In Print

I'm in Cycling Plus magazine!

I'm going down to Bath on Friday to meet the others, pick up the new bike and kit, do some testing with our coach and go for a photo shoot! I think that we're going to an airfield and will be followed about by a photographer in a car. This has been such an amazing experience so far and it's only just beginning. Waiting for Friday has been like waiting for Christmas - only 3 more sleeps to go.

I've not cycled since last Wednesday, as I've had a tingle in my nose, an itch in my throat and a heaviness in my chest. I feel absolutely fine through the day but the starting symptoms are definitely there when I wake in the morning. I want to make sure that I'm ok by Friday and I think the rest will do me good. We also have the Cheshire Cat Sportive at the weekend, our first of the year, so I need to be on good form for that. Right, off to dose up on Echinacea.

Food Diary

The weight is slowly coming off. In the last year, I've lost over 2 stone (and another 2 stone on top of that if you include my baby and all of the extra weight that comes along with a pregnancy). However, the rate of loss has now slowed to a snail's pace. It must be about 1lb per month at the moment. Looking at Clive's blog and his recent weight loss has given me the kick I need to get part of the preparation moving again, so here goes......

There are a couple of things I need to address:
1) eating times - the time between my lunch and evening meal is so great that I'm absolutely starving by 5pm and end up eating kids leftovers to keep me going. I also have sneaky bites of practially everything that the kids eat without even thinking about it. This morning, I realised that I usually have a spoon of everyone's breakfast while I'm making it!

2) finding the balance between eating enough to give me the energy to cycle for hours and to recover properly afterwards but little enough to maintain a steady weight loss. I get so hungry after long rides in the cold.

So, I'm starting a food diary. It was the thought of having to write it down that stopped me having a spoonful of the kids cereal and a bite of my babies pancake this morning. I think the diary will definitely help. I may also start eating my dinner at 5pm when the kids have theirs and then perhaps have fruit later on when my husband has his dinner. It's not very sociable though is it? I do love cooking a nice dinner and then eating with Colin when the kids are all in bed. Perhaps if I just do it on a few nights per week that would help?

Time for some hills

On Wednesday, I planned to do the route that I had to shelve last week because of the high winds. Starting out from Timperley through Wilmslow, Addlington, Whaley Bridge and then up the appropriately named, "Long Hill", heading towards Buxton - and back.

The weather was great - crisp and sunny. I stopped in Adlington for a quick bite whilst looking out over towards the peaks knowing that from here on, I would be either going up or going down - no flat. Whenever I see those hills rising up in the distance, I remember what seemed like the most epic trip of my life last summer - Chatworth House back to Timperley - and I start to feel damn nervous!

My confidence was shaken fairly early on into the climb up to Pott Shrigley. I hit a 19% gradient and had to pull over, visibly shaking and sucking in clouds. The negative thoughts started to creep in - if I'm struggling already, how the hell am I going to get up to the top of Long Hill? I gathered myself, had a bit of energy drink, got my breath back and started again. It was much easier from there on - yes, there were sections of 12 - 14% but I could manage them. It always seems that I need to have one lung busting effort and from then on, everything seems easier - almost as if my lungs need to be really opened up! With Pott Shrigley conquered, I carried on to Brickworks hill.

Colin and I tackled this climb last year and we found it very hard. We both had to stop before the end and walk the last bit - well this time, it wasn't much bother really. It was slow and I'm going to have to improve my speed over the coming months, but it was ok. I got to the top with a huge smile on my face. I was almost crying with happiness!

I had a long descent to Whaley Bridge and then the ascent of Long Hill - I was feeling good. As I joined a more busy road, a group of cyclists overtook me on the descent - my max speed was 30mph and I was on the brakes - these guys were flying along. A few miles further and I passed the sign for the county of Derbyshire. I recognised the road as one my parents had taken us along in the back of my Dad's Ford Granada as children. I got a bit emotional again - both at the memory of that and also passing into a different county.

Quick bite of my cheese sandwich in Whaley Bridge and then it was up, up and up to the top of Long Hill. It was fine - I just dropped into my lowest gear and span up. It was 5 miles up but the gradients weren't severe. I can do those kind of hills all day long. I think the motorbikes whizzing past were the scariest part of the ride.

At the top, I finished my cheese sandwich and put my sleeves back onto my coat. This was a mistake! I should have immediately put my sleeves on and then eaten - I got so cold and shivery that I had trouble getting my hands to do the zips up. It was flippin freezing up there in the wind.

The descent was long and really cold - by the bottom, I was shivering loudly and I practically collapsed onto the path in order to blow on my hands and get some feeling back into them. Note to self: take long fingered gloves to Etape.

The climb back up to the other side of Brickworks was hard going - no wonder those cyclists were flying down - the gradients were high and for long stretches. This section of the ride was probably the most difficult and I had to stop and draw breath at one point. I definitely need low gears and I'm either going to have to get a triple on my new bike, or keep the compact and put a mountain bike casette on the back.

Once I was at Pott Shrigley again, I knew that it was all down hill from here and I beamed broadly!

All in all, a wonderful ride that has left me feeling very confident about the coming months. I have some great hills to train on in the Peak District and if I do routes like that every week, I'm bound to be in good shape by July.

