One week to go!

Went out today to complete the Tour de France challenge I've been chasing for the last year. The challenge was to compete the original TdF milage. Now that's over, it's a week until the London Edinburgh Lobdon ride. So a week of reducing the milage and eating enough food to make nursey blow a gasket.

 

Half-term boot camp.

When I left work on Friday, a colleague said, "I know what you're doing next week. Lots of cycling."
She was correct. Saturday was on the river with a SUP customer, but then it started. A damp Monday saw me taking out the mountain bike, that way I had the option of heading into the woods to escape the rain. I headed down to Ironbridge and along the Severn towards Bridgnorth. This included passing my old school.

Not Hogwarts, more Stalag 13 meets the Shining. I've included a @FATMAP for this ride as it may be something visitors to Telford might enjoy. The MTB was a mistake as there was a fair bit of tarmac to get back to Broseley.
The end of the week saw Pam and I staying with friends in South Shropshire. I rode down on Thursday afternoon and back on Friday. Progress was slow. The gravel bike although welcome on the worn out country lanes is far from a speed machine. The average speed is far too slow for the L-E-L, so this week I'm going to start riding Herman-the-German-Flying-Machine.

This was my Ride London Surrey 100 bike back in 2015/16. This bike is light and fast, just need to see how it handles the longer endurance type rides.
I'm not into the monarchy and the Jubilee passed. We did go to watch the fireworks on Caradoc while in the south of the county. An underwhelming experience, but at least someone was trying.

So this week is back to work and the start of preparations for our fundraising afternoon tea in July. If you would like to come along, please message me for details. Obliviously you tea and scone will require a donation, but there will also the chance to be insulted by Dawley's answer to Mrs Brown, who unlike the weather is always guaranteed - to offend.
The glucose levels are also coming down. The weekly average is below 10mmol/L - even after food. However, my blood pressure nearly hit a new high today, when a woman with obesity issues bragged about her husband getting a continuous blood glucose monitor. They both take no exercise and she had the nerve to tell me that us type 2s do not deserve expensive equipment because it is our own fault. My mother and two aunties on my father's side had diabetes. Hence probably a genetic link, but I'm not going to fight it with insulin, chips and daytime telly. If I had seen this coming I would have taken preventative measures.
In 1998 I realised my weight was becoming an issue, with regular cycling I managed to get it down from 19 stone to 16 stone in 3 months. I have cycled the London Surrey twice and managed in 2017 to pass the swim test for the PADI Divemaster assessment (similar to a lifeguard test). I am now 15 stone 3 lbs, I've not been this light in years. Then the fat lump before me had the nerve to suggest it was my lifestyle. When I was tested for diabetes I had already begun training for the L-E-L. This chase for remission won't end here, type 2 diabetes is a state of mind and not a permanent condition.

If you would like to donate to my nominated charity, please used the following link:

Shelter

AUDAX Discovering Shropshire

 As well as running events where everyone starts together, AUDAX UK also run permanent courses. These you can enter online and after paying the required fee just upload your GPX file afterwards to prove you did the course. Sounds easy?

That was the plan until Shropshire Highways and the weather decided to intervene. On my planned ride in April the road from Bridgnorth to Ludlow was closed and it snowed on the Clee Hill, a postponement was in order. The road works continued and after an exchange of emails the organiser let me know someone had made it through. So on Saturday i set off to ride the course. there were a number of road closures in place, but these appeared to be ignored by most locals and luckily the road block was in place on the B4364 at junction where I turned for the lanes to Cleobury Mortimer. A welcomed turn away from potential hot tarmac and days of scrubbing the bike!

The ride was hard. It has been some time since my last London 100 ride, but Shropshire always makes Surrey look flat. Box Hill is nothing compared to what the county of Housman can throw up infront of the unsuspecting cyclist. 1,810m of ascent was a serious, I was out for just short of 8 hours. Not a time I expected as I had previous cover the London 100 in 6H 16M 49S, this included stoppage for someone dying on route.

The Shropshire Hills east of Wenlock Edge always have the leg wrecking hills within hills. These are small stream and river valleys that appear as rippled lines on the elevation profile. On the road they are steep rises that appear like in front of you and although the overall profile only reads 3% or 4 % the actual gradient may be nearer 10%. Crossing the boundary The Edge forms always presents a welcome relief and real hills with a top and bottom.

The roads were another issue. I road my Specialised gravel bike and was glad of the fattish tyres and beefy frame. I am sure my carbon fibre road bike would have suffer damage on unrepaired roads that still contained the debris from winter storms and the passage of farm vehicles.

I was glad to reach the sanctuary of Church Stretton and the lanes around The lawley. Then came Wenlock and a sprint to Ironbridge via Benthall to be back inside the time limit. I made it by 10 minutes. This week will be back to commuting and the possibility of a long ride during half-term. 

66:16:496:16:49:16:49

Shropshire Lad

 I remember a teacher at school talking about A. E. Housman and A Shropshire Lad, how he was talking about, "the deep countryside of Shropshire." Where I rode on Sunday qualifies as this and would have been recognised by Houseman. Sandstone lanes, trees, the sharp Edges rising out of the flatlands and The Lawley. 

This wasn't the longest ride I've done in training, but the 807m of climbing was tough. The good news was my speed is increasing and the average speed is getting somewhere near what will be needed for being in with a chance on the big ride. Unfortunately even a tough ride doesn't appear to be hitting the glucose levels like it did when I first went back into training. Time to try something different.

This week it will be back into commuting, but the GCSE season and and after school meetings are eating into the time available. 

As I been a bit secretive about the summer ride, I haven't collected any donations for Shelter yet. If anyone would like to be the first please use the link

https://www.justgiving.com/andrew-rudge4

If you have aspirations to be a main or lead sponsor, please get in touch.

Back on the road again.

 After a couple of weeks in Spain, it was time to get the bike out again. A short but steep ride on Sunday to test the bike after the layup and then a commute today. Sunday's ride is in the Latest Ride box. The news from Spain is that I have discovered running. I have always hated running with a malice that verged on psychotic.

However, the thought of two weeks in Spain with no bike and the possibility of a total loss of fitness led me out onto the roads and hills with Pam. One of our most memorable runs were on the Sierra Gador, where you really felt that it was like running on top of the world. 

As a result I have left my old running shoes in Spain - shoes that have been used about five times in 12 years, with the intention of doing more next time I'm there. I have ordered a new pair for use back home. Buying running shoes has been off my agenda for years.

The running was made possible due to the NHS Couch to 5K app. This is brilliant and gives a training programme that splits the runs into manageable chunks. I started the Spain runs on about week three, making the assumption that because of the earlier training on the bike I wasn't starting from scratch. If you do need to start having done no exercise, do follow the app from the beginning. I have Sarah Millican as my voiceover. This works well as a motivator as I think Sarah has known the pain. Only problem is at the end of the run I find myself waiting for the punchline that never arrives.

We did enjoy the odd post run tapas or ice-cream. I'm sure if this was an option in the UK my mileage would suddenly increase!

The blood glucose levels have been a rough ride, with levels all over the shop. I hope without the temptations of Spain and a change of supplements, I could have it back under control. Today I managed a reading of 6.5 mmol/L, this is my lowest so far and hope this is indication of something moving at last.

New ride!

Saturday's planned AUDAX permanent cancelled due to weather (bit cold to go up the Clee) and road closures out towards Ludlow. So, a new route around Cound Moor. See FATMAP.  Bit of a training ride for the summer event as it contains every sort of terrain that I'll encounter in miniature. Announcements next month on where I'll be riding.