training – Riding from Pasties to Haggis

Ride Across Britain 2022

In just over a weeks time riders for the 2022 edition of Ride Across Britain will start travelling down to Lands End ready for their “Grand Depart” on Saturday 10 September.

I expect there will a mixture of emotions; excitement that the event that they have been training for is about to start, trepidation as to whether they have done enough training (put off by some fellow riders posting huge Strava rides on the Facebook forum), meeting up with some old friends and making lots of new ones, and relief that the event is finally here.

One thing will be for sure, the ride will be a test of endurance, particularly if the weather is unkind. There will be battles to beat the broom wagon and the “three strikes and you’re out” rule. Hopefully, the stricter training regime brought in by Threshold (requiring several 100 mile rides) will reduce the drop outs. No one will dare raise their hand at the Friday evening briefing to say Saturday’s ride will be their first century ride – the “happy days” from 2018!

Do I miss not being on the start line? In a word “No”. I’m not sure I would want to commit to over 10 months pretty solid training. I now have a partner who would not want me disappearing for seven hour rides on a Saturday and a three hour ride on a Sunday. I have the utmost respect to riders who have fitted in training round family life. I was single in 2017/18 and could be “selfish” in my commitment to training. I was probably too single minded and other interests suffered during the training period (no tennis and less sailing for example).

I have been asked do I still cycle? The answer is most definitely. It keeps me fit, not as fit as 2018, but better than pre-cycling. Cycling allows me to clear my head and unwind after a hard day or week at work. It can be sociable when cycling with a group, although the vast majority of my rides are still solo. Would I enter Ride Across Britain in 2024 (the next running of the event)? Probably not, I think I’ll look at other challenges that don’t require the same level of commitment to training.

Good luck to all the riders setting off on Saturday. Trust in your training. Try to get in a group. Don’t go off too fast in Cornwall and Devon, it will come back and bite you on Day 5 and definitely Days 7 and 8. Above all, enjoy it and soak in the countryside as you go from the bottom to the top of the UK.

Lockdown Cycling

With the lockdown in Wales gradually easing I thought I would share my thoughts on how cycling has helped me cope with lockdown.

Before lockdown I worked in an office each day and had a very definite divided between work and home, so much so that work papers have been known to stay in the briefcase from Friday evening until returning to work on Monday morning. Initially working from home was a shock to the system. I set up my laptop and monitor screen on the breakfast table which was in full view of the kitchen and sitting room (with TV etc). I struggled with the work stuff always being in view.

Going off on a cycle ride over lunchtime helped me clear my head. The good weather we had in the UK at the end of March certainly helped. What helped each more was moving the work kit into the front room which enabled me to close the door at the end of the working day – “out of sight, out of mind”. I was also put on reduced hours at work so managed to get two clear days in the week to get out on the bike during the day.

The only problem was that Welsh Government allowed us out for one type of exercise a day and it had to be “local”. Whatever “local” meant was never defined by Welsh Government, instead it was suggested it should be how far it would be reasonable to walk or run – not much help for cyclists. A journalist suggested a 10 mile radius of home which resulted in lots of laps of local lanes. I also had the advantage of a turbo trainer. At least I was better off compared to cyclists in France and Spain who couldn’t even leave their home.

In May the cycling lockdown was relaxed to cycling no more than was reasonable when taking account of your ability – not much help for a lawyer who likes clear instructions and rules! We could only drive “locally” which was defined as up to 5 miles for non-essential travel i.e. not for work, shopping or health reasons. This 5 mile limit still exists in Wales at the time of writing except an extension for compassionate grounds. There is no travel limit in England. It all means that I have been able to cycle further in May than I can drive! I cycle with tubeless tyres, plus I carry spare inner tubes, patches, chain link and a spare hanger so am reasonably self sufficient on the bike.

During the 14 weeks of lockdown I have got fitter through cycling on at least four days a week. I covered over 600 km and over 7,500 m of climbing in June, something I haven’t done since the Deloitte Ride Across Britain. My aim of doing yoga daily and a HIIT session when I have not been cycling have fallen by the wayside, although I have managed to restart the Water Rower sessions.

