Number 35 come on down!

35

So the race numbers have been published, so for those of you that do follow me in the summer, please remember that I am now number 35 and NOT 52.

It's very exciting to see the names on the board, it somehow makes it a little more real. Whatever, I made sure that I put in a good training day today.

Last year I cycled from home to Bury St Edmunds via a few other places and clocked a sub 6 hour 100. I know that this is not much to write home about for decent cyclists, but it's a good days work for me.

It was pleasantly cool at 6:45 when I headed out and I followed the same route to Swaffham that I took the other night. From there I did a reverse route to Lakenham Fen and Brandon country park before heading to Bury and then back to Norwich. A lovely headwind on the way home slowed me down a bit, but I stopped the clock at 100 miles at 5 hours 53.

2207 all in

18.98 av

New Work of Art at the Sainsbury Centre For Visual Arts

Over the last week I have added a total of 173 miles including those that took me through the 2000 mile mark previously written about. I've also invested in a new pair of shorts having worn through the faithful and very comfortable pair bought for the purpose last year.

If there are any of you out there who suffer from latex allergy and find cycle clothing a nightmare, as I do, then I can certainly recommend Sugoi shorts that can be bought from Wiggle. They have no latex grip strip in the legs and are very comfortable. The elasticated band around the thigh is also good enough to hold the cut off legs of a pair of tracksuit trousers in place, when it is colder. (Leg warmers, as with arm warmers, generally are held in place with latex.)

In anticipation of doing another 100 on Sunday morning, I headed into Norwich today to book the bike in for a service with Andy at Specialised Cycles on Connaught Road, www.specialisedcyclesnorwich.co.uk and then made for my 'favourite' little hill circuit.

Gas Hill and Kett's Hill together make for a thigh burning duo and I went up them both three times. The view up and down Gas Hill shown here looks not unlike how I imagine the Muur to be in Geraardesbergen, but without the cobbles. I dearly hope that it is not this steep!

From here I journeyed home via the University of East Anglia, (UEA) where I met with Laura and viewed the new work of art close to Henry Moore's famous sculpture at the Sainsbury Centre For Visual Arts.

 Spot the work of art!

Total now 2100

Avg 18.26 a day since 31st Dec 2014

www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell4alzheimers/

New Fund-Raising Link

Having made the decision to continue fund-raising for The Alzheimer's Society, I gave them a ring last week and asked them for some assistance with coverage of the TCR. This is far too big an event to be treated as another charity cycle ride. I'm aware that by saying that, that I sound as though I'm denigrating the efforts of all those many cyclists, (many who are taking on their first 50 or 100,) and belittling their efforts. I am not. I remember my first 100 mile organised ride clear as daylight and it was hard work.

What I want to do though is bring the longevity and trials and tribulations of this race to as many followers as is possible. Many, many people followed us via the www.transcontinentalrace link last year and many of those said how addicted they became to catch up with the race each morning.

Significantly, I wish for people to spare a thought for families living with dementia, because the two weeks of ups and downs of the TCR is nothing compared to those taking on the marathon of alzheimer's.

The following post is my first contact with the organisation and I have also set up a new fund-raising page that you can get to via the following link.

www.justgiving.com/john-bakewell4alzheimers/

A little encouragement goes a long way

Thank you from Alzheimer's Society

                                                                                             

Thank you John, you're a fundraising star, your support is helping people affected by dementia across the UK. Thanks to you and 800 more budding Alzheimer's Society cyclists you've helped to raise a whopping£362,417 in the last year. Take a look at this video to see how fundraising like yours is helping fund valuable rest-bite services supporting people with dementia and their carers.
To say thank you...
	We would like to offer you a half price registration for our upcoming September 2015 London to Brussels cycle challenge.  In 2013 we took over 70 cyclists along the same route and you can see in this video what they had to say about taking part. To activate your half price registration you need to sign up and when prompted enter the discount code 'PAST15'
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0207 423 5101 or reply to this email.
p.s we have a few places left to take part in this years RideLondon and we would love to you to join us. If you're interested sign up or get in touch

                                                                                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

2000 miles

As I cycled home this morning in the fog and then breaking warm spring sunshine, I broke through the 2000 miles since the start of the year. Considering I covered 2500 miles in total for training last year, I am well ahead of myself. I am, however, missing out on some of the longer days.

At the weekend I didn't manage to get out until 19:00 on Saturday evening, by which time I was already tired from a day with the boys and it was cold to boot. The bike was laden almost to race spec, but my two season sleeping bag just didn't feel as though it was going to be that comforting.

