Half a commute

For the first time in what seems like ages (because it is) I got up and cycled to work. It was a little chilly and there were a few patches of ice/frost on the tramway but nothing to scare even the big jessie I am around ice.

My legs were battered from the turbo the night before so it was a nice steady spin. Just passing the Texaco garage at Lea Gate (which isn' even half way there) when I heard a little ping. A memory is triggered and I think that the last time I heard a noise like that I got a puncture and sure enough the back wheel started squidging. Grrrr.

Couldn't find anything in the tube and being right next to a quite fast and very busy road meant no chance of hearing anything. Checked the tyre loads of times but couldn't find anything which I hate, past experience tells me there is usually something lurking somewhere.

All back on with a new tube, get the CO2 out as my fingers are freezing and time is getting on as I set off a bit late anyway. I hadn't put the valve ring on and the valve just pushed back in as I tried to cryongenically freeze my already numb fingers instead of pushing air into the tyre, lovely. Noticed about half way through the canister..I thought..sorted it and got what I thought was a reasonable amount of air in. Put it all back and just about to set off, check tyre and its soft.

A bit of a dilemma...pump it up and hope it holds, replace with my other tube and hope it doesn't puncture, if it does I don't have many options apart from to call Jez who is already at work. I have sticky patch things as a last resort but if I can't locate the actual puncture site then they are useless.

Decide to take it all off again, pump loads of air into the tube whilst thoroughly checking the tyre, rim etc at least six times and still nothing. Tube still seems relatively inflated so take a chance and stick it back in and pump it up with the mini pump rather than waste another canister.

Pump it up so it reasonably passes the finger squeeze test (which is way out usually on road tyres) and it holds once I'm ready to ride. It actually got me all the way to work (about 9 more miles) amazingly without being topped up but it was a little soft.

I left home at 7:30 am and arrived at my desk at 9:27 and I still had to get showered and changed.

I dithered a bit about whether to ride home or not, tyre was most definitely softening but I topped it up during the day and it passed the finger squeeze test but it did soften again. I just didn't want to get caught out on the pitch black section of my commute so took Jez up on the offer of a lift. He reckoned the tyre was reasonably firm.

Got home and got the track pump on it....45 psi, a pinch flat just waiting to happen, that would've been an interesting ride home. Pumped it up to 100psi and have left it to see if it goes down. Will have to have a thorough check of the tyre and possibly replace as there were a couple of deep cuts in it.

Legs surprisingly ok

After Sundays run. About two thirds of the way down the descent I thought my legs were going to be so sore after the hammering I was giving them but on Monday they weren't too bad at all. Tuesday I headed to the gym for a weights session, legs ok.

Had a totally random moment on the way into the gym passing Roy Walker coming out.

I've cycled in today taking advantage of the sunshine, a bit of a parky start proper autumnal. I have realised the Garmin really still works and I can read my current speed in cycling mode but not a lot else. I can do basic things with it like stop/start/reset but that's about it but to be honest I'm not sure if I started it or not. Will find out when I try to download it later.

Hill Reps and a sunny commute

Did some hill reps on Monday, ouch. Found a shortish hill near Tockholes, as opposed to the kilometre long one I last used but a bit steeper to offset the drop in distance. A two mile easy warmup before dropping down to the bottom of "the hill". I had grand plans for 6 reps, revised that down to 4 after the first one.

It was a bit steeper than I thought and held the steepness for longer that I thought it would too. As it eased off slightly before 400 metres I kept going until the 400 metre mark then jogged slowly down. My legs were burning by the end of the third one and the jog down was slightly wobbly at the start. I decided to really give it my all on the fourth one to make up for not doing six reps and was seeing stars at the end of it. I found the longer hill easier as it only kicked up at the end.

It took a big mental effort not to head straight back to the car which was about half a mile away all down hill. Instead I headed up the slight climb to the moor (legs complaining every step of the way) and ran on some of the flatter tracks to ease them out a bit before heading back to the car. Another two miles of easing down which I think was a good idea as my legs didn't stiffen up later.

So times were all around the 3 minute mark for the reps which I was surprised about as the track was quite loose and slippy and I never took exactly the same line twice.

3.04, 3.03, 3.00, 2.56

Depressingly even walking the first part then jogging the rest I still descended in about three minutes too. Which doesn't say much for my running up hill prowess.

