It is SUMMER!

Usual thing. Lee update, followed by my cycling blog. Stay for the bit you want!

It's not been a great week for Lee! It started well as she was overjoyed to get the job of sorting the parkrun finish tokens. That's genuine, Lee loves sorting and organising, this is literally a dream come true for her. As I write this she's back in A&E after a rough night. Current temp is 39c and with some other symptoms I strongly suspect she has another infection. I'm not allowed to stay in A&E so it was another drop off and reluctant parting. Now I'm just waiting to see if our Queen of Cakes is staying in or if I can pick her up later. Despite all of that we did have a good day yesterday I did manage to get out on my bike which, if you want to,  you can read about later. We also had a really nice barbecue with friends in the evening. UPDATE: just gastroenteritis, going to pick her up now!!!

In the week I was able to get to time trial  Despite being on call due to the help my lovely colleagues. 

I'm happier with my bike set up and felt that I was going faster. In places I got Strava PR but overall it was about the same time. Still very enjoyable and I'm glad I'm doing it. Sam didn't join in this week due to the Europa league final. Hopefully he'll be back next week.

Alongside the dog walks I've done the usual couple of runs which felt good.

The healthy eating continues and before Friday I did 43 days without drinking alcohol. The outcome is I'm now 14st 7lbs (92kg) with 9lbs lost in 5 weeks of trying! My alcohol rules are only: when entertaining, proper special occasions or if I'm out. However fearing an untrained liver I had a few beers on Friday night to warm up!

On Saturday I successfully met the cyclasylum riders in Rushton for another group ride. Having dressed in all my winter kit last week, this week was the (un)polar opposite. Shorts, short sleeves, summer shoes and factor 50 sunblock!

We headed out via Pipewell to East Carlton, then Middleton and down that glorious descent into Rockingham. Oh no Rocky Hill! 

Andy P, experimenting with new cycle luggage led the way and I settled into the suffer of this climb. I've mentioned the history we ride through a few times. At the top of Rockingham Hill is Rockingham Castle. This has been a defensible site since the Iron age due to being on top of the biggest hill in the area. William the conqueror ordered a proper castle built there and successive chunks of nobility have resided there sincethen, apart from a short expulsion during the English Civil War. Now the Sheriff of Northamptonshire lives there. Here's some more info Rockingham Castle 

As I climbed my wahoo turned on the Strava live segment and showed I was close to my best time. This spurred me on and I went as hard as I could to beat my previous best by 10 seconds. This bodes well for Dartmoor! The problem with Rocky Hill is it ends in Corby. You instantly leave quaint old rural Northants and are deposited into an industrial urban carbuncle. Only for a few minutes though as we headed into Gretton and then down another good hill to Harringworth.

Another piece of history is the impressive Harringworth viaduct. It is in fact the biggest viaduct in the UK and contains more than 30 million bricks Welland_Viaduct or Harringworth or Seaton!

A further good hill took us up to Spanoe Airfield. From this base part of the fight to regain mainland Europe started in WW2. If you've seen films like " A Bridge Too Far," then this is one of the places the paratroopers flew from. RAF_Spanhoe

This was our official banana 🍌 stop and as usual the banter bus roared into life. After a tough week at work it was just the medicine I needed. Also the Friday night beers were having no effect and I think that's the best I've ridden in ages. So I kept pushing as hard as I could because it's fun, rewarding and good for me! I'm not saying 5 beers the night before improves your cycling. I think losing some weight, pushing myself and a 5 week break from booze is starting to show results...so starting tomorrow its back on the wagon, stick to myfitnesspal and keep up the activity.

One of the banter targets was Tony's clip on aero bars. It's not the done thing to use these on a group ride but in Tony's case it's fine because he only employs them as a Garmin mount. I feel like submitting this picture to GCN's 'hack or bodge,' although I think they'd have to redefine as 'bodge or massive bodge!'

