110 Days to go

110 days to go.

Then I realised I've not even talked about the who or the why

So who are the team?

Three of us in total, I've put together a little bio

Name - Tom Buil
Age - Younger than Ian
Nickname - elBuilio, Buildog, Thomaaaassssss
Bike - Genesis Croix De Fer, pimped to the max
Number of bikes currently owned - Millions
Interesting fact - In his youth Tom used to do freeriding stuff on a bike, that's when you jump crazy heights and crazy stuff, with no seatpost or saddles. Interestingly Tom now loves saddles and is on his 2nd Brookes saddle in 11 months.
Loves - his family, his daughter, his girlfriend, bikes, crazy heavy metal, milk bottle chews
Hates - track to Penistone, cycling offroad where there is a perfectly acceptable road beside it, getting punctures on Marathon pluses
Most overused phrase - Holy shit!

Name - Ian Whiteley
Age - Younger than Neil, Older than Tom
Nickname - Mr Whiteley, Whiteley
Bike - Whyte Charing Cross
Number of bikes currently owned - 2
Interesting fact - Ian has great capacity for alcohol, which is surprising considering his diminutive size. Ian also is quite the whizz at puncture repair, which is made even more remarkable considering he hadn't changed one up until 5 years ago
Loves - his newly wed wife, watching films, Stella Artois, the casino, Snickers
Hates - Ian has not got a hateful bone in his body, unless it involves rain and wind.
Most overused phrase - I need to use the facilities

Name - Neil Findlay
Age - Older than Tom, Older than Ian
Nickname - Finders
Bike - Genesis Day One
Number of bikes currently owned - 2
Interesting fact - In a previous life Neil has frequented with the stars, bringing room service to the likes of Jason Donovan, Kim Wilde and Dani Behr
Loves - the family, the bike, the Irn Bru
Hates - Hills
Most overused phrase - It's all about the comfort

115 days and counting...

Various attempts at keeping a blog have indeed failed terribly. Indeed my longest record of consecutive posts seem to be 2.

Lets start again shall we.

Ok 115 days to go. We are committed. As they said in Oblivion, we are an effective team.

Training is going well with the usual commutes to work and then a big bike ride (about 50/60 miles in this crappy weather) at the weekend. When Spring ramps up this will increase. Indeed quite scarily so.

Other training, with the affectionately known Fitness Pete is going well. Going to that twice a month and looking to up that to weekly.

So today's big announcement is that the fundraising page has gone live. I've facebooked, I've linkedined, I've twittered, and now i'm blogging.

The place to be is.. www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/MidLifeCyclists

Mapping wise we have a route, and that route over the 12 days look like...

Day 1 Lands End - Bodmin
Day 2 Bodmin - Tiverton
Day 3 Tiverton - Bristol
Day 4 Bristol - Ludlow
Day 5 Ludlow - Northwich
Day 6 Northwich - Kendal
Day 7 Kendal - Dumfries
Day 8 Dumfries - Ardrossan
Day 9 Ardrossan - Oban
Day 10 Oban - Drumnadrochit
Day 11 Drumnadrochit - Altnahara
Day 12 Altnahara - John O'Groats

So far we're looking at 1007 miles. Sharp intake of breath!

a long ride for mediocre Fish and Chips

Ok so the training rides have started.

I call them training rides, previously they were called "big bike rides". I feel that i now have a goal in mind, they should have a more meaningful name.

So this weekend's training ride was Whitby. Whitby has nice chip shops apparently, We stopped at the Magpie it was allright!

So onto the ride

with a prevailing wind we set off and that carried us for a record pace setting, no huge hills to speak off until outside of Brid, then on to Filey and Scarborough.

Ravencar has a bit of a monster, specially cause it's pretty rough going, but the views of Robin Hoods Bay are pretty special.Worth it when you get to the top.

Round the bay and up another cinder path - I shall grow to hate this name I feel, round the corner and Whitby in site. nice long down hill to the home of Captain Cook, and chips in sight.

Aches and pains, not to bad on the legs and the tender regions. Shoulder is a bit of an ache.

I've been thinking on the value of getting a proper bike bit. I get like a pins and needles sensation in my hands as i sit on the hoods, still tingling sensation this morning, contemplating getting a proper bike fit session in somewhere to see how the bike is set up for me. Going to be spending a bit of time on it, might as well be comfy!!

Got a training session to do this week on the exercise bike, whilst watching another episode or 10 of Caprica (not that good), then another ride around the fair city of Sheffield with my other fellow prospective LeJoger. Training Ride 2

A long time ago....

Indeed it has to start somewhere.

But where?

I guess today it starts. Today I booked the accommodation for my 3 day training ride to Edinburgh, and it then kinda dawned that there lies a longer journey to get to readiness for Lands End to John O'Groats 2014.

little steps indeed.

I have no grand schemes for this blog other than to document thoughts, plans and whatever relevant information that I may wish to record.

I see lots of blogs about training plans and what to eat and what not to eat and where your heart rate should go and the like. Hopefully this won't end up like that, but i can't guarantee.

The hardest part of a blog is starting.

Well i've started :)