Tuesday and I had a lovely spin both too and from work. I managed to take it quite easy on the way in and home but still make good time. The new handlebars still feel great and after putting some air in the tyres the bike didn't feel sluggish like Saturday (oops). My times for both in and out are very similar at the moment which has a lot to do with lower traffic volumes. School holidays will soon be over though...

Ooh me legs...

Well Friday's run killed my legs totally, they seized up big time over the weekend. Mainly the VMO muscles on both knees, everything else was not too bad, it was a hard workout for them it would seem.

This morning they have pretty much come back to me so I rode into work to spin them out. They felt a little heavy but Friday's run was quite a big effort I suppose, I hadn't done any run longer than 7 miles since the marathon.

59:58

I managed a sub one hour commute home on Friday, the first time ever. I had a bit of a tailwind but wasn't aiming to push it on the way home but I arrived at the traffic lights at the end of Strand Road, 3 miles from home at a really good time. I didn't think I'd be able to get in under the hour as I had to get through the tramway as its usually busy, epspecially on a nice Friday evening. It wasn't so I pegged it, amazing how much time is lost rolling to a stop at traffic lights though.

It made up for the morning commute as it was a bit of an assault course of avoiding cars turning left across me and people opening car doors all over the place. One of those mornings when it seems you have a target painted on you.

It's nearly July....

I'm getting to used to this "recovery", the heavy rain, heat and humidity lately hasn't helped I have to say.

I had a fantastic evening MTB ride last Wednesday, my riding is so much more relaxed now I don't have a big event looming and am not worried about falling off onto my knees - that's not to say my riding was capable, just relaxed! Dry dusty trails and back on my On One again, hardtails are ace.

Thursday I tootled over to the running club on my bike. I did actually manage to tootle, picking a route through Cuerden Park which meant lots of people dodging. The upshot was my legs transferred to running mode a lot quicker than when I hammer it (bit obvious really). The run was faster than I was expecting and stupidly hot though quite short at just over 4.5 miles. I felt it at the end, I ran 26.2 miles a few weeks ago, you'd never guess. Left quad and vmo were making their presence felt, not sore but not normal either.

I took a rest day on Friday for my left leg, think its shocked at having to do some work. I ended up not doing much over the weekend, a combination of being busy and the weather not being conducive to the utility cycling I could do on Saturday (no way was I putting on full waterproofs) meant a lazy weekend. So...my lazy month is nearly over!

I got my act together and rode to work yesterday, a humid morning with little wind meant it was quite stifling at times, even on a bike. I was surprised to arrive in my fastest time ever of 57.30, an average of 18.2 ! That included getting tangled up in traffic in Warton so I was chuffed. Not so chuffed to find the showers out of order in my building though. By the time I'd walked back from the other showers I was all sweaty again it was so warm.

I had hoped to get out the door at 16:30 for a nice ride home, the wind had gotten up a bit but I though the head wind would be refreshing. I finally left work at 7pm. Not ideal but did mean a fairly quiet ride home. Headwind was by then actually quite strong but for once I was glad of the airflow.

I solved the mystery of a the difference in route measurement last week, I stop my Garmin at the front gate of site in the morning due to finding pass/getting in amongst the queueing cars then I tootle to my building. In the evening I just start it when I get on the bike....I started it at the front gate on the way home last night and distance almost the same.

So rest of this week: running with Jez tonight offroad, MTB ride tomorrow, at least one other run and find something else to train for once the Swiss trip is done!

Less than two miles from work

..before the rain lashed down. I was drenched and could barely see for a while never mind ride the rain was pounding my face. Though it was quite dry when I got to Warton until the rain caught up with me.

A damp ride home but at 1:05 not a bad time. Oddly I took the exact same route home as I did on the way in but the Garmin records a 1/3 of a mile difference, the ride home was longer. Even accounting for the right turns and stuff its still quite a difference.

My left leg now has a touch of DOMS from Monday's weight session, right leg fine which just adds more evidence that my left leg doesn't do its fair share of work!

Getting Back Into It

I'm taking this resting thing too far I think....though I was pretty tired last week which may have had something to do with a hard MTB ride on Sunday the 14th. My legs were seriously unimpressed with inching a mountain bike up some steep hills.

