Quiet week

It's been a quiet week after the excitement of Devon. So this week's blog will be short with the usual Lee update and the little bit of cycling I've done.

There's been no dramas for Lee this week. She is knackered though. It's no surprise after our weekend away. That heart has been messing about again with some high heart rates but no need for hospital. We are going for a cardiology appointment this week. Last night we had a nice evening with friends.

Due to our long weekend, I didn't coach this week. I've also felt tired and grumpy all week which I think is something to do with the emotional come down of the trip to Plymouth. So it wasn't until Saturday that I got back on a bike.

I left the house in no mood for a bike ride and 30 seconds of spinning downhill completely cured that morose condition. It always does!

This was a lovely route starting as usual at the swimming pool and heading out to Geddington and then via Great Oakley to Pipewell. There I was shown the smallest church that I've never noticed!

The church of St.Marys at Pipewell is officially Northamptonshire's smallest church and is there due to the monastic Abbey which used to be there. You can read all about in detail here www.british-history.ac.uk

The pictures don't show you that this was a soggy day. The sort of the day when you look out of the window and decide to stay at home. It wasn't too bad once you were out in it!

We had our banana 🍌 break in Gretton where Richard G was his usual gentleman self and took all the skins to the bin! The rest of the ride passed without incident. It was just what I needed to get back in the saddle.

Mark wins socks of the Day with these tiger stripe Bobby dazzlers.

After a Dartmoor-esque climb up the Brigstock bumps we decided against the coffee stop in Grafton. Everyone was soaked through and we didn't think they'd appreciate a group of soggy cyclists. So we split up. Four of us headed back home via Geddington during which soapy foam oozed from Scott's saddle. Not sure what was going on there! 

After a good night out I dragged my weary self to Parkrun duties. I was hoping to hide in a corner as a Marshall and got the opposite as a bar code scanner. This is about the busiest job at parkrun but also really rewarding. 

This weekend was full of great sport. The premiership rugby final was amazing. For cycling its the Tour de France 🇫🇷. There was also a good win in mountain biking for the very likable Evie Richards. Evie is well worth following on Instagram, not just for her cycling content but because she appears to be a splendid human being, full of the joys of life! In very local news  former cyclone Josh Brown took part in the http://cicleclassic.co.uk it sounds as though he didn't have much luck though. Better days will come Josh!

Happy Pedalling 

Devon is heaven but Dartmoor was Hellish at times!

This week is extra special as Lee and I took our long anticipated trip to Plymouth, met with great friends and I tackled the beast that is the Dartmoor Classic. 

For me this trip was so special. Firstly we didn't know if Lee would be well enough to make a long journey or have the energy to spend quality time with friends. That infection of a few weeks ago turned out to be food poisoning! It's a total mystery as we eat pretty much the same stuff yet none of the rest of us had any form of illness. It kind of shows the precarious position Lee's health is in! Anyway that has all cleared up and the Queen of Cakes felt fit enough to go to Devon.

Our links to this heavenly county are deep and varied. My Pap (Grandad,) was from Devon, not far from Plymouth. It was 2 years ago that we took a trip to his birth village as he died only a few months earlier at the grand Old age of 91. I still miss my Pap greatly but also realise the tremendous good fortune of getting to 48 years old before losing a maternal grandparent. My Nan is of course still going strong! 

Then we have our friends. We stay with Ged, James & Sean, the most splendid hosts. Our weekends with them are filled with laughter, good food and plenty of drink!!!

Lee and Ged used to work together in the Youth Offending Service and along with Sara they formed a trio of great friends. Sara lives across the bridge in Cornwall with her wife Kirsty so when we're down here all three are united! 

Here they are on the 2004 London to Brighton bike. Lee's first and last sportive!!! The picture is in Ged's toilet.

Then there's Nigel. He's a born and bred Plymouth boy who spent 14 years in Northampton. For some of that time we lived together in a glorious Men Behaving Badly kind of way. He's moved back down here and lives about 5 minutes away from Ged and James. Nigel and I were supposed to do the Dartmoor Classic together but he's injured himself! It was great to see him though.

It's just lovely down here and Lee has done very well. In her typical fashion she's apologised profusely for getting tired, or being slow or not helping out much! We've banned her from saying sorry and she now has to say "haberdashery," instead. I'm not sure what passers by make of someone saying haberdashery every couple of minutes but hey, it makes us laugh! Lee has ticked all her Devon boxes: cream tea, fish and chips, wander round the Barbican etc.

