50 miles...

I manged 50 miles yesterday...the sun and hills did not make it very easy though! It's also less miles than last weekend, but I thought Dartmoor was actually a lot further away from my house than it actually is.

Everyone on the facebook group (especially those who made the meeting last weekend) has been writing about hills and thought I'd better get some hills specific training in. Obviosuly, living in Devon, my rides are usually pretty hilly anyway but today was extreme.

I got dropped at Trago Mills and cycled to Bovey Tracey and then went up on to Dartmoor. As many millions times as I have been up on the Moors, I still  somehow managed to forget that the initial climb up on to the moors was more of a cliff face than a hill (only mild exaggeration here - it was ridiculous!) and it went on for 5 long, miserable miles!

When I eventually made it (after several stops and two shameful stints of pushing the bike) I cycled towards Wuidecombe, down to Manaton and Becky Falls (where I was going to stop for a while but didn't realise it's actually £7.25 to look at the falls so that idea was shortlived!). I did a 25 or so mile circuit on the Moors and then headed home. I had a great time flying down the 5 mile hill on the way home, making teh struggle up it totally worth it. 

One thing that did put a slightly negative tinge on the day was almost getting knocked over by some idiot teenage boys. I don't know what it is about sunny weather that makes most drivers seem to completely forget how to drive! I was charging along a main road and they were waiting to pull out of the side road. They clocked me and pulled out right as I got to their road. If I hadn't braked in time I definitely would have gone into/over them. They were all laughing so had obviously done it on purpose.

Luckily, I was able to write down their number plate and reported it to the police as dangerous driving. They got hold of me today and said they had tracked down the driver and given him some advice on his driving and a warning that any future incidents would be dealt with more seriously. I was fuming at the time it happened but am glad that the police took it seriously and the driver got a talking to.

I have read a few articles lately about supposed "Lycra Louts" and the idea seems completely obsurd to me. To me, the definition of a "Lout" would be the kind of person who pulls out in front of an oncoming cyclist. While the "loutish" behaviour of cyclist is often taking up too much space in the road, or making you wait a few minutes until you can pass. A useful tip for drivers who feel this way is that we are probably in the middle of the road so that you do not try and overtake us on blind corners or at traffic islands or any other place in the road where there is definitely not enough room for a car to pass us without knocking us over.

Anyway, rant over. The majority of the time I am out on my bike, I co-exist with drivers very peacefully. One good thing that has come to me recently, perhaps brought with the good weather, is that I now see cycling as much more of an enjoyable activity rather than a chore. I now WANT to gt up at 6am on a Saturday morning and get out for a day's ride as opposed to HAVE to (well, I definitely still have to, but you know what I mean). I feel I may be fast becoming a cyclist, as opposed to someone who just rides a bike.

65 miles...

I managed 65 miles today and am extra pleased with myself as the training goal for today was 50 miles.

I went out with a friend from work and it made such a huge difference to ride with someone rather than by myself. He set the pace and I was happy to keep up. He rides a lot faster than I do but I think that's good as I was pushing myself, whereas normally I would dawdle.

It was also nice to take in a completely different route than I have been used to. I've found that to be one of the most difficult things about training so far. I will pick a place to ride to that I think is pretty far away but when I get there I'll realise it's not that far and I still have mileage to make up. I also find that I have been doing the same routes, or slight variations of, for the past few weeks which is getting a bit tired. 

I did fairly well timewise, doing it in about 6 hours with 3 stops (one fairly long one towards the end to re-fuel physically and mentally). Towards the end of the ride I definitely lost the will a little bit which is where I think riding in a group will definitely come in handy on the actual ride.

Having got a fairly big ride under my belt now, I feel a lot more confident about achieving the 95.

26 miles...

I have had a lot more time this week as it is the school holiday's and I am working half days so decided to make use of a bit of extra time by getting out on my bike more.

Typical of my luck, I managed to pick the only wet day of this week for a ride. It looked like it was going to be okay and that the rain might hold off...until the very second that I got out of my car and the heavens seemed to open!

I knew it was going to rain but the timing of the downpour still seemed a little unfortunate. I did sit in the car for a good 10 minutes debating whether or not to go out in the rain but ultimately decided that I will be cycling to Paris in June, rain or shine, so might as well make the most of training time.

I was planning (somewhat optimistically) to ride the cycle path from Exeter to Dawlish and back (13 miles each way) twice, but by the time I got back to my car after the first 26 miles, I decided I was too cold and wet and miserable to carry on. I don't think I have every been so thoroughly soaked before! I did have the foresight to bring a change of clothes - ie, Jumper and joggers...but no spare pants, socks, or trainers so had to put dry trousers over soaking wet pants and sock-less feet into squelchy horrible trainers!

Oddly though, it always feels like you've worked harder when you've been out in the rain. Something about being that miserable makes me feel like I've really worked hard. :-)

Sun shine = Generous shoppers

I had another bag packing today with a local guide group. They are fund raising for a trip to the World Guide Centre in India so we agreed to split the money raised.

The last bag pack made £316, but it was at a much bigger store and was on a Saturday so I was expecting to make a lot less this time. However, the very generous shoppers at Sainsbury's proved me wrong on that one! We made £592 in total! I counted the money, and then counted it again, and then once more to be sure. I could not, and still cannot, believe how amazingly generous people are!

Adding the £296 to my total brought me over the £2,000 mark, which is very very exciting.

Yesterday's hard training sessions left me on a bit of a downer but this has definitely cheered me up!

50 Miles...

I did 50 miles this weekend and it seemed like a long hard slog compared to the previous 40. I got to 30 and didn't think that I was going to be able to make it another mile, let alone another 20! I did finish the full 50 but it was slow and gruelling and seemed to take forever.

I think that perhaps having the weekend off last weekend (due to Mother's Day and other commitments) did me a lot more harm than good. I'm not sure why I was so tired, perhaps a virus or a touch of cold coming but it definitely made me a bit worried about what is to come if 50 was a struggle...