Luck....no!

Well this weekend has been a bit light on training. Last week I did about 95 in total with a 57 mile on Sunday. Saturday at work was busy and my Dad came down too so we were out for dinner Saturday night, Sunday morning I couldn't exactly leave guests to fend for themselves while I went out on the bike at silly O'Clock either. So I did a bit of maintenance on the bike.

My Gatorskins had arrived and I fitted "smart slime" filled tubes. This morning I knew the weather was going to be good so I decided to cycle to Rye harbour. Went through Battle and Hastings onto the Winchelsea road to Rye. A couple of eh shorter seeper hills were a bit unpleasant . Got to Rye and onto the Udimore road back towards Brede and Broadoak. There were some fantastic views out across the Marshes to the sea so I took a quick piccy on the phone.

I was loving the new gatorskins. Very smooth and feeling pretty secure on the puncture front. Got back to Battle and climbed through Wartling up Senlac hill. Out along North Trade road and made a fatal error. I decided to cut through Freckley Hollow to home. This road is very pretty but is is extremely uneven and in the bright sunshine despite sunglasses I managed not to avoid a pothole. THUD THUD THUD from under my saddle. OMG I don't beleave it. I stopped to pump the tyre up. I thought the slime would do its job plug the hole and off I go. But no. With the tyre still flat and slime oozing from the wheel rim I had to take it off.

It seems the tube had ben pinched so hard on the rim of the pothole that it had been mortally wounded with 2 parallel slits. As I pumpd I was forcing its green slimey blood from the holes. The other problem is that once the outside of teh tyre is coated with slime you can't get a puncure patch to stick! So out with the spare tube .

TBH its getting to the point when I will be glad when the ride is over. If only for the fact I am spending a small personal fortune on kit.

Flat out

This weekend in Sussex was glorious. Sun beaming, blue skies, the daffodils and primroses glowing on the verges and baby bunnies running around all over the place.

I have been doing the same 8.5 mile lap around Ninfield for the last few weeks for fear of punctures and problems. This way I am never too far from home. But its boring. So on Sunday I decided to venture further again.

I decided to do my Lewes/Heathfield ride but backwards. I had a patient in all weekend with a pyothorax and an in-dwelling chest drain which needed regular draining. So this was a good reason to get up early. I set off at 6.30 and got to the surgery. Drained Star's chest and did her checks and meds before the surgery opened at 10.30. She was looking much better and I only got 20 mls this time.

Off I went through hampden Park out towards the A27. It was a lovely time to be out although the smell of takeaways and stale beer was a little too strong at times through town. The results of a good saturday night out for someone. The A27 was providing some great views of the south Downs. The climb up to Lewes from the Beddingham roundabout started well. There is a cycle path all the way up on a pavement. Sounds great but unfortunately it is littered with stones and debris flicked onto it from the road. I then had another firefox moment. No sooner had I thought "you'll be lucky to get up here without getting a punct".....THUD THUD THUD. I am going to have to check my helmet. I'm sure someone has secretly fitted a Russian supercomputer and connected it to my thought patterns and my bike!

I now carry a spare tube so I didn't mess about fixing the puncture I just replaced the tube.

Off I went again over the brow of the hill. Then a slight heart stopper of a moment. I pulled on the brake lever and nothing happened. Eventually the brake engaged. I guess it was moved slightly when changing the tube. Phew.

Off through Lewes. Then a choice. Turn right and do a shorter ride or carry on towards Uckfield. Straight on it was. Along towards Little Horstead. The road surface on the hill there is full of large cracks which you really don't want to get a wheel stuck in as they act like some sort of maligmant monorail and try to steer you into traffic. The other problem is when you hit a large crack at speed it does nothing good for your tyres. You guessed it on the A22 just past the National Golf course and THUD THUD THUD. This time I had no choice but to fix the puncture. So I decided to take a short break and have my banana. I have also fitted a second drinks bottle holder which I would be glad of later on.

Puncture repaired and off again. Now at the Halland roundabout I have another choice. Straight on to Hellingly/Hurstmonceux or left to Heathfield.....Left it was.

I had ridden this route the other way round before an somehow failed to notice the the hill up to Blackboys is very long and a real grind. Probably as I was coasting down it in that direction! I eventually got to Heathfield and the legs were feeling it now. So had a drink stop and got a couple of Go gel sachets onboard. I also phoned the surgery to see how Star was doing. Now eating and looking much happier!

