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Sunday, August 31, 2008

Day 138 (Sunday)

Today was the Nathan organised ride out.

We loaded the bike and gubbins into the car and set of from Chippenham at just gone 8 am, arriving at Nathan's at 9:45 ish.

Marian had already said she was not going to make it :-( but it was a little disappointing to find out that the mysterious Matt Wattis was not present either.

The ride consisted of Nathan, Joy and Myself, with wifey, Becks and Nathan's children all providing support crew ;-)

The ride started out with perfect cycling conditions, dry, cool and slightly overcast.

I showed Joy and Nathan the advantages of slipstreaming, but unfortunately due to differing abilities we kept on spreading out, but I did benefit from sitting on Nathan's rear wheel for most of the ride ;-) only venturing past to take photo's or to go up a hill at my own pace!


We stopped for lunch at a pub in Chadwick End (About 30 miles) and during the stop the weather changed and it started precipitating down.

Apparently my mudguards direct the water torrent off the back wheel directly into the face of the person following ;-) but at least my back remains dry, which is more than can be said for Joy

Photo Courtesy of Nathan


We stopped at Kenilworth Castle for more photies.




And a nice random picture of Nathan and Joy cycling in the rain ;-)



I found the ride FUN ;-) I must try and slow my pace down a little as I am constantly trying to push. I feel that my hill climbing is very strong, On the ride today I only changed out of the top chain ring for junctions and when I was being nice and following the lead up hills.

I think we must try and get out as a complete group on a number of occasions before next May, we must ride as a team or we will all be working into the wind, or at least I will follow Nathan ;-)

Today according to my cycle computer we did 52.31 miles in 3 hours 25 min (Ride time) with an Average speed of 15.3 mph. (The route can be found here...)

Thank you Nathan, Becks, Joy and Wifey for a nice day out.

Ohhh this weekend is now my longest ride weekend 100.13 yesterday and 52.31 today

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Day 137 (Saturday)

I wanted to prove to myself that my century ride last week was not a fluke, So I cleared another complete day out with wifey.

I got up reasonably early and set of at 8:15 on a planned ride around some of Wiltshire, Thamesdown and Gloucestershire's white horses. In the end I only saw 3 white horses! I think I now know what the 'Zone' is! - Its where you focus out the real world and just get on with moving forward.

The first horse of the day was Cherhill


At about 15 miles I passed Silbury Hill and Avebury Stone Circle.




At Avebury the rather cool hazy sky cleared and the sun came out, now I really like the sun but I have noticed that fluid consumption goes up massively with sweat! and energy seems to get sapped by sunshine!

The next white horse was at Hackpen Hill, and It was a complete B*stard climb!


From here it was a lovely ride through Marlborough and I am sure I missed some white horses! I came across my first potential JOGLE issue, the planned route the road was closed and I had to use my racing pidgeon internal navigation.....Then I stopped started the GPS on the phone and turned around and cycled back a mile or two!

I couldnt believe that I actually cycled beyond Membury and under the M4, I then headed towards Ashbury and back on to almost familiar territory (I used to drive the road regulary when I first joined the RAF)

Then I cycled past what I consider to be the only REAL white horse at Uffington

The reason I consider it to be REAL is - ALL of Wiltshire/Glouctershire Hillside horses are 1700/1800 but Uffington that's different it was created between 1200 and 800 BC!

Just after Uffington at 55 miles I stopped to eat my sandwiches - even though I had been munching on Jaffa cakes and malt loaf I still needed my lunch!



From Lunch it was a tail wind to Ashbury and Highworth, then on to Cricklade and the route had me crossing a rather busy dual carriageway and then travelling down it for 3/4 mile, It was not pleasant!

From Cricklade I was supposed to go straight to Wootton Bassett via Purton and Hook, unfortunately I got lost again! and I ended up cycling down the Great Western way into Swindon, I then unfortunately ended up cycling down another busy dual carriageway to Wootton Basset.

Then it was plain sailing home! via Lyneham and Calne.

