I am, worryingly, transforming more and more into a roadie! The latest purchases have been some road gloves, some Pearl Lzumi elite bib shorts (hmm, lycra) and a new Bontrager Inform saddle. Whether the saddle will be comfortable only time will tell, but I was properly measured for it and it has a comfort guarantee, so if it still cuts off vital nerves then its back to the shop with it. Here is what they all look like:
Another lovely day, so I had to get back out on the road to stretch the legs. With a short 30 ish mile route round and about to Beckington and back I set off. The bike is now pretty much exactly as it will be for the JOGLE – so its great to know that I’m getting some really genuine practise in now. Had a bit of a hairy moment: going fairly quick down a very narrow single lane, taking some water, thinking how stuffed I would be if a wide car came around the corner when BAM there was a massive tractor steaming towards me. Only just had enough time to cage the bottle, and get on the brakes. Damn tractor didn’t slow down and I had to press myself into the bank not to end up under one of his massive wheels. Fun fun.
I took a few more photos than normal – its odd that I have never seen Nunney castle despite it being only a couple of miles off my Southampton commute! Its also amazing how just a tiny amount of wind can really slow you down on the roads. It was definately against me today, and I’m beginning to get a good picture of the overall average I should expect for the JOGLE, wind, small roads and hills included! Here was the route:
I would have liked to have gone for a long training ride this weekend, but it just wasnt to be! I have put this one down to a recovery phase – it is important to have a day or two here and there to allow your body to recover from the training you do. This week I need to write letters to the major hotel chains (i.e. travel lodge etc…) to see if they are interested in supporting the challenge. Fingers crossed!
Despite the rain, I headed out anyway – given that it was a traditional cycling night I figured I would go a bit further than normal and realised that Weston is almost exactly 25 miles from here. So off I went. everything was fine in the rain – the iPhone mount is certainly waterproof enough and the replacement Montane jacket really is excellento! All I can say is there is no substitute to a fistful of tangfastics to keep you going. Spot the wrong turning at one of the roundabouts and subsequent milage down a dual carraigeway to the next roundabout! Overall it really wasn’t much of an effort as I took it slow and it was mostly flat apart from Burrington combe. Here is the route:
I decided to make the most of the hour I had for training tonight and sprint to Blagdon (well, the top of two trees) and back (22 miles). Really didnt think I would able to maintain race-pace all the way there and back but I guess all this training must be paying off as I maintained an average of 19 mph (ignore dodgy EveryTrail average) and hit over 46 mph at one point. Here is the route:
A sprint to Blagdon and back
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I just noticed that the trails as shown on the EveryTrail website calculate the average ignoring any pauses. I was confused, you see, why Thursdays average was 10.5 mph, when my normal average is around 14 – 17, but it turns out this included an hour in the pub 🙂 Hopefully EveryTrail will fix this soon!
Natasha went horse riding this morning so I planned a route on EveryTrail and set off. Before I went I made a change to the bike kit setup – rather than opting for my camelback (its like a rucksack) to hold everything (i.e. MTB style) I went for the roadie style setup of water bottles in cages on the bike and a small saddle bag and food in the back pockets of my cycling top. I was a bit dubious about the food position but it worked out perfectly. I was aware the single bottle I had wouldn’t be enough but planned to stop by a garage to top it up half way through. More things to add to the shopping list: another bike bottle and cage and a new saddle bag, new waterproof and a small lock. There was no chance of taking my existing lock with me so I just hoped that there wouldn’t be any dodgy youths around if I had to pop into a shop.
I planned a 45 mile route south through Castle Cary, and then east to Wincanton and up through Bruton, back to Nunney and home. As it turned out, I felt fine after around 35 miles and decided to extend it further. After topping up the water at a garage I cycled east to Frome, then hit the A36 up to Norton St Philip and back through Faulkland and Stratton on the Fosse. A total of about 60 miles. Not bad. The section of A303 is not to be recommended as the left side of the carriageways is covered in stones. Plus cars flying by at 80 mph is never a happy feeling. I’ll try and avoid dual carriageways on the JOGLE. Slightly worryingly short of breath after Norton St Philip, despite having many more miles left in the legs – I’ll have to watch out of that in the future. Took about 1 hour for the breath-shortness to go once I came back.
