John 'o to Lands End

The cycle continues.....

2009-06-12T14:35:00.002+01:00

I cant really continue using John'O to Lands End blog for my cycle training as that story is now complete :-)

I have created another blog for my continuing...and future adventures ;-)

You can follow me here..... http://johns-cycle-diary.blogspot.com/ if you dare!

JOGLE the day after

2009-06-11T11:42:00.003+01:00

Got up, still no aches and pains......(Still don't understand how I can not be hurting anywhere?)

Cleaned and oiled the bikes, removed the rest of the travelling stuff from the mobile shed - formerly known as a car.

I am actually wondering if I could get away with going for a cycle ride today????Or will wifey kill me?

Now I must thank lots of people for there support and extreamly kind donations...
---In no order at all--
Thank you Wifey for fixing everything and being there to support us....You had the tuff job all we had to do was look at the scenary.

Jim it was great for us that you could join us and you did set the tempo and ethos for the rest of the trip.

Dave without you I wouldn't have chosen some of the fantastic routes and your support and encouragement has helped more than you can imagine.

Nathan it was your idea...and thank you I would never have thought about doing something so mad...(Although I may have had to use my MP3 player if you were with us any longer :-)

Joy you are a really good friend and you allowed me to experience ALL of the scenary, without you it would have been very tuff.(And I am sure I would have burnt myself out)

Everybody that has helped us, gave us comments to read along the way...Thank You....

Now all I need to do is plan the next challenge........

If anybody is interested we..

Replaced 3 tyres.
Fell off a total of 4 times.....me once and Joy 3 times.....I was the one that actually leaked red stuff though!
Replaced 1 set of Brake blocks
(Refitted bike chain countless numbers of times.....Joy!)

It was interesting that as we were nearing the end people thought we were just starting! We were still bouncing fit and had no ill effects.....A guy finished JOGLE about an hour after us and he was hobbling along and looked haggard......

I am now bored!!!!!!!! and we only finished yesterday!

I will busy myself by doing a few more stats......what am I gonna call this blog now?????What am I gonna post in it???????

Any suggestions for the next challenge welcome :-)........

JOGLE Day 11 - Saint Breock to Lands End

2009-06-11T10:58:00.012+01:00

The expectations were for very bad weather, forecast was 20 mph southerly winds and rain :-(

The morning however, was completely unexpected, warm, sunny and the forecast had changed we were in for a dry sunny day!

I had been wanting to go for a swim ever since John'O Groats...and finally my chance had come...

Although the water was a tadge colder than I expected!

I did eventually brave it in, mainly because Joy jumped straight in.....but then again she is Scottish and used to the cold...

We returned to the B&B after the swim and had another fab cooked breakfast, I can recommend the Pengilley B&B most highly. Joy was happy as another guest commented on her sun tan!!!!

We had to load the bikes onto the car and return to our pickup point from the night before.....

I had planned a nice scenic route to Land's End but we had both decided we just wanted to get there so had no real idea exactly what distance we had to go....

We continued on the A39 until we reached Blackwater then we opted to go onto the rather faster but busier A30...

We stopped for a Philp's 'Famous Pasty' at Hayle then continued on ....The signs indicating Land's End showed a continual count down in milage...

When we got to Penzance we detoured to Marizion and to the sea front to have a look at St Michael's Mount.

The ride from Penzance was really quite nice although my emotions were very mixed, pleased that we were about to achieve but upset that it was all coming to an end....

We eventually crossed the Finish line at Land's End at 14:44 on 10/06/2009 after completing 950 miles...

We were both grinning from ear to ear.......and took lots of photo's....

We celebrated our completion with another cream tea/coke then loaded the bikes on the car and started the drive home at 5pm

After stopping for food on the way home we made it back to Wiltshire at 11:30pm......I was more worn out and tired by the drive home than I was by the cycling there!.....Thanks Joy for driving the last leg..........

The Cycle computer had the days ride as... 57.08 miles in 4 hours 27 mins

The GPS track can be found here...

JOGLE Day 10 - Sampford Peverell to Saint Breock

2009-06-11T07:53:00.012+01:00

We had another large breakfast in the B&B before setting off, Nathan cycled with us for a few 100 feet before turning off and heading south.

Joy and myself continued over and down, and up, and down the rolling and sometimes steep hills of Devon.

During the morning the threatening clouds dispersed and we spent the majority of the day in nice warm sun :-)

We stopped for lunch at a nice riverside pub in Hatherleigh.

At mid afternoon we crossed over from Devon into our final county Cornwall.

We set about Twittering as soon as we got to the sign.

We continued cycling towards Bude on the A3072, and we saw our first glimpse of the sea since Powfoot.

Just after Bude on the A39 we stopped for a wonderful cream tea in 'The Whalesborough Tea Room' at Marhamchurch.

We did spend a bit longer drinking cream tea- in my case and cream coke - in Joy's case than we intended. The people who run the tea room were fantastic and donated £20 to our charity :-) A rather nice customer also came over and chatted and donated a further £10...Thank you to both of you.

The planned camp site stop had been altered to a B&B in Newquay, an extra 10 miles on the day :-( It also started to precipitate as we were nearing St Columb Major so we decided to call for a pickup (The first in the whole trip! but the cream tea was definately worth it :-)

Even Newquay wasn't so bad at the end of the day!

The cycle computer had the days ride as 89.78 miles in 7 hours 24.

The GPS plot can be found here...

JOGLE Day 9 - Chippenham to Sampford Peverell

2009-06-08T21:52:00.014+01:00

I cooked breakfast this morning then we set of out of Chippenham towards Bradford on Avon along the quiet country roads.

Nathan appeared to have recovered from his remarkable ride yesterday.

From Bradford on Avon we headed out towards Rode then on to the horrendous A361 to Shepton Mallet.

Along the way we stopped for a nice cup of tea :-)

Just past Shepton Mallet we stopped for lunch..

After Shepton we headed uphill to Glastonbury, then down hill to Pilton and across the Somerset Levels.

Just before we reached Taunton it started to rain so Joy and myself doned our water proofs...Nathan didnt have any so continued on.....

We fortunately missed a concealed right turn of a dual carriageway and had a photo opportunity at a Welcome to Devon sign :-)

We have made the decision to stay in B&B's for the rest of the trip :-) although a tadge more expensive, the thought of camping in a cold swamp is not appealing....

We reached tonight's accommodation at 7:15 ish, got showered changed then pigged out in the pub we are staying at...

Joy again struggled to eat all of her food.....

The cycle computer had the days ride as 86.49 miles in 6 hours 52 min

The GPS plot can be found here... and here... (Found out stopping a course stopped the trace:-( so had to restart it after we sorted out where we were going!)

Only 2 more days to go :-( and we will be in Cornwall tommorow....

JOGLE Day 8 - Leominster to Chippenham

2009-06-07T22:34:00.010+01:00

Had an absolutely fab nights' sleep :-) and a lovely cooked breakfast.

My phone had dried out over night, but the touch screen no longer works :-( but at least all of our clothes had dried out.

There was a slight rain when we set off, but nothing to major.

We headed to Hereford then to Monmouth, Joy and myself were putting on and taking off water proofs as it rained and the sun came out.

There had been a large amount of rain and some of the roads had flooded.

We had lunch in Monmouth :-) then headed to Chepstow, and a massive climb!

I stopped to take some photies of the surrounding countryside.

When we left Chepstow we had a Welcome to Wales photo.....There wasn't one when we left Herefordshire.

From Chepstow we headed across the Severn Bridge and down hill to Chippenham and home..
---That's a Lie.....it was up steep hills and then downhill to home.

The most upsetting part of today is as we crossed over the North/South divide known locally as the M4 it started to rain again...

The cycle computer had today's ride as 80.99 miles in 6 hours 40 mins (Active time)

The GPS track can be found here...

Thanks Dave for riding with us for a couple of days...It allowed for different conversations :-)

I will try and update the blog from tommorow until the end of the ride but I definately will not be able to upload GPS tracks or Piccies until I get back home :-(

JOGLE Day 7 - Wrenbury to Leominster

2009-06-07T22:00:00.006+01:00

Dave and Karen joined us last night and we had a lovely meal in the Cotton Arms, and we won the local quiz night :-)

We woke up in the morning and it was raining, wifey and Joy tried to buy some cycle over shoes in the local bike shop but it looked highly unlikely that they would stock them so I loaned mine to Joy.

We headed out across country to Whitchurch, the roads were very pleasant even though it was raining.

By the time we got to Shrewsbury we were all soaked, the ride to Church Stretton and lunch was long, drawn out and painful.

We had lunch at the Kings Arms in Church Stretton, we dripped all over the floor then set of on our soggy way towards Leominster.

Wifey had managed to find us a supperb B&B instead of camping :-) we could not have found a more perfect place. The Copper Hall in Leominster....we had a shared living room and two bedrooms.

The cycle computer had the ride as 66.33 miles in 5 hours 21 mins

The GPS track can be found here... and here...

I charged the gps up at lunchtime and it stopped tracking :-( hence theres 2...

JOGLE DAY 6 -Kendal to Wrenbury

2009-06-05T23:39:00.002+01:00

I was definitely not looking forward to today's ride.

It was the longest and through major northern towns/cities.

We stopped at 21 miles for the official half way point photo's in the rather fantastically named 'Slyne With-Hest'.

It was then a swift ride into the City of Lancaster, it was also a very pleasant surprise as the city is very cycle friendly, I started to think my expectations for the day may be wrong.

Then we got to Preston..and it rained..and my expectations unfortunately were proved correct, so many dual carriage ways and junctions and large volumes of high speed traffic.

From there it just got worst...Wigan was horrible and Warrington was worse.

Joy did fantastically well, she did take a tumble again today in Preston, we were avoiding the traffic by cycling on the pavement and she over balanced.

The ride to the campsite was very long and drawn out...

The cycle computer had the ride as 110.02 miles in something like 11 hours elapsed time..

The GPS track can be found here...

JOGLE Day 5 - Powfoot to Kendal

2009-06-04T19:48:00.002+01:00

The day started of very easily and very flat! The temperature was much cooler than it has been and it was slightly overcast.

We very rapidly came to the English border, I am very sad to be leaving Scotland behind, the scenery was amazing and all of the people we have met have been very nice and friendly (The English can learn a lot from them)

We navigated our way through Carlisle traffic reasonably successfully, diverting onto the cycleways and up through the pedestrian high street. We did however get told of by a local woman as apparently it was 'NO Cycling', Jim took all of the flak for us ;-)

We bid a sad farewell to Jim at Carlisle railway station and headed back on to the A6 to Penrith where we had a KFC for lunch. (I was famished)

After a fine lunch in the sun we headed over the very over rated Shap Fell. (It is a 1400 ft climb but very long and drawn out)

The descent from the top down into Kendal was a different story however :-) It was worth the boring ride to the top.

The cycle computer had the ride as 65.72 miles in 5 hours 8 min A smashing short day :-) But sad to leave Jim.

When we got to the campsite wifey noticed a blister on Joy's rear tyre and they went into Evans in Kendal to buy two replacements (front and rear)

We had a really good afternoon ride, we are now riding as a team, Joy is powering up the hills. Watch out Nathan I hope you have been training!

JOGLE Day 4 - Johnstone to Powfoot

2009-06-03T21:44:00.002+01:00

The day started of very well with a full tummy of lovely breakfast prepared by Joys mother :-)

We climbed out of Johnstone across the Gleniffer Braes along some very potted and steep country roads.

We then turned onto a closed and freshly resurfaced road, it was fantastic!

We made it to the first planned photo shoot of the day very promptly at about 10:45... Moscow!

Eventualy we turned onto the A76,,It was initialy terrible very busy!

We arrived in New Cumnock for lunch and I decided to throw myself down the road :-(Unlike Joy I did leak red stuff and did require lots of sympathy!

On the plus side my left knee had started to ache and after the tumble the ache stopped:-)

After New Cumnock the A76 appeared to calm down alot , it also appeared to be downhill to Dumfries.

We had a mid afternoon tea break at Thornhill.

We negotiated rush hour traffic through Dumfries without to much issue...

It was then a reasonably quick ride to the general visinity of the campsite at Powfoot...then a 5 mile ride in circles to actually find the site.

Today started of in the rolling hills of the Braes and ended up in the verry flat lowlands.

The cycle computer had the ride as 96.13 miles in 7 hours 36 mins.

GPS track and photo's to be uploaded tommorow when I have more time

JOGLE Day 3 - Glencoe to Johnstone

2009-06-02T20:53:00.016+01:00

Wow Glencoe campsite was fantastic (Apart from the midges)

We all got up and had breakfast early.

We did have an official Glencoe leaving photshoot before we left :-)

Then we set off on what we expected to be a very tough climb up through the mountain pass.

The views on the way up were aboslutely stunning...

It was realy good at the top of each climb to see the nice long descent stretching out ahead.
The roads were the best we have cycled down yet...

We did the final descent from Glencoe and stopped for Lunch at the rather pleasant sounding Falls of Falloch, unfortunately they were NOT nice!

We cycled on down to Loch Lomond and cooled off IN the loch.

From Loch Lomond it was a rather pleasant ride around the A814, we met wifey again at Helensburg for a drink stop, then It was on to the rather hellish Elskin Bridge, it does have a cycle lane - but it is covered in Glass and debris.

