A Year Of Excuses

2015 stats thanks to @veloviewer.

Not a great year for cycling or weight loss. 

In 2014 snuck I over 2200 miles, but as you can see I only managed 1307 miles in 2015.
I also put on 1kg over the year. 

Cycling and weight loss started well but then in February I was cycling to work and slipped on some ice and knocked myself out. There are still a couple of hours I don't remember. 

This really knock my confidence and it took a while to get back on the bike. 

I did start cycling again including commuting, which I love, however in the summer I started looking for a new job, so had to drive in so that I could sneak out at lunch to make phone calls in the privacy of my car. 

I didn't get a new job, but there is a good opportunity within my current company. 

I actually found my mojo in December and did over 100 miles and lost a kilo over Christmas. 

I also started training more in the gym at work. My colleague goes every lunchtime and trains very hard. I have trained with him but then spent the next hour sitting at my desk sweating away which I can't stand. So I go after work and do HITT workouts. 

However I did get in a habit of buying a flapjack from the sandwich van "for energy" for my evening workout. I don't need it as I've got a spare tyre full of energy around my tummy. What's worse is that I would get a flapjack even when I wasn't training. 

2016

In previous years I've focused my goals around cycling in the hope that the weight loss would follow. It did at first but this year it's weight loss first, which will help the cycling. 

At the moment I'm 122kg, by the end of 2016 I will weigh less than 99kg. 

To start with I'm keeping it simple. Move more and eat less.
As the year progresses I will have to be a bit more intelligent about that. For example get a heart rate monitor so that I know I'm pushing myself hard enough during exercise, especially on the bike. I will also look at what I'm eating to make sure there is enough good fuel for all the training I will be doing. 

A typical week will be drive to work Monday because there is an early meeting, train in the gym in the evening. Cycle to and from work Tuesday. Drive to work Wednesday as I have to pick my daughter up from football and it makes sense to go to the gym and then straight to pick her up rather than come home. Then cycle Thursday and Friday. 

This isn't set in stone as on some days I might have a meeting I need to drive to, if that happens I'll train in the evening. 

To start of with the diet is going to stay pretty similar. Cereal for breakfast, salad for lunch, fruit during the day, then a meat and two veg meal in the evening. But making sure the portion sizes come down, especially processed carbs as I do eat a lot of pasta. 

I will continue to use MyFitness Pal app to monitor everything and weigh myself monthly. As the weight loss slows down, I will look at my training and nutrition in more detail. 

I will keep you updated with how well I'm doing. 

Any tips and advice always welcome. 

The Best Cycling Diet - Guest Post

Here is a guest post from Mark Taylor, who I've met through the wonderful community on G+.

He writes an excellent blog, www.bikes.org.uk with some great information for cyclists, old and new.

The Best Cycling Diet

Whilst professional cyclists may burn an average of 6,000 calories per day, the rest of us burn slightly less. According to Bikes.org.uk the average cyclist uses around 400 to 500 calories per hour but this is very much dependent on the effort you put in. The following are the number of calories used when cycling by a person of average weight.

• Leisure Cycling at less than 10mph .. 280 calories per hour
• Leisure Cycling at 10-12mph .. 420 calories per hour
• Leisure Cycling at 12-14mph .. 560 calories per hour
• Leisure Cycling at 14-16mph .. 700 calories per hour
• Leisure Cycling at 16-19mph .. 840 calories per hour
• Race Cycling at more than 20mph .. 1125 calories per hour
• Mountain Biking, average pace .. 600 calories per hour

Pro-riders tend to eat a lot, here's a typical rider's daily intake; rice, cereal, oatmeal, toast with ham, and a 2-egg omelette for breakfast; whilst cycling it's rice cakes, energy bars, energy gels and plenty of water. Once off the bike, it's chicken and rice, followed by an evening meal of turkey, avocados, spaghetti, beet salad, curry rice, zucchini, tomatoes, prunes, and sorbet. Like I said, they eat a lot. However, they can afford to do that because they are burning more calories than they are consuming. As cyclists trying to lose weight, we need to eat less than we use. To do this, we need to exercise regularly and eat the right foods. Cycling is an aerobic exercise, which means that you want to stay fuelled before, during, and after your bike ride. Ideal foods are high in carbohydrates and protein, and low in fat. Here are some ideas on the right foods to stay energise and healthy.

Before You Cycle

Focus on lean protein, for example skinless chicken or turkey, as well as carbs that are rich in fibre. Aim to keep refined and processed foods to a minimum, if at all. Whilst sugary foods give you an energy boost, they are short lived and once the immediate highs have gone, you will start to feel lethargic. On the other hand, proteins and carbs release their energy slowly and as such, stay with you throughout the bike ride, dependent on the amount you've eaten and how long you're exercising. Food examples include; oats, fruit, yogurt, brown rice (not white), chicken (skinless), turkey (skinless), peanut butter.

During Your Bike Ride

If you plan to cycle for more than 2-3 hours, you should consider taking with you some energy boosting foods. Go back to the average calories burned list above and calculate how many calories you'll need on your ride. Then work out how many you've eaten before your ride. If this isn't going to be sufficient, then that's how many you'll need to take with you. As you can perhaps work out, the foods you should be taking are more proteins and carbs. Don't underestimate the quantity of water you will need as well. This varies from person-to-person and also is very much dependednt on the temperature but as a very average guide, consider one litre of water every hour. Whilst it may seem basic, you need to learn how to drink water. For example, drinking water when you're thirsty is too late, by then you are already dehydrated. Try to drink at least two litres of water every day and one litre before your bike ride. Once out cycling, sip small amounts of water every 10 mins or so, and never big gulps - it'll simply pass right through and do little to hydrate you. Here are a few suggestions for on-ride foods; energy bars, energy gels, snickers bars, rice cakes, electrolyte-replacement tablets (Eg. SIS GO Hydro tablets).