Sore, sore, sore, sore

Good god! How sore are my legs??? Not from cycling; from pole dancing! I went to a friends 30th birthday party and we had a two hour lesson in a dance studio. It was really great fun and if I had a space in my house, I would buy my own pole - such great exercise and I'm sure Colin wouldn't mind either. The problem I now have is that my body is covered in bruises and my quads are about as tight as they have ever been. I cycled to Wales two weeks ago and didn't feel a thing and yet here I am unable to come down the stairs without wincing after a bit of swinging round a pole!
The night also included two hours of karaoke and numerous (approx 15?) Gin and Tonics.
Sunday morning's ride was surprisingly good. I stuck to the C+ training plan and did intervals of 5 mins effort, 5 mins recovery. I wasn't expecting much time-wise but I came in with my third fastest time of the year on the same 20mile circuit.
I need to do lots of stretching and spend time massaging these aching legs before the big ride planned for Wednesday. I'm going to attempt Long Hill again and the weather is looking good so far.

Not going out in that

Turbo it is then.
Update on conditions I won't cycle in:

Dark & wet at the same time
Icy Roads
Galeforce winds

Damn! I'll need to do more miles at the weekend to reach my goal of over 400 miles this month. I was really looking forward to the new route I had planned for today. Oh well, turbo and a nice lunch with my husband will be lovely.

Bike Shak Altrincham

They are good - so knowledgable and pleasant. I took my bike in to have brake pads replaced and found that I actually needed new cables - there was a real grinding sensation on applying the brakes, which I just hadn't noticed until the nice man there showed me. They had a book full of work on but took my bike in anyway and called a couple of hours later to say that it was all fixed.
They always take an interest in how I'm getting on with my cycling and I feel that I'm really being well looked after and valued as a customer. Such a difference experience to the big shops in Manchester, which I just don't bother with anymore.

Crapping myself about the planned ride for tomorrow. If the forecast is right, I'll be cycling in 37mph winds. Is this a good idea? On the ride out, it'll be fantastic and we should be roasting up the hill around Pott Shriggley. The ride up Long Hill should have some fierce cross-winds though and as for the ride home into the head wind.......... As Wednesday's are my long ride days and Colin has the day off, I really don't want to waste the opportunity of getting more miles in (up to 187 for March so it's looking good for over 400 this month)........but that wind. I think we'll have a stewards enquiry in the morning and decide then.

A very sociable ride

I had a brilliant ride yesterday morning. I guy rode with me for a couple of miles before heading off to Macclesfield. After Knutsford, Seamons Cycling club overtook me and I managed to hang on for a bit with another guy at the back. Shortly after that the club turned right, while the nice chap and I went straight on. We stuck together for about 10 miles - he was also doing the etape and had already done three in the past and he was giving me loads of tips. He was obviously much fitter than me and while he was cruising, I was having to work quite hard to maintain the speed in the slight head wind. It was a really, really nice ride. We didn't exchange names but if you do read this, thanks for dragging me along & good luck on the Etape. Perhaps we'll bump into each other again on the lanes on Cheshire or on some of the Sportives. Unfortunately, Garmin doesn't seem to have recorded the ride separately but I could see on my clock that I did 22.96 miles in 1:31 - avg total speed (not avg moving speed) - 15.1 mph. So, speeds definitely improving.

I think I might just try another club run with the Seamons. I feel I'm starting to get a bit fitter now and I did find it ok sitting at the back of the peleton. They're always so friendly and most shouted for me to tag on the end. I will definitely join them - just a matter of getting round to it.

This week, Colin and I are planning to test ourselves on the hills around Macclesfield/Whaley Bridge - that should be interesting.

Am I a geek?

I think I might be one.

Well, I'm definitely still a bike slut despite my resolutions - I rarely clean my bike. I'm sure that most people do this weekly or at least monthly, but I only manage once a quarter! Anyway, my little lad and I cleaned the bike on Friday. I'm still at the stage where I need to follow a set of instructions in a book on how best to clean a bike but I've got to admit, it looks brilliant. The only problem was the handlebar tape, which was a great shade of very, very old knickers:

So, I decided to have a go at changing the handlebar tape. I posted on bikeradar and got some links to instructions and videos (thank you guys) and I made an attempt when the kids were in bed on Friday night. Here's my results:

Smart eh?

So, doing jobs on the bike doesn't make me a geek - but what about taking before and after pictures so that I can post them on a blog?

Cycling into a different country

Tuesday night: tyres pumped, cakes baked , route planned, kit laid out, ready to go!
Well, not just yet but I had to get everything ready for my Wednesday ride.

I'd planned to ride from Timperley to Flint in Wales - around 90 odd miles. My friend, Graham, lives in North Wales so we were going to set off at opposite ends of the same course and head towards each other, meeting up somewhere along the way. I took the start of the route of the Cheshire Cat again, heading over to Delamere. The steep bank out of Acton Bridge and the 7% drag up were not too bad at all this time round - it's great to see these small improvements in performance. Graham was waiting just over the crest of the long drag so we set off together. It was a really welcome change to be able to ride and chat. I had to sniff I bit more than normal but it was a price well worth paying! We took a great route out of delamere, through countryside to a cycle path right through the middle of Chester - that must be great if you live around that area. It occured to me that criminals on bikes must find it to be quite useful too! It was on this path that we crossed the border into Wales - what an acheivement! We stopped at the Eureka Cycle Cafe - great food and surroundings but it felt a bit male in there.
Anyway, following a hearty full english breakfast, we set off again. This was the bit I was dreading - going out into the cold again knowing that I still had 47 miles to get back home. The route back was made slightly easier by a nice tail wind. I was still bloody tired by the end of 93 miles though. My eyes were actually bloodshot! Bloodshot! My skin was covered with a fine coating of dust. My husband told me I looked a complete state at numerous points throughout the evening - thanks babe.
My knees are a little sore today but I've been stretching lots and that works wonders every time. My eyes are still a bit puffy - is that normal? Thankfully, the groove that my helmet made right across my forehead has finally gone. I'm so looking forward to Ashes to Ashes tonight, vegging out with my feet up.

Thanks for a great day out Graham.