Cycling in the rain

66 km today in the rain. Over Burton Dasset and Edge hill. Climbing Edge Hill with my cycle computer for the first time showed me that as I crested the hill I was moving at a fantastic 6kph. That'll be walking pace for an old man with a zimmer frame. Well, I suppose at least I did it. I stopped at the top, as I like to do, in the garden of the Castle Inn. Built from local stone as a round tower in 1742 to mark the centenary of the Battle of Edgehill. A wooden drawbridge links the 70ft tower with a smaller square tower. Good views out over the Civil War battle site allow me to sit in isolation staring out imagining another time. What must it have been like to fight in those battles? How terrifying? Was there glory to be had? A light drizzle but good visibility created a good melancholy atmosphere for quiet contemplation whilst I munched an energy bar. The battle field is said to be haunted.

Anyhow, five minutes rest saw me off down the hill, with my brakes on (because of the rain and my soft sensibility) I still hit 64kph going down Sun Rising Lane. A real blast.

Not much else to say, a pleasant ride over Loxley, stopped to admire the view of Stratford from the top whilst munching a banana. I can feel myself getting stronger but whether I can do 12 days of 100 miles remains to be seen.

Good news when I got home; raffle ticket sales have passed the £1000 barrier, which was my target. I've now hit my original fund raising target of £2500. So I'll raise the target to keep me focused. The raffle draw is tomorrow,, I'll post the results here.

Spent a pleasant afternoon shopping in Leamington en famille. I love my life.

Rugby with Brian the Lion

Today I had porridge for breakfast (with honey & raisins).

Then I rode over to Rugby (15 miles) in my best lycra to go see Bilton school. My good friend John Pinkney is the deputy head there and had asked me to go over to talk to the kids about my ride and in return he would arrange some fund raising opportunities.

I didn't really know what to expect on the way over and its not often I ride in rush hour traffic. But once I left Cubbington the traffic died down and away I went, a pleasant enough ride. Arriving at the school ten minutes early I delivered my sweaty lycra clad body to reception to be greeted with a blank stare. They weren't expecting me, no-one knew who I was to meet and John was away on business. Hmmm. I waited until the appointed hour of 10:00am on the off chance someone would come. They didn't. A few boys hung around admiring my bike, with the words, "you must be that bike geezer that's going to ride about a bit". Recognition at least. Anyhow they seemed to like my bike, particularly the spokes. Don't ask me why.

So 15 more minutes go by before a teacher and very nice man, who's name escaped me in the excitement arrived to announce that I was to meet representatives of the school council. So two pretty girls and 4 cool lads stand around and listen whilst I talk about aluminium, carbon fibre, oversize lungs (on professional cyclists, not me), clipless pedals, cot death and other general nonsense. And guess what? They seem to find it genuinely interesting. They ask sensible, searching questions about babies, about bikes, about the Tour de France and generally engage me, make me feel welcome, wanted and worthwhile. I can honestly say that it was an absolute pleasure to meet these children. Even the ones wandering past and staring at the incongruity of a grown man in tight sweaty clothing standing defensively next to his v. expensive bike seemed engaged and vibrant. I don't know about the kids but I enjoyed every second of their company I hope they felt the same. If all schools are like Bilton then our country has a great future ahead of it.

So that's me all emotional. Anyhow, we had our picture taken together and I promised to take Brian the Lion (the school mascot) on my tour. I stuffed him in my back pocket for the journey home, but I think he felt homesick because he jumped out about a mile down the road. A old woman in a following car stopped appearing to think a cat had fallen in the road in front of her and must have looked in astonishment I turned around on my bike, casually picked it up, stuffed it in y back pocket and pedalled away.

I came home the scenic route, through Long Itchington and Offchurch. A further 59k to my training this week.

So all in all, I felt pretty good. The kids made me smile. The ride was pleasant and all is good with the world. Oh, and they raised about £800 for the FSID by having a none uniform day. Three cheers for the kids of Bilton school. Watch here for the adventures of Brian the Lion.

(one downside of the day was that all the way home I couldn't stop singing the Arctic Monkeys Brianstorm in my head because of the word association, but I only know the chorus..."Cause we can't take our eyes off the t-shirt and ties combination Well see you later, innovator" and it gets really annoying 400 times over)

Sausage and mash

One of the joys of excessive exercise is that you can eat as much as you like and not put on any weight. Yesterday I had muesli and banana for breakfast, snacked on a kiwi (!) an apple and a banana through the day,, had a tuna pasta pot with raspberries, yoghurt and flapjack for afters, half a roast chicken when I got home (that Beth had waiting for me) and sausage, mash and beans for dinner when I got back from my training ride. Cool.

I managed a 50k spin to Little Alne and back (at least that was the idea, but having not taken a map a took a wrong turn in Wilmcote and ended up blasting along the A46 at 50kph into Stratford town centre and following the river to Charlecote Park and home). Given that its done nothing but rain here for two months (one month's rainfall in a day in Sheffield today) I've been pretty lucky with the weather. I hope its Tom, smiling down on me, I know he looks after Beth. The falling sun was trapped beneath the clouds giving that sharpness to everything that makes the countryside look almost surreal. I am lucky to have such fabulous countryside on my doorstep. Although it alarms me the number of crushed lager cans you see at the side of the road. Do people really drive along swigging lager and chucking their empties out of the window? Must be the Dukes of Hazard mentality. I'll let you know if I bump into Daisy.

Another wet day in the midlands

Another day of downpours and drizzle means I wasn't tempted to get my bike out to test my legs after yesterday's epic. I did make it to the gym though. 1500m on the rower stretched my quads a little too painfully for my liking, so on Beth's advice I stuck to some upper body work. They tell me core strength is just as important, which eases my guilt somewhat. A happy half an hour was then spent in the pool with Mo before returning home for bacon sandwiches. Training has its benefits!

