You may have noticed that there were no entries for the couple of weeks before the ride. This is due to a) Me trying to get everything done in time both on the home front and at work b) me being so nervous about the ride.
Now the ride is over. It was a truly amazing week and one I will look back on with fond memories.
My memories of it are:
The weather was wonderful, with the wind coming from the south most of the time and the sun shining most days (even 1 day in Scotland!!)
Day 1 the tractor we followed for 5 miles slipstreaming along and the great pace which we were setting. Plus Tim coming off his bike as a result of running into the back of e.
Day 2 going through Warrington and wondering when the town would end.
Day 3 Shap is a big hill and a great way to celebrate getting half way through the ride.
Day 4 was the day I had my biggest low, my legs just did not have any energy in them from the 30 mile to 40 mile stretch.
Day 5 the last 26 miles when I really relaxed and enjoyed a wonderful bike ride on a fantastic evening in Northern Scotland with my mates!
As for the riders:
e; was upbeat as always, overcoming a broken spoke by changing back wheels a couple of time with minimum impact to our progress
Tim; keeping going no matter what. Day 4 he rode the whole day without getting out of the saddle due to problem with his Achilles tendons, in fact I believe he rode for 20 miles using just 1 leg!!
Ciaran; directing us through the entire event. I only remember us taking one wrong turn and that was a result of a complete change of road layout since he was last there.
Simon; flying down the hills and battling back up them again. He had problems early on but got through them with no complaints.
Henry; showing us old boys how to do it. Although he had to leave the ride after day 1 due to his knee problems we do need to put his efforts into context. He was balancing his riding with training with his rowing 8 plus revising for his GCSEs. In the week before the ride (whilst everyone else was taking it easy) Henry was helping his school to qualify for Henley for the first time in 7 year (note Henry’s 8 were mainly 16 year olds rowing against 8s made up of predominately 18 year olds!!!).
John, taking photos, videos clips etc whilst riding and simultaneously updating the blog!!! Amazing! He was also carrying a knee injury which never slowed him down. I will always remember our marathon game of eye spy on day 5 to help get through the long slog (we kept going for a long time without ever repeating an answer – not easy I can tell you~)
Rich; for his boundless energy. He never stopped (except when he was talking on the phone!). He was always going back to help a rider who had to stop due to bike problems or a “pee” break.
Of the support team:
Overall, in my opinion there is no way I could have got through the ride without the support team, they really took care of all the riders.
Jules; was always worrying that everything was alright. She had put in a lot of effort to get the all the place booked up (for meals during the day and accommodation at night). She needn’t have worried it all ran like clockwork.
Gilly; always upbeat. Truly amazing every day she had a new costume for brighten up our days. No thing is ever a problem for Gilly, she just solves it and keeps going. For example Jules’ bag got left behind in Guildford, this could have been a big problem but not for Gilly, she contacted her partner Keith who drove from Guildford to Bristol to drop off the bag before helping the team to unload and then drove back (Thanks Keith you are a star!!).
Val; for her excellent massages. Without Val the team would have been in a lot of trouble. Every stop John had work done on his knee, most days I needed work on my shoulder and I know all the other guys got the attention they needed. She worked tirelessly.
Andrew, for his smooth driving and knowledge of everything. I remember Rich and Andrew discussing the state of English rugby for the best part of an hour on the long drive home.
Dave aka Mr Motivator. Every time we passed the van (which happened at least once an hour) Dave was out clapping his hands and cheering us on. This may sound daft but that encouragement made a huge difference. Dave clearly lives by the philosophy of “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. He had details of all the bike shops on route and maps of how to get to them. Consequently when e had his wheel problem and I had my chain problem we overcame it with minimal hassle.
Marg for her excellent sandwiches and reassurance at every stop. She and Dave make a great team.
Richard; for his truly amazing photography and his ability to just get things done with minimum fuss. Nothing was ever a problem for Richard. I remember at Bristol he had to park the van 30 minutes walk away. The following morning there was no fuss; he got up missed breakfast and went to get the van so that the riders could set off without any delay.
Claire; who flew up to meet the team in John O’Grouts to help drive the mini-bus back. It was great of her to do this as Gilly and Val had to leave and so it allowed Andrew and Jules to get a well earned break from the 650 mile drive back.
Overall I have happy memories. In 6 months I had managed to progress fro someone who had not ridden a bike in over 10 years to being able to ride nearly 900 miles in 5 days. This I could not have achieved it weren’t for the love and support of my family. It is to them that I give my biggest thanks.
