Monday, June 27, 2011

And Now For Something Completely Different...

So, if it's Sunday 26th June, it must be Bikeathon day. Well, yes it is but a whole raft of things happened. 'Team Tastic' kind of disintegrated!
First of all Neil (who cycled London to Brighton last week) pulled out due to work commitments and I couldn't get another 'Lincoln' rider to car-share. OK I thought, got to do this anyway, so no problem. THEN on Saturday Miriam and Darren- Team Tastic organisers pulled out as their car died on them so they couldn't get to Ham House, the starting point for us. This leaved quite a small compact team- none of whom I knew. So, what to do...drive to London and do a ride without my mates or think up something else? The logistics were to drive down at 4am for an 8am meet-up, do the ride and drive home. Because I, now, didn't know the team members that were left (it turns out at least another one or two pulled out on the day) it all seemed like a stupid idea. BUT I still had the dilemma of needing to do a ride as I still have to earn your money for ICU.
Another mate of mine is currently preparing for the Three Peaks Challenge and I knew he would be doing a training ride. "Fancy a ride to the seaside and back" "Yeah, OK, see you at 8" "Make it 8.30" "Oh, go on then!" And so the replacement ride for Sunday was born: Lincoln -or more accurately, Welton- to Sutton-On-Sea. 90 miles.
It was also a good opportunity to do some time-lapse filming with the GoPro, so that was strapped to the handlebars, set at 5 second intervals.
What a day! The sun was out. I'd got suncream on. Plenty of water, off we went. The roads, in both directions were surprisingly quiet and the road surfaces unsurprisingly crap. Skimming the surface with tar and gravel does not hide the fact that it felt like riding in Flanders on the cobbles! You really can tell the people who repair our roads do not cycle!

Anyway, we made it to Sutton by 1145- happy with that and a well deserved coffee and cake break, fill up the water bottles and head for home.



Now, it's at this point I remove my knee warmers. Let's face it, it was a VERY sweaty day, so they simply had to come off. Ok, back on the road. Within 5 miles of leaving the GoPro flies off my bike into the road. How it didn't get flattened I have no idea. I quickly retrieved it: The bleedin' bracket had snapped! I'd only used the bracket 3 times!! That's going back for sure!! It was now pretty much the hottest part of the day but the breeze when riding made the sun bearable, so we slogged on. I started to suffer about 18 miles from home. This was the longest ride I'd done. We finally got back to Welton about 3-ish. Happy with that and straight into a cold shower! Bliss!
Had a look at the filming- yep, for a time-lapse, it's fine- have a look! The rest of the day, very pleasant, nice dinner, usual family shenanigans and met up with a mate I'd not seen for 20 years for beer & chat (thanks Mark- let's not leave it quite so long next time)- got home, sat down to watch a bit of Glastonbury...and then I saw my legs. OMFG!!! And at this point they started to hurt! See for yourself. Honestly, they didn't look like that in the afternoon- it was like someone flicked the pain switch to max. Hopefully (and I'm sure I've said this before) it'll be lesson learned. They still bloody throb sat typing this. Apparently Andy has the same crispy legs too!







Monday, June 20, 2011

London to Brighton Bike Ride

And so to London... Clapham Common to be precise, where at stupid o'clock on a Sunday morning (and on Father's Day too), 27000- yes that's twenty seven thousand idiots on bikes set off on the 54 mile jaunt to the South Coast. Madness.... but fun!




Myself and two friends, Neil and Jon had got this ride planned for some months. Allegedly this is a difficult ride to get registered on as it's so popular but we seemed to manage ok- lucky I guess. PLUS we got a total bargain on overnight accommodation- £29 per twin room for the night before: 12 miles to the start line, but hey... easy ride!

Our allotted start time was 0830 so we set off at 0700. We got there in plenty of time and actually crossed the start line, getting our cards stamped at 10 past. We were off. Well, sort of. With so many riders it was just mental! The journey from the hotel to the start took just under the hour. The first 10 miles took over an hour! The roads were bottlenecked. And with that many riders, it was actually quite dangerous.

Rides such as this bring out the 'one day a year riders'... you know, the ones that think it'll be a giggle etc. Fine.. that's fine... that is what it's about- encourage people to ride and all that jazz BUT the majority of these idiots sorry, I mean nice folk, act as if they are the only person on the road. THEY HAVE NO IDEA what mayhem they are causing... "Oh, I'll just go over to that side of the road without looking.. lala la la laa" and riders swerve and/or go flying. I tell you, it's not a pretty sight.

