The Dean (307k audax)

Started this week with full on anxiety. I knew that I had plans to cycle a 300k audax on the weekend. This would be the second time I had ever attempted to cycle such a distance. 'Why' is a question one might ask. I am not sure I know the answer.


Training began on the Monday. First off was an indoor cycle on the rollers followed immediately by a run. SJ and I ran the Studley Traingle (door to door) and were only 5 seconds off our fastest time (not that we race). My legs really ached following this activity, I wondered how on earth I would fare Saturday. SJ distracted my thoughts and gave me a belated birthday present which was awesome - it was a T-shirt with a print of DMR pedals on the front. Nice!

Tuesday was spent cycling with Ron. We took our mountain bikes out and cycled an extended version of the 'Deer Route'. This was a pleasant evening and we had a good time creature spotting. Strangely no deer were to be seen, but we did see a rabbit, frogs, ducks, a badger, sheep and cats.

I repeated the route above again on Wednesday, but this time as a solo effort and during the day. No interesting creatures were spotted this time around and worse still a splatted frog lay where the frogs were seen the night before. Is not often that I cycle before an on-call shift but the sun was shining so bright that I felt really motivated to go out.

The weekend saw me complete 'The Dean', a 307k audax in Oxford. My buddy Ron joined me for this event. I wrote the comments below following the event where my mind and body are not in their usual state. This event should be re-titled as 'The mean Dean'.

Ron picked me up at a most horrid hour - 4 a.m! Luckily I had gotten my bike and kit ready the night before. With bikes loaded in car we reached Oxford in time for me to collect my brevet card and started the event on time at 6 a.m. We were 2 of about 100 riders (Ron had entered un-offically). The start was cold and misty but we were suitably clothed - I was wearing 4 layers. It didn't take long to warm up further as this start was super zoomy for an audax event. Ron and I stayed with the group of cyclists leading the pack but tucked in behind a few others to benefit from a 'tow'. This first section was mostly quiet lanes but there was a few hills and a relatively mean one before control. We had until 9 a.m to reach the first control in Stow, but we were so speedy we had reached it by 7.40 a.m (it had opened only 10 mins earlier). Our stop here was short. I just purchased a bottle of water (for sake of receipt) and ate some malt loaf I had prepared earlier.

Leaving Stow we cycled along familiar paths in Bishops Cleeve, Winchcombe and Tewkesbury. There was lots of hills during this stage and I am suprised the event organiser did not award us with AAA points (I felt he should). Some fast descents put a smile on my face and it was breakfast once we reached Newent! We both had a beans on toast with egg and a big mug of tea for me and coffee for Ron. We both looked quite pooped after cycling only a 100k, a third of the way through our epic advneture.

 
From Newent to Chepstow we encountered more hills. Hilly menace! To make things worse I had gotten something in my eye. Ron plucked the offending object from my eye - still not sure what it was but looked very much like worm poo. Maybe the gunk was evidence of infection - my poor eye had been watering and itchy for miles.  Ron said I should put salt in my eye, stating I should trust him as he is 'a first aider' - now where have I heard that before?! Passing through the Forest of Dean was lovely and we saw a wild pig. This wild pig (boar according to Ron) was dead and appeared to be the victim of road kill - Ron said the locals had killed it and would put it between some slabs of bread if we were not passing by. Reached the control and ate junk for our efforts. This junk was chicken pieces, a pasty slice and more of my malt loaf. (Frequently throughout trip we would munch on biscuits or gels etc).

From leaving control we were faced with another hill almost straight away. This hill was worth climbing as it led to the Severn Bridge which was just awesome. Have now crossed this bridge 3 times on a bike. Again another big hill (at Hawkesbury Upton) had to be climbed  before we reached the control in Malmesbury. This control was great as we stopped and ate in style. We both had soup, bread, roll, tea and a slice of chocolate cake. I swear Ron winked at the waitress and was given an extra large slice of cake for so doing.

 
From Malmesbury we cycled over the Marlborough Downs and 'over' was the fact of it. We had to climb big fat hills. 2 particularly big fat hills. These hills were hard work but the sighs were rewarding. We spotted 2 of Wiltshire's white horses. The second horse was half way up the final ascent and I could hear the horse saying 'reach me and I'll gallop you to the top' or was that Ron? Or even the voices in my head? Whatever it was I reached the top and then was rewarded with a super descent passing sighs to Avebury. It was dark by the time we reached the control in Membury. Both Ron and I were using our Ay-Up lights which are just awesome and in addition I was using cheap lights brought in end of year sales with which I am happy with too. All my kit was carried in my carradice zipped roll bag which I found great too but would maybe benefit with a slightly larger bag. We ate lots here at the control (being the last control before finish) and included was pasty, chocolate and more beverage.