Cycling has kept me sane. I have missed the interaction with colleagues at work – daily Microsoft Teams sessions is not the same as real life conversations. I live on my own and at one point until very recently I’d had less than 10 face to face conversations including the checkout ladies at Tescos during lockdown! I am looking forward to more relaxation of the travel rules in Wales. I’m now used to working from home but do miss the office. Given the choice, I think I’ll opt for a mixture of home and office based work. One thing is certain, I’m going to carry on cycling!

Training and Mental Health

It is Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK and I thought it was time to share my experiences of training and how it affects me and what I have done when I find it difficult to keep motivated to train for a distant goal.

It is now mid May and most riders aiming to take part in the Deloitte Ride Across Britain will have been training for at least five months and face another three months of increasing intensity of training in terms of the length of rides and the intensity of some training sessions if using a turbo trainer.

Keeping up that sort of intensity can be very difficult. If you have been training hard up until now you have probably built up a good level of fitness and you may be able to back off the training for a couple of weeks if you need to re-charge the batteries and re-motivate yourself to increase the training over the summer. If you are not at the stage of riding five hour training rides or getting to 60-70 miles in a ride, you may have more of an issue come September. Do talk to someone (or post on the Deloitte RAB Facebook page for tips and advice) and try and keep going – the thought of all my sponsors was a big motivator for me last year when things got tough during training. You will not be the only one having training issues.

In my training last year, very few training rides exceeded 80 miles, but it was relatively easy to knock out that sort of distance. I then combined it with a few 100 mile sportives over challenging terrain, such as the Chiltern 100 in July and the Wye Valley Warrior in August (both have lots of climbing so great preparation for RAB). I’m sorry to say that I believe sticking to 50 mile training rides just will not prepare you for the relentless impact of RAB and nine consecutive days of 100 plus miles, particularly if you want to enjoy the experience rather than survive each day. The RAB “bubble” will only take you so far – no one else can ride your bike for you.

My Post RAB Training

I have found training this year very difficult. I am a “numbers” person and like to compare my fitness level using Training Peaks. It is difficult to accept that my training score compared to last year is down by 25-30 “points”. I am both competitive and a perfectionist – part of my thinks a 40% fall in training fitness is not acceptable. When the more rational part of my brain takes over, I accept that Training Peaks looks at training intensity – my life in 2019 does not revolve around cycling training, I am not going our for 5-6 hour rides on a Saturday and another 3 on Sunday plus three sessions during the week. My FTP is still higher than this time last year, I have just lost a little of my endurance ability.

The last two weeks have resulted in a CBA attitude to a lot of things (CBA = can’t be a@sed); a function of reduced fitness, an early summer cold and a few work commitments that resulted in reduced training. I’ve realised that I need to do some training for the benefit of my mental health and do my best to complete the session rather than giving up at the first drop off in power output. At other times I have to accept that my body cannot “push on” when recovering from a cold. A few completed sessions this week and I feel much better. Hopefully I’ll manage a four hour ride on Saturday. I have the Dragon Tour coming up on 7-9 June – maybe the shorter routes and then see how I feel on the day of the Dragon Ride. After all, cycling is meant to be fun and it is a good way for me to clear my head, even if I’m concentrating to make sure I miss the potholes! If the cycling doesn’t work, I’ll just go for a blast on my catamaran dinghy – sailing is still my main passion.

Training – the Rider

After completing the Deloitte Ride Across Britain in 2018 I thought it may assist riders who have signed up for the 2019 edition if I shared my top tips for being able to enjoy the whole experience rather than just surviving. This blog post will be about the physical side of preparing for the ride. As I write this post, in nine months time the 2019 edition riders will have hopefully completed the ride. While you cannot always prevent accidents causing you to pull out of the ride, there isn’t (at this stage of the year) anything from preventing anyone getting in the best physical shape for the ride.