Then you have the 'Black Spot' zones... Now, to me that would mean maybe slow down or maybe be a bit more cautious. No. Apparently not. To the 'Day Tripper' it means LEG IT...Can't see anything round the corners but it's downward sloping so let's bloody go for it! Three words.... Blue Flashing Lights. I'm pretty sure the St Johns Ambulence crews must have run out of TicTacs and Extra Strong Mints on this event!
One guy had hit a fence on a corner because he couldn't/didn't brake and his bike stopped- he flipped over the fence and was out cold. They were dropping left right and centre. Like I said..it was actually quite scary. I've posted a video on here at the end. Have a look. It actually doesn't do the crowds justice but gives you an idea.

Don't get me wrong, it was ace fun and a great atmosphere with people certainly getting into the spirit of it (Team Lard were a personal favourite) with all sorts of bikes and fancy dress. One guy was on a beautiful 1970's vintage Chopper and there were lots of tandems. A big hello to the guys on the tandem in full drag as Emily & Florence from little Britain..inspired and very funny!... people just needed to be a bit more careful.

Anyway, we had a few water stops on the way and eventually arrived at a rather large hill known as Ditchling Beacon. Narrow and steep (2k with an average gradient of 9.7%). The only words that can describe it. Now I'm no pro cyclist (as you all know) but I know how to tackle a steep hill. Steady and slow pace- total concentration on your own movements and everyone around you. One false move and you're in trouble. On the left of this road, riders were dismounting and walking the hill. Fair enough. In the middle, riders were giving it their best but alot were having to dismount. On the far right (or maybe this was just my take on it) were the riders that could cope and had the legs for riding this hill. I've got a steady pace going, happy with what I'm doing...Jon's gone on in front and he's riding it well...Neil's somewhere behind and again, he's good on hills too. HOWEVER Mr gangly legs in front of me is swerving all over and two thirds up decides it's time for a little drink. On a hill. Cycling. CAN'T YOU WAIT TIL YOU GET TO THE TOP??? Apparently not. And what happens when one starts fidgeting about for bottles... concentration goes and so does his speed.... My front wheel touches his back wheel and BAM...I'm on the bloody floor. By this point my vocab has turned a nice shade of blue as I mutter under my breath. but I got up pretty sharpish, straighten my wheel and after a few paces, remounted and carried on. Very unimpressed and even more unimpressed that all video footage after this point is unusable due to the jolt and the GoPro camera is now facing downwards for the rest of the ride.

I'm glad to say I overtook Mr gangly legs about 5 mins later and yes I was still muttering as I made my approach to sunny and windy Brighton. Again, as we all approached the city, riders bottlenecked and ground to a halt- a combination of traffic lights and shear numbers of cyclists but once on Brighton front for the finish, it was wonderful. Very atmospheric with a huge crowd to cheer us all across the finish line. And so that was the L2B ride. I crossed the finish line at about 1300 with Jon and Neil coming in about 15 mins later, but this ride was never going to be about times- it was about being part of possibly the largest organised ride in the UK.


"How did you get back to that London" I hear you cry! Coach and lorry: bikes stowed into a lorry and us collapsing into the coach back to Clapham Common. Once unloaded we had our lovely 12 mile ride back to the car and an even more lovely drive home. So a total of 78 miles clocked up... a long ol day. But, as always, fun!

start & finish, we got this stamped



Friday, June 17, 2011

What do points make.....PRIZES!

Yes folks, it's taken a while but looks like some, if not all, prizes for the draw can at last be announced. I think we are going to aim for a round total of 10 prizes. This is what's confirmed so far...



  • 1 Month Family Membership at David Lloyd Burton Waters, Lincoln (up to 2 adults and 3 children)
  • Lincoln Audi weekend car loan- TT or a cabriolet (T&C -winner must be over 25 and have no more than 6 pts on their license)
  • Family set of tickets to Jamie Marcus Productions' 2011 Pantomime, Snow White, at Lincoln Drill Hall
  • Full professional car valet
  • David Lloyd Gym bag and goodies
  • Lincoln City ball & shirt
  • Martin Johnson signed rugby ball



We're waiting on confirmation on the other 3 prizes. So far so good and hope it prompts you to donate. DON'T FORGET- £15 gets you one entry... £30 gets you 3 entries... how good is that!



Meanwhile, back to the summer tour- this weekend is the London to Brighton bike ride. I'm led to believe there's over 20,000 riders on this one. Sounds a bit scary if you ask me. Anyway, head down and pedal on. With that many people it MUST be fun. I'll spill all the details after the ride on Sunday.
Hoping to have some more video for you to laugh at. I'll be trailing a GoPro HD camera to get some unusual shots as I want to work out some camera angles ready for the Swiss ride in August.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Good News...

At last!

Finally, the on-line donation page is live. After 6 weeks of emails and phone calls, Lincolnshire NHS's Charitable Funds Dept has been dragged into the 21st Century!