The final slog took us from Membury back to Oxford. It was, of course, pitch black now but we sped along relatively flat lanes and B roads. So awesome to reach the finish. This was the first 300k event Ron had completed and I wonder if he will cycle this distance again? For me, this event has enabled me to reach Randonneur 1,000 status and I could use this event as a qualifier for PBP (ha!). In terms of PBP, I am halfway through the qualifying events, just a matter of a 400k and 600k event to go... Hmm, the mind is willing but the backside says no!

During audax cycled a distance of 190.42 miles at an average speed of 14.5 mph and a max speed of 45.3 mph.

Weekly totals: Cycled 249 miles; Ran for 33 mins.

Primal Level headed Wonder

This week started off well. SJ, Cody and I ran across the fields of Studley in a cross country style. Cody and I have ran this before, but this was a first for SJ. I like this route as it is quite varied but pretty all the way. The run starts by passing through 'secret' fields leading to a kind of pond with a 'secret' swing and then continues down hill past the sewage works. The sewage works stunk a lot on this particular occasion and SJ said we should name this route ''the stinky route'', so here we have 'Studley stinky route'. After the sewage works we had to jump a ditch and then put Cody on her lead as we trekked across some tarmac and over a bridge. We took a left turn after bridge, passed a cattle grid and then running continued. The run led past a farm house and a semi-vicious collie that Cody likes to fight. After the dog fight, a couple of horses had to be navigated through and then running continued over fields. At about the half way point there was a stream where we stopped to catch breath and watered Cody. The next stage goes up-hill a little and leads past Studley Castle and a Church. Another bridge was crossed and the run finished with an up-hill dart to the finish.


The following day, I repeated the Studley stinky route again, but this time just had Cody for company. As usual, Cody picked a dog fight but didn't fare too well this time. Can you teach an old dog new tricks?! Before the run, I took Scotty out and cycled the Yard route for the first time on said mountain bike. This was a great on-road route for an off-road mountain bike. I experimented using my Carradice zipped roll bag with bagman support. This bag and support worked well and saved me from having to carry my Camelback as all my tools and food etc were in bag. It was great having no weight to carry on my person. Chris Hodge and I are planning (maybe) to cycle coast to coast (C2C) on our mountain bikes in an un-supported manner. I think Carradice bags with support bracket may prove the way ahead. I might invest in a Carradice Barley, as it will offer about 5 more litres of space over my current bag which should be way enough for addition of clothes, food and a few other essentials.

 
This particular days training finished in style - the day finished with a mosh at a 'Primal Scream' gig. Primal Scream played their 'Screamadelica' album and it was an awesome night. A Scottish band called 'Kassidy' were the support act and they were awesome too.

Mid-week was a rest day. The following day (St Patrick's Day) was another day full on with exercise. Training started with the Studley Stinky route run (in reverse) with Cody. Cody was a bit sluggish today and the collie she usually scraps with was not there today. This run is a little easier going the reverse way around. Following the run, much motivation was required to spend a time cycling indoors on my rollers. Again this days training finished with style as SJ and I went to a 'Levellers' gig which was excellent and had a fantastic support from the 'Wonderstuff'.

 

No more exercise took place for the rest of the week. Well, it was my birthday! Plenty of time was spent having fun and eating and drinking. Which leads to my concluding remarks. My ever-so-competitive sister Jane likes to walk (pah) and blogs about this activity and believes she is some sort of sports star personality. Her blog is all about her and her walks and she really does believe that her walking is superior to my cycling. She stated that my blog is more like a menu as I tend to write down all the desserts that I consume and take my fancy. Well, (this is for Jane) assuming heart rate is kept in the cardio range (aprox 120-150): Walking = around 400 Cal per hour. Cycling = around 500-700 Cal per hour! Cycling burns more calories and 'allows' one to eat more! Yes, I can have my birthday cake and eat it!

Weekly totals: Cycled 53 miles; Ran for 1 hour and 30 mins.

Milton Keynes Malarkey

This weeks 'big' planned event was an off road affair in Milton Keynes, organiswd by Evans Cycles, with my buddy Chris 'Orange' Hodge. Last time we cycled such an event, we got lost and only cycled a medium length route, as opposed to the epic hard core route we convinced ourselves we were able to conquer. Before the Milton Keynes event was completed however, a little training took place first.


The first training session took place at 'Doo Little', my little abode. As most would have probably figured, this was an indoor session using my rollers. My legs were tired after last weeks 200k audax but spin they did.


SJ and Cody accompanied me on my next session. We ran around Oversley Woods. Am beginning to think this run is too short. Although this course is quite undulating, we finish in around 20 mins and I would prefer to run for at least 30 mins - maybe we should run around twice?!

