So the Olympics are upon us!

And before i disappear into the frenzy of delight that is they bring upon us  (i've been excited about this for months now!) i popped up to see Mum and say hi ...

It's not bad you know trundling about with a bike - the only thing that surprises me is that mine is always the only bike on the train!  However i'm not complaining...

So i (for the first time ever!) arrived at home on 2 wheels ... woke the (oh so effective?) 'guard' dog up as  i walked past his bed ... seemingly the crunch of wheels and feet on gravel wasn't enough to disrupt his doggy dreams! And flaked out ... yesterdays miles were many short dashes about town - i racked up over 30 overall but there were up and down to hampstead....  NW3 - Soho - For coffee with a friend from my old Edinburgh days... great to say hi! .... back to NW3 to pack a bag .... dash up to Brent Cross (over the heath - in the heat!!) and back to NW3 to pick up bag... then sprint down to Borough market with rucksack (too hot!) to meet dear dear friend for a long drink (we had a couple of hours to catch up with each other whilst she was waiting in between hospital appointments!) Lovely sunny chats and stories to share... and then a dash to Euston to get the train to Brum!

 Amazing selections of freshly squeezed juices at Borough Mkt! 

 Yep... that would be the Shard. 

Bike... resting awhile in between dashes! 

This lovely weather is tempting me out of bed whilst it's cool ... so this morning i was on the bike by 6.30 and heading out from Sutton towards Staffordshire to revisit childhood homes and schools!! It was a bright cool morning when i left and with a stash of Brasil Nuts in my pocket i crept out of the house. Why is it that the first few miles hurt so much more than the next ones? For a while i felt the call of returning to bed... but quickly enough the countryside and big skies won me over...

This last week of sun has got the farms running busy ...  between Shenstone & Chesterfield i was passed by a convoy of equipment heading out to the fields ... and a Land rover full of cheering men! ... i was slogging my way up a particularly long hill ... and their cheers 'You're almost at the top love!!!'  'Grab the wing mirror we'll help' ... boosted me on...  Made me realise how oblivious to the 'land' we are in London ... i'm guessing that they were off to start bringing in the hay?

At 8.12am this morning the nation was meant to ring bells to celebrate the start of 2012 Olympics ... (shouldn't it have been at 20.12 this evening?.... but anyway) ... as i left Whittington i decided that i could get to the Cathedral in Lichfield in time if i put my mind to it so i pedalled as fast as i could and got there by 8:06 ...  then a lovely lady arrived on her bike and asked me if i'd come to 'ring my bike bell'.... we both commiserated when the cathedral didn't ring out (nor did any other churches that we could hear!) so we stood and pinged our bike bells together!!! 2 other cyclists joined us ... and we had a cheery olympic moment!  We rang our bells for Lichfield!

Lichfield Cathedral... 

And then i turned towards home ... aiming to be back comfortably by 9am for breakfast when calamity struck....  whizzing down a hill (the very one i'd been cheered up earlier) I suddenly felt the chain go slack and assumed that it had (bizarrely) broken or come off - so i pulled off the road and had a look. Well - i have to admit i didn't really know what i was looking at, but it was abundantly clear that something was missing as the chain was slack and hanging off the rear derailer... I put my best engineering brain to it and couldn't fathom how to fix it so i did what all good girls do...

(a) Phone Mum and ask for a lift home....

(b) Phone 'The Oracle' and ask advice - despite my crazy descriptions of things he managed to diagnose that the 'jockey wheel' had come off - which confirmed that there was nothing i could do in a field to fix it!

Not a bad place to be stuck for 1/2 an hour on a sunny morning! 

So ... the bikes now fixed and 2 cycle repair shops are baffled as to how it happened .. a fair bit of  'never seen that before love' type muttering and now the piece is replaced and the original one winging its way back to Shimano - Yay to warrantys!

Now back in London i'm ready to get the party going for the Opening ceremony tonight - and head off to see the Horses Skipping tomorrow (that is the Int Team Dressage!) ...  But before i go ..

I have been thrilled by some of the support i'm receiving from around the Globe .. and the number of Dads friends - who've known me all my life - who are getting behind me! My Godparents from Park City will be in the UK in September so are coming to see me en route... and other friends from Baltimore have asked to be kept updated on progress...

So for you Kevin - I'm still not stick thin (dammit!) - i am definitely getting fitter - I will always hate hills - but i have mastered clippy shoes for the pedals!!!  I shall keep you updated!!!

Back in the saddle again .....

So i picked up my bike just over a week ago and then promptly flew to France (without said bike!) where the sun shone - the sea glistened and i had a wonderful time enthralled with historic cars racing the Historic Grand Prix in Monaco. I was spoilt in my precious little home from home and it was wonderful....   Whilst pottering around on the coast i was always encountering the 'peletons' of cyclists that tour around... heads down, taut sinewy muscles, lean and powerful powering along the coast roads.... their bodies look like they're in their prime 20's ...

And then you see their eyes smiling ... and they're wise ... and wrinkly ... and definitely in the last 1/3 rather than the first 1/3...  amazing fitness! Left me wondering if hauling my sorry ass up and down the country will transform me into a sinewy cyclist...  who knows... but i'm not sure that it will. Their bodies looked as though they'd come from a lifetime of saddles....

So from balmy sunny skies of the Med i flew back last night and landed in hailing Luton! YAY! And have spent much of the day avoiding getting on the bike... partly as i'm still suffering from a streaming cold (thank you Mediterranean skies!) and partly 'cause i didn't want to depress myself...  but i've just come back from a gentle 10 miles... and it wasn't too bad... Still getting used to the many gears on the bike (looking forward to the day when it feels like second nature!) and still learning the basics...

1.  If a dog sees a ball to chase it WILL NOT look for bikes! (Yep ... i almost took out a terrier!)
2. Some cars are REALLY quiet ..... and you won't hear them behind you ...
3. Water is your friend.....
4. Don't go out cycling if you haven't eaten all day ...
5. Stretch ... stretch.... stretch....

Lovely ride today ... from Hampstead down to Regents Park via Primrose Hill .... 2 laps of the park.... rest with stretches.... back up to Swiss Cottage... realised tank was empty so smoothie @ Swiss Cottage leisure centre... then up the hills of Hampstead home..... was all good....

Lovely ...  oh and must learn how to take off quick release wheels.... think i was doing something wrong!!