I had planned a very easy June but July is just round the corner so its time to start picking things up again. I have been making a couple of trips a week to the gym and my left knee is progressing along, still does some crazy wobbling when I'm doing split squats though.

I had a gym trip at lunchtime yesterday and a good 5 mile run after work. It was a bit warm and managed to be breezy and airless at the same time. My legs felt really fresh, mentally I think I'm still not quite back, I felt some fatigue lurking but I did enjoy being out. About half way round I was treated to a fantastic flying display by swallows in a field. Wheeling and diving all over the place, was worth getting out to see that alone.

Today I have cycled into work on the road bike. It wasn't a promising start, I put the rear race blade on as its forecast rain later and then had to stop a few times to move it as it was rubbing on the wheel. I felt really tired but its always a shock to the system getting up to ride that early when I haven't done it for a while, its why I try to keep the commute ticking over regularly.

I had to stop to take my glasses off after 2 miles as they were fogging from the outside due to the mist in the air. About 6 miles the sun had come out and I had to shed some layers but I finally seemed to get into it after that as I had someone up ahead and I decided to see if I could catch them....which I did.

Traffic in Warton seemed to be very light and I arrived at work in less than an hour, I had taken a slightly longer route than normal and was pleased my average speed was actually 17.9. I've never broken 18, if I hadn't faffed so much at the start....

Hopefully I'll manage to dodge the rain on the way home.

Relocation, Relocation

We are being relocated to a new site next year, in Thornton near Fleetwood. Its not ideal but it could have been a lot worse (Warrington, Cheadle or somewhere else horrendous to get to with no chance of cycling there). I need to sort out a new commute route so I headed out there on the road bike today for a bit of a spin.

I had measured it at about 23 miles so it is another 5 miles on top of what I am doing to St Annes (think the Spesh is going to be too slow). I have a pretty good idea of the route all the way to Singleton and I have to say thought of riding across the quiet Fylde lanes of a sunny morning is something to look forward to.

I have no idea about anything beyond Singleton really. I took a drive out that way last week to get an idea of what the roads are like. I was warned that Amounderness Way would be a bit of a nightmare on a bike and I had to agree. Very fast, very narrow and very busy too. A very different route to the one I would drive was needed.

I printed out an O/S map of the area and a street map of the centre of Poulton which as it turned out was nowhere near detailed enough. D'oh. I had a pretty good ride out to Singleton, it was very warm if I stopped but there was a nice breeze when moving to cool things down a bit. The Fylde lanes were as lovely and quiet as they normally are but it will probably be quite exposed on a very windy day, particularly when the hedges die back over winter. When I arrived in Singleton I was averaging 17.5 which I was pretty pleased about as I wasn't pushing. I did think the section across the Fylde had the potential to be fast.

There are a choice of routes I could take, I went for the slightly shorter one on the larger roads. The roads were wide but had a few sets of traffic lights on which slow things down a bit then its through the centre of Poulton. There is a really faffy one way system in Poulton and I got lost in it totally. It has really narrow roads and if you don't know it its not always immediately obvious which roads go in which direction.

I kept cycling round and round trying to find the road I needed to be on, as I hadn't printed a detailed enough street map out this proved difficult. The O/S map reckoned there was a church right in the centre (and there is, I've heard people talk about it) and I kept looking for it as a landmark but could never see it! Eventually I got lucky and managed to find the road and get to the new site. 26 miles, I'd added three on by riding round the bliddy one way system! Still, I think I've got to know it better (probably not knowing me).

From there I decided to head to the beach, it was only about 2k away by the direct route, which I didn't take as I headed down to Bispham. I fancied an ice cream but by the time I got there I was hungry and couldn't resist some chips. I don't normally eat much on a ride so I hoped they wouldn't make me feel queasy. A bit of riding up and down the prom then I decided to head back to Singleton a different way. Apparently there is a route through Blackpool to Stanley Park then out to Staining. I found a leaflet on Lancashire councils website and printed the rather sketchy map out.

It started opposite North Pier so I headed down there, weaving in and out. My average speed had taken a hammering after all my getting lost and dodging people on the prom so I was just going with the flow. I found the start of the route then headed up Talbot Road aiming for the square. Missed the turn, faffed around Blackpools one way system (another one!). I got back on track, luckily traffic was reasonably light. Talbot square was completely dug up so I had to walk the bike round the narrow paths trying not to hit people with the bike.