My last training session was a double-whamy! I started by cycling on the rollers. This roller session was short and I only cycled half the distance of my usual sessions (ie I cycled 10 miles). This was long enough to warm up ready for when SJ rocked up though. When SJ eventually did rock up, we ran the Studley triangle. SJ doesn't know that this was the fastest we have ran the triangle as a couple. We ran it in 33 mins and 8 secs. We actually ran further than the triangle too, as we ran from and to my front door from the start/finish on the A435. Go us! :)

All the traing outlined above was my prepearation for the Evans Ride It! event in Milton Keynes I completed on the weekend. This was a great event. A collection of memories will be re-told.

I met Chris at the start, of what was to be a really warm sunny day. Chris had gotten new fox forks and I had gotten a new Fizik Gobi saddle which we proudly showed to each other. We both had relatively clean and shiny bikes.

After we had been fitted with timing chips we set off. We opted for the epic route -  a supposedly 34 mile off road trek (the short route was 15 miles and the medium 25). Last time we did an Evans event we got lost and ended up doing a medium route. We were going to make sure today we were hard core! Almost as soon as we started, I hit trouble. The track was incredibly muddy and gloopy. This certain gloopy puddle threw me over the handlebars on my bike. If that wasn't bad enough, I bashed both knee's and worse still, I lost a shoe! This shoe took a while to find as I had to fish it out of gloopy puddle. Nice...

Back on track and we cycled a variety of terrain and conditions. Lots of mud, gloop, hard pack, sand, field and a bit of tarmac. Up hills, down hills, across fields, over bridges, over railway lines, past a quarry and through a golf course. Chris was on good form today and powered up the hills and flew down the descents. That is, until he punctured...

We both punctured in fact. Well kind of anyway. Chris had gotten a rather large thorn stuck in his front tyre which we decided not to pull out (and it made it to the end with adequate pressure). Chris's back tyre did not fare so well and required many stops to pump up deflating tube. My rear tyre also deflated. I stopped and removed the tube. A thorn was found in tyre and quickly removed. The tube pumped up ok and so was put back on, rather than replaced. This tube required stops to pump it up too as it was deflating, but slowly. I think the valve was at fault and no 'real' puncture present.

The stops were the usual standard and provided diluted drink and mega tasty cakes. Well, the first official stop had no cake, so I made up for it during second stop and ate 2!  We were also equipped with a bar and had some gels too.

We cycled way over 34 miles. Chris said this was to ''make up for the miles we didn't do last time''. The truth was, we got lost again. Am not sure why, but we decided to follow white arrows instead of the yellow ones we were told to follow. Oh well, we made it to the finish and completed the epic route. Hard core we are!

During the Evans event, I cycled 40.46 miles, at an average speed of 8.4 mph and a max sped of 30.5 mph. (4 hours, 46 mins and 27 seconds were spent on my new saddle! No major back ache or bum ache. Am rating this saddle).

Finished the week by cycling another mini session indoors on the rollers.

Weekly totals: Cycled 80 miles; Ran for 53 mins.

Mr Pickwick's March Madness (209k audax)

Training went well this week. Spent a few hours indoors on the rollers, spent time outside on the mountain bike and even went for a run. This training was the preperation for my 15th audax.


Felt good to be back on the rollers again. Had not used them for a while and finding the motivation to use them is at times difficult. Rollers require not only motivation but concentration as it is easy to fall off. Somehow, I found both the motivation and concentration necessary and used the rollers 2 days running. I thought about my sister Jane doing her gym work as I was rolling to the sound of Muse.


Mid-week I took Scotty out on a solo trip (both Ron and John being busy this week). I cycled the route Ron and I did last week (on our road bikes), namely the 'shortened' 1 hour loop. Like last week, I made up my miles by cycling through Studley village. Was generally a nice trek but was very cold and I have ideas of investing in a new saddle. My current saddle is a Selle Itaia SLR and it's not the comfiest by any means. I might research fizik saddles, especially as I have a number of off road events planned.


Went running with SJ and Cody. SJ provided the motivation as I could have easily have found an excuse not to go - it was cold, I was tired, lazy, etc ... Felt better once we got started. We ran around Oversley Woods in the dark. After the run, SJ put me to shame as she completed a great number more sit up's than I could ever imagine doing. Show off!


Had my Brevet card returned from the Willy Warmer audax I completed in January, which was nice. However, the card was returned with a letter from the event organiser which made sad reading. I quote ''one big downer on the day was the loss of a bike... some opportunistic scrote made away on a very nice blue Ribble bike... The lightest cheapest cable lock will deter rideaway thieves''. With the advice of this organiser, I might invest in a lock!

During the weekend I cycled my 15th audax, namely the 'Mr Pickwick's March Madness' event. This was a 209k audax starting and finishing in Tewkesbury. The event was quite a hilly affair and earned me 1.75 AAA points.

