Count Down

The count down to my major challenge, to Ride in the London100 is now well underway and I need to start upping my endurance to be able to achieve this goal.  The winter weather has made  life difficult for me in actually getting some base miles under my belt and so, with the sun at last making an appearance and Spring showing signs of dawning, I have this last  week made a concerted effort. I think that achieving this goal will be as much a mental challenge as a physical one as I am used to having more Tea Shop Tours than Sportive  Riding and so this week I determined to change the way I rode.  The aim was to ride a solo 100 km+ and have just a short break for lunch and a tea stop. In the event I managed 108 km with 780 m of climbing and at an average heart rate of  126 bpm which is middle Zone3 for me. This is the second longest trip I have ever managed and as I only stopped for a 15 minute break for a beef sandwich after 51 km and then a further 15 minute break for a toasted teacake after 92 km I feel mildly encouraged, though I must pay more attention to the nutrition side of cycling. My aim now is for the next few weeks try to repeat this ride before upping the distance to around the 125 km level. The average pace of 19kmph was not very fast and whilst this could be partly down to some tow path riding I think it was more due to me trying to pace myself as I was venturing into virtually unknown territory.  One of the things which is worrying me is the thought of Box Hill.  I have never ridden in Surrey and this hill comes with a fearful reputation and I wonder whether I will manage it. I must try and discover if I can find some distance/ climbing statistics on it so I can see what awaits me.

So, statistics for the year to date now read

Cycling

Distance covered = 720.3 km

Total climbed = 5224 m

Longest ride = 108.3km

Swimming

Distance covered = 20km

I started doing some swimming with the aim of trying to improve my aerobic capacity and set myself a goal to swim 25km this year; and so I have been pleasantly surprised to find that I can now cover 1 km per session with no real effort. Just hope it is doing some good, but in any event it makes a change and I enjoy it.

The last ( ? )  real cold snap of this winter made cycling in the Derbyshire Peaks a real challenge and having mechanical failures when out in the hills soon chills you to the core. As well as cycling , I am aiming this year to try and create a photographic record of my cycling year, a sort of story board in black and white images, and I intend to publish a few of them in this blog.

This one was taken last week as one of our riders tried to find the elusive thorn which had caused a puncture at the coldest part of the day

One of the pleasures of cycling is the cake stops where we can reminisce about favourite rides in the past, and of course EAT CAKE!   To support my ride, which I am doing with my son in aid of the mental health charity Mind, we have produced a recipe booklet,

 Cycling Food on the Go- Recipes for Success

If you would like a copy, then please just make a donation to our fundraising site and we will mail you a  copy

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/teamroberts

We do need your support for this great cause. Thank you.