We eventually arrived at Joy's parent's house at just before 6.

We were fed and watered very well :-) now I am stuffed :-)

I cleaned Joys cycle chain off, as she appears to cover herself in oil every time she rides...

The cycle computer had todays ride as 95.68 miles in 6 hours 43 mins (Active time)

The GPS plot can be found here...

JOGLE Day 2 - Evanton to Glencoe

2009-06-01T21:18:00.004+01:00

We had a good early start, setting of at 8:30....The Black Rock Campsite at Evanton was fantastic, very clean and excellent facilities.

The ride started of on the rather busy A9 with lots of traffic and people rushing to work. Just over the Cromarty Firth bridge we turned right of the A9 and headed onto NSR 1.

Whilst we were in the middle of failing to follow the cycle route Joy descided to see what it would be like stopping without unclipping her shoes from the peddles. Somehow she survived the fall without major injury or leaking in any way!!!

We managed to avoid cycling through the centre of Inverness by scirting around the edge, The GPS was a god send!

We cycled from Inverness to Loch Ness along some fantastic roads, nessy however was not very photogenic :-(

We cycled up a mountain! then down into Fort Augustus for lunch :-) I had a lovely pint of Cider and a Bacon Baguette, Joy made a second attempt at throwing herself of her bike...again no leaking skin and no sign of injury.

The rest of the ride was down the A82...Not a road I would recommend cycling on!!! to Busy and to Rough.

We eventually pulled into the campsite at Glencoe at about 6:30. There was a slight breeze, we cooked and ate Pasta for tea and it was all great.

The Breeze stopped and I have now discovered the hell that is midges.

I did find the hoody added some protection...
Todays ride was 98.30 miles in 7 hours 16 mins.

The GPS plot can be found here...

JOGLE Day 1 - JOG to Evanton

2009-05-31T21:12:00.002+01:00

Woke up and got up early, took Rosie (Dog) for a walk around John'O Groats noticed the café (Journeys End) and thought it would be a good idea to have a full cooked breaky instead of porridge.

We packed up the tents and headed to the café at 8:30 (Joy packed her phone in her tent)

We moved to the coffee shop across the road and had baked beans toast scrambled eggs and a bacon roll, we eventually set of at just gone 10 for the official start..

The weather was perfect, the sun was out, there was no wind it was lovely and warm...wifey sprayed sun cream on me like I was a teenager.

The fair skinned Scottish people covered themselves in factor 50 plus...

We stopped for lunch at Dunbeath at 37 miles, sitting outside in the shade.

We climbed up a few 13% hills but nothing to major .

The conditions were perfect and the scenery was amazing, the sweet smell of gorse was everywhere.

We had been on the A99 then the A9 as we passed over the Dornoch Bridge the A9 was becoming very busy but thankfully the route plan had is going down NSR 1, then across some beautiful countryside.

We eventually arrived at Evanton at about 6:10pm

The cycle computer had the ride as 102.64 miles in 6 hours 32 minutes.
The GPS track of todays ride should be available here...

JOGLE the journey begins...

2009-05-30T21:40:00.002+01:00

We set of from the beautiful south at a nice and early 7:30

We entered the north (Birmingham) surprisingly quickly!(9:04)...I was however a little taken aback by the continuing signs indicating "The North" ahead of us!

Some 3 hours of driving later we still hadn't reached Scotland!

At about 1:30pm we passed a rather shocking road sign that indicated there was a North beyond Glasgow..

At 3 we picked up Jim at Perth. Couldn't be much further to go could it?

Well we went through the Highlands....I think I may now know why they are called the Highlands ...There was actually snow on the top of some of the wee hill's!

We eventually arrived at John'O Groats at 8pm!!!

Its a long way back...The Midlands are definitely NOT in the middle

We ate nosh in the local hotel and had a who can pitch the tent quickest competition. it was me 1st, Jim second...and Joy finished much later.........

Day 409

2009-05-29T21:27:00.003+01:00

Car loaded, Roof rack fitted and bike carriers mounted.......

All that's needed now is a night's sleep and load the bikes and the expensive gear onto/into the car......

I am really not looking forward to tomorrow's drive..... BUT I am definitely looking forward to Sunday.....

Day 408

2009-05-28T21:25:00.004+01:00

Got home from work...had BBQ :-)

Then packed all of the cycle clothing....well Wifey did after I had surveyed the proposed clothing.....I wasn't actualy trusted to put it in the bag.....Perhaps my idea of packing isnt the same as wifey's?????

I chopped up a car auxilary power plug and extension lead I put some crocodile clips on the ends of the wires to connect directly to the car battery, this in conjunction with a battery voltage protector should allow me to recharge gps, phone etc over night without mains voltage and without flattening the car battery.

I then packed up the bike spares, cleaning/oiling kit and tools.

Then finaly I packed up the laptop, chargers and the cycle backpack (Light weight water proofs will be with me all of the time!)

We are almost ready to go.....Just one more day of work........

Was interested to see what our daily distances and total mileage will be...

Day 1	102.35
Day 2	96.19
Day 3	95.66
Day 4	93.65
Day 5	64.44
Day 6	108.63
Day 7	72.14
Day 8	86.03
Day 9	82.83
Day 10	95.46
Day 11	61.17
Total	958.55

Slightly less than I thought!!!

Day 407

2009-05-27T20:39:00.004+01:00

Worked from home today.... Having a break from cycling untill the weekend.....

Whilst working I updated my laptop and installed phone drivers and Garmin software on it - Hopefully we will be able to get a net connection for uploading photos, maintaining blog and uploading Garmin data!

I have also updated all of the routes to support the Garmin, all of the blog route links have been updated to reflect the current planned routes, I have tried to route us of busy roads where possible.

Whilst tea was cooking I gave the Merida a clean, wash and oil before the epic journey begins!

I have put all of the rechargeable things on charge so they should all be fully powered for the journey :-)

Day 406

2009-05-26T22:11:00.001+01:00

Night off....Played computer games :-)

Also spent a lot of time re-plotting the route plans for the Garmin....

Ohhh I tracked the lunch time walk on the Garmin...have a look at it here...

Day 405 (Bank Holiday Monday)

2009-05-25T21:27:00.003+01:00

Woke up far to early, had a shower cooked breakfast and went for a walk long before anybody else on the campsite even entered the land of the living...

We packed away the stuff and loaded it in the car, then went and posted payment for the night through the door of the farm....(They weren't up either)!

The final test for the weekend was battery recharge time for the phone and wind turbine, we need the batteries to recharge in 1 hour 30 min (Max)...Unfortunately 2 hours later they still hadnt charged :-(

I bought a Garmin Edge 605.....It has a battery life of 15 hours and a recharge time of 3....

I have now transfered all of the JOGLE routes to the Garmin...

At 6 ish I headed of out into the wild, with the new toy firmly fitted to the handlebar stem. It was navigating me around the very familiar 'Normal 20' :-)

The Cycle computer had the session as 21.40 miles in 1 hour 16 mins witha an average speed of 16.8 mph.

The Garmin plot can be found here...

Day 404 (Sunday)

2009-05-24T20:20:00.009+01:00

Got up at a sensible time! Had porridge for breakfast then set of at 9:15.

I enjoyed the cycle ride so much the last time I came to Brecon, I thought I would do it again!

I headed along the now familiar roads to the Severn Bridge.

When I got to Chepstow it was a short stretch of busy main road then a left turn on to lovely quite country roads on NCR42
The sun was out and the weather was fantastic :-)

The climb up Gospel Pass was long and uneventfull, the views from the top were clear and amazing.

I was really looking forward to the descent down the other side, unfortunately I ended up following a queue of cars the lead driver was only doing 20 mph and insisted on doing an emergency stop for every corner and every time a car came the other way! I would not be surprised if the brake blocks are worn out again on the bike :-(

The last 5 miles to the campsite seemed like the longest of the day...

There was an interestingly named village along the way :-)

Once I got to the site I met up with wifey and had a well earned can of cider and some ginger buscuits :-)

We cooked some pasta and some cheat carbonara sauce (Can of condensed mushroom soup,fried pancetta and chopped garlic with a little milk to thin it)

The cooking experiment went very well, I had seconds!

The cycle computer had the ride as 87.85 miles in 6 hours 11 minutes with an average speed of 14.2 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 403 (Saturday)

2009-05-23T18:41:00.007+01:00

Woke up and got up early, had porridge for breaky, went for a haircut.

Took some very un-recyclable stuff to the the household recycling centre (I always feel bad when it comes to taking stuff that will end up in a landfill site)

We carried straight on from the recycle centre to Morgans Hill and took Rosie (dog) for a walk, the sun was already up and it was lovely and warm :-)

When we got back from the walk we had lunch and I set of on a cycle ride...I was trying to plan a ride that would take me to Westbury White Horse and Longleat...But I couldn't get the mileage down to 50 so I ended up planning a route to Westbury only :-(

I ended up cycling to Lacock,Melksham,Steeple Ashton then Bratton

I cycle up to the top of the hill...

Then down the other side into Westbury

I then headed along the Bratton Road to Devizes then straight back to Chippenham.

The cycle computer had the ride as 44.74 miles in 2 hours 49 minutes with an average speed of 15.9 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 402

2009-05-22T21:31:00.005+01:00

Went for a cycle ride with wifey and Rosie (dog) to Lacock :-)
Rosie was in her travelling back pack for the road bits and was running with us along the cycle track.

Had a couple of ciders and a meal and cycled back home again :-)

It wasn't particularly very far or very fast but it was extremly pleasant to go for a cycle with wifey and dog :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 7.79 miles in 58 minutes with an average speed of 7.9 mph.

No RunGPS plot as I really couldn't be bothered with it!

Day 401

2009-05-21T21:08:00.003+01:00

Got home from work at a reasonable time, stopped and had tea (Salad) with the family then got changed and went out on the bike :-)

I set of at 7:15 on my 'Normal 20' route. The sun was out I was in T and Shorts and I had my cool looking cycling shades on :-)

There was very little wind and I was doing a very good speed, at the half way point my average speed was 19.4 mph!

Then apparently I was mistaken as I appeared to cycle into a head wind :-(

The cycle computer had the ride as 21.32 miles in 1 hour 8 mins with an average speed of 18.6 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 400

2009-05-20T15:47:00.006+01:00

Work from home today :-)

Part1...
I got up at 5:45 am and was out on the bike at 6am! The sun was already up :-) but the roads were still damp so the bike got dirty :-(

I headed out on my 'Normal' Wednesday morning 25 miles and it felt great :-)

Unfortunately I was almost taken out by somebody at a roundabout, I was already on it and heading straight on and they pulled out from the left without seeing me! I was about an inch off the front wing of the car - and nothing I could do about it! I had my lights on and a high vis jacket on.

Luckily I did not collide with either the car or the road and it will be chalked up as another experience!

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.8 miles in 1 hour 33 mins with an average speed of 16.5 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Part 2...

Got back out on the bike at 4:30 and did the 'Normal 25', the sun was out and the gnats were out in force!

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.70 miles in 1 hour 38 minutes with an average speed of 15.6 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

It was nice to be able to cycle in the sun again :-) Thinking about having one last long ride at the weekend before JOGLE.....Well it is a bank holiday......

Day 399

2009-05-19T22:11:00.001+01:00

Night Off....Played computer games...

Day 398

2009-05-18T21:00:00.002+01:00

Got home from work at a reasonable time :-)

Got changed into long sleeve cycle top, cycle shorts and water proofs! Then I set of on the cycle way to Lacock, up Naish Hill (Because its still there!) then towards Headington, making a random right turn towards Calne to see how it got there...

I found myself back on a main road, but as it was gone 7pm there wasnt much traffic so I persisted with it...

At Calne I turned back on to the cycle way and headed back to Chippenham....

When I got back home both myself and the bike was minging...More of the track surface on me than was left on the track.......

The cycle computer had the session as 16.98 miles in 1 hour 18 mins with an average speed of 13 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here....

Day 397 (Sunday)

2009-05-17T16:28:00.007+01:00

Got up at a reasonable time :-) Then started the normal Sunday house tidy chores :-(

Was undecided at which bike I was going to take out. It was raining quite hard most of the morning. Just as I had almost made my mind up to going out on the cycle ways on the Dawes the sun came out and the weather looked reasonable - So I went out on the Merida, setting of from home at 12 ish

I did almost the same route as yesterday - Instead of taking the first right turn to Lacock and going up Naish Hill I took the second turn and went up Bowden Hill and instead of going straight on at Tockenham and heading directly to Dauntsey I turned right and headed to Dauntsey indirectly.

The smell of Ransomes (Garlic like smell) at the top of Bowden Hill is still fantastic :-)

There had been a lot of rain and there was lots of standing water.

As I headed towards Headington the sky was very threatening, the wind was howling and generally it wasnt very nice.

Then it started to rain, and I got my first of many drenchings!

Things although wet weren't to bad, until I turned into wind! It was a very good job I had cycle glasses on! The rain was actually stinging.

The cycle computer had todays ride as 41.71 miles in 2 hours 39 mins with an average speed of 15.7 mph (Lyneham had the wind speed as 19mph SSW gusting to 33 mph)

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

The battery flattened on the GPS at about 39 miles - This time by plan, I need to know how long the batteries take to charge from flat using a usb charger.

