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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

30th June 2009

Worked from home today, but was very busy so didn't get a chance to go out during the day :-(

I did however go out and did my 'Normal 20' at 6pm, the weather conditions were more or less identical to yesterday...

1800 Medium-level Cloud 22.6 °C S 3 mph 25 km 1021 hPa, Falling
1900 Medium-level Cloud 23.6 °C SSE 6 mph 30 km 1021 hPa, Falling

And so was my performance :-) I did get held up by traffic on my way back into Chippenham, Cycling is actually faster than driving in town centres :-)

The cycle computer had today's ride as 21.24 miles in 1 hour 2 minutes with an average speed of 20.3 mph.

The GPS track can be found here...

Monday, June 29, 2009

29th June 2009

Got in from work, changed and straight out on the bike....It was HOT...

1800 Sunny intervals 25.9 °C S 13 mph 30 km 1017 hPa, Rising
1900 Sunny intervals 25.3 °C S 9 mph 30 km 1017 hPa, Rising

The southerly wind helped in the outbound half, I was only just short of 10 miles at 30 minutes :-)
at 45 minutes I had done 15.8 miles so it was looking good for doing 21 mph average, then I turned down Sutton Lane and had the southerly breeze in my face :-( I manage to hold around 18-19 mph but the end result was 20.5 mph average...

The cycle computer had the ride as 21.23 miles in 1 hour 2 minutes with an average speed of 20.5 mph.

The GPS track can be found here...

Sunday, June 28, 2009

28th June 2009 (Sunday)

Went for a cycle with the local cycle club today 'Chippenham Wheelers'...Wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised :-)

We met at the entrance to Wavin on the northern side of Chippenham at 9:30, I set of from home at 9 and cycled through town.

I paid my non-members pound and set of with the 'fast' group, the pace wasn't that fast and it was quite pleasant :-)

We ended up cycling down some 'interesting' roads and popped out at the cotswold water park :-) where we stopped for tea/coffee.

Then the 'fast' group headed back to Chippenham, with me attached again :-)

The pace back was a little slower but still fair.

I was thinking that the ride was nice and the pace was good, then I was told they don't normally do it that fast :-(

I think I enjoyed the ride and would like to explore the idea of doing a time trial so I think I may well join the cycle club! (Ohh how I have changed!)

I have saved the route used today and I think I may well go out on it myself to see what sort of speed I can do it at :-)

The cycle computer had today's ride as 56.23 miles in 3 hours 22 minutes with an average speed of 16.7 mph.

The GPS track can be found here...

<------EDIT----->
Hmmm I had tea and was sat doing nothing sweating in the kitchen, so I though I would rather be sweating doing something on the bike, so I went out and did my 'Normal 20' - shouldn't have raced myself again.....

I ended up doing the 21.24 mile in 1 hour 1 minute with an average speed of 20.7 mph!!!

The GPS track can be found here...

It would appear that when there is no or slight wind I can do my 20 at evens relatively easily now.....I just need somebody else to do it with!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

27th June 2009 (Saturday)

Got up early and took the tyre and inner tube off of the broken wheel, at 8:30 headed of to Calne and Peddlers shop, only to find that it is closing down today....another victim of Gordon 'Fecking' Brown's junta...

So we tried a couple of shops in Swindon where they couldn't help us, we headed to Evans Cycles in Bristol and I bought a new back wheel a Shimano RS20, I will get the old RS10 fixed in City Cycles in Chippenham and keep it as a spare :-).

When we got back home the postie had been and delivered the new 105 rear cassette that I ordered from ebay, so I fitted it to the new wheel :-)

I replaced the chain with the new KMC chain that I bought as a spare for JOGLE and cleaned up and lubed the jockey wheels on the rear derailleur.

When I finished the bike had bling!


Eventually I managed to make it out on the bike!

As time was running short I just went out on my 'Normal 25'...Something very strange has happened with me as even this ride was considerably faster than normal!

