Fabulous Forty (not my age, I wish).

FORTY MILES, FORTY MILES FORTY MILES....FORTY MILES, FORTY MILES, FORTY MIIIIIILLLLLES!!!
But before I write another word I must just say how absolutely spectacular Agent Alex's hair looked today. When we stopped for a coffee and he took his helmet off we all gasped in admiration. There Alex, is that sufficient?
So even though we had done the big quick ride on Sunday everyone thought it'd be good to go out and do even more miles today. The reason being, as I said, I need to get ahead of myself as I am on a week off next week. Beth is losing two weekends cycling and Alex just doesn't have the sense to say 'no'!
The weather was even hotter and sunnier than it has been and we headed off at 8am straight into the morning rush hour. Yes, sleepy Sussex does have one! I have to own up to struggling a fair bit as my legs felt very empty..despite early night last night. I did loosen up eventually and am certainly a lot nippier up the hills than I have been recently but the going was tough to start. Alex left home like a speeding bullet and there was no catching him for quite a while. We had to wait for the discomfort and pain to set in with him before he slowed down! We stopped at my favourite petrol station (yes, I have one) for a refuel of coffee and chocolate. This is not normal and I think was John's way of encouraging us during our longest ride yet. My chain came off because I forgot and did that silly gear thing again. Beth and I got ahead of Alex and John for a while. I'd like to say it was because they were much slower but it was because they were adjusting Alex's saddle. We finally made it home and had cycled for 3hrs4mins at an average of well over 13mph. As Alex's and Beth's computers read different stats it is hard to be precise. But we did cover 40.3 miles! A milestone indeed.
And I would like to clarify that Trusty Ironman is perfectly sound in mind and body! The broken big ring that was hampering him on the last ride belongs  to his bike! Just in case anyone was wondering!

Boys and Girl go out to play

Determined not to put an exclamation mark at the end of the title as it seems to be a habit!
So today was going to be a big ride with the 'boys'. Beth being away. Actually Trusty wants to nickname Beth....we discussed this on our ride. We thought of Deep Sea Beth (her diving). We thought of Electric Landlady (her amazing publican skills). My favourite was Busy B. Because she is. And she loves nature. Any other suggestions?
Anyways....John did the early ride with David and then left us to it. I felt very heavy legged and hoped it would be a lazy ride. What a learning curve! We set off to do the 33.something that John and I did in 2.47 during the week. Trusty was already warmed up with John and he had a broken big ring so was hampered. Alex was looking cool and up for anything (as usual). And off we went. Well, firstly, my chesty thing seems to have cleared considerably. May be helped by the hill ride I did on Friday. We seemed to be whizzing along and this was confirmed when 16miles in John joined us to offer chocolate. He found us way beyond where he had estimated we'd be by then. Chocolate is definitely the way to go halfway through a ride, that's my view. And the companionable ride continued. This route was all country lanes to start with then all busy main roads the rest of the way. So lots of variety. Trusty was very encouraging, even said he'd noticed the improvement since our last ride out together. Which is good to hear. He, in the meantime, had a great weeks cycling to build on his base fitness. He will be off with Paul and John on their longer rides soon I expect, leaving us novices to struggle on as best we can. So we carried on whizzing and arrived back in Maplehurst 2hours and 21 minutes after we left! That's a big 'WOW' as it took 2.47 last time! 33+ miles at an average (and all time record so far) of 14 miles an hour!! YYYYYAAAAAYYYY!
This spurred me on to get showered, contact lensed and ready to go in record time and we headed off for a fab lunch at the Green Man with David and Sal. What  a lovely Sunday.
PS the weather seems to have broken! Even got rained on a couple of times.

Short and to the point!

Coach said 'Go forth and cycle hills for thou needeth the practice'. So I dideth as I was told. 8.2miles over 41 minutes. Didn't actually feel much like a ride after the recent lengthier ones...but it all counts.
Oh and the weather is still great!

I like a challenge...or two!