Here are my tops tips for training for the ride:

Do follow a training programme. Threshold Sports publish training plans for Novice, Intermediate and Experienced cyclists. I was lucky enough to have a personal trainer with a background in endurance sports (Ironman races) so had the best of both worlds with a personalised training programme and I chose the Intermediate training plan as a reference point.
Do get used to cycling in wet weather. I’m not advocating going out when it is icy or absolutely pouring with rain, however, you do need to know that your wet weather gear keeps you dry and warm. If your kit copes with February and March weather it should be able to cope with anything that Scotland in September can throw at you.
Don’t think you can get away with just going out for 50 mile training rides. Long rides are necessary to get used to being in the saddle for 7-10 hours a day.
I did very few training rides of more than 90 miles. However, I did enter a number of 100 mile sportives. It is good to know that you can ride 100 miles in a day before you arrive at Land’s End.
Do consider entering at least one multi-day event. Nothing can really prepare you for the cumulative effect of riding at least 100 miles for nine days, although the Rapha Festive 500 comes close. Threshold Sports organise the Dulux London Revolution (11-12 May 2019), a two day ride round London which includes a night in the infamous little green tents! London Revolution I did the Dragon Tour in South Wales last year, three days riding in the Brecon Beacons and finishing with the Dragon Ride (7-9 June 2019) Dragon Ride with options for 160 km, 223 km and the Dragon Devil at 300km.
If you cannot find time for a multi-day event, try and replicate the effect by entering a 100 mile sportive and doing a long ride on the day before or the day after the sportive.
Think about attending the RAB training ride (24 March) RAB Training Ride. I picked up some good tips last year (see my previous post RAB Training Ride) and met some riders before the RAB started (particularly useful as a solo rider).
Do not neglect hill climbs as part of your training. I’m very lucky with lots of hills in South Wales. If you live in London, the Chilterns are pretty close to the west (the tube runs to Amersham and trains run to High Wycombe and Princes Risborough) and the South Downs (to the south!). Anyone living is Norfolk and Suffolk has a bit of a problem! The Chiltern 100 sportive (14 July) is a pretty good way of duplicating Days 1 and 2 of RAB.
Don’t believe the RAB “bubble” will get you through. You still have to do the riding and there is only so much encouragement the Threshold Sports Chaperonnes can give. Remember, on the third pick up in the Broom Wagon, you are “asked to leave” the ride.
You really don’t want to be getting into camp after 6 pm each day (which could mean 11 hours out on the road). You have to deal with cleaning your bike, showering, possibly seeing the medics, hopefully having a massage and getting some supper before listening to the rider briefing at 8 pm.

What would would I do differently if I was riding the Deloitte Ride Across Britain 2019 (by the way, I’m not!) ? I would do more two day consecutive long rides of 5-6 hours duration on a few more occasions in the summer (June and July).

Next month, I plan to write about the choice of bike for the ride.

Autumn training – Motivation Blues

I always find it difficult to keep motivated to train once the clocks change and the weather starts to get colder and usually wetter. By this time last year I had entered the Deloitte Ride Across Britain so I had something to aim for and I knew that if I didn’t put in some constant training between November and March I would pay for the inactivity later in the year when I needed to increase the training to gain fitness for the sportives and the ride in September.

Now I have no major challenge planned for 2019 – the Deloitte Ride Across Britain was a one off “bucket list” event for me and I had made it clear to my sponsors that I wasn’t going to make a habit of doing major sponsored events. This means I’m not training for anything in specific and will not be letting anyone down if I back out of any particular sportive. Also, to be honest, I’m not sure if I want to go through the amount of training I put myself through in 2018 in order to end up riding the Land’s End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) without any fitness issues and completing each day in the top 25% quartile of the riders in the event. It has been nice getting my life back since September.

Readers of this blog will know that I use Training Peaks to track my fitness levels. The training graphs show a decline in fitness since the end of the ride – to be expected given the huge effort required to complete the ride and the fact that the weather has not been too conducive to long outside rides.

These graphs show the fitness line declining rapidly since the end of the ride and now flattening off as a result of re-starting a fitness programme. I’m about 20 “points” below the fitness level before the ride – not too bad and not unexpected given the amount of training I was able to carry out over the summer. My current aim is to stay above the 365 day fitness line for as long as possible; April 2019 will probably be the tipping point! My weight has increased since the end of the ride to around 87-88 kg and you don’t want to know about the body fat percentage! Let’s just say I haven’t bought any chocolate in the last two weekly shops and it’s given me the kick up the backside I needed! The one date in the diary for 2019 is the KOM Sportive run by my coach Lawrence at Enduraprep on 30 March – I don’t think I’m allowed to miss it!

I went past one of the locations of my regular photos today in a ride to Cowbridge and I now have a collection of photos from March to November of some oak trees near Dyffryn Gardens.

