The end is in sight...

I can hardly believe that I've almost done it, but with 116 miles riding to go today and tomorrow and no more big hills (we did the last of the 'Big 4' yesterday) we're definitely on the homeward stretch! This time tomorrow we'll be donning lycra for our last ride and heading off from Tongue ... I do hope that we can finish in decent weather.

I've woken early this morning and been reflecting on the last 3 weeks - is it only 3? It feels like so much longer. We've travelled through the change of seasons which has somehow stretched it in my mind, seems so long since we were cycling all the way from Cornwall up to Lancashire in short sleeved tops with no jackets! And since then have had 'weather' ... although whilst we have had rain and cold we've been very very lucky - some trips cycle in rain every day .....  For the last 3 weeks my daily routine has been so simple -

Get up at 7am, Breakfast at 8am, Briefing after breakfast. Leave bags at reception. Cycle. Arrive at new destination, Shower/Bath, catch up with emails (if there's wifi), wash clothes, dinner, sleep.

Repeat.

The only variation has been the scenery along the way ... some days finish with a beaming smile feeling like it's been a breeze, some with a smile of relief that the hills have finished (for that day at least!). Yet every day has finished with a feeling of delight .... even on the hardest days there's been such beauty and scenery to wonder at.  I have to commend Bike Adventures for the route they've set, I know that Dad questioned it and he felt that it took in more hills than necessary - which it does, but it does so to keep us off main roads and i have to agree with their choices.  It's only Scotland that has had us cycling on busy routes (through the highlands where there is little other choice) and it prompted me to realise how lucky we were to spend most of the trip on quiet traffic free lanes.

So my first cycling adventure is coming to and end .... Dad has been so much in my mind as i've done it. I still remember my reaction when he suggested that we did it together - i totally ridiculed the idea! Oh how i wish we could re-write history. I would have loved to do this with him, or even talk to him about it and share stories! That's the thing i've longed for most... to chat to him about how he found it.

Way back in Cornwall, on the long tough day that i thought would never end, Geoff told me that at John O'Groats there's a book that people who have done the 'End to End' can sign. Since then i've been looking forward to finding out what Dad wrote in it back in 2007.

I do hope he signed it.

So with that it's time to get up and have breakfast and for the penultimate time clothe myself in more Lycra than is good for anyone - get on the bike and pedal...   you'll hear more of me later.

Have lovely days xxx

Screw your courage to the sticking place.....

I can still remember how clever i thought an old school friends parents were when they wished her luck in her O'Levels with a quote from Macbeth....

Macbeth -              If we should fail?

Lady Macbeth -     We fail?
                              But screw your courage to the sticking place,
                              And we'll not fail.

I have spent the day today metaphorically 'screwing my courage to the sticking place' ... I'm now in Penzance with Mum - staying in a charming hotel  and as we haven't seen a flat stretch of road since Somerset the reality of 'Cornwall and Devon are the hardest bit' has well and truly sunk in!  I'm not kidding - i can now see that the first 4 days will be spent either grinding up hills or free-wheeling down them... none of the lovely speedy pedalling along in the sunshine! 

But it is beautiful here... oh so beautiful .... we stopped for a coffee in Launceston a sweet little town with a stunning church and a hilarious attitude to parking restrictions. It would appear that the cornish way is to stop wherever you like and let everyone else deal with the consequences which generally meant mounting the pavements and scraping along the walls...  and then we had a tootle around St Ives before landing in Penzance....  Tomorrow i shall meet the rest of the gang, be-reunited with Bradley and on Sunday we shall head off from Lands End.....  when the day's ride shall look like this .... 

Which whilst hilly doesn't look too awful .... on Monday however we shall start at sea level and fairly quickly (??? well.....)  be up at the highest village in Cornwall on the edge of Bodmin Moor... but for now ... one day at a time and i'm heading towards possibly the most beautiful bed i've slept in for a while.... G'night x

Happy Birthday to me.....

