Viking Challenge - update

Survived the ride, 50K, no punctures & mostly intact in 3hours 24.  Very sloppy going, much puddles and mud, so 4 minutes slower than last years' hard packed dustbowl, was quite pleasing.

1300 riders, so very well attended. Lots of colours and types of bikes at the start, all the same colour at the end:)

Huge thanks to the organisers and marshalls....

No thanks to the idiot who stopped right in front of a waymarker, causing a bunch of riders to go the wrong way...

Dusting off the cobwebs

Bizarrely, not done an awful lot of riding these past few weeks. All good intentions, mind. I stupidly thought the school hols would bring opportunity with the passenger free commute. How wrong could one be? Never ending lists of pickups, home by x o'clocks and freezers to transport.

Still, have managed a few Sunday rides, generally in preparation for:
The Viking Challenge

A local 50k off road thingy that me and the Nikster did last year. I have a feeling that the terrain wont be as hard and dusty though. Still apparently, its been worse.

Training has been limited to the Possessed Life Fitness exercise bike.  It's meant to keep your heart rate at 80% (of what?) by adjusting the tension or whatever. Seems though, even when my hands are not on the sensor, it sometimes reads a very low rate, so ups the difficulty...hmph.  Best music for this is any Ramones, at 90+ bpm, keeps the cadence at the right pace.

Will report back with time, although unlikely to beat last years 3h 20m.

J

1st ride since

Had a great ride after work today, some of the favourites in the North Downs around Peaslake. fun, not worrying about heart rate, average speed, distance, just blasting it for the craic

wow good times, first real technical ride on the new full suss too. absolutely great, need to tweak a couple of things, grips possibly longer bars, felt wierd after all the time on the hardtail training, squidgy back end and slack front end. needs washing again. Introduced a Scottish colleague to the trails too, he was surprised to find that it wasnt rubbish even though its in the south of england. Showed him some of the best bits, but I'm holding a bit back for next time, dont want to reveal my hand too early. Badgerberry was out too so 3 orange 5's out looked a bit unoriginal frankly, but cant knock the ride, the guys are loving theirs too.

The Directors Cut...

hopefully it will work on most devices and pass an amusing couple of minutes, if not then I'm sorry but there's no money back

enjoy.

We got there, phew...

After all that rain for weeks, the trails were dry and the weather was hot. We made it to Beachy Head at about 7.30pm last night. It was a long day made easier by the fantastic support crew, being cheered into each checkpoint and fed and watered. Lemon cakes and tea at the end too smashing. According the GPS widget top speed was 35mph and 8399 calories used and 98.2 100 miles exactly ;-)

Feeling OK today, bikes washed, breakfast eaten, stairs avoided. It looks like we've got over £1500 raised now.

More updates later.

The beginning.

Nothing left but setting the alarm.

Well we've had dinner so now to mix up some energy drink and go to bed. May have overloaded on the kids left overs.

1 week left, gulp

Looks like the weather won't be too bad.  No time for the ground to dry out though.


I've washed my bike, greased and lubed. Changed tyres, written lists of tools for my bag, tools for the car, spares for the car. Bought so much energy food, Napoleon could have made it to Moscow. I think we are nearly ready, trying to eat well, go to bed early and not let work get to me this week.

I'll be using a cool little tracker application on the day, so you should be able to see how far we've got by clicking on this; http://www.greenalp.com/RealtimeTracker At the moment it has us in the Atlantic, but I'm hoping it wont be that wet!


Been working on some approximate timings for where we'll be and when, I reserve the right for this to be utterly wrong though.

Come and say hi if you're in the area, meet us at the end for a cheeky shandy at Beachy Head or just bung some money on the site. By the way we've raised £1000 which is good, but i'm sure there's a bit more down the back of the sofa, under the driver's seat or in the biscuit tin.
https://www.justgiving.com/teams/SDW100D2D

Three updates in one...

Firstly, well done to Nik getting the 50 miler...

Two weeks ago, I attendeed a skills course up at sherwood pines run by Jonathan...http://www.themountainbikerockschool.co.uk/
Had a whole day learning how to stay on bike, brake properly and turn corners. Sounds fundamental, but after years of riding, thought it a good idea to see how to do stuff properly. My legs ached alot, so I guess it was new stuff. Need to practice my new skills now.....just need to do a decent length bike ride.....ahhhh.