The intention during JOGLE is to rotate batteries - keeping them charged up in the car, but we need to know how long they will take to charge!

Day 396 (Saturday)

2009-05-16T21:35:00.007+01:00

Set of out on a shortish cycle ride at 8:45 am, the weather forecast was for dry weather for the morning and rain in the afternoon.

I set of towards Corsham and then headed back towards Lacock stoping on Mon's Lane over the river bridge to spy on a Heron :-)

There was one hell of a wind blowing and the weather kept on threatening to rain.

When I got to the top of Naish Hill I headed towards Headington and Stockley.

It was the a very fast ride to Tockenham - The Lyneham Met office had the windspeed at 19 mph gusting to 35 - And it was a Tail Wind at one point I was doing over 31 mph on the straight and level :-)

(I hoped the picture would show the strength of wind in the tree - I was cycling through a cross wind)

At Dauntsey unfortunately it was payback time and I was cycling into the wind!

The cycle computer had the ride as 40.17 miles in 2 hours 35 mins with an average speed of 15.4 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

It was good to be back on the Merida - It was soooooo much faster and smoother than the Dawes. It was also very good to be able to get down out of the wind!

Although the Dawes is fun for getting out on the cycle paths where the Merida cannot go!

Day 395

2009-05-15T19:07:00.003+01:00

Night off....

Got home and it was raining and howling a gale (WSW 21 mph Gusting to 29 mph)

I think I deserve a rest.....

From now until JOGLE starts NO more long rides, just enough to keep me used to it :-)

Day 394

2009-05-14T21:20:00.004+01:00

Good to be back home from the training course. Being a country bumpkin it was a bit of a shock to cycle down some very busy city roads.

I managed to pick up the repaired Merida from Peddlers on the way home :-)

Unfortunately it started precipitating at that point and continued in various degrees for the rest of the evening :-(

After tea I set of on the Dawes towards Lacock on the cycle way and went up Naish Hill (Because its there!) and headed along the country roads to Headington and Stockley.

At Calne I headed down the Calne<>Chippenham Cycleway.

The tracks were all very wet and I got back home with most of the track surface on me!

When I got home the bike got a good hosing down and a spray of WD40 on the important bits.

It was great to know exactly where I was going and what the roads were like, I do have grave concerns about not having local knowledge about the JOGLE route.

The cycle computer had tonight's ride as 18.01 miles in 1 hour 21 mins with an average speed of 13.2 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 393

2009-05-13T21:22:00.010+01:00

Got back to the hotel at 5pm by the time I had got myself sorted and out on the bike it was 5:40.

I had planned a ride that would be entirely on cycle paths, heading out towards Hampton Court on NCR 4 and a Local Route E4 and heading back towards Staines on the Thames Cycle route.

The cycle way out of Staines wasnt exactly what I thought...

They obviously coudn't afford to widen the path or even paint it! But still it was better than cycling on the dual carriageway.

Some of the cyclepaths turned into a guess where now puzzle. (Good job the GPS told me when I was heading of route!)

(If you look carefully at the wooden structure you will find a very small sign indicating the right fork in the path)

The ride to Kingston on Thames was much of a muchness with the cycle paths being hidden from plain view or in very poor condition, many requiring the crossing of major roads with no traffic control :-(

However when I got to Kingston on Thames I crossed the Thames and then I was on the Thames Cycle way :-) And that was worth the agravation of getting there!

The cycle path passed Hampton Court Palace

Things went a little awry when 4 miles from Staines the planned route indicated that I could cross the Thames from the left bank to the right, unfortunately at the point of crossing there was nothing but water!

This was a bit of a problem as I don't know the area at all! Thankfully the I told the GPS to plan another route to Staines and it worked :-)

The cycle computer had todays ride as 32.85 miles in 3 hours 34 minutes with an average speed of 12.3 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I have enjoyed this weeks cycling away from home, I was lucky the Merida broke because it would not have coped with the cycle ways, and I wouldn't have enjoyed cycling on the busy city roads!

I am looking forward to getting back home tommorow and getting out into slower calmer territory!

The GPS carrier I made for the Merida is a godsend most of my navigation issues this week have been down to me having to listen to the GPS over the noise of the traffic whereas on the Merida I can see the route!

Ohh my story is on the local newspapers website today!..... (Gazzete & Herald)

Day 392

2009-05-12T20:37:00.014+01:00

Woke up at my normal 5:15 am......although I am in walking distance of the office where I am on my course and I don't have to be there until 9:30 am and the hotel breakfast didn't start until 7:30 am. I suppose as soon as I get used to normal people's hours I will be back to normal work!

I got back to the hotel at 5:20'ish, got changed then set of on the bike at 5:45'ish.

I enjoyed my ride around Windsor Great Park so much yesterday that I thought I would repeat it, this time making a bit more of a direct route to the castle and coming back to the hotel through the Windsor Great Park.

I didn't take any pictures yesterday of the wooded are in the park so here are some to make up for it!

As I was leaving the public access fenced in area of the park I noticed the rules and regulations of the park. (You can click on the picture and it is a high enough resolution to read)

Interesting that the penalty for breaking any of the regulations is only £20 - I don't think I will be putting that to the test any time soon!

The cycle way into Windsor was pavement based and most of the people wanted to walk on the cycle part instead of the pedestrian part.

This time I made a point of taking photos at the castle!

After the Castle I headed on towards Eton then Datchet and then back along the edge of the Windsor Great Park

I used the cycle path on the dual carriageway both on the outward and return journeys.

I made it back to Staines just in time by the looks of the sky...

The cycle computer had todays' ride as 20.84 miles in 1 hour 55 mins with an average speed of 10.8 mph (Some of the cycleways were very poor surface and the head wind was a bit of a killer).

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I had a phone call today from the local paper (Gazette & Herald) I am going to be in it on Thursday :-)

They asked for some before pictures of me before I found the path to enlightnment.....They scare me...

I am still a little overweight now. Its amazing what a difference a little excerise and watching what you eat can do! (Although it does take a bloody long time!)

Day 391

2009-05-11T21:37:00.014+01:00

Set of from home at about 6:30 am after loading the Merida in one car (For wifey to take to the bike shop to be mended and serviced) and the Dawes in the other car to take with me to Staines :-)

The M4 and M25 was the normal nightmare, I arrived in Staines at just gone 9 :-)

The training course ended at 5pm and I checked into the hotel, got changed re-assembled the Dawes and set of into un-charted metropolis....(I was so excited I forgot to turn the GPS on until I realised I didn't have a clue where I was going!)

My first impressions were not great! A little cycle track not wide enough on a road that was too busy! The first roundabout was also a but annoying as I headed up the wrong road :-(

Eventually I worked out where I was supposed to be going and headed down a cycle way off of the main roads - It almost felt like countryside!

Although I am sure the smog has affected the tree growth...

The cycle way passed the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede

I then cycled through Windsor Great Park...I really didn't expect to find such beautiful greenary in London!

I then caught the first sites of my target :-)

The cycleways were ok for the Dawes but would not have been any good for the Merida.

The plan was to cycle down NCR routes 4 and 52 this sent me past Dorney Lake(Joy had told me about this purpose built rowing lake)

From here I headed back towards Windsor - Alongside the rather noisey M4 and a river that I have never seen before - even though I have traveled the M4 dozens of times before.

I then headed towards the castle

I then started to realise that the ride time was a LOT longer than I expected and the GPS battery was starting to run low :-(

Fortunately I made it to the castle and on to a road that was signposted to Staines before the battery ran out!

I am sure it was only a week or two ago where I stated that I must always carry a spare battery!

When I started the ride it was beautiful warm sunshine with a very slight breeze, when I finished the ride it was starting to get cold and a hefty wind had risen.

I didn't enjoy the start or end of the ride but the ride through Windsor Great Park to Windsor and Eton was really nice, I must do it again tommorow - but next time I will take a spare battery!

The cycle computer had the ride as 33.44 miles in 2 hours 44 minutes with an average speed of 12.1 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 390 (Sunday)

2009-05-10T19:04:00.003+01:00

Got up early and went for a walk in the woods with wifey and Rosie (Dog).

When we got home I cut the grass then vacumed/cleaned the house.

After lunch I set about removing the mudguards and fitting the SPD pedals on the Dawes (I am on a training course next week and am going to take the Dawes for some evening cycle rides around Staines and Windsor), I also changed the tyres on the Peugeot road bike (Nathan has kindly given the bike to me - Thank you Nathan) I fitted some part worn tyres from the Merida :-)

I then set of for a nice cycle ride down the Chippenham/Calne cycle way - I was enjoying the ride so much I continued to Headington and Stockley then headed towards Lacock down Naish Hill and returned home on the Lacock/Chippenham cycle way.

The cycle computer had the ride as 17.9 miles in 1 hour 19 minutes with an average speed of 13.5 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

When I got back from the ride I fitted a cycle computer and a saddle tool bag to the Peugeot and took it out for a short 10 mile ride.

I did find the gearing on the Peugeot a little tough for the steep 1:6 Bencroft Hill climb but other than that it was a lovely smooth ride :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 10.1 miles with an average speed of 15.6 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 389 (Saturday)

2009-05-09T21:30:00.016+01:00

Woke up and got up early! Sorted my lunch out (2 Peanut Butter and Honey Rolls) and got out on the bike at 7:40 am.

On Friday I thought it would be a good idea to do Chippenham to New Forest and Back but I realised it would be in excess of 140 mile round trip (Not somthing I fancied) So I thought what If I do Chippenham to Lymington, then do a lap of the Isle of Wight :-)

The cycle to Devizes was normal..... Once out of Devizes I headed out towards Amesbury along fantastic roads I used to commute along for over a year.

I was then onto Salisbury Plain proper, with tank crossings and everything!

(In over a year of commuting I only saw tanks twice and neither time were they crossing :-)
After Salisbury I headed out onto country roads.

Along the way I had a bit of chain suck and the front derailleur bent again :-( I stopped and bent it back into shape with a handy piece of wood lying on the side of the road.

Eventually I popped out and ended up in Hampshire and the New Forest :-)

I was initially taken back by how liitle forest there was in the forest!

But then there was trees, and everything was ok :-) Besides the horses made up for it anyway!

Eventually I ended up at Lymington arriving at about 12:30 :-) I bought my foot passenger ticket (£11.90), and parked up and had my lunch whilst I waited for the ferry to arrive.

The cycle to Lymington from Chippenham was 66.88 miles and took approximately 4 hours 25 mins with an average speed of 15.13 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

When the ferry arrived and after the passengers had alighted, the foot passengers were the first to board :-)

I was a bit uncertain about leaving the bike alone in the rack provided, but on consideration who the hell could steal it on board a boat!

At Yarmouth I decided to do a clockwise tour of the island :-)

Within minutes of setting of I came across wonderfull blue seas and lovely shoreline.

Unfortunately it would be another 30 miles before I would sea anything as stunning :-(

I have never come across so many traffic lights as on the Isle of Wight, and they are nearly all at the bottom of hills!

I was naively hoping that there would be less cars on the island and that I would have an almost constant sea view, on both counts I was mistaken :-(

There was also a rumour that the Isle of White is flat, this I can confirm is also a lie. It has rolling hills and one or two of them are quite high!

It was whilst climbing one of these hills that I experienced the second chain suck of the day and this one appears to be terminal for the front derailleur (Notice the crack in the picture)

Plan is to take the bike in for a service next week, I will get them to replace the front derailleur at the same time.

The tour of the island was approxiamately 50 miles and took approxiamtely 3 hours 40 minutes.
The GPS and phone had a hissy fit about 5 miles from Yarmouth and I lost the will to fix it on the side of the road!

I managed to get back to Yarmouth at 5:30 and caught the ferry arriving back at Lymington at about 6:15 where wifey was waiting in the car to take me home :-)

The RunGPS plot of the world tour of IOW can be found here...

The cycle computer had todays ride as 117.30 miles in 7 hours 56 minutes with an average speed of 14.7 mph

And I enjoyed it!

Day 388

2009-05-08T21:26:00.003+01:00

Did a drive by pick up of wifey and daughter on the way home from work and went swimming :-)

I actually managed to do a full 20 lengths without stopping, wifey tried instructing me on a better swimming style rather than my personally discovered 'Edge of Drowning' style...

I dont quite understand how I can feel more tired after 20 lengths of swimming than I do after 50 miles of cycling????

Now I had planned to start tapering the cycling this month...but the prospect of a long and interesting cycle tommorow intrigues me :-)

Day 387

2009-05-07T21:20:00.006+01:00

Wifey bought me some more cycle gear from Aldi today :-)

When I got home I changed into a new pair of shorts and top and went for a rather wet and windy cycle ride.

I planned on doing my 'normal 20' but there was another major accident on the A3102 near Hilmarton (The second one in a week) and the road was closed :-(

I turned around and battled against a headwind and headed for Calne town centre, a 4x4 thing overtook me and braked instantly to give way to cars coming the other way- I braked and the rear tyre skidded on the wet road (I was hoping the now slick rear tyre would last another week or two! I now guess it won't) Thankfully I stopped! But I did treat the rest of the ride with a bit of caution.

Once in Calne centre I headed for the country, when I was at a point that I could head home I realised that my ride would only be about 15 miles...so I headed in the wrong direction to get a few more miles!