The event startd early, at 7 a.m, on a cold and misty morning. I was pleased to try out my new front and rear lights which I had just gotten on the cheap in an end of year sale - they worked fine. The first stage was a 46k affair that took me to Bromyard. The road surface was generally fine, but patches of frozen water were encountered here and there. I was suitably kitted out wearing 3 pairs of gloves, which might sound extreme, but it kept my digits warm! My feet were toasty too - I wore wooly socks and my overshoes. My overshoes are rubbish to be fair, they rub against my heel (painfull after a while) and squeak as they rub against the pedal arm. This squeak makes folk think I have a mouse in my pocket, or rubbing brake blokes. I figured I'd put up with the squeak rather than cold feet. Hills in this stage kept me warm too. A big fat hill that hair-pinned it's way up to Malvern base camp made sure of that! Awarded myself with beans on toast once I reached the first control.

Left the control and started cycling a 56k trek to Soudley. It wasn't long to 'Bananaman' caught me up (a cyclist wearing bright yellow). Bananaman and I stuck together all the way to the control. We chatted quite a lot about random stuff and when we weren't chatting I was following his wheel. This stage was quite undulating in nature and was mostly an uphill gradient. The control was within the Forest of Dean, being at the Dean Heritage Centre. At this control I ate more beans, along with sausage and egg.

Stage 3 was a long slog, a 75k affair to Saul. This sort of slog was like the stages I remeber from my 300k event last year. The trek started off within the confines of the Forest and a couple of deer ran out ahead of me which was pretty neat. I was riding mostly solo until I caught a chap up in Wales (he had taken a wrong turn). I recognised this chap from a previous audax (not sure which one). We cycled as a pair and crossed the Severn bridge which was truly awesome. This chap made the mistake of allowing me to continue navigating. Sure enough we got a little lost, but some kind horse riding girls set us back on track. In the distance ahead we could see a group of cyclists - I pulled myself and the chap along till we joined said group (it was real tiring on my behlaf but the chap thanked me for my efforts). The group we were now cycling in contained 7 cyclists in all and I was pleased to stay at the back all the way to the control. The control was situated next to the canal which was real pretty and although I had been pulled along for the last so many miles I felt whacked and was glad of a stop. I devoured a peanut butter slice and a twix here. When the group were about to leave, they and asked if I wanted to follow - I declined, preferring to drink a cup of tea before I set off for the last section.

The last stage was only 30k. Only 30k that is, if I hadn't gotten lost. Maybe I should have skipped the tea and went with the group?! The trek started off well, following a canal tow path (good surface here) for some miles until reaching docks in Gloucester. It was at these docks I got lost. Didn't matter too much, I had found Gloucester and that was real pretty. Funny thing was I asked folk where College Street was and I was standing right on it. Being back on track I cycled along the A38 back into Tewkesbury and to the Arrivee marked on my route sheet. There was no one at the Arrivee?! I went to the car park and met some others who had finished - they informed I had an old route sheet and pointed me to the 'proper' Arrivee. I reached the Arrivee at last. The event took me 10 and 3/4 hours to complete and I was pleased with that time and I cycled a distance of 131.42 miles. The event on the whole was great - good to cycle roads, tow path and across a bridge and nice knowing I had gotten to Wales and back. The sun didn't shine so much, but it didn't rain and I returned with a relatively clean bike. The last 12 miles were cycled on real tired legs, but I had completed another 200k audax, gotten 1.75 AAA points and could use this 200k as a qualifying event for PBP (ha!).

Weekly totals: Cycled 187 miles; Ran for 23 mins.

The not-so-hard Yard route

After a long abscence from the exercise scene, I got back in the saddle and clocked a few miles. My bug lost the fight in the end, which was awesome, because it meant that I was on the mend. Training recommenced!


My first trip out was with Ron. Unexpectedly, we went out on our road bikes and starting cycling the '1 hour loop'. The lanes were wet and quite muddy in places so we took a short cut to avoid the ford in Coughton. I skirted around Studley village after I left Ron just to make sure that my first trip out clocked at least 15 miles. It was good to be back on the bike.


My second trip out was route 9, from the book 'Cycle Tours, 22 one-day routes Around Birmingham'. This route started from Yardley Wood train station, but I cycled to the official start from Studley via country lanes. This ride passed many ponds, lakes, canals and reservoirs. Initially the ride started well, following good roads and passing scenic places. The middle section was awfull and not suited for a road bike at all. The route took me down a 'No Through Road' (Hill Lane) which turned into a track at the bottom. This track was incredibly muddy and full of pot holes. This would have been great fun on a mountain bike. Following this muddy section it became a little hilly and between Gorcot Hill and Forhill the road surface was real bad - lots of clay and mud in places. It was funny that my route to the official start was re-ridden in many places after this middle section. From Kings Norton back to Yardley Wood train station the roads were all fine again. I repeated the route back to Beoley church before turning off and heading home again. I do not plan to do this route again on a road bike, but think it would make a good mountain bike trek. Plan to do this trek again using Scotty and starting in Weatheroak, just past Beoley Church. Will make this route my own and shall name it the 'Yard route'.