March 2018

April 2018

May 2018

August 2018

September 2018

November 2018

This week I have an event to go to with Dementia UK in London where I will find out how the money I raised in the ride will be used. The final total is £5,050 plus Gift Aid which gives a fantastic grand total of £6,012.78. The Virgin Money Giving page will close in the middle of December (three months after the end of the ride). It has been very easy to operate and I can certainly recommend it compared to other more expensive donation sites.

Deloitte Ride Across Britain – two weeks on

It seems ages since I got back home only two weeks ago after completing the hardest nine days of my life! I went out for my first outside ride on Saturday since the Land’s End to John O’Groats ride and rediscovered my love of cycling. No sticking to a training plan, no worrying about power output, average speed or Strava segments, just riding in the gorgeous autumn sunshine round the Vale of Glamorgan. I went for a ride through the lanes and had a coffee at one of my favourite cycle cafes, Cafe Velo in Llantwit Major. There’s always a cyclist or two, sometimes a whole peloton, having coffee, cake or a slice and being welcomed by Dave, Julie and Ellie-May.

August 2018

I posted about the ride on the Deloitte Ride Across Britain Facebook group page (a closed site before you ask) and have been amazed by the number of likes and comments. I think it struck a chord with a lot of riders who pushed themselves to the limit to complete the ride. I know the Deloitte RAB is meant to be all about enjoying cycling, however, riding nine consecutive century rides (plus a bit or a lot more most days) takes more than just enjoyment to complete!

I have put together a film of my best photos from the trip plus a few from the professional photographers and Threshold Sports (taken from places that I just couldn’t get to) and up loaded it to You Tube which can be accessed here It does start to play immediately, at least on my computer. Any editing errors (including the music choice from Apple iMovie) are all mine as is not crediting anyone whose photo I have used by mistake.

As for my fundraising, I am absolutely astonished and delighted to have reached £5,000 (plus Gift Aid) today for Dementia UK It is going to make such a difference to the work Dementia UK can do to help support families dealing with dementia. If you ever need any advice or support regarding dementia, I do urge you to call their helpline. If you would like to sponsor me, you can still donate via my Virgin Money Giving page for a couple more weeks via a link here I think honours are now just about even between me and my sister as to who has raised more money for Dementia UK with my cycle ride and her London Marathon in 2016. Our father would have been terribly proud of both of us.

Finally, this could be the last post I write about the Deloitte Ride Across Britain and my 11 month journey of training and taking part in the ride. I hope you have enjoyed reading the blogs as much I have enjoyed writing them. Any suggestions as to continuing the blog would be gratefully received.

Reflections on completing the Deloitte Ride Across Britain

A week ago I got home after completing the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, having ridden from Land’s End to John O’Groats, a distance of 982 miles in nine days.

The overwhelming feeling is a huge sense of achievement in completing the ride and remaining physically strong, subject to the crash injuries which didn’t stop me cycling but probably had an adverse effect towards the end of the ride. No trips to the physios or any requirement for sports tape! I’m sure my father would have been terribly proud of me – all my family have said they are slightly in awe at what I have done after following my daily blog and tracking my ride in “real time” on Strava. Why am I supporting Dementia UK in the Deloitte Ride Across Britain ? John Evans (1934 – 2010) I had a succession of great messages on Whats App during the ride, most motivational and some asking what had happened to me on Day 5 (my second crash on the railway level crossing) as I seemed to be going at a snail’s pace to pit stop 1! I had a lovely card from my colleagues at work today saying how well I had done – something I will get framed for the office wall!

The ride also showed me parts of Great Britain that I have never seen before – Shropshire, part of the Lake District between Preston and Penrith and my personal favourites the Cairngorms and Scottish Highlands on Days 7 and 8. I would love to go back and retrace some of the Scottish legs and have a bit more time to take in the scenery and take a few more photos.

Dulsie Bridge over the River Findhorn

Clyde Valley

Descent from Glenshee

Shropshire

Cairngorms

Threshold Sports had warned us before the event that Days 1 and 2 through Cornwall, Devon and Somerset to Bath would be the toughest. In retrospect, I found the cumulative effect of Days 7 and 8 the hardest days of the ride, both long days at 114 and 119 miles respectively plus an awful lot of climbing (both steep hills and long energy sapping drags).