I must be mad, it was wet, windy and poor light! But I was enjoying it!

When I got home and got in the shower, I didn't feel cold but the hot water felt like it was stinging on my hands and legs, but on my body it just felt warm. It was a very strange sensation and I guess means that my hands/arms and legs were in fact cold!

The cycle computer had tonight's ride as 25.67 miles in 1 hour 41 minutes with an average speed of 15.1 mph.

Interestingly Lyneham Met office had the wind speed as 11 mph SSW and the temperature as 10.4 deg - Not cold! I will have to watch the effect of rain and wind on my body temperature, over the winter I had lots of extra layers on and I was conscious of keeping warm.

The RunGPS plot of the ride can be found here...

Day 386

2009-05-06T19:34:00.005+01:00

Newspaper photographer took my picture for the paper today :-)

Stopped work at 5:45 and went out for a VERY windy ride. Lyneham MET office had the wind as 22mph Westerly gusting to 29 mph! I thought it would be a good idea to ride up of all the local steep gradient hills in one ride :-) - Naish Hill, Bowden Hill, Bencroft Hill, Wick Hill.

It did lead to a very convoluted route!

The cycle computer had the ride as 31.85 miles in 2 hours 7 mins with an average speed of 14.9 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 385

2009-05-05T18:34:00.003+01:00

I am VERY tired after last night's concert!

Saxon were excellent :-)

Night off tonight playing computer games :-)

Day 384 (Bank Holiday Monday)

2009-05-04T16:14:00.005+01:00

Had a fantastic lie in!

Eventually got up and did the normal Sunday tidy up (Put back a day due to yesterday's cycle ride).

I then busied myself cleaning and re-oiling the Merida, it had been suffering from a sticky rear de-railleur. (Not any more!)

Whilst I was cleaning the bike I missed a phone call from the local papers photographer :-( The picture will now be taken on Wednesday..

I set of on a nice short ride at 1:30, into a rather harsh headwind (Lyneham observation had it at 19 mph WSW gusting to 31 mph).

I headed out of Chippenham to Corsham (Via country lanes) then headed to Pickwick and Five Ways before turning towards Atworth and Shaw, where I had a rather good Tail Wind :-)

At Shaw I turned left and cycled up Goodes Hill, at the bottom of the descent I turned right toward Lacock then up Naish Hill. Then it was a right turn at Sandy Lane and a head wind back home.

The cycle computer had the ride as 23.59 miles in 1 hour 36 mins with an average speed of 14.6 mph.

The RunGPS plot of the ride can be found here...

Ohhhhh going to see Saxon tonight in the O2 Academy in Bristol :-)

Day 383 (Sunday)

2009-05-03T21:18:00.014+01:00

Had a very late night!

Managed to wake up and get up reasonably early, had porridge for breakfast then set of for a cycle ride at 8:30 am.

I set of towards the Severn Bridge, stopping just before Rudgeway to take a picture of a ruined church (I have seen it a few times and want to find out a bit more about the place)

I added a new Severn Bridge picture to my collection!

Once across the Severn in Chepstow I turned left onto National Cycle Route 42 - It was a fantastic country lane route that went all the way to the top of Gospel Pass :-)

The first clear view of the Black Mountains was quite daunting.

The first major climb of the day was out of Abergavenny up the aptly named Hill Road (Pen Y Pound)

From here it was a rather nice and cooling downhill run, then started the rather long climb to the top of Gospel Pass.

Not quite at the top, but at the end of the steepest climb (Looking back down the hill)...

Just a little more to go...

The views from the top were stunning and the roads were awesome.

Now I was a bit of a fool today, I forgot to take any spare batteries for the GPS Phone. It survived until just before the top of the mountain (Well about 200 foot below the top). I cycled a little bit further on toward Hay on Wye, then I decided that it may be safer to back track my route and meet up with wifey (She was following me and set of from home about 2 hours after me)

When I got back to the top she was just coming the other way :-) (thankfully!) I turned around and went back down towards Hay on Wye to a parking area and had an Ice Cream :-)

We agreed that I would cycle back down the mountain and meet her at the bottom for a nice drive home. So I turned around again and cycled back up to the top! (Not bad I cycled over the mountain top at least 3 times!)

But the ride down was certainly fun! (And Fast!)

When I got to the bottom I loaded the bike into the back of the car, had a nice pint of cider in the pub, and wifey drove me home.

We ended up getting home at about 6:30, then went out for an evening meal.

The cycle computer had the ride as 88.14 miles in 6 hours 51 minutes with an average speed of 12.8 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

A couple of top tips from today's ride are....

Don't do a cycle ride up a mountain in a north westerly direction when the prevailing wind is North West! - Normally I do loop rides so I end up with a tail wind benefit at some time....Not Today though!

If you rely on GPS navigation don't forget to take spare batteries!

Day 382 (Saturday)

2009-05-02T19:09:00.007+01:00

Got up early and it was sunny :-)

Made Porridge for breaky, then went for a walk in West Woods with Wifey and Rosie (Dog)

The Blue Bells are well and truly out and looking as stunning as ever!
We actually saw some deer amongst the Blue Bells, but they were a bit to camera shy and I was a bit to slow!

I have been guessing how far our 'normal' woods' walk is for a fair while so I decided to gps track it today...the RunGPS plot can be found here... (As you can see I stopped a few time to take photies :-)

On the drive back from the woods we saw a sign that's up there with "Giant Car Boot Sale" and "Slow Work Men in Road" :-)

Exactly why would people run slowly in the road?

When we got back from the walk we went to the supermarket for lunch and did some shopping for the weekend.

On arriving back home I gave the bike a quick clean and then set of for a completely unplanned ride :-)

I set of on the A4 towards Patterdown and then turned towards Lacock and headed up Naish Hill (We have now worked out that it is Naish Hill NOT Nash Hill). At the top I headed onto the A342 after cycling through Sandy Lane I turned of the busy road and headed cross country to Headington and Stockley.

Sandy Lane has one of the coolest wooden thatched churches I have ever seen!

From Headington and Stockley I headed out towards Tockenham then Dauntsey, turning right to the Somerfords, at Sutton Benger I headed back down the A4 then turned right to Foxham.

I finally cycled up Wick Hill then down Bencroft Hill and Stanley Lane arriving back home at 5pm.

The cycle computer had the ride as 44.5 miles in 2 hours 29 mins with an average speed of 17.8 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 381

2009-05-01T22:08:00.005+01:00

It would have been so easy not to have gone for a ride tonight!

The evening was overcast and a little dark (Like going back in time a couple of months to the dark ages of winter), I gave myself a mental kick up the backside and got changed - eventually setting of at 7pm.

It was the same as always when I feel a little lazy and lethargic, the thought of going out is the hurdle, once I was on the bike and pedaling, a smile appears and I wonder what all the mental drama was about!

I was even contemplating extending the ride, but the light was not good so I ended up doing my normal 20!

The cycle computer had the ride as 21.31 miles with an average speed of 18.2 mph in 1 hour 10 minutes.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Wifey contacted the local news paper (Gazzette & Herald) and they are going to put me and JOGLE in the paper next week, with a photo!!!! (I am actually quite Nervous about it)

And finally, even if you don't like cycling you can't fail to be impressed by Lance Armstrong in this video...

Day 380

2009-04-30T19:34:00.004+01:00

Nightmare drive home :-(

Took over an hour to do 20 miles (I can definitely do better than that on the bike!)

Took a major detour off the Fosse Way and ended up driving down a load of roads that I cycled down last year :-) (It was definately faster in the car - but I preferred the cycling!)

I think I have cycled enough this month anyway so I am taking a rest!

A big thank you to all of the people that sponsored us today :-) With a month to go I think I should put some effort into raising some cash for MacMillan.

Day 379 - Over 1000 miles in April

2009-04-29T11:53:00.009+01:00

Part 1...
WFH day today. Got up early and loaded the Merida onto the roof of the car, dropped the car off at the garage to get the brakes done, then cycled home the long way :-)

It was quite cold and foggy first thing as I cycled up from Melksham to Devizes I emerged from the clouds into beautiful warm sunshine :-)

I wonder why people drive such short distances through towns, I am certain that I was through Devizes before most of the people in their cars had moved a few feet!

The cycle computer had this mornings ride as 22.78 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes with an average speed of 16.5 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I have now cycled 1012.09 miles so far in April.....

Part 2...
I worked through lunch, then set off to pick the car up at 2:30 pm.

The A350 can be a bit of a mad road so I opted to cycle through Lacock and up Nash Hill, then down through Bromham and finally through Melksham to Bowerhill.

The Cycle Computer had the ride as 15.41 miles in 59 minutes.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Part 3...
It was such a nice sunny evening and wifey had gone out so I thought it would be nice to go for a cycle ride :-)

Some sort of madness in me thought it would be interesting to cycle up all of the local steep hills in one session (Except Nash Hill because I did that one today already)

So I set off and pedaled up Bencroft Hill, cycled around the countryside a bit then swept back round and up Wick Hill. Then it was down and up into Studley and I joined the A342 towards the top of Derry Hill, I cycled down Nash Hill went down and around Lacock then cycled up Bowden Hill and then headed back home down Old Derry Hill.

The ride elevation profile looks very interesting :-)

The Cycle Computer had the ride as 28.51 miles in 1 hour 58 minutes with an average speed of 14.4 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I have now cycled 1056.21 miles this month!

Day 378

2009-04-28T22:04:00.004+01:00

I would normally take a Tuesday night off, but tonight my son showed an interest in going for a cycle ride :-)

I took the SPD pedals off the Dawes and lowered the saddle to his height and we cycled to Lacock (No cycleway this time as I was on the Merida)

We cycled out of Chippenham on the A4 then turned towards Patterdown and Showell then cut through Lackham College to Lacock

We cycled through Lacock village then up Bowden Hill (We stopped at the Rising Sun (Pub) for a quick drink). At Sandy Lane I turned back to Chippenham and home, Sonny Jim continued to his friends at Bromham.

The Cycle computer had my ride as 13.13 miles in 51 minutes with an average speed of 15.3 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I now only need to do 10.79 miles to have done 1000 miles in April!

Day 377

2009-04-27T20:53:00.011+01:00

Got home from work, it was very wet and looked like it may rain again so I opted for a ride on the Dawes.

It felt very strange! very heavy! very slow! (The Merida is a lot more comfortable!)

I missed the mountains! so I thought I would climb up the steepest hills :-)

I cycled along the Wilts & Berks Canal cycleway from Chippenham to Lacock.

Then I turned right and cycled up Nash Hill, I stopped and took a photy at the bottom, It does get steeper!

At the top I turned right onto the A342 at Sandy Lane then it was downhill to Bromham then a right turn toward Melksham I stopped at the top of another descent and took some pictures of the Wiltshire countryside :-)

In the distance the Hills at Westbury could clearly be seen...(I think I shall be heading of and climbing them again soon!)

At Melksham it was a right turn and the start of a climb towards Lacock.
The Melksham road ends at a T junction at the foot of Bowden Hill....and my next challenge :-)

I stopped at the top of Bowden Hill to take some arty farty sunset photos

At this point my feet started to get cold!

I continued up the hill to Sandy Lane then it was a right turn and down Old Derry Hill and back to Chippenham :-)

At the idiotic traffic calming feature a complete numpty driver thought he would do 40mph in the 30 and try and overtake me at the same time as I was going through the narrow suicide lane!

The cycle computer had the ride as 21.16 miles in 1 hour 29 minutes with an average speed of 14.1 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I think the Dawes (Hybrid) is very incompatible with the Merida (Road Race) and I am really unsure as to the viability of taking it on JOGLE as a spare.

I think it may well get left behind for the summer and get used as a winter trainer.

Ohhhh I only need to do 24.5 miles to have done 1000 miles this month :-)

Day 376 (Sunday)

2009-04-26T20:29:00.018+01:00

Woke up bright and early and went for a nice walk around Penmachno, the sun was up and it was already warm :-)

Along the way we came across a slate fence, slabs of slate were slotted end on into the ground, the whole idea of it intrigues me :-)

When we got back to the hostel I got my bike from the secure lockup and got ready to go to meet Dave...I was attempting to look as cool as possible :-)

I eventually met up with Dave at about 9:15 and we set of on a nice 20 mile very rural ride :-)

The first stop was at the end of a really long climb to a lake at Llyn Crafnant

Dave insisted on taking a picture of me to obscure the scenery...

On the climb to the lake we passed a Billy Goat in its home, we stopped on the descent to take a photy....

Dave Awarded me the Billy Goatie of the Mountain award....I think he may have been impressed with my ability to climb the mountains yesterday...and again today....(We don't talk about 1:4 and greater....)

After the descent it was a right turn then up another hill, then the road started to get green with moss and there was a 1:7 sign, the hill went up and it was easy enough, then it went round a corner and went up steeper (Definitely NOT 1:7) I managed to keep going for a few more feet then I was not overcoming the pedals anymore and I gave in and walked!....

The real shocker here is.........so did Dave! (And he wasn't just being nice to me....the Hill defeated him to!.....)

At the top the roads started to get VERY rural....But still in better condition than many of the Wiltshire 'A' roads!

We then started the descent to the second lake stop at Llyn Geirionydd

The roads were fantastic and the scenery was wonderful.