Like a good boy, I cleaned my road bike after she had been down all those dirty, muddy and wet country lanes. What a good job I did! Whilst cleaning her, I discovered that several of the spokes on the rear wheel were incredibly loose. Wheel was taken to Speeds Cycles and quickly fixed.

Had been using my Carradice zipped roll bag this week. I rate this bag. It only has a 2 litre capacity but is big enough to carry all I need and has room for more. It was made by some woman called Sue - so many thanks Sue! Have been using the bag as a handlebar bag but think I am going to attach it to the saddle instead.

No other exercise took place during the week. Well, I guess you could add my little jig at a Mogwai gig. Further to that, I did go to a galaxy far, far away ....

Weekly Totals: Cycled 70 miles.

sNOw drop Express

This has been an awfull week on the cycling front. No exercise at all has taken place. Worse still, I will not be joining Andy, Si, Clive, Ron and Dave in the Snowdrop Express 123k audax in Hartlebury. I got hit by a bug and it's still fighting.

A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm,
It's customary dwelling place,
Is deep within the human race ...

This will be the second audax I have dropped out of this year. Still, I have manged to cycle at least one 200k event this year (in fact for the past 4 months) and now have an actual goal planned! I plan to get a Randonneur Round the Year (RRtY) award. To qualify for this award I need to complete a Brevet de Randonneur (BR or BRM) in each of any 12 consecutive months, cycling a minimum 200k in a single event each consecutive month. On a brighter note, I have already qualified as a Randonneur 500 this season.

My next planned event is the Mr Pickwick's March Madness 209k audax (AAA 1.75) on 5 March 2011. I have a good couple of weeks to train for this event. In the mean while, well wishes to Andy, Dave, Clive, Ron and Si for the Snowdrop audax tomorrow!

Weekly totals: Nil

Cotswold Corker (106k audax)

Started the week with a cycle ride with John and Ron. We started cycling the Reed route (cutting across the corn fields at the start) but it wasn't long before Ron wanted to do something a little more technical - we were heading for the woods in Sambourne. I didn't want to go through these woods for a number of reasons that included the fact I was wearing spd's which continue to give me the fear, my legs were really tired from last weeks audax and because I have injured at least twice in these woods. These were the very same woods where my pedal and crank arm fell off, and the woods where I landed on that barbed wire fence and cut arms, belly and leg. I call these woods, the 'woods of doom'. With all this in mind, I changed plans and we turned off before said woods and climbed an off road track to Astwood Bank before going through naughty woods till we got to Alcester. There were deep ruts during this off road trek and poor John fell off at one point and bruised his ribs. It was a wise decision not to tackle the woods of doom! We picked up the reed route and followed familiar tracks back home.

I changed my pedals back to v8's before I went out on my bike again. My spd's are pedals that lock foot to pedal and help transfer energy directly to the pedals. I like to use these pedals in very wet and cold conditions when I am not cycling technical stuff off road. My shoes that I use for the spd pedals are quite narrow and allow me to wear comfy, warm and waterproof overshoes. With my preffered pedals (DMR V12's or V8's) I wear a kind of bulky skate shoe. These shoes are just comfy and don't give me the fear as they are not locked to the pedal at all. The pins in the DMR pedals are great at keeping a shoe in position (but tear a shin to shreds should a pedal slip). Only real down fall with this shoe and pedal combination is the fact they are not waterproof.

Ron and I went out and started to cycle the deer route for our second trip of the week. We soon turned off the deer route and climbed to the cart (which is no longer there?!) off road before joining the deer route again and took the first off road path to Coughton Ford. My fear had gone - go DMR's! We cycled home choosing an alley in Studley we had not cycled through before, just to be different.


Ran twice in the week with SJ. Our first run was the Studley triangle and we improved our time again. The second run was concocted by SJ and was a loop in Worcester. The Worcester run was shorter but was on an uphill gradient from almost start to finish - maybe we'll run it in reverse another time?!

Completed my 14th audax on Saturday. This was the Cotswold Corker. The event started in Bishops Cleeve and a whole bunch of cyclists participated in this event. Unlike previous recent events, I was here on time and was able to cycle out with the whole group. The first hill was encountered almost straight away and was a real menace at a 25% gradient. This hill started at Bushcombe Lane and climbed and climbed. Folk said I would never make this hill without a triple chainset, and ... they were right. With disappointment, this hill beat me and most other cyclists too. There was a long line of cyclists pushing bikes. This event was not called a 'corker' for nothing! The next corker of a hill was in Winchcombe - I made this one (and all subsequent hills) which made me feel much better. I hadn't done a lot of hill climbing for a while and almost forget how power draining it is, not to mention the fact that your lungs feel like they are going to split open. Passing Turkdean, I reached the first control at the Westwoods Centre. This was a nice control - they were dishing out free food. This free food was all cake based. I left a donation and took a jaffa cake, a jam doughnut and a slice of cake and washed it down with a cup of tea.

