Long time no blog

Well, what a busy few weeks. I have to confess I just haven't had time to look at my blog but here we go. Well I have now become a Level 2 rugby coach and a qualified Nitrox diver. I had a week in Sharm, Egypt and dived with Hammerhead sharks off the back of Jackson Reef in the straits of Tiran. Met some great people in Sharm so a big hello to those infamous sea-dogs, the Seagull Gang.
Coming back to work was a bit of a shock and coaching in the rain wasn't too pleasant after 35 degrees of heat in Sharm. Of course my training took a bit of a hit but I managed to get around 100 miles in this week and 2 x 30 minute swimming sessions so not too shabby. I really need to get the mileage up from now to the event. The target is 150 miles a week and 2 or 3 swimming sessions but that is a tall order looking at my workload.

Anyway, back to the diving. It was a fab week and I hope to get some piccies posted very soon so keep watching. I also managed to get a great dive in on the SS Thistlegorm when it was unusually quiet. Thanks to Jim from Ocean College for being a top guide all week.

Shoe Fetish........

I set off on Sunday to meet Chester RC but I was the only one there. Are they trying to tell me something? Anyway in a moment of sheer lunacy I decided I would head off up the Horseshoe again. I took it easy on the way as I knew what was waiting and felt pretty good at the Ponderosa. However the climb over the old road was really tough. It wasn't helped when a lady flagged me down for directions half way up a steep section. When I jumped back on my bike to set off again, the rear wheel just span in the wet and I ended up in a pile on the floor. With a small bruise to my arm and a huge bruise to my pride I set off again dodging the sheep that seemed intent on making me look stupid twice in one day! How on earth the game of "Chicken" got it's name I don't know. It should have been called "Sheep". In any case I was in a bad way by the time I got home. I really was shattered this time. I did a slightly different route of 64 miles. The middle 20 miles takes as long as the first and last 20 combined! Just shows how slow the climbs are. I don't think I'll be entering the tour! I also met a couple of other masochistic cyclists at the Ponderosa cafe who train at Total Fitness in Chester. I was slightly upset that they didn't look half as knackered as me!




However one thing to look forward to, I have booked a weeks scuba diving in the Red Sea. I can't wait.
This was me in Tenerife last year poking around a wreck. I plan to go to the SS Thistlegorm this time. Its an early start and a late return but should be worth it.

Horseshoe Hell Pt 2

So with the horseshoe conquered once I was feeling cocky last Saturday and decided to do the Pass again from home this time. I picked out a route which returned over a road nr the Horseshoe. I was a little worried as I didn't know this road and couldn't remember ever passing the turning before, even in my motorbiking days. Still, it couldn't be harder than the horseshoe could it?

Lesson 1 - Never trust a map. It looked like the road followed the valley. Oh how I wish I had used an OS map and not a road map. Half way up this killer climb on the return journey I started to realise that this was easily the hardest ride I had done to date by a huge margin.

Lesson 2 - Never assume the hard bit is done. Once at the Ponderosa at the top of the horseshoe I had thought I had done all the really hard climbing. Little did I realise that I was about to lose most of the altitude in a 5 min high speed descent only to have to climb it all again on a single track road!

Attached a pic of offending return climb for anyone who fancies a go. The ride was planned to be 55 miles but turned out to be 58 by after an unplanned deviation from the route! Whoops

Still, the weather was fantastic and the road to Minera was completely empty. Despite the fact I was completely "cream crackered" it was very enjoyable. I even managed a quick ride on Tuesday morning without too much of that weak leg feeling I normally get for a few days after a big ride.

The rest of this week is a bit of a write off in terms of training. I am commissioning some equipment this week and on a stag weekend. Next week its back to Somerset and Blagdon Hill. Let's see if it's any easier. Surely a doddle after the horseshoe? Maybe not.

ALSO A BIG BIG THANKS TO MY RECENT SPONSORS. KEEP IT COMING I NEED ALL THE SPONSORSHIP I CAN GET

The Horseshoe Pass

It looks like a small innocuous squiggly line on a map. The 3 dimensional version however poses some serious questions about fitness. Myself and the Clarkster decided it was time that the Horseshoe was shown who was boss. Just to make it more difficult we planned a 45 mile route with the Pass as the prize at the end. What we didn't realise was just how hilly the rest of our route was. 45 miles is a doddle I told him! 45 miles over some big hills in the pouring rain wasn't such a doddle.

