Welcome to spring

The clocks have just gone back and spring is officially here. Aside from warmer weather hiding just around the corner, spring time also means an extra hour of daylight in the evening, which gives me extra time to ride my bike. I need it too because this weekend, try as I might, I just couldn't find the time to make the miles I wanted to.

On Saturday I rode from Shaftesbury to Poole. Helen was heading there to meet a friend, which gave me the chance to ride somewhere new. By the time we got to Shaftesbury and I got ready to go I only had four and a half hours to get to Poole, spend time with my sister and get back.

My journey to Poole took me through the rolling hills between Blandford Forum and Wimborne Minster. There's a great, tree-lined, picture-postcard country lane near Wimborne. The trees overhang the road on both sides, with fields all around you. If it hasn't been used in a film it definitely should be!

After being wowed by the scenery, my map reading skills let me down on the outskirts of Poole. After traversing my way into the city centre, completely by-passing my sister's house, I had to call and ask for directions, delaying me somewhat.

A light lunch with Laura (for you food fans: two ham rolls, a chicken tikka roll, a pork pie, crisps, celery, tomatoes and hummus) and I was heading back out to Blandford Forum. The wind and the hills were pretty vicious on the way back, and I felt sluggish after the food so it was a slow return journey. I met Helen just outside Shaftesbury, after 64 miles, glad not to have to face any more.

It was either the warmer weather or the salty crisps and hummus but I was pretty dehydrated after the ride - any excuse to stop for McDonalds! A milkshake and a coke, plus a Quarter Pounder and fries sorted me out until we got back to Bristol. Then we had some leftover chicken and potato pie for dinner. It's surprising how guilt-free a McDonalds is after a big bike ride. It's also surprising how many calories are in each meal, around 800 in the burger and fries alone!

Saturday night I went out to a party and had some drinks so I wasn't exactly bright eyed and bushy tailed on Sunday morning. I took it easy and rode with a friend from Bristol who's recently bought himself a bike. Bill and I rode out to Dundry Hill in the south of Bristol, continued on to Chew Lake, then headed back along the Avon Cycleway, up the Portway to Westbury-On-Trym and back up onto the Downs with a nice stiff hill to finish.

A few people have recommended riding up to Dundry Hill and I can now see why. On a clear day the view of Bristol is pretty spectacular. The camera phone shot on the right doesn't really do it justice.




The ride itself was a fairly gentle 44 miles at a pretty easy pace. The hills were a bit of a challenge but it was probably a recovery ride more than anything.




I thought about heading out for another 20 miles or so but time was getting on and I had things to do so I called it a day.

Over the two days of riding this was still a weekend of 100+ miles, which is something I hadn't done before this time last year. Plus both rides this weekend were in new places, which made a big difference to my motivation. Those lanes around the south of Bristol were deserted - except for the occasional cyclist - so I think I'll head there again over the coming Easter weekend and take in a few laps of Chew Lake.

Snow and heavy rain is forecast for this coming week so I can't see my distance for the month rising more than 670 miles. That's my biggest monthly total though so I'm pretty pleased.

In other news, several Cancer Research t-shirts and vests arrived for my ride which I'm thinking of printing with the details of my journey. I'm also doing a talk about cycling at Howies, a clothing store this coming Friday so I'll try and give my ride a plug then. Getting sponsered by the store, or anyone from the audience would be excellent.

And finally... the best song on Saturday's ride? Reuben - Some Mother's Do Have 'Em. Such a shame they split up...

Spring time blues

It's done nothing but rain this week, which is probably a good thing because I've been aching since Sunday.

I've also experienced saddle soreness (or should it be rawness?) for the first time. I must remember to slap on a big dollop of Udderly Smooth chamois cream before I ride. After a ride the damage is already done!