Back on the road, still struggling to find my way. I had kind of expected some signage, possibly some ASL's or on road cycle lanes, anything to indicate this was a recommended route for cyclists. There was none of that, however there were a few right turns required at some large junctions which were less than entertaining. I finally saw my first cycle way sign at the entrance to Stanley Park. The Park was heaving but I expected that and it was also signposted.

Once I got out the other side I'd had enough of the "cycle route" and got on the main road back to Staining and Singleton. I rode along the other route I wanted to check out, it is slightly longer (0.3 of a mile) but has no traffic lights on it and will hopefully be quieter. Just got to hope its not a rat run in rush hour traffic.

Back into Singleton then across the busy road then on the lanes again. It was fast progress back towards Preston, I managed to pull my average speed up towards a more respectable 15 for a while. It had been steadily clouding up on the way back and it started raining as I left Roaseacre. It didn't last long, thankfully as I had forgotten to bring an extra layer. I was starting to get an attack of hot foot here, my shoes felt like they were too small, I'm sure all the running has made my feet bigger. As I crossed the M55 I was glad I wasn't driving it today, it was absolutely rammed. I got back home just in time for it to start lightly raining.

In the end it was 60 miles in 4:06, which may be a litte excessive during taper but I felt like I could have gone on all day. Apart from the hot foot, that was really annoying. It was also the longest ride I have done on the road bike, not surprising a few niggles would surface.

Puncture free commute yesterday

I rested on Monday and continued eating food like it was going out of fashion, my legs still felt a little battered so rather than run I thought I would ride to work on Tuesday to save some impact on my legs. The upshot of eating all day Monday was I woke up on Tuesday starving, how does that work? I can't remember the last time I absolutely had to eat before riding to work but I did on Tuesday.

No punctures but not an incident free ride in. About half a mile into it I heard something hit the ground, I looked and the Garmin was still there (I'd already knocked that off the bars as I set off) but my little light had fallen off and skidded across the road. As I stopped to retrieve it a car came along and run over it, smashing it into tiny little pieces. Arse! It wasn't one of my super duper expensive lights thankfully.

After that I was blown into work by a strong tailwind with almost no effort on my part. I spotted Mr S heading the opposite way to me and I could tell just by looking at him he was finding it really hard work. I got to work in less than an hour, with seriously no effort the wind was so strong.

Ride home was a very different story, very strong headwind. I rode on the drops for most of it, to get out of the wind a little and have more control over the front wheel. When the wind stopped being in my face it decided to swirl around everywhere and the front wheel really seemed to catch it. I had a few moments where the bike just got blown sideways.

I didn't bother trying to fight it and got home in 1:14, 15 minutes slower than the ride in. I quite enjoyed it really, probably because I wasn't trying to flog myself to death and I was on the road bike, if I was on the Spesh it would have taken longer and felt much harder.

Good Ride Home!

Unusually after a fast ride in I had a faster ride home yesterday, I can't remember it ever happening before. I had a tailwind, seemed to have all the lights with me and didn't get held up at all on the way home which meant I arrived home in 1:04. This is very rare, even on the road bike I don't often get close to this.

Legs were fine too but I think the tailwind helped a lot as I wasn't pushing too hard.

Cycle commute - In Shorts!

I rode to work today in shorts! I actually set off with short sleeves too but that was a little ambitious and I dug the armwarmers out after half a mile. My legs felt surprisingly good on the bike today no inkling of yesterdays hill session, at least they seem to be good for something! It doesn't take much to swap them back to bike mode really, not good when your training for a running event though.

My new tyre hasn't arrived for the road bike yet so I took the Spesh. I had a fantastic ride in with what I suspect is a tailwind as I wasn't trying that hard but did my fastest commute time on the Spesh so far - 1:05 woo! Hopefully its not going to be too much of a slog on the way home but its such a beautiful day who cares!

Incurring the wrath of the p*nct*re fairy.

Don't know what I did to deserve it but I had two visitations from the p fairy on my commute to and from work, the only thing to spoil otherwise lovely rides (apart from the fact I was knackered).

After another rubbish night sleep and not getting to bed til midnight I was awake at 6:30 am to get ready to ride. I had one sensible thought of resting today but it was a beautiful day, I would have to bring my laptop home on Friday and I wanted to ride at least once this week so I got up.