After Your Ride

Within a 30-40 minutes of getting off your bike, you want to be eating proteins, which will help to build muscle strength. This will help your glycogen stores to replenish and heal any muscle tissues that you tore during the ride. This isn't about a pulled muscle, rather the natural process of exercise. When we workout, we slightly tear the muscles, it's perfectly natural and helps to strengthen them. Along with the aforementioned carbs and protein, berries give you lots of helpful antioxidants. Of course, these foods are just examples. There are plenty of other options out there you can use depending on your preferences and dietary restrictions. The important part is that you find foods that fuel your body in the right way.




Thanks for the guest post Mark
I need to take more attention to what I eat after a ride, usually it's just what I can find.

Please contact me if you would like to write a guest post, even if you don't write your own blog, everyone's got a story to tell.

You shouldn't have to pedal down hill!

You shouldn't have to pedal down hill!

That was what I was thinking after 4 hours of cycling up and down the Meon Valley in the wind and rain last Sunday 29th March!

Once again the British weather got it completely wrong on the day. The previous couple of weeks had been beautifully lulling me into a false sense of hope that I would be able to smash my time, and put to bed my disappointment from 2 years ago.

Yes, the Meon Valley Riser sportive had come round again.
This is the write up of my attempt two years where I had just missed the 4 hour mark, finishing in 4:07.
I wanted to smash 4 hours this time.

During the week leading up to the event the weather was slowly turning worse, with rain and strong winds forecast for the weekend. Regular checks of every weather website I could think of made no difference, it was going to be bad.

To make matters worse I was due to be sharing some of the pain with Nick, but sensibly he got food poisoning a few days before and opted for the shelter of his en-suite.

His brother Chris was doing the event, but was going with his even madder mate and doing the 104 mile route.

The event is quite small, with usually only about 300 riders taking part, so when I turned up I was quite surprised to see so few cars. As it turned out only just over 100 people were stupid enough to battle 30mph winds.

Check-in was nice and easy, I didn't have any of the porridge on offer as I had already eaten. While I was getting my bike ready Chris and Rob turned up. I thought about waiting for them so we could set off together but decided there was no point as they would disappear into the gloom as soon as we hit the first of many hills.

The dream was to fall in with a group of riders, all going at a similar pace, so we could all share the work load, but it never really happened. I managed to hitch a ride every now and then, fully prepared to do my bit at the front, but I always got left on the hills.

After about 22 miles you come to the feed station. On the 47 mile route there is only one, on the longer routes there are 3. As I said it is a small event, and the feed station consisted of a couple of old blokes on a village green, with a table handing out bananas, flapjacks and sports drinks. I was more than happy with this, but Chris did mention that by the third feed station he was bored of the same choice. Another criticism is that there weren't any toilet facilities, which meant you had to make another stop somewhere on the course.

As the name suggest, the Riser is quite hilly, combined with strong winds, which, as always, seem to be head winds, it was relentless. I had to stop to stretch a few times, but I still thought I was in with a chance of beating my previous time of 4:07.

I actually seemed to get stronger towards the end, and even started over taking some people. I have been doing quite a lot of strength work in the gym at work, and that seemed to be helping.

But then I got the dreaded back wheel wobble.
Yes, I had a puncture. It's not surprising as there was so much rubbish and flint on the road. It happened right out side a farm, which had a proper, smell of nature which meant I was gagging while trying to change my tyre.

It didn't take too long, and I set off with about 5 miles left to go, including Crooked Walk Lane, which is an horrendous hill.
There was someone in front of me, and I had to fight the urge to try to catch him, and settled down to a nice, slow, steady rhythm. I find that counting out the pedal turns to ten seems to work for me, and just focus on the road directly ahead.
I did look up and saw that the person in front had just got off at the steepest part.
This wasn't going to happen to me.

I've done the hill before, it hurts, but I know where the end is.

1, 2, 3, shut up legs, 3, 4, 5, bloody headwinds, 6, 7, 8, is that the end? 9, 10 yes it is I'm at the top

Well chuffed!

Only a couple of miles left, most downhill so should be easy.

The wind had other ideas.
The last bit is along the top of Portsdown Hill so very exposed, and this is where I had to pedal to keep moving down hill.
The route turns right half way down the hill, but I didn't have to brake to slow down for the junction, just stop pedaling and the wind did the rest.

Eventually got to the finish line, heard the reassuring beep that my timing chip had worked, and went to get my time.
4:25.
A lot slower than two years ago.

I put my bike away and then went to hand my bits in. I wasn't planning on having any of the food provided, but there wasn't a queue, so why not.
So I was sat in a school hall, on a chair a bit too low for a adult, eating beans and toast from a polystyrene burger box, with a plastic spoon and drinking a hot, sweet coffee from a plastic cup.
One of the best meals I've had in ages!

The company does a few other events throughout the year. I would recommend them. Similar to the Wiggle events, but a few hundred riders rather than a few thousand

Part of me is gutted about my time, but another part of me is impressed that I made it round at all considering the conditions.

There is always next year.

  

The power of crystals

 

 

 

 

I know a lot of people believe in the power of crystals but it wasn't these type of crystals that stopped me cycling as much as I would have liked in January, and gave me a big headache in February.

 



I was stopped by Ice Crystals and Uric Acid Crystals.

In December I came off my bike on some black ice and it seems to have shook me up a bit, so it was just the excuse I needed not to cycle into work that often. I only managed 2 commutes compared with 11 last January.

For those of you luckily enough not to know about Uric Acid Crystals, they are more commonly known as gout, which is horrible. I don't get it too bad, but this attack was in my big toe on my left foot. Walking was painful and the thought of putting on a tight fitting cycling shoe was unthinkable.

50 Miler a Month Challenge.

While out on New Year's Eve I came up with the idea of riding at least one ride of more than 50 miles each month of 2015. I got the idea from a few people who did a 100 mile ride a month last year, maybe next year.

