Recovery week?

An excuse? Reality? The heat being off? Or maybe just a bit lazy?

Whatever the reason, only clocked up 85 miles on the bike this last week - probably the least miles for months, but maybe i deserved a rest week...?

Definitely need another challenge though so that the training has some direction and focus. The Norfolk Huff and Puff, at the end of the month looks favourite for the next one - a choice of 25, 50 or 100miles in North Norfolk.

Fundraising continues to grow - £857 - not far to go for target. - Tell your friends!

Currently at home with a stinking cold - so all sympathy to be directed my way, plus its raining and so the bike is firmly ensconced in the garage. - Boo hiss

75% - 3/4's full or 1/4 empty?

Fundraising off the back of our now successful C2C attempt has breached 75% of the original target of £1,000.

Looking backwards we have raised a fantastic amount of money, looking forward it is slightly daunting - can we scrape together the last £250 from other sponsors? - in the words immortalised by Bob the Builder himself:

"YES WE CAN" - Come on!

C2C - Been there done that!

So 36 hours off the bike and i could feel myself twitching so it was back on the bike for the shortened trip in today.

My only brief contact with the bike yesterday was a well earned clean and polish.

C2C was great - everyone should do something like this at least once! - For anyone who is interested i have posted a few photo's on facebook. There will hopefully be more to come too.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=552453633&pwstdfy=8e7d9cb403c7294bfa40b0fa74101992#/album.php?aid=86705&id=552453633


So in keeping with previous weeks the stats are:
Mileage: 237, that's 2873 year to date.
Hours on bike: 16.76

Probably lot's of other stat's too, but less is somehow more - don't you think?

Right need another challenge then...

C2C - Day 2

Did i mention the weather yesterday - beautiful (some day all cycle trips will be made this way!) Another cloudless sky greeted us and once breakfast had been consumed Ivor appeared over the hill from Alston and we set off.

as we had eaten in Alston the night before we had spotted the start of the route for today - all of about 300 - 500 metres before we again took off for the skies - phew. In fact as i twittered at this point over 800ft climbed in 2 miles. but again the reward is a crazy downhill and we obliged by topping the scales with another 30plus on the clock into Nenthead.

The fabled Black Hill was next, highest point on the route. Trouble is climbing is quite a personal thing you just focus and zone out everything else, so i reached the top closely followed by another cyclist who came up with the quote of the 2 days - "F*%$ - i am getting too old for this" and the Ivor arrived very closely after that. A couple of mins later Simon rang me so fearing a mechanical breakdown or worse i answered the phone to discover that Simon was at Black Hill and Ivor and I had missed the left turn and were actually atop Killhope - at a similar altitude.

After a quick map consultation we decided to meet up again at Allenheads, even though Simon gallantly offered to come back down and up again to join us. - think we definately chose the short straw as although a great downhill towards Copthill. it meant another up and over to meet up with Simon again.

Allenheads to Rookhope was more of the same up and up (and just for fun up some more) passing littered bodies on the verge's before downhill to the Rookhope Inn and some more liquids (tea and coffee - before you assume!)

Got chatting to a fellow cyclist who judging from his near incomprehensible accent lived in the area. He regaled us with various tales including the fact that we had another climb up to a cattle grid and then the road flattened out -still climbing but a lot shallower then it was downhill all the way. - Sure enough we climbed, negotiated the cattle grid, road flattened and after a brief pause on the top of the hill, we blatted our way down the other side into Stanhope - almost wiping out some walkers as the max speed for the trip was reached.

Now remember the Rookhope cyclist's tale? We did as the hill he was talking about turned out to be NOT the one we had just gone over as we still had the monumental Crawleyside hill to get up - 17% gradient, blood sweat, tears - the works.

Again mountain bikers going backwards spinning their legs helplessly with little forward momentum were passed and we reached parkhead another Cafe - being hardened to the rigours of the day by now and also knowing that it was efectively down hill all the way now we made contact with the Support Team who by now were in Consett and informed them of our intent to arrive in about an hour.

The track was a bit gravelly but relatively solid, particularly as it was dry, but we flew down to Consett, in a little over 40 minutes and after 3 hours on the road grabbed some well earned lunch, in the car park of a KFC - needless to say we went for a more healthy option - various carbs surrounded by bread and pastry plus more water taken on board.