The question I am always being asked is “Would you do it again?”. The answer is “No”. Not because I didn’t enjoy it, I did enjoy the experience and I’ve mentioned the achievement and scenery. However, it is a bucket list box “ticked”. We were also incredibly lucky with the weather. If you split the nine days into three sectors per day (making 27 in total) we had wet weather on no more than five sectors. We also had strong tail winds for virtually the whole ride. Day 9 would have been a completely different, horrible experience with a northerly headwind and rain. I wouldn’t want to tempt fate and ruin the great memories by doing the ride again in bad weather. Things would have been so different if the ride had been a week later.

Is the Deloitte Ride Across Britain for you?

The short answer is “Yes” if you want to challenge yourself both physically and mentally and have the best possible support in completing a Land’s End to John O’Groats ride. The Threshold Sports slogan is “More is in you”. This was certainly true for a large number of riders. I was pretty fit before I started training and then spent the best part of nine months training for the ride so that I am now as fit as I have been for over 20 years. It meant that I my average “moving pace” over the whole ride was 15 mph so I was able to get into camp most days by 3.30 pm giving myself as much recovery time as possible. I wouldn’t have coped with getting in each day just before the 7 pm cut off time.

My tips for a successful ride would be:

Train consistently and a lot for the ride. I am looking forward to “getting my life back”. Two Months To Go – Training Review I have the greatest respect for the families of riders given the amount of training required. I didn’t have anyone to “report to” or ask permission from when training.
Do not underestimate the relentless nature of riding over 100 miles a day for nine straight days and the impact it has on your body. You cannot get away with just riding 40-50 mile training rides – the RAB “bubble” will not get you through to the end. That said, nothing can prepare you for the ride itself!
Do train on hills, both long draggy hills and shorter steep hills.
Get a rear cassette with as high a gear as possible. I had an 11-34 cassette and was grateful for every one of the 34 teeth when married up with a 50 34 compact front chain ring when going up The Lecht, Glenshee and Cothelstone Hill. Do not be taken in by the cyclists who say that a semi-compact 53-39 front chain ring and an 11-28 rear cassette will be fine unless you are whippet thin and can climb like Chris Froome or Alberto Contador!
Have a professional bike fit for your bike well before the event and get used to riding the bike so that you do not get any niggles when riding.
If you don’t like camping, go for the Plus package – worth every penny for the long, hot showers, comfy beds and space to unpack all your kit each night. You also get a 20 minute sports massage each day rather than 10 minutes every other day – trust me, it makes a difference!
Consider using a personal trainer experienced with training people for endurance events. Threshold Sports do issue a training programme but I found it much easier to have my trainer, Lawrence Cronk (an Ironman coach) at Enduraprep, checking my progress and tailoring my programme to fit round sportives that I entered. There was also the threat of a “kick up the backside” from someone if training slipped which can be useful with long periods of training.
Invest in decent wet weather gear and train when it is raining; you will then know if it keeps you dry and how you react to being cold and wet (badly in my case). The suggest kit list from Threshold Sports is definitely useful – how some riders managed at the start of Day 8 without leg warmers and full gloves, I will not know – it was freezing!
I went to the Ride Across Britain training day in April which I found extremely useful, both to meet other riders, get some practical tips and to see how my training was going compared to other riders. RAB Training Ride
Chose a charity that resonates with you on a personal basis as it is then much easier to ask friends and colleagues to sponsor you. It also gives you the added impetus to keep training and riding during the ride itself.
If you are a stronger rider, do slow down and be prepared to help or tow weaker riders, even if it just to the next pit stop or camp – remember, it is the Deloitte Ride Across Britain rather than the Race Across Britain!

I am working on a slide show “film” of my photos from the ride and will post a link to it when completed.

I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has sponsored me so far for the ride. I have now raised just over £4,750 (plus Gift Aid) to support the work of Dementia UK My Virgin Money Giving page is still open for donations and can be reached here. To reach £5,000 would be absolutely amazing!

Four Days to the Start ….