Heathfield high street and just starting the climb up to the crossroads and THUD THUD THUD. You have got to be kidding! Off with the wheel again. I was getting a bit cross by now. Which was to be my undoing. Wheel back on, and withing 5 minutes ....THUD THUD THUD. AAArrrggghhh.

So pulled onto the garage foecourt, luckily old abandoned garage so quiet. Its seems that in my haste to get going again last time I had missed the puncture on the otherside of the tube. So patched it and pumped the tyre back up. But it was not holding air......double aaaarrrgggh. Back off again. In rushing I had made a school boy error. It seems I had pinched the tube with a tyre lever (I could see the mark) and punctured it myself. Patched that being very careful this time and got under way.

Now we come to the tough bit. 40 miles done and facing the lumpy bit. The reason for doing the ride this way was a bit of a test. I usually do the hills round Dallington and Woods Corner first but I wanted to see if I could handle them tired. Answer....not quite. The thought of the climb from Earl's down to Dallington was more than I could handle so I decided to try and bypass it. Turned off to Waldren and Rushlake Green. Unfortunately I don't know the back roads very well round there. So after 3 miles of tiny lanes I arrived in Earl's Down at the bottom of the flippin hill!. I made it about 3/4 of the way up. But lungs burning legs burning and head spinning grinding in Granny gear and seemingly not moving, I had to admit defeat about 50 yards from the top. I did the push of shame to the top where I frankly nearly collapsed. I was now very glad of the second drinks bottle! Netherfield hill was still to come so I bravely bottled it and went to Ashburnham via Pont's Green. But I had forgotten that Ashburnham is at the bottom of a hill climb up to north Trade Road and nearly home. I was determined to do this one. I engaged granny gear and started. This hill starts a bit less steep, but doesn't finish that way. But it is a bit shorter. I made it!

Turned left and made for Freckley Hollow. It was all a bit of a blur now and I was suffering what cyclists refer to as "the knock". This is when all the energy reserves in your body seem to vanish in 2 seconds flat and there is just nothing left, and there were no drinks bananas or go gels left either. So the last mile home was a very long one spent rueing the descision to venture further from the village.

It was now 2.30 pm. I had cover 57 miles but spent probably an hour fixing punctures.

Yesterday's recovery ride was consequently only 10 miles, and consisted of cycling to Halfords. I bought 2 standard tubes and 2 slime filled self healing tubes, which I am going to fit to the now ordered, Kevlar lined gatorskins. Hopefully slime filled bullet-proof tyres will make for less time spent off the bike with it upside down.

And if you're wondering Star was discharged yesterday doing extremely well.

uh oh.....

So four days later and my wrist is still sore and now bruised. I wouldn't be overly concerned under normal circumstances but we have only 6 weeks to go and the training is supposed to be getting more intense, not less so. So I took myself to A&E this afternoon (for a 4 days old emergency, I know). Seems like Friday afternoon isn't a bad time to rock up as I was xrayed and discharged within an hour. Although the xray is all clear I'm not off the hook yet. My pain is over the scaphoid tubercle and this bone appears to be notoriously reluctant to reveal itself to be fractured so soon after an injury. They are therefore treating it as fractured (thankfully with a splint and not a cast) until proven otherwise with a follow up xray in 2 weeks.

So the indoor cycle trainer is going to be put to use over the next two weeks to keep the miles up without resting weight on my wrist. Those hills will just have to wait, and I will be waiting anxiously for the follow up. Worst case scenario will have them telling me they need to cast it for 6-8 weeks. I will be absolutely gutted if this is the case. I've been turning over in my head the option of trying to convince them to shorten the time in the cast and trying to cycle with a splint. The bottom line though is that I need my wrist back to normal function as soon as possible more because I'm a surgeon than a cyclist.

Fingers crossed it's going to be fine though....

Twitchy

OK hand problem sorted I think.

Took the bike along to Phoenix cycles in Eastbourne. Bars were too low as suspected. But unbeknownst to me in my efforts to raise them as high as I could I had made them potentially dangerous. So a new handle bar stem has been fitted and things are much more comfortable.

The weekend turned a bit manic for all sorts of reasons, but I got 45 miles in on Saturday and about 15 on Sunday. I'm not sure weather to do 1 long ride one day and a shorter the next or 2 "middling" sized rides. Time is really short at weekends with the surgery open, 3 dogs to walk at home, housework etc etc. I am trying to get to the gym at lunchtimes or before work 2-3 times a week. I got a 20 mile ride in on a static bike yesterday but that's been all this week. Again because of timing its tricky but I am trying to spend at least 1-2 hours on a bike at a time.