So the final assault - 25 miles to go - mostly traffic free, on a mixture of tarmac and cinder tracks - if it wasn't for the gates periodically appearing (presumably to prevent local scally's from riding mopeds up and down) and the dubious signeage, we may have gone a bit quicker, but hitting speeds of up to 25mph at best was great.

We entered Sunderland and glimpsed the Stadium of Light knowing that it was only a mile or so to go, and finally rounded the final turn for a run in to the Marina. Our support team were there clapping us in and taking more photos. As for the trophies, we must have picked the wrong day because no one was there in an official capacity but we knew we had achieved a massive feat in 2 days and best of all we had shared it together.

Our final feat was to scoot around to the beach, just to prove we had actually gone sea to sea and then after a quick shower at the marina (very nice) it was pack up load up and head for home.

Thanks to Ivor, Tricia and Ellis - the Cambridgeshire part of the project, and especially to Lynette and Sian for being all that anyone could want in a support team, but most of all thanks to Simon for initially maybe humouring me by agreeing to take part, but being there to share in the literal ups and downs of 2 days on a bike and to come out the other side smiling and still talking to me!

Day 2 Stats:
Stats for Day 1
Mileage 61.13
Time on bike: 4Hrs 59mins
Ave Speed: 12.2mph
Max Speed: 37.7mph
Total Ascent: 4673ft
Total Descent: 5789ft

So what next - plenty of roads still to ride, plenty of time to ride them - watch this space...

(Photos of the C2C coming soon.)

C2C - Day 1

Whitehaven - not exactly centre of the universe, probably wouldn't come here unless you were aiming on leaving shortly afterwards. So after a full english, cereal, and copious amounts of coffee and OJ thats exactly what the three of us did.

The first 15 miles were on reclaimed railway track type cycle paths, so we rolled along quite nicely - signeage a bit iffy as turns were marked at the turn, not in advance. We did dive off piste for a couple of miles at Rowrah as the surface turned a bit gravelly, but then re-joined the route at Lamplugh, and paused for a few minutes to re-fuel and admire the view.

The terrain then took a turn vertically as we rounded Loweswater and headed up towards High Lorton and Whinlatter - killer hill just kept going up and up but on the basis there were loads of people on mountain bikes ahead we had to keep going didn't we?

We had a bit of a breather at the top and then took the road route through whinlatter pass and then screamed down the other side at 30mph plus - bit hairy on some of the hairpins. - Keswick just ahead and Lunch!

Lunch was ably supplied by our very attractive support team, so a quick bite, water bottle refill, shame there was not the time to spend investigating Keswick but there was a job to do.

Straight out of Keswick we took what we latterly discovered to be an alternative route via Castlerigg Stone circle - lovely circle, but tough straight after lunch going up another hill - short sharp shock i think they call it? We then roughly followed the A66 albeit on cycle paths and farm tracks alongside it, through Threlkeld, taking time to admire Blencathra to our left (and very thankful that we weren't ascending that today!).

A left turn away from the A66 took us on towards Greystokes where we took a well earned rest and had a cup of tea / coffee at the Cycle Cafe - highly recommended, very friendly especially to cyclists. Water bottles again refilled we set off towards Penrith.

We flashed through Penrith, after a little bit of sussing out the right route and then again the road went straight up towardsand around Beacon Fell, the map showed further gradients which were preying on our minds - fortunately on this occasion it was a superb downhill, but what do they say? - What goes down must come back up again...?

Langwathby came and went and our minds slowly turned towards the impending climb of Hartside. After some more undulations (some bigger than others) we arrived at Renwick and started to ascend.

Reminiscent of some of the TV pictures of a tour climb we zig-zagged our way up the hill for 2 miles or so towards the A686. At this junction there is a great big sign that states "Think Bike" - this is code for: Watch out someone on a 1000cc beast is going to pass your elbow at 60mph.- I often think the world would be a better place if those on Bikes (the motorised kind) would actually think about others too? Anyway Hartside Cafe could be seen on the brow of the hill, but there was still about a mile and a half to go. - More zig-zags, although not as steep, and finally the mythical peak was reached, and we had a series of photos taken with the sign displaying our achievement of 1903ft above sea level - aargh! Support team were very welcoming and made lots of encouraging noises.