It felt weird to be on the road bike and I managed to set off a bit later than normal after a major faff. I had to get some cash so rode to machine in centre of town, out of order. Got tangled up in traffic for a while but managed to get cash in Penwortham before managing to get out of the line of traffic and on to my normal route. I was feeling tired but was taking it nice and easy, rolling along, yawning a bit, blue sky, sunshine, pink lenses in my shades and generally feeling pleased with the morning.


Heading past the Texaco garage at Lea Gate I heard a ping and the back end of the bike squidged, Grr. Ah well, such a beautiful morning, tyre changing practice is always good. Off the side of the track and I managed to get tyre off, checked around the inside, new tube in and tyre back on relatively quickly for me. I then noticed the cycle path was absolutely strewn with glass, not massive bits but lots of little bits so I checked the outside of the tyre and pulled a few bits out.


It hadn't seated properly round the valve so I undid it all again then used a CO2 canister on it as time was getting on. Woah, never expected the tyre to inflate that quickly but hey all back on and ready to roll. Checks time: 8.25 am - I'm usually there by now. So I abandon my easy paced riding and take off trying not to be too late. I really enjoyed whizzing along on the road bike and got to work in a pretty fast 58:10 of riding time (not including puncture faff). I reported the glass on fillthathole but whether it gets cleared who knows. I now had no spare tube but luckily one of the guys I work with has a road bike and goes home for lunch so brought me a spare back.


It all caught up with me at lunchtime and I struggled to keep my eyes open in the afternoon. The ride home was a much more relaxed (i.e. shattered) affair. I dawdled home and three miles from home I got another puncture - I knew that glass was going to cause problems. I tried pumping the tyre up a bit to see if I could limp home but no joy. It is too far to walk pushing a bike but there was a bench over on the other side of the road so I had a seat, just as well I got that spare.


I picked yet more glass out of the tyre and changed the tube, even quicker this time. I was going to pump it up but the hunger had started and I really needed to get home so CO2 again and I wobble home starving. I was so tired in the evening, in fact I think I was overtired because I had another rubbish nights sleep then too.


I was going to do intervals on Friday......(this is what happens when Jez isn't around to save me from myself!).

Whoosh!

...time just seems to have disappeared lately, not that I have been up to much.


Jez and I were in the Lakes for our birthday at the beginning of the month (yes we do share the same birthday). We celebrated getting another year older by walking up Fairfield from Patterdale, in the snow. I would write lots more about this as I took loads of photos but for some reason Jez's laptop ate them and they were never seen again. I was left with about 8 completely random photos on the memory card out of a few hundred. Only the Fairfield ones hadn't been copied elsewhere, ho hum.


It started as a beautiful day, lots of fluffy sparkly snow and lots of ice around. The climb up onto Farifield itself was very steep but the snow was pretty good so kicking steps was the way to go, except when I booted hidden rocks, that hurt. We followed some fell shoe tracks up. The tracks were actually heading down the mountain and fair play to whoever it was because we only saw a couple of elongated prints where they had had a little slide, there had been no application of technical hands or arse.


Some quite thick snow over the top and I got a view from the top rather than the pea soup clag I had last time I was up there. It didn't last long as the weather was coming in and Helvellyn had disappeared in the cloud. Our plan was to head back via St Sunday Crag and down into Patterdale. Once the cloud came in the light went really flat and I found negotiating some of the little ridgy bits on the way down to Deepdale hause a little tricky as I just couldn't make things out properly. I had a little lateral foot slip on one of the narrowest sections which sharpened the mind somewhat!


At Deepdale Hause we decided against continuing with the planned route as it was snowing and the cloud was down and we had to gain a fair amount of height again. We decided to drop down into Deepdale and head back that way, and what a drop down it was! It felt vertical (and looked it when walking away), lots of side steps to get down. A long boring trog along Deepdale then into the pub in Patterdale for some beer and a humungous plate of food.



An easy day after walking where we go pick up Jez's new car then an MTB ride on Saturday 7th where I managed not to fall off, which is a good thing. The bad thing is I achieved it by riding like a complete wuss, really demoralising. I felt really shattered for some reason and wasn't particularly enjoying myself in the driving rain and wind. We headed out in the afternoon, just as the lovely morning was replaced by minging weather. Very wet and cold and for once wasn't bothered about the ride being short!


