Week 10 Day 4 and I am falling apart :-()

And it was all going so well.

I have this year cycled  4261 km, climbed 32387 m and expended over 97382 calories

I have worked on my climbing, and refuelling at the top with jelly babies, I have felt more comfortable and got quicker, even in the land of the Derbyshire Peaks which hopefully compare to the streets of London.

And then on Wednesday I felt a slight twinge behind my right knee. Worse, with the weather so hot I have sweated more and despite taking so many precautions I have developed a couple of saddle sores.

I have NEVER cycled 100 miles and at my age I suspect fitness soon evaporates and this worries me with the event only now 2 weeks away.I am treating the sore with hydrocortisone which seems to be having a positive effect.. I wonder if one can comfortably wear padded under shorts under padded bib shorts..I may be forced to try it for after all this effort I WILL compete at London.

I have heard that the streets of London are paved with gold and I am dying to see this sight.

I live in fear of the monster of Box Hill and its friend Leith Hill which at 2.1 km long and with an average gradient of 6 %, peaking in stretches at 17% will be my hardest challenge.  When attacking these monsters I will need encouragement,  which will be provided by my domestique ( my son ) and also by some visual stimuli as I ascend the climb.

I will be looking out for these, and a big Thank You to Andrew Wright, Countryside Manager for the National Trust for this area,  for permission to use his photographs

and at some point it would be nice to see

and though on the day I will be too rushed, this epitomizes my total ethos to cycling

Wish me luck !!!

Beginning to dream...

Only 23 days to go to my cycling challenge of a lifetime.

And I am beginning to dream.

In preparation for this day I have this year

Cycled a total distance of 4122 km
Climbed 31067 m
Swam 41.3 km
and been seated on a bike for over 207 hours

I suppose that I have two big worries about this challenge. The first is , at my age and with my level of fitness, am I just physically capable of cycling 100 miles, ( 162 km ) on a single journey. And the second worry is will I be quick enough. It is not a personal thing here but more of a worry that I will let others down and get in the way of the proper cyclists who are competing in the Prudential London Classic who ride after us but on the same course.

I received my final instructions this week and in a way these worries have dissipated. This is because the organizers have introduced a set of cut-offs so that those not up to the pace will be pulled out thereby ensuring that the proper cyclists are not disadvantaged. They have also introduced a set of detours so that those near, but not quite the pull out mark, can be sent on a slightly shorter route. With these instructions then there are safeguards for Old Age Pensioners like me in the event that we find it all a bit too much.
The start  times seem to be organized with military precision. There are two starting points before the courses combine after 6 km with 19 waves leaving each point and from what I have heard from others, people will be leaving every 2 minutes. With 20000+ riders that should be some sight!  I think I must be the last person leaving the starting gate as my time is 08-00. That surprised me a little as I said that I was aiming at completing the course in 7 hours 30 minutes ( compared to the 9 hours maximum permitted ) and I thought there might be one or two people who had estimated a time a little slower than me..
The story of the tortoise and the hare springs to mind :-)  Speedy OAP !


For one of the training sessions this week, the plan called for an hour's run at a Zone 2 moderate heart rate on a flattish course. As I sped through the quiet Derbyshire lanes with the sun shining and the fields and hedgerows flashing by I began to dream that I had escaped the peleton who were riding on a flat stage in Brittany in the Tour de France that day.. Head down, legs going in a perfect harmony, this was bliss and epitomized the joy of cycling

(  Though this image is not of me but a picture I took at the Belper 25 mile TT last weekend )

Can I now dream of cycling down the Mall on August 4, the 100 miles completed, and the Challenge conquored?

Getting Ready for the Last Lap

The training plan for my challenge in the inaugral  London 100 mile Charity Ride at the beginning of August called for one last big effort and last weekend was the summit of my training efforts.   At 130 km it was my longest journey ever and was accomplished non-stop; the event itself of course requires another 32 km on top of this but the plan reassures me that riding in a group, plus the adrenalin of the day, will make up the shortfall.

My annual statistics now stand at

Total distance cycled this year = 3937 km
Total ascent climbed = 29357 m
Longest journey = 130.4 km

Encouragingly my average pace has also increased significantly  ( by 30% since the beginning of the year ) and if I can keep it up for that extra 30 km I should be OK, especially as I will have my son riding with me to carry the load ( I hope!! ) and provide encouragement.

Just looking ahead at the activities called for by the plan shows that I am now beginning the tapering stage to the big day, and I am thankful for that for my body is feeling a little tired and I now need a rest day after a long , fast ride.

This blog has also reached a milestone with over 10000 views from 25 countries across the world. I find that quite amazing.