The second stage was not as gruelling as the first and the scenery was stunning. Hills were still encountered but these were more rolling than major climbs. I chased this goblin on a bike for a while which provided much amusement (this was a cyclist in tight green leggings and a bobble type hat). Passed Daglingworth and climbed a hill that I had climbed before on a previous AAA audax event. Reached the control at Sapprton Village Hall feeling good. The food at this control was awfull. I had pasta which had been cooked (allegedly) by some young army cadets. This pasta was cold and after eating half a plate (too much), I decided to bin the rest. I topped up my energy by eating a snickers bar that was in my pocket.

The next stage was awesome. The sun was shining and I was feeling on form. A lot of this stage was spent chatting to other cyclists and it was good to hear and share stories. A big hill was encountered here, it was called 'Hilcot' which kinda gave it away. Some of the roads were real bad - major menace pot holes and lots of mud. At one point, my rear wheel skidded some but fortunately I was able to keep control. At least 2 cyclists came off during this stage. In previous years this event has had much ice and conditions far worse. Reached the last control feeling great - I knew there was only 10k left to cycle. Took a longer rest stop here at the Andoversford Village Hall and ate 3 cakes with a cup of tea before heading off again. Apparently the cadets had made these cakes. Cadets make a great cake but a naff pasta!

Cycled the last stage with 2 cyclists I was chatting with from the stage before which was nice. We passed Belas Knapp (a pre-historic burial chamber), which I had visited many times before. The hill down from Belas Knap was great - I had ridden up it many times before on my mountain bike. The last hill was Cleeve Hill and to be fair was an easy climb. Once climbed, a quick descent followed to the Arrivee at Woomancote Village Hall. This audax was great and oh, so much better than the previous weeks!

Cycled a distance of 65.2 miles during audax, at an average speed of 12.9 mph and a max speed of 40.1 mph. I spent 5 hours, 2 mins and 36 seconds in the saddle and was awarded 2 AAA points.

Weekly totals: Ran for 1 hour; Cycled 101 miles.

Mr Pickwick Takes Flight (206k audax)

Mr Pickwick takes flight ... and if I had a choice, I would have took off too! This was a tough, gruelling audax. Note to self - I hate cycling 50 plus miles into a head wind!

Menaces were at work prior to the event. The day before the audax, whilst readying my bike, I found that the rear brake was not working. My mechanical skills were poor and I couldn't fix said problem. A trip to Cult Cycles saved the day. They replaced the brake cables and cleaned the brake mechanism.

On the day of the event, I turned up a few minutes late and missed the mad exodus at the start. It took me a good 16 miles before I caught anybody up. This first stage was pretty fine and passed through Bidford (a familiar place to me) before reaching the control at Stratford-Upon-Avon Gliding Club Cafe. The voices in my head were calling the guy who ran this cafe an idiot, amongst other obsceneties. He was expecting 30 plus cyclists (being for-warned by the event organiser) but only had 1 can of baked beans. With no beans on offer, I ordered a sausage sandwich and a cup of tea. Payment had to be made for each item seperately - which worked out fine, because after waiting over 30 mins, my sausage never arrived and the voices told me to take flight. Maybe the guy was stressed because it was very windy and none of the gliders could take off.

After leaving the first control, I found a general stores and purchased 2 sausage rolls - which is really a sausage sandwich in a different form. This second stage took me to Turweston Aerodrome (another gliding club). The route was nice, it passed through Hampton Lucy and Wellesbourne - both places I knew quite well. It was during this stage though, that my bike computer died. This was a real menace because I couldn't count the miles travelled and had no idea how fast (slow) I was going. Oh well, not to worry - I reached the control within good time. This control was a lot better than the first. Nice folk in this cafe - who were able to provide me with the beans on toast I so wanted!

Stage 3 was horrible. Not much fun at all! All the way from the control at Turweston to the next control in Chipping Norton was battling a very strong headwind. This wind was so strong that my bike was hardly moving forward at all. Some hills were encountered too and the voices in my head were telling me to pack. At one stage, about 20 deer ran across the road in front of me. These deer were awesome, they were all different sizes, some had antlers, and beat this - one was white! These deer provided a neat distraction for a while. Reached the control, the Old Mill Cafe, in quite a state - I was exhausted and was hallucinating again (I saw a tree, I thought was a standing stone). I had a hot drink here and 2 slices of short bread before gritting my teeth and heading off again.

The final stage was horrible too. It was still windy (admittedly not so much) and now it was dark too. Peter, a fellow cyclist, lent me a rear light so I cycled with him to the finish. The hills here were frequent and required much energy but the super fast descents were a delight. Passed through Winchcombe before finally reaching the Arrivee. Yay, job done! Would I repeat this particular audax - I don't think so!

