My First Half Century

Another week has drifted past and thankfully no impact from last weekends reliability ride, and a full weeks training both on and off the bike.

The objectives this week were to test myself a little compared to last week by trying for an average speed of about 14/15mph,to see how I coped over the longer distances at that higher pace and to crack the 50 mile mark

I enjoyed Sundays ride through Brington, Winwick and other villages out towards Oundle some of which I hadn’t been through since my school days. I was amazed to see how much those villages had changed, and then I saw that where Simon Clack’s garden in Oundle had been was now occupied by 2 or 3 houses, it made me feel quite ancient.

I stopped for a quick break in Oundle but found myself getting cold very quickly so moved off as soon as I had eaten my chocolate brownie cake, (as recommended by most Olympians) and then headed home via Glapthorn, Brigstock and Cranford.

I got back to Raunds only to find I was about 6 miles short of my 50-mile goal, so I had a quick blat down the A45 to Thrapston and back finally finishing on 51 miles. I felt comfortable, the arms and shoulders were much better and although my legs were tired I was more than happy with my 14mph average speed which showed me I was capable of a decent pace over four hours or so.

Having done all that I then had a couple of beers watching England struggle to beat Italy, a glass or two of red with a huge roast dinner so clearly weight loss is not high on my agenda!!

The days are lengthening and it wont be long before I can start riding to and from work, the plan this week is to get out in the evenings for an hour or so after work rather than continue on the turbo and just do a hills or speed session to try to build the leg strength up and then another long weekend ride.

Onwards and upwards.