Making up for lost time...

This time last year was hell. Lee had just been sedated and intubated and Níamh had a thoroughly inadequate 18th birthday. At the same time I had a couple of rough days with Covid19 and even if all of that wasn't going on...the whole country was in lockdown anyway!

As ever the blog will start with a family update and then move to cycling. Stay for as much as you want, I'll mark the split in bold.

Let's get the rough stuff out of the way. My father in law is hanging on in there. This week he has had a bed delivered for downstairs and chemo has finished. Hopefully more comfort and less poison makes the world feel a bit better.

The best decision I've made recently was to take Friday off. This was Níamh's 19th birthday and we were determined to make up for last year. The plan was to go out for lunch but Níamh had been out with friends in Nottingham and overslept. Everything is apparently her boyfriend Olly's fault and as per usual the man with the patient of a saint took the blame for them missing their train! The whole thing worked out quite well for me as I was able to get out on my bike!

poor Olly

When I got back Níamh was home and celebrations began. She had great fun opening her presents.some of this had to take place by facetime as our oldest son, Joe, has unbelievably tested positive for Covid19, luckily he is totally asymptomatic. In the evening we had a superb Thai Gardens take away with my parents and Sophie but Sam had to wait for his as he works until 10pm at Waitrose. He missed out on playing Cards Against Humanity with Big Dave and Nanny Chris. This was beyond funny but also a bit disturbing. I will never be able to unhear the things my Mum said!

What's in the box?

Sam made it home in time for cake!

During the day Lee and I had some time to talk. We did a lot of reflecting on the past year. There was the odd tear too. It's what we need. Right now Lee is exhausted. As ever it was important that everyone had a good day and she put others before herself to her own cost.

Switching to cycling now...

It's flipping freezing isn't it! As a result I still haven't ridden to work. My quest for 1000 miles of exercise in 7 weeks continues. Many of these are indoors on the rollers. However I did manage 165 miles this week, 85 of these were proper outdoor cycling miles!

On Friday I adapted a version of one of my favourite routes into the Welland valley. This route contains some good climbs and some great scenery.

Banana 🍌 overlooking Eyebrook Reservoir

Medbourne

Harrington

On Saturday I met up with the Cyclasylum riders as usual at Kettering swimming pool. It was cold but there didn't seem to be much ice so we decided to ride. Andy P cheered us all up by describing the route over from Denford as sketchy. 

We headed off with the usual banter and chat drifted towards the latest series of Afterlife. There was a lot of unrepeatable quotes and a lot of laughing. I pity anyone who overheard us.

The day seemed to get better and better. We headed to Guilsborough in glorious sunshine. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

From Guilsborough we went over to Cottersbrooke and then up that monster hill to Haselbech.

After recovering from the climb it was a fast run in back to Rothwell. The group was heading to the Fox and Peony cafe and then doing a few more miles. I decided to take advantage of getting home early and got some overdue jobs done.

Sunday morning started with Parkrun duties and this week it was my turn as run director. Everything ran really smoothly and it was a pleasure to be part of!

I needed 10 miles to hit my 130 mile cycling goal for the week. So having done road rides for two days I decided to get my MTB out.

I went to Prologis Park via Rushton and then through Weekley Woods to Geddington.

I then rode back to Weekley Glebe and round the back of Brambleside.

Having done a lot of miles this week, that was enough for me and I made my way home. It was great to use my Forme Ripley again. I forget how much I like this bike when I don't use it for a while.

That's it for this week.

Happy Pedalling 

Steady week for Lee, lots of miles for me and the CX season finishes with a flourish!

Usual format for the blog. It starts with what should perhaps be called the family update and then moves into cycling. 

The week started with Lee's Dad taking another trip to A&E, Lee accompanied him again and they spent hours there but did get some use from it. For me, I decided I needed to be home rather than coaching at cyclones so I did all I could think to do. This was do some tidying, light the log burner, make dinner and then sit on my rollers until Lee got home.

This is Lee's medicine regime! My goodness she must rattle. Every morning her first action is to take this vast array of pills and potions. No dramas for her this week, I just want her physio to start soon. She hasn't really improved physically since July and I think we need good advice so we know what to do that will help. Lee has continued with daily exercises from rehab but they were set in March. She also gets a daily walk in. She is okay on flat, firm surfaces but anything else exhausts her instantly. In the evening it can take her a few goes to get up from the sofa. However, we should be grateful as this time last year, Lee was in hospital fighting for her life!

Despite everything that's going on we are still having a nice life as a family. The picture above is how the weekend ended. It was a lovely family meal. All five of us plus Olly and Amy enjoying a proper Sunday roast. I even successfully (according to Amy and Lee,) made passable gluten free Yorkshire puddings. I got the recipe from BBC good food but if anyone out there knows a better one please let me know. Of course the dogs lived their best life afterwards with Sunday dinner leftovers instead of their usual dog food!