We then came back to the Hill that defeated me yesterday, but this time it was a descent, I did stop to take a photo of it, but the gradient just does NOT show on a photograph.....So have this picture of Dave instead....

The descent back to Betws-Y-Coed was much faster for Dave than it was for me....I remembered the gravel and slippery surface of yesterday and hence was braking for most of the downhill (Good job I have a stock pile of Shimano 105 brake blocks now!)

The Cycle computer had the ride as 21.01 miles in 1 hour and 40 minutes with an average speed of 12.5 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

RunGPS had the ride as 1606 ft climb with min altitude at 199 ft and a maximum altitude at 988 ft.

We left Wales at 11am :-( and had a roast lunch in a pub on the way home :-)

I had no knee problems at all over the weekend :-) unfortunately when I got to Chepstow the driving was giving me some knee agro! (Not sure if it was the clutch action or the lack of movement after the morning cycle?)

When I got home I realised the best course of action to free it all up was to go for a cycle ride :-)

So I donned the cycle gear and went for a nice easy 'normal 20' ride. The hills seemed like nothing now! Ohhh how my perceptions have changed!

The cycle computer had the ride as 21.51 miles in 1 hour 14 min with an average speed of 17.3 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

When I got back home all knee aches had stopped :-) and I set about cooking the evening meal...

This weekend was a fantastic experience, I am looking forward to my next mountain ride :-)

Thank you Dave for your time and effort this weekend. It was greatly appreciated.

And if there wasn't enough interesting glossy things to see in this weekends bloggage....have a look at this video, the guy is mad!

Day 375 (Saturday)

2009-04-25T17:25:00.006+01:00

Wohhhoooooo I'm in Wales.

I didn't sleep to well, but did eat Spag Bol for tea, woke up far to early and set of from the hostel to meet Dave far to early!

I was supposed to set of at 9:30 and meet Dave at 10, I ended up setting of at 9 and we set of from his guest house at 9:30.

We headed out of Betws-Y-Coed on the A5 and the turned of onto country roads, the roads got steeper and steeper untill we reached at least a 1:4 gradient, I got a little way up it and ended up on the grass bank, so I stopped turned around then tried again, I ended up wheel spinning on the gravel in the middle of the road and again ended up cycling towards the grass bank, I gave it up as a bad idea and walked the 100 feet or so to the top of the gradient, feeling a little disappointed with myself :-(

That was the low point in the day and the steepest gradient! I battled and won on all of the other climbs :-)

Dave was pointing out all of the key mountains in the area, I was listening and taking it in (Honestly...But I have forgoten them all!)

The first stop of the day was after a 1170ft climb to Ogwen

At Ogwen we turned off of the A5 and did a massive drop on some single track lanes :-)

If you look into the distance you can still see the road way of into the distance :-)

At the bottom of the descent there was another photo opportunity :-)
There was more hill climbing,descending and wrong turns :-) At one point I saw a group of cyclists ahead and put on a turn of speed to catch up with them, only to end up disappointed at how slowly they were going!

The descent from Dinorwic was very interesting! on one steep down hill there was a sharp right hand turn, which I almost didn't!

We cycled up the Llanberis pass and stopped at the Pen-Y-Pas for lunch, I did get to the top first :-)

The downhill from Pen-Y-Pas was slowed due to a killing headwind!

At the bottom of the descent Dave was seen to be taking his jacket off again...I just kept mine on all of the time.

The views and scenery all day were stunning, the climbs were long and hard but very achievable. It must be noted that today I only achieved around 75 miles in 6 hours! I would normally be hoping to be doing around 100 miles in that time, 10 mile hills take a toll on the speed and energy!

The final climb of the day was up through Blaenau Ffestiniog and it was long, steep and bloody hard work! But again the view from the top was worth it and this time the down hill was with a tail wind :-) (Unfortunately still didn't hit my target 5o mph....only got to 47 mph)

The day was long, hard and tough but most definitely worth it!

Lessons learnt, cycling downhill on unknown roads can be very scary, the first major downhill stretch was on damp rural roads with moss growing in the middle I almost didn't make it to the bottom of the hill. The next rural downhill stretch had a very steep right hand corner, I almost ended up going straight on!!!! I can cycle almost all day uphill but if the gradient gets too steep I am defeated. Cycling downhill into a headwind can be as hard as cycling uphill. Unfortunately no matter how beautiful the scenery when cycling you miss most of it!

Thank you for your time and effort Dave... It was very much appreciated.

I may have still looked raring to go...but believe me I was knackered!

The cycle computer had today's ride as 75.34 miles in 5 hours 36 mins with an average speed of 13.4 mph and a new top speed of 47 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

RunGPS had the total climb as 5114 feet with the minimum altitude at 183ft and the maximum altitude at 1405 feet.

Day 374

2009-04-24T20:42:00.002+01:00

No cycling today...

Loaded the Merida onto the car at 6am then drove carefully to work!

Wifey drove up and met me in Warwick at 4pm, we then drove on to Betws y Coed in North Wales.

We have an interesting hilly ride planned for tomorrow

Day 373

2009-04-23T21:42:00.003+01:00

Got home, got changed then went for a nice 20 mile ride :-)
When I got back home I fitted the roof bars and cycle carrier on the car in preparation for tomorrows drive to Wales via work :-)

I did a trial fit of the Merida to the bars and everything seamed very tall but very sturdy :-)

I then fed myself....

Then I set about cleaning and oiling the bike in preparation for the weekend. (I am hoping that it would stay clean after the Tuesday clean but yesterdays fog got it damp and dirty again - Besides Dave was already having a go about the chain...now it blings again!)

After all of that I set about packing the bike bits I need for the weekend....

Tonights ride was 21.30 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes with an average speed of 18.4 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I am 163.79 miles off of doing 1000 miles this month!

Day 372

2009-04-22T08:20:00.004+01:00

Part 1...

Got up at 5:45 am, out on the bike at just gone 6am

There was no wind but it was a little foggy and cold. It felt like I was cycling through treacle! very hard work!

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.79 miles in 1 hour 36 with an average speed of 16 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Part 2...

Stopped work at 5pm and prepared a BBQ for 6pm, made some home made burgers and some pork kebabs :-)

After eating I got changed then set of on my 'normal 25' at 6:45pm, The ride was definately a lot easier tonight than it was this morning...even with a tummy full of food!!!!

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.68 miles in 1 hour 28 minutes with an average speed of 17.4 mph, I actually did a massive 44 mph down Bencroft Hill :-)

The RunGPS plot of the ride can be found here...

When I got home I had to do the washing and tidying up from tea :-(

I stumbled across some really interesting old (1955) cycling video's today :-)

They are worth a watch even if you dont like cycling....I am starting to wonder what improvements modern life brings???? 1955 looks a lot nicer than 2009! (Although I would still want Computers,MP3's and the Internet!)

Day 371

2009-04-21T21:53:00.005+01:00

Got in from work, put shorts and t-shirt on and wheeled the Merida outside and gave it a bit of a clean.

Had intentions of changing the chain but measuring it showed that there was no stretch yet :-) (I measured from the 1 inch marker to the 13 inch marker)

Although a close look at the rear brake blocks showed that I needed to replace them.....again.....

I also lubed the cables a little and made sure everything was set up correctly :-)

Spent the rest of the evening playing computer games.

Day 370

2009-04-20T20:41:00.005+01:00

Got in from work, got changed and went straight out on the bike :-)

There was very little wind and the sun was still out and it was lovely and warm :-) - Acording to Lyneham Met office it was 17.2 degrees C with a 3 mph Northerly wind.

I was a bit unsure about going out for a ride today as my legs were still aching a bit from the weekends exercise, but after a mile or so everything freed up and I was going along great guns :-)

As I cycled through Sutton Benger I glanced at the RunGPS screen and it showed an average speed of 19.4 mph! After the long grind from Draycot Cerne to Kington Langley I had scrubbed a few points off of that :-(
I still made it home with an average speed of 19.1 mph :-)

I usually use my Monday and Thursday 20 mile training rides to push the speed a little - its not a flat ride by any means but it is a constant that I can judge myself against, the Wednesday is to climb some hills and Saturday and Sunday is for endurance.

The fastest I have done my 20 to-date is 18.5 mph so to get a .6mph increase is staggering!

The cycle computer had today's ride as 21.36 miles in 1 hour 6 minutes with an average speed of 19.1 mph :-)

The RunGPS plot of today's ride can be found here...

Day 369 (Sunday)

2009-04-19T17:35:00.015+01:00

Woke up early and had porridge for breakfast, I dressed up with cycle shorts and cycle t-shirt under a long sleeved wind proof jacket and cycle trousers, although it was forecast to be a nice day, it was a bit overcast and chilly first thing in the morning!

I packed a couple of rolls for lunch, 1 peanut butter and honey and 1 ham, mixed up 3 bottles of Torq 1 750 ml bottle and 2 500 ml bottles, I also packed two 350ml bottles of Lucozade in the back pack, I also packed a packet of Jaffa Cakes in the Fuel Tank for the in ride nourishment.

I eventualy set off from home at 8:40 am (Not sure why so late? I got up early and everything!) It really was quite cold! and hard work fighting into a head wind all of the time.

I did actualy get around to stopping and taking a photo of one of my favourite village names :-)

It's on the road from Chippenham to Yatton Keynell and if you blink let alone wink you miss it!

From TiddleyWink it was on to Yate then the Severn Bridge thankfully when I reached the Severn the sun was well and trully out, although it was still a tadge cold.

The first glimpses of the bridge...

The cycle path to the bridge is very 'interesting' to find!

I have a very healthy fear of heights so just focused ahead!!

Eventually I popped out the other side at Chepstow and in Wales :-)

A quick ride through Chepstow....Hmmm well not that quick as I was still fighting a headwind!

And I popped out at Chepstow Castle :-)

Then I was heading back into England.

And little did I know the start of a massively long climb that appeared to continue for 10 miles!
On the plus side I was passed at the bridge where I was taking photos by 2 chaps on bikes, I had overtaken them by the top of the hill :-)

When I got to the top it was time to remove the windproof jacket and cycle trousers, I was in the process of melting!

It wasn't long before I got my first glimpses of the Forest of Dean and thankfully some payback for all of the climbing - some massively down hill bits :-)

The forest was a fantastic place to cycle through :-) I stopped for lunch at 55 miles, halfway up another steep hill!

The view down the hill was awesome!

The gradient got a lot steeper further up the road:-(

I found a nice log to park the bike up against and park my arse on! I consumed the 2 rolls and 1 of the lucozade's

From the Forest it was more hard climbing to Cinderford then downhillish to Gloucester.

Things started of well in Gloucester this time - I did have to stop at a small raising bridge to let a boat go through.

Then things went awry, I got lost! I was heading south, but to Bristol not Stroud :-(
After heading south for a mile or two, I came across a right turn to Stroud, this did result in another long drawn out hill but eventually I was back on track.

Then It was more hill climbing to Stroud, I stopped half way up a long drawn out hill to consume the second lucozade and cool down a bit!

From Stroud it was straight forward to Nailsworth, then I was back on familiar roads to Tetbury and Malmesbury, I deviated from the planned route and came home via the backroads to Sutton Benger and Tytherton Lucas - Mainly because the Gloucester deviation added 5 miles or so to the route all ready and I wanted to get home before 5pm!

The cycle computer had today's ride as 107.87 miles in 7 hours 23 minutes with an average speed of 14.5 mph (The Headwind all the way to Gloucester was a killer!)

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 368 (Saturday)

2009-04-18T21:05:00.011+01:00

Woke up and got up early, cereal for breakfast then took Rosie (Dog) for a walk at West Woods.

I think wifey was expecting the Blue Bells to be fully out, but I dont think that will be for another week or two, but still the primroses and the few blue bells that are out make a nice scene :-)

When we got back from the woods dropped Rosie of at home and picked daughter up then went on to the supermarket for lunch :-) and weekly shop :-(

On arriving back at home it was to late to wash the bike before my ride so I set of on a planned 55 mile ride. About half way round I realised that I wouldn't make my deadline 4:30 arrival home so I cut a few corners of and ended up doing a 50 mile ride.

The roads were very quiet and I was really enjoying myself apart from the constant head wind I was battling against!

I was feeling a bit disappointed about my 25% hill failings last week so I thought I would climb some big hills today!!!

The first noticeable hill was at Broad Town..

Which I climbed with relative ease, then it was Hackpen Hill - A little more tricky but still climbed it without lifting out of the seat!

I have come to the conclusion that Hill climbing is as much a state of mind as it is physical ability! I am certain I have the ability but sometimes my self confidence fails...

After Hackpen it was a high speed run with a nice tail wind to Marlborough :-) A short stretch of A4 then it was back onto nice quiet country roads through Lockeridge and Boreham, at Alton I opted to shorten the ride and not traverse through new and exciting roads for me....

The road were nice and open and I was pleasantly not fighting a headwind!

I am certain the oil seed is flowering earlier this year???

I eventually made it home at gone 5pm :-( perhaps setting of at 2pm for a 50 mile ride isn't a good idea, when you have to be back at 4:30!!! Just because I see 20 mph + on the cycle computer doesn't mean that I cycle at 20mph average!

