My 2014 Tour de Fitness

This week,  I joined millions of other Face Book users in publishing "the moments of my year" and in reminiscing through the selection of photos from 2014 it was clear that this has been another year in which my new found love of cycling has clearly dominated.

January

I kicked off with my first ride of the year on the 2nd January with a pre work cycle to see the evidence of the local winter flooding in Cowhayne Lane, Colyford. This was to set the scene for the remainder of the year, grabbing a ride when ever the opportunity arose.

Winter flooding in Cowhayne Lane

February

The RideLondon draw was announced and, having decided back in November that I would be riding for Team Diabetes UK, my mind was now focussed on getting in some serious training ahead of the August event. Things did not, however, start well with a rather disappointing first step into the world of Audax cycling. The 102 km Primrose Path event was to be my first ever sportive, but my then undiagnosed kidney stones were to force me to curtail my ride after only 60 km.

Primrose Path Audax

March

March was my first anniversary of getting back into cycling following some 30 years of lethargy. It also saw the delivery of my official Ride London jersey and me setting up my Team Diabetes UK JustGiving page, for which I braved the cool early spring air to capture some 'summer short sleeved' publicity pictures!

RideLondon Publicity Shot

April

Through the first few months of the year, I kept to the Crosstrail on my evening AVP rides, concerned that with roads covered in runoff debris, mud and rain hidden potholes, I'd damage the Roubaix. Not having a dedicated winter road bike, this was a risk I was not prepared to take ... until that was, towards the end of April, when I found myself very much the odd one out, the other Pedallers all on road bikes. The Crosstrail was stood down for the summer.

The Crosstrail and a typical AVP roadside workshop

May

With just 3 months until the epic London ride, I met up with my RideLondon buddie, Jason, to kick off some more serious road training. Before the RideLondon, however, I had my second sportive, the Dartmoor Classic, which I was going to be riding in June with my AVP buddie, Andy. To familiarise ourselves with the area, we completed a memorable hill climb training ride across Dartmoor, picking perhaps one of the best days of the year so far to do it ... if only we could guarantee similar weather for the event!

Training for the Dartmoor Classic

June

Training for the RideLondon continues and with kidney stones now successfully blasted to oblivion my second sportive, riding the Dartmoor Classic with Andy, is a great success. Both of us achieve a bronze medal; myself just 3 minutes or 3 months off a silver and Andy just shy of the 10 minutes I held him up en route! The medals were just icing on the cake, we had a great day and the weather could not have been better.

Dartmoor Classic Buddies

July

In the lead up to the RideLondon, my target had been to complete at least 100 training miles a week, peaking during July when I covered over 500 miles. It was during this month that I procured my GoPro camera, with the intention of capturing every second of the upcoming big ride. What followed were weekly video releases of our AVP rides as I perfected the art of film production! My favourite pre RideLondon film must be Les Maillots Jaunes, but I'd be the first to admit I won't be giving up my day job!

My GoPro Hero3+ Black

August

Finally, the 2014 Prudential RideLondon arrives. Riding with my good friend Jason through biblical rain on an event which even my video can not do justice! My sponsors raised an amazing £1,570.73, over 200% of my target, for Diabetes UK .. Thank you so much, everyone for your generosity.

Just one of my RideLondon press cuttings

September

After the RideLondon, the rest of the year could have been a bit of an anticlimax, however, not only did I have the annual AVP 100 miler to look forward to, but also, having delayed our summer holidays due to my sportives, and now with the Yeti bike transport, a late holiday in Mull during the most perfect of India Summers inspired me to continue cycling .. oh yes, I also had that small matter of my 'half a century and not out' to celebrate!

Cycling Mull

October

Way back at the beginning of September, before I headed off to Mull, I accepted the role of AVP Kit Master, with immediate responsibility for ordering in the winter kit. This was one of those decisions which brought mixed emotions of joy and despair! But when finally, at the end of October, the big box of shrink-wrapped kit arrived and sales seemed to go well, my relief was palpable!

October also saw me enter an impromptu and my third sportive, the Autumn Storm.

November

The patter of new rubber on tarmac is heard as I collect my new Specialised Tarmac 'summer' road bike and reap the benefits of my first ever professional bike fit. Not totally planned but I just could not resist its smooth lines, integral cabling and silver paintwork .. not to mention the 'buy me now' price tag. Roll on summer!

Specialized Tarmac Expert - my new 'summer bike'

December

This Christmas it was our turn to do the festive family tour and now with the Yeti, I was able to bring one of my bikes with me. Following the arrival last month of the new Tarmac and my Roubaix having been designated the winter road bike, it was an easy decision .. the Roubaix was deep cleaned and loaded for travel. While away, I had two wonderful rides with both my sister and brother-in-law.

Back in September, en route to Mull, we stopped off with some very good friends near Castle Douglas. Coincidentally they just happened to be competing in a triathlon and seeing how much interest I showed in the event, they suggested I may want to give it a go myself and gave a very smart wetsuit to try out. Why do I mention this? Well, one of the gifts I received for Christmas was book entitled "Triathlon for Beginners". I feel a seed has been sown for my next 'Tour de Fitness' challenge!

So, during 2014, I have again taken my Tour de Fitness to another level; 2013 was all about getting back on a bike, 2014 was focussed on doing a couple of sportives, and with the Dartmoor Classic and RideLondon, I had an amazing year. For 2015 .. who knows .. it looks like it could be the year for a Triathlon!