There are now four days until I start the Deloitte Ride Across Britain from Land’s End to John O’Groats, a ride of 982 miles over nine days, with just under 52,000 feet of climbing (I think I’ll have to find the extra 18 miles somewhere to take it up to 1,000 miles!). The ride will take me from the the most westerly point in Great Britain to the most northerly point (on the mainland), travelling through three countries and 23 counties. Here is the the whole route (thank you Threshold Sports for the reproduction permission) and a link to a short promotional video (again “Thank you” to Threshold Sports) for the ride here (turn the sound down if you are looking at the video in an office!). It’s too late to enter now but there’s always 2019, the tenth anniversary year of the ride!

The first two days are meant to be the toughest as they involve a high cumulative effort of climbing between them. Day 1 involves over 8,200 feet of climbing which is the highest daily total of the whole nine days, closely followed by 6,850 feet on Day 2. Only Day 7 in Scotland gets close to Day 1 with 7,333 feet of climbing going up to the Glenshee Ski Station and it isn’t even the longest day – it happens to be Day 8 with the infamous “The Lecht” climb which, based on the ride Facebook page comments, is giving lots of the Deloitte Ride Across Britain participants the collywobbles!

I’m looking forward to the days riding in Scotland, particularly if we get some dry weather and we are able to take in the scenery. I’m slightly worried about the midges – at least they will encourage no hanging around!

I now have one more indoor training session to go on Wednesday which will bring to the end over ten months of specific training for the ride. In some respects I can’t wait to start the ride. There is a mixture of excitement and trepidation at what lies ahead; have I done enough training? can I keep going over nine days? how will I cope if there is lots of heavy rain? On the other hand, as I said in my previous post, I don’t think I could have done much more to prepare physically for the ride. I’m pretty sure I will be OK – I will not be the quickest (it’s not a race after all) and I shouldn’t be last either!

The bike is all clean and packed up ready for its collection on Thursday morning. I’ve got all my gear together and just need to pack a last few items after triple checking the suggested kit list against what’s gone into the bag! Another recurring theme of the event is the weight limit on the bags. I decided to de-stress by paying for some extra weight allowance – much better for the overall health and wellbeing ! I can also take a few energy bars that I’ve been using for training – a different brand from one of the ride sponsors.

I’m going to try and continue this blog after each day of the ride. The length and quality of the writing may depend on the energy levels each day – there could be a very short entry after a very bad day …

On the sponsorship front I’m very close to my new target of £4,000 in support of Dementia UK and there is still time to sponsor me to increase the total further. Do contact Dementia UK on their support line if you need advice or support for a loved one with dementia.

If you would like to sponsor me, you can reach my Virgin Money Giving page here It is very quick and easy to donate and every donation, however large or small, is greatly appreciated. Go on, click on the link !

Final week of training before the Ride

I am now entering the final week of training before starting the Deloitte Ride Across Britain on 8 September. This weekend saw me do two rides of over 5 hours, although not on consecutive days as originally planned due to the appalling weather on Sunday. I know some of my fellow Deloitte RAB participants did brave the wind and rain – good for them. I chose the indoor option to avoid catching a head cold or even worse crashing the bike!

My ride on Saturday was meant to be “flat/rolling” and I still managed 1,931 m of climbing in about 86 miles of riding. The ride today was “three climbs” and I did 2,134m of climbing in 88 miles of riding but in a longer time, probably due to the length of the climbs.

The ride today can be seen on on Relive map here – lots of hairpins on the climbs and descents! The benefits of living in South Wales. I was lucky with the weather as there were a few spots of rain but I managed to miss all but one heavy rain shower. The rain did make some of the early descents a bit tricky and I certainly picked up more speed later on in the ride when the road dried out.

On the Saturday ride, I revisited some of my training loops round the Vale of Glamorgan and here is the latest “season” photo from Merthyr Mawr – all the rain in the last week has raised the river levels considerably since mid July when there was just a trickle. It is also amazing how much a little rain changes the grass from yellow to green!

The end of the serious training has also enabled me to take stock of how far I have come since I started training seriously for the ride last November. The biggest change is the weight loss, down from 94 kg (perhaps even more) to 85kg (13.5 stone in “old money”, a loss of around 1.5 stone). I’m sure the weight loss would have been greater if I’d been more disciplined with the diet, however, I’m now the lightest I’ve been since starting work in Cardiff 15 years ago. It has made a huge difference to the speed at which I go up the hills!