It gets all cycling and exercise now

My #NHS1000MILES challenge continues whilst I continue with #DryJanuary2022 and #REDJanuary2022. My aim this week was to get 120 miles done with a combination of dog walks, lunchtime work walks, indoor cycling on my rollers, cyclocross and a group ride. My weekly total was actually 130 miles. I will now need to average 145 miles a week to get to 1000 in 7 weeks. It's doable and I'm hoping this will lay the foundations for improved fitness this year.

Missing Cyclones on Monday gave me a bonus rollers session and in total I managed to get on them 5 times. Along the way I've entertained myself with various cycling videos and a bit of rugby. It could have been different though. The plan is still to cycle to work when the weather is safe enough to do so and Saturday's session should have been a group ride. Sensibly though it was cancelled due to fog and ice. The picture above is from Saturday and even my dog walk was perilous in places.

The main event of the week was the 6th and final round of the Leicestershire Cyclocross League for this season. Set in the picturesque grounds of Misterton Hall a fantastic course was set up by Welland Valley Cycling Club.

Big shout out to Mrs Lindsley at this point for buying me these merino socks from Planet X, along with those orange MTB shoes from Luck (thanks again to Hans for recommending these,) and my orange helmet, I've suddenly got a very colour coordinated race day kit!

I wanted to celebrate the day in pictures. No idea why but I decided to get selfies with as many of the Corby Capers riders as possible.

These sum up the friendly, fun atmosphere at cyclocross. The racing can get serious at times but for the most part it's about a community with great camaraderie. 

Somehow my splendid cycling friend and fellow Cyclones coach Ian Bird missed a selfie so here's a picture of him to make up for that!

After a couple of practise laps and watching the earlier races I had time for one more sighting lap before gridding. It was a huge field for our race. This was a combination of vet50/60 men and senior women. 149 riders finished the race. I was 72nd out of 82 V50 riders which is good for me!

Mike Deely, who once had a stated goal of trying to do as many laps as me, very nearly caught me. I have work to do or he'll get me next time!

I was also really pleased for Rob Campbell who has made a huge improvement on his previous races. I got nowhere near Ian Bird this time and that's about his improved performance too! 

I really enjoyed the course at Misterton which was reversed on it's usual direction. For me it had a bit of everything: mud, fast bits, challenging sections and draggy grinds.  At one point I thought I was going really well in the woods and promptly crashed the bike...pride does come before a fall. Of course, the delay this caused allowed Mike to catch up a bit 😉

After our race there was time to watch the senior men and V40 doing their hour. The speed and skill on show was amazing. Here's a few pics of other Capers riding to finish this section.

So that's it for Cyclocross this year, well except for watching the world championships next weekend. For me it's now about getting some miles done, the eternal battle to shift some weight and getting fit for long group rides, time trials in the Spring and the build up to the Friday Night Summer Series in May.

Happy Pedalling 

Challenges and flashbacks...

Lee with the latest guide dog puppy Flint

This week has been all about challenges and flashbacks of this time last year. As ever I'll start with Lee and end with cycling but there will be quite a blurred line between the two!

I went looking for pictures from a year ago and there's not many...well not many that aren't dogs! The pic above is from me running 5k in the garden because we were isolating. The garden isn't huge it was 155 lengths of the garden path. On January 9th 2021 my isolation ended and I took the dogs out for a walk. When I got back I rang Lee an ambulance. She went to KGH for a few hours but was released home with a hefty prescription. I spent most of the Sunday finding a pharmacy and then the next day I called an ambulance again. For Lee and I this was such a different experience. As they drove away I wondered if I'd ever see my wife again. Lee on the other hand thought they'd sort her out and she'd be home quite soon. Neither of us expected what happened. 10 weeks in hospital, 5 in ICU, 28 days of not being able to talk to each other...all of these things have been on both our minds this week. 

This would be bad enough but we also have the heart ache of seeing Lee's Dad deteriorate. 

For Lee herself, she's been very tired, felt weak and wobbly and has a lot of pain in her limbs. She has been prescribed amitryptaline for neuropathic pain and has been signed off work for another month.

Life working for the NHS hasn't been easy through the Christmas period. The Daily Mail is correct, we are experiencing high levels of sickness. However unlike their disgusting editorial direction, this is not because of poor attitudes or weak sickness policies. Everyone is knackered, everyone has a story of loss, some people are running on empty. Personally this week I have felt exhausted at times. Which is why this weekend I NEEDED a good bike ride.