I am typing this having given up on the England game, which was (is) pathetic. Here is the route I took:
Down to Castle Cary, then Wincanton, Bruton, Norton St Philip and home
Oh, and the England game just finished – shocking performance, 4:1 to Germany – good on them!
Honestly, I don’t know why they call it the Glastonbury festival, as Pilton is a fair way from Glastonbury! Still, its always good to cycle by when its on and be amazed at the sheer scale of the thing. The wall-of-china like barriers all around the fields are amazing, and you just cannot imagine you would be able to fit that many cars into a bunch of fields. It is literally a pilgrimage, with people walking from miles around, some people were even skateboarding there. Amazing. So I cycled past and through to Glastonbury then up to Cheddar and to Shipham where I had a drink with the Shipham MTB crew, then cycled back home. Keep forgetting to turn the tracking off when I’m stationary, which doesn’t help! Fixed the slipping cleat (was a loose chainset shaft) and a few other things too. Bike is riding well now.
I didnt particularly want to raise money for a huge organisation and not know what the money would be used for, yet I had been struggling to find a local charity that I felt I could get to know a little for this challenge. Luckily Pete suggested an organisation he found on the Charities Commission’s website, called ‘Somerset Sight’ and I thought they might fit the bill in terms of size and what they do. My grandfather was mostly blind and also very deaf, and I was always amazed at how positive he always was and how much he managed to achieve. I seem to remember that he always liked listening to talking books and that he had some regular help from local volunteers. I think its super important for people who have lost their sight to be able to get on with things despite their disability, and there are some great charities out there who help this happen.
I phoned up Somerset Sight yesterday to have a chat, and got through to Lina Bridges who suggested I come and and see the facilities and hear about what they do. So I snuck out at lunch to go visit them, stupidly letting the satnav take me through Pilton on the way (oops – Glastonbury Festival), and had a good long chat with Lina (pictured left) and Linda (director) about the way they support people with sight loss and where their funding comes from. As I was sat there talking to them about their structure and funding I did think for a moment that if I had a camera videoing the whole thing they might think they were on the Secret Millionaire (sorry thats not the case, Lina). One of their biggest assets is the large facility they operate from, which is a grand old house in Taunton that has recently been updated. They organise and run a great deal of leisure activities all over the counties, and provide services and training, and have computer facilities loaded with the latest software for the visually impaired. The most interesting part for me was their Resource shop, which has everything in it that a person with partial or no sight could possible need from talking clocks to devices which tell you the colour of a garment, to amazing computer systems which scan and redisplay articles in large black and white format. Impressive.
Anyway, it seems that like a lot of charities, Somerset Sight are finding fundraising difficult in these hard times, so I decided that if the sponsorship money raised from my challenge could help then it would be a very worthy cause. I was thinking about how important sight really is to us, I mean seriously, think about all the best times you have had in your life, I bet in most of those what you saw was a pretty important factor? And then just imagine going about your daily life not being able to see what was around you, where you were, who was at the door etc.. It just doesn’t bear thinking about. I think that sight based charities are probably under-represented when compared to many others, yet it seems that organisations like Somerset Sight can make a real and very genuine positive difference in peoples lives.
I have made a page on the virgin money giving website, which means you can easily donate sponsorship money which will go straight to Somerset Sight, and I’ll get a link to that page soon. And don’t worry, nearer the time, I will be pestering YOU for your money ;-). I’ll also put up more information about Somerset Sight and their upcoming events on one of the main pages here.
My new Northwave vertigo pro shoes arrived today, courtesy of the next door neighbour who signed for them yesterday when I was at work. They seem a pretty good fit, so the Look pedals have gone on the bike finally (why can you never find the right allen key when you need it?). I also fixed up something else pretty cool and custom – an auxillary iPhone battery which also runs my light – check it out on the bike page.
To test out the shoes I went for a late night cycle to Shipham and back via Charterhouse. It was a beautiful warm night with a full moon making lights hardly necessary. A Tiger spot works a treat on the road, although you occasionally get a flash for being too bright…
Here was the route I took today, 30 odd miles in a couple of hours:
The shoes turned out to be pretty good although the left foot got a little numb and there was a wierd slipping at the top of the right stroke. Plenty more things to tweak then!