So with Lee looking okay I set out at 5am on Sunday morning for Newton Abbot and the start of the Dartmoor Classic. I was feeling strangely nervous before the start but made good time and was slightly early for the start!

If this was a club ride at home I wouldn't have started. The moor was covered in thick mist with visibility poor at low levels never mind up above. However my rules are different for organised events. You're surrounded by help so the risks are much reduced.

The Dartmoor Classic has 3 distances. 107 miles, 67 miles and 30 miles. Thankfully we choose the 67 miles Medio distance. That's nothing like my longest ride but its the 6230ft of climbing that make this tough. I felt I'd trained well for this but you can't fully replicate this sort of ride in Northamptonshire. Or can you? 

The ride above is the lockdown ride we all did solo instead of a club trip to the peaks. However this ride deliberately went up every hill available and is still 600ft less over a similar distance. The big difference is the length of the climbs. In 2019 I managed okay though.

This year the first hill was a struggle. Then for some reason my rear brake jammed on a descent. After 5 minutes of fiddling it released without me really understanding why and was okay after that. Then I went under the sign for the official King of the Mountains/Queen of the Mountains hill. This is an absolute beast amongst many hard hills and out of nowhere I just couldn't do it! 10 miles in and I was walking up a hill. I walked a bit, cycled as far as I could and walked a bit all the way to the top. Then I had to stop a few times to be sick!!! This has never happened to me before. I felt utterly embarrassed and was pleased that Nigel wasn't with me. I passed a sign that said Newton Abbot 7 miles and nearly took that turn. The mist was getting in my head and I really didn't like the descents without a clear view of the road.

I kept going though with the unglorified tactic of walking the hills. At 29 miles there is a bit where the route doubles back and this would have saved me about 4 miles. I was seriously tempted but a Marshall persuaded me it was only a couple more miles and I'd regret it if I didn't do the full route. So I set back off to great cheers from spectators. I pootled into Princetown and managed a can of coke and a piece of flapjack. That was weird too, I was struggling to eat! However that stop really helped. I set back off and my legs came back. I had a good chat with a fellow "downhill specialist," who told me there was no shame in walking when the hill gets too much. I passed the helpful Marshall and thanked him and the world felt good again. I was then passed by the funniest site. A bloke on a very cheap hybrid with a baguette in his front basket and a squash bottle in his bottle cage whipped past. The bloke himself looked fit as a butcher's dog. I can only think this is a sort of joke and suspect he has a fleet of better bikes for everyday use. I was still going well, I remembered from 2019 that I'd enjoyed this bit of the ride, its rolling moorland rather than horrific hills...then the hills returned. I was still going well though until CRAMP flipping cramp. That was the pattern for the next ten miles, ride until I cramped, walk until it eased. However as I passed 50 miles all my troubles and woes faded away, I knew I could do it now. After a very long hill there's a stunning descent into the valley and then it's flat all the way to the finish.

At the finish we got a nice bag and a medal. Having achieved silver last time and wanting to go for gold I haven't even looked at my bronze medal. Gold was 4hrs 30 or less, silver 5:11 and bronze 7hrs something.

This was not the crowning glory of my cycling life. I really didn't hear people chatting about their results and casually saying: "yeah I got gold..." However chatting with Nigel later helped. He got silver for his first DC, bronze the year after and then a few years of gold. He also said with the year we've had its amazing I made the start line. So reframe: on a day when I felt horrible on a bike, on a really tough route, I didn't give up! Next year, as Nigel said we'll smash it!

After riding through mist and rain I returned to Plymouth and a really nice sunny day! A few beers and fish & chips plus good company sorted me right out.

Happy Pedalling 

It REALLY is SUMMER!!!

Usual process, update on Lee followed by some cycling stuff!

Lee is feeling much better this week. The antibiotics have done the trick and her recovery is back on track. Don't be fooled though we still have a long way to go. She still needs her Nanna naps, gets out of breath easily and mostly feels tired! Twice this week I have had to help her up after a fall. This week Lee also missed her long covid yoga class because she overslept! However she also managed to go out with friends to bingo on Friday! People continue to visit and be very kind, I'm not sure I'll get the chance to buy her flowers for a few months yet!

On Monday I went back to coaching Cyclones after a 3 week break. I needed the break but it was also good to be back. The session was led by former Cyclone Charlie Stockham. He did a great job!

The Wednesday night time trials at Rockingham have switched to 20 miles for a few weeks and combined with other things it doesn't quite work for me! Lucky for me though KCC run a Thursday night TT. So I went there instead. Both rides are only a 20 minute spin from my house and on a beautiful evening I set off to sign on in Old. 

