Out in the lovely Dorset countryside with Sam & Jack on Tuesday evening for a cracking ride, just under 10 miles & no lights required! We got a good average for Jack & good cadence for me & Sam!
I extended the Tuesday route tonight on my own, but it was as far extra as we'd thought it would - so it was just over 10 miles - Endomondo seems to have got a little un-reliable in the last couple of weeks as it says it was just under 10 - anyway I managed to average somewhere between 16.7mph & 17mph - so that's good progress!
I'm looking forward to the Cycle Slam Group Ride on Saturday - starting in Mitcham (South-ish London/Surrey) - there's going to be 60+ of us and the 64 mile route includes Box Hill - so I can't wait for that! Hopefully they'll be plenty of Core Riders there & The Discovery Channel are doing abit of filming too!!
This weather is fab & great for the final few weeks before I'm off to France - I hope it doesn't turn to cold next week!
Cheers
Andy
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Monday, 26 March 2012
Cycle Slam D-49
Weeks are flying by at the moment with now only 7 weeks to go!!
The weather was stunning this weekend which gave us ample opportunity to get out on the bikes: First ride was our first one out with Luke - hurrah! Us 4 fellas took our mountain bikes on a 16 mile round trip, off road and on with a stop at Barford Farm http://www.barford-icecream.co.uk/ for delicious ice creams - goof value too! Luke then had South Dorset cricket practice at Lychett school between 5-7pm, so i took my bike & headed out while he played - i wasn't really sure where i was heading, but went north through Lychett Matravers onwards for a couple of miles & then saw a sign for Wareham & decided to go there - 23 miles in all as the sun was going down - enjoyed the ride & got a good speed throughout!
Sunday was always planned to be a 60 miler day with Sam - we got delayed going out as the Grand Prix was slowed due to rain in Malaysia!! We decided to extend our 50 miler from 2 weeks ago - it was great to be out in just bib shorts & top and not all the layers of the past few months!! We climbed our big hill at Iwerne Minster (no singing, not even Bon Jovi, for me up there - so it must have been hard graft!) & then headed off towards Handley - poor Sam had a twinge in his calf, so we cut short & headed home via Horton & still got a good average and did just under 49 miles - good shout! Still determined to clear 60 for the day, i headed out for what we call the Bidy ride & added another 14 miles to the tally & i was pleased with my average there too. As ever, our riding was rounded off by a fabulous Tea cooked by Linsey - thanks!!
So over 100 miles for the weekend, but as someone said at work today, you'll be doing that on your first day!! :)
Now the clocks have changed this week's evening ride with Sam & Jack can be out into the countryside, so we're looking forward to that!
With Gift Aid, I'm upto £2,900 so I'm really close to £3k - thanks everyone!! If you still want to sponsor me, the link is www.virginmoneygiving.com/AndyNeill
Best Wishes
Andy
The weather was stunning this weekend which gave us ample opportunity to get out on the bikes: First ride was our first one out with Luke - hurrah! Us 4 fellas took our mountain bikes on a 16 mile round trip, off road and on with a stop at Barford Farm http://www.barford-icecream.co.uk/ for delicious ice creams - goof value too! Luke then had South Dorset cricket practice at Lychett school between 5-7pm, so i took my bike & headed out while he played - i wasn't really sure where i was heading, but went north through Lychett Matravers onwards for a couple of miles & then saw a sign for Wareham & decided to go there - 23 miles in all as the sun was going down - enjoyed the ride & got a good speed throughout!
Sunday was always planned to be a 60 miler day with Sam - we got delayed going out as the Grand Prix was slowed due to rain in Malaysia!! We decided to extend our 50 miler from 2 weeks ago - it was great to be out in just bib shorts & top and not all the layers of the past few months!! We climbed our big hill at Iwerne Minster (no singing, not even Bon Jovi, for me up there - so it must have been hard graft!) & then headed off towards Handley - poor Sam had a twinge in his calf, so we cut short & headed home via Horton & still got a good average and did just under 49 miles - good shout! Still determined to clear 60 for the day, i headed out for what we call the Bidy ride & added another 14 miles to the tally & i was pleased with my average there too. As ever, our riding was rounded off by a fabulous Tea cooked by Linsey - thanks!!
So over 100 miles for the weekend, but as someone said at work today, you'll be doing that on your first day!! :)
Now the clocks have changed this week's evening ride with Sam & Jack can be out into the countryside, so we're looking forward to that!
