Thursday 14^th May

I guess the fact that it’s 4 weeks since my last entry tells you everything that you need to know about how things have been over the last few weeks.

The most important thing to note though, is that Mel is really well, and that the baby is doing really well. We had our 20 week (20 weeks! Where did they go???) scan on Sunday, and it was excellent to see him / her again, and to discover that they are spot on in terms of where they should be right now.

Yes, I’ve been busy. There has been a lot on at work, and a lot on at home as well. So with the extra hours that I’ve been spending in the office, and the things that we’ve had to do out of the office, I’ve still not done a lot of training.

So, where were we? The last time I actually wrote anything in this, we were about to do a quiz with our neighbours on the Friday night. Well, we did it and we came fourth. A pretty good result. The day after that, i was planning to get up and do 50 miles before going down to Kent to see Phil play his last rugby match of the season. I did get up early and ate my porridge and put my kit on, and then decided that I was too shattered to go out on the bike and went back to bed for a couple of extra hours instead. What a dedicated athlete.

I did make it down to Kent though. I got the train down and managed to walk to the club where the Guinness was excellent and the sun was shining, and I really don’t think that I need to say anything else. I had a couple more beers with Phil after the game and then fell asleep on the train and missed my stop and didn’t exactly feel at my best on the Sunday. By about 4pm though I decided that I HAD to do something and got out for a couple of hours in the sunshine and that finally blew my hangover away.

Since then, I’ve only managed to get out three times, and only two of those were decent. The first was for 70 miles, and the second was up to Stamford and that was 74 miles. The third time I’ve been out was a bit of a disaster. A broken spoke and a buckled wheel last Saturday morning meant that I only managed 24 miles before ringing Mel and dragging her out of bed to come and pick me up in the car.

I have managed a few sessions in the gym, and I have been on the turbo twice this week. In total, I have been on the turbo trainer just three times since February 25^th.

The Tour of Pembrokeshire is now 3 weeks on Sunday. I am supposed to do a ride of around 6 hours this weekend, and one of around 7 next weekend, and then I am supposed to have a quiet week before the big event of 116 miles up and over the Preselli Mountains. There is no way that I will be ready to do it. I have just not done enough (any...) work in the weeks to manage it.

I’ve bought some new wheels this week, that I’ve yet to try. So assuming my huge weight doesn’t break them, I will have to see how I get on this weekend, and I guess I will have to make a decision as to whether to go for it or not. John’s training has been going really well, and I don’t want to let him down, but I have serious doubts that I will manage the full course if I attempt it now. There is a shorter option, to do a 64 mile course, but I don’t want to do that. John has trained for the full route, and I know that I could manage the 64 mile course, despite my lack of fitness. I don’t want to do something if I know I can do it. The whole point of going for the whole route was that it will represent a tough challenge for me. And that was even if I HAD managed any training.

 

Thursday 21st May

Well, I managed to keep the gap between entries down to a week, so I guess that things are improving. To be honest, there’s not a lot to report, other than Mel has grown a lot this week, and that I’ve not managed as much training as I’d have liked.

Last Saturday we went up to the NEC for the Baby Show. I cannot believe that here I am, actually attending such an event...

Having said that, I really enjoyed it, but boy did Mel spend some money!!! Babies are expensive!! But we were pleased with what we got. After seemingly trying out every pram available in the UK over the past couple of weeks, we spent quite a bit more time at the show trying them all out again, before finally settling in the one that seemed the best for us. Obviously, we have no ideas what we’re doing, but we hope we’ve made the right choice. And it was made for practical reasons – not the colour of pram, or what fabric is comes covered in, or what all of the other yummy mummies are “driving” this year. So, a pram / pushchair / “travel system” was purchased, as was some furniture for the nursery. I can’t wait to see it all in place now! There’s just quite a bit of work to do before then though.

So, after a very long and busy day on Saturday, I was up at 5 on Sunday morning to fix my new wheels before I went out for my 6 hour ride. It was only after I’d got the wheels of and the tyres on, that I realised the deeper profile of the new wheels meant that the valves on the inner tunes I had weren’t long enough. My, I was chuffed with that. Up at a stupid hour for no reason whatsoever. The one good thing about it was that it really started pouring with rain at 6am. Really heavy stuff, and loud enough to wake Mel up so that she came down to tell me not to go out for my ride. As it was she came down and I was on the laptop ordering some new inner tubes, in a foul mood. Nevermind, back to bed for a few extra hours sleep, and then by the time we got up the sun was out. No ride, but a nice day. We went out in the afternoon to pick our new carpet for the hall, stairs and landing, to replace the one that was damaged in the flood (For the Rush fans out there, the carpet was called “Jacob’s Ladder”!!!). I don’t know what’s happened to Mel, but the hormones have clearly had an effect on her. While we were picking the carpet she decided that we might as well get some new stuff in the sitting room, our bedroom, the spare room, the bathroom, and the nursery!!!

Work has been really busy this week, but I did manage to get home in time for a really good session on the turbo trainer, accompanied by three episodes of Seinfeld on DVD. Always brilliant, and it helps the miles go by.