Thank you to all my cycling buddies, Andy and Jason in particular, my fellow Axe Valley Pedallers, Wiggle, Chain Reaction, Evans, Soanes Cycles, The Bike Shed and of course my wife for making 2014 another wonderful cycling year .. Happy New Year to all!

Day 242 - Team Diabetes UK 2014

Oh my, I received the following email today .. it reads .. "It is with great pleasure that I am able to offer you a place on Team Diabetes UK for the 2014 Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100!"

About 10 years ago my mother contracted type 1 diabetes following a very stressful period in her life. Knowing of no family history of diabetes and my mother being of very slight build, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for her body to have chosen this time to stop producing sufficient insulin. With such mystery surrounding the cause of this illness and the work still obviously required to understand and find a less invasive and technical treatment, I applied to join the Team Diabetes UK on the RideLondon to both raise funds and awareness and help bring about the needed step change in research and discovery.

Me next year!

I am not a regular fund raiser, indeed far from it! This is the first sponsorship I will have sought since being a child, oh so many years ago, but I thought I would like the opportunity to cycle these 100 miles for a cause and do what I can for my mum and others in a similar position. May be this relatively small sum that I will be asked to raise will provide the few extra pounds that secure the breakthrough all sufferers are looking for. I will be asking you all to dig deep soon, so watch this space and then please, as the tag line goes. 'give generously' :)

This means that my miserable 9 miles cycling effort, so far this week, is going have to be seriously improved on going forward, rain or no rain .. and as I am reminded by the front page of this week's Cycling News which arrived through the door this morning, my "2014 starts now!"  Oh how true, and how did they know?!

Day 237 - 2014 Sportive Registrations

I am not enjoying my first autumn on two wheels and can see why my online cycle stores are emailing me their lines and offers on Turbo Trainers & Cycle Rollers! I am not, however, going to succumb, this year anyway. With just less than 20 miles covered, this week has probably been my worst, in distance terms, for some time. It has however, given me time to consider my 2014 objective to cycle a few Sportives.

I have already signed up for the RideLondon-Surrey 100 event for 10th August and am awaiting the lottery which will decide whether I am lucky to earn a place in the starting lineup. This week registration also opened for the Dartmoor Classic run over 107 miles on 22nd June and sold out in one day .. a record for the event. Amazingly, I managed to get my registration in early and will be riding with 4 fellow AVP cyclists (Andy, Clive, Richard and Hovis) who also secured an entry.

Having ridden my first 100 miler in September this year, I know I'm going to have to get my 2014 training in very early to be ready for June, and I'm somehow going to have to overcome the shortening days and shocking seasonal weather to keep my fitness up over winter.

Just a taster .. the map below shows the route .. eek!

Day 162 - Rest Day

I'm taking a much needed rest day today. My leg muscles need some time to repair and a day or two out of the saddle will let other sensitive areas recover from the pounding I've given them these past few weeks; it does all start to mount up and there is no fun cycling when you know you can go faster and take steeper hills but the body just says no. Coincidentally, browsing through this week's Cyling Weekly, my eye caught a quote from Beth Crumpton in the Pro Rider fitness tip of the week .. "Rest is as good as training and afternoon naps can do you the world of good!". So there you go. If you're asking whois Beth? .. you can check out her blog here http://bethcrumpton.blogspot.co.uk/.

I did manage to get out for a ride yesterday morning, but it was a tough one. Avoiding the severe hills, there being no way to avoid them all together here in Devon, I completed a 10 mile loop of Colyton and the seafront. Amazingly, Strava, which has recently usurped Endomono as my favoured training 'buddy', logged me achieving PRs for two sectors: Cowhayne Lane to Boshill Cross (01:56) and the Seaton seafront stretch (57 sec) ... I think this is more because it only has a month's worth of data and not all160 days that I've been riding this route! It is still nice, however, to get these reports, it is like getting a virtual pat on the back and don't tell Andy, but he's only lying in 4th against my 2nd placing in the AVP club rankings - that's something at least to be pleased about!

I've been looking at what should be my challenge for 2014, now that, in spite of how I may be feeling today, I've started to reach an elementary level of cycling fitness. I've spoken of the club's 100 mile ride later in September which would really be a great achievement for my first year. While I've not done this yet, the question is then how to top this. Well, yesterday the ballot for the 2014 Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 opened and yes, I submitted my entry! There is no guarantee that I'll get a place, but it is this intent that is starting to shape my 2014 challenge and that is to ride in an organised distance event.

Vauxhall Corsa's ingenious built in bike rack

I have also been looking at the local cycling clubs and in addition to the Axe Valley Pedallers, who I am already riding with, I have been checking out the Sid Valley Cycle Club. Seaton lies between the river Sid and Axe, with the Axe flowing into the sea at Seaton and the Sid, some 10 miles west along the coast, at Sidmouth. The Sid Valley Club is affiliated with British Cycling and as such is more involved in organised events. They, for instance, are marshalling on the Tour of Britain in September and complete longer group rides at the weekend, something I'm thinking I'm going to need practice of before taking on my 100 mile challenge. What I also really need is a more suitable vehicle to transport my steed to these more distant venues. Believe it or not, this petrol head has even been eying up the Vauxhall Corsa's interesting built-in bike rack. Could my next car be a Corsa!