Total distance cycled was 100.13 miles in 6 hours 41 min (Cycle computer) although elapsed time was 7 hours 15 min that includes 2 'Where the hell am I?' stop's and lunch ;-)
Average speed was down to 14.4 mph this I think can be explained by 1) Headwind in the first 50 miles and 2) I changed the pedals and shoes on the bike and at 85 mile I got the worlds worst pin's and needles in my left foot.
And the maximum speed again was 43 mph :-)

I ended up consuming 2* 750 ml Torq, 1 * 500 ml Gatorade and the camel back 1500ml was almost empty, 1 * Malt Loaf and about 15 Jaffa Cakes!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Day 136

Got home reasonably late (on Motorbike)

Went for a really nice 10 mile ride with wifey on mountain bikes ;-)

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Day 135

Motorbike to work and back today,

wifey has evening out and I helped cook tea,

feeling really tired so I think an evening off is due, tomorrow is either swimming or me doing a 20-25,

I have plans for another 100 mile ride on Saturday, then Nathan's 55 on Sunday

I am also thinking about doing a 130 - 150 mile ride mid September, but we shall see.

I would still like to do a back to back 100 by the end of September, so decision is push the distance in a single ride or prove the endurance over 2 days?

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Day 134

Part 1....

Got up a little later than planned (6:45) did my 'Normal' Wednesday morning 20

22.02 miles in 1 hour 16 with an avs of 17.1, a bit off the pace this morning, my excuse is a headwind ;-)

My current plan is to do my 'normal' Wednesday rides on a Tues/ Thurs evening and up the Wednesday ride to 2 * 25 - 30 mile rides if I can find a safe route - Cars and Bicycle's dont mix well at rush hours!

Part 2...

Got out on the road at 5pm did the 'Normal' Wednesday evening 20

21.39 miles in 1 hour 16 with avs down to16.7 mph, again head wind ruled the day!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Day 133

Went to work on motorbike, got home reasonably early and went straight out for a ride (did my normal 20)

Managed to do 21.39 miles in 1 hour 11 min, this gives me a new top average speed of 17.9 mph :-)

It was a really good ride, the success of the Saturday 100 has boosted my confidence some what ;-)

Monday, August 25, 2008

Day 132 (Bank Holiday Monday)

Got home - My god I drove up the roads I cycled down, It was a bloody long way! It took just short of 3 hours to drive what took short of 7 hours to cycle!

When I got home I should have gone straight out for a cycle ride, instead wifey went shopping and I dog sat, and got very sleepy.

At 3pm I started cooking tea (Roast pork :-) so I haven't and probably will not get out on the bike today.

I plan to go out tomorrow evening and do my 'normal' 20 before computer games night starts ;-)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Day 131 (Sunday)

As promised sat on beach all day reading :-)


On the plus side I have no aches or pains at all after yesterdays exercise, if anything I miss not going out on the bike today!

I will not be cycling home tomorrow as we have made plans for lunch on the way home, instead I will go out for a small ride when I get home.

Ohh I forgot to say that I got stung by a wasp yesterday when I stopped for lunch, I think I only just got the stinger out (I killed the wasp with its but in my arm)

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Day 130 (Saturday)

Got up early, had porridge for breakfast and set of at 7:45.

Planned route was, Chippenham > Melksham > Westbury > Shaftesbury > Yeovil > Chard >
Axminster > Sidmouth > Knowle (Route here)

The total distance covered was 104.04 miles :-) covered in 6 hours 57 minutes..


The conditions were perfect (Note the smoke from Wesbury cement works chimney)



The first 35 miles or so to Shaftesbury flew by, It was familiar territory and formed part of my first south coast jaunt. I think partly due to the cooler weather and because I now knew what to expect it was much easier than expected :-) I even went up my nemesis hill withought stopping (last time I hade a chain issue and due to the gradient of the hill I had to walk)


The first couple of miles out of Shaftesbury were great, massively down hill! Cycling through Yeovil however is not something I ever plan to do again, it is a busy town with dual carriage ways crossing through it, things settled down when I turned of the A30 towards Chard

At 87 miles there was a massive hill, It defeated me :-( But rough guess puts the tough section at 15%

From that point onwards it was plain sailing :-)

Photo of my triumphant arrival ;-)


Bottom line is the food and drink strategy worked, I am confident that I could have continued for a considerable number of miles, the hill that defeated me would have had the same effect at mile 1

I am NOT expecting to cycle back on Monday now as we have planned a nice slow day :-) and tommorows plan is for me to sit on a beach reading...

Friday, August 22, 2008

Day 129

Got home

Washed bike, de-gunked chain, de-gunked rear cassette and front chain set oiled chain all in preparation for tomorrow's ride.

No plans to ride tonight.....

I am anxious about the conditions for tomorrows ride, the plan is to cycle from Home to Dorset (Just over 100 miles) , I am already considering the viability of cycling the return instead of driving back.