And to celebrate i woke up at 6am and headed out on the bike before it got too hot ... a glorious ride!! As it's my birthday (and pretty warm!) i treated myself to a long gentle ride.... 30+ miles along the Thames ... gorgeous....

Heading down through town i can already tell the impact of the Olympics, there's far far less traffic than normal (yay!!) ... but on the downside - where the Olympic lanes (which are now in action) are forcing all traffic into a single lane people are being much more aggressive with cyclists and barely allowing any room as they pass to ensure that they don't encroach the Olympic lane and get a fine!

 Lovely and cool in Lincolns Inn ... was fun to see lots of pre work training sessions going on! 

My Olympics definitely kicked off in style yesterday when we all cheered and whooped a dear friend who was running in the Torch Relay...  We had a beautiful day over in Kew and celebrated the Torch in style! So i smiled to see the Olympic rings on Tower Bridge... whoever thought of this deserves a big cheer i love it! 

The Shard ..... Really is big! 

Loved this typical view .... looking across the river seeing the beautiful church spire rising up behind the apartments.... I'm slightly sad that the skyline which was once dominated by spires and cupolas.... is now dominated by things like The Shard and The Gherkin ... and it's so easy to miss the spires!!! 

So my Birthday ride was a lovely one ... was getting hot as i got home .... and now for a lovely day ahead....  

Redhead pushes 2 wheels!!!!

Well ...well...well... I shan't be lamenting the weather in this post! 

Oh no - oh no - oh no indeed, there are far more important things on my mind!! Mainly the crashing dose of reality that came hit me full force yesterday when I went 'hill training' in and around Bath! 

Now I know that London is lacking in hills... And my cycle in the highlands showed me that cycling uphill for 3-4-5 miles will not be uncommon ... And I have no problem with taking a breather and then continuing the climb.... But I really didn't think that I'd be pushing my bike! 

After all ... I'm happy (well, tired & happy) cycling 40ish miles these days.. surely I can cope with a few hills?! 

Until yesterday... I combined 'hill training' with seeing dear dear friends who were full of encouragement as I headed off from their house in Bath towards Wells... As someone not known for her athleticism we were all having a good giggle .... And believe me it wasnt long before I was considering an early retreat!! My aim was to cover The 40 miles to Wells and back - with the promise of a photo of the Abbey to prove my arrival! Well it didnt take much before I realised that I'd only be taking a photo if I was planning a taxi home or a B&B!  Leaving Bath after 1pm I saw that I wasn't going to make Wells and be back for supper!! After 5 miles I was shocked at how tired I was.... Granted it was a long and very uphill 5 miles... But still - it was ONLY 5 miles!! Thankfully the views were stunning and everything about the ride (except the lack of engine!!) was beautiful.. But it was a sobering ride! Once I'd decided (after about 11 miles) that I was re-routing I left the main road and started dipping and climbing the country lanes in and out of the prettiest of Cotswolds villages. 

I spent an inordinate amount of time using the smallest gear-set and was shocked/gutted/defeated a couple of times when I 'escorted' my bike up the steepest part of the hills! 

 As luck would have it my new route bought me 'home' via Monkton Combe not far from my god-daughter's house so I sprung a surprise visit and had a lovely 'hello' and some cheery support ... Especially as we left together (Tuesday-ballet lessons!!!) with Anna-Banana yelling out of the car window 'Coyney you're going ##mph' ... Best cheer leader a girl could have!!! 

So my mind is focused... The old power/weight ratio is not all that it needs to be ... My head is not as positive as I need to be (when I see a long hills approaching a little devil in my head starts to tell me how 'there's no way' I'll manage it!!!!) ... And I have a LOT of work to do in the next 8 weeks. 

I knew it wasn't going to be easy .... Dad always said that the hills in Cornwall / Devon are tough... Yesterday it sank in and I had a vey big reality check! So time to up the ante on the training front ...and kick into a pretty severe diet ... The hills aren't going to get any flatter, but every lb that I don't have to drag up them will help!! 

