Tag: Dementia UK

Spring is here at last !

It finally felt like Spring had arrived this weekend with two dry rides over Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday was a bit of a surprise as light rain was forecast in the morning.  However, the rain held off and I had my first 100 km plus ride of the year (about 64 miles) in just over four hours.  I’ve only got to increase the distance to 110 miles to match the distance I have to cover each day in September – all a bit worrying!

Sunday morning was nice and sunny so I thought I’d do a two hour “cake and coffee” ride to Cowbridge and back through the Vale of Glamorgan.  IMG_0546Lots of other cyclists had the same idea and both Costa and Cafe Nero in Cowbridge were doing a roaring trade from visiting riders.

You don’t realise how many small hills there are in “the Vale” until you get out on a bike.  However, you do get to see the changing seasons in the countryside and signs of life after the rather grey winter days.

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Primroses opposite Dyffryn Gardens

One thing that does disappoint me is the amount of litter in the verges and hedge rows.  The worst section today was the Old Port Road just above Wenvoe on the way to St Lythans – full of Carling and Coke cans plus discarded McDonalds containers.  Perhaps a deposit scheme may reduce the cans being thrown out of cars?

I’ll be saving the “Big Hills” of the south Wales Valleys for Sunday 8th April – the KOM Sportive organised by my trainer Lawrence KOM link.  I really don’t have any option but to take part – the alternative would be multiple intervals sessions on a turbo trainer and burpees until failure!  I’ll decide on the day whether I do the 130 km or 95 km routes – both have lots of climbing (my pet hate, probably because it would help if I lost a bit of weight).  I’ve also entered the L’Etape Wales and the Dragon ride in June – plenty more climbing over three days.  It will be a good test for the legs and lungs.

Finally, with a break from the bike, I had my first sail of the year at Sully Sailing Club IMG_0551on the Bristol Channel in the afternoon.  I’ve been sailing for over 40 years and it’s a good “release” for me. I sailed a Laser today which is a full body workout, with particular emphasis on core strength – think of doing sit ups for 5 minutes every 10 minutes or so when sailing round a course.  A bit of cross training for the bike riding.  I even managed to win both races although there were less than 30 seconds in it despite each race being between 40 and 50 minutes long !

Finally, a reminder why I’m doing the Deloitte Ride Across Britain in September and asking you to sponsor me.  I want to raise lots of money for Dementia UK, a charity that helps people with dementia and their carers.  Dementia is a horrible disease for everyone concerned and any support can make a huge difference.  You can visit my Virgin Money Giving page here

First longer ride of the year

Last Sunday saw my first ride of more than 50 miles in 2018 when I managed 60 miles riding round the Vale of Glamorgan.  When I uploaded the ride on to Strava it was a little disappointing to see I was less than 4 km short of riding 100km !  Regular riders will be aware of the saying “If it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen !”.  There is nothing worse than getting home from a long ride and finding that your cycle computer has failed to save all the details from the ride.

For non-cyclists, Strava is an application that can be used to show where you’ve ridden.  It also adds an element of competition by dividing routes into “segments” which are timed on the basis of your speed.  The quickest riders get the King or Queen of the Mountain for that segment.  The times can be broken down into All Time, Yearly and That Day.  If pay for a premium edition, you can also see how you compare against your age group and weight category – no cheating by claiming you are 110kg when you are actually 85 kg !  Strava segments can get quite competitive, although I only use it to see how I compare to other rides I have done over the same route.  The only problem is that it can get very demoralising when you’ve noticed that your quickest time on a segment is from two years ago.

Here is a link to my last ride Strava ride  in the Vale of Glamorgan.  It has quite a lot of data which great for a bit of data geek like me.  I like to compare “numbers” and see if I’m getting fitter from an empirical point of view rather than just “feel” on the bike.  Other riders may just rely on whether their jeans have a looser fit….

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View from Southerndown

Normally during the week, I have some training to do in the evenings set by my personal trainer, Lawrence Cronk at Enduraprep  Lawrence knows by now that I won’t do the training the in the mornings before work – it just will not happen !  I’m afraid this week Lawrence is going to be very disappointed.   I’m a volunteer on Challenge Wales, a charity run 72 foot sail training yacht, and we had a volunteer strategy meeting on Monday night.  Tonight saw me attend a Penderyn whiskey tasting event (for work) as a guest of the Wales Millennium Centre (very nice !) and tomorrow I have a visit with my sailing club to Penarth RNLI centre.  It’s a very good job that the Ride Across Britain is not for another 27 weeks!

If you would like to sponsor me please visit  my Virgin Money Giving page  and help support Dementia UK.  You may even be the first person to sponsor me !