64 reasons to be cheerful!

Hasn't the UK had some spectacular weather over the past week or so? Shame that we have been stuck inside for a lot of it but we made up for that today. Beth and I finally got out for the 'Big One' after planning it for a week or two. Only one slight blot on the whole day and that was the fact that Beth had developed a sore tooth with what felt like the beginnings of a tooth abcess overnight. She'd only had snatches of disturbed sleep all night. Being the trooper she is she insisted it felt ok when she was upright and we set out at 8.30am.
We had a wonderful ride out to Turners Hill and on to Lindfield (what a pretty village) and Haywards Heath. Onwards to Ditchling (resisting the urge to ride up the Beacon!) and found a pub called the White Horse in Hurstpierpoint where we stopped for lunch. Simon came over to join us and 20 mins later John cycled in having ridden ten miles in half an hour! So we took an hour or so lunch break after which we tootled off again. Well, with John joining us it was a bit faster than a tootle. We definitely go quicker when Ironman is either setting the pace or pushing from behind. Must admit my energy levels flagged all afternoon. We rode to Henfield, past Steyning and onto Storrington where we turned right and carried on to Barns Green. This is where I went a bit quiet and zoned out for a while. However a short side trip through Southwater and we rode triumphantly into Maplehurst after 5hrs 15 mins of cycling time. We averaged 12mph more or less and covered a whopping 64 miles!!!!! This equates to one of our longer days on the planned trip. Tired when we got home, so much so that I never even made it to the shower straight away. Lay on the bed to 'relax' and drifted straight off for half an hour! Beth did the same next door but it set off her tooth ache again so I did some emergency acupuncture to try and give some relief.
So another milestone achieved on this LEJOG journey...

Just Give.....please!

Well, FINALLY! I am finally getting to spend some time setting up the sponsorship link for this mad cycle trip! Beth and I are hoping to raise money for our respective charity choices. Beth has chosen to ride for the Altzheimers Society. A most worthy cause and one pretty close to my own heart as I used to work on a unit for people with this devastating condition. A link to Beth's 'just giving' page can be found by following the link below here somewhere to her blog. Please give what you can.
I am aiming to raise money for the Mountain Rescue Team in Snowdonia National Park. At first glance, not an obvious choice I guess. But, as many of you know, Chris and his friend Rob were air lifted off the mountain last August. I can't begin to describe the emotions we went through in the time between hearing that he was up a mountain in bad weather conditions with no idea how to get down and an hour later when the MRT told us they were back to safety, lessons learned hopefully. We found out that it costs a couple of thousand pounds to scramble the helicopter each time and, of course, the team are all volunteers and therefore unpaid.
When I decided to take on the challenge of cycling 1000miles over two weeks lots of people asked which charity I was doing it for. Well, my initial motivation was to do it for my 50th year celebration! But if I can raise some amount to pay back in some way the peace of mind the Mountain Rescue Team gave me then I will be a very happy 50 year old. So please give what you can via the 'just giving' link. It might just help the next person stuck between a rock and a high place!
Try here...... www.justgiving.com/le-jog-blog

London to Brighton Bike Ride 2010

Here is the finishers photo from last weeks L2B. Coach, Trusty and Mark (whom I believe is an occasional reader of this here blog) finished in 3hrs give or take. Didn't they do well? What an inspiration to us all!

Big hills, backache and brushes!

Now if anyone suggests to you that Jackie does not get enough exercise, just you tell them that on Thurs 24th June she cycled 28miles and walked at least 5 with the dogs. And the rest of the time she was up a ladder weilding a paint brush!
But I am getting ahead of myself....on Monday we were all scheduled for a 60mile ride. In two bursts with lunch in the middle. Unfortunately due to the sport of extreme decorating that John has introduced me to I had a very bad back. I was very despondent on Sunday, so much so that I whinged at Trusty...yes, me, whinge! I know, hard to believe, eh? Anyway Captain gave me a thorough pep talk re the feasibility of cycling 60 miles a day for 16 days in 10 weeks time. And now I am as compliant as can be. But dropped the idea of a 60miler this week. Instead Beth (who was also in pain with 'divers neck' - don't ask!) and I headed out and did the dastardly Cuckfield route. It was hilly alright but we did it 10 mins or so quicker than last time I did it. And we discovered the hills that aren't quite so steep are alot easier if we chat all the way up. So we were out for 2h18m and covered 27.6m or so.
That takes us to today when we did the same route the other way round. Ha! We thought it'd be less hilly!!! We are still too topographically ignorant (is there such a condition???) to work out why it wasn't and it actually took us a few minutes longer! Never mind it was a lovely ride with alot of downhills over very rough road surface. And I hit one pot hole full on down Picts Lane which might be why I have a painful upper back now to go with my aching lower back. But, of course, I never whinge so no-one will get to hear of it from me.
The decorating continues apace.. John is spending most time at the rockface, as it were. I am almost having to prise the paintbrush out of his hand at the end of each day. But anyone who knows John will not be at all surprised to hear of his endurance attitude to what is a mammoth task. (Paint an entire 4 bed house in about 10 days, including woodwork). We've had lots of help from the young folk (girlfriends as well!) which has been an enormous help.

