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.

Day 5 - Trentham to Blackpool

Well yesterday afternoon all three teams rolled into Blackpool after a cracking few days.

The day had started off quite dull but brightened up as the day went on. As we headed towards UU for lunch the boys stopped for a comfort break and were suddenly joined by a load of cows - we think Mike had made their acquaintance before by the noises the made when he left.

We had a great reception at UU and met up with Brainwave and Donna's dream House for photos before heading inside for lunch.

After lunch the teams set off for Blackpool with Team Simpson taking their customary position of last to leave and we our final team banter on the road before all the teams met up a few miles from the tower to ride to the end in convoy.

The end was really different from LEJOG last year as there was a welcoming party for the riders of family and friends and Len from Donna's Dream House. After the obligatory back slapping and photo calls (and noticing that the Start and Finish banner had Start on both sides) the riders headed towards the hotel for a celebration meal and few drinks.

The big question of who was the Puncture Queen was not resolved as we had a puncture free day so Rick, Jon and Tom all get to share the imaginary prize.

I'd like to thank Jon, Mike, Pete, Tony, Tom, Rick and the two Marks for a great 5 days of laughter, tears, punctures and crashes - driving without 8 lycra clad arses in front of you just isn't the same.

Finally a big thanks to Simon who spent 1000 miles, nearly seven days and six nights in my company without complaint about my farting, snoring, gutter humour and bike geekness -it's been emotional my friend.    

Everyone made it

Everyone made it to Blackpool. I'll do a proper write up when my brain function returns.

Day 4 - Oxford to Trentham

Another late start today for Team Simpson, which was great as I was feeling a bit rough today.

Right from the start it was obvious that there were some tired legs even though the pace was good. After a couple of hours we had the first break of the day before cracking on.

Tom had the only puncture of the day so tomorrow we'll find out who is the puncture queen as Jon, Rick and Tom have had two each.

Lunch was taken in the form of a roast and a pint and the riders continued on their way. Everyone seemed quieter today - it was even quieter in the van and no Primal Scream today.

An hour or so later as the riders slowed down for a set of traffic lights Mike suddenly went over the bars and didn't seem to move straight away. Jumping out of the van we soon realised his front wheel was jammed solid in a grid. Mike was okay if a little battered and bruised but his front wheel was buckled beyond repair so Mike and Tony have now killed a wheel.

After a long grind the riders finally reached Trentham after completing their longest day.

Stats.

Punctures: 1
Crashes: 1
Roast Dinners: 1

One day and two beds to go.