Note to Hartside Cafe owners - Is it possible that you could actually stay open beyond 5pm - i mean it is summer, and cyclists get thirsty too.

Being atop the summit, we were looking forward to the well deserved downhill - Ivor branched off for Alston and Simon and I headed on to Garrigill and a stop for the night. So as expected descending was great - amazing the faith you place in 4 small pieces of rubber that clamp around your wheels - again well over 30mph reached and with still 3-4miles to go the road went up rather more than it went down into Garrigill which i think was a little unfair frankly after our day's exploits but we arrived at the Eastview B & B for a long hot bath - seperately of course!

Stats for Day 1:
(Battery died atop Hartside so approx details are shown in brackets)
Mileage 69.64 from GPS (76.14 Total)
Time on bike: 5Hrs 30mins (6 Hrs Total)
Ave Speed: 12.6mph
Max Speed: 37.2mph
Total Ascent: 6729ft
Total Descent: 4945ft

More of the same to come tomorrow...

We're off (well driving to the start anyway)

Excited, doesn't quite cut it.

Bag is packed, bike is washed and sparkling and just need tomorrow to arrive. Sponsorship has also nudged up to £592 - come on!

Weather forecast is perfect - nice and warm, but not too hot - still unsure of wind direction but can wait for that!

Dog goes to kennels soon, and kids to grandparents then we will be leaving in around 3 hours for the long haul up to Whitehaven. - Lots of counting bridges, Eddie Stobart lorry spotting and general joie de vivre ahead for the journey.

Looking forward to meeting up with Ivor again after a year, since our attempt on the Norwich 50 - a scorcher! Hoping Simon's knee (he dislocated it last weekend!) holds up for two more days? As for me think i am in better shape than my bike - must be time for a new one surely - maybe i could treat myself as a reward... hmmm could I swing it, could I?

I have corrected everyone who i have spoken to that it is a ride and not a race, however a friend asked me whether there were at least two people taking part, to which i replied yes there are thre of us, his response - well it's a race then isn't it? - Deep down I know he is right, the "race" may never be acknowledged by the participants but it still exists and lurks under the surface.

Dedicating the ride for the next two days to my Dad, who would have been 65 yesterday, but was taken by cancer almost 4 years ago - LiveStrong Dad - you are in a much better place now.

48 hours...

It's astounding.
Time is fleeting.
Madness takes it's toll.
But listen closely (Not for very much longer)
Let's do the C2C again!

Serious countdown now. it's just hours away - bike has an appointment with a sponge and bucket tonight and then it's carb load up time - my favourite bit of the whole event!

We load the car at around lunchtime with eta in Whitehaven at about 6pm, before an evening of cycling stories, both good and bad, comparing calf muscles and putting in our respective two penneth on the world at large. Then it's off to bed before brekkie and 2 days of riding.

Yesterday's Giro stage was good, Menchov still in pink, Lance had a bit of a dig on the climb but Pellazotti was away and gone Di Luca grabbed a few seconds back so could all be down to the final TT?

3 Days to go!

As per the title suggests, time is closing pre the epic(?) ride this weekend. Kit is washed, and in a pile ready for packing, energy food/drink has been obtained and the last 100 miles are being pedalled.
Weather report for the start is reproduced below:

High 17°C - Sunny
Wind - From East South East at 26 kmph
Maximum Humidity - 71%
UV Index - 6
Chance of Precip - 0%
Sunrise - 04:48

Looks good to me! - Hmm i wonder if the B&B will do brekkie at 4am to allow us to start with the sunrise?

Looking forward to the Giro Stage today a climb up the monster Blockhaus - can anyone dislodge Menchov, let's hope so

Map for the weekend

Quick reminder then. We start at Whitehaven on Saturday morning after breakfast, then work our way across to Garrigil / Alston for an overnight stop, then on Sunday pick off the rest of the miles and finish up in Sunderland.

Profile for the weekend

Looks pretty in blue doesn't it?

Rolling first day with a killer hill (Hartside) to end with, then a few short sharp ones before downhill all the way to Sunderland!

Bring it on.