More important things

No training for a week or so (I seem to write this a lot...). I did go to spin last Monday which was really tough after 115km over the weekend. But i'm glad I made the effort. Beth went into hospital on Tuesday for her back operation. This dominated the week and I didn't even think about training. It was a big op and its going to take a while for her to get over it. She's home now and up and about and eating, so the signs are good. Bless her.

I trained vicariously through the Tour of California. I sat up each night to watch the live coverage on Eurosport, although I missed two stage finishes by falling asleep. Overall I enjoyed the race, it was good to see Cav win a couple of stages (except I didn't because I was asleep!) and there was some good racing. It always makes me a little sick watching the professionals though because they ride at speeds I find difficult to maintain in the car let alone on the bike.

Plans are coming together for the Paris trip. Although we need to work out how to get to the start in Greenwich for 6:30am and how to get home from Paris with our bikes (I'm not cycling back too). The route has been published and here it is. Anyone fancy coming along for the ride?

Day 1 through Kent to Dover:

Day 2: Calais - Arras:

Day 3: Arras - Compiegne:

Day 4: Compiegne - Paris:

Too early to wish for Spring?

I made the most of this weekend. The weather was benign and we had no plans to speak of. Saturday, Edward and I made a very pleasant circuit of Warwick, along Rouncil lane to Beausale, Honily, Temple Balsall (land owned by the Knights Templar as reward for their support of the King in the Crusades. The Knights Templar allegedly found the Holy Grail in Jerusalem and returned it to Britain for safe keeping. I wonder if it could be around here somewhere?), Lapworth, Lowsonford (original home of Fleur de Lys pies!) and finally Shrewley and home. 50km in all in 2 hours dead (which is how we both felt afterwards!). Edward actually finished very brightly which is a credit to him as he hasn’t been out for a while. There was a lot of ice on the roads, in the gutters, so we had to be careful but the cold didn’t make the ride any less enjoyable. We chatted about football, cricket, bikes and other fascinating stuff like that. I have to get these things out of my system so as not to bore Beth to death.

The rest of the day was spent resting and watching football and rugby on TV, oh and the prologue to the Tour of California (well some rest, but then it was Valentine’s day!). Blues won and Wales beat England (I’m strangely drawn to support Wales more fervently the older I get, a trait I’ve seen in my father as he gotten more Welsh the older he is. Must be some genetic Welsh defence mechanism, the call of the valleys, or the sheep). I believe there’s an area of Patagonia where they speak Welsh as their first tongue, I wonder if they feel the same? Beth cooked up a delicious steak and mash dinner for us with champagne. Heaven.

Sunday was warmer but as I set off a soft rain started to fall. I had planned to ride over to my parents in Birmingham, have a cup of tea and return, but the rain made me think twice. I didn’t have any waterproofs, just my trusty Rapha top Beth bought me, but it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact I quite enjoyed the feeling of the water on my face. It was a soft gentle rain that wrapped itself around me, not like the harsh showers we normally get, which make you run for shelter. The shower passed quickly enough and I soon dried out heading into a slight headwind. It’s just over 30km to my parents, nearly all flat, certainly no climbs to speak of and I made it in just over 1 hour.

I absently mindedly took a wrong turn near my parent’s house which meant I ended up taking a short cut through the local park. It was very nostalgic cycling along the park paths. Took me back 30 years or more to long summer days eating fresh cherries by the tennis courts, climbing trees and playing football all day long. I didn’t stay too long because I didn’t want to get too cold. Fortified by tea and chocolate biscuits (do all parents have a supply of chocolate biscuits? It seems to go with the job description) I set off back to Warwick. In contrast to the journey over the weather was warm and the sun was starting to push through the clouds. As I got out of Birmingham into the countryside the sky opened up before me. A startling bleached winter sky of greys and shades of white. High thin cloud (alto stratus?) in every shade of pale, just tinged with the bright blue of the cold heavens beyond. A real pleasure to share with the world (but not for the pheasant corpse I rode over). The journey back was pretty uneventful, although I was tired. The first 20km on the way out I had re-traced our steps (tyres?) from the day before and it was noticeably more difficult on my legs. I spun through it, but returning the same way I felt the dreaded bonk coming on (not a further reference to Valentine ’s Day but a rapid decrease in energy leaving you stricken). I stopped and ate an energy bar just outside Barston and was soon on my way again. This time 65km in 2hrs 20 minutes, a pretty much exact 10% increase in my speed of the day before although I was shattered when I got home. Fortunately Beth’s family came round for tea and cakes (how civilised) to keep me focused, which gave us an opportunity to say thank you for their recent support.
So, Monday I pushed myself to go to spin and to be honest struggled to keep up. I felt I needed to go because Beth goes into hospital tomorrow (Tuesday) to have 2 discs replaced in her back. A big operation and she’ll be off her feet for a while, so who knows how that’ll affect my training because supporting her will obviously be my priority.

All in all though a very satisfying 115km plus spin but I did feel it in my legs. There’s still a way to go to get fit enough for 4 long days in the saddle, especially as I’ve now seen the route profile, but more of that next time.