13 is our lucky number so I was delighted to get it for the race. It's traditional to wear 13 upside down...so I did. 3 of our Cyclones, plus other associated adults also took part.  Just like at Rocko it was nice to be amongst friends. The course itself is a 10.1 mile, out and back from Lamport to Rothwell and back. I'm still new to TT and had never tried this course before. I got to half way at 13 minutes and thought I was on for a good time. However I don't yet have the fitness to maintain that pace and faded on the way back to a 30.27. Pretty much the slowest on the night but not disappointing. It's just another target set to improve on!

I've done my two 5k runs this week and I can say my Friday run was very heavy legged after TT the night before!

On Saturday I met the Cyclasylum in Loddington for a 42 mile spin. Not everyone was there because some of the club were riding to Hunstanton and back in one day. I'm impressed by my cycling friends but as I've said before, I ticked off 200 miles in 2015 and have been thoroughly cured. I like to do at least one 100 mile ride a year but no further than that. So Steve, Andy, Neil, Mark, Ashley and Paul...chapeau! I hope the fish and chips were good!

The rest of us had a lovely ride on a stunning Summer day. We headed out towards Stafford via Kelmarsh, Naesby and Cold Ashby. The downhill section after Cold Ashby was particularly fun!

The banana 🍌 break took place outside Stanford Church, on the edge of Stanford Hall grounds. This 16th century mansion is described as the perfect "William and Mary," stately home! Of greatest note is that a Victorian aviation pioneer, Percy Pilcher  built gliders here. In fact Percy built a powered aircraft that he was due to test but before he got the chance he was killed in a glider crash. Had he been successful he would have beat the Wright brothers to recording the first powered flight. His invention has been tested since then and it's likely that it would have worked!!! That all feels fitting, as we later cycled past the glider club between Welford and Sibbertoft AND shortly after that the Red Arrows flew over!

In Welford I spotted this statue of Postman Pat. Apparently this is the 2020 version that replaced a previous wooden statue. I have no idea if there's a connection, just that the old statue was much loved and when it rotted away locals funded a replacement.

Before we knew it we headed up the hill to Harrington and I hoped we could get a pint in the Tolly but unfortunately we were too early. So I said my fairwells and headed home. We'd had some racing for signs and this was enough for me with Dartmoor Classic next weekend!

This morning I volunteered at junior Parkrun and my job was barcode scanning. It's always a fun job and as usual there's a lot of satisfaction from volunteering. 

It's looking like a big summer of sport. Test cricket is back, the football Euros have started, the Olympics is coming. Next up for cycling is the Tour de France! I can't wait!

Happy Pedalling 😊 

Stressy week with a good ending!

This will be a much shorter blog this week. I'll do a Lee update and then there's only a little bit of cycling to discuss. The reason for that will become apparent!

So the relief of Lee being home on Sunday was shortlived. On Monday she continued to feel rotten and spent Monday night to and fro to the toilet. Neither of us got a good night's sleep and on Tuesday morning I got one of my thankfully infrequent migraines. I think the surprise here is that I haven't had more of these. This bit isn't about me though...luckily my head recovered enough by Tuesday afternoon to be of use to Lee. The GP was not happy with KGH and we needed to get samples to the lab and pick up a prescription. It took until Friday for the infection to be understood and more antibiotics provided. Lee is starting to pick up and was able to meet with friends on Saturday night. This was especially nice because this was the third attempt to meet up, the other times postponed due to Lee being back in hospital. All in all a rough week but we appear to be recovering again.

Thanks to that migraine I didn't do much apart from a run on Friday. However on Saturday I got out with the Cyclasylum riders again. This week we headed east on a beautiful summer day.

First up was Geddington and then round the back of Boughton House, these silly geese were in the road. Once negotiated we headed down Brigstock bumps only to encounter a tractor...

This was also a day for roads we travel less as we worked round to Oundle.

I'm just going to let the pictures show you...we had a great time out on our bikes! Usual stuff, banter, chats, laughter!

I thought about extending to a 100km fondo ride but then decided today was not the day! I headed home, hot, tired and happy!

Sunday was junior parkrun duty again as this was my 25th time I qualify for a t-shirt!

Then this afternoon Sam and I headed to Franklin's Gardens for a covid safe Saints match. 

It was great to be back. Not quite our day today but a great match in a proper atmosphere! Better days are coming, suporting our heroes is evidence of that.

Happy Pedalling 

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