Free Zwift / Banana's / No kayaks go

A couple of blog-posts ago, I shared that I had learnt that eating banana's and almond nuts was a good source of magnesium. Furthermore, I read that magnesium did wonders for sleep. For a week or so, I consumed both banana's and nuts and am sad to report that my sleep did not improve at all. 

Christmas last year, saw me playing the game 'Articulate' with some of my family and friends. I asked my brother-in-law 'what do monkeys eat that are yellow?', to which he replied 'slippers'. Nuts, eh?!

Talking of banana's, my friend Flair got admitted to A and E this week due to her low potassium levels and had to have an infusion. She was told she would have to eat like 11 banana's a day to supplement the potassium she was deficient. Banana's, eh?!

Activity during this week had been great and started in a triathlon style, which saw me swim, run and cycle all in the same day. I really could not recall the last time I did something like this. Swimming was a jolly - I took my girls to a local(ish) pool and we all swam in a leisurely fashion for just over an hour. The girls had some friends join them in the pool too. Running was a 5k run in the woods with Ernie and the cycling was an hours spin on Zwift. 

Ran a few times in the week and a theme appeared to emerge. The theme was 'blocked tracks'. On my first run with Ernie, a fallen tree had blocked our path in the Oversley Woods. On my second run with Ernie, recent flooding had damaged the bridge crossing near College Woods in Studley.

It was nice to run around Oversley Woods. It had been a while since I had last been to those words, and the fact that the car park has been closed for over a year didn't encourage a visit. The recent weather made running a little more tricky. No major worries though, any blocked path was soon scrambled over.

Renewed my subscription to the Kingfishers Harriers running club. This cost a whopping £15 for the year (great value really). I ran with this club on a few occasions last year and it was awesome when my girls joined me. Lunar and Melody both stopped running with me once they returned to years 5 and 7 at school. However, Lunar made a pinky promise she would run with me next week and hence my subscription again this year (there is no cost for youngsters). There is something nice about running on a track.

The hostile weather had prevented me from attending a local ParkRun this weekend. Plans to kayak were also abandoned - this was because the canal had frozen over. The temperature was around -4C.

All my cycling this week was on Zwift (a massively multiplayer online cycling and running physical training program that enables users to interact, train, and compete in a virtual world). Have used Zwift for a few years now and am currently at level 56. Hodge gifted me Zwift controllers for Xmas 2023 and these have proved pretty awesome. Also, I managed to get a free, 3 month subscription to Zwift and you could get one too! I got this free subscription by downloading the adidas app, collecting points, and trading said points for a voucher. If you want to join the app, please follow this link: adiClub. By joining the adiClub you will get free membership, £10 off your first purchase of adidas goods, early access to online sales and exclusive releases, and earn rewards, - just like I did! Everyone likes freebies and discount vouches.

This week also saw me skipping once again. With the busy life I lead, skipping sounded like a good idea. Inspired by what I read - 'According to a study published in 2013, 10-minutes of jumping rope per day has the same cardiovascular effects as a 30-minute run. 

'Bonus', I thought. I skipped for about 15 mins and completely whacked myself out. The following days and my calf muscles felt really painful. This is presumably DOMS (delayed on-set muscle soreness)? Too much, too soon perhaps? After just a brief research on skipping (or 'jump rope') I became a bit over-whelmed. There is loads to muse about skipping - there are different ropes, different weights, different lengths etc. There is always so much to learn and explore.

Decided to end this post with the photo above. Jamie randomly sent me this pic and stated 'we need an adventure this year'. I knew the pic was of me but just couldn't place it. Turns out it was from our Trans-Atlantic Way adventure in Ireland. I'm sure adventure awaits!

Not the January Sale

I’m wanting to be more active in 2025 than I was in 2024. I’m wanting more adventure simply because it’s fun and is great for my mental well-being. I’m sure it has benefits for my physical health, however, this is not the motivation behind it. And, it’s not because I have any guilt in relation to being lazy either. Plain lazy is an art form!

Vague plans were made to cycle the January Sale 200k audax on this first weekend in January, however, sensibility got the better of me and I didn’t even start. Weather conditions were poor, sub zero in fact and snow was forecast. I wasn’t overly concerned that I hadn’t crossed ‘cycle a 200k’ event off this years challenge list - still have 12 months to play with. Furthermore, had cycled this particular event on at least 2 occasions previous years. I remember being cold, wet and miserable too.

