That was the week that was!

Wow what a week it ended up being, a week off from work that included mountains, mountain bikes, upgrades to the road bike and a combination of rides over 142 miles, am I sure it was only a week. It was but the start of the week seems a long time ago now, I wrote last weeks blog from the back of a car on the way to Snowdonia national park, I was part of a large group of work colleagues set to walk mount Snowdon and raise over £8,000 in the process. We woke on the Monday morning to a cool but sunny start to the day, the forecast however was for rain and low cloud, it didn't seem that way at 6am, maybe they had got it wrong? Maybe not. The early going was all good the weather was calm and it was comfortable in just a fleece, as we progressed we could see the cloud low over the mountain and thought we new what lay ahead. We were mainly novices on a mountain including myself and were not quite prepared for what was to follow.

Once we entered the cloud the wind picked up and the rain began, the transformation from the calmness of the lower slopes was extreme, gusts of 50mph combined with the driving rain made this walk a true challenge and all bar none realised that we were going to earn those sponsors. By now I was feeling the cold and the horizontal rain was finding the weaknesses in my gear, I may have looked like Scott of the Antarctic but in reality with most of my kit from high street stores I was more like Mr Bean. We made the top and feeling a bit lightheaded I needed to eat, having removed my gloves I now faced my biggest issue, not being the best design and apparently only being shower proof, once off and almost inside out they were not going back on again. So with photo taken through gritted teeth that mimicked smiles I had the unenviable task of two hours walking down a mountain with no gloves and hands that already resembled icebergs. At times I could not feel the walking poles in my hands but with concentration taken up with not being blown off the mountain and finding the right place to put my feet, I picked my way down and the team congregated in the car park battered but not beaten. A true sense of achievement reigned and with a knowing nod and shacking of hands and plenty of back slapping we rejoiced in our success.

So with mountains left behind me it was back to the bike and what I have began to call my thing. It was the day after Snowdon and I was feeling it a bit so I had choices. Do I hit the road as normal and end up doing too much through over eagerness or be more pragmatic and start with an easier ride and make sure that the after effects of the previous day don't ruin the whole week. Well the sensible me won and out came the mountain bike along with the sun, time, speed and effort were not even considered,  a short loop staying near home was in order doing what ever the legs wanted and enjoying it along the way. That's exactly how it turned out, I ended up doing two circuits and 16 miles real slow, it was bliss. Turned out to be the right decision as well, you see come Wednesday my thighs were tight and aching so a well deserved rest day ensued. A rest from cycling but not the bike that is, the plans for today included upgrades to the Chariot. With an extension piece fitted to the handlebars for a more comfortable ride and new Continental tyres with an anti puncture belt fitted, time to say goodbye to multiple punctures and roadside repairs. Why am I so trusting, will I never learn? Thursday and Friday were set to be my next back to back rides of any significance, eager to get out and feel the improvement to the ride comfort I payed little attention to my new tyres. This was until the unthinkable happened only four miles from home, O yes you got it!!

                                                                         

A puncture *^+'/x@, so much for anti puncture, I was fuming and started thinking back to the sales splurge from the up till now trusted bike shop. "These tyres will cut out 95% of punctures allowing for trouble free cycling" O and "The one draw back is they are harder to change due to them being more ridged" great that is all I need now. Well on removal it was apparent that the Tyre had not failed, it was either a faulty inner tube or the fact that they are harder to put on, I can vouch for that, and that a careless tyre iron from the shop mechanic had pinched the tube. I managed fine and with a little less confidence in my new purchases set off once again, this time completing the 48 miles without incident and for once in warm sunshine. Friday saw a new route for me, one that took in the Dengie peninsular and Bradwell on sea as my destination, I waited till the afternoon as the morning was wet and with the wind now coming from the NW it was a bit more chilly than yesterday. It was a good ride over more undulating terrain, I did however still catch a shower before returning to the sun that I started the ride in. I enjoyed the ride topping 55 miles and best of all I was still feeling great afterwards. Saturday was another rest day punctuated with some social media work promoting the blog and justgiving page, resulting in us now only £7 short of £800. The target is looming large so please help us get there if you can, every little really does help. My week finished with a gentle ride with one of last years riding partners from my early charity events. While I have been out in all weathers, Nigel's bike has been hibernating during the winter months and he has resigned himself to walking the dog, so finally persuading him to get back in the saddle was quite an achievement. Twenty three miles of social riding, chatting on route and working to someone Else's pace eased my week to a cosy close. With many tougher miles ahead this time in six weeks I will hopefully be sitting in Paris with a glass raised in hand and many a tail to tell of great hill climbs and newly gained friends. Till next time "Roll on Paris"