Anyway, today (Thursday) is the first day I've done any proper riding since the weekend's mammoth mileage. This week I commuted back and forth to work by bike but felt so sluggish. Like my tyres literally had slug slime on them, sticking me to the Tarmac. It was such an effort just to get some speed up.

However, today I stopped being pathetic and took the afternoon off work to go out for a ride with Pete. We'd planned to do my usual time trial route up to the Severn Bridge at race pace but, as I didn't have much of a sprint left in my legs and we spent most of the time chatting.

It also started hammering down with rain so the two of us trundled back to Bristol feeling pretty cold and dejected. I rapidly descended into 'big girl's blouse' mode again.

Still, I clocked 36 miles for a wet, cold Thursday afternoon, which seems pretty commendable now I think of it, sat in my warm house, with the heating on, with a cup of coffee, wearing slippers and a hoody...

It wasn't exactly the best day of cycling but it's more miles clocked up and more time spent in the saddle. Even my food wasn't exciting today (a bowl of Weetabix, Alpen and Frosties for breakfast and two ham and cheese sandwiches, two bananas and a cereal bar for lunch).

If my cycling clothes ever dry I'll be riding to Salisbury this Saturday and some other far flung destination on Sunday. Suggestions on a postcard please...

166 ways to lose weight

It's Sunday evening. This weekend I rode 166 miles. I am a broken man.

My lungs feel like they've expanded and contracted beyond the limits of my rib cage. My hands hurt. My shoulders ache. I have chilblains on two toes. Every muscle around my waist and abdomen feels tender. And I'm permanently hungry and thirsty.

Last night, after yesterday's 75 miles, I went out for dinner and ate ham and parsley terrine to start, followed by steak and chips with parsnips and carrots. For dessert I ate most people's leftovers. It was a hideous display of consumption.

I ate with friends at Graze, the new Bath Ales steakhouse in the centre of Bristol. Decent portion sizes, a menu that's heavy on meat, well presented food and good beer make it a winner in my book. Hopefully I'll go there to eat after every long ride.

However, as nice as the food was, on the way home I was very close to getting a kebab.

Today I rode 91 miles in just under 5 hours. I stopped for lunch outside an Esso petrol station in Wotton Bassett and ate a lemon chicken baguette, a danish pastry and a banana. Now that I'm home I've just eaten a bowl of lamb stew. It barely made a dent in my hunger. Some jam roly poly is currently in the oven. I think tonight will be a long night of eating. The things I'm craving most right now: a McFlurry and a milkshake.

Today's ride took me north to Wotton Under Edge, then east to Tetbury, Malmesbury and Wotton Bassett. Tetbury and Malmesbury looked like lovely market towns (for the two minutes I spent cycling through them). Malmesbury has a fine looking church and adjacent hotel that I'd love to have stopped at for Sunday lunch.



Halfway to Wotton Under Edge I came across this fantastically named town (see the photo below). These English town names are much more imaginative than Welsh town names that don't mean a thing to a non-Welsh speaker.



By the time I got to Wotton Bassett I'd ridden 45 miles. A man in the petrol station asked where I'd been. He couldn't quite believe it when I said Bristol. The thought of 45 miles to get home suddenly seemed pretty daunting. Still, the countryside kept me interested. The ride to Wotton Bassett seemed to be along a ridge overlooking a lovely valley of green fields and recently ploughed furrows on my left hand side. Then, after a climb up from Wotton Bassett towards Calne and Chippenham I appeared on the other side of the valley with the view on my right hand side. Plus it was gloriously sunny today. I wore shorts for the first time. I think I may have even got a tan. No, wait, sorry, it's just dirt.

Heading back home I passed through the centre of Bath then back into south Bristol through Brislington. I can't say that the end of the ride was quite so pretty but it was quick. Had the wind died down, was I sheltered from the wind by the cities' buildings, or was I just feeling strong because I knew the end was in sight? Possibly all three.

