4 days to go - mid week bike upgrade.

So in my Monday update I said I was getting some new bits on the bike so here it what it looks like now.

Whilst it may just look normal a closer look at the front and rear mechs (the bits that do the gear changing) might give you a better clue.

These gears are eTap from SRAM. They are electronic and also wireless so there are no mechanical or electronic cables front the shifters to the front or rear mechs.

Each mech has it's own clip on battery (the black unit on the left of the rear mech) which on a full charge is good for in the region of 1000km of riding. The shifters have a CR2032 button cell in them that should last for around 2 years.

To change gear you simply press the paddle button behind the brake lever.

You press the paddle behind the right hand brake lever to go into a bigger (harder) gear and the paddle behind the left hand brake lever to go into a smaller (easier) gear. Whilst this accounts for changing gear at the back you may be wondering how you change gears at the front - the answer is simply that you press both paddles at once and the system changes to the other front chainring.

SRAM have been really clever in that they haven't used Bluetooth or ANT+ which are the main 'sports' wireless protocols but have developed Airea their very own propriety wireless protocol that uses 128 bit encryption. This means that when you pair the two mechs and the shifters and new encryption code is created as assigned to all the components. You can only ever have one front and one rear mech paired with the shifters at any time so you couldn't mess with your friends bike and control their gears from your bike.

The front and rear mechs contain accelerometers so that the system goes to sleep when not in use. Once the bike has been moved the system wakes up and is ready to go so this extends the battery life.

I've not had much chance to try it out in full anger yet as currently I'm full of cold but an initial ride round the block was without incident and the method of shifting very intuitive.

Finally a big thanks to Vanilla Bikes in Carnforth for sorting eTap out for me.

7 days to go - It's the Final Countdown, as Joey Tempest might say.

Well that's it, no more training to be done now as I need to let my legs recover with a gentle rides and rest days this week ready for the 'Grand Départ' a week today.

On my two big training rides last week I finally seemed to get my pacing right and under control but the down side was having really sore legs. Based on previous experiences I know that my legs will hurt more the day after I've finished so I'm booked in for a massage at THE Medical in Portishead next Thursday and am also going out for a ride on the Friday too. Hopefully that means I'll be okay for the Summerset Festival I'm going to Bristol for (and yes it's meant to be spelt that way).

I also seem to have cracked the hydration well and truly based on the warm rides last week but it is a big effort to keep drinking regularly when you don't feel thirsty but by the time you feel thirsty it's too late. On this ride I'll be drinking bidons of water along with bidons of HIGH5 Energy Source into which I'll also pop a HIGH5 Zero electrolyte tablet to replace the salts and minerals lost by sweating. The energy source will provide me with some of the carbohydrate I'll need for the 6-7 hours I'll be riding each day and the rest will be made up with the odd gel and good old fashioned real food.

The bike is in for a bit of an upgrade this week so the gentle short recover rides will get me used to the changes I've made to it - if I get chance I may post later in the week about the new bits as they're a bit special.

This is the kit I'll be wearing on my ride courtesy of Prendas Ciclismo.

I do admit I thought it had more red on it so the black will be fun in the sun.

So that's me pretty much done apart from packing so my next blog will either be about the whizzo new bits on the bike or will be a report from the end of the first day.

Many thanks to those that have sponsored me so far and thank you to those who do so during next week - the details of how to sponsor me are below. If you see me between Lancaster and the Ring O'Bells in Nailsea give me a shout out.

To sponsor me £5 text FLAB48 £5 to 70070
To sponsor me £10 text FLAB £10 to 70070

Or use my Just Giving site.

14 days to - final week of training.

Well the big event is getting nearer and I'm feeling excited and scared.

Excited because it's been a long time since New Year when I decided to do this on a bit of a whim and it's nearly time to go but scared because I know it's going to hurt and potentially be quite grim.

Organisation wise I'm pretty much there. All the kit I'll be wearing is purchased and laundered and ready to go, all the energy food is boxed ready and the bike is booked in for next week for a service and a little bit of an upgrade. One of the main things I need to do now is program the sat nav in the car with all my rest points which will no doubt be fun.

The main things that are a bit of a concern of things I have no control over so I shouldn't really worry but they are fairly big things. What if it rains? What if it's windy. What if it's really hot?