On a brighter note, this weekend saw me complete a ParkRun and cycle an event I stole from Komoot and dubbed ‘not the January Sale’. Am real pleased that early this year I have participated in some challenges. Better yet, I’m pleased that I’ve had some fun with others.

The ParkRun I completed was Babbs Mill. This was my 76th ParkRun to date and my first at this location. I finished in position 43/178 in a time of 26:13. My running has gotten slower over the years and it’s one of my challenges to beat my 2024 best time this year. 15 ParkRuns to go and I will have beaten my record for most ParkRuns ran in a year.

The ‘not the January Sale’ cycle was a lovely 45k jolly with my buddies Ron and the Meekon. As stated above, this was a stolen route - Komoot is great for pinching routes and getting ideas. We cycled using our MTB’s and got very muddy. Roads, tow path and a bit of single-track was followed. A stop at the Cowshed for much tea and a finish at Ron’s for bacon sarnies. So pleased I chose this cycle over the audax. Oh, and thanks to the Meekon for my new buff which kept my ears toasty warm.

Meekon, Doo and The Phantom

Feelin' alive in '25

Welcome to 2025! Hope everyone is feeling alive! I was until I started a New Years Day ParkRun. I ran my 75th ParkRun today, and my second at Brueton Park, on this very wet and windy morning. My time was 27:19, a good 2m 24s off my previous time. I'm not planning on beating my ParkRun PB this year, however, would welcome any improvements.

So with this year in mind, and following a really inactive year in 2024, I've decided to write a list of challenges to make sure this year is hopefully a little more active. Some challenges are un-finished business, some rely on others and the rest, well, take a look at my list:

• Complete a Rat Race or similar. (The Rat Race in mind is a 100 mile coast to coast adventure in the Scottish Highlands that incorporates running, cycling and kayaking. It's not 100% definite yet - just waiting on Hodge to run through the logistics before we sign up. If this is a no go, will look to find a similar alternative).
• Cycle the Cantii Way. (Wanted to do this last year and plans were formed but the weather told us 'no'. We spoke about cycling this as a feature of Hodge's stag doo - he's married now, but, we could do a post event thing surely).
• Sleep in a bothy. (Have 'the' book, the gear and a vague idea).
• Run more than 16 ParkRuns in a calendar year (and beat my 2023 record). (After todays effort, that leaves just 16 to go).
• Run a ParkRun in under 25:21 (and hence beat my fastest time in 2024, not likely to beat my fastest time ever, which was 21:39).
• Complete A-Z of ParkRun. (Only have 4 letters remaining, these being J, V, Y and Z. ParkRun's in the UK could see me complete 3 letters, however, the Z would require a trip to Amsterdam or Germany.)
• Cycle at least 1 x 200k audax. (Have vague plans of cycling the January Sale Audax on the 4th).
• Cycle more than 4,398k (and beat 2024's effort).
• Run further than 286k (and beat 2024's effort). (Knocked 5k off today).
• Drink some of Ron's nettle tea. (This clearly depends on motivating Ron at the correct time of year). (Ideally, this tea should be consumed during a wild camp).

They say 'start as you mean to go on' and this year started with a run. A little later in the day, I managed to squeeze in a Zwift cycle ride and walked Ernie too. Would be great if something like this continued.

Am not overly sure what this blog will cover this year. I'm thinking it might record adventures, it might record odd items in a diary kind of fashion and/or it might contain musings, both sensical and otherwise. I mused over whether a day dream at night is still a day dream? Who knows, this blog might also share nuggets of knowledge - like todays learning. Today, I learned that magnesium can help one sleep (and stay asleep) and banana, almonds and cashews are a good source of same. I've eaten banana post run and just consumed 23 almonds and will report back on how well I sleep tonight.

Goodbye 2024

Lunar and Doo - Forest Warrior Mud Runners

Happy end of year to everyone reading this post. Am hoping 2024 treated you well. I hope 2025 blows your socks off! 