More encouragingly I’m over half way to my target of £1250 of fundraising. Many thanks to all those people who have supported me to date and if you haven’t I’m sure you will….thanks.

Snow joke

No training this weekend as expected. Initially I thought the snow would prevent any riding anyway making me feel a bit better about another blank weekend but driving around on Saturday I saw plenty of roadies out making the most of the dry but cold day. Never the less, I probably had as much fun if not more at Amelia’s pool party. We hired Kenilworth baths, they put a giant inflatable in the middle of the pool and a few floatation mats and away you go. Its no more sophisticated than everyone climbs on and tries to push everyone else off. Needless to say all the kids ganged up on me and after an hour I was exhausted but happy.
Afterwards we retired to the café for hot chocolate and chips all round followed by chocolate birthday cake. What could be better?

I did manage an hour of reps on the static bike in the gym on Saturday and a hard spin session today. Tony has a new technique if focusing on watts rather than gears which seems to work really well. I burned nearly 600 Kcalories. That’s two and a bit Mars bars! So, on top of commuting on my MTB in the snow (which was sketchy!) and a gym session on Wednesday I’ve not done too badly.

I see its light by 7:30am now. I might have to start some early morning rides when the weather picks up. Beth goes into hospital next week and will be in for a week and then on a six week recovery. I’m not sure how that’s going to affect my ability to train, but then there are more important things in life. I’ll let you know how she gets on.

Fundraising has started in earnest and I’m about a third of the way to my target of £1250, but I am a bit nervous that Comic relief will bleed everyone dry next month so I want to hit my total as soon as I can.

So, if you’re reading this and thinking of sponsoring me then please do so now here: http://www.justgiving.com/craigmorrisfsid every little helps. If you’re reading this and not thinking of sponsoring me then please do so now here: http://www.justgiving.com/craigmorrisfsid you tightwad !

Thanks for your support.

Careful what you wish for

I got out for a ride today (Sunday). But after my moan yesterday, with surprisingly little enthusiasm. But then it was bitterly cold and I had just eaten a massive slice of chocolate cake to celebrate Amelia’s 12th birthday. I have a picture of her here, on my desk, at 3 months old. How do they grow so quickly (and cutely)?

I didn’t really have a plan, just thought I’d head out into the wind and have the advantage of the wind behind me on the way back, which took me out to Harbury and along to Bishops Itchington. Sadly, either the wind changed or I’m not very good at directions because by the time I got to Harbury the wind was coming over my left shoulder, which meant when I eventually turned and headed back, at Fenny Compton, it swapped to my right shoulder, making for an unpleasant ride in both directions. I had thoughts of heading into the teeth of a bitingly cold wind, but winds don’t have teeth and they don’t bite. So that can’t be true.
I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike. Still struggling up hills. I put it down to the weather. The wind. My fitness. I overdid it at the gym again. And then a thought struck me. When I had my bike serviced the mechanic said he’d taken it for a test ride. Obviously he adjusted the saddle height and forgot to put it back. I’m not getting full extension on my leg. Now, there’s no evidence at all that this is true, but once the thought entered my head I couldn’t shake it. Surely this explained all my recent lack of power. So eventually I stopped and took out my trail tool to shift the saddle up, but the post was stuck fast and being carbon I didn’t want to force it and snap it off miles from anywhere in the cold. So I gave up and carried on until finally it dawned on me that the mechanic is about 4 inches taller than me and doubtless would have shifted the saddle up rather than down…
Thankfully, my saddle obsession was broken by a kind man in a Rover at the mini roundabout in Bishops Itchington, who, although I was already on the junction, accelerated towards me at speed. Now, the only message I can conceive that he was trying to convey, is that to a cyclist, 3 tons of speeding metal can be quite scary. And it worked, he scared me and reminded me how terrifying cars can be. Sadly he didn’t stick around to let me thank him for his kindness. Later in the ride, at another roundabout, on the Roman Fosse Way, another Rover (is there a pattern here?) accelerated past me, so he could turn left across my path, causing me to brake hard. I waved cheerily at the three children in the back of his car, grateful for a further reminder of my vulnerability.
That aside the ride was uneventful. Unusually for me, I eschewed (bless you) the climb over Burton Dassett hills and kept to the flat roads, just enough to stretch my legs. The bright sunshine that accompanied my departure was replaced by heavy cloud and as I stepped through the door at home it started to snow. 40.44km in 89 minutes. I was quite pleased with that all in all.

It was good to get out and blow away the negativity of the day before, but I am still riddled with self doubt. Approximately 16 weeks to go (I said 12 yesterday, no wonder I was freaked!) so still time to hit form and fitness, but I don’t want to become like Alex McCleish and keep saying it will come, as Blues slide into relegation and beyond.

I’m selling raffle tickets this week to raise funds. Please buy one if you see me. Or sponsor me here: http://www.justgiving.com/craigmorrisfsid

Thanks for reading