Sunday I was supposed to be doing a long run but just couldn't get myself to do anything, thought I might have had a bit of a sniffle. On Monday I woke up thinking I had a bit of a sniffle but I was fine in the afternoon so I headed out after work for a run. I mile easy, 4 miles at 8:40 and 1 mile easy again. I headed into Cuerden park where there are a few hills so I knew I would need to work harder on the easier sections to compensate for the hills. First fast mile was 8:47 and I never paid attention after that. In the end the tempo section averaged 8:13 mm which was far too fast and I had massively overcompensated for the hills and I had a feeling I was going to pay for it.


Tuesday I felt a little coldy but got up and cycled to work, I was feeling fine after about 20 minutes and had a really good ride in, little wind and an average of 16mph which is quite fast for me on the Spesh. The ride home was supposed to be a bimble but for some reason I pushed a little bit on the first few miles, I think it was just nice to be riding home in proper daylight. At Freckleton a roadie came screaming by me (as they do), then up ahead two blokes joined the Marsh Road in front of me. They weren't going particularly slowly but for some reason I decided to try and catch them.


I was averaging about 19mph (it has its own momentum I think the Spesh) and caught up to the first one, who was on a road bike but wearing fairly normal clothes. I had to wait for a gap in the traffic to overtake then I got passed, I had to accelerate hard but I was off. I haven't worked that hard on my commute for quite some time. It didn't take me long to get to the second guy but I had to wait a little longer to pass him. I remember looking at the computer and I think it was reading 23/24 mph as I accelerated to get past before I got flattened by the traffic.


I was working far too hard by then but I kept pushing at around 18/19 mphwhen I realised that I was reeling in the roadie who screamed past me earlier, think he must have backed off quite a bit. Unfortunately he got through the lights at the end of the Marsh Road and I had to wait else I think I would have got pretty close. I had to take it really easy for the rest of the ride home as I felt toatlly knackered, not a good sign and not very clever.


I paid for the hard efforts by being barely able to make myself get out of bed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I couldn't believe how tired I felt. On Saturday I woke up with a proper sniffle, at last, I have been trying to fight something off! I was stuck working on Saturday so I coudn't get to the XC race or go out for a run but I didn't mind as I was ill anyway. I rested again yesterday as still felt a little sniffly in the morning but woke up this morning feeling like a new me.


I hate when a cold is trying to get a hold for ages, there have been a few going round the office and I've done well not to catch one.

Commuting

I rode to work today, my quads were a bit sore from yesterdays run so it wasn't sensible to run. Due to falling off on Saturday I have various bruises dotted about on my legs which means I couldn't really get at them with the roller, another reason to stop falling off!

Ride in had a fair headwind for some of it, the last forecast I looked at had a Westerly for the morning but more of a South Westerly (i.e another bit of headwind) for the way home. Quite slow on the really open sections but I just spun the legs out, they weren't up for pushing.

When I got to work and reversing the bike into the cupboard I thought the rear wasn't rolling well, I picked it up and it wasn't spinning. I couldn't make up my mind if it was the brake or not but left it til the afternoon as I was hungry.

I missed the rain that came through for the ride home. I had a bit of a faff with the rear wheel before setting off. The Spesh has a very old pair of Hope C2s on it, as its a closed system you can back the pads off a bit (and if they stick on and heat up then they bind solid) but I couldn't get the dial to move so I jiggled the QR around a bit and that managed to make the wheel spin better.

Out on the road it seemed to be rolling fine and stayed ok for the whole ride. It was a bit of a headwind until Warton where it got more behind me. I was entertained on the Marsh Road as the Eurofighter was out to play, circling around over the marsh making a racket. It was a little distracting and I found myself drifting into the traffic lane, oops. Just as well there was a lull in the traffic, they don't hang around on this road.

It was fairly easy through Preston and home.

Commuting

As I still have no car I decided to cycle to work today rather than run, Jez needed his car and was going to be away overnight anyway. The ride in was mostly in daylight, hurrah! I had to carry my laptop as well as my usual stuff so I had both panniers on, the extra weight was noticeable, particularly trying to lumber away from traffic lights etc. I intended leaving the laptop at work.

There was a stiff headwind from Warton to Lytham , I could see by the flags at the side of the road that I was riding straight into it. I passed a coal lorry and did look behind me to see if they had chucked a couple of sacks on coal onto the bike such was the reduction in speed!