So, the all important link is as follows-


Another way of connecting to this is with a QR code. What is a QR code I hear you ask. It stands for Quick Response code and Wiki describes it as "a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera telephones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, URL, or other data."
All very flash, but what does that mean?
Well, if you have an iPhone or a smartphone of any description you need an app to read it. One of the best ones I've come across is RedLaser and it's free!
Download this app, point your cameraphone at the QR code below and zap it. Bingo! You'll see what it does. A great [marketing] idea that hasn't really taken off but has alot of potential.


And the other news this week is I now have two more participants helping raise money for Lincoln ICU. Simon and Gavin from Lincoln Drill Hall have kindly agreed to join in.
Simon will be running the St Ives 10k on July 17th and Gavin will be riding the 101 miles of final cyclo sportive with me- The Wiggle Rut. Good luck guys- enjoy your events!




Sunday, June 5, 2011

Woodhall Spa 10k

And so to Woodhall Spa for today's 10k race. I've done this run for the last 4 years. It's great. It's relaxing, great route, great atmosphere and not as many runners as Lincoln 10k. I always manage to bump into people I know at this event and this year was no different. I drove across with my adoptive 'Lincoln family'- sis, Aggi and mum, Rosemary as my support team. Aggi was supposed to be running today but has some sort of groin injury for which she needs more scans than I care to mention, so that put her firmly into the spectator area. Once there I bumped into Andrew and Chris Vaughan- father and son runners and real good mates, a variety of people I know at Lincolnshire Police as well as Lee and Priti- friends from the next village. Interestingly, there was a rumour going around that next years Lincoln 10k was increasing the amount of runners from 5000 to 7500.... I hope not as it feels too big already. That sort of decision- if correct- comes across as greedy rather than inclusive and can quite easily spoil a very good event.

Anyway, I wasn't very well prepared for this run and, to be honest, wasn't looking forward to it. I'd not run since the Lincoln 10k (3 April) as I've been constantly training on my bike. When I finally did go for a run (3 days ago) my thighs totally stiffened up. Not good! Anyway, the weather was good, so let's get on with it.

I have a number of things I do before a run (not in an OCD way) such as the night before, get kit ready with number pinned, iPod music sorted (always on shuffle or it would take hours decided on which track when etc!) chip attached to trainers  etc and on the morning, up early, a bit of brekkie, pack some bananas, water etc and most importantly a nervous poo! (gross to mention but very important as once that's out of the way I'm all set and not worrying about it. Have you used portaloos at race events!?)

1105 and the race begins (because at 1100 the wheelchair racers are set off) and, well, what can I say- it was fantastic. The first couple of K were a bit sore but as I loosened up I found a good pace and stuck with it. By 5k I felt brilliant!



I must mention here that right next to the 5k marker, a runner had collapsed. He had other runners looking after him. He was out cold and had been put in the recovery position (I could hear the ambulance coming). This guy was wearing a runners club vest. He was obviously a regular runner but it just goes to show how dangerous any sport can be and whilst I'll always encourage people to participate (over the years alot of my friends have taken up running because of me...Simon, Claire, Nigel to name a few) you have to train and do it properly.

Today, my iPod helped- there were some good tunes. Here's the list for you nosey gits out there :-)


Ok, ok stop laughing- there's some good stuff on there- you go away and have a listen!! 

And so the second half of the run flew by and before I knew it, I was on the last kilometre. I never look at my watch until I finish as I kind of have just the one pace and if I were to try and speed up, I'd... well, I just would regret it the next day. This running malarkey is all about enjoying the day- for me it's not about PB's and upping my performance. If I get a better time, great, but I'm here for fun. That is the bottom line. I don't want to be suffering all week and walking like a robot or at worse, limping!

And so, I crossed the finish line. My unofficial time on my watch was 1.00.47... just over the hour and just slower than last year (59.34)... not bad. Happy with that. So that's another event under my belt... still waiting for Lincoln Hospital to bloody well sort out their on-line donation registration. They have registered (last week ffs) with Virgin Money Giving so, just waiting on confirmation. It's taken 6 weeks of pestering (the discussion had to be made at committee level! IT'S A NO-BRAINER! you either want the fund-raisers or not! this is typical of the NHS and large businesses- it's almost as if this sort of sh*t goes to committees to justify managerial jobs- I could go on...) to get this far... nearly there so just gotta wait! ...deeeeep breath....and relax....Grrr!

Me and Rosemary at the finish

Finally, here's a link to Google Maps for the route. Not sure how accurate the info is but it gives mile splits for times etc. I switched the app on a few mins before we set off and same at the end. The app is called Cyclemeter and is pretty good as I can use it for runs, cycles etc.

I think extra running is in order for the London 10k in July and to be honest, today made me realise I've missed running, so I need to get the balance between cycling and running right.