It's been a good month for cycling, I hit the 1000 mile mark for the year.
Last year I had only done 686 miles by the end of May so I should be able to smash last year's total.
I had a nice ride out with Fareham Wheelers with Chris.
We cycled out to Wickham for the start and then opted for the slower social group as I wasn't feeling that strong. Unfortunately someone had a spill very early on so it was a slow start, but eventually, when assured she was alright we set off again.
It was a lovely day and route with a good group of fellow rides all similar speeds, apart from Chris, who should really be in the intermediate group. He made the classic mistake of flying up a hill only to realise that he should have turned left half way up, he'll learn.
It was my first club ride of the year, and as if by magic it was the Chairman's Cupcake ride, where we were treated to a nice selection of cakes when we got back to the Community Centre.
I do need to push myself and join the faster social group, I know I will be fine.
I also tried my hand a "cyclo-cross" with out great results.
My daughter goes to Scouts and they were doing an evening bike ride so I agreed to be a parent helper thinking it would be a nice ride along the seafront, so I turned up on my normal bike. However when they did announce the route is was anything but a road ride.
We basically tried to ride across a lump of clay, which proceeded to stick to every part of my bike, and ended up ripping off the mud guards. It was so slippy that at times I thought I was on rollers, pedalling like mad but not actually moving.
Once I had calmed down and realised that my bike would be ok I have to agreed with my daughter that it was the "funniest and muddiest bike ride" I had every been on.
The mileage could have been a lot higher but we now have two cars, so I always have the option to drive to work, and I only cycled in 6 times. I had quite a few meetings to go to so couldn't ride in on those days, but it is still a poor effort. I always feel so much better when I do cycle in, especially in the evening after the ride home, I seem to have more energy.
On a lot of the days I didn't cycle in I did manage to go to the gym at work to make up for it and have been shown a new method of self torture, the Deck of Cards Workout.
You choose 4 exercises and assign each one to a suit from a deck of cards.
Mine were
Press up Hearts
Sit ups Diamonds
Kettle Bell swings Clubs
Kettle Bell squats Spades
Then you turn over the card to see how many of which exercise to do, for example 8 of Spades is 8 Kettle Bell squats. I did it so that picture cards count as 10 and Aces as 11. It is completely random so you can have a few easy goes or a lot of picture cards in a row. You end up doing 95 of each exercise and takes about 30 minutes. You can choose almost any exercise, with or without weights and can be done in a very small space. I use an app on my phone to deal the cards.
The weight has been fairly stable, moving slightly in the right direction, but I haven't been overly focused on it. I still need to get back in the routing of using MyFitnessPall app everyday, as that does help. Clothes are starting to feel a bit looser, and I'm nearly on the next hole on my belts. I've also got a lot of comments from people saying how much I've lost, which is good for the motivation.
As always thanks for everyone's support and good luck with your journeys, wherever they may be taking you.
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