I am doing this ride in order to raise funds for the mental health charity, Mind, but there are also many other worthy causes and to-day I was privileged to meet two ladies who are cycling for Great Britain in the World Transplant games to be held in South Africa in a few weeks time. One has had a liver transplant whilst the other has had a kidney replaced and now both do a tremendous amount of work to publicize the need and benefits of Organ Donation. Are you signed up to support this cause?

They were seeking a photo to be used in some local publicity campaign and I was happy to help. Naturally I arranged to meet them at a local tea and cake shop...cyclists  needs their nourishment!

If you would like to sponsor me on my challenge then you can make a donation at

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

Any donation, however small, is very welcome and as a mark of our gratitude we will send you a pdf copy of our special booklet  ' Cycling Food on the Go - Recipes for Success '  which contains both recipes and stories from around the world

Thank you.

The Plan calls for.....

Over the last few months my life has been governed by * The Plan * , a 12 week guide to getting into shape for the London 100 ride in August where I have been persuaded by my son to put my aged body on the line and cycle 100 miles around  the London Olympic Road Race route, a distance which I am still trying to come to terms with and one which I have not dared to imagine.

The Plan has dictated my life, and given that after the end of  Week 1 you were supposed to cycle 40 miles, it obviously assumed some sort of prior fitness, something which I sadly lacked. So, for me, I started the Plan much earlier in order to attempt to get into shape in order to Begin the Plan.

Every day, I have cycled when instructed, rested when instructed, ate when instructed and consumed vast amounts of Cycling Food On the Go.  Indeed I have produced a booklet of Recipes for Cyclists which is available free with any donation to the Mental Health Charity Mind. Please support me!

There have been one or two sacrifices that I have had to make in order to train for this challenge, such as the complete abandonment of domestic chores, gardening control, car cleaning ( though bike cleaning IS called for in The Plan ), shopping ( except for ESSENTIAL cycling stuff of which there seems to be an incredible amount ) and other mundane tasks.

However, The Plan has hit a buffer. An ultimatum from my wife that I either mowed the lawns or bought a sheep

Now I have considered this proposition very carefully but on going to visit some prize specimens have decided that those horns could inflict a lot of damage to the gleaming paintwork on my bike..and so the lawns have been mown.

This interlude apart, I have continued to build up the miles and so far the statistics stand at

Total distance cycled this year = 3685 km

Total ascent climbed = 27267 m

and I can now comfortably accomplish rides of 110km+ but the longest journey remains at 126 km, and indeed the plan does not suggest going further than this so as to dangle a carrot on the day to achieve the 162 km required. ( Having said this I have now been told that there is a Neutral Zone prior to the start which is another 3 km, hope this is not the straw to break the camel's back )

This week The Plan calls for a firm focus on climbing. Now I hate hills, and much more to the point, hills hate me with a venom that cannot be imagined. So, I need to give myself a target. A height to cumulatively ascend during this week. I thought of just picking a number at random, which according to some of my friends ought to be a number between 10 -50 m and whilst I would tend to agree with them, they are Flat Landers and I have doubts it would prepare me for the monsters of Box and Leith Hills. So, I have settled upon a figure of 1912 m, the height of Mont Ventoux, a climb which has a special significance to all english cyclists. It is also about the same total that will have to be conquored on London100, though in that case the total gradient will be spread over 162 km and not the mere 22km of the legendary mountain.

I think I may have done something a tad stupid.....

One of the great things about cycling is that you get to meet new people and they are willing to invite you to their part of the country and take you on some of their favourite rides. My last post talked about the long  road back from a period of illness and whether to take it gently or just jump straight back in. In the event I managed to strain my back gardening since the last post and this caused a further hiccup to the training programme.
I had arranged to go on a 100 km ride around Rutland, a beautiful county that I had never previously explored by bike with Kevin and it seemed foolish (?) to let a little thing like a strained back, still recovering from man flu and lack of cycling spoil the venture..I suppose I thought the absence from cycling could be called tapering.  And so we went, and I have to say that Kevin was a great guide and it is true to say that without him encouraging me and shepherding me home I would never have completed this trip and would have recorded my first ever DNF. This is the story of my ride

The day started fine and sunny the only slight hiccup being that I could not find the cap to my second 500ml water bottle so decided to manage with just the one and so dropped a Nunn tablet into it to ensure I had a back up of electrolites

We did the entire ride without stopping and I fuelled the energy expenditure by eating one flapjack and one Kellog's Elevensees bar, plust 5 jelly babies.

The weather was hot, very hot and according to Kevin's Garmin we climbed a total of 4450 feet, many of it with gradients between 12-19%

After 30 km my water bottle was empty so we stopped at a pub and asked if they could fill it up, which they kindly did.

