Sat 27th July - Packing day

 Night before

So we are heading down to Cornwall tomorrow morning and have already packed - I think we just want to get started.

Seeing both bikes here has made me realise a few things:

1) It will be a very different ride to my solo challenge 14 years ago. Same distance, but an extra 50% to the time. I will also have Tracy for company. Should be good except when it is hilly and/or she is hangry.

2) Too late to lose the weight that I was on planning on.

3) My hedge needs cutting.

Any how, my kit comes in at 15kg and Tracy's at 13.3kg. That's 33lb and 29lb in old money. I have to say that I have no real frame of reference for either unit, but  whether it is metric or imperial, I know that it will feel heavier on every climb.

Miles covered: 0 (apart from riding around the carpark at Jon's bike repair - thanks for all the help this year mate!)

Cake of the day: None

Tracy whinge factor 0/10 - calm before the storm 

Shaftesbury - our last practice ride!

 Sunday 2nd July - 2 weeks to go

7am start from home across the forest, a bit of off road at Dearleap to Ashhurst to woodlands and through no-mans land, redlynch and on to Downton. Slightly late start meant coffee and cake!

I am begining to think that Tracy is only riding LEJoG in an effort to make her cake addiction socially acceptable.

We continued on thru Odstock and Stratford Tony (named after the notorious Hampshire mafia don) before reaching a very challenging climb at Donhead St Mary. 

Tracy doesn't like climbing. Tracy particularly doesn't like climbing when she finds out that we haven't actually reached the proper climb yet. If looks could kill when I shared that info. Not looking forward to riding Cornwall or Cumbria with her! Headphones might be useful then!

Onwards to Shaftesbury and then the famous zig-zag hill. Iconic, but not so challenging. Fantastic views afterwards though. 

Onwards through pretty villages and a roast dinner at Farnham. Due to finances we were due to have a Tesco meal deal lunch, but apparently we can eat out "because it's a training ride, so it can come out of the holiday budget"Tough life! And I thought that I was good at "man maths".

Ice-cream at Mockbeggar and a climb up Linwood, downhill from Boldrewood to Lyndhurst and home. 

I won't lie - that ride felt tougher than I expected. We both seem to flag a little after 60 miles. Good job we still have loads of time to get fitter...bugger!

95 miles 

Ride time 8h 34min. 11.1mph

Height gain: 4280ft

Cake of the day: Lemon drizzle cake

Tracy whinge factor: 2/10 apparently I kept buggering off when we reached the hill at Linwood.

Round the island - practice ride

 Saturday 22nd June

A jaunt around the Isle of Wight with full kit.

A dawn start saw us on the 6:05 Wightlink from Lymington.

Don't attempt anything without coffee

A climb from freshwater treated us to spectacular views of Tenneson down and the chalk cliffs.

Continuing on the military road and up the dreaded climb at Blackgang Chine, we were feeling confident about our progress and fitness. I was confident that Tracy does not like hills.

View from the top

We were making excellent progress and aside from a loose chain and frayed tempers, we arrived at Brading before 10am. We took a detour to the Roman villa to expand our culture knowledge (not just coffee and 🍰 honest)

Onwards to the crab and lobster at Bembridge for lunch. 

Apparently by this point we were pretty confident about our riding endurance. Over confident as it turned out. A long lunch and in my case a couple of beers didn't do much for our speed. The brutal headwind that we had seemingly all the way back to Yarmouth and the endless succession of hills led to a long afternoon. Tracy had her first experience of "bonking" - a complete loss of energy left her sat on the roadside unable to continue for 20 mins, whilst she attempted to eat her weight in peanuts and fig rolls. 

We limped back into Yarmouth, managing to catch the ferry with 5 minutes to spare.

Like I said, don't attempt anything without coffee 

A slow meander back to Hythe and a well earned snooze in the conservatory. A few lessons learned about fuelling correctly, taking more regular, but shorter breaks and the fact that Tracy hates hills means that we feel more prepared for our upcoming trip. Apart from the hills.

Distance: 93 miles

Climbing: 5875ft

Ride time: 8h 43 min

Tracy whinge factor 4/10

Meon valley training ride

 A windy day in Meon, not sure we ever benefitted from a tailwind, but all good for training.

From lower upham, we headed through West Meon and a brief coffee at the sustainability centre. I hadn't been their since Wayne's funeral. Still missed - every time I climb old Winchester hill I think of Wayne. He told me about this bit of the route when I first tried it years ago.

Then on through Clanfield and up Butser hill. Tracy wasn't particularly amused that we climbed Butser as a detour, but TRAINING!! Turns out she couldn't get into the granny ring on the front cog, so had to muscle up more than she would have liked. Still she soldiered on the whole ride without much complaint. 

A very windy lunch stop with views of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight before heading off once more. Though Charlton, the heading north past Queen Elizabeth country park to Buriton,Ramsdean and through both East and West Meon, fighting the headwind all of the way. Onwards and upwards to Hinton Ampner, before turning south, through Owlesbury and back to the car. Owlesbury were holding a scarecrow festival. We marvelled at the ingenuity and community spirit behind the creations.

A great afternoon of riding. 8 weeks left before our trip. 

49 miles    11.2mph

Ride London

Tracy and I completed the Ford Ride London-Essex yesterday in an official time of 6h 38min. It was a great day of riding covering 103 miles on closed roads. Tracy (and I) were surprised at how strongly she rode, overtaking many a lycra clad mamil. We managed to dodge the worst of the thunderstorms, although the headwind on the way back into London was hard work. We both managed to get a bit sunburnt and Tracy has a minor war-wound from being taken out by a stationary cyclist who couldn't unclip in time. A lovely day of riding and we are feeling more confident about our summer tour.