This time in 7 weeks, if things are going according to plan, I should be spending the evening in Amsterdam, probably not enjoying the same delights of the city that most tourists do, but I will be pleased as punch to be there, as it means I will be 155 miles into my challenge & nearly (only nearly?!) half way there. I've never been to Amsterdam, but it's supposed to be the bicycling capital of Europe........as well as other things! I guess I'll be keeping away from the other things & will be tucked up in bed early, stressing about my next day ahead, the biggest day of the whole trip on the bike, 113 miles to Turnhout.
Anyway, with all this in mind, intense (well intense for me) training has kicked in this week. According to my plan, this week I should be doing a 50 miler, a 45 miler & 90 minutes of "another activity" as well as daily 3 x 15 sets of core exercises programme, sit ups, lunges, calf stretches etc. I've been struggling to fit long rides into my weekends lately, so I figured that I had to change tactics. So this week I started part-commuting to work, 15 miles round trip & whilst it takes a bit of organisation & forward planning, I've quite enjoyed it & it turns out I'm not alone, there's actually been a professional research study published in Portland US in Feb 2012, proving that people who commute by bike arrive to work the happiest & here's the diagram to prove it!
Each day brings it's own challenges & incidents, but so far so good....well I'm still here to tell the tale & have made it to my desk, showered changed and on time every day....just about!
Each day brings it's own challenges & incidents, but so far so good....well I'm still here to tell the tale & have made it to my desk, showered changed and on time every day....just about!
It's amazing how much you think about in those 30 mins & how much more awake I am when I arrive at work, I guess that's down to the adrenalin that's been coursing through my veins as I negotiate the rush hour traffic. Probably the funniest / worst thing that happened was on Wednesday morning in the rain, I was cycling through the industrial estate about 10 mins away from the office, when a lorry pulled out of the road to my right and turned into the lane by the side of me, I decided to hold back as I wasn't sure how far it would swing out when it straightened up. It must have just set off from wherever it had been parked overnight because as it turned, the rainfall from the night before, that had evidently been collecting on it's tarpaulin roof completely emptied itself over yours truly, who, as I said was courteously holding back behind - it was like someone had literally thrown a gallon of water over me! If I wasn't awake before that, I certainly was then!
The daily part commute is not only helping me get strength in my legs & hours in the saddle, it's also saving me money, with the money I save on the tram to Croydon & the lower fare to Gatwick instead of Crawley, I am saving £6 a day. If I do this every working day until D-Day, that's a saving of £228. That's cash I would have been using on commuting, so it's money I technically won't miss - so I've decided, the way I will motivate myself to continue with this, is that every day I commute, I am going to donate the money I would have spent to CMIA. This week I've done 3 days, so that's £18 which I've just donated by hitting the CMIA logo at the top of this page.
I find the donations really do help to motivate me & make me train harder, as I know I can't let anyone down - so if you're enjoying the blog, believe in the cause or would just like to support me, however small, please do find it in your heart to donate - your generosity will really make a difference to the lives of vulnerable people in my local community who we are setting up music projects for throughout the year. On average, it costs about £600 to fund a project, so if I hit my target, that will be an extra project we'll be able to run this year, thanks to your support.
So anyway, it's Friday night, it's 9.30pm and as much as I'd love to continue to bore you with annecdotes of my week's endeavours (and there are many) I can't, as I have to be in bed shortly. Tomorrow the alarm is set for 4.30am for a 5.30am pick up, as I will be travelling down to the New Forest to ride the Wiggle Super Series New Forest Sportive. An organised ride, where you are given a time chip & you race against your own personal timings, At the end you are given a bronze, silver or gold medal depending on the time you have completed it in. I did my first Sportive last August in the pouring rain around Ashdown Forest & came second to last, although I did have mechanical issues half way round, since then I've been a more respectable middle of the pack - but I'm still only a bronze medal holder. Tomorrow I've entered the Epic course, which is 80 miles, I'll be happy with another bronze medal, as tomorrow the acheivement for me will be the mileage.
Blimey!.........I still have to pinch myself sometimes that this is really me these days!
Blimey!.........I still have to pinch myself sometimes that this is really me these days!
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