Cycled 128 miles during this audax. Have no idea what my average or max speed was but completed the event in 11 and a half hours.

Weekly Totals: Cycled 160 miles; Ran for 63 mins.

Sorry Emma

An earlier blog entry this week, as I have a few things to shout about.

Training wise has been ok on the running front and not so good on the cycling front. Started the training week with a run over the fields of Studley with Cody. Cody's performance was quite poor - alas the vet continues to monitor her weight and says she is still over. Later in the week, I ran the Studley triangle with SJ. SJ's performance was quite ace - alas, not only was this her first run of the triangle, she needed the loo too! Maybe this explains why we ran the triangle so fast!

Missed out on cycling with both Ron and John in the week as I opted to go to the cinema instead. Watched 'The King's Speech', which was good but not necessarily a film I would shout about. Anyways, did manage a lap of the Deer route with Ron later in the week. I repeated this route in reverse the following day and now call this route the Reed route (can you see what I've done there?!).

I hope this limited amount of training is enough to make the planned 'Mr Pickwick Takes Flight' 200k audax tomorrow a nice enjoyable, not-too-painfull experience. Time will tell. Will blog about this said audax soon enough.

Received my Audax Uk Handbook (2011) this week. Was pleased to see that my name had been entered twice in the 'Audax UK Brevet and Randonneur Awards' section. I am officially a 2010 Randonneur 1,000 (1 of 169 AUK members). My second award was the 2010 Brevet 500 (1 of 315 AUK members). In addition to this, my name was also printed in the 'Arrivee' magazine (no.110, Winter 2011) as a New Randonneur. I was 1 of 249 members to be welcomed to the rank of AUK Randonneur - this was for cycling 200 km or over for the first time in the 2008/2009 season.

Talking of Randonnees, this brings me to my next sponsored challenge. I have signed up for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) 100 mile South Downs Way Randonnee on the 30th July 2011. This will be a tough event as it's all off road and hence I'll be using my mountain bike. All sponsor monies raised will be to support the BHF. Please sponsor me here: http://original.justgiving.com/doomadoffroad100milebikething.

Many thanks to those who sponsored my last challenge - 'Help for Happy's'. Lots of money was raised and we were able to buy a number of wheel chairs for poor disabled orphaned kids in South Africa at Happy's School. I have just booked tickets to South Africa and will be visiting the project at Happy's this year, God willing.

No Pain but Melanie Pain

This update has been posted a day late due to work demands. Work often gets in the way of fun. Am sure there is more fun to come.


Ran on 2 occasions during the week. The first run was around the Studley triangle. My second run was with Cody and we ran over the fields of Studley. England remains very cold this time of year and running requires great motivation.


Only cycled on 2 occasions during the week too. The first trip was a spin around the Deer route with Ron. My second trip was a cross country trek over fields in Astwood Bank and heading back into Studley via the castle.


Not a great amount of activity but the week finished with an awesome Melanie Pain gig. The pic below from left to right is Myself, Melainie Pain, SJ and Paul (an accompanying musician). Next week I may encounter a different pain as another 200k audax is planned.

Weekly totals: Cycled 35 miles, Ran for 1 hour and 8 mins.

A new beginning and a Willy Warmer!

After ending this blog and starting a new one, I felt major withdrawal symptoms - so much so, that I decided to resurrect this blog. My 'new' blog messed with my head too much, was too technical for the likes of me. This was a tried and tested blog that had just one major drawback - folk couldn't comment on here unless they had a google account. Folk still can't comment on here without a google account. Oh well ... This old blog is now officially my new blog and all adventures and the likes will be recorded here.


Ok, a quick update from the beginning of the year. Well, will actually begin with yesteryear. This blog mostly records my cycling stories and in 2009 I was able to record that I had cycled 3,160 miles. Last year I cycled 5,287 miles. This year, I don't know how far I'll cycle, but rest assured I will record the mileage.


Started the year reasonably well and have cycled Scotty (the mountain bike) on numerous occasions. Scotty hasn't taken part in any planned events as yet, this year. However, Scotty has cycled a fair few miles and has been out with both Ron and John.


Cayo (the road bike) has done reasonably well too. She has led mostly a sheltered life this year, being ridden indoors (on rollers) due to the horrendous wintery conditions. However, Cayo took part in a recent audax event which I will post details about shortly.


In addition to cycling, this year has seen me play badminton and run too. Thus far have played 2 sessions of baminton with my girl friend 'Sarahjane' (SJ). We are both quite naff at the game but have enjoyed playing and hope we will both improve with time. Match results have always been close. Running has been fun too but requires a little more effort. The first run of the year was with SJ and Cody (my fury minion) around Worcester race course. We were all pooped, but it felt good - so much so that I have continued to run with both SJ and Cody, and to top that have completed a couple of solo runs too.