With Gift Aid, I'm upto £2,900 so I'm really close to £3k - thanks everyone!! If you still want to sponsor me, the link is www.virginmoneygiving.com/AndyNeill
Best Wishes
Andy
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Cycle Slam D-55
It's getting closer - 8 weeks today I'll have finished my first day - 103 miles & recuperating in the Champagne Region of France!!
Good update on Fund Raising - we had a family get together at The Farm over the weekend & I received some very generous contributions to the cause & Sam & Jack got some very generous donations to the BHF Dorset Bike Ride at the end of April - thanks Family!! - It was a cracking weekend too! I popped another email out at work today & my very generous colleagues across a number of sites have added £125 plus gift aid into the pot - so i'm edging closer to the £3k - now under £500 & that's before the Gift Aid!
Training-wize - I did the looping 10 miler last Tuesday in good time & then went out on friday afternoon, as we were away at the weekend - I did 47.5 miles & squeezed my average upto 15.6 mph - which is the best of the year so far, although still abit short of last year's efforts! Tonight I was out with Jack for our 10 miler again - I was thinking as we went round that I'll have a pint of what Jack's on, please! He was buzzing tonight & we got our best average together and I also got my average cadence into the 90s for the first time - 94 today - thanks Jack - great stuff! As ever Tuesday night's are always rounded off by a great tea from Linsey & tonight was no exception :) !!
Although there was no training at the weekend, i did have the opportunity to pump up an air bed at my Mum's - she got it all out & I pumped away for 20 minutes, thinking that this was good exercise, but this bed should be looking a little fuller than it is; only to turn the damn thing over & find half a dozen holes in it - aargh!!
Thanks for your support everyone
Cheers
Andy
Good update on Fund Raising - we had a family get together at The Farm over the weekend & I received some very generous contributions to the cause & Sam & Jack got some very generous donations to the BHF Dorset Bike Ride at the end of April - thanks Family!! - It was a cracking weekend too! I popped another email out at work today & my very generous colleagues across a number of sites have added £125 plus gift aid into the pot - so i'm edging closer to the £3k - now under £500 & that's before the Gift Aid!
Training-wize - I did the looping 10 miler last Tuesday in good time & then went out on friday afternoon, as we were away at the weekend - I did 47.5 miles & squeezed my average upto 15.6 mph - which is the best of the year so far, although still abit short of last year's efforts! Tonight I was out with Jack for our 10 miler again - I was thinking as we went round that I'll have a pint of what Jack's on, please! He was buzzing tonight & we got our best average together and I also got my average cadence into the 90s for the first time - 94 today - thanks Jack - great stuff! As ever Tuesday night's are always rounded off by a great tea from Linsey & tonight was no exception :) !!
Although there was no training at the weekend, i did have the opportunity to pump up an air bed at my Mum's - she got it all out & I pumped away for 20 minutes, thinking that this was good exercise, but this bed should be looking a little fuller than it is; only to turn the damn thing over & find half a dozen holes in it - aargh!!
Thanks for your support everyone
Cheers
Andy
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Cycle Slam D-64
Out with my lead out man Jack today! We did our 'Menigitis Ride' in reverse today, for the first time which was fun - It took us out through Wimborne, Shapwick, Tarrant Keynston, across to Witchampton & then home via Hinton Martell & Holt - strange doing it in reverse, but a good ride - thanks, Jack!
We drove down to Studland this afternoon & had a lovely walk - 2 miles on the sand to Knowle Bay - Mr Whippy Ice Cream for Luke (that means it's a proper cafe!) & Purbeck Ice Cream for Sam & Jack & lovely rock cakes for Linsey & I; Although we've walked this beach before, the naturist section had never been populated before - today it was but thankfully there was nothing outstanding about any of the gentlemen on parade!!
I forgot to say, yesterday, I've had a piece about me on the main Dallaglio-Flintoff website this week - have a look: http://dallaglioflintoff2012.com/articles/2012/03/publicity-stories/
Enjoy your week & this lovely weather
cheers
Andy
We drove down to Studland this afternoon & had a lovely walk - 2 miles on the sand to Knowle Bay - Mr Whippy Ice Cream for Luke (that means it's a proper cafe!) & Purbeck Ice Cream for Sam & Jack & lovely rock cakes for Linsey & I; Although we've walked this beach before, the naturist section had never been populated before - today it was but thankfully there was nothing outstanding about any of the gentlemen on parade!!