2024 was a 'meh' year for me. My wife (SJ) had 2 brain operations which was a little scary for us all, but super pleased to report that she's fine now and making a good recovery. This year was my most inactive since I started recording my adventures and my annual cycling and running distances. However, maintaining positivity here, I've done a bunch of stuff since I created this blog in 2009 and it's always nice to look at my list of achievements. (I really do like a 'good' list).

So, here is my wonderful list of recorded activity since 2009:

• 2009 - Cycled 5,086k (3,160 miles) Land's End to John O'Groats Cycle (LEJOG) 2009; Clumber Park Sprint Duathlon March 2009 (1:20:57); Birmingham and Black Country Half Marathon July 2009 (1:57:32)
• 2010 - Cycled 8,509k (5,287 miles) Paris to Geneva Cycle 2010; LEJOG 2010; Stratford 220 Triathlon May 2010 (1:16:33); Tri-Live Duathlon March 2010 (1:14:11)
• 2011 - Cycled 8,378k (5,207 miles) Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) Cycle 2011 (77:14)
• 2012 - Cycled 6,953k (4,309 miles)
• 2013 - Cycled 12,498k (7,766 miles) London-Edinburgh-London (LEL) Cycle 2013 (108:23)
• 2014 - Cycled 9,253k (5,750 miles)
• 2015 - Cycled 5,531k (3,436 miles) and Ran 1,170k (727 miles) First ParkRun  (28 Feb 2015); Avenger Triathlon June 2015 (3:15:09); First Marathon (over distance too) - Forest of England Marathon October 2015 (5:55); Autumn Shakespeare Marathon November 2015 (3:59:53)
• 2016 - Cycled 6,515k (4,048 miles) and Ran 1,204k (748 miles) Iron Man (Bolton) 2016 (13:31:13); Torino-Nice Rally 2016; Go-Tri Duathlon April 2016 (50:04); Milton Keynes Marathon May 2016 (3:55:02)
• 2017 - Cycled 8,940k (5,555 miles) and Ran 514k (319 miles)
• 2018 - Cycled 10,958k (6,809 miles) and Ran 417k (259 miles) TransAtlantic Way Cycle Race 2018
• 2019 - Cycled 8,034k (4,992 miles) and Ran 484k (301 miles) Bivvy-A-Month 2019
• 2020  - Cycled 10,082k  (6,265 miles) and Ran 466k (289 miles) Covid!
• 2021 - Cycled 9,021k (5,605 miles) and Ran 319k (198 miles) Covid!
• 2022 - Cycled 8,427k (5,236 miles) and Ran 286k (184 miles) TransAlba Cycle Race 2022 (DNF)
• 2023 - Cycled 7,368k (4,578 miles) and Ran 596k (370 miles)
• 2024 - Cycled 4,398k (2,733 miles) and Ran 286k (178 miles) GBDuro 2024 (DNS)

So, yeah, 2024 was a largely inactive year. That being said, I did take part in some wonderful stuff and keen memories float around my headspace. Some of the delights include running with the Kingfisher Harriers - as short lived as this was, it was nice to do some track running and on a few occasions, both my girls joined me, which was awesome! 

Melody and Lunar complete a ParkRun together with their dad

Both my girls ran ParkRun with me too - is hard to believe Melody ran at all, but, she completed 2 ParkRuns with me. Melody may well never run a ParkRun again, but at least she completed 2!

Melody's First ParkRun (Arrow Valley, 17 Feb 2024)

Lunar ran a Xmas day ParkRun with me and states 'it's tradition', having run 3 consecutive Xmas ParkRuns to date. I hope she'll run another with me, even if it means wating until Xmas 2025! 

Xmas ParkRun 2022

Xmas ParkRun 2023

Xmas ParkRun 2024

I cycled the usual Snowdrop Audax and also completed the Rollright Rumble Audax too, continued to cycle on the odd occasion with my blind buddy Roger, cycled to Jon Bonhams grave and cycled the Out of the Ditch gravel event. 

Doo, Phantom and Meekon - out of their minds and out of the ditch!

Even cycled to Bristol with Jamie and saw the Breeders play at a festival. Wild camped on a few occasions, and every occasion was fun. The Forest Warrior Mud Run that I completed with Lunar was probably my favourite event this year.

What will 2025 look like, well, I'm creating a bucket list of activity right now....