We had a good ride back through Benefield and Brigstock and up the bumps to Grafton. I headed home from there as I had cleaning and prep to do before the barbecue! As I arrived at my house the wahoo showed 49.7 miles...we can't have that can we? So I rode up and down the street until it got to 50!

This morning I was Run Director for the first time at Junior Parkrun. If you've ever wondered how much work takes place to enable Parkrun to take place, the answer is: quite a lot! In the week Lee helped me sorting the finish tokens and hanging the hi-vis vests on the line. My job, making sure we had enough volunteers was made easy by everyone else. Firstly the roster was nearly full before my week began and then after one appeal we were full. Previous Run Directors have put such a comprehensive pack together and are so available that all problems are easily resolved. I now know my barcode number by heart due to logging onto the Parkrun website frequently. On the day things went really well for one simple reason. The volunteers at Parkrun are great, the rest of the core team are great and the parkrunners are great! I think Amanda who worked alongside me today should also have a successful first go as RD.

As I write the final stage of the Giro is on the telly. What a fantastic grand tour! 

Happy Pedalling 

is it winter again?

You know the score. Lee update followed by cycling stuff! Its been another week of thankfully drama free slow recovery for our Queen of cakes. For me I've taken a break from coaching, done a TT, some rollers, a group ride, running, dog walks and junior parkrun.

Lee has been worried about her hair loss, fearing she was going to lose it all. However a trip to see her hairdresser, Brad at Queens in Rothwell, was reassuring. Brad confirmed hair loss had increased but it wasn't too bad and new hair is growing back! Lee is rightfully pleased with her new hairstyle. Baking has gone well this week with some very nice muffins. The downside is that Lee is very tired still and gets out of breath easily. Despite this she continues daily walks with her Mum. She's also keeping up with her exercises, including her Covid19 yoga sessions. Lee has been doing a lot of thinking. She's struggling to remember things and doing a lot processing.

Despite many wet days, at least half of my dog walks this week have been on nice mornings. Two of those walks were runs and for all of my walks my furry friends were a joy to spend time with!

For once I've listened to advice and thought about all the things I try to do. So I'm taking a few weeks off from coaching at the cyclones.

I'm still doing stuff for myself though. On Wednesday I took part in a time trial at Rockingham Forest Wheelers. Before the start it was horrible weather and that put a few people off. It did clear up though into a dry if cold evening. 

 

My time was pretty ordinary but gives me something to work on. The pictures help though. I already suspected my saddle was a bit low but also my handlebars had a lot of spacers! Measuring properly, I discovered my saddle was 15mm too low...hmmm I lowered so Sam could use my bike a couple of years ago...I don't think I put it back. I also started moving the spacers around to lower the handlebars. I tested this for comfort on the rollers and in a couple of weeks might  go lower still!

This leaves an unsightly "chimney," but I want to be sure before cutting the steerer tube down. On Thursday I did my now regular toad in the hole rollers session.

Saturday is group ride day and what a splendid route this was! I planned to join the Cyclasylum at Rushton but left way to late and missed the group. The weather was rubbish again and I opted for full winter kit except for fingerless gloves and I was on my Summer bike!

The route headed out into the lumpy Welland valley, perfect preparation for the Dartmoor Classic which is now only a few weeks away. I set out to catch the group without much idea how far ahead they were. My plan was just "don't stop!"

I nearly missed this gorgeous gated road before heading round to Stockerston. From there I skirted Eyebrook Reservoir and onto the test that is Stoke Dry hill. At the top I ate my banana 🍌 without stopping but was losing hope I'd catch the group. My reward for the climb was the descent into Lyddington.

I couldn't resist a picture of the 'Bishop's Eye,' that sits on the corner of the walls of Bede House We are blessed with a tonne of history in Northants and this listed building is a former Bishop's Palace that became an Alms House for men and women "free from lunacy, leprosy and the French pox!" I'm guessing my ridemates and I needn't apply! From there I took a road I'd only used once before that sums up cycling in Northants: quiet single track, rolling hills, lush green countryside! Then just before Caldecott I saw them!!!