According to the cycle computer I did 25.59 miles in 1 hour 22 min with an average speed of 18.4 mph

The GPS track can be found here...

Friday, June 26, 2009

26th June 2009

Got home at about 6:30, got changed and went straight out on the bike for my 'Normal 20'.

The conditions were perfect for another good run time :-)

Lyneham Met observations were...
1800 Medium-level Cloud 19.6 °C W 8 mph
25 km 1012 hPa, Rising
1900 Medium-level Cloud 18.6 °C WNW 7 mph
25 km 1013 hPa, Rising

I started racing the virtual me and to my surprise was actually beating me (Bearing in mind the virtual me had a time of 1 hour 3 and an average speed of 20.1 mph) at the half way point I was nearly 3 minutes ahead, I had done over 10 miles at the 30 minute point.

As I turned left at Sutton Benger the course average speed was 21.5 mph! I was on for achieving at least 21 mph average!!!! Then just as I was coming to the end of Sutton Lane on to Maud Heath's Causeway there was a loud ping then a tinkle, tinkle, tinkle noise from the back wheel :-(

I stopped looked at it, swore, span the wheel to make sure it was still there, then set off again, the wheel was buckled and a spoke had snapped!!!!!

To my total amazement I had so much time in the bag that I limped home with the buckled wheel and still achieved an average speed of 20 mph (According to the Cateye computer) and 20.4 mph according to the Garmin...So another evens run :-) even with a broken bike :-(

Will have to try and get the wheel sorted tomorrow morning so it won't affect the weekend's plan!

The cycle computer had today's ride as 21.3 miles in 1 hour 3 minutes with an average speed of 20 mph.

The Garmin GPS track can be found here...

Thursday, June 25, 2009

25th June 2009

Got changed as soon as I got in from work and went straight out on the Merida.

Plan was to meet family at The Bell Inn (at the foot of Bowden Hill) in Lacock at 8pm, I had an hour so set of for a 16 mile ride :-)

I headed out of Chippenham towards Corsham then headed to Five ways, Atworth, Melksham then on the back roads to Lacock.

I ended up doing about 16.9 miles in the hour and arrived at the pub on time :-)

I had a fab meal and a couple of pints of muscle relaxant, then set of home on the bike over Bowden Hill and down Derry Hill, I thought it was about 4 miles, it turned out to be 6 miles.

The cycle computer had the ride as 23.84 miles in 1 hour 25 min with an average speed of 16.7 mph, the top speed down Old Derry Hill was 47 mph :-)

The GPS track of today's ride can be found here...

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

24th June 2009

Worked from home today :-)

Because I am going out tonight, I opted to not go out early but start work earlier instead, I did stop and go out for a 25 mile ride at lunchtime :-)

The weather was absolutely fantastic :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.64 miles in 1 hour 32 min with an average speed of 16.5 mph and a top speed of 46 mph.

The GPS track can be found here...

Ohhh my EndToEnd club certificate also arrived today :-)


Tonight I am of to see War of the Worlds live at Cardiff :-) it's gonna be stunning! there was a time when that was the only Tape!!!!! (Yes i'm that old) that I had in the car......It was an old Vauxhal Viva....Ohhh those were the day's!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

23rd June 2009

No cycling today :-( put son's car back together...

On the bright side the engine now runs and there is currently no sign of a blowing head gasket, expectation is for the gasket to blow again in the next month or two, then I will have to get the head skimmed :-(

Monday, June 22, 2009

22nd June 2009

Got home from work at 6:15 ish got changed then went straight out on the bike for my 'Normal 20'.

I raced against myself again, using the Garmin Virtual Partner, it was tough!

There was no perceivable wind, Lyneham met office observations showed...

1800 Medium-level Cloud 20.1 °C N 6 mph
30 km 1027 hPa, Falling
1900 Medium-level Cloud 19.7 °C N 7 mph
30 km 1027 hPa, Falling

And I did my 21.26 mile ride in an amazing 1 hour and 3 minutes with an average speed of 20.1 mph!