Because of the gout I left it till the last Saturday of January, which wasn't the nicest of days.

I managed to rope in Chris and his brother Nick, who I did the trip around the Isle of Wight with last year.

I got to Chris' house about 9 'clock and shortly afterwards Nick turned up on his mountain bike, as he was concerned about his brakes on his new road bike. After convincing Chris to put on another layer we set off.

Within a couple of miles we realised that Nick, not only had fat tyres, but he hadn't pumped them up and it was making it real hard work for him. We decided to pop into Peter Hansford bike shop, and they kindly pumped up his tyres, which made a massive difference.

The clearer weather I had seen forecasted never really materialised and it was cold and wet most of the way around.

Nick battled on for about 20 miles but then decided to head home. Fair play to him, he go up Old Winchester Hill and then turned round.

Chris and I carried on and stopped at The Sustainability Centre on the top of Old Winchester Hill for a well earn pot of tea and cake.

When we set off it was freezing, and the first few miles were down hill so we couldn't do any hard pedalling to warm up. I was wearing a thin head scarf, but because it was wet it really hurt my head. Eventually it we got to the bottom of the hill and could start peddling again.

We went through a village called Hambledon, and even though it was freezing it was a lot nicer than when we last went though.
The previous time was last year during all the floods. Cycling through the High Street was like cycling down a stream and virtually every house was flooded with pipes coming out of windows and letter boxes to clear the water. Very depressing.

Once we were over Portsdown Hill we had warmed and the temperature was rising so it was quite a nice ride back till the last couple of miles along the seafront at Lee on Solent.
You come around the corner to a lovely view of the Solent, but we hit a monster head wind, not what you need for the last couple of miles of a big ride.
Chris was being mad as usually and had decided to do the whole ride without changing gear. He was paying the price a bit by now, so I dropped down a gear and dragged him home in my rather large slipstream.

Overall it was a good ride, a bit stop start especially considering the conditions, but good fun.

More Icecapades

 

 

My plan is to write a post at least once a month, reviewing the previous month, so this is a bit like a footnote as I had started writing this post a few weeks ago.

It has been quite an emotional week for myself and my family, and I didn't want to dig it all up again next month.

Last Tuesday I decided to cycling into work again for only the first time in February. Big mistake.

As I was walking out to the garage I noticed it was a bit icy and did think about going the short route along the busier roads, but opted for the more scenic route. I noticed a couple of times when my back wheel was twitching a bit but still carried on.

Two hours later I was a home, unsure what had happened in the last two hours.

From what I can work out I came off hard on black ice. I would expected to have sore wrists or elbows but I think my helmet took the full brunt of the fall.

This is what I've been told or can work out from phone records and paperwork, but I have no recollection.
I called my wife and that I stopped Strava on my phone, not sure which order though. I then waited about 20 minutes for an ambulance, and spent the best part of an hour in that. By this time my wife had turned up, and when the paramedic was happy, she took me home. It was half term so my daughter was at home, but I didn't recognise her, so my wife call on a friend to look after her.
I then started asking questions, and then asking the same question many times, much to my wife's annoyance.

Don't worry the bike is ok, a slight buckle in the front wheel.

I am shaken up. I have been knocked out before, once on a bike, but more times on the rugby pitch. But they were all in my youth when I didn't have other people to think about. The thing that upset me the most was that I really upset my daughter when I didn't recognise her.

I have ordered a new helmet, so I will be back on the bike soon, but not rushing things. From know on it there is ice on the car windscreens, I will be taking the car not the bike.

Unfortunately it will probably mean that I won't be able to do a 50 mile ride in February, so might have to double up one month when it is warmer.

Because of my helmet I have walked away, albeit a bit wobbly to start off with, with a few cuts and bruises and the loss of a couple of hours of my life. I don't really want to think how I would have been if I wasn't wearing a helmet.
They aren't that flattering, but are a lot nicer than those hospital gowns that do up at the back and I'm sure I would have been wearing one of those for a while if I hadn't been wearing a helmet.

Please always wear a helmet!

Guest Writers Wanted

I'm looking for guest writers for my blog, have you got a story you want to share?
Where's the best place you've cycled to?
What's your greatest achievement? How did you do it?
What great things are you going to do this year?

I don't mind if you're a fellow blogger, I'm happy to add links back to your own blog, or someone who's got a great message but doesn't know how to share it.

It doesn't have to be cycling related but needs to be funny, motivational or inspiring. No sales pitches please.

I'm doing this to boost the content on this blog as I don't always have the time or ideas to post as often as I would like.
I will have the final say in what I post but I won't do any editing without your permission.
The ideal length would be so that it only takes a few minutes to read, if it is longer I might post it in two parts.

I'm not asking for anything in return, I just think we can learn from everyone if we are ready to just listen.

"Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on."
Louis L'Amour


Email me your stories dave.buckney@gmail.com.

Review of my 2014

Looking back it's been a good year for cycling. 
190 miles more than last year (the table includes my short lived affair with running). It is just dampened a bit by the last couple of months due to injury.

Drive or Ride?

The figures clearer show which month we got our second car. 
In January to March I had little choice but to cycle to work, but in April I had a choice and I'm ashamed to admit it I chose the car more often than I should have. It is mad that I cycled to work more in March that I did in the nicer summer months.

Highlights

The best ride has to be the BHF Goodwood Ride, check the link for more details, where I got to ride with family and friends around Goodwood race track. They haven't released dates for the event this year, but we're keen to do it again.

The next best was the one around the Isle of Wight. It is my longest ride to date at 85 miles and it was a great day out.


I did manage to go out for a few rides with my brother, one was up in Dulwich Park on Banana Bikes. 

This was considerably nicer than the cliff he tried to get me up. 
It was a short road in north Devon, I don't know how the tarmac stuck to the hill it was that steep. I had to stop and walk, it wasn't just my legs screaming at me, even my ears were hurting.

