Cross racing in the cold

Today was another race at Leverhulme Park and so it would be silly for me not to do it. I spun down the road to it in loads of layers since it was cold out. By the time I got there I was quite hot as it was actually very sunny. I decided to race in a woolly base layer, jersey, shorts, knee warmers ,my summer shoes and my winter gloves. I actually was okay so I think that was a good choice. The start was frantic and I didn't seem to get away. But it meant there was actually a group of four females all racing close together. For a while I was in third and then I managed to pass the two ahead of me and get in the lead (of the womens race ;) ) But then someone else came past and once we got on the grass and mud she could pull away, my bike was getting heavier and heavier.

It was a good race and I was actually one of the last to finish as I got through the bell just before the winners finished.

I would have waited for results and prize giving but it was getting dark and I had no lights!

Oh and hi to whoever recognised me from my blog, fame at last! ;)

Roadie or mountain biker?

Often when people find out I ride bikes they assume its either on road or off-road. If they ask and I say both then they assume I mean on a hybrid or something (nothing wrong with hybrids). When I was up in the Lakes my friend was saying that when he goes out with mountain bikers they think of him as a roadie, to be fair so did I when I met him in the peaks in his club kit flying up hills and crawling down them! But he was saying when he is out with his road club they call him a mountain biker. It made me think, I don't think of myself as any sort, I just love riding. Some days I want to go and do long road miles on my roadie, other days I want to get muddy and have fun on the mountain bike. I was at a ride recently and my friend told me I was turning into a roadie, I suppose I got into all this riding through mountain biking. I guess I wear Lycra most of the time, but too be fair I find it more comfortable especially off-road - although my waterproof shorts are a near constant accessory at the moment and they are baggy. Most of the people I know are exclusively mountain bikers and find the idea of riding on the road apart from to connect trails odd. But I'm just happy if I'm on a bike.



What sort of cyclist would you say you are?

A frosty morning

I had plans today I was going to get up early and go running a 6:30am, did it happen? No! Just to make me feel bad about staying in bed terrahawk was out at 5am (?). Anyway to make up I got some stuff done once Ali went to work and then headed out running. I had a plan I was going to run up to Bromley Cross, back to the golf course, then up and down the steps five times then home.

The plan started off well, I realised that I was running at quite an easy pace (turns out the first section was at 10 min/mile pace) but I didn't feel like pushing it.

Then it was the steps, I think you can spot them in the elevation profile? The first two went fine, then the third I was attacked by a dog whose owner explained he was scared of people running, I then had to wait for them to clear the steps which took ages! Then it was a slow jog back home.


Once home I did some core work, last week I did none and I really think it will help my singlespeeding so I am trying to incorporate it into my routine.

In total I covered 4.59miles and was out for 50'33"

Rooley Moor Road

So todays plan was to do some more navigation practice, riding from home. I plotted a route and got out my highlighters and map. The weather forcast wasn't great but when I left just after 9am it was fine. Some new trails from near me took me out in Bury, where I explored a bit and ended up riding up some steps, they were shallow but there were a lot of them! Then I just went on the road to the start of Rooley Moor Road.

First impression was that this would be a great place to practise climbing on cobbles if you were to enter the tour of flanders sportive. Although it seemed steep I had no problems getting up it on my singlespeed, I have to admit I was a little worried about taking the rig somewhere I hadn't ridden before. Maybe I'll start taking it on more rides. Looking back when I got to the top I could see Rochdale in the distance.

Then it was following the clear track across the moors, at some point it got windy and started raining. Before I got to Waterfoot I split from the pennine bridleway and soon realised I had actually been on this trail before and it was taking me to the windmills. I had to walk a lot of it and some of it was very boggy, coming above my shoes. Just as I reached the windmills and was about to descent the weather got worse meaning I went downhill nearly blind.

After that various weaving and some sustrans trail brought me out at Tottington and then it was a case of riding home.

I love exploring from home and I love singlespeeding!

Stats: 29.41miles @ 8.2mph 920m climbed

Night riding with friends

About a month ago the group I used to ride with every Wednesday asked me to organise another Rivington ride so yesterday we all met at the Black Dog in Belmont at 7:15. As I was leaving to ride up to the meeting point I tried turning my light on and nothing happened, so it was a quick rush into the house and grab Ali's light, strap in to the bars and hope it'll stay there. Ten minutes later I was on my way, fortunately I had left loads of time to get there.