Much to everyone's surprise I caught up with the group. We rode into Great Easton ( Hi Deelys,) and through Bringhurst and onto Middleton. Just for good measure on an already hilly ride we rode up School hill, a lesson to anyone that it's not flat here! 

From there it was through Pipewell, Great Oakley and into the most historical place of the lot, Geddington! Here we had the usual splendid service at the cafeoaktea rooms and most of us tucked into Croque Monsieur.

After that it was even colder as Bruce and I put the world to rights plodding back to Rothwell.

I had an early start at Junior Parkrun. Next week I'm the Run Director so I joined Sharon to see how it's done! It all went well and I'm hoping for more of the same next week.

In elite cycling news...The Giro! Just wow!!! The Zoncolan stage yesterday was amazing. We watched some of the stage at the tea rooms via the wonder that is GCN+ during that we reminisced how The Tour de France used to be the only televised event and even that was only highlights. Now you can watch pretty much everything!

Happy Pedalling 

Mixed week for Lee, much better week for fitness

You know the drill. The first bit is Lee's post covid19 recovery. The rest is my cycling blog with a bit of running.

So Lee hasn't had further episodes of Tachycardia. That's great except the beta blockers are causing her hair to fall out! When you're already not feeling that great about yourself, that  really is an unnecessary twist of the knife! There's some other irritating bits too. Lee's lungs are not strong yet which means she has an inadequate cough! She says its like she wants to cough from her chest but she can only cough from her throat. To help with that Lee has signed up to a post Covid19 yoga class following a recommendation from my friend Matthew. Anyone else in Northamptonshire who wants to sign up, message me, I'll send you the link. Today we went to Specsavers because Lee's eyesight detiorated further whilst she was in ITU. I think I may have rolled my eyes when she was told today that her eye test wasn't due yet! That was cleared up quite quickly. Later we went to get Lee's 2nd vaccination at Moulton. I got mine two days earlier at the same place. That was bad planning wasn't it! The vaccination centre is really well organised and staffed. Each time I've been I've met someone we know. Today it was our old friend Sandra!

Lee continues to walk and exercise daily and this is going well. She does still get out of breath quickly. What's really come back this week is reading! Books are being read at a rate of knots and the kindle is back in Lee's hands! She has also started baking again. This week its muffins! So it's not perfect but there is also plenty to be positive about.

On Monday it was back to coaching with the Cyclones. During the session one of Kettering's urban red kites gave us quite a display. As ever it was great to spend time coaching kids cycling. However I've also recognised that pressure on my time is causing stress. So I'm going to take a couple of weeks off from coaching and then come back with fresh ideas!

On Wednesday Sam was otherwise engaged so he couldn't ride in the Rockingham Forest Wheelers time trial. So I took this opportunity to volunteer to Marshall. Its always good to give back!

On Thursday I managed to do another rollers session whilst making toad in the hole. It's the perfect meal to make in between interval sessions. Burning off the calories beforehand also softens the blow of this most magnificent comfort food!

My traditional workout time was in the morning before work. I was able to do this because my inlaws walked the dogs. However there's more than one thing going on for our family and now I walk the dogs in the morning. I do enjoy walking the dogs and the recent rain has caused an explosion of green in the countryside. 

Twice a week I run with the dogs. Charity runs on a running lead and Bruce just trots along with us! Charity was well into her running on Friday and was pulling me along for the first mile. With parkrun coming back soon this is good training for us both!

On Saturday it was time to get some proper cycling miles done. On a drizzly morning I met up with the Cyclasylum for a group ride. The planned route was 42 miles and its about another 10 miles round trip to Kettering. With only 10 more  miles need for a 100km Gran Fondo on Strava I decided it was about time I got that ticked off for May. In fact its the first Fondo I've managed this year! Normally I'd have done a few by now...2021 is rubbish!