And then the wheels came off

In November I decided to do some weight training to help with my power to weight ratio. I started doing the Stronglifts 5x5 program where you add a small amount of weight each workout.

It was all going well till my right knee went wrong, so I decided to rest up to give it a chance to get better. This obviously effected my monthly figures for November and December.

It is still a bit sore but nearly right, and I got bored and started cycling which hasn't made it worse.

My brother suggested trying some yoga, especially the pigeon pose. 

This is what it is meant to look like

But this is probably more how I look at the moment.

It does seem to working, but it has highlighted how inflexible I am, especially on my right side.

The scales of justice

I weighed myself for the first time in two months on January 1st and I've gone up to 121kg, from 111kg at my lowest last year. 

I wasn't that surprised as I've had a relaxed Christmas, but the build up wasn't helped by being injured.

Now I know I should have kept doing some sort of exercise, it was only my knee that was sore, but I was really enjoying doing the squats and dead-lifts so got a bit fed up and did nothing instead.

2015

I still think getting down to sub 100kg is still possible, it is less than half a kilo a week which is achievable.

I'm going to cycle into work as much as possible, just need to man up more often.

I plan to do a 50 mile bike ride at least once a month.

I will go to the gym at work Monday, Wednesday and Friday as long as I am in the office on those days.

Paleo or not Paleo, that is the question?

Whatever the answer, diet is the most important part of losing weight. 

You can't out train a bad diet. 

An average cyclist will burn about 600 calories an hour, that is the same as a 6" pizza, and who eats one that small?

If you're ensure the Paleo diet is going back to eating like a caveman, so meat and vegetables. Two people at work have lost a lot of weight but it just feels a bit too extreme for me. I have also suffered from gout so I am concerned about eating too much meat.

I do agree with the basics that we eat too much processed foods, so I'm going to try to cut out bread and pasta, which did make up a large part of my diet. However I am going to still eat rice and potatoes, which aren't on their lists, but much smaller portions. I will also try alternatives like quinoa as it a good source of protein and fewer carbs and calories than rice.

It is more of a change of mindset, I still eat how I did when I was playing rugby and carbs were in fashion.

This year I'm going for a balanced diet of natural foods and be more active.

As always thanks for your comments and support.

I hope that 2015 is all that you want it to be.

How far have you come?

2 years ago it felt like it nearly killed me, but now I realise it is completely the opposite!

Yesterday as I was walking out to the garage for an easy bike ride along the coast I suddenly changed my mind and decided to go up Portsdown Hill to Fort Nelson.
I then decided to see how far I have come in the last two years.

February 2012

Haribo Joe had finally convinced me to go for a bike ride with him and let me choose the route. I decided to push myself my going up Portsdown Hill which overlooks Portsmouth. I wanted to keep it interesting for him as he was doing a lot of cycling at the time.

It is a 12 mile round trip, with a "mountain" to climb to get to the half way point.

The total time was 1 hour 47, but the total riding time was 1 hour 22. I needed a very good rest at the top of the hill. This is where my profile photo was taken.

I came back a broken man.

But is was the start.

October 2014

I have done the route in 54:45 so I knew I had to really push it to beat this time. I really focused on getting back up to speed after junctions etc.

"It never gets easier, you just faster."

It hurt!

Normally when I get back into Stubbington I ease off to cool down, but not this time I was pushing all the way as I had a time to beat.

My time was 53:00!

This is the segment on Strava for more details Fort Nelson Segment

While looking at the results it did hit me that I have cycled from fat to fit as the title of the blog promises.

That first ride didn't nearly kill me, it started me on a great journey to become a lot fitter.

As you can see I have started running.

I decided to do this as I wanted to mix things up. Cycling is great but you are stuck in one position all the time, not working all the stabilising muscles.

I'm doing the couch to 5k program, using the NHS podcasts. The music is very cheesy but it is simple, you don't have to worry about timings.

You run a bit and then walk a bit and repeat, doing the same run 3 times a week and then the next week the amount of running increases a bit.

The first two weeks went ok, but it stirred things up in my hips/pelvis where I have had previous issues. 

I expected this and should have done a lot more stretching to compensate.

On Friday afternoon my right ankle started hurting and I could hardly walk, but I knew with a lot of stretching it would be sorted. Saturday it was feeling a lot better, Sunday is was nearly right.

However I was so focused on sticking to the plan of doing 3 runs a week that I went for a run on Sunday when I really shouldn't have.

It was also the first run of week 3, with quite a big jump up in the amount of running.

It was feeling ok, but then I felt something go.

Yes I should have stopped and walked home, but for some stupid reason I didn't which probably made it worse.

It is on the mend, and I will repeat some if not all of week 2 again when it is ready. There is no rush.

My weight is stuck at 112.5kg.

My heaviest was 134kg, so I am really pleased with a loss of over 21kg, but I need to lose more.

I'm going to start using the MyFitnessPal app seriously again to track my food, and even look at reducing carbs as I do know they make up too much of my calorie intake.

I'm in a much better place than I was two years ago, what will the next two years bring?

BHF Goodwood 2014

"Bike ride on my birthday, yeah"

Now if I had said this it would be a good thing, unfortunately it was my daughter's views about doing the BHF Goodwood 2014 ride on her birthday.
Not impressed having to exercise on her eleventh birthday.

Tough, we're doing it.

The ride is something I had read about where you can ride around the famous motor circuit at Goodwood to raise money for BHF. It hasn't happened for a few years so most of us were pleased to see it was happening again.

We managed to get 3 other families signed up so there were 8 adults and 7 kids.

This is my poor effort at photo editing for the Just Giving page. I got bored.



As it was Lilly's birthday, and she was soo keen, we didn't want to get up too early so we got there at 11.
On the way over Lilly said she would aim to do 4 laps of the 2.4 mile circuit, but wouldn't enjoy it!