The cycle computer had today's ride as 49.98 miles in 3 hours 14 minutes with an average speed of 15.4 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

When I got home, I cooked the BBQ that wifey had prepared :-)

After tea I washed and oiled the bike in preparation for tomorrows ride :-) I am planning to skip household chores and go for another 100 miler :-) Venturing across the Severn Bridge and into Wales....Lets hope the weather forecast hold true!

Day 367

2009-04-17T18:08:00.007+01:00

Got in from London at 1 am this morning, left the O2 at 10:20 pm -We had to leave before the end so we could catch our train home from Paddington :-(

AC/DC were awesome, but the real shocker was the extreamly excellent support band 'The Answer' - They were so good I bought their new album as we were leaving the O2.

Have a look at http://www.theanswer.ie/home.html

Our seats in the O2 were far to high and far to parallel with the stage, but the atmosphere was awesome :-)

I dont think I will 'EVER' buy seated concert tickets again!

I finaly entered the land of living again at 8:30 this morning. Even though it was hammering down with rain I thought a quick 20 mile ride would wake me up and kick me back into normality!

I cycled directly to Calne and popped into 'Peddlers' my favourite cycle shop and bought a new chain in preparation for JOGLE. Martin also sorted out the inline cable tensioner for the rear de-railier - It had become non functioning....

On my soggy return home I got changed then spent a quality relaxing afternoon replacing the head gasket on my son's car - Not bad really started the job at 1pm car running and job finished at 5:30.

Plan this evening is to go for our normal Friday swim and stop on the way home for some well earned pub tucker :-) - I may even have a pint or two of cider as well...

The cycle computer had todays very wet ride as 23.85 miles in 1 hour 32 minutes with an average speed of 15.5 mph

The RunGPS plot of the ride can be found here...

Ohhh I noticed the JOGLE countdown timer has broken :-( I guess I will remove it from the blog....

Ohhhh and Ohhhhh I was surfing around the CTC site and stumbled across Frank Kinlan's website, He to was a little on the large side and discovered cycling, 4 years ago, It is amazing the things he has discovered and the problems he has had are exactly the same as me....

Day 366

2009-04-16T14:22:00.002+01:00

Worked from home today :-)

Started work early, then set of for a slightly longer than normal work from home ride at 11:30 ish

According to the cycle computer I did 34.54 miles in 2 hours 4 minutes with an average speed of 16.5 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

I am off to see AC/DC in the O2 tonight :-)

Day 365 - 6251 miles in 1 year!

2009-04-15T21:12:00.007+01:00

Well it was exactly 1 year ago that I started training for JOGLE!

I didnt really know what I was getting myself into, but I have REALLY enjoyed it so far! I have changed, my attitude has changed, my approach to things has changed, I am more tolerant of things that dont go my way and I am totaly amazed of what I have accomplished so far and what I am able to do! I always knew that I had a lot of will power, but the extent of my madness has even surprised me!

I have NO idea exactly how much weight I have lost in the last 12 months but I would hazard a guess that it is about 5 stones.

Me a year ago...

Me a week ago!

I have run out of holes in belts and had to replace them, old tight shirts are now very loose on me, ALL of my suits are to big!

So in 1 year I have cycled 6251 miles! If we concider my average speed to be 15mph and my weight to be 97.5 Kg that equates to 406,250 calories in 416 hours 40 minutes!

When I got home today I got changed and went straight out on the Chippenham -> Calne -> Lyneham -> Dauntsey -> Chippenham 'Normal 20' ride.

The first time I did the ride was on April 26th last year and it took me 2 hours and 4 minutes, today it took me 1 hour and 9 minutes with an average speed of 18 mph!

The RunGPS plot of todays ride can be found here...

I am now looking forward to the next 12 months of riding :-)

Day 364

2009-04-14T18:50:00.001+01:00

I was going to go out for a ride when I got home from work......But wifey made me feel guilty and it is computer games night!

So I bowed to a greater power and didnt go out!

Day 363 (Easter Monday)

2009-04-13T17:32:00.005+01:00

Woke up at a sensible time for a change! It was a little misty out and the weather forecast was for a bright and sunny afternoon, so I decided I would get started on some house chores first then go for a cycle ride after lunch :-)

I painted the front sheds with wood preserver, fixed the outside tap (The pipe had burst over the winter), replaced the kitchen tap (It had developed a leak from the mixer head) then stopped for lunch. By this time the sun had come out and the weather was fantsatic :-)

I set off at about 12:40pm, the intention was to repeat yesterday's Headington, Tockenham ride.

I had been meaning to stop at the church at Tockenham for quite a while, it had appeared on a Time Team episode and I wanted to have a look at the statue in the church wall. (Today I finally got around to it!)

When I left Tockenham and headed towards Tockenham Wick I stopped on the downhill stretch!!!! To take a photy of the trees in blossom!

At Dauntsey I was enjoying the ride so much instead of turning back towards Foxham I turned towards Great Somerford then headed for Sutton Benger then back towards Foxham - adding about 5 miles to the ride :-)

The ride was really good and enjoyable, I had NO knee problems at all :-)

The cycle computer had todays ride as... 40.05 miles in 2 hours 23 minutes with an average speed of 16.6 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Ohhhhhhh I have now done over 2000 miles this year!

Day 362 (Sunday)

2009-04-12T17:02:00.003+01:00

Slept incredibly well, got up with no knee pain at all, so I decided to tweak some bike adjustments a little and go for a nice 35 mile ride.

I raised the saddle 1/2 cm and adjusted the right hand cleat to twist my heel out (On advice this was what was needed)

I set off up Old Derry Hill and immediately my knee started aching, and it felt wrong! When I got to the top I stopped and adjusted the cleat so my heel was slightly in, and raised the saddle another 1/2 cm. Immediately everything felt right :-) The only time I felt any knee pain was when I twisted my leg i.e. Starting of from a standstill etc.

The rest of the ride felt good, I went down through Sandy Lane, Heddington, Stockley, Compton Bassett, Tockenham, Dauntsey, Foxham, Avon, East Tytherton, Stanley Lane and then Home.

The cycle computer had the ride as 35.84 miles in 2 hours 21 minutes with an average speed of 15.2 mph

The RunGPS plot of the ride can be found here...

It was nice to be able to ride without the twinging knee pain, I hope that the lack of pain today means I have got the cleat perfect, I guess the proof will come from another long ride!!!

Day 361 (Saturday)

2009-04-11T19:48:00.006+01:00

Went to bed very early last night, after having Garlic Mushroom starter, 16 oz steak main meal and 3 pints of cider :-)

After my physical exertion of yesterday and the cider you would think I would sleep straight through without a thought! unfortuantely I didnt, the cider did what cider does, I needed a pee, then unfortunately the sound of the river did what the sound of running water does....I needed a pee, my leg muscles did what leg muscles do after to much exertion and no proper stretching/massage, they cramped up!!!!

But I did sleep, and when the morning came I did feel good! Wifey n me took Rosie (dog) for a country walk towards Lynmouth.

To start of with my right knee was very stiff, but after a short climb everything started working normaly and I had no tinges or issues :-)

When we got back to the camp site I pigged out on a an 'Exmoor Challenge' humungous big breakfast - Which I polished of, leaving NO scraps on the plate at all :-)

We spent the morning exploring North Devon, traveling down the Porlock Toll road instead of Porlock Hill, stopping for lunch at a pub in Porlock Weir :-)

We headed home retracing my route of yesterday, untill we got to Bridgewater then we headed straight up the M5 and M4. And yes I do believe I was right I spent most of my ride from Bridgewater to Lynmouth going up hill!

When we got back home I washed and oiled the Merida then went out on my 'Normal 20' ride.

I had NO knee issues untill I got to Lyneham then it started twinging, I kept the gears down and attempted to NOT overdo it.

The cycle computer had today's ride as 21.55 miles in 1 hour 21 minutes with an average speed of 15.9 mph

The RunGPS plot of todays ride can be found here...

Day 360 (Easter Friday)

2009-04-10T20:37:00.017+01:00

Didnt get up quite as early as I had hoped!

On checking the bike over before my ride I noticed a nasty gash in the back tyre on the Merdia so I opted for an early change of the front and rear tyres to the Schwalbe Blizzard's I have bought for JOGLE.

I eventualy got out on the road at 9am, and the weather forecast was spot on! Overcast WSW wind and a real threat of rain!

The ride from home through Bradford-on-Avon, Norton St Philip and Charlton was reasonably dry! And quite nice as it was the reverse of the cycle home from Wells a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly the hill down to Hungerford Castle seamed a lot steeper than the ride up it!

As I got to Shepton Mallet the first drops of rain started to fall :-( This was going to be a damp day....

The hill down through Pilton was fantastic :-)

The Glastonbury Tor was very obscured by cloud and misty rain:-(

I appeared to be making very good time, which was surprising due to the constant head wind! And I made it to Bridgewater at about 12:30, unfortunately Bridgewater is designed as a stationary town as there are Traffic lights evey 2 feet! I had descided I would stop for lunch when I was out of Bridgewater and on the A39 proper (Just in case wifey caugt up with me - She was driving and left home at about 12:30)

Even though I had been munching JaffaCakes every 10 miles I was ravenous and dissolved the two Ham Sandwiched in minutes :-)

After Bridgewater the weather cheered up a lot and I started to dry out! I also caught my first sights of the Bristol Channel:-)

I did however appear to be constantly cycling up hill! But things were moving along incredibly well:-)

Minehead came and went and I was on my way to Porlock and the famous Porlock Hill - I did the 88 Miles to the base of Porlock hill in 6 hours! And things were looking good!

Now in hind site I should have taken the toll road it is a much longer hill but not as steep!
There are a number of things I have now realised about very steep hills!
1) They are very steep!
2)You need to have VERY low gears to get up them!
3)You need to have VERY sticky tyres to get up them!
4)Cars struggling to get up them are not inclined to be tolerant of bicycles strugging to get up them!
5)Cars can blow their engines going up them! Then you get a face full of oil smoke!
6)Specific to Porlock Hill - It is almost impssible to cycle over a cattle grid going up a steep hill.
7)After 88 miles of cycling into a wind attempting to cycle up a 1:4 hill is not a very good idea!

I managed to make it up the hill to the first major gradient and right hand corner! My right hand knee started hurting every time I put load on it! I opted for the safer walking up the first short bit of 25% :-(
I got back on the bike as the road turned the second 25% hill, and was going quite well until a little Fiat thing rattled by vomiting its oil out of the exhaust as it went, I then stopped and choked a bit!.

I managed to cycle up the rest of the hill, getting off just one more time to walk over a cattle grid, that was in a 1:6 ish part of the hill.

Unfortunatley this is when wifey caught up with me and she was then under the impression that I walked all the way up the hill :-(

So I can do 1:6 hills relatively easily, 1:5 hills I can work my way up, 1:4 hills stop me dead!

Wifey stopped in a layby further up the road and tooks some photies of me cycling.

Unfortunately from this point onwards every time I put to much load on my right leg my knee twinged! (Interesting not from the outer ligament where it normally aches but from the inside)

It did of course give me lots of excuses for stopping and taking photies of things :-)

Porlock Hill does go on for ever! The climb is over 1370 feet...

Once I got to the top I thought that it would be plain sailing to the camp site (I only had 12 miles left to go - How difficult can that be???)

Well ......

Wifey descided that she would route me down single track lanes.

The perspective doesn't show it well but there were 2 or more 25% down hills, and a similar number of 25% up hills! With muddy farm tracks and fords to cross.

At least one track had signs saying not suitable for motorised vehicles!

I eventualy arrived at the camp site 7 hours 48 minutes after setting of from home! It took me 6 hours to do 88 miles and 1 hour 48 minutes to do 14 miles!

It was fun :-)

I will definately be doing it again, but the next time I will NOT go up Porlock Hill but take the longer but not quite as steep toll road.

My vertical limit is most definately 1:5!!!! Unless I get some much lower gears on the bike and even then I will need stickier tyres!

The cycle computer had today's ride as 102.29 miles in 7 hours 23 minutes with an average speed of 13.8 mph

The RunGPS plot of today's ride can be found here...

Day 359

2009-04-09T21:42:00.002+01:00

Got home, updated the RunGPS software on the phone then went out on my 'Normal 20'

I set of at 10 to 7 and got back home at about 8, due to the clouds it was getting quite dark :-( on my return I set about cleaning and oiling the bike in preperation for tommorows ride. (Planning to do another 100 mile ride)

The cycle computer had todays ride as 21.33 miles in 1 hour 12 minutes with an average speed of 17.5 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 358

2009-04-08T20:05:00.004+01:00

Set of at 6:10 on my first 25 mile ride of the day, I had no clean cycling trousers so ventured out in cycle shorts, t- shirt and wind proof top. Amazingly I was actualy quite comfortable!

There was quite a nice tail wind for the first part of the ride, unfortunately the head wind on the home stretch was very tough.

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.81 miles in 1 hour 31 minutes with an average speed of 16.9 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

The second 25 mile ride of the day began at 4:30, again the tail wind at the start of the ride was amazing, at one point I found myself plodding along at 30mph on a straight, level bit of road :-)

The weather was much warmer and sunnier than the morning and I found the ride very enjoyable.

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.71 miles in 1 hour 30 minutes with an average speed of 17.1 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Ohhhhh I have now done over 6000 miles since day 1!!!!! (I think that might actualy be a long way!)