On Friday evening the Cyclasylum organisers cancelled the usual Saturday group ride. Probably quite sensible because the forecast was dire. I used this opportunity to have a relaxed start before taking the dogs out later than usual. Whilst walking the dogs I decided that despite it being cold and wet I would go for a ride.

In order to go out I put on every bit of winter riding kit I own. The best bits of which are my Northwave winter boots, Vanelli winter jersey, Endura Gillet and my Planet X merino socks. Also helping a lot are my Race Blade mudguards. 

It wasn't that bad whilst I was out in it. I was reflecting on so many things. It was January 2019 when I lost my Pap (Grandad,) and a couple of weeks later we lost Harvey our lovely gold labrador. It was so on my mind I saw a roadkill deer and thought it was a dog!

I had no plan for this ride. I just decided to stay within 10 miles of home and keep going for as long as I wanted. Having decided also to have an easy ride, I somehow found myself on East Farndon Hill. I stopped for a snack at Prince Ruperts view. That was about 15 miles in and cycling was doing the trick, I felt as if the weight of the world was lifting from my shoulders.

 

Having been to Prince Rupert's view i thought for balance I should go to the parliamentarians side of the battle field. Fairfax had a much better view than Prince Rupert and it goes a long way to explaining why the Royalists lost. Both views are on top of the biggest hills in the area. To add to these lung busting climbs there was a strong headwind going into Naesby. At least the rain wasn't persistent!

Having got to the top of Naesby Hill i decided I should enjoy the benefit and headed back down the other side and onto Cottersbrooke via the gated roads. Then another good climb into Brixworth. This time a good tailwind helped me up the hill. By then I decided I wanted 40 miles so I went home via Holcot, Walgrave, Old, Foxhall and Harrington. For the last five miles it was heavy rain but still with a strong tailwind and all that good kit on, I couldn't have cared less! As it says in my blog description, I ride because cycling is good for the soul!

As usual Sunday morning started with Junior Parkrun duties. I wanted to ride again today but it became apparent that the ground would not defrost quickly. So instead I decided to get on the rollers, to make it more interesting I watched the full match replay of Saints rugby victory yesterday. That was 80 minutes on the rollers. It's a long time because you sit in the same position more than you would on the road and even shifting my hands and going no handed at times, I was very numb at the end! However it's more miles for my #NHS1000miles challenge!

Big shout out to all my fellow riders from capers and the local clubs who competed in the National cx championships this weekend. Some great results. Commiserations to Phil Wilkinson who had a horror crash and a leg gash so nasty it required surgery. Get well soon Phil! I could share the pictures but might need to put a health warning on the blog!!!

Hopefully next week it won't be icy everyday and I can ride to work. I have my Dad's bike trailer to help lug all the stuff I need to the office! True to form, before lending me the trailer Big Dave sorted out new tyres and got slime tubes fitted. I know...I said tubes...the trailer wheels are not tubeless. Apologies to anyone who is now in shock!!! Anyway I'm looking forward to some mileage accumulation and a bit of "stealth training!!!"

Happy Pedalling 

Good bye 2021...you will not be missed!

My beautiful pink yeti!

This is my first blog of 2022...a year that I sincerely hope is better than 2021. As usual I'll do a family based update and then drift into my cycling stuff. The break will be in bold.

Lee dropped her phone in hospital...

It's no exaggeration to say I nearly lost my wife in 2021. If I were to positively reframe that...in 2021 Lee survived Covid19 despite being as ill as it gets, lung failure and weeks in ITU. She has now been off work for a year as the long road to recovery continues. I know she'll get there because she is brave, strong and determined.

As the new year starts we are facing another tough situation. Lee's dad, also called Richard has been battling cancer since 2017. In those years he's done really well but it's not looking too great now. Christmas day was really tough but at least we had the chance to open presents together.

I read a great quote from the Dalai Lama. It's about hope and I find it helpful.

This is the break

The cycling bit isn't going to be long. For one reason and another my 2021 cycling wasn't as I'd hoped. There's good bits in there. I'm happy with my progress in cyclocross. I didn't race today but I am looking forward, covid conditions, permitting to the last race of the season on the 16th. I wasn't fit enough at the start of the season and the same can be said for the Dartmoor classic in June. I'm not beating myself up about this. I wasn't in the right place to train hard and follow a healthier lifestyle.

That leads me to my ambitions for 2022. As usual I'm taking part in Red January, Dry January and #NHS1000miles. My plan is to really go for it and try to cycle 1000 miles in the first 7 weeks of the year. Until I get to that magic number I will be abstaining from alcohol. I'm also going to cycle to work as often as I can. If I do this I'll kick-start the year with a healthier lifestyle and a really good base miles. training block.

Big shout out to all my cycling friends who achieved amazing things on their bikes on 2021. 

Happy Pedalling