Three counties!

On Tues we cycled three counties in one ride! West and East Sussex (if that counts as two?) and Kent. Anyway we did 52 miles over four and a half hours. I suffered a bit with a sore knee. Due, I think, to recent saddle adjustment. Sorry this is brief but we are up to our necks in decorating the new house we are moving into shortly. No time for anything more creative than this quick entry. And still have to fit a ride in this afternoon. Pah!

There go the girls!

Agent Alex is still out of action with a poorly knee. He has had an MRI scan this week and awaits results with some trepidation, hoping that the consultant kneeologist doesn't ban him from 1000mile rides. As do we all. He is much missed on our rides. I kinda got used to seeing a flash of red way ahead in the distance. It gave me something to aim for! He, meanwhile, is fretting that a) he is losing fitness and us girlies will make mincemeat of him when he returns (as if) and b) the fashion sense of the White Horse Riders is going to go down the drain completely without our beloved style guru. On the latter point I have to say I worry too. Yesterday the only slight hint of colour I had one was the grey stripe round the top of my sports socks. Tut tut.
So after a few days just disappearing since our last ride and despite my best efforts to put it off I finally got out again on Tuesday. Don't know where the time goes...but lots going on. What with imminent move (again), Alex-the-son coming and going, Chris and Roxanne coming and not quite going yet - though they are off cycling to Norway tommoro. Well they are starting tommoro but probably won't get there for a few weeks. John going to play golf with the White Horse Golfers etc etc. And then it rained yesterday morning! And then DHL didn't come to pick up my sickly computer by lunchtime. So the upshot was that John kindly offered to hang around and do bike things and wait for DHL and us girls got out on our own for once.
We admitted (loudly) to anyone within earshot that neither of us particularly felt like cycling.....especially as we were waved off by Alex, Deirdre, Simon and John from the pub garden. Grrr! Still, we are determined so off we went.
Quite an eventful first 7 miles for Beth with her chain coming off (usually my problem not hers!), her clippyon shoes giving her the heebie jeebies and her back light leaping off the bike on a particularly bumpy downhill section. Then we settled in with heavy legs but increasing levels of endorphin assistance and completed a very pleasant 36.6m in 2hr55m at about 12.1mph average speed.

I'm spinning around, move out of my way!

Yesterday was a beautiful day, we really made up for the days before weatherwise. John, Beth and myself (whereforartthou Alex, we MISS you!!!) took off on an early morning ride. I was reluctant. Having a real psychological battle with getting on a bike before 8am. It just doesn't seem right somehow! Probably due also to the fact that I have been awake since cock crow anyway because Maplehurst has the noisiest birds on the planet. We have jackdaws nesting in the chimney who, at 4.30am sound like jack russells. Seriously. I swear they bark. But to have Beth's company it has to be early starts and (sshh, don't tell her or Coach this) once I am up then it's a pleasure being out on the trusty carbon steed. Not to be confused with Trusty Ironman. And we positively ambled for the first hour or so. John found a flat route! Yay! It wasn't til we were cruising down to Storrington that it kind of occurred to both Beth and me that, uhoh! Coach has something darstardly planned if he's being this kind to us. It isn't just because Beth already did 3 hrs yesterday and I wanted a lie-in that he is being so seemingly good to us. I even wondered if we would get coffee and chocolate at Storrington as usual even though we'd only been riding 50 mins or so by that stage. No chance (and I can't believe I don't know my husband better after two centuries). He waved us into the layby for some tasty energy drink (!) and beamed with mischief that we'd be going left at the petrol station. I don't think the truth dawned on Beth as quickly as it did with me. Partly because I have spent most of a decade driving up and down that road over the Downs getting to Chichester and laughing at the silly cyclists who insisted on attempting to cycle it! After one or two cycling hints (but never saying it would be a flat route to Bury Hill) John disappeared. I swear he bi-locates. One minute he is there, the next, phooooosh! Nowhere to be seen. I also think he goes ahead so he doesn't get to hear our curses.
But anyway, we did it! Beth and I just poli, polied all the way up the various hills ending at the top of Houghton Hill which meets Bury Hill. Beth did give in to a mournful 'Are we there yet?' just before the final ascent. John sat waiting in the middle of the roundabout like some atheltic leprecaun, justifiably proud of us. As were we! We had coffee and shortbread to celebrate then free wheeled all the way down to Pulborough. I clocked 38mph at one stage then got spooked and applied brakes. The rest of the route was very, very pretty through West Chiltington and Shipley. And flattish too. We got home in 3hrs 5m (I think), 38 miles at an average of 12. something.
I am suffering some padding friction issues but I won't go into that on a public forum. Anyone really interested can email me privately!
So then today (fri) we took Beth along to her first spin class at the gym. Poor woman...she'd had two days riding and swam 39 lengths last night. So spin was a bit painful and somewhat of a shock to her! Maybe because I bigged it up as being great fun. Which, I kind of remember it was when we all used to go in Chichester. This was hard work though today. All uphill it seemed. But over in 45mins and I still kind of enjoyed it in a perverse way. So Beth and I are going again next week!