My fitness levels have also improved dramatically. The Training Peaks fitness level has increased from 60 to 108, my Functional Threshold Power (a test used by cyclists to measure their power output) has increased from 239 to 261 watts and my resting heart rate is now in the low 40s. I don’t think there is much more I could do to prepare physically for the challenge ahead. I have to thank my coach, Lawrence Cronk at Enduraprep, for the training plans and pushing me on in the training.

I think the most difficult part will be the mental side of getting up shortly after 5am each day and start cycling 110 miles a day for 9 consecutive days to complete the 980 mile distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats. I’m sure once I’ve got over the initial 10 miles I’ll be fine – this was the case today when there was a lot of procrastination before setting out. The thought of everyone who has very kindly sponsored me to support the work of Dementia UK will give me all the motivation I need – I will not want to let you down!

If you would like to sponsor me and raise money for Dementia UK you can reach my Virgin Money Giving page here Please do tick the Gift Aid box if you are eligible as the tax man will increase your donation by 25%. Please also remember that Virgin Money only charge a 2% fee compared to the 5% charged by a well know competitor! There’s still time to donate!

Countdown continues…5 weeks to go!

I now have five weeks before I start the Deloitte Ride Across Britain which means one month of training left! This has given me the added boost I needed after a slight wobble in the training mojo two weeks ago.

Last weekend we had the first really bad weather for what seemed ages with heavy rain on the Saturday and gale force winds and rain on the Sunday. I went out on a training ride with Carl on the Saturday morning bright and early. We had great plans to do five climbs on a 100 km loop round the south Wales valleys. In the end we settled for two major climbs and a shortened ride due to the filthy weather plus the very slippery roads. Carl normally drops me on the hills – see my previous post under “Gravity”. This time out the tables were turned and Carl had a very bad day, possibly due to a heavy training week, plus my training was starting to pay off. I decided to take Sunday off – there was absolutely no point in crashing in the wind and rain so close to the start of the big ride and missing one session wasn’t going to make too much of a difference.

Last week I bought some new shoes and changed the cleats on my old shoes – cleats wear out and become less effective. This resulted in a slight flare up in my left Achilles heel, a problem I have had in the past. I have also splashed out on a new bike to replace my Specialized Roubaix as I was finding my Cannondale SuperSix too aggressive and uncomfortable for successive long rides. I’ve gone and got a Trek Domane – great service from Ride Bikes Wales, a local bike shop at Talbot Green. I’m a great fan of the cycling formula n+1 for the number of bikes you own!

As a result of getting a new bike and having problems with the cleats on my cycling shoes, I booked a bike fit with Magnus Backstedt at his fitting studio in Newport Backstedt Bike Performance. Magnus is an ex pro racer and won the Paris Roubaix race (also know as the Hell of the North) in 2004.

The bike fit set up involves lots of reflective spheres being stuck on all your joints and a 3D stick man being created by a computer using the feed off six cameras – all very complicated and clever. It is also a very quick process compared with some other bike fit models and allows almost instantaneous feedback on minute changes. For example, my saddle was moved down two millimetres in one change. Magnus also had a look at my cleats and made a few adjustments.

The proof was in the riding! Two rides round the Chilterns (for the hills) and the Vale of Aylesbury (for less hills) this weekend on the new bike and no problems with the Achilles – yippee! I even managed a few new personal bests on some of the climbs. On Sunday I repeated part of the ride I did in April in the Deloitte Ride Across Britain training day. It showed how much easier it was riding in a group – much faster and less effort required in April despite my increased fitness now. A great learning point for the ride itself.

More round bales!

View east from Brill

Windmill at Brill

Next weekend I have my last organised sportive, the Wye Valley Warrior, starting from Chepstow Racecourse. It will be a 91 mile ride so a good final test. At the time of writing this post, the hot weather we’re experiencing may have turned so it may be a test of wet weather riding over a long distance. Fingers crossed for no rain but slightly reduced temperatures.

On the fundraising front for Dementia UK, I have reached my initial £3,000 target which is absolutely fantastic! I don’t want to stop at £3,000 but push on and see how much I can raise for such a good cause. If you would like to sponsor me, you can reach my Virgin Money Giving page here