Sunday 29 May 2011
Monday 9 May 2011
Day 2 - Somerset bound...
Okehampton to Tiverton (36 miles) - The day began with a fair bit of rain (again) so this once again delayed my start time. Eventually got off around 9:45, by this time the sun had come out for me so at least bad weather was one less thing to contend with.
The morning's ride was going OK but was quite hard-going with more hills to deal with, I was feeling pretty knackered so decided to make today an easier one (especially after yesterday's 107 mile day of hills, hills and more hills!) so we changed our checkpoint from Taunton to Tiverton - thankfully when I called Rach to let her know my plans I managed to catch her before she'd hit Taunton as she'd just stopped for another £95 fuelling of the van!
I arrived in Tiverton around 12:30 but Rach was nowhere to be seen. I called to find out if she was close but the panicked voice on the other end of the phone said otherwise...she had come off at the junction that the sat nav told her to and had been waiting in a layby until I called with a progress report, unfortunately, when she started on her journey again the ever-helpful sat nav took her a bit of an ass about face way to get back to the main road so this was to be her first encounter of 'country lanes'
After a quick chat with a 'local' she managed to find her way to Tiverton and eventually turned up around 1:15pm. We stopped for lunch and Rach picked up some supplies for the next few days, I then thought it must be about time I was heading off on my afternoon's ride so left just after 2pm
Day 2 continued...Tiverton to Bawdrip (nr Bridgewater, 36 miles) - the afternoon went well, very well infact, I was feeling good and seemed to have found my stride. Met up with another cyclist en-route who was also doing LEJOG which was brilliant and a nice way to break the journey - we chatted and rode together for about a mile and I found out it was his Day 3 - he was pretty astounded I had got as far as I had in just 2 days - we reached a hill and he said "guess you'll be going now then...". (he was an older chap and think he'd quickly worked out I could perhaps 'go' when I needed to!) so I put my foot down and off I went leaving him at the bottom of said hill.
We arrived at the campsite just after 5pm, I felt I could have gone on a bit further today, but sometimes we need to put the 'sensible head' on and remember there is still a long old way to go so should preserve some energy and rest-up.
The weather started coming in so we thought it best not to air today's cycling clothes just yet...
The morning's ride was going OK but was quite hard-going with more hills to deal with, I was feeling pretty knackered so decided to make today an easier one (especially after yesterday's 107 mile day of hills, hills and more hills!) so we changed our checkpoint from Taunton to Tiverton - thankfully when I called Rach to let her know my plans I managed to catch her before she'd hit Taunton as she'd just stopped for another £95 fuelling of the van!
I arrived in Tiverton around 12:30 but Rach was nowhere to be seen. I called to find out if she was close but the panicked voice on the other end of the phone said otherwise...she had come off at the junction that the sat nav told her to and had been waiting in a layby until I called with a progress report, unfortunately, when she started on her journey again the ever-helpful sat nav took her a bit of an ass about face way to get back to the main road so this was to be her first encounter of 'country lanes'
After a quick chat with a 'local' she managed to find her way to Tiverton and eventually turned up around 1:15pm. We stopped for lunch and Rach picked up some supplies for the next few days, I then thought it must be about time I was heading off on my afternoon's ride so left just after 2pm
Day 2 continued...Tiverton to Bawdrip (nr Bridgewater, 36 miles) - the afternoon went well, very well infact, I was feeling good and seemed to have found my stride. Met up with another cyclist en-route who was also doing LEJOG which was brilliant and a nice way to break the journey - we chatted and rode together for about a mile and I found out it was his Day 3 - he was pretty astounded I had got as far as I had in just 2 days - we reached a hill and he said "guess you'll be going now then...". (he was an older chap and think he'd quickly worked out I could perhaps 'go' when I needed to!) so I put my foot down and off I went leaving him at the bottom of said hill.
We arrived at the campsite just after 5pm, I felt I could have gone on a bit further today, but sometimes we need to put the 'sensible head' on and remember there is still a long old way to go so should preserve some energy and rest-up.
The weather started coming in so we thought it best not to air today's cycling clothes just yet...
But, it was only a short burst of the wet stuff so I decided to get out and clean off some of the Devon & Conrwall (and now Somerset) muck...
And as I sat down and relaxed for the evening it looked promising that tomorrow 'should' be a nice day...
More to follow soon....
Sunday 8 May 2011
The Last 24 Hours....
