Chalk and Cheese!

 It has been a week of extreme contrasts with two rides at the complete opposite ends of the British weather spectrum. On Tuesday I was off work and the sun was shining, for the first time this year I set off in shirt sleeves, no jacket and no waterproofs. It was a barmy 13 degree C and little wind. This was what I had been missing and to say I felt good was an understatement, forty miles lay ahead of me and it felt great. It was a day when all the hard graft of winter seemed to have payed off, for the first time I felt that Paris was in my reach and with an average pace of sixteen miles an hour I could have gone all day, it was just a shame that other things have to be done on my days off and forty was all I could fit in. However come the weekend and the good old British weather had taken a turn for the

worse, Sunday morning came and with it temperatures hovering a couple of degrees above zero and a wind chill below, so out came the thermals and full finger gloves. It was extremely cold setting off and instead of the flat roads of Southend I headed towards Hangingfield and a more challenging hilly ride, I kept warm and was enjoying the ride when I felt the first few flakes of snow, Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, snow was not on the menu for today's ride and before long I felt like a member of the SS Enterprise hitting warp speed, but instead of stars it was snow flying past and into my face. With the snow now turning to rain I was on the homeward stretch and travelling well through the lanes, up ahead there were a group of mallard ducks meandering across the road without a care in the world. I got closer and closer before they noticed my approach and then with a cacophony of quacks and flapping of wings they all took off just in time to clear me as I in turn flew past. Lets hope next week and the months ahead have a more settled outlook, "Roll on Paris".

Everyone falls off!

I feel I need to explain the choice of photo that goes with my blog this week, you see the picture shows the great Sir Chris Hoy laying down on the track, not in a voluntary state of comfort but having fallen from an upright position. Thus showing even the best cyclists can fall over and that I can say that I now belong with a very long and illustrious group of people who can say, "I fell off". It was not spectacular and I can honestly say it didn't even hurt, well not my body anyway, can't really talk for my pride though. It does not even go down as a crash, I know because I have already ticked crashing off the list last year, no this was the kind of fall you see from a new born calf with wobbly legs. Going back to January when I bought all my new gear and started using SPD peddles and proper bike shoes I was confidently told, by friends I may add, "O you will fall off, everyone falls off". For two months I have dumbfounded and disappointed these friends, especially Nick, that I had not fallen, well Nick you were right and yes I am now not so cocky and will be forever humble in your presence. You see I have now joined the club that can say "yes I have fallen over when I stopped because I couldn't get my shoes out of the clips". This was not graceful and done with spectacular timing with the most people possible to witness my misfortune. I had found the back end of a queue of traffic in roadworks up Crown hill, coasting to the back of the queue I un clipped my left foot but at the same time my weight had transferred to the right, putting the bike and me into an irreversible motion driven by gravity that would ultimately end in me laying flat on the ground still attached. I made a point of not looking back at the car behind me as I picked myself up, but even now I can see the laughter on their faces. So a week of new experiences and another forty miles this weekend, I can say I am part of the bigger cycling world and a fully signed up member of the " Everyone falls off club" Sir Chris Hoy has more in common with me than he thinks. "Roll on Paris".

Weight loss, O yes!

Well end of the month and time to weigh in and check the progress. End of January I went 16s 4lb, had not set myself a target for the end of Febuary, that way I could'ent be disappointed. So what am I now, 15s 8lb, very happy indeed as thats another 10lb last month. I did think I had slowed up a bit but thats now two months running loosing 10lb. To say I am pleased is an understatement, "Roll on Paris".

Chiily dogs and seagulls!

