It's Christmas!

Today is officially day 1 of my personal highlight of the training plan - Christmas break! I've still been out for a ride, but it really was a 'just for fun' mixed in with trying to get up my confidence on my new bike. If I'm being honest I am slightly concerned about that at the moment. I've not worked out how to move my hands off the bars to indicate properly yet, never mind grabbing a water bottle on the move. I'm hoping it is just a case of practice, practice, practice. One of the other club members has very kindly passed on an old indoor trainer so just as soon as I figure out how to set up my bike I'll be using that to practice the technical aspects whilst stationary and hopefully will then be able to transfer that to outdoor riding. 

After Christmas we only have about 20 weeks left till the big ride, so fundraising will need to start properly, though I don't know if January is the best time for that. Still, getting some sponsorship in should be good motivation as we hit some of the harder bits of training just when we could be heading in to the worst weather.  I know most of us are training indoors at the moment but it would be good to get at least some outdoor rides in, and we do definitely need to practice group riding.  Ian has given us some very precise instructions for our group ride on 12th January so we'll see how we get on with them! 
We've also been given lots of advice on nutrition and hydration which is going to be really important as training steps up, though the advice for this week is definitely eat, drink and be merry 😃

The next stage of training is 'build muscular endurance' so in 8 weeks time I'll hopefully be the fittest I've ever been (which admittedly isn't saying much...) so that will probably be my next update.

Merry Christmas and keep cycling!

Prep phase 1 - done!

It feels like a long time since we were given our training plans now, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with how I've managed to settle in to something of a routine since then. Of course the real hard work is yet to come, but most weeks I have managed to go out on the bike every Saturday as well as fitting in a spin class on Tuesdays and either walking or swimming on a Thursday. Do I enjoy spin? I don't know if I'd go that far, but I think the fact I'm approaching it from a slightly more disciplined perspective than last time I tried helps - that and it's a different class. Last one I went to felt like being shouted at in a nightclub....
My training actually sort of started with a trip down to Yorkshire for the UCI world cycling championships, so you can't get much more inspiring than that! Unlike David I didn't sign up for the sportive (far too hilly for my liking) but I did manage to persuade his mum to join me for a Breeze ride around Harrogate. It was a beautiful day for cycling, and really good experience for me as a Breeze ride leader to see how other leaders approach rides. Our route took in some of the Beryl Burton cycle path, named on honour of one of Britain's greatest ever cyclists, which seemed perfect for a women's ride.
 

The other ride I did was a ride out from York to Beningborough Hall with David - a really flat route so I actually managed a reasonable pace by my standards. Well worth it for the scones!

So far I've been really lucky with the weather for my weekend rides, though as we're now into November I don't expect that to continue. I have bought some warm clothes but it's still going to be a struggle going out for longer rides once winter sets in. This also probably means it was the wrong time of year to finally get around to buying a 'proper' bike, as I'll mostly be on the hybrid over the winter. Anyway, meet Mavis Grind the gravel bike....

Gorgeous bike, but as I've only ever ridden flat bar bikes before it's taking a bit of getting used to the different riding position. It'll be worth it though to improve my pace, once I get my confidence up!
We're now in prep phase 2 till Christmas so things are getting a little more technical - I'll just have to see how that goes....

Time for a challenge

It’s been a while since I posted here - this time it’s to keep myself on track with my training plan for a charity bike ride I’ve signed up for. A group of us will be cycling from Broughty Ferry Lifeboat Station to Killin and back over 3 days next May, to raise money for the Lifeboat Fund. The final day is 77 miles, and the furthest I’ve done in a day is 62 so I fully intend to stick as closely as I can to the training plan. So far it’s going okay, but let’s see how I get on over the winter months!
I’m also planning on losing a bit of weight (always helps on the hills!) so expect foodie pics and a weekly weigh in...current weight is 68.1kg and I’m targeting 65 so nothing too arduous hopefully!

At the moment we’re in the prep phase of training which means I have the option of non cycling cardio, so I’m planning on getting back to swimming, and my gym card’s finally getting some use at a weekly spin class. I’ve also treated myself to some new cycling gear to get me through the winter months.

Training plan and new cycle tights 👍

Still fiddling about with the technology, but I think I’ve added a donation button to my page if anyone  would like to sponsor me 😎