55 days to go - The Route

So after a really good 2nd week of training with no fuelling disasters and mainly sunny skies, I've spent a lot of time tweaking the route.

The route through Preston has been changed to avoid the shared use paths (combined pedestrian and cycle paths) as these will slow me down, although I expect I'll be using this kind of path to cross both the River Severn and the River Avon on day 3.

I've also amended the route between Hereford and Nailsea to take in the Wyre Valley. Originally I was avoiding the Wyre Valley and travelling down a bit further west but the roads were single track with grass growing in the middle and the risk of a 'get down' was a bit of a worry. Speaking to a friend who had just ridden to Bristol (on his way to Italy from Liverpool), he recommended the Wyre Valley route as a good way to go.

The only other thing I'm really working on is live tracking for the blog. During the Lands End to John O'Groats and Paris to Blackpool trips I used some software called 'Insta Mapper' which was then retired and then bought by another company with no further development. As technology has moved on the software hasn't been upgraded so this is no longer fit for purpose so I'm looking at other solutions so you can see where I am up to in real time (connectivity depending of course). At the moment it looks like I could be using technology for keeping children and the vulnerable elderly safe to track me.

Anyway here are the routes for the three days - anyone is welcome to join me for part of the route by the way.

Day One - Lancaster to Tarporley

Day Two - Tarporley to Hereford

Day Three - Hereford to Nailsea

63 days to go - the wrong kind of bonk

Image ©Paul Smith

Well that's the first full week back on the bike after the enforced rest due to the knee issues and I'm pleased to report it's been a good productive week - well it was until yesterday (Sunday).

On Tuesday and Thursday I did gentle hour long rides (with a bugger of head wind on Thursday) and had no real issues with the knee. It still felt a bit painful pedalling standing up so the solution to that is not to pedal standing up for now.

Saturday mornings ride was literally the first 25 miles of my trip from home to just north of Preston. It was pretty uneventful if I'm honest apart from nearly getting flattened by a reversing farmer on a quad bike and the stench of cow poo on the A6 by Garstang (not pleasant when you're inhaling great lungfuls of air). My hydration for the ride was fine and I didn't take any food as it was only about 1 hour 40 minutes of riding and all went to plan although my legs did feel it but I love that feeling of aching legs. Having returned home I had some late lunch and settled down watching the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) even resisting the lure of a glass of wine.

After the success of Saturday I decided I'd ride the second 25 miles of my trip from Preston to Wigan on Sunday. There was a couple of reasons for this. Firstly I'd not ridden on consecutive days for a fair while and secondly I wasn't entirely convinced by the routing through Preston as it had me going through Avenham Park. All went well (apart from having tired legs) until I hit Avenham Park and there was some kind of 10km run on along with the usual dogs on long leads, kids running about and people oblivious to their surroundings. I know mixed use paths are great and have their place but I generally try to avoid them as you just can't keep a rhythm when riding on them so Avenham Park and the disused tramway on the other side of the River Ribble just helped me bleed time and pace.

Then I bonked. I didn't jump in the bushes with anyone for a bit of adult fun but ran out of glycogen. Basically your body stores carbohydrate in the body in the form of glycogen and when that runs out you bonk - anything sugary normally helps you out but as I was only out for and hour and half (or so I thought) I didn't have any energy drinks (only electrolyte drinks), food or money with me, a real beginners mistake from someone who should know better. In my defence I have been eating a carb depleted diet since October so I suspect my glycogen stores aren't in the best shape - isn't hindsight wonderful? So there I am sat slightly north of Leyland feeling frankly shite and totally empty and thinking about tossing my stupid f**king bike over the hedge and sitting down and crying. Eventually after giving myself a good talking too and growing a pair of balls I thought I'm going to take this a mile at a time and cracked on towards Wigan where I was being collected. A mile is long way when you are empty, have a head ache and feel nauseous and have another 13 miles to ride. Every time the road rises you feel like you are riding up an Alp (I've done that so I know) and sods law dictates the gentle headwind has increased in strength. You feel like you are pedalling squares rather than nice circles and you start running out of gears on the flat and it feels like someone is holding a lighter under each hamstring. It got to the point where I was struggling to concentrate and parked cars were jumping out at me which is probably the scariest part.