That is more than London to San Francisco (5379.5 miles)
More than London to Hong Kong (5989.9 miles)
But less than London to Singapore (6732.3 miles)

Day 357

2009-04-07T21:09:00.002+01:00

Night off, Played computer games...

Day 356

2009-04-06T20:55:00.002+01:00

Got in from work late :-(

Wifey planed a 15 mile ride for me :-)

I set of on it...Then it started to rain heavily...Then I found myself cycling along a very unused single track road, that turned into a short section of farm track :-( Then it turned back into a road :-)

By the time I got back home it was getting dark and I was soaked wet.

The cycle computer had the ride as 15.6 miles in 1 hour 1 minute with an average speed of 15.2 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 355 (Sunday)

2009-04-05T16:48:00.011+01:00

Intention was to set of at 8 am, I did get up in plenty of time, but faffed around a bit and didn't set of until nearly 8:30 :-(

In my defense there was still a frost on the ground at 8am that had gone by 8:30 :-)

Wifey took some pictures of me looking very cool when I set off :-)

I started of on familiar road, Chippenham, Calne, Avebury, Marlborough then onto uncharted territories....

The roads were very rural and very unused, I was a bit worried about picking up a puncture.

Then it was back onto good roads at Axcroft.

From Lambourne onwards I was in Racehorse territory apparently, and the road signs reflected it!

Not sure what the difference between a horse on the road and a racehorse on the road is???

Just after Wantage I had the first sight of my target, Didcot.

10- 15 miles later I was there...

Then it was on to Abingdon where I used the Cycle lanes I found last year. The it was a turn onto the homeward bound stretch on a slightly different return loop to Wantage.

After Wantage I followed the RunGPS instructions very carefully as I was onto local cycle ways and byways to Childry. Then I followed the B4057 to Ashbury where I saw the familiar Uffington White Horse along the way.

The GPS made it easier to follow the convoluted route from Ashbury to Wootton Bassett where I got so lost last summer - where the Dawes broke down and wifey had to rescue me....No such event happened this time!

From Wootton Bassett I was back onto my own tramping ground and I turned back onto the back roads to Dauntsey then on to Tytherton Lucas and Home

The cycle computer had the ride as 112.71 miles in 7 hours 5 mins with an average speed of 15.9 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 354 (Saturday)

2009-04-04T18:35:00.007+01:00

Went for an early morning'ish walk in the woods with Wifey and Rosie (Dog) :-)

Saw the first Blue Bell of the year :-)

When we got back from walkies went shopping and had lunch at the supermarket :-)

When we got back home I set off on a bike ride, I enjoyed last week's 30 mile country roads ride so much, I thought I would repeat it but try and add even more country roads to the equation :-)

I set off out of Chippenham towards Calne and went up Old Derry Hill to Sandy Lane. Then onto the country roads to Heddington and Stockley with a fantastic tail wind and I was hammering along at over 25 mph, I had the feeling that I was going to suffer a head wind later!

As I turned onto the Compton Basset road towards Tockenham I still appeared to be stonking along at 20 mph+ and really enjoying it!

The roads were empty and great:-)

As I started turning into wind I started using the drop bars and I was still doing around 19mph

The whole ride was very enjoyable, it was my first ride in full summer kit and it was nice and warm! I am starting to realise the advantage the road bike gives me over the Dawes (Hybrid)

According to the cycle computer today's ride was 35.05 miles in 1 hour 54 minutes with an average speed of 18.3 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Tomorrow I have my first 100 mile ride of the year planned, I am really looking forward to it!

I must be mad!

Day 353

2009-04-03T21:05:00.003+01:00

Friday night swim :-)

Managed to do 20 lengths of the pool, alternated 4 lengths breast stroke and 4 lengths front crawl
interestingly I always thought my front crawl was stronger than my breast stroke, It would now appear that is not the case!

I must work harder on my front crawl technique!

After the swim we drove back home picked up Rosie (Dog) and went on out for pub grub, finally getting home at 9 pm.....hmmm I left home at 6am and didnt get back home till 9pm....I must be mad!

Day 352

2009-04-02T20:46:00.002+01:00

Got in later than I hoped from work :-( Got changed then went straight out on the bike setting of on my 'normal 20' route at 6:50

The air temp was already starting to cool, but I put lots of effort in and worked up quite a sweat and stayed relatively warm :-)

I managed to do the route in 1 hour 10 minutes with an average speed of 18.4 mph arriving back home at 8 pm.

The cycle computer had the ride as 21.31 miles in 1 hour 10 minutes.

The RunGPS plot of the ride can be found here...

Day 351

2009-04-01T09:17:00.004+01:00

Part 1...

Set the alarm for 6am and got out on the bike at 6:20 ish, It was light enough to see easily but dark enough that I needed to have front and rear lights on to be seen!

It was also quite cold and I was glad that I dressed up in the winter woolies.

I did my 'normal 25' route and the cycle computer had the ride as 25.79 miles in 1 hour 31 minutes with an average speed of 16.8 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

The traffic this week was considerably less than two week's ago, I think the 10 minutes earlier start this morning helped, I think it would be better still if I aimed to get out at 6:10 - That would get me back home before the mad rush of people going to work begins.

Part 2...
Stopped work at 4:30 and set of on another 'normal 25'- mainly to avoid the 5 o'clock mad traffic, this time it was a lot warmer and a lot sunnier, but the dormant day meant I felt very lethargic!

After the first 5 miles however I warmed up and things thundered along :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.70 miles in 1 hour 31 minutes with an average speed of 16.7 mph.

The RunGPS track can be found here...

The double 25 went well again today and any concerns that it may be to much on top of a working day appears to be unfounded.

Day 350

2009-03-31T22:39:00.001+01:00

Night Off....Played Computer games :-)

Day 349

2009-03-30T21:49:00.003+01:00

Wahay its summer :-)

Got in at 6:15 ish, Got changed then straight out for my 'normal 25', managed to get back before it was dark :-)

The RunGPS track can be found here...

The Cycle computer had the ride as 21.31 miles in 1 hour 12 minutes with an average speed of 17.6 mph.

When I got back had a quick shower and changed then when out to pub for evening meal :-)

Day 348 (Sunday)

2009-03-29T19:04:00.005+01:00

Got up at some time or other.....Body clock doesn't like the clock change.

Did normal Sunday house tidy chores, was going to go for my 'normal 25' ride but the weather was so nice I went for a 30 mile ride instead :-)

I plotted a route form Chippenham to Calne (A4) then country roads to Compton Bassett, Highway, Bushton, Tockenham, Dauntsey, Foxham, Avon, Tytherton Lucas, Stanley then back to Chippenham. It was really nice to get of the main roads and you almost feel safer!

Saying that some of the stretches of road were very straight and very fast on the bike :-)

The cycle computer had today's ride as... 30.92 miles in 1 hour 52 minutes with an average speed of 16.4 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Had lunch when I got back, then spent the afternoon in the garden tidying up and do various spring time garden chores.

When all the chores were done I spent some quality time cleaning and oiling the Merida, the Race Blade mudguards had been causing a little damage to the paintwork on the rear stays, so I have decided that I will leave them of the bike for now, and only fit them when needed. (i.e the forecast says the weather may be pooo, and I dont want to take the Dawes out)

I have decided that my future training plan will be as follows...

Monday's 21 mile Chippenham-> Calne -> Lyneham -> Sutton Benger -> Chippenham loop.
Tuesday's Night Off.
Wednesday's 2 Rides...
Morning 25 Mile Chippenham -> Stanley Lane -> Bencroft Hill -> East Tytherton -> Sutton Benger -> Dauntesy -> Lyneham -> Calne -> Chippenham
Evening 25 mile Chippenham -> Calne -> Lyneham -> Sutton Benger -> East Tytherton -> Wick Hill -> Stanley Lane -> Chippenham
Thursday's 21 mile Chippenham-> Calne -> Lyneham -> Sutton Benger -> Chippenham loop.
Friday's Swimming
Either Saturday or Sunday Long 75 miles plus ride
Either Saturday or Sunday dependant on above 25 mile Chippenham -> Calne -> Lyneham -> Sutton Benger -> East Tytherton -> Wick Hill -> Stanley Lane -> Chippenham.

Of course that's just my plan...If the weather is Pooo then I will opt for the Dawes and do a shorter ride!

If I find the 2 hill bound rides on Wednesday to much then I will drop back to one or both doing 20 mile loops.

Day 347 (Saturday)

2009-03-28T18:11:00.008Z

Got up reasonably early 'ish, Got wifey's bike out of the shed and gave it a check over :-)

Wifey n Me then set of for a short ride, with Rosie (Dog) running along. We did 2.5 miles then let Rosie have a rest and drink then headed back home, so a nice easy spin 5 miles for me, a re-introduction to the bicycle for wifey and a nice exercise for Rosie :-)

After lunch I set of on a nice planed 75 mile ride - Chippenham -> Castle Coombe -> Old Sodbury -> Westonbirt -> Tetbury -> Nailsworth -> Minchinhampton -> Kemble -> South Cerney -> Brinkworth -> The Somerfords -> Sutton Benger -> East Tytherton -> Wick Hill -> Chippenham

I was cycling into a headwind ALL the way to Nailsworth!!! IT was VERY hard work.

At Nailsworth I was supposed to turn right onto the "National Cycle Route 45", I did turn right and was climbing up a VERY steep hill and the GPS kept complaining that I was cycling away from the route....I turned around went down the hill and quite close to the end of the road there was another little turning that looked like a private road.....That was the cycle way! (I have now discovered without a GPS and a planed track on the cycle routes you would NEVER be able to find or follow them!

The cycle way was really quiet and very nice :-)

Today I cycled through many interestingly named places such as 'Tiddley Wink' (Just before Yatton Keynell),'Petty France' and 'Dunkirk' (on the A46), 'Knockdown' on the Westonbirt road but my favourite named place has to be....

(Just outside Nailsworth on the 45 Cycle Route)

The Ride from South Cerney to B4042 was incredibly Fast and Fun! I had a 14mph+ wind behind me and I was averaging 24mph+. Turning on to the B4042 towards Brinkworth all that changed when I was fighting against a cross wind again.....

The Somerfords and Sutton Benger passed at high speed again :-) The 1:6 of Wick Hill was an interesting experience as I had already covered 70 miles at that point and my energy levels were obviously a little depleted!! I did cycle up it without stopping :-) But I did have to climb out of the saddle as I started to feel my legs turning to jelly :-(

I had to stop at the top of the Hill to change the battery on the phone... It lasted for an amazing 72 miles and nearly 5 hours with just the wind charger for assistance :-)

(Note the photo was taken earlier in the day at about 37 miles)

Today's ride was great fun the ride into the wind and across the wind 50 miles or so was definitely worth it for the 20 miles of high speed tail wind :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 77.26 miles in 5 hours with an average speed of 15.4 mph...The Merida has now done 1063.1 miles!!!!!

The RunGPS plot of today's ride can be found here...

Day 346

2009-03-27T19:49:00.003Z

Yipeeeeee I'm back :-)

Drove home today for the first time in daylight! no need for lights at all :-)

Got changed and went straight out on the Dawes to Lacock (Along the cycle way), then through the village, up Bowden Hill down Nash Hill then back home.

Cycle computer had the ride as 12.73 miles in 1 hour.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Looking back through last years blogs I found Bowden Hill and Nash Hill were some sort of nemesis, what I have found now is that they are just hills, steeper than some, shorter than most and definitely NOT something that causes me any difficulty or doubt any more :-)

Day 345

2009-03-26T20:29:00.002Z

I feel much better today :-)

Gonna rest up this evening, hopefully I will get out for a ride tomorrow evening.

Day 344

2009-03-25T19:36:00.001Z

No riding again today :-(

Still got a cold.....I have however planned a nice ride for Saturday

I WILL be better then!

Day 343

2009-03-24T18:48:00.001Z

Still got a cold :-(

Played computer games anyway :-)

Day 342

2009-03-23T19:28:00.002Z

Ohhhhhh NOOOOOOOOOOO I have got a cold :-(

No training for me tonight, My nose is running like a leaking tap! and my head has a dull ache:-(

On the bright side my Beta Key has turned up for Battlefield Heroes and the game looks really good :-)

Day 341 (Sunday)

2009-03-22T17:16:00.003Z

Got up and did normal Sunday house tidy chores :-(

I decided that I would fold up and put away the turbo trainer, I am happy enough cycling the cycle paths in the evenings now, if the weather makes a sudden turn for the Arctic again I can always get it all out again.

At 10:30 I headed out on the Merida towards Wootton Bassett, The long way round - But not quite as long as last week (!8 miles). Once at the mother in law's I got fed :-) Then set about finishing off painting the garden fence (The inside this time)

At about 3pm I set of back home indirectly (18 miles again)

The cycle computer had today's ride as 37.17 miles in 2hrs 8 mins with an average speed of 16.8 mph.

The RunGPS plot of the ride can be found here...

Ohhh today was the first ride of the year with shorts and short sleeve cycle shirt and no gloves,woolie hat, over shoes or any other warming thingumny :-)

Day 340 (Saturday)

2009-03-21T19:45:00.010Z

Got up, had breakfast then went for a haircut! I had promised myself NOT to cut my hair again, but the warmer weather and the fact my hair was taking hours to dry after my frequent showers meant a haircut was a sensible option.

