Staying Strong WITHOUT Cycling

One of the challenges I've had over the last few weeks has been staying motivated to keep fit even though I wouldn't, after all, be joining the rest of the Paris to Venice team on this years mini-adventure.

I had planned to be part of the foursome riding London to Paris this weekend, but circumstances intervened. Being pressed for time also meant I didn't always feel I could justify taking hours out for training rides when I had no real need to be in peak form.


But coincidentally, I've also noticed the trend towards shorter, more intensive training sessions that several fitness coaches have been advocating.

That has helped me in two ways:

Firstly, I concentrated on shorter training rides, mostly around an hour long, at a higher intensity to build strength rather than trying to improve endurance by doing loads of miles.

Secondly, I've added running to the mix. Running is more intensive anyway and I was a runner long before I was a regular cyclist. Getting back to it felt odd at first (in fact, I felt old and stiff!) but I'm back to more like the form I used to have, albeit I am a few years older. Shortish runs have meant I could mix in a few sprints at times as well. My knees seem to be holding up so far...

Psychologically, missing out on this weekend's adventure hasn't been pleasant, but knowing I'm doing something towards 'keeping up', fitness-wise, has made it easier to bear.

So, I have no need for regrets - just a heightened resolve to be better placed for the next opportunity that comes my way.

And that's next week, when the Tour of Britain visits Bury St Edmunds and local cyclists of all standards get a chance to join in the fun. More on that in a couple of days!

Roy

A Good Brisk Ride

Not having ridden with John for a while I expected yesterday's ride to be more testing than my recent solo efforts and I wasn't disappointed.

That said, it was a very enjoyable ride around some Norfolk lanes that were undiscovered country to me. Norfolk is one of England's flatter counties, but we still found a few gentle inclines, and a longish stretch into the breeze gave us a decent workout.

With John on his mountain bike as well, our speed wasn't quite as high as it might have been and I didn't spend too much of the 28 miles hanging on to his back wheel - for much of the time we were side by side down empty lanes and it was only when we hit more of a main road that I decided to stay behind for safety's sake for a spell.

It was on that stretch that another cyclist on a road bike had the temerity to overtake us. We weren't racing - until that point, anyway - but we had to try to chase him down... We let a gap open before we decided to give chase, so it was a fiull-on effort to get back in touch. John led the chase and I hung on as best I could.

In the end, I was dropped just before John closed the gap, which was just as we reached a right turn. Our opponent probably never knew he was in a race...

It was an excellent two hour ride, though, and dry until the last couple of miles when a heavy shower caught up with us. Overall, we averaged over 15 mph and according to my Garmin I consumed about 1300 Kilo Calories in the process. Here's how the route looks from the Garmin's log:

John will be riding London to Paris in two weeks' time, so for him Sunday's ride was part of his three-day training weekend. For me, it was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours and keep my body in half-decent shape, ready for bigger tests to come - I hope!

Roy

Review of the Vango Trek Self-Inflating Sleeping Mat (Paris to Venice)

Last year's trip necessitated a few new purchases, although I was happy to make do where I could. Having found a tent that seemed up to the job my next priority was a sleeping mat.

I had a sleeping bag already, so the only thing I needed now for a good night's sleep was mat. I'd heard mixed views on whether they were worthwhile but the one thing you need after a long day's cycling is a good sleep.


As with the tent, I read reviews, pitched affordability against quality and took note of weight and pack size, as I still had to work out how I was going to carry it all.

I decided on a full-length Vango Trek, available from various suppliers through Amazon. You can get slightly cheaper mats but reviews suggested the Trek was better value. The best price for quick delivery was around £18-£20.

The mat rolls up into a cyclinder a little fatter but shorter than my tent and they both fitted snugly into one pannier, with a bit of space left over for water bottles and some food.

Inflation is easy. Just unroll the mat and undo the valve and leave it for a few minutes. Add a couple of puffs of air, tighten the valve, and you have a surprisingly comfortable mattress that stays inflated all through the night. Even without air, the foam inside gives you some protection and the skin is surprisingly tough-feeling. I found the Vango Trek at least as good in use as I'd hoped.

You can easily pay £60 or more for a self-inflating mat from specialist outdoor shops, but I'd happily recommend the Vango Trek to other cycle campers and hikers, especially at the price. Like the tent, it returned home as good as new.

You can still buy the Vango Trek for about the same price I paid through Amazon, here:

Not Only That, But Also...

As well as squeezing in some short training rides and runs, and dropping half a stone, and trying to do businessy stuff as well, I've finally updated the John Smith Cycling blog.

It's still a very basic blog, like this one, but it serves the purpose, namely to tell all you keen UK-based cyclists about the latest great offers from Evans Cycles, Wiggle and others that are helping me to fund my charity rides.

(It's not cheap getting to and from France, for example, so all contributions are welcome, including donations for travel! At the moment, my participation in London to Paris in September is hanging in the balance.)

You can also get to Evans' and Wiggle's sites from the links on this blog, but I'll be detailing offers, promotion codes and so on on John Smith Cycling from now on. This week, for example, there's 20% off all cycle computers at Evans Cycles when you use the Promotion Code you'll find in Monday's post.

I've also set up a Facebook Page for John Smith Cycles, so please visit the Page and Like it! Naturally, the offers, etc, will be on there as well. Just click the banner ads (after you've Liked the Page).

Roy

Pedalling as Fast as I Can!

Well, it's been a while since I found time to post on here, but I have at least found some time to get out and pedal. (And peddle, as I'll reveal later.)

