Arriving in London

To avoid the hassle, and added stress, of navigating my way across London with my bike and a week's worth of kit in tow, my friend Anna picked me up at Reading station and dropped me off at Crystal Palace.

One of my big worries for the trip was that I would not be able to navigate the route if I needed to do so (my map reading skills are terrible!). Obviously not realising this, Anna asked me to direct the way to the hotel. So, a good hour and a half later we actually arrived!

When we got to the Ho(s)tel, I have to admit that first impressions were not great. It was called 'The Lodge' and was decked out in wooden pannelling (what would have perhaps been a nice effect, had it not been on a tower block). My room was small and not particularly clean (the mould in the wardrobe and kettle was also a nice touch) but on the plus side, it was all mine - no sharing a bunk bed as I had imagined!

Another big worry was that everyone would have come with people and that I would be on my own. I didn't meet many people on the first night so this worry stuck with me until the next morning when everyone introduced themselves to everyone else.

Bags packed...I'm ready to go!

It's Saturday...and no bike ride, very strange!

Last weekend was my last training ride as the schedule says you should rest for a week. It was very strange getting up (at almost 10am!!) this morning and not having to do anything. Well, I say anything, I had tons of stuff to do but no cycling...which is a very odd feeling indeed.

I went to my last spinning class yesterday before the big ride and everyone was full of well wishes, which was very nice.

I'm almost packed, and I'm sure I have waaaaay more stuff than I am supposed to (that'll be fun carrying it across London!) and feel really ready to go. I'm still not particulary nervous, just really excited to finally get started after 9 months of getting ready!

96 miles!!!

Today I finally managed my 100 miles! (Well, 96 but it's close enough so I'm counting it!)

I did the same route as the last few weeks but went out a little bit further this time, ending up in Exmouth. I've never been there before so didn't realise how hilly it was from Exeter! I feel that I have truly experienced an "undulating" stretch of road now.

This week was obviously difficult as it was a massive ride but it was nowhere near as hard as last week. Having heard how much I struggled, 2 of my friends had offered to meet me for 20 miles or so in the middle of the ride which was a great boost to know I'd have people to ride with. However, they proved unreliable and dropped out at the last minute.

I woke up so determined to do the 100 that even going on my own didn't bother me. I woke up (for some crazy reason) at around 5.30am and so snoozed for a bit and then had my breakfast and got everything ready and was out of the house by 7am.

I stopped once at 25 miles for about 5 minutes for an energy gel, again at 56 for a nice pot of tea by the canal and again at 75 for another gel (yum yum) so with stops it took me around 7 1/2 hours to do 96 miles - which is more than enough time to make it to the ferry (hurray!) on day 1 so I'm not worrying about that anymore.(It is worth noting that I had a good 5-10 stops of about 30 seconds or so to remove flies from my eyes - yuk! Note to self - definitely need to start wearing my glasses!)

It is also worth noting that I really enjoyed today's ride. Even though it was difficult, it wasn't the struggle I was expecting and I don't feel completely wrecked after it now (although my legs are sorer than they have been after any of the other rides). It has definitely done a lot to boost my confidence, especially after last week's disaster ride.

I feel physically and mentally prepared now for Paris - and perhaps best of all, I am so excited to get going!

67 miserable miles

I managed 67 miles today and I can honestly say it was my worst ride so far! It was ridiculously windy the whole way there and back (how is that even possible) which made every single mile so much harder. The hills seemed to be bigger, and longer and I didn't have any motivation at all!

I would obviously rather ride with people, but training on my own hasn't really bothered me that much before. Today was different though. I started to feel it from about mile 20 and just didn't feel like I could go on. I started to think about how hard training alone was and how it was so difficult to motivate myself. I almost turned back at 23, 27 and 29 but decided to carry on, hoping that I would get a second wind.  I started to at around 30 miles, struggling up a hill, thinking about how good the training will doin preparing me for the actual ride.