I am acutely aware of the fact that I need to up the distances but work is getting a bit busier and its just not happening. I'll just have to console myself in the knowledge from all the LEJOG diaries I have read that older less fit blokes than I have done it with less training and hope for the best.

On the plus side I have reached my £3100 target for the fundraising!

Aches and pains!

We have a really detailed training schedule which I worked out months ago when this cycle seemed almost impossible. We've managed to keep to it on most weekends but my mid-week cycling has been interrupted by one pain or injury after another. At first it was my hands/wrists and seat but once my cycle position and new saddle were sorted I was back on track. In the past two weeks I started to get some lower back pain. A quick google search tells me that 30% of long distance cyclists get this problem. It just isn't natural to flex your hips and spine for long periods of time and expect them to take it. This weekend I started some stretches which I picked up on youtube and was amazed to feel my back pain disappear. These stretches are definitely going to be keeping me going from LE to JOG.

So I was feeling fantastic yesterday, the weather was beautiful and we were out for a long ride through various London parks. This all changed in one split second when I failed to prepare for a stop at some lights on the way up to Richmond Park and did the 'clipped-in sideways topple'. Most of the force of the fall was taken through my left hand and wrist and although the graze on my palm will heal quickly I'm a little concerned about the pain in my wrist. Once again I'm on forced rest this week and I'm keep the wrist still with a skaters wrist guard. The pain has lessened today so I don't think I'll need a trip to Casualty. I just hope I can get back on the bike by next weekend.

Paolo, who started this adventure from a point of zero exercise has taken it all in his stride. No injuries and he's wondering when it's going to start getting difficult. It makes me wonder why I left it till I was the wrong side of 35 before setting myself such an epic physical challenge??

The waxing!!

Derby open day 25th Feb 2012
Companion Care Derby held a very successful open day at the surgery on Saturday 25th February. Thank you very much to Amanda Stalker, our Head nurse, for all her work arranging sponsors and support for the day. Amanda also set up the surgery for tours and we had a ‘vet’ playroom for children, Amanda’s miniature Vet surgery model which is amazing and a couple of stuffed toy dogs in the kennels and on the table in theatre.
I would like to thank Pets at Home for all their support and especially Rob and James who volunteered to have their legs waxed and Lisa for her amazing fund raising for the leg waxing and for running the Raffle and cake stands. Thank you to Sally’s mom, Lisa and Jess for donating cakes for the cake stand. Delicious! We raised £66.50 from the sale of cakes.
Mark from Pets at Home also brought in his own rabbits for a guess the weight competition and organised a guess the breed competition.
The leg waxing was very well attended and Sarah, Sharon, Amanda and Sally from the East Midlands School of Health and Beauty were brilliant, I barely felt a thing, thanks ladies! 2 days later it is getting a little spikey and my legs are still cold! About £130 was raised as a direct result of the leg waxing.
Thank you very much to Jennifer from 'Where to Walkies' for supporting us with her lovely dogs Troy and Paris. If every you are looking for somewhere to walk your dogs log on to www.wheretowalkies.co.uk
I also need to thank our sponsors of prizes, Hills and VBS Direct, your donations were very much appreciated and helped us raise £81 in the Tombola/Raffle. Thanks again to Amanda and Amanda’s mum for their generous donations and Amanda for nicking your husband’s beer for the stand! Pets at Home for sponsoring prizes.
In all we raised just under £400 for the weekend!!
We still have a few ongoing competitions including a raffle for £25 worth of Jamie at Home products, Derby’s prettiest pet (first prize is a £99 professional photo shoot, print and disc with photos) and obviously we are still accepting donations to the Dogs for the Disabled Charity cycle challenge.
Thank you very much to everyone involved and who helped out, I really appreciate it very much.
Jason

Tingly

Well just did 22 miles afre yesterdays 60. Legs fine, backside surprisingly fine, hands not so great. Pins and needles in right hand. Left shoulder sore as torn rotator cuff playing up from all the arm pressure.

Unfortunately can't adjust the bars any higher. So done some reading. Apparently a solution to the padding issue may be foam hot water pipe lagging.

Off to homebase tomorrow to experiment cos after 1000 miles I think the hands may be in serious trouble. Not good for a surgeon!

