getting fatter, not fitter... it must be Blobby Junior!

Its now 3 weeks without my bike. After 2 local shops finally decided they couldn't fix it my rear wheel quickly it's now somewhere between N. Ireland and Germany, with no imminent return on the horizon. I had a 4.5 hour ride on Tims bike on Saturday, but thats all I managed. Too busy with other stuff to get out on Sunday, which was a shame because the weather was fantastic and I saw so many of those fair weather bikers enjoying a nice Sunday ride - where were they in February, in the rain, wind and sleet (the sensible lot!). All in all, a pretty rubbish few weeks training, on the bright I've had a few nice lie ins at the weekend. Anyway, time to forget about the last few weeks and put best foot, or should that be pedal, forward. It's a long bank holiday weekend ahead and I am determined to get in 2 x 100 and 2 x 50+ miles over the 4 days. And as it's a bank holiday I'll have all my waterproofs ready. Gotta get that fitness up another level. The thought of 10 days looking up and staring at nothing but the backside of 'BR' or 'The Poet' for 8 hours at a time is pretty damn good motivation... must stay in front, must cycle faster!

Ode to Blobby Robby

Norfolk is as flat as Flanders,
So time in the saddle is sore on Anders,
LEJOG is now only weeks away,
Miles under the belt will carry much sway,
We can sit at home staring at the pot,
Or get on the bike and produce some snot,
Pints will be downed of that I am sure,
But with respect to Anders it is not a cure,
Our carbon frames will bend under the strain,
Climbing the hills will be quite a drain,
Blobby to the front, setting the pace,
He has said more than once, "It is not a race!"
The miles will come, the miles will go,
Where is the next pub? We dinnae know,
Blobby to the front, Si at the rear,
Me in the middle, nothing to fear,
Drafting behind Blobby will be quite a breeze,
Watchful of Anders getting too much of a squeeze,
Should he explode, while we are moving at pace,
I'll take a dive and Si'll get it in the face!

An easy weekend

A hilly club run on Saturday which tested most of us, but only 65 miles. My parents are visiting this weekend so it has been an easy weekend of walks and sunshine; I have managed to keep up the pub training though. I think Dave needs to slow down a bit- I am pretty sure I will be the Jenson Button of the group, Dave and Simon will be Lewis and Seb!

50 Miles in 2 hours 40 mins

Today was a planned ride of 40 miles that was not so well planned so turned out to be 50 miles. My intention was to push fairly hard for the first 2 hours then back off. Average speed for the first 2 hours was over 20mph and the final average was around 19 mph. Legs felt really good after yesterday's 80 miler so there is still hope for me! Average HR for the ride was at 79% of max.
Got some more pictures so will download them probably tomorrow or the next day.

A Place Called Fakenham

Today's training run was a little 80 miler through the countryside of Norfolk. I was going to a 100 but I was lonely out on the ride so cut it short at 80miles. When you have been cycling for nearly 5 hours by yourself you do tend to get a little doolally. My ride was basically a figure of 8 loop out to Fakenham and of course I managed to kiss the coast road and stop at the Ship Inn in Brancaster. No duck egg omelette this week but i managed a couple of beers and a packet of crisps. There were horsey people everywhere due to some trials going on. I did observe that they expect you to give them total clearance when passing them but when they pass you in their Chelsea Tractors pulling their smelly trailers they are not so generous in the road space they give you.