Read any training manual and it will say that rest is as important as exercise. I’ve been focussing on the rest aspect of my training for the last week or so.

I haven’t cycled to work (well once) because I’ve needed the car and I haven’t been to the gym because it’s easier not to. I missed spin. both atthe gym and at the Tri club. To be fair Beth has been working so I’ve needed to muck in around the house, which takes precedence over training. So, what with the weather being unpleasant and life going on around me not much has happened.

After last weekend’s very wet ride in the floods, this weekend I got out with Mark and Edward on Sunday morning. It was a glorious day, almost Spring like (which is odd as it was the winter equinox, so about as far from Spring as you can get). We headed out of Warwick to Charlcote and marvelled at the fact we could be on a quiet country lane, after only five minutes on the bike. We deliberately headed this way to test Edward’s legs over Loxley hill. Which he of course shot up like it wasn’t there (although I was first to the top – declaring myself King of the Mountains, but I had the advantage of knowing the hill and anticipating the fact that it kicks in much steeper for the last 50 metres or so, which of course Edward didn’t.) This is also the hill Mark trained for Mount Ventoux on, doing reps up and down in his lunch break! He says his record was 9 in an hour (including getting there and back – in the car).
We managed a steady 45km in total. Riding back on long the Avon valley towards Warwick was a breeze. Wind at our backs, flat road, it felt like we could cycle for ever. Shame Peaches missed it due to a dodgy ankle.

And I made it to spin today. Big up the new magnetic bikes at the Warwickshire!

A little time for reflection. Last year my bike computer recorded 5200km in total. This year I’ve managed 2182km to date and I reckon I’ll add 100km before year end. Not bad really given that I haven’t trained for anything specific. Add to that approximately 1200km a year commuting, I think that’s pretty respectable. But, I do need to focus now for June. I don’t want to be embarrassed on the road to Paris!

Weakened

I haven't cycled to work this week which I find frustrating. I've needed the car although I did make a conscious decision not to ride on Tuesday because the roads were sheet ice. probably just as well, Lee, Edward & Ganny all fell off their bikes that day and I heard stories of a few more. I made it to spin on Monday, although Tony wasn't there to take it, so it wasn't as hard as usual, but still a good session. Friday I made the gym and did some reps on the static bike and some weights. Saturday I had a ride planned with Tom & Mark, my fellow L2Pers, plus Ed and Paul. The weather was foul (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7782157.stm) but we went out never the less. Cold. Heavy rain. I say we, Mark and Paul cried off. I'll give Mark the benefit of the doubt because I know he's hard core. Paul was still in bed at 9:30am, draw your own conclusions!



Now, I actually enjoy riding in extremes of weather (maybe not strong winds) and Saturday reminded me of the day we rode into John O' Groats (see me in Thurso traffic below), but we sensibly cut the ride short (27km) as the roads became increasingly flooded.

Never the less once showered and changed I felt great and Tom and Leanne joined us for a magnificent brunch cooked up by Beth. Worth any amount of wet riding.

I actually had my bike serviced this week at John Atkins. I was politely scolded for using such a quality bike in the winter. Whilst it seemed sound advice, that the cost of maintaining an expensive bike through poor winter weather was greater than buying a cheap winter steed, at the end of the day I bought it to ride, not pamper it. For heaven's sake it already lives in the house with us, not like my other bikes which have to settle for the shed (incidentally, on Thursday, as I put the bins out I noticed a flashing light in the garden. I traced it to my bike lights, which were on, in the locked shed, and as I said, I haven't used my commuter bike this week, so its lain locked up for a week. Now the batteries would've gone by now if I'd left the lights on last Friday when I put it away and surely I'd have noticed before. Spooky.)

Still, I best start my PR campaign to get myself a new bike...

Ice dancing

Quick post - Edward and I did 40km together round Aston Cantlow 1hr 40mins. Very cold, lots of ice on the road. We both struggled for traction on some of the hills, but he paced me again and even sailed past me on a couple of the big climbs. Show off. Beautiful day though, clear blue skies, no wind. Shame it can't have been warmer than 0 degrees.

The worst anniversary

Today is the anniversary of Tom’s death.

And that’s why I’ll spend 4 days cycling to Paris to raise funds for SIDS in his memory. Please help me http://www.justgiving.com/craigmorrisfsid

No training this week. I only cycled to work one day too.

Soon the time will come to focus.

Cold weekend

I had planned to do a short ride on Saturday, but when I got up after a poor night's sleep and looked at the frost and fog outside I was sorely tempted not to bother, justifying it to myself by way of the gym the previous day and the spin class the day prior. As I sat in the window seat shaking off the Friday night Jack Daniels I saw Tom, next door, all togged up and leaving for Barby, 40km away. It was this that inspired me to go out, but boy was it cold. I wore 3 layers of merino (howies vest, howies baselayer, rapha sportwool top and howies softshell) which kept me warm but my feet, even in two pairs of socks, were frozen. Literally. So I managed 38km, but didn't particularly enjoy it and felt like I'd turned squares. Never the less its more miles in the bank.