If it rains it'll be a bit less fun and I'll have to put wet shoes on the next day as my cycling shoes take an age to dry. Wind is a bit more of an issue as if it's a strong head wind progress will be much slower and strong sidewinds can be quite scary on the bike. With regards to heat - the BBC said the weather was going to get very hot towards the end of July (so it'll rain) so I really need to make sure I stay hydrated and try not to over heat which may be easier said than done.

This week is the last week of hard training and will mainly involve local loops with a good portion of climbing and then next week will be a very easy week to give my body time to adapt.

Thank you to all that have sponsored me but to those that haven't please do. You can donate £5 by texting FLAB48 £5 to 70070 or you can donate via Just Giving.

32 day to go - it's not been about the bike.

My training has been going well but last weekend was a weekend off the bike for the best reason - the arrival of my granddaughter Lily-Mae and a weekend down in Oxfordshire.

Needless to say I am totally in love with her and very proud of her parents.

I got back home on Monday night and resumed training with way more inspiration than before.

41 days to go - an unexpected appointment with the scalpel

Well the past week has been a bit of a washout after an unexpected trip to hospital last Monday.

On bank holiday Monday I discovered a lump in my armpit and first thing Tuesday I called the doctors and made an appointment to have it checked out. Needless to say I carried on riding for the week and had a really good week hitting the magic 50 mile ride mark which after three weeks of training I was happy achieve. I woke up last Monday with a very sore and very purple armpit so again spoke to the doctors and arranged an appointment for the Tuesday morning - and that was when the fun began.

The doctor took one look at it and told me I had an infection (what a shock) and that it needed draining but that I was being referred to the hospital straight away and that I needed someone to drive me there and back. After a painful drive to collect my wife to drive me we arrived at the hospital and has a brief waiting. After being called in and having by blood pressure etc. done they told me that I was more than likely going to be admitted which wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear.

When the consultant came round she decided that she would have a go of draining it there and then. After the 'sharp scratch' lie whilst being administered a local anaesthetic she far to enthusiastically giggle with glee as she got a load of infection out before exclaiming 'bloody hell there's a cyst in there - if I give you more local can I have a go at cutting it out?'. By this point I was past caring as it really hurt, standing on a Lego brick pain but in my armpit even with the local. After what seemed like an age she proudly showed my the cyst (thanks for that) and then packed the wound and applied a nice big sticky dressing in my armpit.

It was painful and my wife was a bit shocked when I had the shakes in the waiting room afterwards with the pain but a good dose of codeine sorted that out. On Wednesday morning I had the dressing changed/got waxed and had the wound cleaned and repacked and then it was left until Monday.

Again on Monday the nurse took great joy in the amount of hair she removed and I realised that it wasn't the wound so much that hurt but the constant waxing and pulling of the dressing in my armpit that was sore. The wound isn't packed anymore and I just have to have it covered for work but the plasters just hurt.

Tonight was the first time on the bike and I just decided to thrash it round a local loop to see how my form was and the great news is that I was 6 minutes quicker although I was nearly sick at the effort but happily the dressing hurt less riding than normal day to day stuff.

So hopefully I am back on track now although this weekend will be a bit disrupted as Friday night is my night out as I leave my job and then we're off down to Oxford to meet our new granddaughter.

Onwards and upwards.

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.

A week to go.

Well this time next week I'll be off and riding the Vaujany Master. Hopefully by then I'll be excited instead of nervous.
I've just had 10 nights out in Spain and as you can see I took my hydration very seriously. I really relaxed and enjoyed myself and only put 4 lbs on despite the all inclusive loveliness. It was great not thinking about cycling 24/7.

37 days and counting.

From today I have 37 days until I ride the Vaujany Master - the number of training days is much less at 20 days.

The reason for the difference is we already had 11 nights in Spain booked before entering the Vaujany and obviously there are a number of days lost due to travelling to France. In Spain I'm intending to have 6 days were I don't think about the bike or training and even have a few drinks (not touched a drop this year yet), but I'll be eating sensibly and keeping to a more protein based diet but obviously I'll avoid Spanish steaks just in case I need a dope test!!! The rest of the time in Spain I'll be doing some gentle training more to maintain my fitness than anything else. Once I get home I'll have three days before we set off for France via Poole so I intend to do a long ride on the Sunday and then two days of recovery riding before heading off.

