40 miles...

I woke up this morning full of energy so managed to get out an about on my bike by just after 6.30am.

I did 40 miles and was home by 10.30am. I seem to be averaging about 10mph at a comfortable and sustainable pace. Thinking in terms of 40 miles being almost half way through the first day, I think my pace is about right. Also, thinkling about that makes a 95 mile day seem much (well, slightly) less terrifying!

My chain feel off a few times which was a bit annoying as I kept having to stop but other than that it was a really good ride. i feel a lot more confident about road riding now, as a lot of this was through town.

A few things I have learnt over the past few weeks:
Sneaky hills: Even if it seems flat in the car, it can still be a horrible hill when cycling.
Distance: Places seem to be a whole lot closer when you have got a high mileage count to reach (I arrived at a destination, via the long route, very disappointed to find I'd only done 12 miles!)

Would you like a hand with your bags, Sir?

We managed to raise a total of £316 from the very generous shoppers at Tesco on yesterday.

A group of Young Volunteers from the Lighthouse Music Hub very kindly gave up their sunny Saturday to help out with some fund raising.

The Lighthouse is the Bay’s (and the South West’s) only young people’s music hub, run by the Devon Music Collective - a not-for-profit community organisation, set up in 2009 to provide opportunities for local people to make and experience music in all its forms.

The backbone of the project is their Rock School; from 4pm to 6pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays they run an after school drop-in for 14 to 18 year olds to learn new instruments, jam with friends and try their hand’s at song writing.

The Lighthouse is currently looking to expand what they offer to the rest of the community. If you need a place to hold musical events, or an idea for a project involving local people in music and the arts, they would love to hear from you. They would also like to get more people with different skills and backgrounds involved in the project, whether as a volunteer or by joining the Board of Trustees.

Ready for the assault on Tesco next weekend...

35 miles...

I've had a mega busy week at work so have not made it to spinning/swimming/the gym or even out for a run this week. I thought I'd better step up my ride at the weekend to make up for it.

I went to a gig on Friday night and got home at about 2am, so despite my best intentions to get up and out on my bike at 8am...it was closer to 11.30 by the time I actually made it out.

The weather was cold (so cold) but sunny so I was happy. The 35 took me 4 1/2 hours which is twice the time 26 took and not a huge increase in miles. However, the 26 was flat all the way...the 35 was not! Living in Devon, I am used to hills but until I started cycling I hadn't realised just how many hills there are!

I am proud to say that I only got off and pushed my bike up a hill once (well, technically twice but once was by order of a sign so I'm choosing not to count it) and it was an ALMIGHTY hill that seemed to go on forever...I think I was climbing for about 45 minutes so I am not even ashamed that it defeated me.

This was the first big run on the new bike and it was amazing! So happy with it!