Training Update Week 18

75 days to go to the start - reality sinking in.

A great week - where do i start?
Mileage not awesome but consistent at 203miles, longest day in saddle at 52 miles that's a massive 2988 for the year to date.

Quiz night fundraiser was a great success with fundraising jumping to an equally massive £1,658.24!

But maybe best of all is the Giro prologue result - First Grand Tour for Team Sky, and first stage win. Wiggo blitzes the Prologue TT course and ends up in the Maglia Rosa (Pink Jersey) see below:

That's 2 years running with a Brit in pink after stage 1! Sky now need to defend the jersey for a day or two before the TTT where they will look to win again!

More next week...

Training Update Week 17

Under 12 weeks to go - eeek!

A good week this week I feel:
243 miles completed, that's 2785 year to date.
Longest day in the saddle only 47miles but still ok.
BMI 23.54. Wii Fit Age 31.
Fundraising up to £1,193.44 - creeping up. Quiz night next weekend - hoping for 10-12 teams, just need people to book in!!! - 4 weeks to go to hit Fundraising Target of £1,800.

In other news - gotta love Cav don't ya?

A simple point (or two) made to the watching critics and he gets slammed. Surely he was only telling us he had now won his 2nd race of the year???

Anyhow he is still is the best sprinter in the world, regardless...

Emma Pooley wins again, Levi still leads the Gila, and the Giro starts next weekend - cant wait for Sky's debut in a Grand Tour.

 

More next time...

Another century?

Just in case the Norwich 100 is not quite enough, there is another opportunity to complete a century this side of L2P24.

Huff and Puff Cycles at Kelling Heath are again organising the ride opposite, on Sunday 27th June with an option of 25,50 and 100 milers up for grabs.

Why not make it a family day out? - Download a booking form and maybe see you there?

Training Update Week 16

Sweet sixteen? Not an earth shattering week, but still a good one. Weather beautiful and dry - could be a bit warmer in the mornings but legs out ad fully on show now regardless!

The stats:
215 miles for the week - down on recent weeks, but enforced day off at start of week, has led to only 5 cycling days, so not too bad. That makes 2,543 for the year to date - Over halfway towards my "annual target" - revised aim is definately at least 5000 miles pre Paris in July. Revised annual target in negotiation!
Longest ride - 50 miles, a lovely ride in the norfolk countryside in the sun, holding out for a smidge under 18mph pace - even if i didn't recognise the roads for 15 miles of it! - 3 deer decided to appear momentarily in the road in front of me. but progress was not hindered too much.
Wii fit age peaked (troughed?) at 25, but i finished the week at 28, so still pretty good, and my BMI has dropped to 23.3 that's around 158lbs or 11st 4lbs - all good!
Fundraising for L2P24, up to £1,163.44. Quiz night and Curry night open for participation and a school assembly tomorrow at Simon's son's school to rase awareness and request donations too!

In other cycling news, Evans takes Fleche Wallone (with an attack to beat Bertie), Emma Pooley takes the womens version from Nicole Cooke.
It was a case of ex-dopers reunited at Giro del Trentino, with Vino taking the overall, Ricco taking a stage and ending up 2nd, and Basso also top 5. Sad to hear of Frei and Li Fuyu both being suspended for failed drugs tests - but the fight goes on and is being wo - slowly (On the doping front when is AV gonna be banned across the world not just in select countries?)
Last classic today with LBL - looking forward to that one.
ToB route was revealed this week - Sept 16th, stage 6 and the route goes from Kings Lynn to Gt Yarmouth - day off already booked!
Tour of Romandie kicks off on Weds. May is looming fast and with it comes the Giro and the Tour of California to name but a few.

Favourite sign off on a cycling forum - "Cycling is like church - many attend but few understand"

More next time...

Number 42!

Not the Kumars from... nor the answer to life the universe and everything but my rider number for this years Norwich 100.

Route would appear to be unchanged from my last outing (on the 50) in 2008, just remains to be seen whether it is a clockwise or anti clockwise affair?