There were six of us all together, 5 girlie's and 1 boy who was meant to bring cake but forgot??? We set off from Belmont up the cheeky path, it was a little boggy in places so there was some walking to be had, but it was agreed that it was nice to get rid of the road climb, its nice for rides to be nearly 100% off-road. Then it was along the Belmont Old Road to Pigeon Tower. We dropped down the ICR, obviously no ice-cream van there at that time before climbing back up the AICR.

After this we headed up the Pike, it was a lovely clear day and the views over Bolton and Manchester were great. It was a little windy up there though. Here we went slightly different ways with half the group going off the back of the Pike and the other half following the path back down. Then it was time for the last climb, up two lads onto Winter Hill, once again the gates were open so no boggy diversion for us. Then down the Belmont descent, I had a few moments, like when my light pointed straight in my eyes or it came off my bars completely!

After that the only thing left was to retire to the pub for a quick drink. Then while the rest of them had a nice drive back to South Manchester I took the easy route home and freewheeled down the road.

Stats: 18.72miles @ 7.2mph 675m climbed

Time to stop ignoring Christmas

I've managed to not notice Christmas approching and the fact that some people might like presents off me. So yesterday I thought I'd better make a start and got my crochet stuff and had a look at what yarn I have. Since I'm not earning at the moment I can't afford to spend loads on yarn and so want to mainly use what I already have. I found a lovely fluffy yarn, which although hard to crochet with seems to work well. So I got to work on a scarf, tigger is modelling the nearly finished project - I just need to weave the ends of the yarn in but I haven't found the neddles I use for that yet!

10,000 hours

Apparently this is the magic figure to be an expert at something. Research has been donw into “Outliers” who are the high achievers, the best, the brightest, and the most successful people. Basically the difference between them and others is a magical 10,000 hours of practice by the time they are 20. This goes for all different field, from Bill Gates in computers who spent a lot of his free time in High School programming, to professional musicans - the Beatles being a prime example who have played live more than most other bands - and of course sportspeople. Look at Lewis Hammilton, he has been driving since he was at primary school, he probably had amassed the magical 10,000 hours by the time he started in formula one.

In conclusion you just need to practice practice practice. Those of us out on our bikes all through the winter whatever the weather will have the advantage in the long run as we will reach the magical 10,000hours sooner.

Getting the layers right

My friend Ros has just got a new road bike so today three of us off shecycles headed out for a road ride from her's. I decided that it would be a great idea to cycle over, even though we were meeting at 9am, inspired by groover who is always up early training. So just after 6am I was out the door. I knew it was going to be cold, but then I didn't want to wear too much so I went for a woolly base layer, jersey, armwarmers, gillet, windproof jacket, shorts, knee warmers, woolly socks and waterproof jacket. I took the waterproof off about halfway there but I seemed to have got my clothing right. Once at Ros's I had a second breakfast - thank you for feeding me again! The got rid of the arm warmers. We set out on a loop towards Macclesfield which turned out to be very hilly. Lots of those nice arrows on the map!

I kindly took a picture of Julie at the top of the hardest climb, but we all got up everything and considering it was Ros's first ride on her new roadie and she felt wobbly standing up that was impressive. After this we dropped down into Whaley Bridge, you think this would have been welcome after all the climbing, but no we had a headwind that was meaning we had to pedal downhill and freezing our hands. There we found a cafe that let us put the bikes in the back garden and I enjoyed my third breakfast, a full English followed by a chocolate muffin. The other two had oat cakes. Then it was a short ride back to Ros's.

I had been considering getting the train back, there is a direct train once an hour but being me I decided cycling was a good idea. So I headed off, I had choosen a flatter way home than I had ridden there on. About ten minutes after leaving I got caught in a snow storm, but it didn't last long. It wasn't long before I was passing the velodrome and I knew it was easy getting home now.

