A year of challenges - Riding a Fred, storming around London, maybe a milk race and a cobble or two too.
Right, the difficult follow up blog post.
Instead of all the usual social media outlets and so on, I thought I'd start a blog looking at my sporting challenges of 2014. All the science stuff, interests in politics, health, ethics and so on can go elsewhere, but I'm sure some of those themes will sprout through from time to time.
Last year was an active year. Besides the domesticated life of children, science jobs and home life, I rode my ass off. 8,000 miles or so. The highlight was racing through the city streets of London on the Prudential Ride 100, setting my best ever storming time of 4 hours 46 mins. Zipping through the streets at an average pace of 25mph for the final 10 miles was mental. So how to top it?
This January, I thought I'd try entering London again, plus the Fred Whitton Challenge. Rather amazingly, I got on both. London more likely due to my fast time last year and a 4hr 30min target this year, and Fred? Luck of the draw. Unfortunately, my brother wasn't so lucky - rejection letters from both. Although it is sad that he won't be joining me for these challenges, the training is going to be a lot harder - two different styles of riding and no-one I know going through the same process so a lot of solo efforts on my shoulders.
The Fred comes first - early May - with London coming in August. Whereas living in the midlands was no problem last year for London - Box Hill isn't really a challenge - training for the Fred is going to be harder as getting to gradients is a bigger effort. From last year, I've maintained a degree of fitness which I can build from. But the flip side is I have other commitments that'll take my attention.
That is where this blog comes in. I know there are numerous blogs out there with similar intentions, but I thought I'd do this to record my training journey through the year with updates on miles under the belt, hills climbed, nutritional info sorted and hopefully sportive times posted. I haven't got an inexhaustible income, so some frugal methods will be developed to aid the training that I hope others might find useful. And in the process, I might find out how to Blog!
Instead of all the usual social media outlets and so on, I thought I'd start a blog looking at my sporting challenges of 2014. All the science stuff, interests in politics, health, ethics and so on can go elsewhere, but I'm sure some of those themes will sprout through from time to time.
Last year was an active year. Besides the domesticated life of children, science jobs and home life, I rode my ass off. 8,000 miles or so. The highlight was racing through the city streets of London on the Prudential Ride 100, setting my best ever storming time of 4 hours 46 mins. Zipping through the streets at an average pace of 25mph for the final 10 miles was mental. So how to top it?
This January, I thought I'd try entering London again, plus the Fred Whitton Challenge. Rather amazingly, I got on both. London more likely due to my fast time last year and a 4hr 30min target this year, and Fred? Luck of the draw. Unfortunately, my brother wasn't so lucky - rejection letters from both. Although it is sad that he won't be joining me for these challenges, the training is going to be a lot harder - two different styles of riding and no-one I know going through the same process so a lot of solo efforts on my shoulders.
The Fred comes first - early May - with London coming in August. Whereas living in the midlands was no problem last year for London - Box Hill isn't really a challenge - training for the Fred is going to be harder as getting to gradients is a bigger effort. From last year, I've maintained a degree of fitness which I can build from. But the flip side is I have other commitments that'll take my attention.
That is where this blog comes in. I know there are numerous blogs out there with similar intentions, but I thought I'd do this to record my training journey through the year with updates on miles under the belt, hills climbed, nutritional info sorted and hopefully sportive times posted. I haven't got an inexhaustible income, so some frugal methods will be developed to aid the training that I hope others might find useful. And in the process, I might find out how to Blog!
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