More excitingly, whilst chatting with Mark Fothergill on Friday evening, he offered to lend me a bike, so Edward, my son, could come with us on the L2P. This was great. Edward has been quite keen but I haven't got £500 plus to buy him a suitable bike and without one it would be a tad tricky. So, Mark dropped the bike around on Saturday and off we trolled to buy Edward some shoes, and a saddle clamp (I had a saddle). Its a long story but basically John Atkins in Leamington (http://www.johnatkinscycles.co.uk/) excelled themselves in terms of customer service, selling us some top of the range carbon soled Specialzed shoes, cleats, new pedals (it was impossible to get cleats for the pedals Mark had supplied unfortunately) and a new seat pin with clamp (you can't buy the clamp alone :-( ), for less than the price of the shoes alone. They even fitted the lot and put the bike on a rolling road to set it up and get Edward used to the clipless pedals.

A massive big thank you to Mark for the loan of the bike and John Atkins for going the extra mile and a bit more.

So, when we went out Sunday morning for a spin, he was the first person I know, who first time out on clipless didn't fall off. And he paced me round a 22km course and beat me in the final sprint for home (boys will be boys). So lets hope he keeps it up. I know he enjoyed it and whilst I was extremely nervous taking him out (into traffic...) I also thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to covering many km together in the future.

Cutting another long story short, in deference to Tom (Beth's Tom not Tom next door - this could get confusing, I might have to refer to Tom next door by his nom du guerre, {Peaches}) and because Beth pointed out the inherent dangers (no-one pointed them out to me!) we decided it was perhaps too soon for Edward to take part in the L2P, due to his inexperience. However, I am looking forward to training with him and maybe one day we can do an epic together. Who knows what the future may hold, may be one day soon this will be Edward leading the charge for the line:

(I'm pretty sure this picture is copyrighted by AP, so if you want a copy you'll have to go here and buy one http://www.pictopia.com/perl/gal/ap?request_id=1193162d43, like I did )

Let Battle Commence

It is 9 years next Friday since my wife Beth lost her beloved son Tom to cot death. The loss of any child must be the most traumatic thing a parent can possibly experience, but I think an unexplained loss such as Sudden Infant Death syndrome must be one of the worse tragedies that can befall a family. Even that name, Sudden Infant Death, is anodyne and bland. It explains nothing. It shouts "we don't know why!".

Since I met Beth we've had various involvements with FSID (http://www.fsid.org.uk/), the sudden infant death charity. Attending open days, selling wrist bands, raffle tickets and the like. Beth even trained as a counsellor with them, but felt the pain was still too raw, even years later, to be able to actively help others in that situation. The peak of our involvement was in 2007 when I cycled from land's End to John O'Groats to raise money and awareness for FSID. Thanks to the enormous generosity of friends, family and strangers I raised over £5500 fir SIDS research. And had a great time doing it. So much so that I caught the cycling bug and have cycled regularly ever since, even pitching in with another couple of charity rides for Action Medical Research (http://www.action.org.uk/). 100 miles in a day, to raise a couple of hundred pounds.



So, when Beth said she'd like to mark the tenth anniversary of Tom's death in 2009 and asked if I'd like to ride from London to Paris in 4 days to raise money, I leapt at the chance and coralled as many friends as a I could into coming too. Now training for and executing such a ride takes commitment and sacrifice, so I didn't really expect anyone to come with me. But our neighbour Tom Lawrence rose to the challenge and has committed already to the tune of £1000 by buying one of these to come with me:




Its a beauty isn't it. Specialzed Allez Elite. Aluminium frame, carbon, forks, seat post and seat stays. oooer! Shame he fell off it 3o seconds into our first training ride, but I'll spare you the details.

Also up for the trip is another neighbour, Mark Fothergill, who is raising money for Breast Cancer research, in honour of his brave wife Heather. Good luck to them both and thanks from me for coming along.

I haven't really got started yet but I'm already getting a lot of support from people. Keep reading for more info as the story unfolds.

When I did the end to end my main concern (and a large motivator) was fear of failure. I didn't actually know that I was capable of cycling 1000 miles in 12 days. But I did. Much to my amazement. I think my main concern this time around is over confidence. I know I can do the miles, I've done it before. But I still need to train. I'll keep you informed of progress here. I'm sure there will be ups and downs. First off I need to find the money to service my bike!

To keep my fitness up whilst the November weather restricts outdoor riding I've been going to spin classes. Monday at the gym, Thursday with Coventry Tri club and augmenting that with some frankly pathetic weight training to strengthen my "core". I know its important, but I'm not entirely clear what it is. Anyhow, I stood on the scales today to give myself a benchmark (and I need my height and weight to register for the ride, I guess they want to check the ferry won't sink under my weight). I was chuffed to bits to see I've lost a couple of kg (4.5lbs in old money). I don't think I need to lose weight and I haven't been trying, but its always good to feel fitter. When I rode in to John O'Groats I thionk I was as fit as at any time in my life. So imagine my disappointment minutes later when two gym staff wander through and stand over the scales discussing how they under report by a couple of pounds, but they can't be bothered to fix it....