Stats: 80.66miles @ 12.2mph 1851m climbed

Reviewing the week

So how did this week go? Well I certaintly didn't stick to my plans. Lots of reasons, well one main one but it took me till near the end of the week to work out my lack of motivation. Anyway what did I do compared to what I had planned?

Mon 23mile road ride I did this in the rain
Tues 4 hour singlespeed ride + running Nothing, but knee was sore
Wed 46 mile road ride 19mile singlespeed ride off-road
Thurs Running 13mile singlespeed off-road and 3.4miles running
Fri Singlespeed ride 80mile road ride
Sat Southport ride 30mile singlespeed ride
Sun Rest 26mile singlespeed ride

So I guess it was a pretty good week after all. I love road miles as they add up quicker but then I've had some great mountain bike rides this week.

A change in the weather

Plans had been made to meet Jumbly and Carolyn at 11am over at top barn. Since my legs are sore and tired from the last two days rides I left at 9:40am, this should have been loads of time to go the longer way over. Instead I battled hail, rain and wind, took the shortest route and was still a little late! We headed over to leadmines, no chance of me getting the up there it was so slippy and windy! Past healey nab (leaving the woods for another day) and back over to rivington. At this point it got even wetter and the decision was made to leave the cafe for another day. Jumbly headed while me and Carolyn climbed back up the AICR onto Georges lane, her we split we me going along Belmont Old road, didn't fancy ging over winter hill again.

Got home and a quick wash of the bike with the bucket I had left behind the front droor, clothes off and woolly dry clothes on and its time for a lazy afternoon.

Stats 26miles @ 8mph; 850m climbed

Why I love biking

Jon came up today to ride, at first we had plans for a road ride to Southport but then it was just going to be the two of us so we were going to ride to Altringham with Ali, but the weather and time constraints meant that wouldn't be a good idea either. So I suggested that we rode my local trails, which meant no long map stops and just pedalling to keep warm seeing as it was forecast to be cold cold cold!



Just as we were about to set out I spotted Ali's keys so I thought we'd better drop them off with her. Then Jon realised his chain wasn't on correctly, after watching him struggle for a short while I undid the power link - no idea why he was making it look so hard! After dropping the keys off with Ali, turns out she had taken the front door key off and did have a key! We headed over to Rivington. Once there I took Jon down Jon's 200yards. Past the Lamas, one tried to eat my rucksac!


Then up the commonwealth down, where he rode my bike up and I rode his. I found his hard going, it was just too big, he says mine is lovely but I must have superhuman legs to get up the hills! Then I took him down the ICR, anyone who knows Jon will know he is not the biggest fan of downhills, he cleared it as well! Then over to Healey Nab where Jon thought I was joking when we got to the last drop - it really is a lot steeper than it looks in the photo's it looks vertical from the top - eventually after a few goes I got him down it.











Then we headed to the cafe, while we froze outside and they seemed to forget our bacon butties, but my chocolate cake was good. Before heading home via Belmont Old Road and the cheeky trail I had tried on thursday night, some of it was still a walk even in the light!

A great ride and reminded me how much fun biking is!

30.98miles @ 8.2mph
1100m climbed

How hard was that?

I had big plans to get out for 7am this morning, instead I took forever to wake up this morning, even after breakfast I was like a zombie. I got annoyed at myself though as I knew I would be mad if I didn't go out so at 11am I set off to Southport. I have never cycled in such windy conditions, it must have been a headwind most of the way there, apart from the odd side wind which tried to take me off my bike. I felt like I was grovelling along! At one point I stopped to check my rear wheel wasn't jammed on. After an hour I nearly turned back, but I knew I would be annoyed at myself so I continued battling. I even had hail at one point on the way out. I was pleased to get on the coast road and for a change used all the cycle path, it was taking all my strength to nearly go in a straight line and I was barely moving. By this point I was hurting!

I got to Southport at 3pm, an hour later than I would expect! Took a while but I found a chippy open and enjoyed chips with my sandwiches away from the sea front, I normally ride back to the sea wall but it was just too cold there! Then it was time to go back to the coast road and start the battle again. It was probably after Tarleton that the wind seemed to die down, but no no tail wind! I was glad I had put my Joystick on my bike as it was pitch black by the time I was getting close to Addlington and I was on a country lane, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had enough light to see by. The joystick seemed to work as well on road as my bigger light, I think because it penetrates further it worked well for road riding.