The event starts at 10 so it was already busy with cyclists of all shapes, sizes and ages whizzing around the track.
They ranged from athletes on time trial bikes and pointy helmets to toddlers with stabilizers.

So we set up our Feed Station and then set off.





As you can imagine it is a beautiful surface to cycle on, no pot holes, lovely sweeping bends and no #bloodymotorists.

We all settled in to our own rhythm, doing laps with different people at different speeds. Stopping for a drink and a feed and then carrying on when ready.



We made the mistake of taking a BBQ, wasted cycling time!

I did a couple of fast laps with Chris and Richie. It was great to be able tuck in behind someone without having worry about them swerving to miss something. We got some good speeds.

I also did some great laps with Lilly. The whole event really helped her confidence on a bike, she actually learnt how to ride no handed.
There was one lovely corner, slightly downhill with the wind behind you where you could really get some speed up.
On one lap Lilly and I decided to go for it and she got up to 24mph which she was really pleased about.

My wife Kate, had suddenly decided she could bake and made some amazing scones for a nice cream tea. She also brought Lilly's favourite, profiteroles which meant we had the best Feed Station ever.

Team Sky could learn a thing or two!

The track closes at 4 so there was a mad rush to get in an extra lap. They did let one person do an extra lap so that he could break the 100 mile mark for the day.

Between us we did about 500 miles with some impressive distance covered by the kids.

I only did 15 laps. Part of me wishes I had done more but then I loved the laps I did with Lilly, it was real quality time together which we both needed.

On the drive home I asked Lilly how she did against her target. She did 11 laps or 26.4 miles and she actually enjoyed it and wants to do more laps next year!

It is a geat event, really well organised with all the support you'd expect. Yes you are going round in circles but the views are nice and we were lucky enough to see a WW2 plane take off and land a few times.

We are planning to do it again next year but aim to get there earlier so we can smash our distances.

The is the link to the girls Just Giving Page if you would like to support BHF.

Five Ferries And A Lot Of Hills!

Which jacket should I take?

This is what was running through my head at 4 o'clock in the morning, listening to the rain hammer down. In the end I should have been worried about what factor sunscreen to wear.

This was the morning of Saturday 12th June, the day we had chosen to tackle the Isle of Wight.
At first it was just myself and Chris, but then Nick, his brother, and Ritchie signed up for the pain as well.

Chris is mad
At the end of last year he started joining me for rides and we were equally matched. Only problem was that he was only on an old mountain bike. He then stopped feeding his kids for a few months so he could buy a new road bike.
Things aren't so equal any more.
He now loves hills, so much so that he decided to do the Strava climbing challenge in one day. This involved going up and down the same hill 25 times for 7 hours for a little badge on Strava.

Nick rides an old mountain bike, things are equal at the moment.

I hadn't ridden with Ritchie before but I knew he was pretty fit so I wasn't expecting much equality here.

It worked out quite well on the ride. We stuck together most of the time but every now and then Chris and Ritchie would shoot off, leaving myself and Nick to plod along, which was to our advantage at one stage .

The Grand Depart

We met at 8 and set off to Gosport to catch the first of our five ferries. We were worried about extra numbers of festival goers on the Portsmouth to Fishbourne ferry but once we had got past the Hi-viz Hitler we sailed on.
It was on the ferry that the clockwise/anticlockwise discussion started. Apparently Ritchie struggles turning right.
We decided to follow Chris's new garmin, a bit of a mistake.

We disembarked and set of up the first of many hills.
At the top of the hill, at the lights the signposts said right but Chris and his garmin were shouting left, so we went left.
I had been advised not to go into Ryde as it is tricky to get out of but I hadn't mentioned this to Chris and his garmin route started from and more importantly finished at Ryde.
So we followed Chris down into Ryde where his garmin congratulated us for completing the course. He couldn't work out how to start it again, to be honest we didn't give him much chance, only a load of abuse.

We then decided to go low tech.
Keep the sea on our left and guess.

I wish I had studied a map before hand so I had some sort of idea of where we were but all I know is that it is a great place to cycle.
There are some good climbs but you are rewarded with stunning views.
The roads are all in pretty good condition and on the whole traffic free. I'm sure the official route is even quieter, maybe next time.

Boys will be boys

At one stage Chris and Ritchie felt the need for speed and shot off. Like responsible adults Nick and I told them to follow the signs.

As we were going along I suddenly saw a sign telling us to turn left. It was half way down a nice long gentle slope, the sort of slope down which you could really go for it.
Straight away we knew they would have missed the turning.

Do we phone them and wait or carry on and let them catch us up?

After about an hour and a few phone calls they finally caught us up.
They had got lost again.

We then stopped for lunch at The Sun Inn in Hulverston. We had gone nearly forty miles by then so we all needed it. Good honest pub food.

Must we?

This is how we all felt getting back on our bikes after lunch. It was tough.
Luckily it was quite a gentle stretch to start with but then you get onto Military Road where the road snakes along the side of a cliff.
Amazing views but a lot of climbing.

Someone then had the great idea to "pop" down to the Needles. Stranglely even though you are heading to the end of the Island it is up hill.
Even stranger is that it is up hill on the way back.



Once again our lack of planning cost us.
We knew the route tooks us along the coast from Yarmouth to Cowes so we ignored the signs taking us inland. Little did we know that the official route cut back across the road we chose.
I got a sudden burst of energy and went to the front and pushed on, dropping Chris and Nick. I don't know where it came from but it didn't last. If it wasn't for a big bag of jelly babies I would have been in trouble.

The road we chose took us into Newport and then down to Cowes. It was busy, boring and up hill.

We had a nice wait for the Cowes chain ferry, which is free for pedestrians and cyclists so it gave us a chance to re-group for the final, up hill stretch to Fishbourne.

Once again Chris and Ritchie shot off, but when we got to the port there was a ferry ready to leave but no Ritchie.
He's a nice bloke but I wasn't going to wait for him.
Luckily he turned up just in time.