One week ago. Set out early sunday morning to get a 40 miler in. Only had four hours to fit in, so needed to go for it. Added extra loops in, concentrating on the hills. Got to 42, in four and a half. 3000 feet of climbing. Felt ok afterwards too. Taking extra nutrition at 20 miles is, I think the key.

Yesterday, another early start, this time aiming for 50 miles. Was going to miss out any flat fun bits, and literally loop round the hills. OK?  No. I completely forgot about the 'Months rain a day' we had on Friday. Trails were completely unrideable. The mud at several points jammed up the whole bike. Along with the old 'front wheel dissappearing in a hole trick' and going shoulder first into the ground, I followed Mr Glover's advice, and kept off the moors and stuck to the roads.

A pathetic 24 miles. Dropped off home again, hosed off bike & ate some food. Will get some sort of ride in the week if possible, but i think thats it for biggies, as it takes me days to recover.

J

July - Suncream and Gore-tex?!

Did the magic 50miles yesterday, half the distance in under 7 hours, went out along the Downs as far as Alfriston and then came back along the wet weather route. Was burning from the sun on the way out, and got caught in a couple of downpours on the way home.

Best bit was up on top on Firle Beacon with 360' panoramic views across the Weald, the English Channel, the Newhaven Incinerator (OK not that pretty) with my legs feeling pretty strong. Picture below looking back towards Lewes.

The worst bit was having 'bonked' or 'hit the wall' at 42 miles sat on the verge considering the nutritional and energy value of daisies, inner tubes when the rain started. Managed to get going and hurrah for the Half Moon at Plumpton, Coke and peanuts not perfect but better than foraging in the verges without Ray Mears handy.

Forgot the suncream so have a rather red-neck (yee har) today, but was very pleased to have gore-tex on my feet. Dry socks considering the rather large puddles around some of the gates on the Way (for puddle read pond/small lakes) are a good thing, a runner was very impressed to see me ride up to the gate, open the gate, ride through and latch the gate again without putting my foot down, in a 4-6" puddle, he would have been less impressed earlier on, but that time there were no witnesses! After he'd climbed over further along to avoid the wetness.

So 2 weeks left, all the miles that can reasonably be got in, have been, now for some quality tapering, at least that's what they call it. Sounds a bit flash to me, but basically it means early nights, eating sensibly, light exercise to arrive on the day in tippity-top condition. Have you even seen me!?!

Oh yeah and I'm going to look again at the wet alternative route, too much slogging along the side of a-roads at the moment, from the bits i've tested over the last couple of weeks.

ttfn

Map and stuff - UPDATED

View SDW100 in a larger map View South Downs Way - 2 Routes in a larger map


So the blue line is the South Downs Way and the yellow line is the emergency backup route, if the weather turns against us, or we suffer other problems then that's our backup plan. The feedstations are initially at 20 mile intervals, but I've thrown in an extra one nearer the end to get a boost for the final push.


Working on a 5am Grand Depart from Winchester, so hope we'd hit the first stop between 7 and 8am, the second after between 10 and 11. After that it will get tougher and the pace will slow I expect. Ideally the 60 mile point by 1pm.  But we dont really know. We'd welcome support along the way, and we will provide some updates along the way of progress made.


As for my training, managed 32miler on Sunday and I returned to my Pilates class this week after a few weeks off, as I've been away for work. Just bashed out a short session on the turbo trainer this evening, and planning another 30+ session at the weekend, really I'd like to get nearer to 50, but not sure if I've got the time. Havent looked at the forecast either. 


Keep donating, the fund's are still going up, which is great, but I reckon we can do better.

Interim update

Not posted for a couple of weeks, mainly due to nothing particularly eventful happening.
Managed 30 odd last Sunday, no idea exactly as I managed to stop the clock at some point in the ride.  Missed out the boring road bit, but felt I rode a bit faster overall. Cut short mainly because I ran out of water in the Camelbak.
Need to address this somehow. Wondering whether a larger capacity bladder thing(not mine) will fit in...  Noticed another pair of bottle cage bosses on the bike, but again, unsure whether another will fit.

Forgot to attach the tool bag to saddle, therefore had a puncture three miles from home. Dragging a tyre off the rim with fingertips is interesting. Never did find the puncture-er, guess it lying on the track for next time.

A bit of inspiration came this morning, when a group of neighbours set off for three peaks challenge. They are hoping to start at 5 this evening. They seem to have done most of their training in the pub. Hope they manage OK. Good luck guys.