Rebuilt laptop again..still no post, Final attempt this evening before giving up as a bad idea, I will remove CPU from heat sink and ensure its mounted in the zif socket properly before re-thermal pasting it, I am almost certain the CPU isn't fitted properly

Stop press...... The CPU wasn't in properly, Removed it from heat sink, cleaned it, fitted it and now the laptop works again ;-)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Day 128

Went to work and back on Motorbike today ;-)

When I got home went for a short 18.25 mile ride....Into a headwind ;-(Took a very sad 1 hour and 10 min....

Then I spent the rest of the evening taking my laptop to pieces to resolder the DC jack....Now it doesn't want to boot ;-( Guess I will be taking it to pieces again tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Day 127

Part 1...

Got up early and went straight out, setting of at 6:24 on the borrowed Peugeot ;-)

Did my normal Wed morning Chipp -> Dauntsey -> Lyneham -> Calne -> Chipp ride

The conditions were not Ideal but I did the 22 miles in a record 1 hour 14 min with an Average speed of 17.6 mph (Not bad for the first ride on a different bike!)

The big difference is being able to get down out of the wind

Part 2...

Decided to go out on the Dawes so I could have a better understanding of the differences
I set of on the reverse Lyneham ride at 5:30 and had an absolutely stunning ride ;-) Route here
I accomplished the 21.4 miles in 1 hour 12 min with an average speed of 17.7 mph (Topping this mornings speed!)

So having spent an hour on both bikes...The Dawes is smoother, better geared the Peugeot Road bike has drop handle bars so I can get out of the wind and have more places to hold the handlebars.

What I need is a bike of the Dawes quality and gearing with drop handle bars!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Day 126

Nathan has kindly let me borrow his Peugeot road bike to see how I get on with a road bike.


I set the gear's up when I got home (They were very badly set up, a few moments tweaking had everything running perfectly), I then set the saddle and handle bar heights appropriate for me ;-)

I then took it out for a short ride 6.4 miles. Route here...
Wow......It is the difference between the cheap mountain bike and the Dawes again on top of the Dawes. I powered straight up Derry Hill without a second thought, and going down Old Derry Hill tucked down over the handlebars was sooooooo quick ;-) It was great......And cycling into the headwind was a completely different experience.

I will finish fitting my wireless cycle computer to it and take it on my normal 20 tomorrow morning, I am expecting a major change in round time.

I think the idea of getting a road bike to do JOGLE is definitely the right thing to do.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Day 125

Monday night...swimming night.

Did my normal attempt at swimming like a lead brick...

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Day 124 (Sunday)

Got up early cooked porridge for wifey 'n' me for breky then went straight out, wifey had planned a nice 48 mile ride so that I could take a picture of Twatley for Russ.

Wifey took a picture of me in my new clobber before I set of ;-)


Problem is there are NO road signs or place signs of Twatley, I ended up in the centre of Malmesbury most disappointed, I thought perhaps I had missed a small left turn or something, but studying the map there is only one road through Twatley and it was the one I was on!

Somehow I ended up doing 2 extra miles from the planned route arriving home having done 50.97 miles in 3 Hours 12 Mins (There was a nasty Head wind on the home stretch)

The route is here... having re-plotted it and comparing it to wifey's, the 2 miles comes from inaccuracy of plotting (I try and make the route follow the roads, wifey clicks in the general area of a road!)

When I got back from the ride I was famished so wifey cooked some pancakes for lunch ;-) We then took Rosie for a walk, then went and spent the WHSmith gift vouchers (Thanks Mic 'n' Marian :-) we bought a whole load of cook books)

Now I am preparing Roast Pork for evening meal......

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Day 123 (Saturday)

Got up and faffed about a lot!

Wifey sorted me out with Malt Loaf and Jaffa Cakes ;-)

I eventually set of at 9:15 on a planned 60 mile ride, I headed towards Castle Combe crossing over the M4 at Acton Turville, then crossed over the M5 (And had a chuckle at the stationary traffic)


At Rudgeway I set of North on the A38


On the A38 there are a couple of really nice views down the Severn.


At Dursley I missed the right turn and carried on for half a mile or so before trurning around and heading in the right direction...

At 39 miles I encountered a complete B*stard of a hill, It was only 13% but went on for ever! I took a photo at the top looking back at the 1:7 sign



I ended up back in familiar territory at Tetbury and then it was a simple saunter home via Malmesbury. The route can be seen here...