After another long sit down on the ferry we had to cycle back from Gosport. I've done the 7 mile route loads of times but this was the hardest.



Nearly an ice bath!

Ritchie did text me later that evening with some advice as I had been suffering from cramp.
He recommended drinking 3 or 4 lires of water.
Unfortunately it was a bit late, I was already on the cidre by then!

Would I do it again?

Definitely.
But I would be a bit more prepared and follow the signs.

The total ride was 85 miles. Strava shows 95 as it includes the ferries. 14 of the miles are to and from Gosport this side. It is a lovely place to cycle. Fairly quite roads, challenging hills but rewarding views.

I hope you get a chance to give it a go!

The merry month of May

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.

Forgive Me Father, For I Have Sinned!

It has been 4 months since my last post and in that time I have driven my car to work instead of cycling.
What should be my penance?

Since November we've only had one car but at the start of the April we got another one so I've now got two options for commuting.
I have to admit it but I have taken the car a few times.

To make matters worse April was meant to be #30daysofbiking where a lot of people are cycling everyday for a month however not me.
I've had my shortest month of the year with only 162 miles.

I knew about the challenge in March and thought about giving it a go but looking at the calendar I knew there were going to be a few difficult days. I knew I was going up to see my brother and his family for a few days in London. Due to car issues I wasn't planning on taking my bike. I did end up taking my bike to London and went on some great rides with Pete, more about that later.
Therfore I decided not to even bother joining the challenge.

My next excuse is that my knee went wrong again.
I finally relented and joined Tony "Boot Camp" Busby for a workout in the gym at work.
It was brutal!
Unsurprisingly it stirred things up in my pelvic area, which I've twisted out of place playing rugby years ago.
When this happens I usually get a sore knee and I have to spend a few days on my foam roller.
This time it has lasted for a few weeks and this has restricted my cycling, or more accurately giving me another excuse.
It is getting better and I will do more boot camps with Tony as I need to build my core strength.

London calling

As mentioned I did take my bike up to London when visiting my brother and we went for a nice couple of rides.
One of the was along the Thames Path and we had some lovely views.



We also took out some banana bikes which were great fun.



While in London we had to do the tourist bit and saw the changing of the guards and then had some fun in Hamleys.
On the trip we were lucky enough to see one of the yellow Boris bikes.



The first of many!

Later on in the month we managed to take advantage of the surprisingly good bank holiday Monday weather and organised a bike ride with 3 other families along the Hayling Billy. It is a old railway track running up one side of Hayling Island.


Le Grand Depart.



We parked at the beach and after the 7 mile round trip had the first bbq of the year on the beach.



Weight for it!

I had a great start to the year losing 4kg taking me down to 110kg.
But the scales have got stuck.
I need to lose one more kg to have lost 25kg in total.

I have being using the MyFitnessPal app on and off for the last few months. I do need to use it everyday as it is a powerful tool.
One thing I've noticed is that I'm relying too much on exercise to hit my calorie goal. The problem is when I don't exercise I eat too many calories for any weight loss.
Therefore I'm going to focus on sticking to my target by eating less and using the extra calories from exercise as the icing on the cake.

My main area to focus on is portion size, so no more seconds.

Sounds easy........

I hit more goals than Manchester United!

A good year.
Doing over 2000 miles in one year was hard work. I hadn't noticed I was getting close till the end of November. It was then I realised that I would have to do my second longest month to hit the target, not really what you want in December. Work and family commitments were against me as well.
I had to drive in to work for most days during the first two weeks, and then I had things to do for a couple of weekends.
So it came down to December 31st, with 21 miles to go. I checked the weather and it was due to clear up in the afternoon, so I waited, and actually fell asleep on the sofa, but managed to drag my butt out and get in the last few miles.
It wasn't the nicest rides of the year, a late down pour and then my pedal almost fell off, but I made it.
I got home and there were two posters from my wife and daughter congratulating me.

I have mentioned it before why it is so important to share your goals. If I hadn't told anyone, especially my family, I think I would have stayed asleep on the sofa. But every time I came back from a ride my daughter was helping me work out how many more miles I needed to do.

2013 Goals

99kg
Nowhere near, I'm still at 112kg, so hardly any loss, but I wasn't completely focused on the weight. I stopped going to the nurse every month and didn't have scales at home, so couldn't track it.
But I'm a lot fitter than last year.
I've got some scales now, and I'm back on track. I'm still using MyFitnessPal app, and through blogs I've got some fellow app users to lose weight together. So once again sharing goals, and successes is helping.

130 miles a month
Smashed!
I averaged 167 miles a month. A lot of this is down to the fact that I can cycle to work now, it is only a 10 mile round trip, but they all add up.
I also joined Fareham Wheelers and have been on their club rides 3 times, which are between 30 and 50 miles depending if I cycle out to Wickham or not.
My target this year is 155 miles. I've chosen this figure because Strava have monthly challenges, and if you do 155 miles or 250km you get a "badge".
I'm sure I will push it and go over 2000 miles again, but I want to focus more on my weight loss, and I think the cycling will take care of itself.

Meon Riser
The goal was to do this in 4:10 for the hilly 47 miles. I did it in 4:07, but it was very hard work.
This year I'm going to smash the 4 hour mark.

New Forest Rattler
The goal was to either get a Silver time for the shorter route or a Bronze time for the longer route. Unfortunately Haribo Joe had major surgery a few months before, and didn't have time to get back in shape, but you never leave your wing man. I owe a lot to Joe, he really encouraged me at the start and he had to wait at the top of the hills for me.
I don't think I'm going to be able to do this ride this year as I'm hoping to do the Ride London the week before, but we'll see.

Fort Nelson
This is the first ride I did with Joe. When I say "did", I should really say struggled with, it took nearly 2 hours.
My goal was to beat my best time of 58:34 and go under 55 minutes.
I did it in 54:45 minutes.

