Bike in pieces :-(

First Donation!

Thanks Oscar and Adele!

Witness the Clipless

Should you spot me on the bike, trying to clip into my pedals, it may remind you of the school idiot on his cycling proficiency test.

If one thing gets me hit by a truck, that will be it.

Next on the wish list: Waterproof socks

I can't feel my toes.

Waking up is hard to do

I think I've experienced my first psychological barrier to effective training.

Usually when I wake up my mind starts whirring, mostly with thoughts of a lady I have on my mind, or how business is going, or how futile the dog upstairs' attempts at scratching through the floor are.

This morning (and last night actually, as I lay trying to sleep) all I could think about was failure. I've been suffering from a cold and a cough has been keeping me from sleeping, but even a mothering piece of advice from Jo  couldn't keep me out of the gym. This month is about training on consecutive days, and the plan was to play football one night, then do 3 days of 20-mile bike rides at the gym. 10 miles into the 2nd session and I realised Jo was right; I felt terrible and was probably making things worse.

This is the first time since embarking on this task that I haven't done what I had planned, and it actually feels awful. If I have a cold in April I'm not going to call off the ride, and 100 miles through Scotland is certainly going to be tougher than 20 miles in the gym. Maybe it's because I've decided to make my progress public, or maybe it's because I'm doing it for my Mum and Nan; skiving off a jog is easy to justify to yourself when you're the only one missing out on the benefits. I know this is a training failure as opposed to the big trip, but I've never experienced this level of guilt associated with sport before, how do athletes keep such high levels of motivation without letting the negative thoughts affect their performance?

This Saturday = Training again. And harder.

Lycra

I've just ordered my first item of Lycra clothing....

....I don't expect to look like this once I 'slip' into it.

The wonder of the Web

I was looking for pictures of bikes, honestly.

Tip Top

A big thank you to one of my customers Annette Field, who added to my ride fund; I've now decided all tips are going on repairs and logistics for the ride - could cost a few bob this

And so it begins...

Here we go..

I'm embarking on a journey to ride from John o' Groats to Land's End (JoGLE) in 10 days..  The Journey started a good month ago, but since this blog probably won't be winning too many plaudits from cultural commentators; I thought it safe to delay it's inception.

This is my 1st team member/companion/mode of transport, my lovely bike:

Although she's a sophisticated girl, she's been ridden pretty hard in the past - and mostly by someone else.

For this reason she's not tip-top and needs a little work; anyone with knowledge/shiny bits to spare please make yourself known..