I have been trying to break 20 mph average on the ride since I started, but never actually thought I would do it :-) (Dave said it was a good ride for evens...well I guess he was right)

The GPS track for the ride can be found here...

Riding against a shadow me is really quite demanding as there is a constant fight to stay ahead of me....All the way to Lyneham the virtual me was between 10 and 20 seconds ahead, but as I turned back towards Sutton Benger down Dauntsey Bank, I leapt ahead, there was NO headwind and I was averaging over 20 mph on the home stretch :-)

When I got back home I was proper knackered!

I think I will save today as the new 'Normal 20' baseline.....and I won't be beating me for a while yet!!!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

21st June 2009 (Sunday)

Didn't get up and go quite the way I had planned....

Eventualy I got up and made porridge for breaky, I had hoped to set of early but I ended up leaving at gone 9:30.

I had planned the ride to avoid all major trunk roads and any major town centres, this did mean that the gradients of the roads were expected to be a tadge steeper.

I set of out of Chippenham towards Bradford on Avon, then towards Rode...along the route of an old Roman Road.

Interestingly Roman roads had to be straight by a law enacted by Tribune Gracchus in 123 BC.

The country ride worked perfectly, no car stress, one or two steep climbs but nothing to major.

I stopped for lunch at 55 miles (Just over 3 hours) and was most upset that my phone had stopped working (Assumed flat) and I couldn't twitter!

I had my first glimpse of the sea at 74 miles :-)

It was then down hill (quite literally) to Lyme Regis.

I met wifey and daughter, got changed into some fresh clothes then hired a self drive boat and went fishing :-)

The real miracle was that we actually caught some fish!

We headed home at 5pm ish and stopped at the Horse and Groom pub near Frome (Same one that Joy,Nathan and myself stopped at on Day 9 of JOGLE)

On the bright side the phone wasn't flat, it had just crashed and needed re-setting.

The cycle computer had today's ride as 80.38 miles in 5 hours 13 min with an average speed of 15.3 mph.

The GPS track can be found here...

The Merida has now done over 4000 miles :-(

Saturday, June 20, 2009

20th June 2009 (Saturday)

Whooooo woke up late :-)....the sun was out and it was warm..

Put cycle kit on, booted up computer and it didn't.......spent half an hour or so fixing it then had breaky and surfed the net a bit......

Eventually I made it out on the bike..Told wifey I would go for a shortish ride as I had lots of things to do.....

Unfortunately as the pedals started turning I forgot I was on a short ride and ended up going a little further a field :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 50.78 mile's in 3 hours with an average speed of 16.8 mph

The GPS track can be found here...

When I got back from the ride I showered changed and had lunch then started working on Son's car...

The Head gasket has blown in a rather spectacular way...

Halford's failed to get the headset in - even though it was ordered and promised for Friday/Saturday...

Whilst I was still a bit messy I degreased and cleaned up the chain and sprocket sets - on the Merida.

After the 3rd shower of the day I set about washing the bike then cooking BBQ for tea......

The benefits of doing long rides are I can eat what I want and don't feel guilty...I am wondering if the 3 Green Goblins (Cider) may have been a bit to much though....

They didn't seem to inhibit the re-oiling of the bike to badly...I think.....

Friday, June 19, 2009

19th June 2009

Went for a swim, got back to late to go to Calne pool so we went to Corsham instead :-)

Interestingly I found swimming incredibly tough going today.....I guess it is using completely different muscles than cycling...

The Garmin site crashed yesterday after I uploaded my track :-( now it's stuck in the ether... they say that they are working on recovering all of the lost data :-)

Thursday, June 18, 2009

18th June 2009

Got home late :-( ate baked potato and salad with wifey and daughter..then got changed and went out for another 20 cycle ride...

I raced myself and once again on the Garmin...I have now downloaded tonight's session as the new Normal 20 baseline - I don't expect to win again for a while now!