Sultan Bus Route
This is a route around Fareham and Gosport so quite flat and just over 15 miles.
The goal was to do it in under an hour, which I did, in a time of 57:35.

BHF Round the Harbours
I've done this ride 3 times, but never broke the 3 hour mark, so that was my goal.
I couldn't do the official ride,but knew the route and did it in 2 hours 48.

Cycle round the Isle of Wight
This just never happened, so is back on the list this year.
I think it will be great day out, and probably will be 100 miles in total.

I'm going to carry on going out with the Fareham Wheelers every few weeks. It's nice to go out with other people and learn new routes.
I've only got one sportive definitely planned, but would like to do the Mega Meon again, and beat my time. But I'm not sure if I can fit it in.

Losing weight is the main, focus and I will get down double digits by the start of next year.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment, your support is always welcome.

Happy New Year and good luck with whatever you a planning to do.

A Little Help From Your Friends

I have posted about the power of sharing your goals before, here's the link.

Here are a couple of more examples.

2000 miles this year

I'm getting close to doing 2000 miles this year, last year I managed 1260, so it will be a massive achievement.
However with work and family commitments it is looking difficult to get out enough.
But I decided to give it a go and mentioned it to friends and family, who have all been veey supportive.
The extra support and the fact that it's not a secret any more meant I managed to do nearly 30 miles in the last couple of days.
At the time of posting I still have 135 miles go but I'm confident I will do it.

My Fitness Pal

This the app I use to track my calories.
I've used it for over a year and it has helped. However I had slacked off a bit, and because I wasn't watching what I was eating, it was a bit out of control.

A couple of weeks ago I got a notification that Toby, who writes the www.fatcyclerider.co.uk blog about how he has lost an impressive amount of weight, was now following me.
Therefore I had to start using it again, and it has helped to me to improve my diet again.

If you are using the app feel free to follow me, user name DBuckney, and we'll get there together.

Rubbish week eating rubbish food

I don't claim to have the best diet in the world, I like a treat every now and then, but this week there have been too many treats.

According to the MyFitnessPal app that I use, I'm 2900 calories over my weekly target, which is shocking seeing as I was 1959 calories under the week before.

I haven't been able to cycle into work once this week, and only went to the gym once so really I should eat less. I don't know why but if I don't exercise I seem to just want to eat rubbish food all the time.

I did have fairly genuine excuses for not cycling into work, but I could have found more time to go to the gym at work more often. A lot of people go at lunch time, which would be perfect, apart from the fact that I do sweat a lot for a fat bloke, and it is uncomfortable for the next hour. So I prefer to go straight after work, but energy levels can be quite low at that time of day.

The main reason I didn't cycle into work a couple of times was that my batteries had run out on my torch, which meant that I couldn't even go out cycling in the evening.
I've got some nice new rechargeable ones now, so that's another excuse out the window.

This lack of cycling has also effected my chances of hitting 2000 miles for the year.
I'm currently on 1838, having done 68 miles this month. It should have been more as that is only 2 rides.
There are 3 more weekends this month, so it is still possible.

200 miles in a month!

This is the second month that I've managed to do over 200 miles, which I'm really pleased with seeing as my target was only 132 miles a month.
I'm still gutted about only doing 81 miles in May, but I have made up for it by pushing my average up to 161 miles a month.

I did go out for my second ride with Fareham Wheelers at the start of the month. I was extra keen and cycled the 8 miles out to Wickham rather than drive. This, with the ride home took the total distance to 49.8 miles. My bike computer showed over 50, but when I checked Strava later it showed only 49.8. If I had known I would gone round the block to hit the 50 miles mark.

It was a nice ride out, I went with the "Social" group, but some of the hills weren't that social. But is was great to find some new routes and get the experience of cycling in a group. Drafting or sitting close behind someone makes a massive difference, you just get pulled along without much effort.

I've also managed to get Haribo Joe back out on his bike a couple of times this month, which was great. One of the rides was with two other friends, Chris and Paul who are also just getting back into cycling. The plan was to make it a regular ride, but it has only happened the once so far, wrong time of the year to be starting things like that.

I keep looking at my total figure of 1770 and wondering if hitting the 2000 mark will be possible this year. It would mean doing my second highest total for a month, in probably the worst month of the year, bad weather, going away for Christmas and any other excuse I can think of. 

It might be the wrong attitude but I often prefer not to set massive targets, because I prefer to hit my targets. This limiting belief, as they call it, is probably holding me back in a lot of areas, so it is something I need to think about.

As always please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions that you think might help me or other readers.

Still on track!

 

Its been a while since my last update, but I'm glad to report that I'm smashing last year figures.

There has only been one month, May, where I didn't hit my monthly goal of 132 miles but that was down to my dodgy knee keeping me off the bike for a few weeks.

But my monthly average is at 157 miles, which I'm pleased about.

 

A lot of the extra miles have been cycling to my new job, it's about 4 to 6 miles depending upon which route I take. During the summer I can't think of a better way to end a day at work than a nice bike ride with part of it along the coast.

It wasn't so nice last week when it was dark and I had a basic light. There are two types of lights, see and be seen.

I had a "be seen" light and I was confident other cars could see me, but it was a bit of guess work along some of the country lanes I go down.

Since then I have borrowed Haribo Joe's Hope Vision One light and it makes a massive difference, I could see where I was going.

 

I have been for a couple of rides with the local cycling club www.fareham-wheelers.org.uk/ which was really good. Nice to find some new routes and get the experience of riding in a group, which is quite daunting. There are usually only about 12 people in a group, so you have to be careful about what other riders are doing but you do get dragged along at a good speed.

 

I used to go to the doctors to get weighed, but I haven't been for a few months, but I'm confident that I'm still losing weight, or maybe my clothes have just got that little bit bigger.

I've almost reached the worst part of losing weight where I need to go shopping for new clothes, can't think of anything worse.

