Welcome to Nowhere

Well , another item is done and another ride under my “belt” .
To those of you that posses a sane mind ( Who are you and why are you reading my blog , do I know you ??? ) here is some information about what is the Dunwich Dynamo .
The main concern with this ride is staying sharp and not too sleepy , i sorted that issue with a very simple and elegant solution , when I arrived to the Pub , I stepped in and ordered a pint of Coke.
Considering the fact that my Caffeine intake is … none , the amount of Caffeine and suger in coke usually holds me up for more the 16 hours .
Then the wait began, we had to have a map but the guys with the map only arrived at 20:00 and then the queue form fast , so getting a map was time consuming.
I got on the bike with a large group that formed , and we headed out at 20:30 , cloudy skies but still plenty of light , we wanted to clear the forest part while there was still light.
The pace was good , but during the wooded part I tried to point my torch to the road , not just sky high , and it promptly fell of the bike.
I was more upset about the loss of the 4 rechargeable size AA batteries then the torch itself .
First stop was at the 50k mark , and to our surprise it was 22:15 when we got there , one of the guys said we need to slow down as this a very fast pace.
Considering there where the “greyhounds” in the event , those riders that do 35kph uphill, I thought we were doing ok .
As night fell the clouds cleared and the full moon came to shine on us and it was a beautiful night, a bit cold, to ride through the rural English country side, lovely houses and small villages and hills and more hills , now I finally have a full understanding and comprehension to all those books with the landscape description of “rolling hills” , they are not steep hills or even high ones, but they just seem to go up and down forever.

The main food stop was in the 86k mark and was good, and after that just on to the end.
At the 140k point we came to a riders pile up , at first we suspected an accident , but the a sign, a miraculous and wonderful sign came in to view “Bacon rolls , Vegie Rolls , Tea + Coffee , Water” , We Stopped !!!
My wall arrived at the 8mile before the end , my right knee started to protest with a very load “pop” and from then on it was a horrible pain to push down the peddle, I had to get off the bike and walk for a bit until the knew will ease up and then climb on the saddle .

I reached the finish line at 5:57 AM with the ride computer calling it a 186k.
My bum was so sore sitting is painful , but i have accomplished this task too.
On the way home the crash happened, the body no longer high on Adrenalin and Caffeine just felt drained and now sleep is coveted .

Oh , as usual when I do this rides I have my Sport tracker application active , this time when i checked it in the first stop it said we did 8k , the gps link was not working – Annoying !!!!

Today I did my (hopefully) last Esher to Hove cycle challenge. The weather was good, is started out with a cloudy day, windy and some dripping but as the morning progressed and turned to noon the sun came out (although the wind did not die).
I attached myself to a couple of riders and kept pace with them, we where doing good time and keeping a nice pace (an average of 26 kph /16mph) even in the hills (going downhill we broke the 50 kph some time) .
We were passing riders and getting good time, but something felt odd , when we reached the 50k mark ( half way point ) we planned to stop at the refreshment stop, but and this is the twist of the story, there was no stop !!

After looking around for a while we came across some other riders and we learned that we took a wrong turn in one of the junctions and we are now at least 16k /10 miles off route.
Turns out that there were 2 events happening in the area on the day and both were using markers that were black arrows on yellow background, and in one of the T junctions we followed the wrong one.

Calling the event help line was no help at all as they could not even tell us where we went the wrong way or how to get back on the main route, so one of the guys opened the GPS on his mobile phone and we started the ride toward the end point .
After several hours we actually found the event route and rejoined the correct route, at that point we covered already 80k/50miles (the whole event is 100k/60m) only to learn that we are now on the route 27m marker.
So grunting and with a bit of complaining we soldiered on, knowing that near the end Devil’s Dyke awaits us.
When we reached the base of the hill my computer said we already covered 125k /77miles , while everyone else is just shy of 90k/53m .
The first leg of the hill went slow but I conquered it, then the big dip and the steep climb, and this is the part where the jury can’t make a decision, on the short steep climb (150m ) I was unable to cycle and walked it, then got back on the bike and finished the hill, if I was fresher of that extra 30k, I think there is a strong possibility I would not have paused.
After that it was all down hill and relativity smooth and easy ride, when I reached the finish line the computer said 133k/82.6m (out of 100k/60m route).

So have I beaten Devil’s Dyke or was I defeated again ?

What do you think ?

Sports Tracker record of the ride

And again it was an unmitigated Knock out , He beat me fair and square , I had no chance on beating him and in 2 weeks we have another rematch.

For those of you who don’t know what I am on about let me put some information in here : going south from London toward Brighton , you go through some hills , but 5 miles/8 KM (after doing 50 odd miles/83 km ) you come the that last big hill before the descent to Brighton, there are several passes where you can cross those hills and one of them is “Devil’s Dyke” , it is a beautiful view point on to the shore line with a gold club at the top, but it is a very steep hill to climb that stretches goes on for more then a mile.

Last year when I did the Capital to Coast I had a wager with a colleague over a Pint that whom ever breaks at this hill owes a pint at the finish line , when I reached thew end I owed him , but it turns out he owed me too so we called it even.

Yesterday I did the ride from London to Brighton as a part of my training , and we crossed at Devil’s Dyke, and as you can see from the title, I lost again . I am not kidding my self ( or maybe I am) but I want to be able to climb this hill once cycling and not walking it up.

Wish me Luck!!