Eventually I arrived at the prearranged meeting point and a can of Coke, Subway footlong and three cookies later I felt a bit human again. I'd averaged a paltry 13 mph average speed and taken two hours to do what should have taken me an hour fifteen but had learned a valuable lesson - albeit one that I really didn't need teaching and that I need to tweak my route a bit.

The plan for this week is 1.5 hour rides on Tuesday and Thursday with one session being hill repeats and then 2.5 to 3 hour rides with good fuelling on Saturday and Sunday.

As a final twist of irony below is a photo of a delivery I got on Thursday - idiot.

70 days to go - kneesy does it.

Chintastic

Well with 70 days to go I'd like to say I'm ready but I'm not.

I followed the doctors advice and rested for a week - well I lasted from Monday to Friday morning so it's practically a week. The knee has calmed down a lot and the medication is helping me sleep it's good news all round.

On Friday morning I got dropped off at Tewitfield and walked back to Bolton le Sands along the Lancaster Canal which was 11km with no knee pain. It was amazing being away from the hustle and bustle and just having the sound of the wildlife and the wind rustling through the rushes.

Saturday morning dawned with no after effects from the previous days walk and as my wife had an appointment in Morecambe we decided to walk. I walked to Morecambe and carried on to Heysham before returning to Morecambe to meet my wife and walk back to Bolton le Sands. All in all this was 25km in total and i had a few twinges in the knee but nothing unusual and linked to the pain I've been experiencing so I was really chuffed.

Getting out of bed on Sunday morning was interesting as my calves were really stiff but the great news was no knee pain and I could crouch for the first time in a few months with no real problem. I decided to go out on the bike for an hour to see how things were and if I could start training again. I didn't feel anything unusual with the knee and pedalling standing up felt less painful but much more like a dull stiffness (stop sniggering at the back) so I was really chuffed.

The plan now is to ride for an hour on Tuesday and Thursday this week and for two hours on Saturday and Sunday and see how the knee is and then hopefully increase the time on the bike each week - fingers crossed it will all be good and manageable with pain killers if needs be.

In other news I now have my Just Giving site set up for CancerCare so please give generously via the link on the top right of the page.

I'll try and update the blog each Monday up to the ride and daily on the ride.

2017 - A new year, a new challenge, the same old knees.

Being led astray again by Keith

So after 4 years of not doing any silly rides I'm blaming Keith (drinking/cycling partner and all round good guy) for this one.

At New Year he mentioned about us going down to his local pubs (Ring O'Bells, Nailsea) music festival on the last weekend of July and causally I just said "Okay - I'll ride down and I reckon it'll only be abut 200 miles".

So the plan was hatched and a couple of hours later I'd got the route down from 250 miles to 205 miles and with six months to train I was happy. On getting home I split the route into three sections:

• Day 1 Lancaster to Tarporley
• Day 2 Tarporley to Hereford
• Day 3 Hereford to Nailsea

That night I booked accommodation in Tarporley and Hereford and started planning where I could meet up with my wife to swap empty bidons for full ones and felt very organised. Then things started to go a bit pear shaped.

Firstly in January I found out I was losing my job at the end of June which was a bit of a shock but more time for cycling was the positive spin on it plus money for a shiny new bike.

In February the nice spa hotel I had booked for the first night went bust leaving me looking for somewhere else to stay. Now this wasn't really a big issue but we were looking forward for an evening of being pampered so it was a shame.

Along with this I've been having persistent pain in my right knee since June 2016 but being a bloke I thought it would go away (ironically this is my good knee having knackered my left on in a cycling accident in 1998). Kneedless (sorry) to say it hasn't got better and I've been unable to squat or cycling out of the saddle due to the pain but luckily I can ride sat down with no real issues although steep climbs are a bit interesting so all in all my training has been rubbish.

This week the doctor decided I either have tendonitis or its the degeneration of my knee joint that is causing the issue and I've been banned from the bike for a week (a week is 5 days isn't it?) during the best week of weather so far in 2017. All of this left me thinking that I really need the extra motivation when I get back on the bike so why not use this ride to raise a bit of money for a local charity as it will help me get through the pain on my ride.

After floating the idea around a fair few friends suggested a charity local to me here in Lancaster called CancerCare. They are an independent charity dedicated to helping families affected by cancer and other life limiting conditions living in the North Lancashire, South Lakeland and the Barrow and Furness areas.

So there you go - the blog is resurrected and will be updated on a regular basis and I'll soon be hounding you all for money.