I cycle with an ipod playing on shuffle mode. Each song is a nice surprise. Today's most motivating song was Song 2 by Blur, coming as a climbed an ugly looking hill into Wotton Under Edge. Thank you Albarn et al.

So, all in all, a really encouraging weekend. According to my training manual I need to be able to ride two-thirds of the daily distance for three consecutive days before my ride. I've done two this weekend. I'm on track. Plus my sponsorship page is looking a lot healthier (thanks if you've chipped in).

Right now I'm going to eat some more, drink some more, lie down some and then sleep a lot. Getting up this morning was hard enough. Getting up for work tomorrow won't be pleasant. I've ridden 260 miles this week, riding every day except Thursday. Tomorrow I'm taking a rest day.

Wet, wet, wet

Rumour has it that cycling in weather similar to that which today and yesterday brought inspired Marti Pello and friends to coin their band name.

It properly honked down for the whole of my 30 miles after work on Friday and the final hour of today's ride.

Yesterday I took my usual route through Long Ashton, Wraxall, Clevedon, Portishead and back into Bristol via the Suspension Bridge.

The first 10 miles was a bit of a novelty. It's been a while since I rode in rain like that (being a bit of a fairweather cyclist - although who isn't?) and it was a bit more challenging. Steamed up glasses, rain stinging my face, inefficient braking. Lots more things to think about. Between miles 10 and 20 I realised that I was pretty wet. My new 3/4 length bib shorts, good as they are, allow rain to run down my calves and into my socks. After 20 miles my feet felt like barges in shoe rivers. The final 10 miles of that route are almost all uphill too. Soaking wet and going uphill. I must have looked pretty unhappy.

To keep my mind occupied (if not preoccupied) I tried to think of songs that had something to do with rain in the title. I came up with: Garbage - I'm only happy when it rains, Billie Myers (?) - Kiss the rain and Travis - Why does it always rain on me. It stopped me thinking about being wet anyway.

Today (Saturday) the weather looked better. I rode to Gloucester in record time (30 miles at 23mph stats fans) then turned left and realised which way the wind had been blowing. The next 20 miles following the River Severn were quite a slog through a moderate headwind. Then the rain started again. Light enough at first to make me think it was just a shower, then stupidly heavy for the remaining hour of my ride. I rode through Chepstow, trying not to think about the 1/2 mile climb out of the town, and then rode across the old Severn Bridge where the visibility was so bad that I couldn't make out the tops of the large suspension stanchions.

The image below is what I could see when I was riding on the Severn Bridge.



By the time I got home I'd been cycling in the rain for 20 miles and my toes were wrinkled like I'd been in the bath too long. I rode 75 miles today though, which I'm really pleased with.

Last night someone told me they liked reading about what I'd been eating. Katharine, this is for you! Today I ate two servings (approx 100 grams) of porridge with brown sugar for breakfast, a banana, two pieces of Golden Syrup cake and a cereal bar on the ride, a bowl of pasta and bobotie (pronounced bo-bo-tea; a great African mince dish that Helen makes), a bowl of cereal and a slice of bakewell tart when I got home, and now I'm off out for steak. The calorie counter on mapmyride told me I burnt 4880 calories. Expect hollow cheeks any day now...

Songs of the ride: Toxicity by System of a Down and Two of three ain't bad by Meatloaf. Somehow singing along to an 'oldie' really helps.

Presents galore

It's like Christmas here in the Hillsdon/Steele household. All my new cycling toys seem to have arrived at once. And, like a child, I want to play with them all at the same time.

