team. It is all becoming much more real. I now flip from being relatively confident to panic about the enormity of what we are trying to achieve. Luckily I feel we all have more than enough motivation.
Sunday, was another 7 o'clock start and we had no drop outs! The plan was to do e's 55 mile route and then go back e's for lunch before doing another 50 miles in the afternoon. Unfortunately, on the ride Henry's knee start to ache. He made the decision to stop about halfway round, which probably a good decision as the last thing to do is aggravate it this close to the event. Then going up a hill Ciaran's back sprocket broke and so he joined Henry in getting a lift back. The rest of us carried on and made pretty good time. We had a great lunch at e's and then it was off for the second ride of the day. The five of us made good time and Ciaran and Jules kept popping at various points on the rode to take photos for the website. Unfortunately John's knee also started to play up, but we made it home without further incident.
So we cycled 250 miles over the weekend which was pretty good going and I feel good, my shoulder aches a bit but my legs feel okay. The count down is on!
Friday I managed to get anyway from work early enough to join the wife taking the kids swimming which was fantastic. Then we all went back to the mother-in-laws and whilst the kids had their dinner I left for home on the bike. It was just over 17 mile which I covered in under an hour on a really nice route, so I was very pleased.
Saturday and Sunday, were the last of the team rides. Unfortunately Rich could not make the ride but everyone else was there. It was a 7 o'clock start on Saturday and we did the normal 150 mile route down to Brighton across to Portsmouth and back to Guildford. We stopped at the same pub as last time where we met Jules and had another wonderful portion of Fish and Chips plus lots of water. Once we had finished the meal it was back on the bikes. John's knee was holding up really well and we made pretty good time. We met up with Jules again at Four Marks were we had the a lovely piece of banana cake and a lot more water.
We got back to Guildford a bit later than we had hoped and after a quick shower we all went over to Simon's for a great pasta meal and then a chat about the event logistics. It was good to have everyone together including Jules and Richard from the support team. It is all becoming much more real. I now flip from being relatively confident to panic about the enormity of what we are trying to achieve. Luckily I feel we all have more than enough motivation.
Sunday, was another 7 o'clock start and we had no drop outs! The plan was to do e's 55 mile route and then go back e's for lunch before doing another 50 miles in the afternoon. Unfortunately, on the ride Henry's knee start to ache. He made the decision to stop about halfway round, which probably a good decision as the last thing to do is aggravate it this close to the event. Then going up a hill Ciaran's back sprocket broke and so he joined Henry in getting a lift back. The rest of us carried on and made pretty good time. We had a great lunch at e's and then it was off for the second ride of the day. The five of us made good time and Ciaran and Jules kept popping at various points on the rode to take photos for the website. Unfortunately John's knee also started to play up, but we made it home without further incident.
So we cycled 250 miles over the weekend which was pretty good going and I feel good, my shoulder aches a bit but my legs feel okay. The count down is on!
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