It took 1:17 to get to work today, I thought it was slower. I was starving too, so I downed the bottle of energy drink that I now always carry with me in the morning (as I can't face breakfast before setting off) when getting showered and changed then had a large bowl of porridge.

A call to the garage after lunch and they still haven't managed to get the correct seal for the injector!!!! So unlikely the car will be finished today, that puts me in a bit of a quandary as I can't use Jez's car tomorrow. I end up deciding to take the laptop home and I arrange to work at home tomorrow.

I need to pick some bike bits up from Merlin, which wasn't a big deal until I remembered they are no longer in Leyland (2 miles away) but Buckshaw Village (6.5 miles away). I'll have to go by bike.

Ride home was brill, the wind was behind me all the way and I made good speed with not masses of effort. It took 1:10 to get home, which is reasonably quick. A quick pitstop, dump uneccessary baggage, pick up a lock, pick up some biscuits, feed the cat then back out. The cat was very miffed at this!

I rode through Cuerden Park, best time to ride it is at night as there is nobody there then up the A6 and into Buckshaw Village. Into Merlin, pick up the bits then I decide to ride home on the A49 as traffic will have calmed a bit. At some point on the ride home I did the maths....35.5 round trip commute, 10 miles so far in my Merlin run, only another 4.5 or so to get 50.

Why did I do that? I nipped into Sainsburys to get some odds and sods (chocolate) and then had to find two miles so rode down into Bamber Bridge a bit then home. 50.4 milesish of bimbling about on the tank.

I hope I haven't killed my legs for tomorrow's run.

This Week....

Flown past! On the way home from the Lakes on Saturday the engine management light came on in my car and the engine lost power. It would still cruise along ok but acceleration was a bit glacial. On Sunday, I did nothing due to combination of dodgy car meaning I couldn't get anywhere to go for a hilly run and with it being the day after a proper crash my neck was really stiff.

Monday I spent the morning booking my car into the garage and then not much at all as my broadband wasn't working for a couple of hours. Luckily my work were very understanding letting me work from home and logging on once the broadband was back. I went out for a walk to the post office to check conditions and decided it was too slippy/icy/snowy everywhere to run comfortably (kicking myself for not doing something on Sunday), but did walk for an hour or two taking some frosty pictures.

Tuesday I got to work in Jez's car and did an interval session at lunchtime. I was doing the 5 mins hard, 5 mins easy session again. It was pretty windy but I had the wind behind me when doing the first interval and I set off far too fast! The second one was still wind assisted. For the other three I was sheltered a bit, particularly for the last two as the dunes were in the way of the wind. I decided to try to maintain the average pace of the first interval, which was really hard and on the last one I had to shout at myself not to stop.

I hung on and average paces for the five: 06.47 6.48 6.48 6.52 6.49

Which is quite amazingly consistent for me. The downside was that working so hard meant that two minutes felt like an eternity!

Wednesday I was again working from home, I was supposed to be dropping my car off at the garage. The plan was to put my bike in the back, drop the car off, cycle into Preston to visit Post Office and bank then bimble home. Stupid car decided it wouldn't start!!!!! I tried to locate some jump leads in case it was the battery, none of my neighbours who were in had them (or they were in hubbies car, who was at work).

I should really have some leads so I cycled to B & Q a mile away, they didn't have any. So I headed to Halfords aboout 4 miles away (passing the garage annoyingly) and back. Had to wait for a neighbour with a car to come home, linked it all up and fecker still refused to start. Just belched loads of acrid white smoke out the back. Ah well another wasted morning.

Spent all afternoon trying to contact the garage and trying to figure out what to do with the stupid thing. At about 3pm I cycled into Preston to do the errands I was supposed to do this morning. All the faffing about added up to 20 miles of cycling.

Thursday was tempo run day: 1 mile easy then 7 miles at long tempo pace. It had been snowing a little before I set off but nothing that was going to lie. As I stepped out the door I thought it was a bit warmer than yesterday. There wasn't much wind but I decided to run into it for the first half of the run. I ran down the prom to the monstrosity that is Lytham Quays, then from there to Green Drive, and back along the wooded track I discovered last time and then back to work.