Thanks also to all of you have sponsored us. If you have not sponsored yet then please do so as soon as possible. The work carried out by CHASE is truly wonderful and every penny counts.
Showing posts with label race for chase. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race for chase. Show all posts
Monday, 7 July 2008
Thoughts on the event
Monday, 16 June 2008
Rest of week 22
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Diary update for weeks 16 &17
The last two weeks have been extremely busy weeks on many fronts.
On 3rd May e, Simon and I set off for another tour starting at Guildford. We left at 7am, e had programmed a route into the Garmin to get us down to Brighton. The route was pretty flat and we made excellent progress. Then we came to "Devils Dyke" which is not a side show in Amsterdam but a pretty big hill. This was a good challenge for us all and when we got to the top I saw a "white bike" for the first time. These are an excellent idea to indicate to all the road users that this is where cyclist has died!!!
With this poignant reminder of our mortality we carried on to Brighton.
Once we got to the coast we stopped off at a local café for a quick cup of tea and a wee stop, this then turned into a buttey stop. Then is was back on the bikes and following the coastal road until we got to Portsmouth. With the wind to our backs we made go progress, unfortunately due to time pressure Simon had to leave us and head back to Guildford. However e and I continued on and before long we were heading back down the A31 and home. As always the part of the A31 south of Farnham was a joy to ride on, and yet to the north of Farnham it was the usual nightmare.
Still we got back to Guildford and when I got home I had completed 158 miles - by far my longest ride, and I felt good afterwards.
Sunday was a rest day and then on Monday was the day of the Send May Fair. The weather was exactly what the wife had ordered warm and bright sunshine. I got down to start building the stall at 9am. Before long the gazzebo up and we started to lay out the tables. We were so lucky the pet food guys next to us lent us a table (we had managed to obtain so many prizes and cakes we could not fit them all on our tables!).
E and I started riding on our turbo trainers and kept going for the whole 4 hours and managed to attract some customers. However, I think the cakes and the prizes attracted them more!!
It was a great success, with us raising ovr £300 on the day. So a big thank you goes out to all our supporters and ofcourse the customers who spent their money (and a special tanks to my wife who did so much to ensure it was a success)
After Bank Holiday Monday life got very busy and so the first time I managed to get out on the bike was Saturday morning. So I was up at 6am and got to Guildford for 7am, then it was off down the A31 for e's new route. It was pretty flat and e set a really good pace. The route was excellent ending up on the A283., before going back to Guildford on the A3100. I got back home at 10.45 after completing just under 70 miles, allowing me to have a great day with the rest of the family.
Sunday the kids when swimming in the morning and as my wife is so lovely she let me go out for a bike ride in the afternoon. As we had not done any hills on Saturday I decided to do my "6 hill challenge". Up Ranmore the steep route, down Ranmore the hairpin route. Then up Box Hill, where I was realy pleased as I managed to really push myself. From the second hair pin onwards I stayed out of the saddle until the top of the hill. Then is was down off the hill and back round to the base. Then back up Ranmore's hair pin route and then back down Ranmore into the centre of Dorking. Remembering that there could be a queue of cars going into the household waste centre I made sure I did not go too fast. Luckily there was no queue to no problems. So I went through Dorking and then up Leigh Hill, once on the otherside I headed for Ewhurst. Once I got to the roundabout at the edge of Ewhurst with the pub I turned around and headed back to Legh Hill, once over the top it was back up Ranmore and then back to the A246.
I got back in just over 4 hours with no stops (I ate one of my "Power bars" on the bike for the first time with no problems), so all in all a great weekend.
On 3rd May e, Simon and I set off for another tour starting at Guildford. We left at 7am, e had programmed a route into the Garmin to get us down to Brighton. The route was pretty flat and we made excellent progress. Then we came to "Devils Dyke" which is not a side show in Amsterdam but a pretty big hill. This was a good challenge for us all and when we got to the top I saw a "white bike" for the first time. These are an excellent idea to indicate to all the road users that this is where cyclist has died!!!
With this poignant reminder of our mortality we carried on to Brighton.
Once we got to the coast we stopped off at a local café for a quick cup of tea and a wee stop, this then turned into a buttey stop. Then is was back on the bikes and following the coastal road until we got to Portsmouth. With the wind to our backs we made go progress, unfortunately due to time pressure Simon had to leave us and head back to Guildford. However e and I continued on and before long we were heading back down the A31 and home. As always the part of the A31 south of Farnham was a joy to ride on, and yet to the north of Farnham it was the usual nightmare.
Still we got back to Guildford and when I got home I had completed 158 miles - by far my longest ride, and I felt good afterwards.