We headed south out of Kettering, through Cranford, Addington and Ringstead onto Raunds. Marcus (pictured,) and I started racing for village signs and before you knew it Steve also joined in. My theory was I needed a big workout due the Dartmoor Classic being only 5 weeks away. 

We paused at a regular banana 🍌 stop near Rushden and as usual banter was  flowing. We quickly got cold so it really was chomp and go.

We worked our way round to Woolaston where the traditional photo had to be taken. Then onto to Grendon and Earls Barton. Some of the group stopped for coffee at White Mills Marina but I decided to press on, because I wanted my fondo and because I always tighten up during a break. After quite a flat few miles, the hill up to Earls Barton was hell! I dribbled up it, way behind the others, knowing I was paying for all that sign racing! Just to let you know, most of the rest of the group had been sensible and not joined in! However not long after that we were on the fast straight to Little Harrowden. This was an absolute blast. Paul won the race to the sign which was well deserved as he'd dragged me back to Bruce and Steve in front. I must point out, we were riding fast but not reckless. All of this was done safely! As we waited for people to catch up in Little Harrowden my legs were shaking from sprinting. After Orlingbury we split up further with Richard and Marcus helping me to Broughton. From there I needed 17 miles and due to that impending hilly sportive in June,  I decided to make it as hilly as possible. So I rode through Cransley onto Loddington and then round to Harrington and onto Desborough before heading home! It was a great ride and having done it I feel more confident about the Dartmoor Classic. Let's hope that Indian variant doesn't ruin everything!

This morning it was time for marshalling duties again at Desborough junior parkrun. 102 kids ran today which is great, especially as that was my exact guess on the "just for fun," sweepstake! I'm building towards a big day as my first time as Run Director will be on the 30th of May!

Due to taking Lee to appointments I didn't have time for much cycling today. So I decided on a run instead. As I'd also not done a 10k run this year I decided to tick that off too. My legs were not impressed though. Clearly they were suffering from cycling yesterday and I was very slow 🐌. I'm not that bothered though. It's said that pace is less important than distance!

I hope others have caught the elite cycling on tv today. The Giro d'Italia was amazing with Bernal at the finish on gravel. The best bit of the day for me was the Mountain Bike World Cup. In the women's race Loana Comte is now the French lady to beat with Britain's Evie Richards finishing a very creditable 5th just behind Pauline Ferrand Prevot. In the men's Tom Pidcock stole the show, winning by over a minute to 2nd placed MVDP! Quite the result and as this qualifies him for the Olympic race! Exciting times for British Cycling.

Happy Pedalling 

Tachycardia tribulations

To keep up with recent weeks my cycling blog will once again start with a Lee update, have the usual bits and bobs of dog walking and running and finish with the cycling stuff. So read the first bit if you want to know about the Queen of Cakes, stick around if the rest of my usual topics interest you!

It's been a mixed week for Lee. She's had some good days and we are on the cusp of needing none of the adaptive equipment in our house. So in 7 weeks since leaving hospital Lee has progressed to not needing, chair raisers, toilet seat raisers and a shower chair. She has never used the perching stool in the kitchen and the commode remains unpacked in our bedroom. The jobs around the house are now very much shared between us with Lee doing most of the washing and cooking a few days a week. She has also been doing a lot of sorting and organising. Today Lee had her first cup of coffee since January the 2nd (decaff of course!) Some days Lee has walked up to 2 miles and a walk around a supermarket is now no problem. The trachy scar which Lee described as a second bumhole, is fading fast That's! That's the positives. All of this leaves Lee exhausted, the Nanna naps and early nights continue. The walking distance may be up but its still very slow and she gets out of breath quickly. This week we had another episode of Tachycardia. It wasn't as bad as previously but even so Lee's heart rate was over 130bpm sitting still and stayed there for 13 hours from 17.00 Thursday to 06.00 Friday. We didn't go to A&E this time because Lee didn't want to. I set the rule that if we hit 150 we are going in. I also made sure she spoke to the GP on Friday morning who thought we were foolish not to go to hospital and has set his own limit of 120bpm. Beta blockers have also been doubled! Believe it or not whilst all this was going on Lee was determined to get to the polling station to vote! I'm writing this at 14.10 on Sunday, everything is calm now and the Queen of Cakes has had some lunch and gone to bed!