So this year has been kind to me thus far and has seen me play badminton, run (road, x-country and trail) and cycle (road and off road). This week witnessed me walk, run and cycle too, which was all good preperation for the Willy Warmer 213k audax in Chalfont St Peter. This was my first audax event this year and my 12th such event to date.


After spending the night at my sister Jane's house, I rocked up to the Chalfont St Peter Community Centre ready for the start of The Willy Warmer audax. It was a wet and chilly morning. I was running a little late but met up with my buddy Chris Hodge just in time to make the 7.30 a.m start. We were virtually the last to leave and missed the brief they always give at the start. Chris was well prepared, donning a full waterproof kit - I just had a waterproof jacket and overshoes.


The first stage of this event was relatively easy going despite the rain and chills. Chris and I chatted mostly and followed other cyclists so that we wouldn't have to navigate. We had a lot to catch up on and it seemed the more we chatted, the more we had to catch the other cyclists up! After a while we were alone and had to require on my navigational skills. It was soon apparent that we had missed a turn and so had to back track a wee bit. Once back on route we spotted a orange nosed reindeer and had to stop to take pics (as Chris loves his orange) and eat Chris's home made flap-jacks which just getter better each time he cooks a batch. After this stop we sped on and caught up some other cyclists, passed them and hit the first control in Pangbourne. Suitably named I thought, as I had hunger pangs. This control was the Lou La Belle Cafe and they took forever to serve us our beans on toast and tea. The beans were delicious however and the tea came in a massive tea pot - I must have drank at least 3 cups and Chris 2 and there was still lots left. In the cafe we spotted a number of funny looking cyclists and joked to ourselves about same.

The next leg required me to navigate some more. This was a bad move as I took a wrong turn (or possibly missed a turn). I felt a little better once Chris's Sat Nav made us repeat a complete loop. The rain would stop and start and on occasions and we both felt a little chilly but on the whole we felt good and the scenery was stunning. We spotted a rainbow and some ferrets amongst other things whilst cycling. Lots of Ministy of Defence places were passed and shots being fired could be heard (actually clay pigeon shooters). We got to the control in time for a well deserved lunch. I ate sausage, beans, egg and chips. As we left this control - The Tutti Pole Cafe in Hungerford, we met this German guy on a mountain bike just entering the control. German guy said he was doing an audax in India tomorrow too - crazy!


If my memory serves me correct, Chris and I tackled the next section as a lone pair. We again relied on my navigational skills and to be fair were doing ok. We even remembered to stop and answer the questions at the info controls (an excuse to eat more flap jacks and banana's too). Suprisingly we both still felt good and no major aches or pains were experienced. It was starting to get dark now but we managed to get to the next control without problem. This control was Sainsbury's in Winnersh. I purchased 3 pastie's, a sausage roll and 4 chicken fillets which were shared with Chris. Mmm. At this control I spotted my front tyre had developed a bulge. This was major menace. On a previous audax my tyre had developed a bulge too. Both these tyres were Schwalbe Ultremo's and I vow never to buy Schwalbe Ultremo's again. Luckily, amongst the group of funny looking cyclists we were joking about before were here and were able to sell me a new tyre. This new tyre was a Vittoria Rubino (and cost me £20). The tryre was a menace to get on, but on it went and so did we, as a group this time. (Incidentally, Chris's tyres are also Vittoria Rubino's).


This last leg was in the dark. I don't particularly like cycling a road bike in the dark. Maybe if I had better lights my experience mught be better. I had no rear light (it died) and was only using my Ay-Up helmet mounted lights at the front (which were nearly power drained). I was glad we were cycling as a group, it made me feel safer and was nice to chat with others. We got lost at some point (I was not the navigator) and subsequently Chris was made chief navigator and we had to rely on him and his Sat Nav to get us back to the Arrivee. Chris did a grand job and we were all back at the arrivee safe and sound before too long. Our group didn't make it to the end in time for BRM status, the controller commenting 'you won't be getting to France with this time' (ie could not use this event as a qualifier for PBP) but was still awarded BP or BR status (ie was still a completed 200k audax and could still be used for awards such as 'round the year' etc). All round a good ride and was nice to catch up with Chris (this was his first 200). As for the fate of the German guy, we don't know. An old man was waiting for the German and believed he was only 6k behind (I reckon more like 60k) - I really don't think he'll be cycling in India tomorrow! Oh, and a big thanks to Chris for providing me with the much needed blood transfusion...

Cycled 131.63 miles during audax, at an average speed of 12.3 mph and a max speed of 37.8 mph.

Weekly Totals: Cycled 168 miles; Ran for 1 hour.

2011 Totals to date: Cycled 311 miles; Ran for 2 hours and 16 mins. (Played badminton for 2 hours).