I ended up covering 63.39 miles with a ride time of 4 Hours 15 and according to Trackme an elapsed time of 4 Hours 38.

On arriving home I cooked poached eggs for lunch.....Then I fixed the mountain bike (I have now used the last of the serviceable rear wheels that do not have a home)

Then went for a short doggy cycle (5.1 miles) with wifey and Rosie, on return walked 3'ish miles to Halfords and spent gift vouchers (Bought a better cycle helmet and a Cycle Jersey)

Finally Cooked Roast Pork Tenderloin and invented an apple cider sauce using some wind fall from the garden.

Tommorow I have a nice 48 mile ride planned with a nice stop at Twatley for photos for Russ planned route here....

Ohhh Just noticed I have now cycled over 2000 miles!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Day 122

Back home :-(

Set of from the Lake District at 7:30 am arrived back in Chippenham at 12:15pm Unloaded the car then went shopping and washed and hoovered the car out (Nobody told me that when camping the car turns into a shed! and ours had half a lake district field in and on it!)

On return cut the grass then went for a 20 mile ride on the Dawes. (Well actually 20.81 miles!)

It was nice to get back out on a descent bike! I should have listened to Dave when he said to take the Dawes with us! (I must admit I was worried about bike security!)

Tomorrow I will fix the mountain bike again! (This time once and for all)

The blog by email appears to work perfectly ;-) I was doing my blog in the evening and having to wait to send it until I found a place that had a phone signal (Bit of a shock the hills appear to affect phone range!)

And finally I wanted to post a picture of one of the best road's I have ever driven along....



The picture is the road over Hardknott Pass, I think we should possibly avoid cycling anywhere near anything like it! (Although the picture opportunities would be awesome!)

Day 121

Got up early!

Went for a walk along Coniston Lake,then drove all around the lake in preperation for cycling around it later :-)

Went for a cruise on Lake Windermere, then swapped car for mountain bikes and cycled to Wray castle at about 5.1 miles there was a distinct phsssssss noise coming from my back tyre, I swapped to wifeys bike and rode the remaining 2 miles back to the car and picked wifey up, due to the slightly buckled wheel and the puncture I decided not to do the planned Coniston Lake ride. Instead we hired a rowing boat and I rowed the length and breadth of Esthwaite Lake.

Tommorow we drive back home :-( and I plan to go for a "Proper" ride on the Dawes.

This week although minimal riding has been a good experience. I have now seen real mountain roads and experienced riding in totally unknown territory. I must say the latter bothers me the most!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Day 120

Had a good nights sleep. I think I can get used to camping!

Ohh managed to rip my big toe nail of last night, I currently have it sticky plastered up :-(

Set of at about 8 am and had traversed two mountain passes by 10 am. Now they were steep roads! They did however make me feel good as they were 30% hill's and seemed no steeper than Bowden/Naish Hill just a lot longer!

On our travel's we bought another doggy back pack, this one is a bit more solid and Rosie fitts it better

When we got back to the campsite wifey, Rosie (In back pack) and I repeated yesterdays cycle around Esthwaite Lake, This time I had the cycle computer and it showed the round trip as 6.1 miles (so yesteday I did 8 miles) When we returned I droped wifey and Rosie of and went for a realy tough ride to the end of Coniston Lake (Where Donald Campbell crashed on the water speed record attempt) I ended up cycling 17.3 miles.

It is very difficult cycling down unknown roads when you don't know any of the place names! I only turned around at the end of Coniston Lake because it was 5:10 and due to the hills it was going to take a fair time to get back, I will have to carry a map when in uncharted territoty!

Todays total was 23.4 miles a bit short of the planned 40 but I didn't set out till late!

No plans for tommorow we will see what happens!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Day 119

Hmmm rained, then rained a bit more! Let kid's go home because they were more than a bit misserable.

We however are having a great time :-) took Rosie (dog) to Patterdale (she is part patterdale terrior)

We explored 2 of the possible routes
1) Kirkstone pass(we are in a pub and I can't fully remember)
2) Shap fell (A6)

Well I like the challenge of the pass! But the 1400 feet climb over Shap Fell appears to be a much easier probability.

I managed to talk Wifey into a cycle ride around lake Esthwaite when the rain stopped, about half way round the heavens opened again! About 3/4 round the doggy back pack broke :-( I had to cycle back to the campsite pick up the car! then drop the car of and cycle wifey's bike back, unfortunately I forgot the cycle computer so I guess I cycled about 8 miles...I will confirm with gmap when I get home.