So how have things been going since my last post?

Well I'm now under 15 stone and enjoying the benefits of a lighter frame both on and off the bike.

I've been buying new clothes for Spain as the ones I had for my last trip out there in September are way too big - no more X's on my shorts now and I'm hoping I'll need another shopping spree before Turkey in September to buy some medium shorts. I've also been able to buy fitted shirts from H&M and am amazed by how good I look in them compared to the baggy clothes that I've been hiding in.

On the bike the weight loss has made a huge difference to my climbing especially. I'm riding up climbs I used to try and avoid all costs for fun these days, I'm even starting to enjoy climbing to some extent. My fitness is also amazing me as my recovery from hard efforts is so much quicker than before but the down side to that is that I have to dig way deeper on the harder efforts now to get the work out - dizziness and feeling sick have become my friend.

Last Sunday I rode the Wight Riveria Sportive which at 169km with 2200m of climbing is the hardest ride I've done since returning to cycling. I have to be honest in that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I was really surprised to be overtaking other cyclists on some of the climbs who had the appearance of being more suited to climbing than me. Even though I had some legs soreness the following two days it was nowhere near what I used to suffer from and after 48 hours had settled right down.

I'm confident with the distance of Vaujany now but the great unknown is still the climbing so I'm going to be concentrating on this in the remaining training days I have. The climbs out there are much longer than what I have to train on so I have to work extra hard on the hills available to me.

Finally I've made some changes to the bike by fitting the SRAM Climbers Kit. This means that I have a 34x32 bottom gear now so can use this to keep my legs spinning rather than trying to push a big gear. I did notice on the Isle of Wight that by using this gear I can keep my heart rate really low.

I'll try and keep the blog updated more often as we get nearer the day.

April's Challenge

Well April is nearly upon us and signifies the start of the hill training part of my Vaujany Master preparation.

In January having a target of 400 miles to aim for helped keep the training fresh and my head in the right place so in April I have set myself the target of riding 1319 kilometres.

Why 1319 km you may ask, we'll if you take into account five of the most famous Spring Classics you arrive at this figure as below:

Milan - San Remo 298km
Tour of Flanders 256km
Paris - Roubaix 257km
Liege - Bastogne - Liege 257km
Amstel Gold 251km

I'm intending to do all this out on the road and not include turbo training miles but that's reliant on us having a spring.

Fit and 40

This Saturday I reach the milestone of my 40th birthday and I'm in much better shape than I was on my 30th birthday both physically and mentally.

The past month has involved longer rides than I've ridden before in my second coming as a cyclist and this past weekend I did the most climbing I've done this time around. The thing that surprised me the most is that my legs were fine it was issues with my back that were the main issue.

I'm now under 16 stone too which probably goes some way to explaining the small but significant improvement in my ability to suffer on the climbs.

Today I have completed my third threshold test of this training plan and again I have seen some good improvements.

Along with the weight loss my FTP (Functional Threshold Power) has increased by a further 8 Watts so that's an increase of 19 Watts since I started committed training. The loss of weight has also helped my power to weight ratio to increase by 1.16 Watts/Kg - I'm hoping for the same improvement again before France.

A big thanks to everyone who has sponsored me so far in raising money for the North West Ambulance by riding Vaujany Master but if you haven't sponsored me yet please do so by clicking HERE.

2012 Specialized Body Geometry S-Works Road Shoes

I've done about 2000 miles in these shoes since I got them and as I've never done a review before I thought these would make a good first subject.

The first thing you notice about these shoes when you pick them up is how light they are (that is until you fit Speedplay cleats to them), Specialized claim that they weigh around the 520g mark for a pair.

The uppers are made of a material called Micromatrix which despite the patent leather/shiny plastic appearance is a comfortably soft but tough material and I haven't suffered much scuffing. This material also has the advantage of being easy to wipe clean after the usual British summer ride. The mesh panels are highly breathable and keep the temperature down during the rare hot summer days but the down side of that is the they let in water and cold air when the weather isn't so nice. Compared to other shoes I tried on these did feel a bit minimalist to be honest and less inviting for your your foot but as you appreciate how comfortable they actually are as your ride goes on.