Sunday was a rest day and then on Monday was the day of the Send May Fair. The weather was exactly what the wife had ordered warm and bright sunshine. I got down to start building the stall at 9am. Before long the gazzebo up and we started to lay out the tables. We were so lucky the pet food guys next to us lent us a table (we had managed to obtain so many prizes and cakes we could not fit them all on our tables!).
E and I started riding on our turbo trainers and kept going for the whole 4 hours and managed to attract some customers. However, I think the cakes and the prizes attracted them more!!
It was a great success, with us raising ovr £300 on the day. So a big thank you goes out to all our supporters and ofcourse the customers who spent their money (and a special tanks to my wife who did so much to ensure it was a success)
After Bank Holiday Monday life got very busy and so the first time I managed to get out on the bike was Saturday morning. So I was up at 6am and got to Guildford for 7am, then it was off down the A31 for e's new route. It was pretty flat and e set a really good pace. The route was excellent ending up on the A283., before going back to Guildford on the A3100. I got back home at 10.45 after completing just under 70 miles, allowing me to have a great day with the rest of the family.
Sunday the kids when swimming in the morning and as my wife is so lovely she let me go out for a bike ride in the afternoon. As we had not done any hills on Saturday I decided to do my "6 hill challenge". Up Ranmore the steep route, down Ranmore the hairpin route. Then up Box Hill, where I was realy pleased as I managed to really push myself. From the second hair pin onwards I stayed out of the saddle until the top of the hill. Then is was down off the hill and back round to the base. Then back up Ranmore's hair pin route and then back down Ranmore into the centre of Dorking. Remembering that there could be a queue of cars going into the household waste centre I made sure I did not go too fast. Luckily there was no queue to no problems. So I went through Dorking and then up Leigh Hill, once on the otherside I headed for Ewhurst. Once I got to the roundabout at the edge of Ewhurst with the pub I turned around and headed back to Legh Hill, once over the top it was back up Ranmore and then back to the A246.
I got back in just over 4 hours with no stops (I ate one of my "Power bars" on the bike for the first time with no problems), so all in all a great weekend.
Monday, 17 March 2008
Diary Week 9
I knew was travelling this week and so was commited to get a turbo session in on Tuesday.
Wednesday's gym session went well with my new programme. Hopefully this will help to build up the strength in my legs and shoulders to complement the endurance training from all the rides.
Thursday up at stupid o'clock to catch my flight to Germany. The meetings went well and got back to the airport in plenty of time for my return flight. I had already checked in and so went straight to the long security queue. Whilst waiting get a text from BA - flight cancelled!!
Some idiot decided to run across the runway at Heathrow. So after much mucking about and siting in waiting lounges and on planes finally got home 3 hours late at 11pm.
Friday up at just after stupid o'clock for another journey to meetings. Again these went well and this time I got home in the afternoon so got to see the kids plus the wife (hurray!!)
Saturday started at 6am, breakfast plus supplements and then out on the bike to meet the rest of the team at 7am. Everyone was ready and we were soon on our way. I thought that we were in for a boring time as we had just planned to go down the A31 to Winchester and back plus a few local miles around Guildford. As it happens I really enjoyed it. For the first time we started to ride like a team and the "chain-gang" practice was excellent. The miles just flew by. Overall we averaged 16.5miles which was really good going as we had a couple of team talk stops plus a puncture (Simon not Iain this time!!).
At one point I decided to take the lead and accelerated without changing gear. At the next stop the boys were joking about my legs going round in a "blur". I have just checked my ride computer and my maximum cadence was 174!!!! Perhaps a world record!
We also had a chance to chat about our fundraising progress (the whole reason for the ride). The subject of Alan Shearer and Adrian Chiles bikeride for sport relief came up. We all agreed that they had done a fantastic job, perhaps now they are warmed up they would like to join us on a "proper" bike ride!! ;-) If Alan or Adrian read this please contact any of the team we would love to have you join.
Wednesday's gym session went well with my new programme. Hopefully this will help to build up the strength in my legs and shoulders to complement the endurance training from all the rides.
Thursday up at stupid o'clock to catch my flight to Germany. The meetings went well and got back to the airport in plenty of time for my return flight. I had already checked in and so went straight to the long security queue. Whilst waiting get a text from BA - flight cancelled!!
Some idiot decided to run across the runway at Heathrow. So after much mucking about and siting in waiting lounges and on planes finally got home 3 hours late at 11pm.
Friday up at just after stupid o'clock for another journey to meetings. Again these went well and this time I got home in the afternoon so got to see the kids plus the wife (hurray!!)