I was up early on Wednesday morning to manage an hour on the turbo before settling down to work. I had to work at home as the builder was coming around, and Mark the plumber also came over to look at both the showers. We’ve decided to replace one, and we can get the other one fixed, so we can get all of the messy work done in the bathrooms in the next couple of weeks before all of the really messy stuff starts when the builders move in and rip the ceilings down. We finally have a start date for the building work! June 15^th. It should hopefully take around 2 weeks, and then we can start to get back to normal. Hopefully.

I finally managed to fix my two new wheels on Wednesday, along with the 105 brake callipers that I’ve been meaning to fix for awhile too. I only had a chance to get out for 10 minutes to see that everything was ok, but the wheels really did feel great. I guess I’ll find out at the weekend. We’re off to Wales tonight, and John has a seven hour ride scheduled for Saturday.

Tuesday 26th May

Back at work today, after a really good weekend in Wales. We had a good ride back on Thursday night, and were there by 11.30. The weather wasn’t great on Friday, but we had a pretty lazy day anyway. The cold I’ve been struggling with seemed to come back with a vengeance, but we found some nurofen and lemsip in Pembroke Dock when we were out for a ride in the afternoon, on the look out for some new tiles for the upstairs bathroom. The rain was pouring down and the wind was blowing, and all I could do was hope that things would improve for Saturday’s ride.

Feeling really rough with my cold, I went to bed early on Friday, and felt even worse when I woke on Saturday. Oh well, there was no way that I wasn’t going to do this ride, John has stuck to his training programme, and he needed to do his seven hours this weekend. So, after my usual porridge and bagels, off we went.

And we had a great day. Hard work, but really good. We covered some of the Tour of Pembrokeshire route, and got to the highest point in the Presellis. After that, we made our way across country to Newgale and then down to Broadhaven and along the coast before making our way back to Pembroke and on to home. 90 miles covered, in a variety of weather conditions, and generally incident-free (apart from a near miss with a cattle grid at 40mph – thank heavens I’d fixed my brakes!). I was very tired and sore by the time we’d finished, but I was pleased to get some miles under my belt. I’ve not managed too many long rides, and the midweek sessions just haven’t materialised, so it was satisfying to be able to cover that sort of distance. All being well, I am hopeful that I’ll be able to complete the ToP on 7^th June now. It will be hard work, and it will take a long time, but we will give it a damn good go.

Sunday I was a little sore to start with, but by lunchtime I was feeling more or less normal again, and on Monday i went out for a ride with Vicky and felt surprisingly good. I really was very pleasantly surprised. She got a new bike a few weeks ago, and she’s been building up her mileage, so we did a pretty steady 20 miles, and that was just nice for me. I’m hoping to get a couple of decent sessions in this week, followed by about 4 hours at the weekend. After that, that will more or less be it, until we start our 116 mile jaunt around and up and over Pembrokeshire. There’s really not a lot more I can do now!

All being well, this time in 8 weeks I will be making my way to Croydon to start the ride to Paris the next day. Although I’ve not done as much training as I’d ideally have liked, I’m not too far away. If I can keep things up for the next couple of months, I should be pretty close by the time I leave. Let’s just see where we are in 8 weeks time, eh?

Wednesday 27th May

Finally gave in to the cold today and stayed at home. It came back with a vengeance on Monday night, got worse through Tuesday, and this morning I had to stay in bed. I’ll hopefully kill it for good today. It’s hung around for a couple of weeks now, which is unusual for me, but a day of rest should do me good.

Of course, it does all mean another day with no training....

Friday 29^th May

Absolutely beautiful day today. And the amazing thing is that it’s forecast to last all weekend.

The cold that I’ve been suffering with for the past few weeks seems to finally be on the way out now. Last night was the first time this year that I have managed to get home and ride for a while after work. The weather was good, it was light and sunny and warm, and I was out on the road by ten past seven, and managed a 70 minute blast on the roads around the village. And I really enjoyed it. It is quite different knowing that I’m only going out for an hour or so, and it is good to push myself as hard as I can for as long as I can. I have no idea if that’s a good idea, or an effective way to train, but I enjoy it anyway. These are really the sort of mid-week rides that I should have been doing all year, but I just haven’t managed them. Instead, I have managed a few of the long rides only, and knowing that I’m going to be out for a while, I’ve always taken them relatively easy.

Last night was perfect. Straight home from work and out on the bike in the warm evening sunshine. The only real downside was the two dozen or so flies that I managed to swallow on the way round. Extra protein, I guess. It is a great way to unwind after a day in the office – just go as fast as you can. It’s not always possible to go flat out all the time, because the roads around the village are a bit windy, a bit hilly, and a bit bumpy, but I did manage to find a couple of stretches last night to get my head down and go hard at it for a while. There was stretch along the A5 which was wonderful, before I had to come off and climb up the hill back home.

I’m hoping to have another ride tonight, before a day off on Saturday and a four hour ride on Sunday. That will be the last long ride before the Tour of Pembrokeshire, and I’m not sure if I’m supposed to go hard or take it easy. I am thinking of a route I could do which has four really tough hills in it. I think I might go and get those out of the way early on and then spin for the remaining two hours. After that, there won’t be a lot more time in the saddle until we’re on the start line on June 7^th.

 

Here are some pics on the state of things at home...