On the way back I was surprised as I could see Winter Hill from the coast, that's normally my sign that I am near home not as far away as I was going to get! There was a lovely sunset which I did my best to capture but I only had my camera with me. Home along Chorley New Road, I couldn't bear the thought of hills. This was when cars started trying to kill me, I guess everyone wanted to get home since it was Friday evening?

When I got home I was so glad to be home but I was really glad I had gone, I know I would have done nothing all day and beat myself up about it. Although I didn't really enjoy it I am pleased with myself for battling through!

78.9miles @ 12.6mph
800m climbed

Running in the dark

Ali was told at the Physio yesterday to try running with the strapping on her knee today. I suggested this morning but she laughed so once she got home we headed out. We did one of my usual loops. Once we got off-road I found it a lot less scary than last time and havign two head torches was definetly better than one. Ali said she thought it was a little spooky but that she would do it again.



Garmin Stats

3.37 @ 9'39" min/mile pace

Exploring in the dark

I headed out at about 3pm again, so it was lights on ready for when it got dark. I left my route on the map on the wall (now not the same as the one I carried with me). On the way up winter hill I did deviate slightly as I explored a new path at Smithills, it was definetly worth it as although a lot of it was very mud it has a lot of potential and is lovely singletrack.

It was lovely weather as I headed up, well apart from the headwind which meant I was moving so so slow! I even managed to sneak along the road under the mast, no muddy detour today. I kept waiting for someone to come and shout at me. I reached the top just as it was getting dark, probably the worst time to do a descent, lights do nothing but you don't have enough lights. Then on the way back I explored a new path, by this point it was very dark and I walked down it. But I think all but one set of steps will be rideable and I will be back in daylight!

A nice ride and I beat Ali home.

Garmin Stats: 13.73miles @ 7.6mph

Posting about shoes

Since my blog is more male than female I thought I would redress the balance by writing about a typically female* topic. So my winter bike shoes, they are a little worse for wear with the seams coming apart on one of them so I duck taped them before my ride today, duck tape really does fix anything. The ride was very muddy, I decided when I was struggling to ride round last drop village that I would go up the road from Belmont, seeing as I had a headwind the whole way up there it turned out to be a good idea!

Garmin Stats:
19.02miles @ 8.9mph
530m climbed

*excuse the sterotyping

Quote

"Running is not about beating other people. It's about going to your
limit, past your limit, where victory is always found because victory is over
yourself"

Jesse Owens

Came across this on another blog

http://www.genderanalyzer.com

It decides if it thinks your blog is written by a male or a female.

Mine says:
We guess http://trio25.blogspot.com is written by a man (58%), however it's quite gender neutral.

Not quite right.....

Pizza and articulate

Ali's sister came over and we went out to Pizza Express. Lots of nice food and we came back and played Articulate. A nice day after I spent the morning in pain with my knee so didn't ride.

GILL PIMBLOTT 5km & 1 km Fun Run

GILL PIMBLOTT 5km & 1 km Fun Run
Originally uploaded by runinpics

I found some pictures of the event and here is me, jumbly and Ali both feature in the set.

Reviewing, planning and an early ride.

So looking back at last week it was a great week, I didn't do a longer run due to entering the race yesterday, but since that went better than I could ever have imagined I'm pleased with my week. The combination of a good year on the bike and the last couple of months of running have brought around amazing improvements. I'll never be a good runner but yesterday I wasn't feeling slow either. So onto this week and what do I have planned? Well I have been a bit more specific with this weeks plans so it'll be interesting to see how it goes:

Mon 23mile road ride
Tues 4 hour singolespeed ride + running
Wed 46 mile road ride
Thurs Running
Fri Singlespeed ride
Sat Southport ride
Sun Rest

So today I started and was out early, well just after 8am on my bike. It was wet and cold and visibility was limited but I pushed on. Although I finished ahead of my virtual training partner I was actually slower (not sure what went wrong there?). But with the fact I could barely see more than a few metres ahead of me I was pleased.

