…and time to get back on the bike after a 5 day break. Seemed to have lots of aches and pains after the last chiropracter session and had somehow strained my chest. Must have overdone the ‘dead bug’ exercise!. A nice steady 16 miles on Tuesday got the legs going and made me feel a bit better.

On Wednesday went for a bit more. Attached the bottle carrier and a flask of coffee to my bike and set off for Wickham and the Meon Valley Railway track. A bit chilly, but fairly pleasant when I left. Several hours later, arrived back home, frozen stiff and plastered from head to toe in mud! Knew there was a likelihood of ‘drizzle’ later on, but hoped to beat it. I didn’t!. I hadn’t banked on the hail & sleet though…….

Still, 35 miles on the training log.  The thought of doing 3 times that distance daily for nearly a fortnight is starting to seem pretty scary!

As David worked so hard, I felt it necessary to balance things out a bit by doing precisely zero training. the excuses are having to wait in for a parcel delivery and numerous aches and pains from yesterdays chiropracter session. As compensation I walked 3 miles tonight (to the pub & back, train crew reunion…..) but don’t suppose that really counts?

So today is the third day I have cycled to and fro the office. By now I would have normally given up so it is going well. Today I had an interview for a different role at work, it briefly crossed my mind whether cycling in on such a day was wise. Of course my training regime was top priority so I decided against disrupting it. As one doesn’t generally wear a suit while cycling either I decided against anything too smart (I didn’t expect it to be a necessary requirement anyway). In my defence though I did iron a shirt which I delicately shoved in my ruck sack. Not only was today interview day but also 9 O’Clock meeting day, which to most people is the normal time they arrive at work. At the beeb, people tend to rock in anytime between 9 and 10 depending on where they live and what time they plan to leave. I personally find it really hard to make it in for 9 so generally make it in around 9.30. As I’d already broke the habit of a life time of getting out of bed before 7.30 by cycling to work in the first place I now had to leave the house by 7.30 to make it for the meeting. I actually made it, a momentous achievement for me.

Having now tried a handful of different routes between E8 and W12 I have now decided to stick with one main route to save myself from getting lost as frequently as I have been. I’m still finding the return journey the hardest, both mentally and physically. Perhaps I could put it down to the darkness or the many one way systems but I find it a lot harder to keep to the route on the way back, things also look a lot different when your facing the other way. Yesterday was quite eventful, I got lost near the Chinese embassy and witnessed a protest against the chinese overreaction in Tibet.

This journey was GPS’ed, along with some pictures of the protest… I’ve been having trouble with the GPS and sometimes it’s plotting gets a bit wild, as you’ll see from this link it reckoned I had cycled nigh on 20 miles on the route home. My getting lost certainly increased the distance but not by that much. I think I know the reason so hopefully this won’t happen again. Link below:

GPS mucked up route, but has pictures

Swimming today, 53 lengths was more than enough…. Chiropracter in the afternoon went quite well. She still crunched bones in my thoracic (ouch) but coming on fine. Got the OK to start running again. 2 mins run, 2 mins walk etc. etc but its a start. Guess I ought to return my Marathon entry…………

New week, new challenge. Time to get the bike out again.

Sunday was usual jaunt down to the coast at Titchfield Haven, have a rest and cycle back. Hadn’t realised how strong the winds were though. Unusually they were northerlies, seemed very odd to arrive at the coast with the wind ripping out to sea. Also meant that cycling back it was often straight into the wind. Had a couple of virtually stationary moments.

Monday similar route, adding a bit and staying on roads, without the stop at the coast. Also took out my GPS to test it. Had a problem after 9 miles when a pedal started to fall off! Well, the pedal crank actually, had come loose. Without a large allen key to hand, had to shove the crank back on and tighten the screw with my finger. Needless to say had to stop every half mile or so and repeat the process. 13.5 miles.

Tuesday had no bike problems so repeated yesterdays route with a small loop added on to make it 14 miles. My GPS told me that I can do 25mph (downhill!), we shouldn’t reallistically anticipate an average speed of more than 13mph. And I slowed so much after 10 miles that the thought of doing over 100 miles a day is quite scary……..

……… I didn’t even get on my bike! However I did go swimming Tues, Weds, Thurs & Friday. Managed 50 lengths most days, which to a decent swimmer is probably childs play. I however, despite enjoying swimming, am lacking a bit in the technique department. Quite an explosive front crawl if I put my mind to it……… which leaves me desperately in need of an oxygen tank at the end of a single length!. My breaststroke is worse, I can’t seem able to kick like a frog and coordinating the arm & leg stroke is beyond me. I can just about keep up with the silver haired ladies who cruise up and down without getting their hair wet. Mind you, they turn round and go straight back at the end of each length, whilst I still require a breather!

However, it seems to have done me some good. No training Saturday, spent a few hours stripping floor boards out of the in-laws loft and my back held up fine. 

It would seem logical to most that if you are deciding to cycle a reasonable distance to your place of work through roads you’ve rarely if ever trodden that you might want to test out the route prior to attempting it for real. Yes this is a logical persons approach, me, nah.. takes the fun out of it.

You can review the mistakes I made on the link below:

http://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/workoutdetail/index.do?id=107525

Hi folks,

Welcome to the new JOGTOLE.com website.

This site is intended to pull together all the info relating to Ian, Mark and David’s John o’Groats to Lands End charity cycle.

Please enjoy and take part by adding comments etc.

Cheers,

David