The flowers continue to arrive and I have to say a big thanks to my ride mates in the Cyclasylum for their kind bouquet!

Because of the bad weather we cancelled our Bank holiday coaching session. Then on Tuesday I got confused and forgot to go for a run! The next day though was another matter!

On Wednesday, Sam and I headed for Middleton to sign on for the RFWCC "dash," time trial. This is a very short 2.7 mile race from Ashley to Middleton. It takes place on one road with no turns...which makes it even more bewildering that Sam went wrong!

After some clever time keeper co-ordination Sam set off first. A minute later I started, fearful that even over this distance young Mac behind me would catch up! At about halfway suddenly Sam was on the other side of the road heading back towards me! Luckily realising his error Sam turned round and finished between Mac and I. Number 2 crossing the line first caused some confusion but the time keepers worked it all out! Sam had seen a sign at the only junction and started to doubt himself. He looked over his shoulder to see two cyclists turn right and assumed that was me and Mac had already caught me! It wasn't! It was just two other cyclists out for a leisurely ride! Personally I think Sam cost himself 1.30 minutes and as such he should have beaten me on the night. I think I might set him up with GPS for the 10 miler next week!

I've checked the previous time we did the dash back in August...I've made a 3 second improvement. Sam did 8.40 last time out, he was only 3 seconds worse this time which is remarkable given his error!!!

On Friday I got a run in. Nothing spectacular just 5km with the dogs. We bumped into the usual 7am regulars on our two laps to the Badger sett and back.

This weekend I'm on call which means long rides are out of the question. So is junior parkrun. On call is either feast or famine but the only definite task takes place between 08.30-09.30, the most inconvenient of times! However due to the weather this weekend, I don't really mind. I won't have a weekend on call for months now, so it looks like I picked a good weekend to be stuck indoors...well except I wasn't totally!!! I did gear up and take the dogs out yesterday morning...as they were soaked already I gave them a proper wash on our return. They were not amused!!!

This morning I tackled an ongoing issue with my Forme Calver. The bike is brilliant in all regards apart from the rear brake!!! To save approx £200 a brake Andy at C&D fitted mechanical disc brakes. This seemed like a good idea at the time but the rear has been a continuous problem. I'm not saying Andy was wrong, he did me a real favour setting up a superb bike at a competitive price. There is just no power or spring back via the cable so today I changed the cable. The one I removed looked fine but took quite a tug to get out. With the new cable in the brake appears to work well again. Now I have a choice. I could switch to hydraulic or keep changing cables. A good quality cable is £3 and a five minute job.  A hydraulic brake set is around £220 so I might keep changing cables frequently for a bit longer!

I had two reasons for taking the Calver out for a short spin. Firstly it needed testing but more importantly I needed just a few miles to complete #NHS1000miles. In December, if you told me I would take until May to do just 1000 miles of activity I would have laughed. In a normal year this is ten weeks activity, its currently week 18 of 2021!!! Anyway the 1000 is done now, so is the weekend on call, so it's time to ramp it up!!!

Just in case you thought I'd forgotten Bridget Jones diary...its all going well. No booze for over three weeks, sticking to myfitnesspal, 5lbs (2kg) lost so far!

In elite bike racing news the Giro has started. Unlike last year its a full field of riders with less likeliness of covid19 retirements. They even have proper crowds watching! The race is even taking place at the traditional time of the year!!! So good to see.

Happy Pedalling