About time the girls got involved!

As the title of this post suggests, its about time the girls got involved in this blog ... its been dominated by the boys for far too long already! So, here I am, sitting in a cafe just off Piccadilly Circus in Central London with my Macbook sipping an Americano, watching the world go by.  My bike is happily at home resting after the battering I've given it these last three days.  55 miles, essentially achieved by circling Regents Park outer circle.  Its not the most scenic of routes, and in fairness it gets a bit tedious after the third lap, but with few traffic lights, somewhat lighter traffic than the rest of London and other cyclists aplenty its a great place to rack up the miles.

If you've read my biog on the website, you'll know that I'm not a savvy cyclist, however, I have bitten the bullet and got myself out on London roads.  I've even tackled the madness that is Kings Cross ... I won't be doing that again any time soon.  But, as aims go, I think I have pretty much achieved mine.  (It was to be able to cycle on roads as I've never learned ... and I can safely say I'm doing that daily).

Anyway, enough of this training and goals talk, the reason I wanted to jump on the blog bandwagon was to talk about the important things that cycling to Monte Carlo involves.  Mainly fashion and hair!!!!! :)

Cycling is hardly the most stylish of sports to undertake.  Mostly made up of a combination of lycra garments, even for the most svelte of ladies, this really isn't a good look!  And don't get me started on the padded bottoms (Nigel, no jokes please!) I have trawled the internet for cycling clothes that flatter the average size 12/14 figure (me) but sadly I have drawn a blank.  Maybe I should take a few tips from the model pictured ... hmmmmm!

Then there's hair!  I spot women cycling around London with their hair blowing the the breeze and without helmets.  Firstly, they're completely stupid for not wearing head protection, but I have to say, I do get their dilemma.  The standard ponytail doesn't work as the helmet gets in the way and any other style is just a faff to create each day!  So, if anyone has any tips on suitable hairstyles for the longer haired cyclist I'd love to hear them!

Ok pretty much done here.  This weekend we have a big training weekend at George's ... and in my newly found role as team stylist (I've just decided this by the way) I shall endeavour to take photos of the fashion highs and lows from the weekend.

Oh, one final point ... Nigel suggested I let my fellow cyclists know that last week I racked up a whopping 100 miles training, and this week just under 60 so far!  So, if you're struggling to get motivated, just think of those padded bottoms and get on it! ;)

Lisa x

Peak District climb

This weekend the Payne family helped out "Dad" with a different type of training and we all went climbing in the Peak district. The weekend was organised by the excellent Climb Your Mountain charity. All in all we walked and climbed for between 4 1/2 and 5 hours.

Initially quite flat, the terrain soon changed to quite steep and extremely windy - especially at the highest point as per the photo above (which as the sun was behind us came out very well). We ascended 2,800 feet and burnt off 2,000 calories in the process.

The Climb Your Mountain event was really well attended by a great bunch of people and I can highly recommend it to anyone! Most of the hills are pretty easy - there are one or two brutes but still manageable.

After the exertions, we then collapsed in the truly amazing Loosehill Hotel and Spa in Hope, Peak district which was incredibly reasonable and superb from beginning to end. All in all a great weekend and a nice rest for my very sore bum.

Abba shoes, no sore bottoms, real progress and yet another puncture

Despite having to put up with the presence of Abba shoes adorning Rob the Trainer (see image below), today George and Nigel made real progress. Something clicked today, at least for Nigel anyway (George has been there for some time). We did 36 miles, at a great 13.2mph average speed (too fast for the actual ride), climbed 1,500 feet and burnt 2,000 calories - Yeah! And no sore bum either (courtesy believe it or not of removing the extra padded shorts and using lightweight padded bib shorts).

Whether it was the warm weather, the presence of the super-fast Mr. Rolls, the fear of having another picture taken with those shoes or what ....today was the best ride so far. George, despite having just come back from a week of feasting in Russia, was on it from the first pedal stroke and Nigel had little choice but to keep up. What a great ride!

Of course these training rides wouldn't be complete without Nigel's one-a-ride puncture and so it happened again this time. That's three on the last two rides! However this time we saw the difference of having someone with us that really knew what they were doing in Rob who changed the whole thing in 5 minutes flat. Amazing.

All in all a great day and one we are repeating on 7th and 8th March if anyone cares to join in. More base miles in the bank..............

Sore bum indeed !!