As for the wretched devil in my head .... All ideas on how to shut it up / drown it out .. Much appreciated!!!!

A lot to catch up on ......

I see with shock that i haven't written since the end of May ... which means that i must rap myself on the knuckles... shoddy i say shoddy! All of which means that this will be a long catch up as i have been busy out on the bike! 

Indeed i can feel the progress - yay - i can indeed!!!! 

So.... the highlights .... 

At the end of May much of my cycling was in and around London and included ... whizzing around town to meet people for lunch .. breaking out my bluey white legs in lycra down at Horseguards for a cheeky lunch break with my dear Olympic torch-bearing friend .... I had hoped that the lovely weather would gradually transform them - instead they are being whipped with rain!! Much circling of Regents Park and around Hampstead ... a wonderful whizz through London on the morning of the Jubilee Pageant delighting in empty roads and feeling the atmosphere build as i got closer to London Bridge... and oh we were lucky enjoying the pageant amongst dear friends on a sheltered balcony - what a wonderful spectacle it was....  The cycle home was however wetter and windier.... 

I finished off my Jubilee celebrations by jumping on a train with my bike and heading North to Edinburgh ... i stayed in a wonderful wonderful flat for a few days on Gayfield Square and had a wonderful time re-visiting my old University haunts and catching up with a dear friend from long ago... i also discovered that cycling in and around London isn't cutting the mustard as far as training is concerned!!! 

During my trip i headed north to Loch Lochy (NW of Fort William) and cycled a circular route of 34 miles which will form part of Day 19 of my trip.... and i realised that hills can be 3 - 4 miles long!!! I had a wonderful (if cold and wet) day ... and it was so beautiful... but it hammered home that good old flat London with its stop-start cycling is not good enough for the trip... after 10 miles my legs felt as though i'd cycled 20.... but i made it the whole route and was particularly chuffed to complete the 3 mile long uphill stretch at the end .... 

 6 miles in ... soaking up the views.... 

 Pause for 'lunch' at Laggan Locks .... 

On the home stretch the weather was closing in .... 

Day 2 North of the Border and i was back in Edinburgh enjoying the amazing network of cycle routes that they have there. 27 Miles of coastal cycling heading West to the Forth Bridge (the engineer in me will forever get excited when i see it!) ... blowy weather and i was cycling head on into the wind all the way home....  had a real lesson in the power of the wind! 

Yep .... heading East from Leith ... it was dreich! 

Cut inland at Cramond ... beautiful! 

 Hmmmm..... Scottish idea of a cycle path?! Or maybe i've detoured off it!!!! 

 Heading home i found the most wonderful network of cycle paths running along what i later found out to be the old railway lines... all around edinburgh ... FANTASTIC! This is heading into town from Trinity. 

So two good days with decent mileage under my belt! Then on Friday before i got the train home i had fun exploring the city itself - cycling down memory lane as i visited lots of old haunts and favourite places.  Sadly the cold and the time pressure meant that i didn't stop and click too many photos but i had a wonderful spin around town.... 

View across to Arthur's seat from Carlton Hill.... 

Just love the Gardens in the heart of town.... looking up the Mound across the Galleries... scene of much Fringe fun and street theatre in the good old days! 

Since i've been back the stormy weather (i hate to admit) of the last week has sent me swimming more than cycling and i've only done a couple of 30+ rides... but it's all good and (when the weather's good) i am loving it! Hills hills hills are the focus of the next few months.... 

What have i learnt? 

• Buses don't always stop when they knock you off your bike!! 
• New mantra 'Hills aren't my enemy as they always come to an end.... Wind however.... ' 
• Layer up .... getting cold is exhausting.
• Dogs seem to love running at the wheels of a bike. 
• 60 miles a day is a long long way! 
• Stretch out... stretch out .... stretch out..... 
• Music is great for lifting the heart i have no doubt that this adventure will have me stretching my playlists! 