After an easy mile and a bit where I had to slow myself down a lot I picked the pace up a bit. I wanted to see how long I could maintain 8:40 pace. As the snow had stopped it seemed get colder. When I turned back towards work at around the half way point I picked up the pace even more (it was bloody cold). Mile splits:

8.40 8.38 8.36 8.28 8.15 8.14 8.21

I felt I was running quite well at the end, last time I felt I was running that well I broke myself (paranoia). Hopefully as I have to rest on Friday it'll give my legs a good chance to recover.

Cycling In

My legs felt a little dead setting off this morning, after about 20 minutes I decided I was quite hungry. I dawdled in my own little world for about half of the ride until someone passed me on the Marsh Road making me jump. Then I started concentrating on riding. The last 8 miles or so felt fine so maybe I just needed to warm up a bit.

There was pretty much a tailwind all the way in, if it had been a strong headwind like Friday I'd probably still be out there such was my lack of oomph. 1 hour 10 minutes today.

I think I'm going to have a fair old headwind on the way home, not like Friday. The strong tailwind, and the fact I didn't leave work until close to 6pm meaning Warton was quiet, gave me an average speed of 18.01 mph at Lea Gate, just over half way home. I didn't think the Spesh was capable of trundling at that speed for any length of time.

By the time I had gone through Preston the average had dropped down to 16.5 but still quite fast for the ride home, there will be none of that tonight.

Cycle Commute In

I didn't expect to ride in this week as the forecast earlier in the week was so bad. Last night it looked like the wind wouldn't be as strong (I'll take 20mph as a bit of a breeze) and there shouldn't be much rain so I decided to get my stuff ready.

I was a little tired waking up this morning after yesterdays run but when I looked out the window the trees weren't being bent double and no rain was lashing to I got dressed and out. There was rain for a while as I was heading out of Preston but I didn't really care due to the head to ankle paclite, how did I ever survive without it? The wind was right in my face for most of the ride so it was slow progress at times, I didn't try to push as I'd had quite a hard day yesterday.

It took me 1:14 to get to work this morning but I enjoyed it and it was almost light enough that I could have switched the main light off at Warton. Fingers crossed the wind stays westerly and I get blown home.

Riding to work

I decided to ride to work today, there had been no banter about night riding and the forecast looked not too bad today. I also want a rest day in my legs before racing on Saturday.

The forecast was for light wind and possibly some rain in the morning with the wind picking up to around 25mph gusts etc and heavier rain for the ride home. The wind was due to be coming from a South Easterly direction which as Jez pointed out would make for hard work on the ride home. I said "that's not too bad and I have my waterproofs anyway".

Ride in was fine, a little cold to start with but nice and warm in my full paclite bin bag ensemble. I took a pretty steady pace to work with no dramas. It took 1:09 minutes to do the 17.5 miles for the particular route I took and it was a really, really enjoyable "I love my bike" ride. Particularly enjoyable was switching the main light off for the last three miles or so as it was so light (spring is coming!!! slowly).

For the ride home my words came back to haunt me! The rain started as soon as I got up from my desk (I laugh in the face of rain!) but the wind didn't seem to bad due to the shelter of the building. Usual faff getting ready and out the door, it wasn't until I left site and turned onto Heyhouses Lane that the wind hit me and I crawled along at 10mph!

It was hard work against the wind for the whole ride home but I can honestly say I never bothered about the rain (apart from the few times it was driving into my face), I was toasty, warm and dry. I slogged it out with my helmet peak set down against the wind for most of the way home. It was so set down that I missed the cut through to the swing bridge on the docks and ended up popping out near Morrisons. I did think of cycling along that way but when I got there it seemed jammed with cars.

I decided to head round the back of the docks as I was supposed to. As I was approaching the cinema I could see loads of tail lights queued, unusual for this bit of road. When I got to the junction to head towards Strand Road it was at a standstill. Cars were backed up, with people trying to get into the queue at random angles. It was chaos, so I rode on the pavement for a while until I got past the worst bottle neck and continued on the road, then down through quiet Avenham Park.

The last section was hard work straight into the wind and I crawled home. It took me 1:25 to do the 18 or so miles home at a snail worthy 12.9 mph. Though it turns out there were major problems on the M6/M55 anyway so I don't think I would have driven home in much less, which was why Preston was so busy. Still quite enjoyed it because I didn't end up cold and wet.