Bloody Typical!

Amazing weather for a Bank Holiday weekend and I was laid up with a sore knee.
Read about my sore knee here.

To make matters worse, I wake up Tuesday morning to the sound of rain, but hardly any pain in my knee.
The stretches and foam roller have worked.

Gutted that I missed out on a few rides, and also I couldn't do much with my family because of the pain.
But pleased that the pain is over.

What have I learnt?

I want to do more and more cycling, and to do this I need to look after my body, especially as I've got previous rugby injuries to deal with.
Therefore I will be starting a stretching and strengthening program to try to prevent the injuries, rather than fixing them when they happen.
The main focus will be building up my core strength and my stabilizing muscles in my ankles, knees and hips, I've got a wobble board somewhere in my shed.

Any tips, advice or good websites to check out will always be welcome.

My New Best Friend!

This is a picture of my new foam roller I got from Absolute Running in Gosport.

Unleash Hell

You lie on it in all different positions and roll backwards and forwards on it, and when you find a particularly painful spot, you rock back and forwards on that spot.
Those lumps are designed to inflict even more pain.
I'm reliably informed that it is meant to hurt a lot.

It has worked though, my hip/knee feels a lot better.

Unfortunately, I've been hobbling around so much that my ankle is a mess now.

I'm going to try going for an easy bike ride soon as I'm bored of being injured.

Spot The Difference?

This is meant to show how swollen my left knee is, which has hampered my cycling this week.

It is an old condition relating to my iliotibial band which pulls my knee cap off to one-side.
I also twisted my pelvis many years ago playing rugby, so there are lots of issues.
Being a driving instructor doesn't help either as I'm stuck in one position for too long.

It happens quite often, but usually I hobble upstairs, do a couple of stretches and its right by the morning.
Other times cycling seems to help loosen everything up.

But not this time!
Nothing seems to be working.
At the weekend it was so difficult to get comfortable at all, day or night, that when I was lying on the floor doing some stretches, I must have got comfortable because I fell asleep under a table.

The main problem is that I'm reactive when it comes to my stretching, only starting when I feel the pain.
As I'm trying to do more and more cycling it needs to become part of my training regime to try to prevent the problems, rather than just cure them.
I know it will save me a lot of time and pain.

I've heard about rollers that you lie on, but I've never used one. Do they work, which one is best?

April - tick!

4th month in a row hitting my monthly target of 130 miles. I've just gone over 600 miles for the year. This time last year I had only done 263 miles.

Highlights of the month were completing the Meon Valley Riser in under 4 hours 10 which was the bronze standard. You can read the write up here.

The second highlight was making it up Harvesting Lane, which goes up Butser Hill. I had to walk up it during The Riser, so it was great to be able to tackle it again and beat it. Check it out here.

The third highlight was getting Haribo Joe back out on his bike, first time since his operation, it's good to have him back.

I'm doing well with my cycling goals, but my weight loss has slowed down a bit. But I'm refocused on that part as I know losing the weight will help with those hills. I like to think that I eat a pretty healthy diet, fresh veg etc, but portion size is still my problem.

No Walking This Time!

Just made it up Harvesting Lane, which goes up Butser Hill.

It is the hill I had to walk up on The Riser at the start of the month.

According to Strava it is over 20% at parts.

It was a lovely ride, took my time and enjoyed the scenery, instead of worrying about times.
Ended up doing a reasonable time..

Here are a couple of before and after shots.



Made it!

Evil!

And here's the Strava bit.

The Next Challenge

The Wiggle Mega Meon Sportive

This is the next sportive I've signed up for at the end of July.

I'm doing the "short" course, which is 55 miles up and over the South Downs.
It is a similar course to The Riser so it will be lumpy.

My target is to do it in under 4 and 1/2 hours, which is an average of 12mph, excluding stops.
My average for the Riser was 12.2mph, so if I can lose a good chunk of weight it should be achievable.
Best I get training!

All Rise

So the big day had finally arrived! I was going to tackle the 47 mile route of the Meon Valley Riser.

Here's a link to the route.
Registration starts at 7 o'clock with riders setting off at 8:30 in groups of about 20 every couple of minutes.
My plan was to cycle the 5 miles to the start as a warm up, as the first of many hills is within the first mile.
I wanted to get there about 8:30, so I wouldn't be hanging around too long.

Not sure what happened but I didn't get there till after 9. At least no hanging around as there was only a handful of riders left.

The ride over had been tough, very heavy legs. I hadn't slept well for the last couple of nights, so had taken a sleep aid, which worked, but maybe stayed in my system too long.

Yes, the excuses are coming thick and fast.

So I set off on my own, aiming to complete the route in under 4 hours, which I had worked out to be about 12mph which I knew I could do.

It was a lovely day, and a great route through stunning scenery. Unfortunately there are also a lot of hills, but it is called The Riser.
I'm sorry to admit it, but I had to walk up one hill, first time in ages.

Still not sure what was wrong but I did find it hard going. I tried to get out the saddle at about 30 miles, but felt my legs cramping up. Not good when you know, you've got 17 miles to go, and Crooked Walk Lane to get up.

So it suddenly went from going for a time, to just finishing. I had to stop every few miles to stretch.

I had planned to cycle home, but I had to phoned Kate to come and collect me from the finish.

Somehow I managed to make it up the last climb, Crooked Walk Lane, but nearly a minute slower than my previous time. It is downhill from there to the finish.

It was great as I got to end to see Kate cheering me on.
I then checked my time, 4:07.
Missed the 4 hour mark, but just inside the bronze standard of 4 hours 10, which I'm pleased with.

I then had a nice massage, all part of event, which helped sort out my legs.

It is a great sportive, really well organised. You can get porridge at the start and a baked potato at the end. There was a well stocked feed station half way round, with drinks, bananas and flapjacks.

The organisers run another sportive, the New Forest Rattler in August. I did it last year, and once again it was a great day. I'm planning to do it again this year, hope to see you there.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed with my performance. I wanted to do better, I wanted to enjoy it more.
But I am still over 18 stone, and my time was faster than a lot of people, so I should be pleased.
"Could do better" as my school report used to say.

I've started making plans to tackle the hill I had to walk up, I will do it next time!