Mid week rides have been missed due to various kids lift home from school, appointments etc needing to drive. Normal Sunday ride will be moved forward to Saturday as spending whole fathers day on a coach to hertfordshire watching No.1 son in a sports tournament!

The totaliser on the justgiving page is going up. Also have a few pledges on the noticeboard at work to add in which is really good. If you haven't added to it yet, then please get over to:

http://www.justgiving.com/teams/SDW100D2D

Click on either of the Donate buttons a shove a couple of quid on.

Thanks

ps. Just found out my brother is also doing a sponsored ride on the same day. More details to follow...

Planning and Riding

Been a good week, road bike ride at the weekend, cracking mountain bike ride on Tuesday night in Bristol and a quick lunchtime dash today on the road-bike. another 70 odd miles in the bank.

I've looked up the sunrise and sunset times for the day.

22 Jul 2012

05:10

21:03

15h 52m 26s

− 2m 38s

13:07

58.6°

151.983

As you can see we've got nearly 16hours, that means we need to average 6.3mph if we ride from sunrise to sunset. So to allow breathing space to punctures, lunch etc. we need our average riding speed to be over 8mph, 10 would be great but probably not practical. Last time i rode it in 2 days the total time over 2 days was about 14 hours riding. So trying to build up the pace and distance now.

I've started doing some mapping too, planning checkpoints at about 20mile intervals, i'll publish those locations on my next updates, and guestimated timings.

Twice in a Week.

Rode the final leg on Monday from home to Beachy Head, about a third of the overall target, completed in under 5 hours, not too bad, but 15 hours for the whole thing doesnt give much margin for error. Out again on wednesday in Bristol, went a bit further than I intended, due to a lack of planning and improvised navigation techniques. Keeps the legs spinning though. Weather has turned filthy again so may be road bike miles this weekend.

Have sent the justgiving link out to a few people, but have been disappointed so far by the response. Will have to start getting heavy with people. Unfortunately have to start the logistics planning next checkpoints etc. Family will I expect get lumbered with much of this, volunteers always welcome though.

New Logo and lack of training.

I've been a bit lax since jimdub came down for the weekend at the other end of May, I think i've managed 3 short rides in 4 weeks. Time to buck up my ideas frankly. Managed to get a little 14 miler in last night from the hotel in Bristol, although it was pretty flat and mainly road, its something I suppose, and gave the hardtail a bit of a shakedown after it's recent rebuild. Not sure if its going to be the one yet, comfort vs. lightweight, tough choice to be honest. Although appreciate a choice of bikes is an outrageous luxury any way you look at it. Just come back from Hungary where I went to my brother's wedding good fun but, the Hungarian idea of vegetarian food appears to focus around cheese, breadcrumbs and frying, often in the same mouthful. Obviously washed down with the local beer or strong booze known as Palincă made from fruit apparently so definitely got some of my 5 a day! This Langos pictured, is basically a fried pancake (or very large doughnut) with sour cream and cheese on top, very nice, very unhealthy.

I've been working on a logo/handout thing for the event too. Hope you like it, pass it on and drum up some interest/donations.

A good ride out

Lovely sunny Sunday. Thats a huge field of Flax pictured above. You could see it for miles. Picture doesn't do it justice though, but a great vivid blue.

Managed a great ride out on my new route, with added loops to get some more hillage. 36 miles, 2340 feet of climbing. Still not SDW scales, but there nontheless. Average 10.4 mph.
Got two days commutes in as well on Tuesday and Thursday. 10 mile each way gets my weekly total to 76 miles. Dont have the spare time to get much more riding in, unfortunately. I have noticed the importance of recovery time, which is obvious really. A day or two between really helps. Diet is being watched carefully too, feeding muscles properly. I can understand now, how sport science degrees really go for three years. I am definately the less able of the pack, so important to get my strength and endurance up.

Almost forgot, last week the Cold war came to the East Midlands. Spotted AWACS and Vulcan bomber in the vicinity of the airport, two or three days apart. By the time I got my phone out for pics, they were gone. You will have to take my word for it.

Pheasant Chasing

The sun came out, and all the bikes came out to play. Our area was covered in roadies yesterday. We're on a route, I think.
I planned a ride out, taking in West Leake hills & some local tracks. Part of a ride done with Pnik some years before, whilst training for C2C.  27 miles, and 1500 ft climbing. Thats a quarter of the distance, and an eighth of the climbing, but I did average 10mph which I was quite pleased with.