Garmin Stats:
23.31miles @ 13.3mph
630m climbed

The Gill Pimblott Memorial 5k trail race

Amy finishing
Originally uploaded by jumbly

Originally I was going to ride over and dump my stuff in Jumbly's car but Ali decided she didn't want to ride to cheer me on but drive and that I was coming with her. Then there was a change of plan where she decided she might run so put her running kit on. We got there and she entered and it wasn't long before the start. I got away a little quicker than her and Jumbly at the start so I was waiting for them to come past me when I started struggling. The whole way round I was tracking the same guy which made me run hard but I could still breath and could have just responded if someone spoke to me. Coming into the finish I was expecting Ali to do her usual sprint finish so I kept pushing and finished in front of her.

Garmin Stats:

Distance: 3.09miles (So I registered just under 5k but it does sometimes slightly under-measure)
Time: 24'55"
Pace: 8'05 min/mile WOW!!!
Official time was 24'53" Which placed me 6/12 in my category and 58/80 overall

Well done to Jumbly who won her category!

At the end I got my picture taken with Ron Hill, who finished a couple of places ahead of me.

The ride that Anna tried to kill me on...

To round off three great days of riding, on Friday I met Anna at the Manchester velodrome for a repeat of last weeks ride. We headed out to the cafe again on the way there I was passing a line of stationary cars when a bus started coming the other way as i stopped the next thing I here is anna shouting trio and pushing me into the cars, sorry to the car I went into. She obviously decided to push me under a car instead of her going under a bus ;) Once at the cafe I enjoyed a hot chocolate which was appreciated as we had cycled there in constant drizzle. The cafe was busier than last week, with some cyclists there when we arrived and more arriving as we left.

Heading back the rain had fortunately stopped!and we did a little exploring including a little bit of off-roading before following the route back from last time. On the fallowfield loop there was a nice slippy bit under a bridge that was a little off camber and Anna decided to dive on the floor - odd choice of something to do! Somehow her chain got itself all tangled, her brakes jammed on and her shifter moved a little. Apart from the shifter I got it all sorted and Anna was back on her bike a little battered but she should be fine.

After that it was back towards the velodrome where we split and we headed home.

Garmin Stats
63.85miles @ 14.3mph
610m climbed
Average HR 130bpm

A slightly wet day!

Ride date: 13th November 2008

Another day riding with Jon today and we headed up to the lakes. I had found a route in mbr that was 55km so I got the map out for the area and headed up. More navigation practice was in order. We set out and visibility was poor. It was steady drizzle the whole time. I managed to take us the wrong way on the road to start with, I had it in my head we just followed it till it turned right. When we stopped I soon worked out where we were as oppose to where we should be so it was an about turn. Past a farm where a dog came out to try and eat us! Then it was on the route again. Soon we were climbing Breasthigh Road, both of us reduced to walking after a while. Here my garmin decided to stop recording distance for the climb, was I too slow? Always nice when you are hiking up a hill! After dropping back down to Borrowdale we had a nice stream to wade across. I think the look on Jons face shows what he thinks of it!

After transwales I think I might be just used to this sort of thing so I just picked my bike up and walked across, while Jon disappeared somewhere up river, reappearing ten minutes later saying he had given in and taken his shoes and socks off! After that it was a nice track along the river before we started climbing, after a stop for lunch I decided to bring us back so we backtracked a bit, with me going flying on some slippy grass, me falling off is rare so twice in two days??? Then a mixture of bridleways and road took us back to the car.

Once back at the car I got the dirtworker out and cleaned the bikes while Jon got changed!!!! He offered to help once I finished! All was forgiven though once I was changed and we were in the cafe with hot chocolate and cake!

Taking Jon night riding

After getting back from Rawtenstall on wednesday Jon mentioned something about the Belmont descent that I talk about and that he hadn't tried night-riding off-road. So I quickly plugged ali's lights in for a quick charge and then we headed out on my winter hill loop. I had warned him it was boggy on the diversion around the mast, but he really didn't look impressed. We headed down the Belmont descent slowly and I think Jon was very happy when we reached the road. I'm not sure he'll make a night rider!

