Having had more than two weeks on the side-lines with
international work travel preventing me from saddling up I knew I had to try
and make up for lost ground this weekend. Arriving home late Thursday evening
from Germany and about to settle down I had a gentle reminder from a friend
about 8pm that night as he knocked on my door in the dark fully booted in all
the night riding attire (if only he was as tall as the Hoff!) to let me know he
was still committed to the cause and the eventual 1000 mile ride in the near
future. This was great motivation for me as I knew I could not let my great
start to road biking slip even in the gloomy months ahead…
So Saturday morning arrived and that demon in my head started
making rumblings of whether I should actually go today or save it for tomorrow.
Once I beat him up I kitted up, filled the camelback to the limit and set off
to try and get to Leighton Buzzard as I had never been there before on the
bike. It was a pretty cold first 20 miles, with average temperatures of 3oc,
and took a while to warm up and keep the circulation going in the hands and
feet. I started my route sun glasses on to protect from the rays but ended the
route with them still on helping to prevent the rain going in my eyes so truly
multipurpose. As I got to Leighton Buzzard my first thought was to turn around
and come back as the legs were tired and this was my first outing for some
time. However, the competitive spirit that burns inside me won and I was off to
Chalk Hill. On the way through to Dunstable over some very bobbly roads and
just when I was flagging the most……….I lost my bottle. No, I literally lost my
bottle. At the 30 mile stage said bottle decided it had had enough and off it
popped on to the road spinning aggressively. It took me a few moments to
actually take in what had happened as I only caught this out of my periphery
vision. I had also been doing close to 30mph at the time as well. Then the
glance down and seeing the bottle holder bare was I very annoying feeling
especially when you are going that speed and your near to completion for ride.
I did have the thought for at least 5 seconds to leave it as it meant I would
get home quicker and it is a long turnaround to get it. I did the right thing
though and like a pilot never leaves his wing man I wasn’t, as a cyclist, prepared
to leave my trusted bottle. I turned around like a very slow pantomime horse and
trundled back to collect. Once mounted up again I proceeded to try and get to
magical land of 40 miles banked, which is a place I hadn’t been before for
consistent cycling. With this 40 mile target set in my mind I needed to take a
diversion on the way home to be able to achieve the target as the normal route
would not see me get to 40. This again had its consequences. On the diverted
route I knew I would encounter a set of laborious traffic lights that would
bring me to a standstill and no cyclist likes any potential stoppages but a set
of traffic lights that is set on a 3 to 4 minute loop is the worst of all!
Anyway, once I got to the lights I thought I would be clever and dismount and
run the bike around the lights before crossing a few roads and then jumping
back on and setting off on my merry way. The problem always occurs when I try
to be “clever”. So when I came to a complete standstill at the lights 36 miles
in I just couldn’t get me foot out of the pedal clips and hey, timber. A
massive thud, cut on the arm to break the fall, a big bruise and most
importantly completely shattered pride with ultimate embarrassment. I tried to
style it out and bounce straight back up and run across the road with my bike
pretending like there was nothing to see but all the cars parked at every side
of the junction at the lights were surely entertained by this epic fail. I made
my 40 miles in the end once I returned home and felt an enormous sense of
achievement especially after so long without a ride.
Here is the route for anyone interested http://www.strava.com/activities/96621130
but top line stats are:-
Distance – 64.6km
Time – 2.31.23
Having completed my longest ride so far on Saturday I
thought it might be an idea to continue playing catch up training and go for a
second ride this morning. However, once I finally shook the Sunday morning
cobwebs out and came to my sense I realised that one part of my body felt like
it had been hit by a sledgehammer multiple times for many hours. This feeling
also coincided with a slightly funny walk I was doing. So when I was done doing
my best Jayne Wayne walk I bullied myself into going out for second ride.
Different direction to ever before this time and I thought I
would visit Aylesbury today. It takes some time now just preparing for a ride with
all the stuff I have to do. It is actually pretty hard work getting going
before you have even done one revolution. I told myself today it would be about
training and not seeing the sights so I headed for the massively long,
monotonous, undulating and large vehicle plagued A41. This would take me all
the way to Aylesbury without much scenery so I took Mr Marshall Mathers second
with me to keep me company (never thought I would hear him yodel but I love
it!). The only notable thing of interest after 15 miles was the huge
manufacturing plant of Arla who have been a client of mine. 5 miles later and
wait for it another big revelation. I had been wondering for a long time what
ever happened to the well-respected Pratts bananas company who used to have a
headquarters in Hemel Hempstead at pretty much the exact location where I fell off
the bike yesterday. Well mystery solved. A huge lorry whooshed past me with the
lots of bananas, a big Pratts logo and a new address in Luton for the company.
What a thrilling day this was turning out to be.
On arrival to Aylesbury I noted how nice the new recently
built theatre looked. I think that could be used in the future. Now the plan
was to get to Aylesbury and turn back but as always the little lets “push it
harder button” emerged and I wanted to at least beat yesterday’s mileage so
button pushed. I headed on towards Waddesdon, which took about another 30
minutes. Now I am not sure how to describe Waddesdon it seemed a funny little
place. I think I had the film Hot Fuzz running through my head as this place absolutely
screamed of that setup. A very small community where everyone knew each other
but also could be a potential alien race, zombies, crazy possessed locals etc
so the mpg were raised through here to keep myself breathing (oh the little
things that go through your head when it is only you and the road). After
coming to sign that said 60 miles to Birmingham I thought it was best to turn
around and head for home. The overall ride was pretty gargantuan for me and I
broke the next 2 records that I set myself. Being on a bike for more than 3
hours and breaking 50 miles continuously pedalling.
Here is the route for any interested http://www.strava.com/activities/96820124
but top line stats are:-
Distance – 80.8km
Time – 3.14.24
Total weekend combined stats are as follows:-
Distance – 145.4km
Time – 5.45.47
Also, a
MAJOR stat – 7000 calories burned for the combination of both rides!
Lastly, I finished 3rd in my cycling group this
week (love the fact that it calls me an “athlete” below)
|
Rank
|
Athlete
|
Distance
|
Goal
|
Rides
|
Longest
|
Avg. Speed
|
Elev. Gain
|
|
1
|
207.9 km
|
--
|
9
|
22.3 kph
|
1,331 m
|
||
|
2
|
172.1 km
|
--
|
6
|
20.9 kph
|
1,375 m
|
||
|
3
|
145.4 km
|
--
|
2
|
25.2 kph
|
876 m
|
||
|
4
|
143.5 km
|
--
|
2
|
21.8 kph
|
599 m
|
||
|
5
|
79.7 km
|
--
|
6
|
25.7 kph
|
275 m
|
||
|
6
|
75.2 km
|
--
|
1
|
14.4 kph
|
355 m
|
||
|
7
|
53.8 km
|
--
|
2
|
21.1 kph
|
297 m
|
||
|
8
|
38.5 km
|
--
|
4
|
19.7 kph
|
162 m
|
||
|
9
|
24.7 km
|
--
|
1
|
21.8 kph
|
134 m
|
Ben Munden
Rik Stevens
Chris Lee
marco 839
Darren Rockett (Rocky)
Jade Williams
Shane Moores
David McTeague
I well-earned rest now for the next few days awaits. Cant
bare to think about what tomorrow morning may feel like…….