My week has been quite a full one with work, cycling and fund raising. At work we have been approaching the end of our big sale period and the pressure to deliver the numbers has meant a big draw on my time, thankfully it paid off with a very busy weekend. We have also set up our grand raffle draw at work this week with three great prize's topped by a Kindle fire HD. We only have a matter of a 1,000 tickets to sell, but the girls at work did a fantastic job in selling £50 to customers on Saturday, with the draw on May 6th we have a big task ahead to sell them all. I picked the best day of the week to have as a day off on Tuesday, the sun shone bright even if it was slightly chilly. I am still getting up to full speed after hurting my back and left home on the bike with the view to seeing how I went, no set mileage in mind just suck it and see. I felt OK and was operating at a steady pace, turning off the main road in Rochford I headed for the country roads. Up ahead and at a low altitude came a suicidal seagull, it was one of those moments when you look and think it will see me, it will see me, for F*@! sake why can't it see me, and as I started to break it did see me and like an X wind fighter after bombing the death star it pulled out at the last moment. Now cruising through the lanes and the sun on my back I was dreaming of the summer days that lay ahead, I felt real good and ended up taking the longer way back from Wallasea extending the ride to thirty miles. While coming up the final drag to home I encountered my second animal near miss of the day, the old boy with his dog up ahead had obviously not judged my speed and had started to cross the road. I made the decision to speed up to clear him before he reached my side of the road, this was fine until I jumped out of my skin as his dog, unbeknown to me, had a pathological dislike for bikes. He strained at the leash and growled and snarled like a rabid beast, I was truly thankful for the short leash he was on at the time. We then came to the end of the week and to today, a nice peaceful Sunday at home which with Paris in mind means a bike ride is a must. Now today was nothing unusual Gray and overcast like a lot of days, one thing stood it apart was a keen North Easterly wind giving a wind chill of about -4. Gearing myself up for a cold one I got the bike from the garage, a flat tyre, where did that come from. After changing the inner tube I picked up the trip computer, flat battery, ahhhhhhh, I could see how today was going and I was not liking it one bit. At least I had my new thermal top and the gloves came straight off the warm radiator as I left the house. Boy was it cold but I was well wrapped and in good shape, head warm, check, body warm, check, hands warm, check, feet warm, no. You see I still haven't invested in shoe covers and while the rest of me stayed real toasty my feet ended up as blocks of ice, peddling was fine clipped in and with twenty miles the order of the day I could live without my feet. Summer still feels a long way off but Paris is rushing up fast, with work getting busy and fund raising in full swing my focus in firmly on being ready for D day June 6th "Roll on Paris".

Back in the Saddle.

I was at the physio on Saturday to check out the back. I was a bit concerned and not looking forward to the prognosis but as the days went by and Saturday came it felt a bit easier every day. It had been a while since I have had the need for physio and had forgot the art of contortion performed by such individuals on your body. Well the good news was that there was no damage to the discs, I had opened a facet joint though and been given a number of stretches to help it recover. So now its time to re strengthen and not over do things, easier said than done. Like a good boy I have been keeping up with the stretching and on Thursday went out for a leisurly 15 miles on the bike, felt ok if a little stiff, looking to repeat again on Sunday. Still a long way to go and with a renewed determination "Roll on Paris".

Painfull problem!!!

Just a small update from today. I undertook a small 20 miles this morning in the wind. Everything was going well until turning into the end of my road. Pushing away from a stationary position on an uphill junction, BANG. It felt like I had been shot, the pain through my lower back was intense. I coasted home and needed help getting off the bike. Lets hope the back gets better soon, at the moment its a bit sore, Paris looks a long way away today so please support me with a small donation. "Roll on Paris".

A weight off my mind!

It has been a good week all round, I have been out three times on the bike racking up a total of 100 miles and the healthy eating is starting to deliver results. Even West Ham won this week, so could not get much better than that. After the twenty miles in the high winds of Thursday I set myself the target of fifty on Friday, it was wet when I left and the wind chill made it a bit colder than I had expected. However the rain soon dried up and the coldness in my hands was not quite so bad now they were dry, I really can not wait till it warms up a bit and all I have to worry about is building up the miles and not about how I will keep from freezing. I enjoyed the ride and it was good to be able to get out in the saddle two days running, as the training progresses this will need to be two days running and four hours in the saddle each day, but for now just getting out is good enough. The other thirty miles was done today (Sunday) a blast out to Wallasea Island, a reasonably flat route that enables me to put some extra effort in and build some good speed. The wind was still blowing a bit and the way home was a little harder than normal. As I mentioned earlier I have been eating healthy since my Birthday on the 3rd of January and the big weigh in came at the end of the month. I was 17 stone on the 3rd and was looking to have dropped half a stone, so I was over the moon when the scales read 16 st 4lbs that was 10lbs lost in under a month WOW. So with four months to go till London to Paris I feel really positive and looking forward with a little less intrepidation than a couple of months ago, the big thing now on my mind is fund raising. £1,000 is my target and if everyone can give just a little I will feel all my efforts will be worthwhile, so if you can follow my link to the right for my just giving page I would be eternally grateful. With a renewed vigour "Roll on Paris".