The motorhome: Well, it all started with picking up our van for the trip. This had been booked in May 2010 (mainly because the Mrs likes to be organised and I'd have left it all until the last minute!), but the day before we are due to set off we get a phonecall to say "there's been a bit of a problem....". After picking ourselves up from the floor due to the woman at the rental place saying our van is "off the road..." we managed to get another one sorted. We got a slightly bigger van (prev 2/3 berth, new 6 berth!) at no extra cost, and a bit of a bonus for the inconvenience, they chucked me on the insurance FOC too which means Rach doesnt have to do ALL the driving back from Scotland too. So, this is the old girl - we've named her Big Bertha, for obvious reasons!
The trip to LE: Both very excited but the tension was definitely running high - we'd already decided that we would reccy the area first then head-off to find a place to stay for the night. LE was VERY windy and pretty murky too so we hoped this weather would lift by the morning before the big 'OFF'. We pulled-up in a chapel car park and checked the place round - no signs to say 'No Parking' or 'Private Property' so this looked as good a place as any to rest our weary heads.
Rach started cooking dinner and was in full-flight when we had a knock at the door. There stood a very grumpy looking man who was clearly up for a fight. "Do you realise this is a private car park, this for the church, for the local people, you shouldn't be here, you need to leave, you have no right to be here...." and this went on for several minutes before we could retaliate. We politely told him we had looked around but seen no notices to say we shouldn't be on the land. Rach then said "oh, do folk come to the chapel on a Friday now then, I'm guessing it will get busy soon?" to which he replied "No, it's not til Sunday, but you that's not the point". She asked if he was from the police or local authorities too (which he obviously wasn't, he was just up for a bit of ruck with 'the forigners'). After his rant and a bit of shouting at Rach, he got back in his van and drove off. Now, any 'hardy camper' probably would have stayed there, but because I needed to get a good nights sleep and was worried that 'the village of the damned' would be back in the night to trash the van, we moved off and went and found a campsite just down the road and went and sat down to dinner.
The Big 'OFF'. We left the campsite at around 8am and headed back down towards LE, we would have left much earlier but the sound of heavy rain first thing didn't sound too appealing and thought we would give it a bit of time before setting off. As we drove down the the hill into Lands End, I spotted a couple of cars - one of which looked just like a friend of mines - as we got closer I realised it WAS my friends car! I turned to Rach to ask if she knew anything about this - her face quite clearly said NO. With this, she started crying and saying "what are they doing here, the bloody sneaky bastards?". Kate & Oli Sheppard and their kids had come down the day before and were staying in St Ives for the week on holiday then another couple, Sam & Paula Clarke had come down with them but were leaving for their own holiday that same day. So, after thinking I wouldn't have anyone other than Rach to see me off on the Start Line, I ended up with 'the rabble' which was absolutely fantastic!
LE to Checkpoint: Lanivet, nr Bodmin (62 miles) - Rach found us a place to stop for lunch and rest my weary legs, a bacon & mushroom omlette had been prepared and was ready for me arrival and went down very wel after a very hard-going morning of hills, hills and more hills - somewhere in the region of 5000ft of climbing - I was hoping this would ease-up for the afternoon's ride - it didn't!
Day 1 - Lanivet to Okehampton (47 miles) - I found the afternoon a tough one especially when the sat nav conked out at 97 miles and I had to 'wing-it' towards Okehampton. After a quick phonecall to Rach I worked out where I was with a combination of cycle track signposted to Okehampton and the help of a couple of kids in the small village of Bridestowe who pointed me in the right direction. I arrived at the campsite at around 7pm and was happy to see the motorhome parked-up and connected to an electrical hook-up meaning I would be able to catch up on my Facebook comments and well wished which had really helped me through the day.
More to follow tomorrow with Day 2 in the saddle....
The trip to LE: Both very excited but the tension was definitely running high - we'd already decided that we would reccy the area first then head-off to find a place to stay for the night. LE was VERY windy and pretty murky too so we hoped this weather would lift by the morning before the big 'OFF'. We pulled-up in a chapel car park and checked the place round - no signs to say 'No Parking' or 'Private Property' so this looked as good a place as any to rest our weary heads.
Rach started cooking dinner and was in full-flight when we had a knock at the door. There stood a very grumpy looking man who was clearly up for a fight. "Do you realise this is a private car park, this for the church, for the local people, you shouldn't be here, you need to leave, you have no right to be here...." and this went on for several minutes before we could retaliate. We politely told him we had looked around but seen no notices to say we shouldn't be on the land. Rach then said "oh, do folk come to the chapel on a Friday now then, I'm guessing it will get busy soon?" to which he replied "No, it's not til Sunday, but you that's not the point". She asked if he was from the police or local authorities too (which he obviously wasn't, he was just up for a bit of ruck with 'the forigners'). After his rant and a bit of shouting at Rach, he got back in his van and drove off. Now, any 'hardy camper' probably would have stayed there, but because I needed to get a good nights sleep and was worried that 'the village of the damned' would be back in the night to trash the van, we moved off and went and found a campsite just down the road and went and sat down to dinner.