The cycle computer had today's ride as 21.26 miles in 1 hour 8 mins with an average speed of 18.7 mph :-)

The Garmin GPS track can be found here...

Thinking about cycling from Home to Lyme Regis on Sunday....http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=10157 - Nice cycle, couple of hours fishing then drive home :-)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

17th June 2009

Worked from home today :-)

Part 1...
Intention was to get up very early and go for a cycle ride....I almost did....but ended up going back to sleep :-)

It did mean that I started work earlier!

At lunchtime I went out for my 'Normal 20', I decided to use the Garmin Virtual Partner and race myself against the last 'Normal 20'...I won :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 21.47 miles in 1 hour 13 min with an average speed of 17.5 mph.

The GPS track can be found here..

Part 2...

Stopped work at 4:30 and went for another 'Normal 20' - I enjoyed my race so much I thought I'd have another go with the Virtual Me....I won again :-)....guess I will have to save the faster me as the baseline...

It was raining when I set off and it continued for the whole ride.....I must be mad!

The cycle computer had the ride as 21.28 miles in 1 hour 14 with an average speed of 17.1 mph.

The GPS track can be found here...

It would appear that the race is against the stored elapsed time in the track ...because I had stopped and pumped the tyre up it actualy gives me an extra 5 minutes to beat me :-)

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

16th June 2009

Night off, Worked late :-(

Sorting out family web site.

Monday, June 15, 2009

15th June 2009

Plan was to get home have tea then go for a cycle ride, when I got home tea wasn't going to be until 7:30 so I got changed and went out for a quick cycle ;-)

Now I know that when the bike has a flat tyre one shouldn't just put air in it and go, but I had a tight time scale, and there was no sign of a puncture - and it was OK yesterday, so I pumped it up to working pressure and set of on my 'normal 20'.

When I got half way round I had to stop and put some more air in :-( It hadn't gone flat but was down to about 50 psi...

When I got back home I had tea then changed the rear inner tube, there was no sign of any external puncture; I think I may have nicked the tube when I was putting the tyre on yesterday.

The cycle computer had today's ride as 21.29 miles in 1 hour 11 minutes with an average speed of 17.8 mph.

The GPS track can be found here...

Sunday, June 14, 2009

14th June 2009 (Sunday)

Got up reasonably early and had a Full Welsh breakfast in the Hotel :-)

Went for a quick walk before we said our goodbyes...

Ended up walking up a 1:6 hill that I cycled down with Dave earlier on in the year :-)

We arrived back home at about 2pm after a 4 hour drive (+ 1 hour lunch stop), I was allowed to go out for a cycle ride in the sun :-)

I headed out of Chippenham on the country roads on Easton Lane I turned back towards Lacock then headed up Naish Hill, cycling past two mountain bikers that had got off and walked!

At the top I headed towards Sandy Lane then Headington and Stockley.

I thought I would complete the country route by going throught Tockenham, Dauntsey, Foxham

I headed up Wick Hill and still had loads of energy so I headed towards the Dumb Post Inn and Studley then Stanley then back towards Chippenham and Home :-)

The cycle computer had today's ride as 39.83 miles in 2 hours 28 mins with an average speed of 16 mph.

The GPS track can be found here...

Saturday, June 13, 2009

13th June 2009 (Saturday)

Travelled up to North Wales, Maentwrog for a family party....I wasn't allowed to take a bike :-(

We did go for a nice walk however :-)

I had a number of pints of Scrumpy Jack and there was a path there...Honestly!

Friday, June 12, 2009

12th June 2009

My first ride since JOGLE :-)

I missed going out on the bike yesterday!

Today I cycled to Devizes, Avebury and Calne stopping in at Peddlers to have the rear wheel re-trued and pick up some new tyres and a saddle bag, the saddle bag broke on JOGLE and the rear tyre had a load of nicks and cuts in it.

