Half way through January and it has to be said that I am firmly back on the wagon ... Training is hard and I am on it every day. Swimming is the activity of choice for me at the moment, swimming 100 lengths in an hour is the norm for me now and I have done this most nights. I have had the bike on the rollers a few times. I have managed to get into the gym for a mock mini triathlon one night ... I ran 5km, then rode 20km and then swam 1km all in 1:34:00 ... I don't know if this is good or not ? Of course it would be very different being on machines to actually being out in the elements but lets be honest, January isn't the best month to be out and about. Cold, wet, icy, windy, dark, miserable ... Basically not nice so for now its indoor simulated training for this tiger.
Having said that, today I hit the roads on Pippa and really enjoyed it, the condition of the roads in Hartlepool right now is horrendous ... Basically if your not dodging pot holes then your dodging the debris that has came out of pot holes, thank you very much to the British winter weather for this. 3 weeks of snow has not helped. Anyway, to the important stuff ... How did it go ?
Well I planned a route that basically starts with a climb, the first 6km of the ride is a long long climb that doesn't seem to ever end to be honest and just when you hit a crest you start to climb again so it was a good test to start with. I rode that first uphill 6km in 19 minutes so it wasn't so bad, I kept my cadence to about 70 / 80, granted in a very low gear because I would have burnt up and cramped otherwise. Speed up the hill was a crawl at about 10mph ... Tedious, but I got there in the end much to my pleasure. Next came the fun part, racing cars down hill ... I managed to hit 82.7kmh at one point ... In UK terms that's about 52mph, this is uncharted territory for me but seriously thrilling ... Riding at this speed on wheels no wider than my thumb dodging every bit of gravel on the road I possibly could, riding parallel with cars who are going hell for leather on a B road is quite exciting. I wont lie, I had a smile on my face so the drivers of these cars looking at me must have thought I was a bit of a twat but honestly, they are only jealous that they couldn't keep up, ha ha.
Anyway ... All in all the ride wasn't a bad one ... Full details can be found here if your feeling nosy - http://runkeeper.com/user/BenAuty/activity/23453628. Here you can see my route, calories burned, speed, distance and anything else you wish to know. Enjoy.
Right ... Next on the agenda, equipment, have I bought anything else ? No way ... I am skint, January sucks and payday on Tuesday cant come quick enough ... One new bit of kit I have acquired is a wind breaker coat from Altura. Wore it today on the ride and it has to be said that its an outstanding bit of kit, a windbreaker in every sense of the word.
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The Altura Nevis Jacket is fantastic value waterproof and breathable cycling jacket.
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So I was certainly bright and if you missed me then to be fair you had your eyes shut. This coat has some kind of coating on it that just repels everything, I got home covered in road gunk and rain and everything else that's been thrown at me and somehow this coat was looking brand new, impressive. I would definitely recommend a purchase.
Pay day is Tuesday and all being well I should be able to purchase quite a lot to get Pippa looking ship shape and good to take me all the way to Paris. I need to be comfortable after all ... I still have quite a bit to buy on my shopping list ... Of course I cant share this with you just yet because I have to research and price match and work out what I can afford this month but all I will say is I still need a new seat, seat post, pedals, a GPS device of some description, some road shoes, a new helmet and of course a stock of inner tubes, ha ha ! A little fact that I was told the other day worries me somewhat and led me to think that French roads surely cant be any better than British ones ... I hope that this is not correct. The quote was from Kidney Research UK and they said ...
"On average on the KR UK L2P ride there are 20 - 50 punctures per day"
GULP ! ... I will be employing my debris dodging skills to ensure that I don't get any, knowing my luck though ... I will. So anyway ... That's enough from me now, I have went on for long enough. I shall be back soon and keep you guys up to speed with the on going and don't forget to sponsor me if you haven't yet. Kidney Research UK and myself would be very grateful if you did. Thank you,
Ben Auty - Over and out.
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