The Big 'OFF'. We left the campsite at around 8am and headed back down towards LE, we would have left much earlier but the sound of heavy rain first thing didn't sound too appealing and thought we would give it a bit of time before setting off. As we drove down the the hill into Lands End, I spotted a couple of cars - one of which looked just like a friend of mines - as we got closer I realised it WAS my friends car! I turned to Rach to ask if she knew anything about this - her face quite clearly said NO. With this, she started crying and saying "what are they doing here, the bloody sneaky bastards?". Kate & Oli Sheppard and their kids had come down the day before and were staying in St Ives for the week on holiday then another couple, Sam & Paula Clarke had come down with them but were leaving for their own holiday that same day. So, after thinking I wouldn't have anyone other than Rach to see me off on the Start Line, I ended up with 'the rabble' which was absolutely fantastic!
LE to Checkpoint: Lanivet, nr Bodmin (62 miles) - Rach found us a place to stop for lunch and rest my weary legs, a bacon & mushroom omlette had been prepared and was ready for me arrival and went down very wel after a very hard-going morning of hills, hills and more hills - somewhere in the region of 5000ft of climbing - I was hoping this would ease-up for the afternoon's ride - it didn't!
Day 1 - Lanivet to Okehampton (47 miles) - I found the afternoon a tough one especially when the sat nav conked out at 97 miles and I had to 'wing-it' towards Okehampton. After a quick phonecall to Rach I worked out where I was with a combination of cycle track signposted to Okehampton and the help of a couple of kids in the small village of Bridestowe who pointed me in the right direction. I arrived at the campsite at around 7pm and was happy to see the motorhome parked-up and connected to an electrical hook-up meaning I would be able to catch up on my Facebook comments and well wished which had really helped me through the day.
More to follow tomorrow with Day 2 in the saddle....
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Final post before the off.
Well, this is it, just got back from a 50 mile training ride. The next time I get on the bike will be Saturday morning at Lands End.
The list below is the total training I have done since the 24th January this year when I got my new GPS.
Watch over the next week and a half as I add another 900 miles to the total.
Scary things are, 49,367ft of climbing and 53,611 calories I have used doing it....!!!!!
--
The list below is the total training I have done since the 24th January this year when I got my new GPS.
Watch over the next week and a half as I add another 900 miles to the total.
Scary things are, 49,367ft of climbing and 53,611 calories I have used doing it....!!!!!
Tuesday 26 April 2011
The story so far.
With just over a week to go, I thought I would post all the details of training I have done over the last few months as a total, so below is everything that my Garmin has captured from actual rides - this does not include the 100's of miles that have been done on the Turbo Trainer.
| Count: | 33 Activities |
| Distance: | 1,117.07 mi |
| Time: | 70:14:10 h:m:s |
| Elevation Gain: | 42,044 ft |
| Avg Speed: | 15.9 mph |
| Avg HR: | 132 bpm |
| Avg Run Cadence: | -- |
| Avg Bike Cadence: | 74 rpm |
| Calories: | 47,991 C |
| Avg Distance: | 33.85 mi |
| Median Distance: | 25.13 mi |
| Max Distance: | 103.08 mi |
| Avg Time: | 02:07:42 h:m:s |
| Median Time: | 01:36:36 h:m:s |
| Max Time: | 06:21:40 h:m:s |
| Avg Elevation Gain: | 1,314 ft |
| Median Elevation Gain: | 1,053 ft |
| Max Elevation Gain: | 4,252 ft |
| Elevation Loss: | 41,745 ft |
| Avg Elevation Loss: | 1,305 ft |
| Median Elevation Loss: | 1,033 ft |
| Max Elevation Loss: | 4,245 ft |
| Max Avg Speed: | 28.2 mph |
| Max Speed: | 46.4 mph |
| Max Avg HR: | 152 bpm |
| Max HR: | 183 bpm |
| Max Avg Run Cadence: | -- |
| Max Run Cadence: | -- |
| Max Avg Bike Cadence: | 85 rpm |
| Max Bike Cadence: | 207 rpm |
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