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Actually made it out on a bike ride on Sunday (despite getting in at around 4am from a clubbing session) - accompanied by Dane and Paul. It was never going to be a long distance one, given the short days and shite weather, but we met at the top of Dyke Road as planned, and headed towards the Dyke.
The idea was to decide our route once we got there, preferably one that took advantage of high ground to avoid the really soggy terrain that you tend to get at this time of year.
This was my first trip out with my new digital camera, a Sony Cybershot W130, so we stopped off to take a few shots in the direction of Shoreham, which is where we decided to ride to.
As we headed towards Shoreham, I rode ahead down one of the hills to take some action shots of the guys on their way down. Slightly more interesting than pictures of hills!
Shortly after the action shots, we discovered that Paul had received a snake bite puncture on the way down the hill, necessitating a stop off to fix it - while we were stopped he kindly pointed out the paint rubs on the frame of the Primo, which I'd failed to notice.
Not wishing this to get any worse, I improvised some protection against the rubbing from the adhesive "scabs" that I use to repair punctures. Great as a temporary measure, but I've now purchased some harder wearing patches designed for the task from Bikehut, ready to fit for the next ride.
We headed down Truleigh Hill towards the Adur, and took a relatively sedate ride back to Shoreham, and then on to home, via McDonalds!
It was good to finally get out in the saddle after what I believe has been a three month break, and it was a good ride to start with - 16 miles in total, at a very relaxed pace.
I've uploaded the photos that I took to the Facebook profile of "Betsy Bike"; they're here.
Haven't been on the bike for about 3 months, one of the reasons for the lack of updates. The main reason for this is the shite weather we've had recently - have been prone to colds when I go out in it, so have been sticking to the gym.
However, today I have washed Betsy (the name I've given to the Dawg Primo), and watched "Roam", and bought myself a new Sony W130 digital camera from Amazon (£40 cheaper than the Dixons price - mad) to give myself some motivation for bike riding.. should be out next weekend!
I've also set up a new Facebook page for Betsy (yes, I am a geek), to which I'll be adding photos - I'm aiming to make her the most popular bike on Facebook so friend requests to Betsy Bike are welcome he he.
I rode the Randonnee on Saturday, 26th July, after having been too unorganised to book any accommodation for the June event this year.
Have forgotten most of the details of the ride, so
will summarise: I rode the ride completely alone for about 65 miles,
at which point I was close to retiring from the ride. After a snack at Devil's Dyke, I thought I may as well continue, at least till the other side of Brighton, which is the 80 mile point.
About two miles before Ditchling Beacon, I started to ride with two riders (Hi Paul and Matt!), who I rode with til the end of the route. Without the encouragement they provided I would have given up at Ditchling Beacon, no question. However, an ice cream and a 5 minute rest were all it took to push me on.
We eventually got to the finish line in about 14 hours, 25 minutes, about the same time as last year. Disappointing considering I was aiming to cut 2.5 hours off the time, but understandable due to the fact that I'd had considerably less on-the-bike training than last year.
I now have just three weekends until the Randonnee, having done only rides up to 30 miles so far this year. So, my schedule is:
- Weekend 1: Shoreham to Eastbourne
According to my stats from last year, a 41 mile ride
- Weekend 2: Winchester to Brighton
To re-familiarise myself with the route, and to get in a decent distance - 65 miles
- Weekend 3: Brighton to Eastbourne
Reduced distance the week before the ride
I'll probably be riding these rides solo, so I can get a feel for what pace I'm comfortable with currently. Although I've not done much training for this ride, I'm pretty confident that my goal of reducing my time by 2.5 hours to 12 hours is doable, as my base fitness is so much higher than it was last year.
In between these weekend bike rides, I plan to alternate between 3 gym sessions and 2 sessions per week, depending on whether my weekend ride was on a Saturday or Sunday - I'm a great believer in recovery days. I am maintaining one personal training session per week up to this point, to further improve fitness levels, and have even started making my own workout plans, with each targeting specific muscle groups. The first one was today, but unfortunately, I got to the gym slightly late, only leaving about 35 minutes for a workout ; ) This is definitely of value though, compared to my usual system of making it up as I go along! So I'll be continuing this, and may post my workout plans.
Updates on my previous rides to come - I don't have my GPS with me today.
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