Just a quick update on how my training is going after my back has repaired itself…

Inspired by a slight meltdown/ panic on sunday morning (not that Paulo would agree it was slight) I got myself off out on my bike and cycled from saltaire to somewhere near silsden (as usual I took no map and I had no plan where I was going!). In all I did about 15 miles which wasn’t bad given the fact that I thought i’d do 2 and my back or legs would seize up. After 10 miles the rain began to pour…and I mean pour. However, i didnt seem to mind the rain so much for once as I was quite content just being out and it was a fairly warm rain! Unusually for me there was a great deal of satisfaction to be had in splashing through muddy puddles at high speeds too My only concern was that I couldn’t see much due to the rain pouring off my helmet onto my glasses giving me a few too many close calls with the canal, not to mention a couple of dogs that nearly came a cropper. But it was all good in the end, i could have kept going for hours I think had it not already been tea time, and with the appetite this much training is giving me there is no delaying that! eek.

I have also invested in some new tyres this weekend ready for the ride, as I needed some more roadworthy/less knobbly ones for the routes we’re going to be riding…(which also led me to discovering that I have been riding my bike with my tyres about half the PSI they should be, whoops!! you live and learn, obviously squishing them with your thumb isn’t the best gauge of pressure)…

other than that I have given myself a new routine at the gym to get me a bit more motivated about going as I have been getting a bit bored with the same routine day in day out, and to get myself on the bike more there too so my bum is at least used to being on a bike seat every other day. If I get up the nerve I aim to get myself to spinning this week sometime as a bit of extra punishment, but given that the people who come out of this class look like they have swam the seven (sweaty) seas with ferocious sharks at their heels I am not sure I am entirely brave enough yet. I shall keep you updated! x

Posted: April 29th, 2008 under Helen's training.
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I cannot believe I have been ranting on in this blog for so long without saying a HUGE thanks to Craz (Richard Cryer). This guy (Ride organiser) is GREAT! He is so organised – he’ll contact you day and night by email, text and facebook. I dare say if I knew how to use Skype he’d be dropping me a line on that too. I tell you, espionage has nothing on this guy. There’s no question too silly for him to answer and, god bless, he understands (or claims too) the value of GHDs. Now being a curly mop top myself, this is not something even I – the female of the species - understands but you do have to give him credit. He even talks freely about the importance of Jimmy Choos to women on a cycling trip – give this guy a medal!!!

Seriously – this guy (and his colleagues) are working so hard to make sure that

a) it is possible that 60 crazzzzy woman could get to Amsterdam on bikes,

but also

b) that we’ll ACTUALLY get there!

Go Craz! And thank you. Amsterdam and tulips here we come!

To find out more see
http://www.charityadventure.org.uk/CharityAdventureApp/amsterdame2008.aspx

Posted: April 29th, 2008 under marie's training.
Comments: 2

Limited offer until May 24th. Sponsor a Knock and get a Hill for free. That’s two lovely (may I add lycra clad) ladies for the price of one!

Free gratitude to all. Donate the most and win the accolade of being biggest and best sponsor.

Bargainlicious!

You can donate in the following ways:

1.Online via your credit / debit card at the following link; http://www.justgiving.com/amsterdame08
2. Email us at amsterdame@ixyl.co.uk and make a pledge: We’ll note your pledge down on the sponsorship papers and be knocking on your door for the cash in the near future. If you send us your contact number, full name, address and postcode then we can also gift aid the pledge and make your donation go that little bit further.
3. Call us / Text us and make a pledge…. We’ll note your pledge down on the sponsorship papers and be knocking on your door for the cash in the near future. If you send us your contact number, full name, address and postcode then we can also gift aid the pledge and make your donation go that little bit further.
4. You can also do a secure bank transfer to our account for those of you who prefer internet banking. Let us know if you prefer this route and I’ll be in contact with the details.
5. You can send us a cheque payable to Marie Knock or Helen Hill and we’ll transfer the funds electronically for you.

Thank you all. Thanks so so so much,
Love, Marie and Helen

Posted: April 27th, 2008 under Uncategorized, marie's training.
Comments: none

I would like to take this opportunity to say a HUGELY MASSIVE thank you to the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ for their support and very generous donation of a set of panniers for the forthcoming coming bike ride – ooops, did I say ride, I meant huge and crazy challenge!

Seriously though, this was an extremely generous gesture and one that I REALLY appreciate.

Lets hope I do them proud!

Posted: April 25th, 2008 under marie's training.
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…the hopefulness was for the heatwave, not the wine! the wine is a dead cert

Posted: April 24th, 2008 under Helen's training.
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my back is better in a miraculous 3 days!!!! hip hip hoooorrraaaay

just in time to go out on my bike in the ‘heatwave’ this weekend… talk about extreme training - hail and gales one weekend and blazing sun & wine induced the next (hopefully)

Posted: April 24th, 2008 under Helen's training.
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Whilst getting off the train this afternoon I started to check out a guy’s bike – yup, a bloomin’ bike!! I was admiring his reflectors, disk brakes, gears and was very envious of his mud guards – now there is a sentence that I never expected I would say.

What struck me was his grand saddles bags – and no, before anyone says anything I genuinely do mean bags that sit under the saddle – ingenious though a little useless when actually riding and you need to get something out of them, unless, of course, you are severely double joined 
I think I have gone to the dark side peeps!