Detour to Snowdon

My update today comes direct from the car that is carrying the intrepid explorers, heading to north Wales, where we shall meet with our fellow adventurers. The challenge will be to get 17 inexperianced and slightly worried managers of Wickes up mount Snowdon. I know this is a digretion from my normal cycling blog but worth the time to blog about as in the process we will be raising over £7,000 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma research. Hopefull also returning with everyone we left with, wish us luck we may need it. In the world of cycling I did complete my back to back rides last weekend, see last weeks blog. On Monday I bit the bullet and did the third day running, problem was I was at work, so the ride became my commute, 28 miles each way with an 8 hour day in the middle. It was tough and when I arrived home Monday evening with 156 miles covered in three days I did feel it and took a couple of well deserved days off to recover. So with thoughts turning to tomorrow and the road signs turning to Welsh i'll sign off for now and report back in with new experiances and tails of heroic acts during the week. "Roll on Snowdon then Paris"

Green green glass go home!

This weeks instalment starts at the end, a bit like an episode of the classic Columbo where you know how it finishes right at the start. You see today was an eventful ride and one I was determined to finish, this weekend was set to be my first proper back to back rides of any significance and it seemed doomed from the start. The day before I had completed a fifty mile ride without much incident, it was warmer than it had been all year and I felt great cruising along at a solid 15 mph. I had a scheduled stop at mums to help cousin Paul install her new oven, he is the skilled electrician, I was just the humper and dumper. Mums was at three quarter distance and with a circuit of Hangingfield reservoir I was home from there in an hour, however I have digressed.

 

Back to today and my ride that was blighted by glass. I have found in my relatively short time cycling that cycle paths around Southend are not always the best place to be to avoid punctures and today was no exception. I was about twelve miles in and having traversed the seafront I was in Gunners park when there doing its best impression of pavement, blending into its surroundings was what once was a bottle of beer. However now it was a million shards laughing at me ready to pounce, I did my best having seen it at the last moment, swerving for all I was worth. It was not immediate and I'm sure the stealth glass was just waiting hoping that I had been lulled into thinking I had somehow missed it. No, a mile up the road and my back tyre gave in and with a drop of rain in the air I was starting to think the worst. Well it did not get any better, the rain did abate never to return but the same tyre gave way only two miles up the road. Was the glass still embedded, I can't see how, I had checked that tyre with a fine tooth comb before putting it back together. What ever it was I will never know and a second repair with my last spare inner tube ensured I was once again on my way. This is when I could not believe my luck you see all this time and with my concerns fixed on my back wheel the unthinkable happened the front tyre gave in to the final shard that had lay dormant for four miles. In the space of three miles I had three punctures and now faced the dilemma, with only one CO2 canister left and no spare tube I would have to attempt a puncture repair on the roadside for the first time. Finding the hole was the challenge but one I was up to and after a short while why the glue went off I was fixed and ready to go. Now I was flying by the seat of my pants, with no CO2 left any further deflation's and I would have been calling an end to the ride and summoning my support driver, Ben my son, for a lift home. Well after all the trials and tribulations the repairs held firm, I was a bit preoccupied for the next few miles checking tyres but in the end I was able to relax and enjoy the warmth of the sun for the rest of the ride. So as you can see my end to the week was very eventful but overall very rewarding. I have completed three rides of around fifty miles including back to back rides of over three hours, tomorrow I am also set to cycle to and from work for the first time a total of fifty six miles. A step up in training that has left me satisfied and looking forward to the challenges ahead, more back to backs and upping the time to four hours plus. Please come back and let me share my efforts again next week, the training may take a few days off as I.m climbing a mountain with a group of colleagues a week Monday so the content may differ, a change is as good as a rest I suppose. "Roll on Paris".

Summertime (and the cycling is breezy)!