The shoes use 2 Boa S1-M closures for tailoring the fit to your foot - there is no putting these in the oven to mould to your feet. The Boa's work in a very simple way - turn them one way to tighten and the other way to loosen and for each click they pull in a couple of millimetres of cable. I have heard of people complaining that they have broken the dials but I've had no issues whatsoever with them. I do find that if you tighten the upper closure too tight it can dig into your foot and Specialized have move the location of the dials on the 2013 shoes.

The soles are high modulus, unidirectional carbon fibre and are very, very stiff - they're not shoes that you'd want to walk far in. The soles have the 3 bolt cleat pattern to accept Shimano SPD-SL, Time and Look cleats and also Speedplay cleats with an adaptor kit. There is a mesh vent in the sole under the toes and the heel is replaceable should you wear it out. Insoles are the BG+ High Performance foot bed featuring a 'metatarsal button' which is ridge running down the centre to help support the foot and I've certainly not experienced any hot spots on long rides with these shoes.

£200 may seem a lot of money for a pair of shoes but compared with the likes of Sidi they are extremely good value and with them being stiff, light and comfortable what else could you want?

Progress

Well it's been a successful January.

Since I started my training at the start of December I have lost 16lbs in weight (as of the end of January).

My Functional Threshold Power (the maximum power I can produce for an hour) has increased by 11 Watts and the combination weight loss and FTP has led to my power to weight ratio doubling.

All in all I spent 23 hours and 55 minutes training in January.

So I have gone from looking like this in September 2012.

To looking like this in February 2013 (those are the jeans I wore on the above holiday.

A full week on the turbo

With the crap weather we're suffering from at the moment this weeks training has entirely been indoors but its a week I've enjoyed. I know last week I mentioned that turbo training is boring - well I might have found an answer - TrainerRoad.

So what is TrainerRoad? Basically its a piece of software that you load onto your laptop and using an ANT+ cadence sensor (I'm using a Garmin GSC 10), ANT+ heartrate monitor belt and an ANT+ USB stick (again from Garmin) it works out your virtual power. That's not all though as there are workouts that you can download on-line that you can do and you get live heart rate and cadence displayed on screen as you work out. The workouts are based on power so by entering the turbo trainer you are using TrainerRoad uses the turbo's power curve to work out virtual power so you have to keep to the virtual power levels as instructed in the workout.

I appreciate that the power measurements are virtual but if you use the same tyre pressure and tension of the roller against the wheel then you'll get repeatable results as you have ironed out the variables. By completing a threshold test first, TrainerRoad will calculate your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) and use this for your workouts.

This does cost $10 a month but there are plenty of work outs and training plans to keep you busy and the boredom at bay.

Have a look at the video below if I haven't explained it very well.

So with a weeks worth of training how do I feel I have done? Firstly I've been working on cadence and FTP intervals this week and I'm spinning the pedals much better now although it has engaged other muscles so I'm aching in new places but this will make my pedal stroke much more efficient. Interestingly I have also noticed an increase in speed compared to pain levels and I'm enjoying the flood of lactate acid into my legs.

All in all its been a great week of very hard training but I can see progress along with the weight I am losing. This week is a recovery week to let my body get used to the increase in training so I'm off swimming on Tuesday and then have a 45 minute ride scheduled on Wednesday (or an equivalent turbo session) and two 2 hour rides for Saturday and Sunday (or turbo sessions again) so I'm going to enjoy the rest starting with the Spurs v Man U game this afternoon.

I hate the cold

Well that's the second week of training in the bank and I'm sat with my feet up enjoying a rest day.

Due to the weather I've done more than my fair share of turbo work this week and it doesn't get any less boring. Sufferfest training films help with the boredom and the pain and so did watching last years Paris Roubaix especially when you spice it up with a flat out spin every 10km the pros ride.

One thing I have discovered that adds a bit of fun to turbo work is using Speedplay pedals - huge cleats, puddle of sweat and you can probably guess the rest.

This weeks training follows what us now becoming my routine. I have a rest day today (Monday) and Friday, Wednesday is 45 minute turbo session across HRZ 1 to 3, Thursday is a 45 minute turbo session of Russian steps to build up my cadence, Saturday is 2 hours of hill repeats and Sunday is a 3 hour endurance ride.

Weight wise it's dropping off and so are the inches - my jeans I got at new year are no longer snug.

So that's what happened in week 2 - role on week 3.