I forgot to say, yesterday, I've had a piece about me on the main Dallaglio-Flintoff website this week - have a look: http://dallaglioflintoff2012.com/articles/2012/03/publicity-stories/
Enjoy your week & this lovely weather
cheers
Andy
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Cycle Slam D-65
Only 65 days to go - crikey!!
This week's Tuesday night was moved to Wednesday & we decided to try a different route, to give the hills a rest & build up some stamina on the flats! From Canford Bottom roundabout to the mini-roundabout by the doctors in Wimborne is about 2 miles, so with this in mind we dropped down to the Texaco garage (or is it Esso now?) & off we went! Happy days when we got to Brook Road where there's temporary 4way trafic lights!! So all the good momentum we'd built up on each stretch was knocked for six - we got through them once without stopping!! Never mind, all three of us got out & it was good fun!!
This morning, just Sam & I headed out to extend the 40 miler we did a couple of weeks ago - Sam did really well & the 1 mile hill at Iwerne Minster we climbed together today - nice one Sam! We dropped back onto the Salisbury road & made it to the Sixpenny Handley roundabout today then had a really good run for the next 10 miles averaging 17.5 mph (good for us anyway!) Endomondo says 3,923 feet of climbing today, so that's not shabby! Weather ended up being excellent, so we were both down to short sleeved tops - great to get the arms out in the sunshine!!
Freddie Flintoff's on tonight's Jonathan Ross - so hopefully that'll be fun & hopefully out tomorrow with Jack!
Keep Pedalling & enjoy the sunshine!!
Andy
This week's Tuesday night was moved to Wednesday & we decided to try a different route, to give the hills a rest & build up some stamina on the flats! From Canford Bottom roundabout to the mini-roundabout by the doctors in Wimborne is about 2 miles, so with this in mind we dropped down to the Texaco garage (or is it Esso now?) & off we went! Happy days when we got to Brook Road where there's temporary 4way trafic lights!! So all the good momentum we'd built up on each stretch was knocked for six - we got through them once without stopping!! Never mind, all three of us got out & it was good fun!!
This morning, just Sam & I headed out to extend the 40 miler we did a couple of weeks ago - Sam did really well & the 1 mile hill at Iwerne Minster we climbed together today - nice one Sam! We dropped back onto the Salisbury road & made it to the Sixpenny Handley roundabout today then had a really good run for the next 10 miles averaging 17.5 mph (good for us anyway!) Endomondo says 3,923 feet of climbing today, so that's not shabby! Weather ended up being excellent, so we were both down to short sleeved tops - great to get the arms out in the sunshine!!
Freddie Flintoff's on tonight's Jonathan Ross - so hopefully that'll be fun & hopefully out tomorrow with Jack!
Keep Pedalling & enjoy the sunshine!!
Andy
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Cycle Slam D-71
I know we need the rain, but this is ridiculous!! Luke's football this afternoon in Weymouth has been cancelled & it would have been madness for me & Sam & Jack to go out this morning on the road - however, thank goodness for the turbo!
I drove upto Richmond yesterday, leaving at 6:30am for the 8:30am start - there were only 9 of us this week & we headed off on a similar route to my last time up there, although we did the hill climb the other way round. It was a good outing, quite a lot of stop - start will all the traffic (busier on a Saturday, than a Sunday) & we totalled just under 47 miles. I was happy with the cadence of 78 but i wasn't overjoyed that a fella & I got dropped at a set of temporary traffic lights & had to find our own way back!!
Turbo was hard this morning, but i saw the 3lc.tv dvd through to the end & managed the 130+ cadence over the line - although i guess i was a little way behind at that point!!
So, just over 10 weeks to go until I head off the Nancy!
Some-one send in the sunshine please!!
Andy
I drove upto Richmond yesterday, leaving at 6:30am for the 8:30am start - there were only 9 of us this week & we headed off on a similar route to my last time up there, although we did the hill climb the other way round. It was a good outing, quite a lot of stop - start will all the traffic (busier on a Saturday, than a Sunday) & we totalled just under 47 miles. I was happy with the cadence of 78 but i wasn't overjoyed that a fella & I got dropped at a set of temporary traffic lights & had to find our own way back!!
Turbo was hard this morning, but i saw the 3lc.tv dvd through to the end & managed the 130+ cadence over the line - although i guess i was a little way behind at that point!!
So, just over 10 weeks to go until I head off the Nancy!
Some-one send in the sunshine please!!
Andy
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)