My week has been an unusual one with Easter being a busy time at work and the weather still trying to defy what is considered normal for this time of year. We had a good weekend at work and alongside the normal once a year Easter DIY'ers we had some fun and raised almost £200 for Leukaemia with our grand raffle and guess the number of mini eggs in the jar. To top it off I met Maisey (Leukaemia survivor from my previous blogs) and her parents, they were all an inspiration and have agreed to come and draw our raffle on the 6th May, what more encouragement does one need to know that all your donations make a difference to peoples lives.

As for riding this week I have managed three trips out and what a contrast, Thursday saw my first opportunity of the week and it was a day that I wished the forecasters had got it horribly wrong, but no of all days they had to be right for once. We had snow, we had a biting Easterly wind and we had rain mixed in, making a truly miserable combination for riding a bike. Undeterred and with all my winter gear on I was determined to rack up forty miles, at the start with little snow in the air this seemed fine. In reality as the miles rolled by and the snow set in it became quite unpleasant but in a sadistic kind of way enjoyable too, enjoyable as the challenges thrown up by the weather made it different to any ride I had done before. The last four miles the snow had become real heavy and was starting to settle, not just on the road but on me as well. I was glad to be home and very satisfied with my efforts. My second ride was a first for this year and the product of British summer time, an evening ride after work, just a blast of an hour but welcome extra miles in the legs. Rounding the week off today with the weather set fair if a bit chilly, was blue sky and sunshine. I geared up minus the winter jacket and with the fingerless gloves in my pocket for when and if the temperature climbed, hopeful I know but lets face it there has been little to get excited about with the weather so far this year. I had with all the best intentions intended to do fifty miles, how the best laid plans of mice and men crumble. Interrupted by my phone and the news that my colleague had had an accident going to work led to a bit of managerial organisation from the road side. Tony was fine if a bit shaken and with the relevant phone calls made it was set that I would be needed at work by the afternoon, the ride would continue but unfortunately curtailed. It was great in the sun and it did warm up enough for those fingerless gloves, I was in my element and thirty two miles was all to short. The one striking thing about the ride today was the amount of cyclists and the contrasting clothing. You see there were cyclists everywhere, how the sun brings them out, some I recognised from my many winter rides and others were obviously out for the first time this year. This is where the contrast became apparent, those of us that had been hardy and out in all weathers were wearing shirts while the newbies were in heavy duty coats snoods and balaclavas and ski gloves to finish the look, god knows what they would have worn in winter or even last Thursday. So with eight five miles in the bank this week and plans a foot to raise the bar in the coming weeks, I look forward to better days with excitement rather than in trepidation, under two months to D day 6th of June and I won't be stopping at the beaches, "Roll on Paris".

Eggstreme at Easter, Brrrrrrr!

 Happy Easter to all my blog followers, I hope you managed to spend a bit of quality time with your families. It's tough for me working in DIY retail but I did spend a few hours today having dinner with my mum, brother and family. Today also See's the start of British summer time Ha Ha Ha Ha, and April fools is not till tomorrow. Joking aside another training ride this morning and again I was greeted with sub zero temperatures and frost on the ground, I must sound like a stuck record but how long before this winter ends, boring, tedious and abominable don't go far enough in describing the severity of the weather this year. With the cold weather ritual well rehearsed, snood on, layers of clothes duly applied and the gloves coming straight off the radiator on to my hands just before leaving. The cold of a frosty morning burns the back of your nostrils with those first deep breaths and as my speed picked up on that down hill stretch my cheeks felt the bite of the wind, by now my finger tips were loosing sensation and I started to question my sanity. It was 9am on Easter Sunday and apart from a handful of cars and the odd dog walker the only other people I saw were other daft cyclists, a rare breed or completely bonkers? It wasn't until about eight miles in that my core temperature rose and the feeling started to return to my fingers, it's at this point that I start to enjoy the ride as my focus is not on keeping warm but on performance, speed and the now beautiful countryside I was riding through. Twenty five miles was the order of the day as the before mentioned dinner date with mum beckoned, I could have done much more despite the cold but longer rides lay ahead.