It was actualy quite nice to get and and just go at my own speed :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 29.38 miles in 1 hour 47 minutes with an average speed of 16.3 mph

The GPS track of today's ride can be found here...

Thursday, June 11, 2009

JOGLE the day after

Got up, still no aches and pains......(Still don't understand how I can not be hurting anywhere?)

Cleaned and oiled the bikes, removed the rest of the travelling stuff from the mobile shed - formerly known as a car.

I am actually wondering if I could get away with going for a cycle ride today????Or will wifey kill me?

Now I must thank lots of people for there support and extreamly kind donations...
---In no order at all--
Thank you Wifey for fixing everything and being there to support us....You had the tuff job all we had to do was look at the scenary.

Jim it was great for us that you could join us and you did set the tempo and ethos for the rest of the trip.

Dave without you I wouldn't have chosen some of the fantastic routes and your support and encouragement has helped more than you can imagine.

Nathan it was your idea...and thank you I would never have thought about doing something so mad...(Although I may have had to use my MP3 player if you were with us any longer :-)

Joy you are a really good friend and you allowed me to experience ALL of the scenary, without you it would have been very tuff.(And I am sure I would have burnt myself out)

Everybody that has helped us, gave us comments to read along the way...Thank You....

Now all I need to do is plan the next challenge........

If anybody is interested we..

Replaced 3 tyres.
Fell off a total of 4 times.....me once and Joy 3 times.....I was the one that actually leaked red stuff though!
Replaced 1 set of Brake blocks
(Refitted bike chain countless numbers of times.....Joy!)

It was interesting that as we were nearing the end people thought we were just starting! We were still bouncing fit and had no ill effects.....A guy finished JOGLE about an hour after us and he was hobbling along and looked haggard......

I am now bored!!!!!!!! and we only finished yesterday!

I will busy myself by doing a few more stats......what am I gonna call this blog now?????What am I gonna post in it???????

Any suggestions for the next challenge welcome :-)........

JOGLE Day 11 - Saint Breock to Lands End

The expectations were for very bad weather, forecast was 20 mph southerly winds and rain :-(

The morning however, was completely unexpected, warm, sunny and the forecast had changed we were in for a dry sunny day!

I had been wanting to go for a swim ever since John'O Groats...and finally my chance had come...

Although the water was a tadge colder than I expected!

I did eventually brave it in, mainly because Joy jumped straight in.....but then again she is Scottish and used to the cold...

We returned to the B&B after the swim and had another fab cooked breakfast, I can recommend the Pengilley B&B most highly. Joy was happy as another guest commented on her sun tan!!!!

We had to load the bikes onto the car and return to our pickup point from the night before.....

I had planned a nice scenic route to Land's End but we had both decided we just wanted to get there so had no real idea exactly what distance we had to go....

We continued on the A39 until we reached Blackwater then we opted to go onto the rather faster but busier A30...

We stopped for a Philp's 'Famous Pasty' at Hayle then continued on ....The signs indicating Land's End showed a continual count down in milage...

When we got to Penzance we detoured to Marizion and to the sea front to have a look at St Michael's Mount.


The ride from Penzance was really quite nice although my emotions were very mixed, pleased that we were about to achieve but upset that it was all coming to an end....

We eventually crossed the Finish line at Land's End at 14:44 on 10/06/2009 after completing 950 miles...

We were both grinning from ear to ear.......and took lots of photo's....




We celebrated our completion with another cream tea/coke then loaded the bikes on the car and started the drive home at 5pm

After stopping for food on the way home we made it back to Wiltshire at 11:30pm......I was more worn out and tired by the drive home than I was by the cycling there!.....Thanks Joy for driving the last leg..........

The Cycle computer had the days ride as... 57.08 miles in 4 hours 27 mins

The GPS track can be found here...

JOGLE Day 10 - Sampford Peverell to Saint Breock

We had another large breakfast in the B&B before setting off, Nathan cycled with us for a few 100 feet before turning off and heading south.