Actually we had a great time despite the rain. We chose to climb the steep side from Ruthin. The idea was we could get the pain over in a short, sharp shock. It wasn't as hard as we had expected although I won't claim for a second it was easy. Ric is as fit as a butcher's dog with legs like pistons from years of weight training and, more recently, rowing. I therefore didn't feel guilty about using him as a windbreak when we were on the top of the hills! He was riding his old Raleigh which is almost 20 years old and despite some disagreements with his front chain ring it munched up the miles with ease. The carbon geeks of today would probably run away in fear if they saw a 15 stone bloke on a bike made of iron girders flying down the horseshoe at speeds over 50mph (according to our computers!!!!) For my own part I had put a chain ring with one less tooth on the front than standard. Actually the smallest I can get on a 130bcd chain ring (if that means anything to anyone) It helped and I never struggled with any climbs all day.

We both agreed it was a good measure of fitness and we will most definitely go for it again.

Weekend Fun

Saturday was a long day. Chester won the Law College Sevens in a convincing showing. I managed to raise around £35 just by collecting from the few that were spectating. Thanks to last years Senior Colts side who all donated to the cause. They also looked to be probably the second strongest side there. They must have had some good coaching somewhere in the past eh? Mind you, I did my best to undo all of Platty and Dave Craven's work.

It was also "Cartwheel jnr's" 30th at the club in the evening. James Bond was the theme so Amanda and I went as Solitaire and Baron Samedi. I stayed off the drink so I could ride this morning (Sunday). We managed to squeeze around 50 miles in before the rain came down. I am now pretty tired though! I have now completed 800km on my new bike. Still not under 30 mins on that time trial yet. Need to shave 20 seconds off.

Hope you like the pics from Lee's do. Amanda and yours truly on the left. Dr. Paul Evil Hayes in the middle and James Bond (who does not need more cake in my opinion!) on the right.

More mileage, more pain!

I went to the time trial on Thursday. There were some serious cyclists there and I even got whupped by a young 'un! OK, so now there is a target set. I won't lie, it was hard. Ten miles as fast as you can go. They were flying and I, needless to say, was not. Still, it was an experience and I'm going to keep turning up to see how much I can improve.
With that done I ventured back out with the road club again on Sunday. Really enjoyed it as they are a pretty friendly bunch. We went just short of a whopping 70 miles on this one! Both legs were aching but quite a bit of soreness in the scar tissue in my thigh and knee in the evening and today. Still that's probably a sign that it's breaking some of it down. We all live in hope! Neck and shoulders felt it too. All in all though, not as frightening as it sounds and in a sick way, quite good fun.
Weather doesn't look too great this week. Will need to keep an eye out to see when I can squeeze in some miles. Once my legs feel a bit stronger that is. Thursday I'm aiming to get under 30 minutes on that 10 mile time trial.

Macc's fish swallowing champion

What an interesting week. I squeezed in a couple of rides on Monday and Tuesday last week and then went to Sweden on a business trip so training was out of the question for a couple of days. I managed to become the company rally champion on my trip at a special evening function in Karlstad! As it was only the remote control car and playstation version I guess it's not quite Colin McRae's standard.

On my return home I had to spend Friday night in Copenhagen. I met up with the Macclesfield Rugby club Vets team who were out there playing a tournament in Malmo. I met them for a bite to eat and a quiet beer as you can see from the picture! This is one of them in his Danish beard and hat choking on a fish. You can just see the tail sticking from his mouth! We then made some new friends - a group of Danish doctors and nurses who were out in town for the night and who liked a drink to say the least. I was desperately trying to stay sober so I didn't miss my flight and they were keen to see if they could get me drunk. A big hello to Erling from Copenhagen! I hope your hangovers weren't too bad.

I have to say that they were extremely friendly and really looked after me so a big thanks to them for making a potentially dull night in a hotel into a fun filled night on the town!

I didn't manage to train on Saturday but made up for the lack of effort in the week with a 58 miler on Sunday with Chester Road Club. Thoroughly enjoyable but by Sunday night I was shattered!

I doubt this week will be quite as exciting. Planning to do a time trial on Thursday night. Not really the right prep for long rides but I fancy testing myself throughout the year to see how much improvement I can make.