Intention is to go for a 40 mile ride tomorrow

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Day 118

No cycle today :-(
Drove to lake district, brought mountain bikes with us ;-) plan to go out for a short ride in
The morning.

This week we are seeing how we will cope camping. I am enjoying it so far...kids appear not to be!!!

Ohhh I have now realized why there's lakes in the lake district...It appears to rain a lot.

I am also testing the blog by email strategy.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Day 117 (Sunday)

Had a very late night last night due to our anniversary and birthday parties (Joint as we are skin flints ;-), birthdays aren't until October)

Woke up early (6:30) and cleaned the bike up a bit, (De-gunked the chain and re-oiled it)

The planned ride was about 50 miles.

Dave arrived at about 8:30 and he had cycled over (7 miles) so I rethought the plan down to a 40 mile ride, he was still going to be doing 50 miles!

We set off towards Calne -> Avebury -> Clatford -> Devizes -> Chippenham ...Route Here

It was a very pleasant 40 mile ride, there appeared to be a 360 degree head wind????? that made the going tough!

It was fantastic riding with Dave again, I have a lot to learn about riding in a group! it is very easy to cyle with somebody when you are following, however I find when I am in front I find it difficult to pace myself at a speed that is comfortable for others.

I feel that I have learnt allot again this weekend, problem will be putting it into practise as I cycle by myself 99.9% of the time.

Today I have cycled 39.51 miles in 2 Hours 23 Mins with an Average Speed of 16.51 and a Top Speed of 43 Mph. According to Lyneham MET Office the Wind speed and Direction was 17Mph SW Gusting to 32 Mph.

Thank you Dave ;-) It has been a great experience riding with you this weekend ;-)

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Day 116 (Saturday)

Got up late!!!!!

Boiled up the gubbins to make 2 Worcester cider fruit cakes for anniversary/birthday party ;-)

Set of on my standard Chip -> Calne -> Lyneham -> Dauntsey -> Chippenham ride, with a slight detour to Peddlers cycle shop in Calne.

I tried out the wrap around sunglasses that wifey bought for me and they are really good, only taking them of when the skies darkened and the rain started pouring.



After discussions with Dave last night,my own thoughts on long distance cycle comfort and simply getting out of the wind I have decided to buy another bike in Jan/Feb next year to do JOGLE on. This time I have a bit more experience and know what I want.

I am currently thinking about a Merida Road 903

This mornings ride was 21.93 miles which I did in 1 hour 26 mins, there was a punishing head wind on the home leg and the rain was chucking it down!

On the plus side the clanking noise that stared coming from the bottom bracket stopped when the rain started so I am guessing that lubrication is all that is needed!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Day 115

Managed to get home in time to get over to Giddeahall for 6pm to meet Dave for a cycle.

I obviously had an advantage that I cycled from Chippenham To Giddeahall and was warmed up already (5 Miles).

We Cycled from Giddeahall -> Biddestone -> Box -> Bathford -> Kingsdown ->Wraxall -> Atworth -> Shaw -> Gastard -> Biddestone -> Giddeahall. Route here...

The Ride was about 25 miles giving me a 30.5 mile total.

It was a really good ride out, I feel that the five of us doing Jogle MUST get out together on a number of rides otherwise we will have difficulties. Riding with Dave showed me that I am now much stronger and the 25 mile ride with somebody of Dave's experience did not phase me at all.

I am looking forward to going out on Sunday with Dave for the 50 mile ride.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Day 114

Wifey and rely's went fishing so had BBQ Mackerel for tea ;-)

I was going to go for a 20 mile ride but due to the BBQ couldn't set off until later than planned so went out for a 10 on the mountain bike instead..

Cycled along the cycleway from Chippenham to Black Dog Halt and back 10 Miles in 41 Mins 24 Secs...

I went to a cycle shop at lunchtime today to pick up Joy's bike with her.

It is a really good bike, I hope Joy can get used to it...

I bought some ergonomic hand grips to see if they would ease the hand discomfort only to find they are Ergonomic GP1 and the Dawes already has Ergonomic GP2 grips, So I modified them and fitted them to the mountain bike instead ;-)

I have also replaced the first set of cleats on the SPD-SL shoes as the yellow 'treads' were falling apart.

I am looking forward to going out on the ride with Dave tomorrow to see how much - if at all that I have improved

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Day 113

WFH day today...