Over the last week I've shelled out on:
- An IceToolz chain tool (useful for taking apart and cleaning chains - when do I ever do this?)
- A pair of Trek heavyweight winter gloves (fleece-lined winter gloves for commuting to work on the coldest mornings - they are on sale at Evans Cycles for £22)
- One Bontranger hardcase tyre (with fat puncture belt) to replace the paper-thin shredded rear tyre and puncture magnet that I've been using recently)
- A Smart 5-LED 3-Function Rear Light (safety first kids - plus it was only £3.50 from Wiggle)
- A 500ml tub of Science in Sport Rego Total Recovery Drink, Chocolate flavour (stops aching muscles after 70+ mile rides apparently. Tastes like milkshake apparently. Smoke and mirrors? Possibly.)
- A pair of dhb Merston Padded 3/4 Bib Tights (they look incredibly stupid but they feel stupendiously comfortable - imagine a fleecey romper suit with a padded nappy)
- A Topeak All Weather Tri-bag (for storing maps and vials of performance enhancing drugs).

I've put all these items under 'essentials', thereby justifying spending over £100 on cycling stuff once again. Getting sponsored by a company would be much cheaper (that's a plea by the way to the oh so generous bicycle company employees that happen to be reading this).

I'll be going for a short training ride this evening to try these new toys out. If I leave at 5.30pm I can now fit in an hours riding before it's too dark. Last night I did the same after work and was surprised at the number of other lycra-clad riders out for an early evening ride. I'm glad I wasn't the only one excited at the prospect of lighter evenings for the only reason that more cycling can be done during the week.

In other news, today I emailed just about everyone in my address book and told them about the ride. So there's definitely no backing out now. Why do I feel a little nervous all of a sudden?

Two's company

So there was a last minute change of plans this morning. 60 lumpy miles to Cheltenham became a relatively flat 50 to Chepstow.

It was a lovely sunny ride with my friend Pete. He's just bought a new Bianchi C2C and wanted to put it through its paces. For someone new to road cycling Pete's a strong cyclist and good to ride with. Every time I thought I'd pushed him a bit too far he'd come storming back and offer to take the lead, which certainly helped in the headwind on the way home.

Riding with someone else made the time pass really quickly. We spent about half the ride at a pace where we could talk. It wasn't the hardest of rides although I guess it shouldn't always be about high average speeds.

With the company and thought of a big night in Cheltenham later tonight I suggested that we stop at Coffee #1 in Chepstow for erm... coffee. But the lure of their huge plates of apple pie and cream was too much to resist. It felt a bit wrong eating so much after only 25 miles but (after the initial sicky feeling) I feel good now. I'm not too hungry and not too tired so this new heavy eating regime might be the way to go.

So I'll have a quite a few beers tonight, a Mother's Day meal tomorrow lunchtime, and then try and make it out for a few miles tomorrow afternoon. That'll be three consecutive days of riding, albeit at about 1/3rd of the LEJoG daily distance...

Late winter weather is very hard to judge

Today (Friday March 12) is five days after the half marathon. I think I finally stopped aching on Thursday. I did some gentle miles on the static bike at the gym on Tuesday and Thursday and rode 29 miles after work this evening. The first 20 miles were great until I hit the wall big time on the way home. It was as if all of a sudden the food in my stomach just evaporated. I struggled home very slowly over the last ten miles, getting very cold in the process.

After 15 miles I was planning to write about how much I enjoyed riding in the warmer, lighter evenings after work. After 25 those thoughts evaporated. Note to self: eat more and realise that it's not even spring yet.

Tomorrow I've got a 60 mile ride ahead of me before a night out in Cheltenham so I think it'll be an early Friday night. Maybe a cheeky bottle of red wine will be alright though...

Running man

So there was no cycling last weekend, just a damn long run.

I took a rest day last Saturday (March 6) and used the time to go to an all-you-can-eat Italian for lunch with Helen. Four plates of pizza, pasta, salad and meatballs seemed to make up for several weeks of under-eating. And it stood me in good stead for Sunday too. I took eight minutes off my personal best for the half marathon with a time of 1hr 37m.

After a week of not drinking I fell off the wagon with a good showing at the pub later that afternoon. Seven pints on a Sunday evening - hardcore. I think most of the drinking was through relief at not having to run again for a few months.