I finally got myself a route I enjoy riding and that has all the aspects i need to work on , moderate hills , long climbs , flat stretches , rubbish road surface ,turns , open road .. all the things I assume i’ll encounter on the ride to Paris .
The total distance is 35k and it takes me about 1 hour 13 minutes to complete it ,and now that I have gotten to the stage that I am ready to ride it as many times as I can , I am stuck for a week till I can climb on the bike for more then 20 minutes, not due to an injury , but work!
I am on call and with no one else to man the phones I can not be out of reach from my Pc for more then 30 minutes , this is annoying as I can see that I will miss some movies in the cinema and loose training sessions.

I thought about using the Gym in town , but it is just not the same and now as fun.

Today I got an email from the organizers of the event saying this

“your total now stands at £1085.73 so very well done “.

Somehow the count of the offline donations on my justgiving page is wrong , but I don’t care.

You may not remember but the minimum amount to raise for participation in £1080 , so I have past that mile stone and my participation is guaranteed.


YES !!!

During the last weekend I did a fund raising time in the local branch of Pets at home, unlike the last time I arrived early (opening) and stayed until closing time .
I had 2 collection boxes , some stickers and my fliers , by the end of the first day I was left with one sticker and two very heavy collection boxes.

In the second day the sticker went after the first hour , but the people in the shop ( clients not staff) still showed interest and willing to donate.

Today I went to the bank to deposit the money , in both days I managed to collect £349.07 in total.
The gamer in me now will be even harder on the players that carry 4000 copper pieces and do not count them for the encumbrance rules, Man those coins were heavy , Carrying my Daughter on my back ( and she is 9kg ) was lighter the the coins, so no more PC’s walking around with 4K of coins !!!!

To my delight Aiki Linux consulting added £140 to the Pot and that gave a nice push to the total amount.

I am now past the £1000 mark and more confident that I will participate , so the training regime is kicking in to full gear … Wish me luck !!!

Just as I was planning a new start (see previous post) , life decides to put a stop gap into my plans .
I was all ready for my weekend ride , trimmed up the bike from the dirt and extra stuff I carry , charged the MP3 Players battery , so I was well on my way to get another weekend ride .
But the Health demons decided that I am not giving them enough of me, so they gave me an Airways and lung infection , breathing is painful , I even had to skip on my morning walk with the four legged miracle (that can tell you how much pain I am in).

On the better news section : I’ve been to the Doctor and I am now 76 kg . that means I lost almost 6kg since I started training for this , if I can loose another 5kg i’ll be very happy .
I Guess I should stop with my love for good food and Beer ? NO WAY ;-)

After the dismal performance in the Iain Rennie Challenge I decided to reevaluate my fitness on the bike and set my training regime a new , and get my fitness back .
I seem to have forgotten that most of my training was when i cycled to work in west London , but now that I no longer work for that employer I no longer ride to work .

So in order to resume my training I’ve decided to set a new course and use it , so I selected the A4164 from Hemel to Leighton Buzzard .
It is a 45k ride and has some nice hills to add some difficulty to the ride. It also has some very badly maintained roads on some sections , so that is not much fun .
I did my first ride this last Sunday , my time in total was not good , nearly 2 hours for a 44k ride , but as it is a new base ride to start from , I should no be too hard on myself …should I ?

Today I took part in the Iain Rennie Chiltren Cycle challenge , the goal of it is to raise money for a hospice and nurses.
There were 3 options 10 ,35 and 75 mile routes (16 ,51 and 125 km ), I signed up for the 75 mile ride .
When the envelope with all the details arrived , I had my first doubt about what I signed up for , the route like a serrated knife skyline , with climbs of 600 feet (200 m ) and more in many places, but I decided to go ahead with it .

The start of the ride was good and I had a good pace , I was hoping to have an average pace of 20 km/h (13 mp/h) and in the first 2 hours I did , then the hill climbs got harder and harder and the day got hotter and I found my pace falling and my energy failing .
At the 60 km mark , I refilled my water and tried to find out if there is a snack spot any time soon ,but the road marshals did not know, that spot also was the point where if one wanted he can change route and join the 35 mile course, beside myself and 2 others I saw , all went for the shorter course.
As I started the second part I felt my power leaving me and I had to walk up many of the hills along the way , my km/h dropped to about 10 , (6 mp/h) , and eventually I found myself unable to continue .
Encouraged by a road marshal remark I braved the next 10 K and reached the 80K mark ( 50 M), there , beside the marshals was a Pub !!!
I left my bike with the marshals and zombied ( to say I walked would be stretching it) as hardly had any energy left), I got in the pub and asked for the fastest food they had , it turned out to be a Toast , I asked it to come not toasted , I wolfed it down ,I think there was Egg in it , still I ate it. I also took 4 slices of bread with butter and after that went back to attempt to resume the ride . As I looked at the watch it was already 2PM , and the closing time for the event was 4:30 , quick math told me I would not make it .
I through in the towel and got a ride to the finish line with the Marshall’s.I was so out of energy that even with 4 layers I was shivering and barely standing .


So out of the 75 miles I set out to do I managed 50 , Challenge … Forfeited.

This weekend I spent most of my time in the local branch of Pet’s at home in Hemel Hempstead, I went there with the unoptimistic hope that I will raise 60£ over the weekend.
I set up myself standing in the doorway with my leaflets and collection box pleading with the customers to donate money and sponsor me , eventually my mouth would utter the phrase ” Spare some change for the Dog’s Trust” all on it’s own .

With knees aching from standing, cold creeping in every time some one came or left the shop and me forgetting the pack food or water (the first day at least ) I endured and stayed on with my pleading .

When the weekend finished and I went to deposit the “loot” in the bank , the total tally was £202.99, which is 14% of the target amount I wish to achieve . and it brings me to more then 50% of the minimal amount I need to raise to participate , So I’d call it a weekend well spent .