It was none-the-less a beautiful evening and I headed on back roads from home to Swaffham before heading south to Munford and Thetford. Evenings like this are wonderful for wildlife and I was serenaded by a Stone Curlew somewhere south of Swaffham.

I have been picking up my speed recently, but I must also remember to scale it back a little when I am travelling further. Not surprisingly therefore, I was a little done in when I called into my workplace at 22:30 for a cup of tea. By then I had already determined to find my own bed, rather than an appropriate hedge and cold headwind or not I was pulled home by the sound of my pillow calling.

Pushing on.

As the computer downloads the updated route for the 2015 race onto my GPS, I am beginning to move things on a little. Now that the warm weather has arrived, I've been out twice in the last two days splitting 67 miles in half, with an hour and 45 minutes of full-blooded up hill, down vale speed work. A healthy headwind on stretches to boot. It feels good to be genuinely tired after a ride.

Tomorrow I shall take a day off, strip the bike down and give it a really good clean. I'm then going to mount the new Apidura handlebar and accessory bag, and the seat post mounted rear bag, (see photo) and load her up for a trial ride this weekend. Depending what else is going on, I shall find a hedge bottom or small copse somewhere to spend the night and hope that my 2 season sleeping bag will be just about enough to stop me freezing overnight.

Last year I took travelling light to extreme levels and although I don't want to take too much more with me this year, I do want to make camping out a little more comfortable having determined that 5 hours minimum is a must if I am to complete the 180 odd miles a day necessary to finish on time.

Everything changes, yet stays the same.

On Friday I spent the day with the boys at Minsmere planning to set out on an evening 100 when I got home, to be followed by another the next day. I felt that I had taken my foot off the gas a little recently and needed to give myself a boost.

By 5 pm I had been sat with my mother and then left her to return to the children at her home. My father had passed away and everything had changed.

Tomorrow I start again, but with one big pillar less, to lean on.

On this year's TCR, there will be two people on my bike. I hope that's not cheating.

A change of focus

It being Easter, I took the time to spend more time with the boys. The bike lay dormant for a couple after some long nights, but on Wednesday I grabbed the opportunity to push out a 'no holds barred' circuit around the the local villages.

I had been reading some more about the importance of varying your training. Particularly of the importance of ensuring that if you want to ride fast, then you have to train fast. When time is at a premium, these little short bursts of speed fill the gaps nicely and I shall do more of them.

The following day though I chose a different route altogether and rode for the very first time with my 6 year old, around the village. If he thought it was a big day for him, it was an even bigger one for me. It didn't clock any miles, but it was seminal and despite drawing unflattering comments from old friends about MAMIL on facebook, none-the-less goes down in the diary as a good day.

This race/ride has always been about challenging myself. As you know, however, I like to put these things to some use and having previously raised money for the Alzheimer's Society and determined to try to help the fight against ebola.

Visiting my father recently though had persuaded me that championing a cause about which you have a personal attachment makes more sense, motivationally as much as anything else.

So it was that over the weekend I planned to contact the local British Red Cross representative to inform them of this decision and also as it happened to put in back to back 100s on Friday and Saturday.

600 miles in 36 hours...by Kristoff

It is nearly a month since I last made a blog entry. A lot can happen in a month.

For every rider there are different challenges and differing and changing goals. None more clearly defined than that set by Kristof Allegaert who accomplished the most incredible feat of endurance last weekend, cycling the entire first leg of this years TCR in 36 hours. http://www.jaegher.com

I think that's something just over 930 km! I know, it doesn't even bear thinking about. On the one hand, I try not to, on the other he is hugely motivating.

There has been a steady and continuous stream of TCR chatter on facebook as riders prepare their bikes, their routes and of course their bodies. Tales of longer rides are becoming more numerous, with folks turning up in all corners of the world it seems as they check out gear, brain and brawn.

Having earlier in the season determined not to make this years training impact so heavily on the family, I had changed the emphasis somewhat from training at the weekends to training during the week, but it should come as no surprise that trying to do this and work nights is a tough ask and the last couple of Saturdays has seen me put in a couple of decent 100s.

Last Saturday I called in to see my father at Foxearth, the care home where he has been so lovingly nursed for the last year and then whilst my wife and kids headed to Beccles to meet up with some friends, I unbeknownst to them stole further south to Woodbridge, leaving myself with a 40 mile journey up the A12 to catch up with them. Since the hadn't known where I was, I was now somewhat adrift, but with this as an incentive and taking advantage of the tailwind, I covered the 38 miles in a fraction under 2 hours and felt pleased with my days work.

My mileage is now 1800 and I had maintained my daily average above 18 until this weekend.