Great end to the week!!!

After work today I thought I had better cycle home the quick route as I know "The Wife" is going out to her friends birthday party tonight. I cycled the just over 8 miles home to find that "her in doors" was in fact not indoors but still out with the kids. "Aha!" I thought to myself and (probably in a kind of tempting fate kind of a manner) decided instead to go for a quick power up a Cat 5 hill just around the corner from my house adding a a few more miles to my training and another good climb to the books. We do like more miles and hills when we can get them in!

That put me in double figures for the trip and made it just a smidgen short of 11 miles (I felt robbed as I would have preferred 11 not 10.98). Now with burning legs and lungs on fire after what wasn't a particularly hard ride, but as I am not used to it anymore it made me feel good.

I did enjoy just getting out and riding for pleasure and not just commuting again.

Well I have in all this week done over 40 miles and in total over 5 1/4 hours of exercise. I will be slowly building things up as I go along and without doubt will be able to get myself back to a peak level of fitness sooner rather than later.

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I think it is going to be a case of the weekend off this weekend as I have nothing planned cycling wise and I wouldn't want to over do it too. Got to rest my legs and let them recover from the shock of going from Zero to full speed in a short period. My ankle thankfully isn't giving me any problems and I can feel everything getting stronger and better on a daily basis. See perhaps they do need to prescribe cycling as a treatment on the NHS. now would that be a turn up for the books.

Anyway I am going to go plan my next big ride now and I am thinking of the local hill that is in the book another 100 top road bike climbs. It is near here and it is just so tempting.

Chew Road Climb number 173!!! Should I ???

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Back on my bike!!!

Well today I had quite the unexpected surprise as I got to cycle to work!!!

Now to you this may just be a regular run of the mill thing but for me after months of not being able to ride my bike it was great, plus I really enjoyed it too.

I did my regular ride from home to work, it's only 7 miles each way with a few small hills but it just felt so good to be back on my bike I smiled for every inch of it.

The whole reason that I got to cycle today was that my wife (Lynne) wanted to drop the girls off at school and nursery as she has been away in Amsterdam at her European office to see some of the developer and get some training in.

Anyway this morning Lynne wanted to use the family car. As my own car is out of petrol and it was knocking on a bit we decided as a last minute thing that I could cycle in.

Now if any of you use any sort of fitness tracking app like MapmyRide or Strava you will know that as an aid to encourage people to exercise more as you ride along you can enter an area designated as a course. Now previous to my accident I was leading as number of these courses by a long way. Today however it was not about the speed and the power of the hill climb, but just the gentle ride in getting my legs back to riding on the road.

Now riding indoors is one thing but as I found today there is nothing like getting out and putting the miles in to get your legs hurting and your heart pumping.

Loved the ride in and even the ride back. I only say that as the ride back is mainly uphill and I found that a but harder today.

More news coming up in the next few days as I start to slowly build up my training and get back up to fitness. I need to work on that and my endurance big time. It is literally going to be a long road ahead but I am sure I will enjoy putting myself through hell!!

Cheers and happy riding!

First workout since Feb!

Tonight I just completed my fist workout since my crash in February.

I now have a dvd to work out too as I cycle on my turbo trainer and it really does push you hard.
This is an example of the sort of things you see on the DVD I have been using.

All I did was the warm up and the first 10 minutes of the race and I was sweating big time.

Very sweaty after just 25 minutes!

It really did feel good though. I can defiantly tell that my left leg is weaker than my right at the minute but on the plus side my ankle doesn't hurt at all. I think the only thing that really suffered is my fitness as I used to be able to do this level of training without being totally wiped out afterwards.

My bike does feel like it is set up perfect however and I still enjoy riding it.

This is my bike set up on the turbo trainer with the dogs looking slightly bemused in the background.

I will be doing the same again tomorrow night and the night after, I know I have a lot of catching up to do on my fitness if I am going to take part in and enjoy all the rides I want to do this year.

Still doing it all with a huge smile on my face though as I still really enjoy cycling.

Great stuff! Keep an eye out for more as I get out on the roads again and get those miles in!!!

Upgrade complete!

Well today I finished upgrading my bike again.

This time I have changed the front forks and headset for carbon forks and a thread less headset. I have learnt over the past month or two while trying to carry out this upgrade that old bikes have 1 inch diameter headsets and steer tubes, while "modern, newer" bikes have 1 and 1/8 inch headsets. Now that was a big marketing ploy if ever I saw one. It did make finding a headset and forks a lot more difficult as I have the old type of parts, but putting it all together was interesting. Yes it did involves swearing and then the stark realisation that I would also have to get a new type of front brake too. Hence only finishing the bike today. Now it's all just a question of when I can get to ride it again.

Well I am planning on going on the turbo trainer a few times this week and if I am feeling really brave I may even ride to work on Friday. I also have an ulterior motive for cycling in on Friday too. I am promoting the CDL cycling club at work on Friday lunchtime and what better way than turning up on my bike. Besides which tuning up looking injured due to a cycling related accident would really encourage people to cycle one feels.

Oh well I will build up my efforts and keep plodding on!

I am really looking forward to using my bike though.

Happy cycling!

Getting involved!!!

You can tell it must be a post chocolate time of year. Lynne (The Wife) has now joined the map my "family" using the map my walk app on her phone. I use map my ride and the two can talk to each other.

Good to see Lynne getting out on some good exercise with the doggies. All a good fit and healthy family. Honest!!!

I have been starting to put a little bit of weight on my foot. I am being very careful to only do a bit at a time though. I certainly am not flexing my foot as yet due to the tendon damage. I am a firm believer in doing just a little at a time though. I wouldn't want to find when I do eventually get to take the cast off my leg that I can't walk at all. Never mind ride my bike.

Anyway, here's a picture of dim and stupid our lovely doggies!!

Set the date!!!

I have found out that the coast to coast ride through http://www.opencycling.com/ will be on June 28th next year. This will be the first leg of my epic ride. The second part will be a direct run by car to lands end, followed by a ride all the way to John O'Groats non stop or as near as possible to non stop as I can manage.

Well I now have a target date. Just need the mileage in the bank and some help getting from Whitby to lands end, plus a little support along the way would be nice too.

It's scary but its doable!!!

All fuelled up!!!

I have been sending out a great number if emails all over the place to try and raise funds for this ride next year. I have had many companies just flatly say no. One or two said to get back to them later in the year. Edinburgh Cycles said they are not in a position to currently sponsor me, but as a good gesture they have sent me as mound of energy and hydration drinks!
I just can't believe how much they sent together with two free water bottles and a catalogue!!

I will be putting it all to good use and without doubt "The Wife" will be laughing her way through the catalogue saying things like "do you really think you would like a new bike then, there is always hope.

Oh I did have an email back from Hawes bikes saying to contact them again in November. So not all bad I would say.

Looking forward to getting back at it. Think may struggle to contain myself a bit. Just have to ensure I avoid more injuries.

What a lot of stuff though. Great!