Being somewhat short of free time, but still wanting to get fitter, stronger and a bit lighter if possible, I've been concentrating on shorter, more intensive rides, mixed in with some running as well. After not running for a while, the first couple of times I went out on foot seemed quite odd. My occasional dash to the shops didn't prepare me for the way my legs felt after running a mile or two, and I felt a long way away from the half-marathon runner I used to be!

Proof that running and cycling use different muscles and that our limbs modify themselves very effectively for specific needs.

So, I was pleased when my running legs seemed to return last week, but now I worried: would that hamper my cycling?

Well, possibly. Now I can time my rides accurately I know I did my fastest 15 mile ride of the year the week before I felt my running improve, and since then I've actually become measurably slower. Today I was one mph slower than on that fastest ride.

However, it's probably also significant that my fastest ride happened on the second of two consecutive riding days - the first time I'd ridden two days in a row since Paris to Venice.

So maybe I just proved what I've been saying all along: that I will be Stronger Tomorrow!

Roy

PS. I've also lost just over half a stone in weight in the last month, so I must be doing something right :-)

Why You Should Keep a Tour Log

One of the biggest benefits we had from JR's iPad on our Paris to Venice trip - second only to its help in navigating our way across 1440 km of Europe - was in JR's daily log.

Although many of L'Express' diary entries were phoned through to Tracey, at home in England, some of them were also emailed, and the iPad was a very useful way of collating and storing the daily records.

On a trip as memorable as Paris to Venice, it's hard to imagine you will ever forget the details of each day's pain and pleasure, but as I proved the last time we met, those memories can soon become confused and conflated.

I had a vivid memory of two massive climbs in Austria, following a long day that ended in a bicycle-friendly guest house. I remembered this day particularly because I struggled so much on the first climb that I found myself risking life and limb trying to get a drink from a trickle of water that ran down a slippery, moss-covered rockface.

I remember coming to my senses, dragging muyself onwards and upwards, and then buying two bottles of extortionately priced water just a few hundred metres from the summit. Then I remember the second climb seeming just as hard and us ending the day with a descent to another guest house in a high alpine village.

But apparently my memory is playing tricks. According to JR's memory (and he kept the log, after all), those were on two different days. The day we did two big climbs started with the one into a hanging valley - or was that the second climb of the day?

I do remember my first 'col', because it didn't seem that big, and it was in the Vosges on a quite beautiful and moving morning, near a perfectly-kept first war cemetary. I remember an horrendous thunderstorm that hit us as soon as we crossed the Rhine into Germany, and I remember a thousand other things on the trip, but the exact order in which they happended is becoming less clear - and there are a thousand other things I will have forgotten.

But I'm pleased to say I did keep a journal as well, and I will write it up into a proper account of the trip. Inevitably, I'll dip into JR's as it appears on L'Express blog for details of distances, altitudes and some town names, but my journal will be my memories, my thoughts and my experiences (mainly at the back of the group) from those memorable, but apparently also quite forgettable, two weeks.

And I'll try to do it soon - before I forget what I meant when I wrote it the first time!

Roy

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

First published in the Crack on! newsletter on 21 June:

This is a story of a middle-aged man, an old bicycle and some
very, very big mountains.

When a group of friends decided their next big adventure would be
a bike ride from London to Paris, taking in the Vosges mountains
in France, the Black Forest (more mountains) in Germany and the
Austrian and Italian Alps, I said "Me too!"

The plan was to get a suitable bike and high-tech equipment, do
lots of training and to be a super-fit, finely-tuned machine by
'the off'.

Things didn't quite work out that way. The new bike didn't
materialise, the high-tech equipment wasn't forthcoming and
training was rather limited.

In short, I wasn't really ready last September, when we set off
to catch the train for London and on to Paris.

I had put new tyres on my old, heavy mountain bike, I'd bought a
£25 tent from Amazon and some £14 panniers via eBay. My sleeping
bag was in an old £10 rucksack tied on top of the panniers.

As I say, I wasn't really ready, but the train from home, the Eurostar
and especially the rest of the team weren't going to wait - I had a
deadline and it was now or never.

So, ready or not, I had to get on with it. And get on with it I
did. Nine hundred miles and 14 days later, we were in Venice.

How? Well, we started pedalling at Notre Dame by the Seine and
stopped when we reached the Grand Canal in Venice.

For the duration of the trip I spent most of the time going in
the right direction, if not always as fast as I would have liked.

It was a fantastic trip, by the way!

I suppose I could have waited until I was really ready...

But if you spend your life waiting to be totally ready, not moving
until everything is just right and stuck where you are because you
don't have everything you 'need', you'll probably never get anywhere.

Roy

What's So Special About Will Carling?

I'm sure Will Carling is a really nice guy, and I'll accept he's a little bit more famous than I am.

He might even have shapelier thighs (a big thing for cycling groupies, I imagine).

He certainly has more powerful friends in the Twitterverse:

But the fact is, he's only doing London to Paris - just over 500 km, whereas I'll be starting where the former England captain leaves off - almost exactly.

Our ride starts in Paris, heads for the nearest hills on the way into Germany, then south into the Austrian and Swiss Alps, before crossing the Dolomites and finishing over 1200 km later, in Venice.

So, it's much further, it's a lot hillier and we'll be carrying all our own kit. Will Carling could probably do it (although he might expect a bit of help from the forwards with his luggage), but the fact is, he isn't.

I am. So Make a Wish Foundation and Multiple Sclerosis Society will be really pleased if you can all stop admiring Will's admittedly more muscular physique and just put your hands in your pockets, or more accurately, your mouse pointer on either of the two Just Giving widgets on this page.

If the widgets aren't showing, go to the blog front page at http://stronger-tomorrow.blogspot.com/

Thanks. And I'm sure Mr Carling won't mind, either.

Roy