First attempt lasted one minute, when I realised that bottom jockey wheel on the rear mech was having trouble going round. return to house. Liberal oiling and mechanical assistance(!!) and all was good again. Got me thinking about replacing some of the works before July.  Do you hear that? .....Its a can of worms being opened...

The ride did, however involve bridleways through rough farm yards and ploughed fields, with two foot of wheat, which make it interesting. Some of the local wildlife was not expecting to be found. A couple of pheasants flapping skywards unannounced gives you quite a jump. The gates round here are not as well kept as those on more well known routes, so feet down in sloppy cow muck was the order of the day.  Anyhow, good ride, legs aching today, but expected that. Definately above the line.

No pics I am afraid as phone was running out of charge.

Weekend Training Ride

Zombied.  Thats me. Seriously concerned about my fitness level.  Saturday 18 mile, Sunday 27.  OK, so it had been a pretty wet drought. The trails were extremely slippy and where there was mud, there WAS mud. This got the average speed right down to about -6 mph, which given the amount of daylight we will have, will not do. I could come out with various excuses for holding everyone up, like the mud, getting back on saddle the next day etc etc, but it wont wash. I need to seriously ramp up the miles on real off road, and get more time on the exercise bike when I can't.

Now, although I have ridden SDW before, it was a few years ago, and over two days. Fitness and fatness, has changed. As said before, I lack the type of hills required for training, where I live in South Notts. yes there are inclines, but not the mile long, slow, grass sucking slogs that are further south.

On a plus note, had a great time on the singletrack through the woods, with a bit of confidence boosting log jumping-ish. Getting to train my head into the look where you want to go, and not at that muddy ditch/bunch of nettles type of activity. Pnik had a great time on his new bike (pictured, in part, above). Impressed that the bottom gear in middle ring, seemed even lower that my lowest of the low. Cheat!

Us at Ditchling beacon...

Not enough training

Found a great route on GPSies.com last weekend, downloaded it to the Garmin. 32miles starting a few miles up the road ideal. Had all Sunday free so off I went. I used to do 30miles downs rides quite often. I also decided to use the hardtail for the day, as I’m considering using it in July so ought to see how it is for a longer ride. I love the direct power transfer the feeling of all your effort going into turning the wheels. Little bit of a surprise when you forget you haven’t got the usual 5 inches of shock absorption under your behind. Its an interesting route, going mainly over trails I’ve done before but put together differently to how I would plan a route, seeming to go into and back out again of every available valley. Great training but I was all in by the time I crawled home, 36miles and 4000ft of ascending and 5 hours. That pace in July will barely fit into the available daylight hours, so I’ve not only got to triple the distance but I’ve somehow got to up the pace too. As for the hardtail, really pleased with it most of the time; although I did get a puncture on the rear and the forks are too long really so it’s difficult to keep the front end down on steep climbs. I also missed the forgiving nature of full suss later in the ride when tired and line choice becomes a bit lazy.

Jimdub and raa are coming out for some training miles in a couple of weeks, so I guess it is time to MTFU.

I started a pilates class on Tuesday too, I found this really helpful in my training before the C2C some I’m hoping that again it will help this time, but with working away from home a couple of days most weeks it is going to be difficult to get the miles in.

The new bike should be arriving in the next few weeks, hopefully I’ll have it by May bank holiday weekend, but that depends on Orange’s schedule not mine L.

Got out on the road bike, 28miles today, nice weather at the time, pub lunch managed to stay off the beer too. Roped in some logistical support for July today, so its starting to take shape.

Driving to Peterborough tonight, hopefully it wont rain all the way, although it's looking like there's an even chance.

Interesting couple of weeks

I've been getting out and about a bit the last couple of weeks. Trying to get my weekly milage up by degrees, managed 30-40 for the last 2 weeks, including turbo sessions. A couple of weekends ago managed to get a South Downs ride in, covered a quarter of the target distance in just under 3 hours, unfortunately I dont think that pace is sustainable for 100 miles, I'd love to do it in 12 hours, but I think a little realism needs to come into it.
Last weekend we were visiting family and I managed to sneak in a 10 miler up at Lee and Cragg quarries, blimey proper full on trails the climb from the car park started higher than Ditchling Beacon what we call a high point round here. Some great trails though, and friendly northerners at every turn. I was talking to a guy about his new white Orange 5 just like the one I've ordered (more of that later) who challenged me as to why I needed a new one, I think he eventually accepted the 'fancied one' argument, my more technical justifications didn't seem to cut it. They got me back on the right track after my slight detour through a wind farm (pictured).