Saturday started at 6am, breakfast plus supplements and then out on the bike to meet the rest of the team at 7am. Everyone was ready and we were soon on our way. I thought that we were in for a boring time as we had just planned to go down the A31 to Winchester and back plus a few local miles around Guildford. As it happens I really enjoyed it. For the first time we started to ride like a team and the "chain-gang" practice was excellent. The miles just flew by. Overall we averaged 16.5miles which was really good going as we had a couple of team talk stops plus a puncture (Simon not Iain this time!!).
At one point I decided to take the lead and accelerated without changing gear. At the next stop the boys were joking about my legs going round in a "blur". I have just checked my ride computer and my maximum cadence was 174!!!! Perhaps a world record!
We also had a chance to chat about our fundraising progress (the whole reason for the ride). The subject of Alan Shearer and Adrian Chiles bikeride for sport relief came up. We all agreed that they had done a fantastic job, perhaps now they are warmed up they would like to join us on a "proper" bike ride!! ;-) If Alan or Adrian read this please contact any of the team we would love to have you join.
Monday, 3 March 2008
Diary week 7
Monday was a rest day, but on Tuesday I managed to get just over an hour on the turbo trainer.
On Wedensday the wife and I had our weekly gym session, I need to get more specific about my exercise regime and so next week I will be getting a new program specifically design to complement my cycling training.
Saturady was an early start, I was on my bike just before 6.30 and at e's before 7. Unfortunately e was not quite ready so we did not get on the road until just after 7. He had organised the route. All was going well, we were making good time and decided to stop at 9am at Wisborough Green. Even with the strong wind we were making excellent progress. Things started to go wrong at this point as e's managed to run over a drawing pin and so we spent 20 minutes changing the tyre. We also proved that you need to know how to work the CO2 canaster before trying on a ride, still the hand pump worked well. We set off and after an hour e was struggling. He had eaten some malt loaf instead of a power bar during our stop and clearly he was not getting the energy he required. We stopped again and had another power bar each. This seemed to do the trick and e was soon back at full strength. Unfortunately the impact of the various delays meant I was going to be late getting home which would be a big problem for the wife.
Fortuanately we had the wind to our backs and once on to the A31 we used our big cogs, and manged to get from Alton to Guildford in under an hour and I was only 15 minutes late, giving me enough time to have quick shower before taking the kids to their swimming lesson (with sandwiches from the wife to keep me going ;-) )
Overall with the extra to and from e's I managed to do 95 miles. I have to say I found the 95 miles much harder than the 100 miles the prevous week. Although I really enjoyed cruising at 23 miles an hour using the big cog. I guess we all need to pray for a south westerly wind to help us on our way (and no drawing pins!!)
I am starting to get concerned that although I am ahead of the training programme on the individual longest rides but I am not keeping up with the overall weekly total. Hopefully I can rectify the situation once the clocks change and I am able to cycle to/from work and it the evenings.
On Wedensday the wife and I had our weekly gym session, I need to get more specific about my exercise regime and so next week I will be getting a new program specifically design to complement my cycling training.
Saturady was an early start, I was on my bike just before 6.30 and at e's before 7. Unfortunately e was not quite ready so we did not get on the road until just after 7. He had organised the route. All was going well, we were making good time and decided to stop at 9am at Wisborough Green. Even with the strong wind we were making excellent progress. Things started to go wrong at this point as e's managed to run over a drawing pin and so we spent 20 minutes changing the tyre. We also proved that you need to know how to work the CO2 canaster before trying on a ride, still the hand pump worked well. We set off and after an hour e was struggling. He had eaten some malt loaf instead of a power bar during our stop and clearly he was not getting the energy he required. We stopped again and had another power bar each. This seemed to do the trick and e was soon back at full strength. Unfortunately the impact of the various delays meant I was going to be late getting home which would be a big problem for the wife.
Fortuanately we had the wind to our backs and once on to the A31 we used our big cogs, and manged to get from Alton to Guildford in under an hour and I was only 15 minutes late, giving me enough time to have quick shower before taking the kids to their swimming lesson (with sandwiches from the wife to keep me going ;-) )
Overall with the extra to and from e's I managed to do 95 miles. I have to say I found the 95 miles much harder than the 100 miles the prevous week. Although I really enjoyed cruising at 23 miles an hour using the big cog. I guess we all need to pray for a south westerly wind to help us on our way (and no drawing pins!!)
I am starting to get concerned that although I am ahead of the training programme on the individual longest rides but I am not keeping up with the overall weekly total. Hopefully I can rectify the situation once the clocks change and I am able to cycle to/from work and it the evenings.
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