 

It is getting harder to get out due to the weather but I just need to man up and deal with the rain, you can only get so wet.

A Few Of My Favourite Things

Last Monday I had a lovely day off work going for a bike ride with my daughter and then a pub lunch with my wife.
Just missing a few rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens.

The bike ride was along the Hayling Billy which is an old railway line down the side of Hayling Island.
It's pretty flat but not suitable for road tyres so I had to go on my brother in law's bike.

Most of the way you get lovely views of Langstone Harbour. It is possible to cycle all the way around the harbour, you need to get the ferry across to Eastney, and back up a cycle path along the Eastern Road. I think it is about 15 miles.

We've done it before where we've cycled all the way to the bottom of the Island, had lunch at a pub on the beach and cycled back, about 10 miles in total.

Unfortunately Mrs B's knee was playing up so she waited on the beach for us with our dog. So Lilly and I only went as far as the bmx track, where I had to have a go over a few of the jumps.
Heavy bloke on a heavy bike doesn't equal much air.

We then cycled back, found the wife and drove to The Royal Oak for fish and chips in the garden.

On the bike ride I said to Lilly "I love spending time with you and I love cycling, so I'm having a great day".

She replied "I love spending time with you and I don't mind cycling".

We're getting there!

Blissford Hill Smashed!

I completed the The New Forest Rattler last weekend, which includes the 25% Blissford Hill aka The Wall!



Apparently registration starts at 7:00 with the first groups of riders setting off at 8:30. So when Haribo Joe and myself arrived just just after 8 we were surprised to be "stuck" behind a load of cyclist. So we're not sure when they set riders off.

Anyway we went through the simple registration process, deciding to miss out on the free porridge, instead opting for the festival experience of the dreaded portaloo. It wasn't to bad, but I should have just waited and used a bush.

So we lined up, hoping the slight drizzle was going to pass, planning on beating our time of 3:38 for the 47 miles.

I suddenly realised that my Strava wasn't working and stupidly crossed the start line, therefore starting my official time. I should have held back and gone with the next bunch, rather than setting off and wasting valuable minutes at the side of the road getting it sorted.

Eventually we got going.

The course is described as being fairly flat, which it is, once you get up to the flat bit. To start with there are a few little hills to wake up your legs.

It is a nice route, mostly on pretty quiet roads. But you need to watch out for the wildlife, horses, donkeys, cows and this year pigs.

Once again there was a well stocked feed station, where I tried to get my monies worth of jelly beans and flapjack.

We were setting a good pace, taking it in turns to lead, even passing other cyclists, which is always nice. You can see on my strava that it was PR's all the way for the first half.

Then things turned sour for Joe.

The major surgery earlier in the year and resulting lack of time in the saddle caught up with him and he started to struggle.
The course didn't help. It had been fairly sheltered, but then goes across the top of the New Forest, which is open, and there was an eternal head wind.
No cyclist likes a head wind, especially larger framed gentleman like Joe and myself. We're not the most aerodynamic shape on a bike.
A road, with a slight downwards gradient, that we should have cruised along, suddenly became soul destroying. And it just kept on going.

To make matters even worse, Joe's chain came off.

Eventually we made it out of the New Forest and got some shelter from the wind and started going down hill.

But what goes down must go up.

Blissford Hell!

It's only a very short hill, but at 25% and after 42 miles it is nasty.

But I made it up in one go this year.

After that it is quite an easy couple of miles to the finish, just dodging more wildlife.
We snuck in just under 4 hours.

At the end you get a certificate and a food voucher for the bbq, but there was a massive queue so we just grabbed a couple of bananas and drove home.

It is a great sportive, really well organised, just as good as the Wiggle events, but on a smaller more relaxed scale.

Hills and Head Winds.....

This basically how it felt all the way around the Mega Meon Sportive

Haribo Joe, my brother Pete and I arrived at South Downs College just before 8. It was very well organised, quick check in etc. We even got a High5 energy pack worth £12, not bad when the entry fee was £18.

We then set off in a group of about 20 riders for 55 miles up and over the South Downs.

Almost straight away we were onto nice quiet roads which was pretty much how it stayed for most of the route.

It started off fairly flat to start with, but once past Hambledon you've got the long, steady climb up to the Bat and Ball pub. This is the start of the South Downs, so no more flat roads.

The feed stop was at East Meon at a church hall. Well stocked as you would expect, I was asked to move away from the jelly beans.

The feed station is well placed, just before one of the hardest climbs up to the top of Old Winchester Hill.
But the views made it worthwhile.

We were all working well as a team, every now and then letting Pete have a rest at the back.
We were also calling out if junctions were clear or not, apart from one junction where I was sure I heard Joe call out "Clear........sort of"
Luckily I checked for myself and saw the massive Land Rover bearing down on me. It was the first time I've had to unclip in an emergency.

Just after we saw the 10km to go marker I heard a strange noise but everything felt ok. A few minutes later I heard a tapping noise so stopped to check and realised I had broken a spoke.

This can be game over.

Luckily Pete managed to do enough for me to get me going. So I shot off more concerned about getting to the finish line than my team mates.

As I was steaming up to the top of Portsdown Hill my brother just glided along side me, had a quick chat and then reminded me that he is my older brother by powering away from me up the hill.

About a mile from the finish we turned left and for the first time got a tail wind.

We finished in 5 hours 18, a bit slow but we finished and enjoyed it.

Mega Meon Sportive

It's been a busy month, cycling to my new job and then getting over gout in both feet and one hand. But it's all good now.

The Mega Meon Sportive is my next challenge, this Sunday.

I'm doing the "short" course, which at 55 miles will be my longest ride to date. But it is lumpy with 3000 feet of climbing.

I'm doing it with Haribo Joe and my brother Pete, so will be fun.

With my many excuses, dodgy knee and gout I haven't done as much training as I would have liked, but I'm going to take my time and enjoy it.

Complete rather than compete!

I'll do a full write up after the event.