Oh Blimey!

In twelve days six of us will be meeting at Land’s End. All of a sudden, the start date is looming on the horizon. It’s too late now to gain much from any long rides, to regret miles I’ve not done and we’re down to the questions which may not have answers until we’re on our way: have I booked the right number of beds in the right places? Have I got everything I need for myself and my bike? where is my passport? Why on earth did I decide to do this? Why didn’t somebody stop me before it was too late?

After fifteen marathons, I should be used to these sort of feelings: the ticking clock in the back of your mind that never really switches off, the double-checking of everything, the uncertainty of whether it’s better to have the pink top or the blue one, followed by the certainty that the final decision will depend upon how much each weighs and it’ll be the lightest that wins. (I’ll admit it: I did once weigh seven pairs of shoes before a marathon to see which were lightest and therefore which would make me faster. It was the only time I got under five hours for the distance so it obviously worked.) The five grams of weight I might save could be the difference between getting up a hill or not. The cake I eat before I start up the hill may have a greater effect.

The first place we’re staying will give us home-made saffron buns in our packed lunch. This made me think of each day and the route now goes along these lines: pasty, cream tea, cheese, cider, oatcakes, Eccles cakes, Chorley cake, mint cake, Moffat toffee, soor plums, tablet, shortbread, haggis, whisky and finally Jaegerbomb with ice (that last one’s another story!).

So, two weeks today we’ll be on our way to Exeter, having left Land’s End two days before. We hope to arrive there before the iconic signpost is removed for the night but in the meantime I have an alternative.

Wish us luck!

The best laid plans..........

It’s 12^th June. We should have been leaving Silverton in Devon after a good breakfast, ready to tackle today’s ride to Cheddar. Instead we’re in Bristol: Ness and May are working, I’m getting ready for a thirty-mile ride near Thornbury and Judy is nursing a broken arm and a very sore pelvis after falling off a horse at the end of May. Her arm will need six weeks to heal so after some discussion, the other three of us decided to postpone the start date until September 10^th. It’s disappointing for all of us, particularly Judy, but does at least allow the others of us more time to train (desperately needed in my case).

It also means that we will have to make a few changes to the plan: the days will be shorter and there are no flights from Inverness to Bristol on Wednesdays in September, so we’ll take an extra day in Scotland to enjoy the starlit nights made more visible by lower levels of light pollution. The only difficulties with switching accommodation dates have been with two English Youth Hostels which were fully booked for the dates we wanted so we’re making slight route changes. Fortunately Judy is Route Planner (very) Extraordinaire: the OS maps she's been collecting for years have well and truly proved their worth. Some people will not now be able to join us as planned while others will have time available and we’ll be without the support vehicles which would have been with us for the first week. 

With luck we’ll have people, dates and places sorted out before we leave and I’ll have got the correct number of beds booked so we can collapse in comfort at the end of each day. My current nightmare is that we'll arrive somewhere and one of us (probably me) will have to sleep in a tent miles away from the others with no phone signal to agree a rendez-vous so no way of arranging where we will have our food stops.

While we're on that subject, here's a photo to prove that, despite everything, Judy is still taking one aspect of the training very seriously. (It's not a tattoo on her arm, by the way.)

 

Soldiering on

Obstacles are those frightening things that become visible when we take our eyes off our goals. (Henry Ford)

I’ve not been finding the training easy. The weather is warmer and drier, the sun is shining more but there always seems to be a headwind whichever direction I’m going. There have been days when I’ve struggled to get myself out of the door, others where nothing seemed to go right and a few when both of those applied.

I forced myself out a few weeks ago, the aim being simply to get on the bike, and set off to do hill repetitions over a motorway bridge. I was nervous, white-knuckled, breathless and my legs were screaming in agony After a couple of miles my brain was free-wheeling as well as the bike and I’d given myself the name of Chattering Chimp Brain. This sort of thing used to happen frequently when I was training for or running marathons: a succession of random thoughts which often started to lead a life of their own. 

I am also aware that some muscles aren't working as well as they should: quads and hamstrings overworking while the glutes are being lazy. This can put undue strain on the knees and lower back and I’m wary of getting injured. I asked Kim Ingleby of Energised Performance how best to strengthen the glutes and was told to think of them when pedalling. That didn’t sound too difficult so on my next ride I decided to concentrate on getting faster on the flat and stronger on the hills. Edge back on the saddle, make sure it’s the right gear, push harder………… Left glute, right glute, left glute, right glute, left glute, right glute……… Three gluteal muscles on each side……. Gluteus Maximus is the greatest and strongest but cannot win alone. He needs help from the others. “Gluteus Medius, Gluteus Minimus, come to my aid. We advance more swiftly but the road is long and we must not fail.  We will win the fight together! Battle on, mighty ones, we are making progress but the end is not yet in sight. We struggle but will not give in. Divide and conquer! Gluteus Medius Dexter, take the right flank. Gluteus Medius Sinister, you the left. Call Glutei Minimi and their battalions! We cannot fail!”

Downhill. Thank goodness! The bike freewheeled and the brain stopped, relaxed and carried calmly on. I still call on the Latin Legions when necessary but am spared from calling out loud as I don't have any breath to spare.

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There have been other things to think about: a number of team additions and subtractions and subsequent changes to the accommodation needed, transport, kit and basic bike maintenance for starters.

Ness’ daughter, Anna, a GP, has offered to take Ness and all the bikes to Land’s End and stay with us for the first couple of days, while Pete Stables will take the rest of the riders and drive straight back to Bristol. As Anna leaves, Gail White of Energised Performance will join and stay with us for the next few days. She’ll be able to provide massage so we’ll be well looked after as far as Runcorn. Beyond that, well, we'll just have to hope for the best.

We leave in just over three weeks.  And breathe…………………….