Practising navigation in Rossendale

Yesterday I headed out to Rawtenstall with Jon, a little later than we had planned due to him being late getting to mine (he is always here early!!!). The weather decided that it would be nice and we had near perfect weather. I had planned a route but I knew I would probably have to cut it short due to a lack of daylight. The main reason for the ride was to ride somewhere new and for me to practise my navigation.

We headed out from Rawtenstall and after a steep climb were on the track behind the ski slope, it doesn't look much different from when I used to be up there most nights. Then after trying to ride into someones house we dropped down the road before heading along another bridleway. I missed the track I meant to take to the right just before the reservoir so we ended up with a little climb.

Photos never show how steep things are, Jon said he practically had to crawl up it!

After that we seemed to have some nice boggy moorland to cross.

Not forgetting the warning of helicopters, didn't see any though.
After that there was some pennine bridleway followed by more boggy stuff. At 2pm the plan was made to head back to the car so we dropped onto the road and spun back through Bacup to Rawtenstall.

A fab day and although I took wrong turns I never got us lost! Made even better when Jon ordered in Pizza for tea.

Quote

"To a cyclist, these bloody motorists might as well be running around with a loaded gun"

Victoria Pendleton, 2008

I've entered a 5k race

Some of you may have spotted I've added a new event to my list for 2008, the Gill Pimblott memorial 5k, yes I have entered a running event!!! Now I have done two 5k's before, about 5 years ago, both race for life events. I think I was close to 30mins on both of them, maybe just under on one and just over on the other. So what should I aim for this time? Since I am not sure of the terrain I don't know what is a sensible aim but whatever I run will be a PB since I have no idea what time I ran the other two in really. I was think I might aim for 27'30" but then this is running sub 9 min/miles a pace I have never managed! A quick look at my sportstracks shows that 9'30" min/miles might be a more realistic aim - still hard though. That would mean a time of 29'41", so I think I'll aim for breaking 30minutes.

Brick Training

Back in May my friend Carolyn talked me into doing a duathlon over at rivington. One of the hard things about the event was how difficult it was to run after the bike leg. It felt like I was barely shuffling along for at least ten minutes. Anyway I came up with a plan today for some brick training. I was hoping to get up early and out but it never happened, Anna though must have been out in the pitch black this morning! So a bit of working out my day and I went out at 9am. I did the same loop as yesterday only today someone had asked the wind to blow me about all over the place, at one point I was on a flat road struggling to move at 6mph! But it was an enjoyable ride and although slower than yesterday I felt I had worked hard.]

Back in the house and I changed into trainers shed the waterproof and headed out on a loop I have done a few times, I was finding it hard going - but not as hard as in the duathlon. The steps on the loop seemed even harder than usual but gave me an idea for a training session that should help with cross. Once back I did a bit of core work, although less than sunday as the minute I started my abs were screaming in pain - that's because I never work them!!!

It made a great training session and I'm tired now, but I have a busy afternoon so I'd better not fall asleep!

Garmin Stats:
Cycling: 23.35miles @ 12.9mph 633m climbed
Running: 3.37miles @ 9'44" min/mile pace

Another week and a good start

First of all I completed all last weeks plans. I think writing them down on here helped! So what have a planned for this week:

1 x 30min run
1 x 50min run
2 x mtb rides (practising navigation)
2 x road rides

The other thing I want to do is get better at getting out in the mornings, its not that long ago I was out on my bike at 6:30am commuting. Now I seem to have wasted time in the morning. So this morning I got out of bed when I woke up and was out the door, after breakfast and a little internet, for 7:15am. I had planned a variation of the ride I had done on wednesday, it was a little longer but should avoid the two really skiddy roads. I set my virtual training partner to 14mph, but since it was just planned on mapmyride it meant that he was doing a constant 14mph, with the hills round here there was no chance of me matching that!

Part way through I stopped to take a picture of the view and noticed I was 1.82km behind (my computer is set to km since so many events measure in km I wanted to get used to them as a unit). I kept getting further and further behind until I started heading back towards home along Chorley Old road. By the time I got home my garmin was showing me as 1.11km ahead. So I was pretty sure I had beaten my target of 14mph (which I thought might be a bit optimistic!).



Garmin Stats:
26.65miles @ 14.2mph
635m climbed
Average HR 146bpm

Next time I will have the virtual partner based on todays ride so I will be racing myself, should mean I can stay in touch on the hills!


