Fat old man on a bike

Right To Play have just sent me training schedules for the next few weeks:


Here's an example:


Week 6, Intermediate standard
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: TURBO - 30 mins easy gear, spinning and working hard to rev. without a high power. Save your legs but work your CV fitness and burn some calories
Wednesday: NO FRILLS 2 hours Zone 2 steady pace
Thursday: NO FRILLS 1 hour Z3/4
Friday: Rest
Saturday: HARD AEROBIC 2 hours Z2/3 pulse, constant paced hard session
Sunday: ENDURANCE 3 hours Z3

Yeah - right guys! Well, at least I get into Zone 5 on my Rest Days. Sounds like I'm going to be doing this against superfit teenage students. Great!

Also sent the route profiles - the distances have gone up too: 142km (88 miles), 125km (78 miles), 155km (96 miles). The only saving grace is the climbs - 80m on the first day, 150m on the last, and we never seem to get above 20m between Bruges and Calais. Let's just hope the wind's kind to me. As I have to climb 100m in less than 1km every time I go to work, and everyone else doing this lives darn sarf, I'm just hoping it will be a tortoise and hare thing when it comes to the hills ;-)


Perhaps this wasn't such a great idea after all....

Lunchtime ride

Just done a few miles round the city centre with the University Cycle
group. Lovely ride - weather warm and sunny. Stopped off at a great
deli/patisserie on The Wicker of all places - La Perle is certainly
worth a visit. Spicy Chicken wrap and an Americano coffee if you're interested!

Still trying to master 21st century technology, so if you are reading this
it really was:
Sent from my iPhone

A good week

Spring's finally here, and I'm finally starting to feel as though I'm getting somewhere.

Three consecutive fastest times into work, managed to get up the hill to work on the middle chainring (it's a cyclist thing), and went out for a couple of circuits round Damflask this morning.

http://j.mp/axf9De

Only a total of 38 miles this week - but I have been working hard (honest!)

Also put some sexy XTR SPD pedals on the road bike. Here's a piccie...

B***dy cold this morning!!

Back from a wonderful week of blue skies (and no vapour trails!) around Church Stretton. Shropshire really is one of this country's best-kept secrets.

Anyway - back to reality this morning. Outside thermometer was broken; it was only when I got on the bike and started cycling I realised it was REALLY cold. 4ºC really is no joke and shouldn't be allowed in April

Off on hols!

Only managed 24 miles (again!) this week...

Still, now off for a week walking in the beautiful hills of Shropshire. Hopefully back refreshed and raring to go the week after next!

The worst of times, the best of times...

Ominously, my legs still ache a week after doing what should have been a fairly routine ride. Effectively 18 months out of the saddle hasn't been kind to me.

On Tuesday I did my worst time into work for 2010; today, with those still-tired legs, I managed my best 2010 time - how does that work then?

If I'm feeling particularly masochistic, a loop of Damflask beckons tonight - we're off to a cottage in Shropshire next week. I'm expecting to struggle - again!

JustGiving page is now live

My JustGiving page is now up and running. Whilst you're having a laugh at me, please help kids enjoy the right to play by making a donation.

Click the Donate button above

7am!! In London!!

Just got a few more details of the trip to Brussels. I've got to get to St Pancras at around 7am on Sunday morning in time to register, get the bikes loaded onto the transport to Belgium, and get the 9am Eurostar.


Looks like I'll be looking for a bed for the night somewhere in London on Saturday...

Digging in the dirt

So I got to do some real cycling yesterday. Out on the TPT yesterday and felt surprisingly good.

I went from home to Dunford Bridge - 16.5 miles and around 400m of climb (though my GPS insists I managed 2766 feet !). As I was on my MTB, and the track surface isn't brilliant (as you can see from the photo!), that was nearly two hours of constant pedalling.

I felt it on the way back (and was waylaid by the siren call of a fish butty in the chip shop cafe in Penistone), but still, I've managed 49 miles this week.

Getting there...  ...very slowly!

Route stats