No morning ride as I had to drop Motorbike of for MOT ;-(

Evening ride was delayed as it is our wedding anniversary and I cooked tea. (Cod fillets poached in white wine, mash and beans/peas and a rue sauce)

Intention was to go for a 30 mile ride as I missed this mornings outing, but the light was already poor when I set off so I just did my normal Chip -> Calne -> Lyneham -> Dauntsey -> Chip route with a slight change at the end as Chippenham High street was open and the normal cycle route I use is closed for bridge repairs.

I now have a proper cycle top and some cycle underwear instead of cycle shorts, It made a BIG difference, I normally get home soaking wet and my T-shirt normally weighs twice its weight in water (Even without rain), The cycle top remained light and I wasn't ringing wet! (I guess these cycle cloths have function more than a weird fashion statement!)

Tonight I cycled 21.47 miles in 1 Hour 14 Min with an Average Speed of 17.2 mph with Lyneham met office quoting a 6mph SSW wind I am very happy with that ;-)

The first outing with proper cycle top and cycle underwear was a success and I will be looking to purchase some more, problem is I will want cool looking tops (Marmite and Bones etc) and wifey will want sensible prices!!!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Day 112

Left work VERY late.....Got home VERY late....

No cycle :-( Tired

Playing computer games instead!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Day 111

Was supposed to go swimming......

Wifey rely's are over and they cooked us tea so didn't feel like a swim, went for a short doggy walk cycle with wifey instead.

5.2 miles ;-)

Along the way saw a cow stood in the river......Nothing wrong with that I suppose, but it just looked strange and made me chuckle ;-)

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Day 110 (Sunday)

Got up at 730 ish and went out in the general direction of Marlborough with no real plan in mind....

I was overtaken going up hill at the Ridgeway and I worked to keep up with the guy (who appeared to slow down a mile or so after passing me) I then overtook him going into Marlborough and we both commented on its easier when you have somebody to follow, we cycled together through to Pewsey - It was fantastic, it really pushed me, and I actually think I may have been pushing the other guy along as well ;-)

After Pewsey things slowed down a bit mainly due to turning into a head wind ;-(

On the return leg I stopped for a munch and glug and took some piccies of the middle of nowhere;-)

If you look at the hills in the distance you can see the rain showers that I carefully avoided ;-)



More fields waiting to be harvested....


Further along the road were some interesting straw bundles.

It can hardly be cost effective unless the straw is used for something and needs to be undamaged???

The last 20 miles was a tough slog and I was very pleased to get home....

Today I managed 47.9 miles in 3 hours 4 mins with a Max speed of 41 mph and an Average speed of 15.6 mph.

The route ended up being Chippenham -> Calne -> Marlborough -> Pewsey -> Rushall -> Devizes -> Chippenham the gmap can be found here...

On getting home I was completely soaked in perspiration and I have new muscle aches....I worked hard today! It was good to see that I could hold a reasonable pace with somebody that appeared to be a fit cyclist ;-)

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Day 109 (Saturday)

Wifey planned my ride today.

I set of at 9am in the pouring rain planned route was.....



It all went well, although very wet! until I cycled down 3+ miles of hills down into Nailsworth, and I couldn't find the right turn toward Tetbury, (There was 3 potentials but I wasn't inclined to play murder in the dark!), So I turned around and cycled back up the 3+ miles of steep hills to a safer turn into Tetbury.

The route from Chippenham to Nailsworth had me going through Pennsylvania and Petty France so I do feel well travelled.

I stretched before, during and after the ride and it helped!.......Perhaps all of these guru's are right!

Today I cycled 55.78 Miles in 3 Hours 34 Mins with and Average Speed of 15.6 mph The route can be found here... , and trackme actually appeared to work properly!

I also took the camel-back Hydration Pack with me, I do not need it on my 'normal' rides and I have not wanted to take it on a longer ride - just in case I dont get on with it! so hence I have never taken it! It worked well although I need to flush the plastic taste through it....

Friday, August 1, 2008

Day 108

Got home from work normal time....managed to get wifey out on bike ;-)
We cycled together to Lacock had pub grub and cycled home.

Total round trip of 8 miles in 55 minutes with an Average Speed of 8.5 mph ;-)

It was great.........And actualy quite hard work as all the little hills required effort to get up as there was minimal forward speed.

Wifey did incredibly well as looking back 100 days I found the trip we did this evening very difficult.....Perhaps I still might persuade her to do some long distance rides with me ;-)

Ohhhh My knee has stopped aching ;-) so I can do a longish ride tomorrow ;-)