The next barrier

On Sunday I managed to get out on the bike. I had planned to get up at 6 to walk the dogs and get on the road by 7. But I had to take pity on Vicky, not wanting to disturb her too much getting up at such an ungodly hour on a Sundaye especially as she works on Sundays, so I deferred my decision by an hour and got up at 7. Even so I heard the utterence "freak" from the snoozing side of the bed as I got up.
I got on the road at just gone 8. I did my usual circuit of the village encompassing the hill into catsfield, the long incline up to North trade road and finally Standard hill back to Ninfield. I have decided that I should try and push things a bit further for each weekend ride. So I did the 8.5mile circuit 7 times.
W.I.T.T happily informed me that I had completed 60.55 miles in 6 and a half hours. I got through 2 bananas, a bottle of isotonic energy drink and 4 sachets of "Go gel".
Legs not feeling too bad today, so I'm off in a minute for a bit of a recovery ride of 20-25 miles. Depending on when/if the heavens open.

The snow has finally melted and the snowdrops and daffodils are popping through the lawn so spring is on it's way!
If it wasn't for the wind and rain I would be on my bike every day!!
I am nearly completely out of time (and excuses!) and the training is starting in ernest now for the final 9 weeks before we all hit the road.
Fund raising is a little slow but we have an open day planned for Saturday and this will hopefully help close the gap a little in what we still need to raise.
I have somehow managed to get myself commited to a sponsored leg wax! Luckily two of the Pets at Home guys have kindly volunteered to join me and we're going to try do it as a race, hopefully this means it will be over sooner and they will scream louder than me, thereby making me look the toughest!
I am starting to really look forward to the cycle.

Pancake Day

Another successful support office fundraiser took place yesterday. Debs and Kat donned their aprons and cooked pancakes (from scratch!) in aid of the cycle ride. An impressive 40 pancakes were made and sold raising another £40 for the charity pot, thanks to the irrepressible appetites of the support office residents.
Jen

Open day

On Saturday we held an open day to raise some more funds. The nurses did a great job baking cakes and dog biscuits for sale. Lisa was a whizz at face painting for the children. But I think if she never paints another butterfly it will too soon for her. We had Monica join us with her DFTD dog Erin who is now retired but still likes to help out.

We did some surgery tours and managed to register a couple of new clients.

Citygym very kindly donated a recumbant exercise cycle for the day. Set up in reception I started cycling at 9.30 and finished at 4. Had a couple of short breaks. Managed about 135Km. But the next day and still now my left ankle is very swollen. Not sure it did much to help the "man-flu" either.

I am feeling pretty pooped in the picture.

The last client of the day was actually a previous LEJOGer. He did it about 20 years ago with only 12 gears and very little training. So we had a good chat. He said he found it relatively easy and said we would probably surprise ourselves. Their aim was 12 days and they did it in 9!

All in all a good day and we raised £160 for DFTD.

Conspiracy

Life is conspiring against me. Training just not happening at the moment. The roads round here are still lethal on 4 wheels with a couple of tonnes over them. I dread to think what would happen in 2 square inches of rubber at 20 miles an hour through black ice.
Work has meant I have had little time for the gym. Not that I'm complaining about being busy but still frustrating.
Now car trouble has been thrown into the mix. Not starting on cold mornings. Have drained the battery twice this wek trying to start the thing, and had to call the AA. They are going to start charging me soon!
Today it happened again. Luckily a mate drove past the house and had some jump leads so I made it to work on time.
So I have tools and new glow plugs in the car and will be trying to change out a set of glow plugs in the car park!
I hope I can get to the gym a few times this week.

Love at first sit.......

.....finally my replacement saddle is in place. This is the Specialized Body Geometry Jett Women's saddle and I chose it after getting recommendations from the local bike specialist and searching on forums for reviews. There aren't very many women's saddles to choose from (and even less that avoid the use of leather) but it's such an important decision to make, I wanted to get it right. As we've been picking up the training this has become a more pressing issue. Once we got up over 2 hours in the saddle that factory fit saddle turned into a medieval weapon.

My first impression of this one after almost 3 hours at our most recent bikathon is wonderful. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've fallen in love. However, I'm only too aware that like all love stories this one may end in tears and heartache. They say you can have too much of a good thing and I'm thinking 12 days is definitely going to put a strain on our relationship.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

The Good: Well, my first 30 miler done! I started in Faversham and went out along the coast as far as Herne Bay and back. A couple of hills but nothing major. I'm just concentrating on getting my fitness level up first. But nice weather, nice scenary and very manageable. So far so good...

The Bad: Another puncture!. thankfully I was only 1 mile from home and done my 30 already. I'm going to ask my bike specialist today what he'd recommend as this is ridiculous

The Ugly: I think I will be very stiff tomorrow. And sitting down might be a problem... well you get the idea

Pneumatic Nightmare - The New Generation

Well after enjoying Warwicks misery with tyres, karma came around and bit me on the.......