Further on I was chatting to another couple of riders who were having a breather and offered they offered me some of their hot Oxo! I then caught up with a local called Dave who was recovering from the flu (!) and he led me back down off the moors and through the quarry on one the best singletrack I've done in ages. This youtube clip covers some of it although not me but as damp. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq78FhBC8Fk great stuff (a lot faster than me too). I was finished when I got to the car, he headed on back up for a bit more, he was the one getting over flu!

Dave has offered to take me out and show me some more next time I'm up there, which is very generous, lets hope these miles I'm trying to get in will pay off!

This week I've been over in Bristol for work and managed to get over to Ashton Court and tried out the Red and Blue trails there, again good fun, but by then my legs seem to have run out of steam. Everytime pedalling was required I found the tank was empty. Not where I wanted to be with my training. So decided to take it easy for a couple of days, eat well and plan to hit the downs again this weekend.

So I've ordered a new bike, hope to be getting it by the end of the month, very excited. Started by bidding on an ebay bargain, ended up with a great deal from SunsetMTB in Cardiff, wont tell the full story here but I'm quite excited, but have to wait for Orange to build the frame and paint it for me! I've gone a bit mad with the upgrade options too. Not actually sure if its the right bike for the SDW, but it'll be great for fun trails and trail centres. Just need to get my skills up to scratch.

I think thats enough rambling for now.

Official Launch Time

OK this is it time to commit.

A few years ago a friend was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease last year after a long decline he died. This cruel disease took so much quality of life away from him and his family. They dealt with it brilliantly, they were lucky to have the support of friends, family and 3 great charities; MNDA, Martletts Hospice and Dignitas.
Ever since Mike was first diagnosed I have wondered what can I do to help, I have no relevant skills. What I do is work in IT and ride bicycles for fun, and sometimes organise cycling trips/challenges.

So that's it I'll get some cycling people together and take on a proper challenge, a blood, sweat and tears challenge, you know the kind that hurts, requires commitment, something people can understand and get behind. Lets see if we can raise some money to help other people in similar or worse situations.

So I emailed some people, who generally said "you're mad" and some of them said "you're mad and I'm up for it". So the Gang of 4 is formed. All of us have ridden on the South Downs before, 3 of us have ridden its entire length. None of us has done all 100miles and 12,600 feet of climbing in one day. So that is the challenge the South Downs Way in a day. The date is set Sunday 22nd of July 2012 to suffer and enjoy chalky/flinty hillage to raise some money for 3 excellent causes.

I'm hoping that friends and family will get involved, either to support us on the day, or maybe walk or ride a bit of the route themselves, or just give us their money. All good, all welcome.

There will be a just giving page setup soon. This blog will be updated from time to time with the highs and lows of training, links to relevant pages.

thought the blog needed a new look.

So the title gives a hint at what the next caper will be, still waiting for final confirmation of who will be on the roster and when it will happen, but as jimdub says time for procrastination is over, time to start getting the miles in. Currently I'm confined to roadbike/turbo duties only, while I try to get a niggling shoulder injury sorted out. Each time i ride the mtb it takes the recovery back a few weeks. Doing the 55k ride with jimdub 4 days after the crash probably wasnt the best start to the recovery! ah well we live and occassionally we learn.

hope you like the look, and I'll be back with more news soon...

Blob

So what sits on its chair all day, and weighs about a stone heavier than it should......me of course.

Pre mid October, ride to work & back was a nice round 10 miles.

Post house move, doubles the distance. Apart from getting me more fit & more fresh air, it had the opposite effect of now I drive, save for when the car was in the garage being fixed again. Using the excuse of dropping daughter off at School, rotten cycling roads, dark, weather and all else I can find not to ride.

I have been promising, that once the mornings are a bit lighter, eldest can use the bus occasionally, enabling me to get moving, assuming that its a mere couple 'o' weeks away.

That all changed yesterday, when an email from PNik arrived, reminding me of this years' plan. Now I am not going to spill the beans yet, as for various reasons, its not my shout. BUT, its made me realise, that I have not got very long to sort myself out. So, this weekend, I am reserving some time to hosing down the Killer Bee of whatever mud is still coating it & get on the thing & get some miles done. Tempting to get the slicks on for a bit & discover the local area.

Whadyathink?

J

Edit: 19 road miles round the lanes. Did me in, hopeless 1 hour 45 minutes. Hmph