Plans afoot

Yesterday I was too busy to post, but I did manage to book my train to Penzance for the start, £16, bargain. I also booked a train for Beth to York for £9, an even bigger bargain. Beth and Imogen are going up to York the day before I finish to meet up with her sister and husband. the four of them are then planning to drive up to Inverness on 15th to meet me at the end of the ride for celebratory drinks & food! I'm kind of assuming not much in the way of alcohol will pass my lips during the ride duration so it might be a marathon session to end on! Beth's parents are also planning on being there. I guess they were all directly touched by Tom's death, which is part of my inspiration for this ride and the charity raising (http://www.justgiving.com/craigmorrisfsid) so they all seem to be enthused by my efforts. I just hope I can do them justice. They've all been a magnificent support so far. Anyhow Beth and I are planning a couple of days in Inverness when I finish (perhaps we'll visit the site of the Battle of Culloden, I could start a collection of battlefields I have visited!) and I managed to book Ryanair flights back to East Midlands for the three of us (Mo too) for a penny each. Sadly I had to pay £15.50 for my bike!

Any volunteers to pick us up at the airport? I rode past that way today and don't fancy it again!

June 23rd 2007 - A new milestone

So today I hit a new milestone. My longest ride to date has been just over 100k (63 miles), I needed to prove to myself I could do more. Today I rode 167km (just over 100 miles) in 7 hours and 20minutes, which I'm really pleased with. Now admittedly I need to be doing these kind of distances every day for the best part of two weeks and, the way I feel right now, makes me think that's going to be tough. But hey, at least I'm on track.

The target was to ride from Warwick to Uppingham, but I got as far as Sutton Basset, just past Market Harborough and about 8 mile short of my destination. The computer said 80k and I saw no point in carrying on for the sake of it, so I sat in a pub garden (a pub that was receiving customers at 10:15 am but I resisted) loaded some carbs and water then set off back to Warwick the way I had came. At least that was the intention, if I hadn't have taken the wrong road out of Market Harborough and made a 10k detour. I thought I could take advantage of my mistake by taking a route around the big hill into East Farnham. Unfortunately more poor map reading popped me out right at the bottom of the hill! So much for the Geography degree.

I passed through some lovely English villages and across the historic battlefield at Naseby at which Cromwell effectively settled the English civil war in his favour (what with crossing Edge Hill earlier in the week its been a history lesson and training combined).

The last 20k was torture. I had run out of food and water and peddled home on empty. I staggered through the back door when I got home and made short work of the contents of the fridge and the cake Beth & Imogen were busy making.

I have to say, despite my near terminal fatigue, I enjoyed the day and it was a joy to come home to Imogen, my 3 year old who bounced around with boundless energy and Beth, my wife, who fed me and let me put my feet up. I'll miss them and the rest of the kids when I go away for 12 days.

Longest Day 21st June 2007

Its the longest day of the year today, so I took advantage by being out at 6:15 to do a quick spin round Warwick. 27km in one hour. Not a long ride but the weather was beautiful and the pleasing thing is that my average speed has consistently increased from 15mph to 18 mph, a 20% increase. So all this training must be starting to work.



It also gave me the chance to test my new cycle computer. Which means I no longer have to get back and map my route on mapmyride.com every time I go out to see how far I went. Bought the cycle computer from Mike's Bikes in Kenilworth but wouldn't recommend them because they seem to treat all customers as inferior beings.



Training to date:

20th June raffle ticket sales

No training today but I did shove my face in front of staff at Olympus Avenue, where I work, to sell £187 of raffle tickets. Last week staff at Spa, a sister building, bought £147 worth and various friends and family are well on the way to making my target of £1000 for FSID in addition to sponsorship. Thanks to Panasonic who donated the main prize of a 51cm Viera TV, HM Graphics of Leamington Spa who donated a signed limited edition print and Xerox who gave me a bottle of Champagne.

In the beginning

So 6 months into my training I've decided to go on-line and record my thoughts and travails as I prepare for my cycle ride from one end of Great Britain to the other, that's Land's End to John O'Groats.

Being a thrill seeking mountain biker I was dismissive of the fun of road cycling until two bouts of major eye surgery limited my off road opportunities. A casual conversation with a friend in the car park of my local Tesco sowed the seeds that I could stay on a bike by crossing to the dark side however.

A world of lycra beckoned. I borrowed a bike over Christmas, laboured for a few miles but enjoyed it. Having obtained permission from she who must be obeyed off I trot to Evans cycles (http://www.evanscycles.com/) in the sales and return with a brand new Scott Speedster S20 .

A carbon fibre and aluminium dream which compared to my hefty old Marin(s) goes like a rocket. A gazelle to my hippos.

Anyhow I am now building up a collection of lycra and nobody can tell me that men look good in the stuff. But it does the business.

I'm doing the ride 4th through 15th September 2007 and I have decided to raise money for FSID in memory of my wife's son, who died of cot death in December 1997 and as a tribute to her fortitude in not only overcoming that, but also in bringing up a family and getting herself in to University to study for a nursing degree.

You can sponsor me here: (http://www.justgiving.com/craigmorrisfsid)

More details of my training will come. I've just hit the 1000 miles mark and finally bought a cycle computer. You can see some of my training routes on map my ride (http://www.mapmyride.com/) by searching for Warwick, UK.

Yesterday I rode 72km over the three biggest hills in Warwickshire (I think), Burton Dasset, Edge Hill & Loxley Hill and survived. My next benchmark is a 160km epic at the weekend. Watch this space! Thanks to everyone who has supported me. I am grateful.