Details and booking for this years event can be found here

Should be a good training indication 7 weeks ahead of L2P24 and hopefully the sun will shine?

Training Update Week 15

15 weeks in,  under 14 weeks to go - over halfway now - point of no return?
Fundraising up to £1,119.34, with some more added today, but not totalled in yet - quiz night and curry night interest at fever pitch - just book in will ya!

Another great week on the bike, had a rest day mid week this week, so don't know if that was better but certainly helped mileage wise!

The stats:
275 miles completed this week - most miles in a week and longest ride of the year as well - just under 63 miles - see post below. 16 hours- ish on the bike @ 17.2ish average speed That makes 2328 miles for the year!
Good ride out with Simon today, 23 miles on a blustery but still a warm afternoon.
No ida of current weight, nor Wii Fit age but i am really happy with progress and am sure that 5000 miles by end July is definately do-able now

In other news Gilbert takes Amstel Gold, and Contador takes Castilla y Leon. Volcanic Ash not helping movement of riders around Europe at present, but Fleche Wallone on Weds - lets see who turns up huh?

Likely to be less mileage this next week, missing my usual big ride day tomorrow as travelling to Oxford for my Grandma's funeral but what better way to start the week than with a rest day - schools back too this week so more traffic on roads no doubt?

Commute of the week

Thought I would just share my commute from Friday with you all. - 27 and a half miles.

It is a commute on the basis that I left home and later arrived at work, but as you will note from the graphic - shorter routes are available, in fact I think I travelled around 13.5 times further than the shortest alternative route!

Did 22 on the way home too!

Keeps the opposition guessing if you vary your routes I find...

Welcome to the Century

You know what its like, get up, decide that today is all about recovery and plan in a mid-day ride to do just that. Problem is, once you are in the saddle the legs start turning and before you know it you are slowly but surely clocking up the miles.

So there i was, with this loose plan of heading out to Acle and then north around the coast before heading back home - so got to Acle, then Martham, Sea Palling / Walcott / Bacton / North Walsham, then as i was heading down towards Coltishall realised that a ton was on the cards on km's - had to be done didn't it?

62.95 miles / 101.3km's covered - Not so quick as recent rides - well it was a recovery ride wasn't it! (it was flipping windy though  - a North Easterly - predominantly in my face until about halfway round) If you are remotely interested the route can be viewed here.

Training Update Week 14

Almost half way towards L2P24 - 103 days to go (14 1/2 weeks), sponsorship up to £809 and what a week this week...

Cloudy start to the week, but a finished so full of sun, i thought we had skipped spring and gone straight to Summer! Have had a week off work and so the plan was to aim for around a 2hour stint each day.

The stats:
231 miles covered this week, Or put another way around 13.5 hours on the road. That's 2053 for the year so far.(Maybe i need to extend the annual target as at this rate i should hit 5000 by July!)
Longest ride was just over 50, but managed to maintain 18.4mph for it!
Also as reported below smashed my time for a 10, with a 26.29
Wii fit reported me as being 28 today, with a BMI of 23.73 - no change there then!

Legs are feeling really strong, so i hope to build on this week - Looking to mix up the training a bit over the next few weeks - new routes and new mini targets to aim at - more news soon.

In Pro Cycling, Spartacus takes Flanders, by blasting away from Boonen in the closing kilometres, Paris Roubaix today, rivalry bound to be resumed for that, can he do it again? - I want big George to win, but we will have to wait and see. Chris Horner, takes Tour of the Basque country for the Shack, and  Sanchez takes Circuit de la Sarthe. BMC Racing have suspended Ballan for his implications in a doping investigation.

Amstel Gold next weekend and Tour of Romandie at the end of the month.

Back to work on tuesday, hoping to get a rollout with Simon next week again and try to install it as a regular feature.

The Golden Years

Done it!

Turned my Wii Fit piggy gold that is.

40 hours of muscle workouts, aerobic exercises, balance games and yoga, and with Wii Fit plus the Training Plus activiities too.

Not forgetting countless body tests, with BMI and weight going up and down like the proverbial fiddlers elbow!

Next challenge!