So the end of another month means June 6th is just that little closer. What did March bring, apart from more cold horrible weather, well on the weight loss front I slowed up, I have lost another four pounds taking me to 15 stone 4 pounds. Total weight loss since the start of January is now 1 stone 12 pounds, Incredibly proud. Cycling wise despite the cold snow and ice I managed 190 miles in the month, I'm happy with that and with lighter evenings in April more miles will be the order of the day, watch this space. The final part of my March round up and the the most important is the reason I am putting all this effort in and that is fund raising for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. With a target of £1,000 I have reached £560 so far, thank you to all that have contributed. The best bit of news for me on this front is that LLR have included my blog within their official web page, please take a look at http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/campaign/trevor-jackson. This great news has given my an immense sense of pride and spurned me on even more, so roll on April, roll on sunshine, roll on sponsors and most of all "Roll on Paris".

Reversing! Not an option.

Paris became closer than ever since the day I signed on the dotted line for my greatest sporting challenge. The final payment was requested and duly paid, no turning back from here, pulling out is not an option so the training needs to be stepped up and motivation lifted. This has been tempered by the subject that I, amongst many other people, have become board of talking about, the great British Winter. It has been said before that we now only have two seasons, but I didn't think they meant Winter and Autumn. Another week of below zero temperatures and back to snow this weekend have left me with only one opportunity to get out on the bike, on Tuesday I did a twenty mile ride with a bitter Easterly wind making it pretty unpleasant.

There  was only one incident of note on my ride, one which left me with my heart in my mouth and a renewed respect for the vulnerability of being on a bike. A motorist had decided it was alright to reverse down the road just after a blind bend, not clever. It was on quite a quick stretch of road on a bike and with a greasy road surface I was heading for potential disaster, as I rounded the bend I saw the reversing lights and in a moments panic hit the brakes hard. Having not cleared the bend yet the back wheel slid out and for the first time back on the bike I was not in control. By more luck than judgement I regained control and without stopping steered around the car that by this time had stopped reversing and with a sheepish look on his face the driver gave an apologetic wave. I carried on at a slightly reduced pace for the next couple of miles while regaining my composure.

 I have also been busy on social media this week and set up my own Facebook page, hope you will all like it and follow my fund raising activity, the page is Londonparistrevor. My final piece of news really lifted my motivation and made me feel very proud, it is early stages and I hope it comes to fruition. You see I have been contacted by Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, they have made enquires with the view to including by blog on their official Web page, watch this space as for me this would be the ultimate recognition of my efforts to be recognised by the charity I am supporting. "Roll on Paris"

"I'm half way there, living on a prayer."

I'm sorry it has been over a week since my last blog, I feel a bit of a failure as I know of several of you that like a read on a Sunday evening, so please except my apology. It had been a busy week last week which included my son's twenty first birthday and several meetings at work. What this meant was I missed my ride on my day off in the middle of the week, so come the weekend I was desperate to get out for a few miles. So Sunday came and O how fed up am I of this rotten weather, I must be old because I am sure I remember March days of old that shared, at some level, a resemblance of spring. When the sun made an appearance and the nip in the air of early morning lifted to be replaced with a pleasant feel that allowed one to dream of summer days. Not now, not this year because winter still has a firm grip on the country and riding a bike is still for the brave, cold, wet and windy is what accompanied me on thirty miles of tarmac. It could have been any thirty miles of tarmac as with head down and the wind appearing to come from all directions I was determined to do a good time and with yet another meeting Sunday afternoon I had lots to fit into my day. So getting home in an hour and fifty six minutes at an average of sixteen MPH I was pretty chuffed with my efforts. The main aim of all my efforts, fund raising for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, took a real positive turn today on two fronts. Firstly I have reached half way to my fund raising target, thank you to everyone who has donated so far, you are all stars. Secondly today I had a chance meeting at work, we have a charity table set up advertising our fund raising efforts and as part of this there is literature from LLR promoting their work with stories of children that have beaten blood cancer. One is a story of Maisie Speller and today her grandparents came into the store and saw her picture, this led to me being lucky enough to spend a few minutes talking to two really wonderful and grateful people with so much love for their granddaughter. This was all the confirmation I needed to realise that all my efforts are worthwhile and to continue to raise as much money as I can so every child can beet blood cancer and every parent and grandparent can see their children grow up. Please give generously on my just giving page link on this blog Thank You, and while you do I will promise to give this challenge my every effort "Roll on Paris".

 

Maisie Speller