Then at mile 33, I had just been speeding down a hill and stopped for traffic at the bottom (luckily) when my pedal fell off! The whole arm came away and fell into the road...giving me quite a fright! I don't think you need to refer to any previous posts to understand how far outside of my technically ability a broken pedal falls. I phoned Ads who (luckily) lives about 5 minutes away from where I had stopped but there was no answer so I left a desperate message and then phoned my brother. He would have happily got me but luckily for me, Ads was home and came to collect me.

Her boyfriend, Pete, was able to fix the pedal for me. They have been building a project bike and so happened to have the right spares and tools to help me out. I sat and had a cup of a tea and a good whinge and tried to re-motivate myself (not that I was particularly motivated to begin with). However, I decided to call it a day, as the gods just seemed to be against me having a good cycling day. I then spent a further half an hour deciding if I was going to ride home or get the train. I really wanted to get the train as I didn't feel like I had the energy to make it home, with the first 33 miles being such an almighty struggle. However, I know that I would have been so mad at myself for days if I hadn't even tried so I got back on my bike.

The way home was even harder than the way out as I was tired, had no motivation and was half expecting to lose my pedal again on the way back. I made it home but it seemed to take forever and I was really disappointed that I hadn't been able to make my mileage (AGAIN!). However, now that I'm home and I've had a long soak and a cup of tea, I've realised that some days are going to be really hard and just because today was, it doesn't mean I won't be able to make Paris, or that I'm not fit enough...it was just an off day and next weekend I am going to smash the 100!

16 miles...just stretching my legs

I did a little 16 mile ride today with my friend April, who has just signed up to do a week long cycling trip in Brittany with school. She, like me prior to my training, has only ridden a bike twice in the last 2 years and both were on school trips. We did a 2 (or maybe even less) mile mountain bike ride on the Moors last summer with a group of 11/12 year olds on school camps and we were both absolutely ruined afterwards. Out of breath all the way round and sore bums for a week afterwards!

She has decided that she had better do a little bit of training (if only to save face in front of her students) so after months of me pestering, finally gave in and came out for a ride with me.  It was nice to go at a steady (okay, pretty slow) pace and actually have a leisurely ride, rather than worrying about distance/speed/time etc like normal.

We did a route that I started off on early in my training and am proud to say that while it was horrendously hard a few months ago, was actually very easy today. It was a hilly route but didn't seem anywhere near as bad this time around. The sun was shining too, which always makes everything seem a lot better.

Although we only did a short distance today, my legs felt fine and the bike was still comfortable despite riding 2 consecutive days. I feel like I'm really starting to get into good stead for Paris

Stok Gabriel - Tea stop at the River Shack

87 miles...

I was, again, determined today that I absolutely was going to make the 100 mile mark today...but alas, I did not. :-(

I am quite disappointed as now I still can't 100% say that I am ready for the trip or that every day is achievable for me, as I have so far been unable to achieve the 100 miles.

I cycled from home to the double lock in Exeter and then back again, which is no mean feat and is definitely still an impressive ride. I think last week, I took a few wrong turns and managed to clock up a bit of extra mileage without realising I has done so. Therefore, this week I got closer to Exeter in less miles than last week (something which massively confused me until I just realised how I had managed it) so by the time I got to the double lock I was on 42 miles (as opposed to the 50 something I had expected).

I considered continuing to Exmouth but I don't really know the way and didn't want to get lost and have to call someone to come and get me. So, I stopped for a brief rest and a cup of tea and then headed home. I did think that I would be able to get the extra 16 miles in somewhere on the way home, and although I did put a few loops in on my way back, I only managed to add an extra 3 miles (although it seemed waaaaay further at the time)

I'm still disappointed that I didn't make the 100...but on the plus side, I absolutely owned the hill up to Longdown (got up in one go as opposed to three last weekend!)

My legs are sore after the distance but not as bad as I had expected and hopefully they will be okay tomorrow...