At risk of sounding repetitive...it is yet another fantastic day here in West Sussex. I do hope this continues as I am off to Glasto for a week long course soon and the Somerset countryside is just perfect when it's sunny. I will have to miss a weeks  training then..although it being a meditation and chanting week my spiritual muscles will get a work out! So Coach John thought it'd be good if I got ahead of myself so the week in Glasto will be like a rest week (huh, tell my spiritual muscles that!). Which is how come we headed out for a long ride today which he blithley told me last night was almost flat. Only 200ft of ascent involved. I should have heard the alarm bells as you can't even get out of Maplehurst without almost needing sherpas. OK, OK, I jest. But it is pretty hilly round here.
So we headed off and took a lovely route all around Southwater, Broadbridge Heath, Billingshurst, Adversane, Coolham and eventually back home. Had yet another chain off but I think I finally get what I am doing wrong. Won't bore you with gearing details but hopefully I have now 'got it'. John stopped to help a man from New Jersey (now THAT'S a long ride). He is stranded here due to the ash and had borrowed a friend's bike. Only to find himself miles from friend's house with no spare tube, no phone. John gave him ours and helped him change the tyre. Whilst I cycled on! It didn't take John long to catch me up again. We did alot of riding on busy roads to day to get me used to it. It is pretty hairy at times but no more so than hurtling at breakneck speed down a quiet country hill with potholes and gravel at the bottom. Just a different kind of hairiness!
We got home after 2hr 47m (including stops) and had covered a whopping (to me) 34miles. Yippee! Average of 12m per hour which is not bad considering my quads are still aching a bit from the last ride. Then John told me that we had, in fact, ascended a total of 1,800ft! I will never trust (or indeed ask) him ever again regarding hills on our route!
The next challenge when I got home was far more frustrating but ultimately successful. I am having another go at wearing contact lenses. After a highly successful session yesterday with the lovely Ola The Contact Lens Lady I felt ready to go solo. It only took half an hour and  much cussing, to start with. Then I realised its one of those Zen opportunities. The more relaxed you can be the more likely you are to succeed. A bit like hurtling down gravelly hills really. So here I am looking out at the world without it being framed by glasses and its all becoming clear to me!

Girls and Boy Went Out to Play!

Yesterday saw another fab day of sunshine and I had arranged to go for a ride with Agent Alex in the afternoon. Beth wasn't sure if she would make it as the pub was busy at lunchtime and she thought she might be brewing a sore throat. Alex and I really impressed Trusty and Coach (sound like a comedy act, right?) who had just arrived back from LeMans. We were all geared up ready to go and I called next door to see if Beth was coming out to play. She hadn't really thought she would but didn't take a lot of persuading to go from this:

To this:

And unbeknownst (if there is such a word) to us Trusty and Coach drove ahead of us and sneakily took photos - I hope they weren't just checking up on us? So this is what we look like from behind! Well it would except I can't work out how to post it on here and rotate it. I don't want you to think we cycle vertically so I will add it another time when I have it sussed!
The ride was lovely though I am struggling more than my team mates with the hills. Still chesty after the cough thing but getting there. Luckily I have patient pals and I do speed up a bit on the flat! Alex nearly ran over a baby rabbit which was about the most dangerous part of the ride.
We covered 19miles in just over an hour and a half at a speed of 12.1miles per hour.

Another milestone!

I am writing this on a beautiful Saturday with not a sign of volcanic ash in the sky...nor any contrails from planes either. It's a bit surreal to have clear skies so close to Gatwick. Have just spent a couple of days in Essex with Sal and Doug and it's the same there. Looking out over the view from their place across the salt marshes last night it was amazing to see just the stars and no plane lights criss-crossing the sky.
So my last ride was on Wednesday with Beth and Coach. John got back from Portugal with...would you believe... a golfing injury! No, not a black eye from someones backswing. But a sprained ankle from looking for his ball in the rough and tripping on a gulley. For goodness sake. He is like the master of minor injuries at the moment. Anyway, he seemed to be able to cope with our cycle without mishap or problems.
He extended our ride to the point that I had no idea where we were until we happened upon the Steyning by-pass again. The weather was glorious and Sussex is in full Spring regalia. Primroses and leaping lambs abound. Beautiful.
We had a long ride and my legs were pretty tired starting out. I seem to warm up by about halfway round. Tho it might be the 'returning horse to stable' phenomena as I get faster nearer home. On the real trip by the time I get to Scotland there'll be no catching me!
So we clocked up a tad under 30 miles! Wonderful! And I think we averaged 12.2 miles per hour.
John is away (again) so I will go out tommoro and try a 2 hour ride. Hope the weather holds......

End to End Route

This is a google earth image of the route we will be taking starting September 4th. Seen this way it doesn't seem to daunting, does it? All we have to do it get from A to B!