After 50 km all my food had been consumed and it was getting ever hotter and the hills kept coming. The scenery however was magnificent and we saw a peregrine falcon hunting over Eyebrook reservoir.

After 60 km I started getting a saevere cramp in my left thigh, and it was really painful, especially as the gradients were not letting up despite my imprecations. However the pain from this was soon dwarfed by the cramps which started to occur in my right calf muscle.. At this time we had turned into strong head winds too and the elements were showing their power and beauty as we passed under Harringworth viaduct

After 70 km the pain was so acute, the water bottle empty, that I stopped at a shop and bought a packet of salted peanuts with the aim of getting some salts back into my body and also refilling the water bottle.

After 80 km my stomach was really empty, to such an extent that it caused discomfort. However this was soon drowned out by the pains from both my thigh and calf which were now working in unison to torment me.

After 90 km, pedalling rythmically was beyond me and it was push a few strokes on the pedal before free wheeling a little to let the pain subside. though this proved difficult when going uphill and continuous hill starts is not good at the best of times.

At 100 km I was glad to have reached the finish point and rapidly wolfed down a banana I had left n the car as a recovery food. Boy, how I needed it!
I have learnt a number of lessons from this ride.
Take more food. Save up for another water bottle. Carry a spare Nunn tablet
Without Kevin's support over the last 40 km I doubt whether I would have finished.

But despite these minor travails, it really was a great day out. The scenery was magnificent and I have now explored another part of the English countryside.

I am putting myself through all this so I can attempt the challenge of the London 100 mile ride this August around the Olympic Road Race route. And I am doing this to raise money for the mental health charity Mind.

If you would like to support this very worthwhile cause by sponsoring me then you can do so at

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

As an incentive to sponsor me, as a thank you for every donation, however small, I will send you a free pdf booklet entitled

Cycling Food on the Go - Recipes for Success

These recipes have been provided by people from around the world and each recipe comes with alittle story of why it was special to the author.

L

A long and empty road

My training has become derailed

I am ill
Indeed I have been feeling very ill
Yes, I know that it is only a bad cough, streaming cold and tight chest making it hard to breathe.
And I have to be careful of taking antidotes in case they interact badly with my existing medication.
And yes, I know all the jokes about the severity of man flu.
I have felt so bad that I have not even wanted to eat cake! But as Melanie said #nomilesnocakes
In a week when a friend has died, my complaints pale into insignificance.

But the result is that I can only see a long and empty road ahead.

I have been off the bike for a week now and the training plan is in disarray.

Total distance cycled this year = 3052 km
Total climbing = 22380 m

I am hoping that in another few days this illness will have passed and then it will be back on the bike

But where to re-commence?  The aim has been to gradually increase the furthest distance and then taper towards the end when the London100 approaches. Have I enough miles/fitness in the bank to just ignore the missing week? Or do I take it easy for a few days and then ramp up more quickly to get back on track?

Reverting Back to Childhood

I am now at the end of Week 2  ( out of 12 )  of the Beginners' Training Plan in preparation for my attempt at London100. Overall things are going reasonably well and I am sticking fairly closely to the set programme.

The latest statistics show that

Total distance cycled this year = 2855 km
Total ascent = 21259 m
and in accomplishing this I have used up 65213 calories

The maximum distance remains the same at 125 km

I said fairly closely because I am now instituting a Rest Day  on the day following the endurance ride, instead of the one hour ride,  as last week I obeyed instructions and ended up with an ache behind  my left knee. So as not to shirk on the total exercise, I am using the proposed Rest Day ( Monday ) as a general gentle ride with friends.

It cannot be denied that as an Old Age Pensioner my body perhaps needs more rest and recovery time than the vast majority of riders taking on this challenge, and as a newcomer to cycling I have no reservoir of endurance and stamina.to call upon.

It is said that as you get older you start to revert back to childhood, indeed as far back as the baby stage. My young grandchildren seem to need copious quantities of Sudocream to protect their undercarriage, and now I need the same!

Indeed I am coming to think that I need a veritable medicine cabinet of stuff, what with anti insect bite cream,  massage stick for knotted muscles, small tube of Sudocream just in case, and a Savlon spray if saddle sores or chafing should occur.  Not forgetting the jelly babies to provide that extra boost when I have reached the summit of a hill. Luckily, I will have my own super domestique on the ride itself, namely my son, whom I am hoping to load up with all the spare tubes ,multi-tools, chain links, pump, provisions, medical support, phone, money and other essential stuff.

I am taking this challenge to support the mental health charity Mind and if you would like to support me, and every donation however small is gratefully received, then I will send you a copy of

Cycling Food on the Go - Recipes for Success !  

This pdf booklet contains 20+ recipes, each with a little story as to why it was special to the contributor,  and all monies donated go straight to Mind.

You can contribute here