I managed 20k on Friday before I started getting a thud thud thud sound from my rear wheel. I was able to limp home on the tube before it went completely. Changed the tyre at work on Saturday, ready for my long cycle on Sunday. In a fit of complete overconfidence and optimism I decided that the chances of it happening again were slim and only bought one tube. You know where this one is going!

4.5k into cycle on Sunday, thud, thud, gone. And i discovered, cycle shoes are not the easiest to walk in on the tarmac. You learn something new every day

So 30 minutes on wiggle last night and a CO2 pump and saddle bag are winging their way to me.

At least Warwick won't feel as if he's the only one getting punctures now

You win again

Nice little trip to the local. Couple of pints, little win at poker for the charity. Only 30 quid but better than a poke in the eye ithe a sharp stick.

Almost £220 raised at our second bikathon....

....although myself and Paolo can't take the credit for this. Fraggle, our 3-legged lurcher was the star of the show. He was in his element accepting lots of fuss, compliments and in the process melting a few hearts. The customers of Pets at Home didn't stand a chance. They parted with change in a very generous fashion.

For myself and Paolo it was a chance to make the most of the time we had by doing our 3 hour Sunday cycle on the spot, while raising some important funds for Dogs for the Disabled. We are estimating that we did another 50km cycle each but with no hills this time. I think we're going to stick to this plan for the next 2 Sundays until we have to start upping the distance. It's seems to be a good way to find the time for training and fundraising with the limited free time available to us.

Tired

Ok not sure that was wise. Just got back from 5 hours in teh saddle again. 52.15 miles according to W.I.T.T.
I had planned on 5 laps of 9 or so miles round the village but I realised that would be less than 50 and would kind of feel like going backwards. So afer having done 3 laps and feeling relatively OK I decided to go for the 6.
Well after cycling up Standard Hill 6 times this morning as ell as the other less steep but long and insidious inclines 6 times I am about fit to drop. But at least this time I took some energy. I discovered "Go -Gwel". Good stuff, small sachets so fit in pockets well , isotonic and energy packed. Taste nice (tropical or the ubiquitous berry flavours) but unfrortunately has the texture of wallpaper paste or the contents of a mucometra!
Thinking of the expenditure of calories. Why do I not seem to be losing weight hand over fist? After today I will have done 90 theoretical miles in the gym and 52 today and spent 11 hours in the saddle this week. I know they say muscle eighs more than fa etc etc, but its not like I am turning into Mariusz Pudzianowski (If you like strong man events you'll know!) either.
I think I may just end up as one of those fat but fit people.....you know like some sort of Sumo Ninja??
Bath time.

Mixed training

So since the 50 barrier was broken I've been a bit worried about pushing it further. The main issue is time. At 10 mph as an average it is going to be difficult to commit to rides longer than that really. So I have just been trying to do as much as I can but have 2 rest days per week. At the moment I am trying to get to the gym in the week after work (when I finish early enough). Or during the longer gaps in teh middle of the day if we are light on ops.
I am concentrating on time rather than distance. DA reckon thet 1 hour in the gym is worth 2 on the road. So I and doing up to 100 minutes a time on the bike at the gym. (Time in the saddle and the resultant physical effects will be the biggest challenge.) Helps when there's an England test match on Sky sports! This is anything up to 40Km at a time. I am reckoning that with the drinks stops and things we are not going to be doing much more than 30miles in a stint.
I have been reading lots of LEJOG diaries from those that have gone before. Their accounts the hills of Cornwall and then Devon are scaring me a bit, so tomorrow it's hill training.
Living where I do at the top of one, I have little choice than to include hills. I friend suggested the other day that instead of going 25 miles from home, (and potentially getting stranded and firing a flare) I should do laps. So I have worked out a 10 mile circular route which includes a couple of particularly nasty hills.
Tomorrow I am going to attempt 4-5 laps. At least if I struggle or run out of fuel I will never be any more than 4 miles from home. We'll see. Have to say not looking forward to it.

Fundraising Day

A big thank you to all our clients and staff who helped us raise over £250 on our fundraising day before Christmas. Raffle prizes were donated from Pets At Home, Asda, Currys and our own practice. We sold some homemade dog biscuits and had "Spot the Flea" and "Name the Monkey" competitions. We had a lovely day and it was great to raise so much for Dogs for the Disabled