Posted: April 23rd, 2008 under marie's training.
Comments: 4

I sometimes get the feeling that karma/fate/god does not want me to get on a bike… everytime i get a week where i think i have time to actually get out something happens…this week, my back (AGAIN)!!! grrrrr. due to a stupid chair at work (and i suspect my slippy slidey bike ride on sunday) my back has gone again. Hopefully, with the help of my tens machine this will only take a couple more days to go away, ready to get out at the weekend. As a result I am spending a few days catching up on all the jobs I have meant to do for weeks (or at least any that require staying horizontal) from plans for hen do’s to chasing sponsorship - so expect an email in an inbox near you soon! I am also spending this time planning everything I need to buy for the trip from new tyres and my sexy lycra outfits to the funnest horn i can find (one of the more fun requirements for my bike, but not that easy to find)… so hopefully I am not going to forget anything and will be totally organised when panic sets in in a few weeks time. And if not, I think Marie is organised enough for the 60 of us

Posted: April 22nd, 2008 under Helen's training.
Comments: 1

Just £20 ‘buys’ one hour of Marie Curie care for the terminally ill. With the funds I have raised to date through YOUR generosity that means we raised enough for over 69 hours of care!

Alternatively, £180 ‘buys’ a full shift for a Marie Curie care worker – a full shift that can really make the difference to the terminally ill and their families. With the funds I have raised to date, together we have bought just over 7 full shifts!

That’s exactly how far the £1396 goes - but never one to rest on my laurels I want more. Lets go for this together – lets make a real difference and raise £2,000! I need your help peeps. I am prepared to do the hard work, I really am – all I need is your support and lots of encouragement and we can do this together – you from your sofa whilst donating online or emailing me to make a pledge, me through nursing saddle sores on a 250 mile bike ride  I think that sounds like a fair arrangement don’t you?

Cancer effects one in three people – just think, that’s a lot of people we can help together through raising more funds to give people – our family, our friends - the care they need.

Lets do this people!
x

Posted: April 22nd, 2008 under Uncategorized, marie's training.
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Inspired by all the talk (at Saturday’s pre ride meeting) of what sweeties and chocolate will get us through our 4 days of 18,000 calories loss en route (and back) from Amsterdam, I decided to experiment with drastic results……

Today being an Edinburgh public holiday I decided to make the most of it and stay in bed until 1pm – eeek. But then I redeemed myself by cycling 18 miles with my lovely hubby (Ali), of which 12 of them were large hills / long and arduous inclines. We survived 15 miles of hard going and then collapsed in a canal side pub for a drink of coke and a packet of much needed carbs (AKA crisps – ok, ok Ali also got a boost from his iron filled Guinness– but he is allowed!!). This I do not think was my undoing – nor was the flat tire that poor Ali had after just 1 more mile forcing us to turn home, it was the piece of mississippi mudcake and cuppa that I had when I returned home with Ali that was my downfall.

Now I feel the need to explain why I did this! All my bike rides to date have been long uninterrupted rides where I survive on nothing more than a small bottle of water and begin to lose my sight as the miles run on and I get more and more exhausted (not sensible, but adrenaline is an amazing thing!). Added to this I am not doing so well at the start / stop mentality / requirements as my knee seizes whenever I do this and my bottom prevents my legs from taking me anywhere – even to a seat. Therefore I thought the need to test my stamina and mimic a day as it will be when we do the ride. i.e a longish ride, a decent break with food and then another long haul. I thought it necessary to do this to test my bottom, my stamina and my knee (which is still hurting something chronic!).

So after 18 miles we returned home and I was feeling a little light headed after about 2 sips of water and no fuel other then beans on toast about 3 hours earlier. Having learned about the value of sweeties (but having none to fuel me on the ride), I figured that a calorie loaded chocolate cake and a warming drink (it was FREEZING today!) was just the ticket to another 22 miles (I had a target of reaching a minimum 40 miles today).

I loaded up on the chocolate, downed the tea and hit the road barely 10 minutes after we’d got back. I continued for about 5 miles, tackling hills, rush hour traffic and fighting for space on the road with mean mean dirt belching lorries, and it ws then that the stomach pains arrived. Incredible, sickening, screaming pains that even the sight of the friendly canal heron could not deter The pains continued for about 12-13 miles, and incredibly so did I. I arrived home a couple of hours later having done over 40 miles that day in a considerable amount of pain. Not good!

I would NOT recommend tea and mudcake as mid ride bike fuel….stick to jelly tots or midget gems people, you have been warned!

Today’s ride statistics:

• Ride time: 4 hours 12
• Average speed: 9.5 (bear in mind a LOT of this was hills, with bad stomach cramps and a flat)
• Max speed: 22.3 mph (hill induced)
• Distance: 40.06 (the 0.6 is important taking into account the pain i was in)
• Drunks encountered: a disappointing none - though me arriving home and grabbing a beer could raise some questions?!
• Injury: cake induced stomach pain, foot ache - blisters and ankle ache from my shoes, arm ache and of course, knee ache (gosh - bum ache was not my first choice - wow!)
• Trails: HILLS, fliipn’ HILLS! roads and canal tow paths
• Motivation - low low low - tonight was a hard ride, especially having to ride away and leave Ali all cosy at home after 19 miles ;(

Posted: April 21st, 2008 under marie's training.
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