After the haircut, we took Rosie (Dog) for a quick walk then I set of on a planned 85 mile ride.
I decided it would be a jolly good idea to cycle to Longleat House then on to Wells and back home.

The first leg to Longleat was a little cooler than I had hoped, but the sun was out and the sky was cloudless :-)

The road in to Longleat house was fantastic, very fast downhill and the house looked amazing!

It turned out that there was a film crew at the house filming a new TV film (Interesting that they picked possibly the nicest day of the year so far to film a snow scene!)

From Longleat, it was a straight forward ride to Wells, but one I have been planning to do since I started this cycling madness, when I was an early teenager, I cycled from my parents to Wells and back, with my sister (About a 70 mile round trip direct) and I have been eager to reproduce that ride :-) (I am still trying to get the photographs from my sister!)

I cycled around Wells city centre, without actually going into it or stopping! Then headed for home. Half way up a never ending hell I stopped and removed the cycling jacket and re-organised the depleting drink supply.

The solution to the phone power issues appears to work well, I carried: 1) The wind turbine charger; 2) The solar charger; 3) A spare fully charged phone battery; 4) The home made charger and some 9 volt batteries.

The Wind Charger and the 1600 mAh Battery lasted for about 3 hours before the critical low power warning appeared, I then swapped out the phone battery with a fully charged 1350 mAh and plugged in the home made charger and a fresh 9 volt battery - that then kept everything running nicely for the rest of the ride. I have also now found that I can load a training session back on the phone and continue from where I left off :-)

The RunGPS navigation worked perfectly (Well at least after I rebooted the phone just before Longleat anyway)-It appeared to completely loose the satellites twice - It the clearly states that you are x thousand feet away from the track.

This does mean that the RunGPS track of the ride has a few random plots within it! RunGPS plot here... (I did manually plot a clean version of the route here...)

The cycle computer had todays session as 84.69 miles in 5 hours 25 minutes with an average speed of 15.6 mph

Day 339

2009-03-20T22:02:00.002Z

Picked up wifey and daughter on the way home from work and went swimming :-)

I actually feel a lot more confident swimming now:-) I still lack any real style but I am getting better I think!

Wifey and I have spent the week re-planning the JOGLE route and have now finalised the plan, we have even booked the camp-sites! (The replanning has shortened the trip by 1 day :-)

Some of the days we have planned look very tough! but they are balanced with some nicer easier ones!

Day 338

2009-03-19T20:18:00.004Z

Ahh well ummm, I said I wasn't going to go for an evening ride again until the clocks change for BST, but I thought what if I fit the bright halogen light I have to the Dawes, then I could cycle the cycleways in relative safety :-)

So when I got home I got changed and spent 10 minutes or so fitting the light to the bike :-) When I got to the foot of Nash Hill I hadnt even broken into a sweat (What was my problem last year???) I descided to give Nash Hill a bash....Ok its steep but again not really a problem, I didnt even get out of the saddle.

When I got to the top of the Hill it was dark, so I risked life and limb cycling on to the turning point and coming back down Bowden Hill, wich was very excilerating in the dark. I then went through Lacock village and back to the cycleway.

Even with the bright light the cycleway was quite difficult to navigate as the loose chippings blended well with the grass verge.

It was however much more interesting than sitting on the Turbo Trainer!!!

The RunGPS plot of the ride can be found here...

The cycle computer had the ride as 12.79 miles in 57 minutes with an average speed of 13.1 mph

Day 337

2009-03-18T08:59:00.005Z

Part 1....
Due to the longer daylight time again (Yipeeeee) I have decided to start doing 2 rides again on a Wednesday.. an early morning ride (6:30 start) and a late afternoon ride (4:30 start)

I got up at 6am ish, got changed and faffed around a bit, then set of on the bike at 630ish, I opted for cycling a reverse of my normal 25 route, the roads were very empty and the country lanes very pleasant :-) There was a fantastic sunrise and a thin low mist hanging over the countryside...(Shame I didn't think to take the camera!!!!)

When I got to Lyneham the traffic started building, and I felt a little uncomfortable, As I was pulling back into Chippenham there was so much traffic it was stationary and I could cycle down the outside of them.

The cycle computer had this mornings ride as 25.8 miles in 1 hour 33 minutes with an average speed of 16.5 mph and a top speed of 41 mph

The RunGPS track of the ride can be found here...

Part 2...
Stopped work at just gone 4 and set out on my normal 25 ride, when I got to Hilmarton disaster struck...the phone jumped off the bike! luckily it was not damaged (Other than a scratch or two), I will have to concoct some sort of locking device for the phone carrier to stop it happening again.
This does mean that the rides GPS plot is split in 2, 1 before the incident and 1 after.

Here are the plots...First Part...Second Part

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.71 miles in 1 hour 32 min with an average speed of 16.7 mph

It was a really nice day, I managed to get out on 2 good rides and fit in a complete days work as well!

If I can do over 50 miles AND 8 hours work the JOGLE schedule should not be to much of a problem

Day 336

2009-03-17T21:10:00.001Z

Night off...Played computer games :-)

Day 335

2009-03-16T19:55:00.004Z

What a fantastic sunny day:-) I got home reasonably early and in day light! In a fit of madness I thought it would be a good idea to go out for a cycle ride!

I got changed and got the Merida out and set of on the old 20 mile Lyneham ride at about 20 past 6.

By the time I got to Lyneham it was starting to get dark, at Dauntsey it was full on dark, now this isn't really a problem apart from my bike lights are for me to be seen not for me to see by! and cars appear NOT to dip there lights for an on coming bicycle so you keep getting "blinded by the lights" as that crap old song says.

Saying that I recorded amongst the fastest time for the ride (18 mph) and felt really good for my efforts, needless to say I wont be venturing out for an evening ride until the clock's change to BST.

The cycle computer had the ride as..21.32 miles in 1 hour 10 minutes with an average speed of 18 mph

Tonight's ride can be seen here...

Day 334 (Sunday)

2009-03-15T18:57:00.007Z

Got up early and did normal Sunday house tidy chores.

At about 10 I set of towards mother in laws (Wootton Bassett) in an indirect direction via Chippenham, Stanley, Foxham, Christian Malford, Sutton Benger, Seagry, Malmsbury, Kemble, Ewen, Cirencester, Ashton Keynes, Wootton Basset. (About 45 miles)

Aircraft at the end of the runway at Kemble, awaiting dismantling for scrap.

Lovely empty road :-)

I had intended to follow the National Cycle Route 45 from Kemble through the Cotswold Water Park, but the route turned off the country roads and onto an off road gravel path at South Cerney, so I used the RunGPS software to plot a new route to Wootton Bassett and it worked absolutely perfectly :-)

When I arrived at the mother in laws (1230 ish), I parked the bike up (In doors of course!), put some working clothes over the cycle gear, had lunch then set about painting the fence that I repaired a couple of weeks ago.

At about 3pm I set off on the long way home, via Broad Town, Marlborough, Avebury, Calne and Chippenham.

Total round trip was tracked via RunGPS here...

The cycle computer had the ride as..74.05 miles in 4 hours 23 minutes with an average speed of 17mph.

It was a really nice ride, the Wind generator worked perfectly, supplying positive power for nearly 3 hours, then charging intermittently as its own internal battery became depleted.

Today was the longest ride yet on the Merida and I experienced NO problems, NO hand aches and it was a very fast and enjoyable ride :-) I am now really looking forward to the nice weather...

Day 333 (Saturday)

2009-03-14T19:16:00.005Z

Got up early and went for an early morning 'normal 25' Route here...

When I got back I showered, changed then Wifey, Rosie (Dog) and me went for an afternoon at the seaside :-) Daughter was stuck at home doing school course work and son was at work...

The cliffs at West Bay (Dorset)

The Sea...

Rosie appeared to really enjoy herself :-)

When we got back home I cooked tea (Gammon, mash potatoes, peas and a home made cheese sauce)

Today was proof that I can cycle and have a day out!

Day 332

2009-03-13T19:12:00.002Z

Got home at 6ish and picked up wifey and daughter then went for a swim.

Was very tired tonight, having a stressful time at the moment :-(

Day 331

2009-03-12T21:58:00.002Z

Had tea when I got in, then had some things to do, I finally got on the Turbo Trainer at 8:30!

I did a 30 minute/10 mile session

1 mile easy spin,8 miles high cadence,1 mile easy spin

The cycle computer had the session as....10 miles in 30 minutes

Day 330

2009-03-11T18:26:00.002Z

Worked from home today.

Managed to tear myself away from work at about 11:30 and went for my normal 25 ride, with the addition that I stopped of at the cycle shop to have the gears looked at.

The cycle computer had today's ride as....25.99 miles in 1 hour 36 minutes with an average speed of 16.1 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 329

2009-03-10T21:38:00.001Z

Night Off....Played computer games :-)

Day 328

2009-03-09T20:14:00.003Z

Went for my normal lunch time walk, today I decided to gps track it to see what sort of stats the RunGPS would come back with :-) The walk can be seen here...

Got in from work at normal time (6:30 pm ish), changed then went straight on the Turbo Trainer - I dont think I have been on the Turbo for nearly a week (I have been spoiled by having proper rides all week)

I started of with a 5 minute warm up, 20 minutes high gear high cadence then finished of with a 5 minute easy spin cool down.

Cycle computer had the session as 10.8 miles in 30 minutes with an average speed of 21.3 mph

Day 327 (Sunday)

2009-03-08T17:17:00.005Z

Woke up reasonably early and did normal Sunday morning house chores.

At 10 am the sky was blue and it looked really nice out, although unbelievably the BBC and the met office had heavy rain, sleet and hail forecast, I decided to set straight off on a planned 60 mile ride that way I would be back at 2-3 pm and could cook tea :-)

I had decided I wanted to go back on the Bath - Bristol Cycleway but this time I wanted to turn off it and explore the Chew Magna leg of Cycle Route 10 (The Avon Cycleway). All went very much according to plan, unfortunately when I got to Bath the first Hail Storm arrived, being a martyr to the cause I soldiered on, the hail stopped and the sun came out :-)

When I got to the turn from cycle route 4 to 10 the heavens opened and I started to get wet, I pulled over and pulled on the rain jacked and water proof trousers and continued...The skys darkened and the rain fell heavier. I started to wonder if soldiering on was such a good idea? There was a massive head wind (Met office had it at 21 mph gusting to 33) I decided I would continue until I had done at least 25 miles then If things didn't brighten up I would turn around and head home.

I then went down a huge hill and the thought of re-scaling it later was not appealing so I continued and the sun came out :-)

I do not think I would have taken the Merida today if I had realised how rural the cycle way was. It wasn't of road but equally the roads were NOT well used and had a fair amount of field debris over them. (However I did survive today without a puncture :-)

I arrived at Chew Magna wet and hungry! I ate the Ham Roll and the Banana wifey had packed for me, squeezed all of the water out of my gloves (Attempting to dry them under the hand drier in the toilets at the side of the lake) , then I set straight back of home the direct route - with the wind behind me :-)

When I got to Batheaston I diverted of over Kingsdown and came home via Atworth and Gastard. At which point I think the wind really picked up (According to the met office it was 29 mph gusting to 45!)

I unfortunately did NOT take any pictures today, the camera was tucked away in my back pocket and I did not want to get it wet!

The cycle computer had today's ride as 61.3 miles in 4 hours 18 minutes with an average speed of 14.2 mph.

The RunGPS plot can be found here... I will be re-visiting this ride on the Dawes when the sun is out :-) There was enough nice scenery to make it very interesting and the lack of traffic was fantastic :-)

The unfortunate thing was after I got home and tidied myself up...I had to spend an hour tidying the Merida up!

Day 326 (Saturday)

2009-03-07T09:42:00.004Z

Had to get up and out on my ride early this morning as I am busy this afternoon.

The Wind Turbine arrived yesterday and I fitted it this morning :-)
(Picture taken after ride so its already a bit dirty :-)

Due to the lack of handlebar space and the number of gadgets I have to use, I resurrected the Space Grip and fitted the front light and cycle computer to it.

All of the extra weight???? and drag??? did not appear to affect my riding, I had a faster run around the 25 miles this morning than I have ever done!

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.71 miles in 1 hour 28 minutes with an average speed of 17.4 mph.

The GPS actually had my average speed up to Wick Hill as 18.5 mph (Unfortunately the 1:6 of the Hill dragged the average down to just over 17 mph)

The wind turbine appeared to work, although I do not think it will power the phone for as long as I had hoped :-(

The RunGPS plot of today's ride can be found here...

Day 325

2009-03-06T18:45:00.004Z

Had to take the morning of work today, I did work at home this afternoon.

When I got back home at 12 I set of on my 'Normal 25' on the Merida.

I had a stonking trip round with an average speed of over 17mph :-)

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.7 miles in 1 hour 29 minutes with an average speed of 17 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...

Day 324

2009-03-05T14:23:00.003Z

Worked form home again today.
I managed to stop work at 11:30 ish and went out for my normal 25 ride.

The cycle computer had the ride as 25.66 miles at 15.2 mph.

The GPS actually plotted the whole ride properly :-)
The RunGPS track can be found here...