Had a great day today: went out with my trainer Rob and we did 35 miles in the countryside, climbing 1,600 feet and averaging 11.7mph which is the kind of speed we need to be doing. And it was quite "in your face" windy too. So I'm well happy !!!! Feet didn't hurt, arms, neck shoulders were all fine.

Rob is a first class trainer who is pushing me on very nicely. Recommended to me by my friend Jez Church who I did Kilimanjaro with, Rob is one of those rare people you meet from time to time who just have "got it". For example in July 2010 Rob raised over £4,000 doing an iron man with a fridge on his back. I kid you not. As the picture opposite shows.......he cycled (pulling) and ran (on his back) with an entire fridge. Awesome. By the way Rob has invited any of the group to join in our training rides free of charge if anyone wants to. They are awesome I promise!

So I've cracked it yeah? Er well no. Actually not at all. Because oh my god did my bum start to ache after 20 miles. And I mean on bloody fire !!! The last 5 miles were so sore I had to pretty much stand up. So bit by bit we are getting there with the "contact points." But there's still one still to go. What was interesting though was that it was fine for the first bit. So I suppose there's a lesson there, at least as far as I'm concerned anyway: test your kit at least once over a longer distance.

The biggest plus for me today though was that I am really starting to feel the benefit of "base miles" kicking in now. I didn't tire as much as I did a couple of weeks ago and generally it was all a little better. As George said to me last week: it's all about loads and loads of base miles old boy! And blimey is he right.

Anyway, three days off now. No exercise, no bikes, just long hot baths. Lovely !

-5, 50 miles, 2 punctures, and the 4th emergency service !! 

Well I suppose this is when you find out if you really "want it"or not. Today was supposed to be warmer, but it wasn't. Well not at the start anyway. As you can see from the picture it was pretty cold. We started our cycling at 9.30am at -5.3 degrees. Now that's commitment!! 

Today was also supposed to be the day where Nigel got all his contact points sorted out. So, pedals changed (back to toe clips); warm weather gear at the ready - we set off on an 18 miler in the ice. After 2 miles Nigel said "Do you know George my bum still hurts like hell. I really thought I'd sussed this saddle yesterday" To which George replied as he zoomed past at lightning speed: "Might help if you'd remembered to put your shorts on old chap." Yes, yours truly had set off in -5 with no shorts on. What a plonker. And it did hurt like hell. 

Still, with the excellent cyclist that is Mr George Rolls leading the way throughout we covered the icy 18 miles well, climbed just over a 1,000 feet and got back home in good spirits. The icy roads kept our speed down to just under 11mph average but it was still a good effort.

Lunch over, we then set off on a 30 mile afternoon effort. With warmer weather and a good lunch inside us we were both cycling much faster. Then, 7 miles in, just as Nigel was commenting on how his tyres were seemingly puncture proof - pow !!! It went.  But hey that's okay as George was carrying two inner tube spares. So we took off the back wheel and using George's supreme Top Peak repair kit with air canisters to boot, we repaired the tyre. What a great spare to have.

Unfortunately the air in the tyre wasn't quite enough so 200 yards later we had to stop and blow the tyre up a bit more. As we did, the inner tube we'd just put in exploded (literally) frightening the local horses and making a considerable din. So we had to fit the second spare - 5 minutes after the first. This of course was met with considerable delight as you can see from the picture on the left.

Unfortunately, the 100 psi pressure required in the tyres was too much for the volume of air left left by now in the canisters and idiot Payne had forgotten his pump. So we had to call out the 4th emergency service in George's delightful wife Bunny who rescued the day with a pump!  Having been through two inner tubes and two full air canisters in 100 yards, quite what we would have done without her we don't know !!

Anyway, drama over, we set about our 30 mile afternoon ride. Our cycling was better than Saturday and better than the morning. We climbed 1,100 feet and averaged 11.7mph which is great stuff. And brilliant it was too. Really enjoyable.

But you know all joking aside, this weekend has taught us both such a great deal. We have done 70 miles this weekend at around 11 mph. And we are knackered. The picture opposite is exactly how we arrived back - both of us the same. At the end of the afternoon ride we were tired. Even though George can easily cycle faster than Nigel and faster than the 11.7mph we achieved, he too was very tired at the end and we have both learnt that doing this challenge is so very much not about speed. Frankly, if we had gone any faster than we did we would have struggled by the end. And we would not be able to recover properly for the next day.