Nifty, fifty and drinking whiskey

Something strange happened, and I'll tell you when, 'twas the night before Christmas. I was 15 mins away from finishing work, when my buddy Ron phoned and suggested we had a wee drink in our local, the Lark. Sounded like a good plan. Melody felt it was a good plan too and joined me on our meet at the local pub. When we rocked up, Ron was sat their with cousin Ade who was drinking the pint that Ron would have gifted me. Anyways, it was a merry meet and I decided my drink of choice would be whiskey this night. After a short while, my dad rocked up too and the company was great. A few drinks later and time to head home.

Once home the Christmas festivities continued and SJ cooked me a lovely Christmas curry. Friends and family text Christmas greetings and all was good. Then I got a text from one of my besties - Chris Hodge. He sent a link to a coast to coast, Rat Race event with the message 'something to consider while your stuffing your face and getting drunk...'. How did he know what I was doing? '...and pondering new challenges'. '...fancy tackling this one with me... I've wanted to do it for over a decade. 50 next year, maybe it's the year'. Wow, I'm fifty next year and just figured in my current state, this would be a challenge worth doing. My headspace decided I would do this and just short of a pinky promise I informed Hodge of same. Just gotta get a pass from my wife SJ. Nifty, fifty and drinking whiskey!

Christmas day came and amongst the presents I had was a book from the Hodge called 'Bothy'. This reminded me of my plans to adventure to a bothy this year, however, I did not follow these plans through. Hmm, this book has kinda rekindled the interest once again. How weird Hodge spoke about adventure last night and then I open a present following day which shouted out adventure again. Not long after opening presents, Lunar and I went for an adventure in the form of a 5K Christmas ParkRun in our elf hats. This was a great run with 530 like minded folks (including the 'Mitchum 3'), most of which in Christmas attire. I text Hodge and said this run would be good practice for the Rat Race event...

The Rat Race event is a 100 mile coast to coast event across the Scottish Highlands that includes running, cycling and kayaking. I've been running the odd 5k ParkRun throughout the year and occasionally go out with the Crabbs Cross Chasers running club. I love cycling and want to cycle more miles moving forward. Not sure if I've ever been on a kayak? Hmm, this would make the challenge challenging! A quick Google search indicated that I could enjoy 'a 90 minute kayaking session along the canal towards Alvechurch'. It really feels like this challenge is calling my name.

All the thinking above inspired me to resurrect this failed blog. Have always found recording my thoughts and plans quite motivating. Right here, right now, am thinking I should commit to a challenge (Rat Race coast to coast) and write a short bucket list of plans for 2025.

Happy New Year 2022

Happy New Year folks. I wonder what's in store for 2022,  - something crazy, something new? It's a shame Covid is still here and I'm sure we are all wanting something better. I do hope this year blows your socks off!

2021 wasn't the best of years on the challenge front and I've still not cycled the TransAlba Race. Hopefully, the TransAlba will be completed this year, Covid or not. 2021 didn't end so great either, however, it wasn't so bad. No Rapha 500 was completed, however, I did complete the Albion/Re-strap Solstice challenge that awards a funky badge for cycling 100 miles. Having a broken foot is my excuse for not performing wonderfully in 2021.

So, what about 2021? What were the scores on the doors? Well, I didn't cycle or run as far as I had planned or hoped. Below is a list of my distances from last year and yesteryears (dating back to 2009). Cycling distances are followed by run distances.

2009 - 5,086 (3,160) LEJOG 2009

2010 - 8,509 (5,287) Paris to Geneva Cycle 2010/LEJOG 2010

2011 - 8,378 (5,207)   PBP 2011

2012 - 6,935 (4,309)

2013 - 12,498 (7,766) LEL 2013

2014 - 9,253 (5,750)

2015 - 5,531 (3,436) and Ran 1,170 (727)

2016 - 6,515 (4,048) and Ran 1,204 (748) Iron Man (Bolton) 2016/TNR 2016

2017 - 8,940 (5,555) and Ran 514 (319)

2018 - 10,958 (6,809) and Ran 417 (259) TransAtlantic Way Race 2018

2019 - 8,034 (4,992) and Ran 484 (301) Bivy-A-Month 2019

2020 - 10,082 (6,265) and Ran 466 (289)

2021 - 9,021 (5,605) and Ran 319 (198)

So, I didn't achieve my cycling distance and running distance goals from last year (10,000k and 500k respectively) - can I blame a broken foot? I didn't complete TransAlba - definitely blaming Covid for that one (race has now been postponed 2 years running). One of my goals was to enter a cyclo-cross event, which I did - never cycled it though as was cancelled due to Covid. My other goals were to cycle a Tron Bike on Zwift which I managed to achieve and to cycle around a velodrome which didn't happen either. So pretty naff, all in all. However, I still had adventure and loved that very much. Cycling the King Alfred Way was particularly awesome and all my wild camping was very much fun too. 