Joy and myself continued over and down, and up, and down the rolling and sometimes steep hills of Devon.

During the morning the threatening clouds dispersed and we spent the majority of the day in nice warm sun :-)

We stopped for lunch at a nice riverside pub in Hatherleigh.

At mid afternoon we crossed over from Devon into our final county Cornwall.


We set about Twittering as soon as we got to the sign.

We continued cycling towards Bude on the A3072, and we saw our first glimpse of the sea since Powfoot.

Just after Bude on the A39 we stopped for a wonderful cream tea in 'The Whalesborough Tea Room' at Marhamchurch.

We did spend a bit longer drinking cream tea- in my case and cream coke - in Joy's case than we intended. The people who run the tea room were fantastic and donated £20 to our charity :-) A rather nice customer also came over and chatted and donated a further £10...Thank you to both of you.

The planned camp site stop had been altered to a B&B in Newquay, an extra 10 miles on the day :-( It also started to precipitate as we were nearing St Columb Major so we decided to call for a pickup (The first in the whole trip! but the cream tea was definately worth it :-)

Even Newquay wasn't so bad at the end of the day!


The cycle computer had the days ride as 89.78 miles in 7 hours 24.

The GPS plot can be found here...

Monday, June 8, 2009

JOGLE Day 9 - Chippenham to Sampford Peverell

I cooked breakfast this morning then we set of out of Chippenham towards Bradford on Avon along the quiet country roads.

Nathan appeared to have recovered from his remarkable ride yesterday.

From Bradford on Avon we headed out towards Rode then on to the horrendous A361 to Shepton Mallet.

Along the way we stopped for a nice cup of tea :-)

Just past Shepton Mallet we stopped for lunch..

After Shepton we headed uphill to Glastonbury, then down hill to Pilton and across the Somerset Levels.

Just before we reached Taunton it started to rain so Joy and myself doned our water proofs...Nathan didnt have any so continued on.....

We fortunately missed a concealed right turn of a dual carriageway and had a photo opportunity at a Welcome to Devon sign :-)

We have made the decision to stay in B&B's for the rest of the trip :-) although a tadge more expensive, the thought of camping in a cold swamp is not appealing....

We reached tonight's accommodation at 7:15 ish, got showered changed then pigged out in the pub we are staying at...

Joy again struggled to eat all of her food.....

The cycle computer had the days ride as 86.49 miles in 6 hours 52 min

The GPS plot can be found here... and here... (Found out stopping a course stopped the trace:-( so had to restart it after we sorted out where we were going!)

Only 2 more days to go :-( and we will be in Cornwall tommorow....

Sunday, June 7, 2009

JOGLE Day 8 - Leominster to Chippenham

Had an absolutely fab nights' sleep :-) and a lovely cooked breakfast.

My phone had dried out over night, but the touch screen no longer works :-( but at least all of our clothes had dried out.

There was a slight rain when we set off, but nothing to major.

We headed to Hereford then to Monmouth, Joy and myself were putting on and taking off water proofs as it rained and the sun came out.

There had been a large amount of rain and some of the roads had flooded.

We had lunch in Monmouth :-) then headed to Chepstow, and a massive climb!

I stopped to take some photies of the surrounding countryside.

When we left Chepstow we had a Welcome to Wales photo.....There wasn't one when we left Herefordshire.

From Chepstow we headed across the Severn Bridge and down hill to Chippenham and home..
---That's a Lie.....it was up steep hills and then downhill to home.

The most upsetting part of today is as we crossed over the North/South divide known locally as the M4 it started to rain again...

The cycle computer had today's ride as 80.99 miles in 6 hours 40 mins (Active time)

The GPS track can be found here...

Thanks Dave for riding with us for a couple of days...It allowed for different conversations :-)

I will try and update the blog from tommorow until the end of the ride but I definately will not be able to upload GPS tracks or Piccies until I get back home :-(