I'm not going to say too much and languish on the miserable weather we've been having over the last 4 weeks - but ... Oh - how i hope summer will appear soon. 

Heatwave!

Ahhhh boy oh boy its a whole different thing cycling in the heat - but welcome pleasure to be under blue skies! I've been away in Bath / Bristol for the last couple of days and driving around the hills over there has certainly focussed my mind on how far i have to go regarding training .... there can be no slacking!

I was consigned away from the bike with a chest infection - but am happily back in the saddle now .... and seem to be doing ok ... todays ride was a more unusual smorgasbord of miles as i was in 'street clothes' due to meeting a friend from out of town in Marylebone...  Cycled down ... had a lovely time in the sun chatting and catching up and then i left her to go off and do some laps of Regents Park ... some meandering around the heights of Hampstead ... and then home...

Had a rest stop ... with a sandwich.... and a pretty decent view!

My confidence on the roads is definitely increasing only had a couple of near misses today ... learnt that cycling in jeans isn't as bad as expected...  coming up through central london at rush hour is hilarious fun with lots of bikes - but you have to have your wits! Whilst the weather stays this hot i need to be out early early early in the day ... and Water Sarah Water!!!

Feeling more and more at home in the saddle.... this is a good thing! Next challenge sort out diet to speed up the shifting of a few pounds!

xxxx

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!!

Dreary - Grey ....

After a dramatic start to the day (water dripping through the ceiling of the bathroom!) ....   it was almost a relief to get on the bike and out of the house.  Thankfully it was a simple thing - builders are working on the flat upstairs so could correct their mistakes pretty quickly! Leaving only a sodden mess to dry up and clean!!

I say almost a relief  ....  funny how now that i know that the bike fit is not right i am finding it hard to settle into any measure of decent distance... so i opted for a jaunt locally instead.....  the weather is dreary - but at least it's not sheeting it down.

Started off by heading down to Regents Park and whizzing around a few laps... which is an easy pleasure and thankfully lacking in traffic - i love passing the zoo though - always fun to turn off the music and listen out for exotic sounds.  Dreary weather today though so i'm guessing any animal with sense is staying warm and dry undercover! All very quiet from the zoo...   started to wonder what my thoughts are going to be dominated by in September... day after day in the saddle - i wonder if i'll (finally!) work out the structure to the book that i keep threatening myself i'll write!

From Regents park i headed up through Primrose hill and wove around hampstead gradually climbing and following the hills....  i still haven't summoned the nerve to attack Highgate Hill face on (once on it - there is no escape!) but i shall do ... whats my target? By the end of May? .... Highgate hill .... 2 miles of long slog with some nasty steep bits....

Hmmm..... there's a thought!

So i explored my local patch - out to hampstead garden suburb ... weaving through the farthest reaches of the heath,  Golders Green. Was a lovely ride. Nothing too dramatic - pretty hilly (must sort out my odometer stuff so that i can track climbs & distances etc ...)  but 14 miles on the clock and home for lunch ....   Until i get the new bike i'm keeping things gentle - don't want to aggravate my back any more... so when i get back from France i shall be really pushing myself to cover ground & settle in to the new bike. Only 120 days to go to the start ....  i knew putting a countdown would have a positive effect!

Dad's birthday today ....  so much of cycling brings him to mind.... i wonder what he'd think?!

The Route.....

So as i grapple with the joy of how to embed a map into this little space of joy... here's a link to the route i'll be cycling!!

The Route!!!!

If i was brave i'd embed a countdown clock as well... but just now... have a look at the map - you need to scroll through both pages to see the whole thing!

One sure way to focus my mind!

And fair to say ... things haven't got off to an auspicious start on the new bike front ... it's not ready for me so i now have to wait until Friday morning!  Another couple of days cycling on a 'too small' bike then!

xxx