We have also learnt the value of base miles. Cycle, cycle, cycle has to be the message over the next 11 weeks. Right now, an hour after we have finished, we are tightening up and we are not ready for sure to do 60 miles a day for 14 days. The importance of masses of base miles just cannot be overstated. Not fast miles, just solid base miles at an 11 mph average.

Overall, this has been a totally awesome weekend. An absolute blast. 70 miles ridden, 3,500 calories burned, 3,000 feet ascended, 2 punctures, loads of experience, great food, great hospitality. It's what life is all about.

Evening all,

Today Storm Trooper George Rolls and Nigel braved the minus 6 degrees and met up at George's "pad" for a training ride in the Hampshire frost and snow. George wore his new traffic light jacket and Nigel his "London to Monte Carlo" branded cycling jacket (anyone want one?) we managed to do a 20 mile ride averaging just over 11.3mph and climbed just under 900 feet in the process. Whilst George's cycling speed is 1.5 miles and hour faster than Nigel's, nevertheless this was a good effort in pretty poor conditions. 

The ride was great and the countryside was fantastic - if a little slippy in places. But the overriding thoughts that pervade our mind as we recover by the fireside are three fold. Firstly, we discussed the fact that what we did today was less than 1/45th of the total distance required in just 11 weeks time. And that each day of the ride we will need to do 3 and a bit rides equal to what we've just done. That will not be easy and 11 weeks of training needs to be put to full use. If we didn't know it before we certainly do now: this is one heck of a challenge. 

Secondly, and importantly, is speed. Whilst it is so very east to zoom off sometimes when the energy is there, cycling at a comfortable speed - crucially one that will allow you to do 3 rides of 20 miles each day - is essential. But of course this has to be fast enough to cover the distance in time. 12 mph is the magic number and that's not quite what we did today. But by April 29th, it'll be fine. We hope.

Finally, after one more valiant attempt, Nigel has abandoned clipped pedals. Trying a new softer shoe today, they still hurt like mad and are clearly not for him !!  So toe clips it is.

A fantastic day, learning all the time. Tomorrow we are going to attempt two 20 mile rides. Wish us luck !!

Dear All ,

We (Tony & Renata) met Nigel and Matt in London today to discuss the ride and ongoing training. Ren and I wish we hadn't as the meeting left us feeling woefully underprepared to date and in serious need of a training uplift. What will it take for us to get our butts off the coach and into the gym more?? Having been in hospital and in recovery for the past 3 weeks I have done nothing therefore have much catching up to you. My gorgeous girlfriend Ren who is thankfully joining us on our French adventure is going to accompany me on many much needed training sessions over the coming weeks to ensure our readiness, we hope!! We hope you all are training hard and well, and are nervous yet excited about our bloody long ride, and party in Monaco at the end of our journey ( hint hint Matt, our Monaco party host!!) Speak to you all soon, happy cycling Tony and Ren xx

I am a builder you know !!

Hello from Portugal !!

Antonio here. Well believe it or not I began my training on the September the second, in door. It was a sporadic training with no real method behind it. As you can see from the photo it was very much a do it yourself attempt !!!

But now this is very real isn't it. So, on the 2nd of February I did my first Km on the road, and had a good feeling.... it went very well. And since them I have practiced all days. Yesterday afternoon I had my first adventure. I came home for lunch, on my bike. I made a sharp turn with some speed and felt the tire skid underneath me. I thought "these tires have little grip, gotta be more careful." Things got worse from then until as I was falling off at every interval I realised the problem: I had a puncture. Moral's history, be careful with these tires - are excellent, but very fragile.  For Kilimanjaro I think I had a little disadvantage as the beautiful Portuguese countryside had virtually no hills and no altitude. But for this it is perfect. In here I have had plenty of sunshine and completely dry roads. So I am not jealous of your snow !!! The big problem is the wind. It can make cycling a little difficult but we will cope! Enjoy the training everyone and see you soon.

Where has my will power gone?

It's 3 months to go now and by now I should have lost 10 lbs and be cycling 100 miles a week. Well - I've managed to lose zero lbs and I'm only cycling 40 miles a week. I'm still struggling very much with my feet, achilles and - as if that wasn't bad enough - I'm very materially slower it seems than my fellow cyclists!! But, I'm getting enthused now. I actually love this cycling lark and gradually I'm getting the bug !!   So I've mapped out a three month intensive training plan which starts on Monday 6th February and I'm going for it !!