Let me end this blog post with goals for 2022. They are:

• Cycle 10,000k and run 500k by end of year. (I am not 'allowed' to even start running for a 'couple' of weeks yet due to the aforementioned broken foot menace).
• Complete the TransAlba race. 1,000 miles and about 50,000 metres of climbing. (Better start training, especially as I currently weigh 96.9kg, which is seriously ridiculous).
• Lose weight. My usual weight is around 90kg. All the lack of training/exercising due to broken foot menace has resulted me going up 2'' in my waist size. I'd like to be 88kg or less for TransAlba.
• Cycle a 200k event on my fixed cycle.

Be the best dad/husband/person that I can. Lat year, I wanted to produce 'fruit of the spirit', - I don't think I produced enough. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control (Galatians 5:22-23). I'll give it another go.

November Rain

November started off so well. Took 'B' out for her first off-road ride and cycled the Breadcrumb Trail. Sweet.

Sweetness soon turned sour. Neil (work buddy) was friends with the drummer from 'Bullet'. Neil and I went to see Bullet play at some venue in Cardiff. This was a 'heavy' night, and heavy dancing led to heavy fall, which led to me breaking my foot.

Doo and Neil

Although my foot hurt somewhat, I didn't know it was broken at the time. I hobbled back to work for a couple of days and then partook in a wonderful cycling adventure. My cycling adventure took me to Weston Super Mare and back. 

Not what I expected to see on my way to WSM (reminded me of playing with Baby Ganesh and Melody)

Melody playing with baby Ganesh

'Spoons breakfast is always a winner

Puncture menace!

No chance, I didn't have paper...

Cycled this Strawberry Line only a couple of weeks back

Made it to WSM!

Celebrating with a JD

JD still calling me on return home

It was only after my wife tasking me to walk our dog, and I replying I couldn't walk that I decided to go and get my foot checked out. Horrors - my foot was broken and I was given a 6 week sick note! Sweet November Rain!

October musings

Much happened in the month of October that made me smile. Little did I know that my dog Ernie had the Navajo gene. He really does, he can walk high among the trees!

October's wild camp was another hammock adventure. Both Rob Dog and I took hammocks, however, it was only me who slept on one. Rob Dog preferred to sleep on the ground - not too far away from a big badger hole! As ever, we cooked, ate, slept, awoke and ate some more! Strung up a tarp, not because I needed too, just to make sure I still had the magic. Oh and a certain Bert Warren was buried here. I dubbed this spot 'the burial ground', although Rob Dob said it should be called 'the 2 tomb stones'.

Had a nice trip with my buddy Roger on his tandem. We stopped at Whitlenge tea rooms for breakfast which is always a winner. Cycled to and from Roger's on my wonderful GerTruDe bike.

SJ painted the spare room and converted into an office for me. Strange colour but am not complaining. Check out the 4 screen set up!

My sister, her dogs, daughter and a whole bunch of Iranians rocked up. This turned out to be a rather jolly day. We walked the fields, climbed trees and ate much food at my ma and pa's.

For so long, I had wanted to run 10k. This finally happened on a day during October. Ernie and I, ran from Black Hill car park to the Beacon (Malvern Hills) and back. An almost perfect 10k. It was a real windy, wet and misty day.

October was also the month for a new bike. I've now gotten a MTB at last. This bike is affectionately known as 'B'. This is the first bike with 27.5 wheels and a dropper post that I have ever owned! Debut ride was a quick blast with Ron which ended at the Lark. (We met a guy who was an e-bike MTB fan and he suggested we join him soon for MTB adventure).

October finished with an awesome audax event entitled 'The Ticking Tortoise'. I completed this event with cousin Andy and Ron. So awesome was this adventure, it has it's own blog post!