This takes me past 7000miles for the year!

Wet, cold and dark

That was what greated me at 5pm when I headed out running. I'd only been out once this week and I want to keep in the habit of running twice a week. I decided to do laps on the roads round my house. Each time I passed the house I had completed 1.33miles. Originally I planned to run two laps but realised that this would be under 30minutes so I did three. Once I got going it was actually fun and didn't bother me just running in circles, not that I would do it everyday! When I got back I did some core work, something I have neglected (or in actual fact have only done twice this year). I'm hoping to get into the habit of this during the winter.

Garmin Stats:
3.99miles @ 9:20 min/mile pace
54m climbed
Average HR 184bpm

Thanks for all the nice emails/messages Ali is a lot better today. She is up and about and eating.

The end of my 30 in 30

Yesterday when I went out for a ride I didn't feel too bad as Ali seemed better. But another night with no sleep and her getting worse has made the decision for me. Although I have nipped out to the supermarket to get a few bits, some that she needed, and I may go for a quick run later. I really can't leave her alone for an hour, she can barely walk anywhere she has no energy. So I got to 5 in 30. I will probably try again another month but in some ways it has been a good thing as I have had to allow myself to fail at something! Now I have to learn not to beat myself up about it.

5 in 30

Today I thought I was going to fail the challenge, now I have been thinking that it will be okay to fail but I wanted to get past the 5th day. Anyway at 5pm I got out knowing it would have to be a quick ride so I planned an out and back route onto Winter Hill. In typical trio fashion it was a longer route than I realised!





Garmin Stats:
12.25miles @ 9.2mph
380m climbed
Average HR 133bpm

4 in 30

I met up with Anna today for a ride out to Dunham Massey. It is a long time since we have done this ride, in fact a long time since we have rode together! Anna has set herself a challenge of riding 300miles this month so this should add to her total! Anyway we met at the velodrome at 10am, I timed it perfectly arriving at 2 minutes to, I was pleased with my average speed of 16.2mph on the way here as there were a few stretches with lots of traffic. Anna had told me that it would be a slow ride as her knee was a little sore so I thought it would be perfect for base training. Turns out she obviously doesn't know how much faster she got as we averaged 14.4mph (we used to do between 11.5mph and 12mph going out here!). But it was a great ride. Anna has a new way back taking in the fallowfield loop and it cuts out a lot of main road and going through the centre of manchester, a big improvement on the route and means I get to ride along talking more - hope the ears recover Anna! We split just before the velodrome as we were near Annas' flat and I headed home (managing to average 15.4mph without pushing too hard). I even remembered I had to stop and get mince for tea.

Usually on this ride we stop at Dunham massey for lunch but Anna has a new stop at the lavendar cafe, it was very cute with everything painted lavendar, but more importantly it had nice chocolate cake ;)

Garmin Stats:
64.21miles @ 15mph
610m climbed
Average HR 129bpm

Highlighted section on the elevation graph is the part that I rode with Anna


Hope we can do it again soon Anna I had lots of fun!

Oh and unfortunately Jumbly was unable to ride yesterday, don't you hate when real life gets in the way of a challenge!

3 in 30

I had plans today that I would get out early for my long road ride of the week. Instead I struggled to get out of bed at all after not sleeping well. So plans changed and I went out at lunchtime. I planned a 20mile route of mapmyride loaded it onto the garmin setting the virtual partner to 13mph and headed out. The orute was hilly, but hey that's my local roads - I worked out that if I did it 5 times I would have climbed 3000m in 100miles - and some of them were very slippy. I was climbing out of the saddle at one point and I had to sit down quickly when my rear wheel started slipping! As I was climbing out of Belmont I saw a helicopter parked in the car park of san marino, someone with more money than me was obviously there for lunch! The only thing I'll change with the route was the descent off scout road as it was slippy today, as a night ride it would be scary, but I could continue to chorley old road and come home from there. I even took a pic of the garmin to show I had rode for over an hour!



Garmin Stats:
20.78 miles @ 14.5mph (I was working quite hard the whole way round so pleased with this average)
600m climbed
Average HR 146bpm