And so it begins.

Well the past week has seen me starting my training for Vaujany Master.

Technically I should have started training with 45 minutes swimming on New Years day, but with being away I didn't do anything apart from eat (I cut out the booze at 2:30am on New Years day) and with still being away on Wednesday that meant some juggling of the plan.

The first ride of the year was on Thursday which was a flat ride ride around the shores of Morecambe bay. The ride should have only been an hour long at HRZ2 (heart rate zone 2 - endurance zone) with 6 second sprints every 15 minutes but I got carried away and was out for and hour and a half and it felt great to be out again.

Friday was scheduled as a rest day but I decided to switch Saturdays session to Friday and Sundays session to Saturday to give me a double rest day over Sunday and Monday. Fridays ride was supposed to be a 1.5 to 2 hour hilly ride (again in HRZ2 apart from the climbs) and I set out really happy and enjoyed the climbing (my god I'm changing) but on one of the descents I got cold and no matter how much effort I put in I wouldn't warm up so headed for home. In reality the excess time spent riding on Thursday made up for the ride being cut short on Friday so no real problems on that front.

Saturday's ride was in the plan as a 2+ hour ride on flat terrain with all HRZ used but not too much time in or over HRZ3 (tempo zone). In the end I was out for 2.5 hours and really enjoyed it until the last 45 minutes which was my own fault because I didn't eat enough and badly bonked.

Overall I'm happy with how the first week has gone although training to times rather than distances is still taking some getting used too. My legs are a bit sore today but I haven't ridden on the road on consecutive days since July/August so I can't complain.

The coming week is similar to this week, rest Monday, swim Tuesday, ride Wednesday and Thursday, rest Friday and then ride Saturday and Sunday with no real change to the times.

My motivation is still good and I've only got a pound more to lose from what I put on over Christmas.

Onwards and upwards.

New Year - New Challenge

This year due to other commitments I am unable to take part in the UU Charity Challenge riding the length of Ireland, so with it being the year of my 40th birthday I am taking part in a personal challenge.

On the 30th of June I will riding the Vaujany Master cyclo sportive in the French Alps. This is single day event with a total distance of 173km which is around 108 miles and the profile is shown below.

This is a significant challenge to me as at 17.5 stone I'm not currently built for climbing so I need to to lose a fair chunk of weight to improve my power to weight ratio.

Just to add a little incentive I have decided to raise money for the North West Air Ambulance as the thought of people sponsoring me will keep riding when I want to stay in bed and keep me on track with regards to my diet. If you'd like to sponsor me you can click on the Just Giving badge on the side of my blog or if you are viewing this on a mobile device you can click here.

I've also added a Strava panel so you can see if I'm doing my training or slacking off and I will update the blog at least once a week with what I am up to.

I'll be starting training tomorrow (Thursday) as the festive celebrations are finishing tonight although the alcohol ban has already come into force.

The past six months

Well it's six months since I last posted and I thought it probably might be a good idea to fill everyone in on what has happened in those six months.

After Tower 2 Tower we went down to Poole for a couple of weeks and a I did a solid block of riding in the rolling Dorset countryside with my brother in law and and some gentle rides, mostly involving a food stop, with my wife. A few weeks later my brother in law came up to our house and I spent a week showing him the roads of North Lancashire and South Cumbria and our fantastic rain.

After this I think I was riding stronger than ever and even starting to enjoy climbing.

Myself and my wife had booked a week with friends in Benidorm and the first few days were really great but then on a days cycling my wife had a crash on the descent of the Coll de Rates resulting in her spending 5 days in hospital. Looking back she was very, very lucky to escape with bad road rash on her elbows, hands and knees but the worst injury was the multiple fractures of the wrist that required an operation to pin and plate it back together. As you can see Julie has a fine holiday souvenir.

She's healed up really well but still undergoing physio to get full movement back and the gravel rash on her knee is still healing.

My cycling kind of petered out to a gentle pedal after Benidorm but I have big plans in place for 2013. I'll post a full run down in the New Year but basically I'll be doing an endurance ride in France and will be raising money for the North West Air Ambulance - if you're really keen to know the plan before I do a blog on the plan you can find out by clicking the Just Giving link on the right of this site.

Until my next blog I wish all readers all the very best for a happy an prosperous New Year.