A pound!

Well the bad news is that I've put on a kilo this month, or a pound in old money. A quote from Peter Kay comes to mind:

"A pound! I could ......., a pound!"

I'm sure you all know the routine.

I've also had my NHS blood check. I cycled to RSH to get the glucose down. No cycle parking, but they do have a smoking shelter outside the blood test unit. Well done NHS for creating such a health centred environment.

Training continues and I'm off to Chester at the weekend to get a long ride in. Don't forget our up coming fundraiser. You haven't received an invite, but would to join us, then just email for details.

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

London-Edinburgh-London

 

I’m doing it again..this time it’s the BIG one !!

 

London..Edinburgh…London  Cycle Ride

LEL 1500kms/932 miles in 125 hours

https://londonedinburghlondon.com/about

 

Setting out on Sunday 7^th August at 11.15am

 

This time I’m raising money for SHELTER because everyone should have the right to a home. Shelter works to alleviate the distress caused by homelessness and bad housing. Shelter will help people find and keep a home. They campaign for decent housing for all. Their work won’t stop until there’s a home for everyone.

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

To kick things off we’re having an afternoon tea and fundraiser

On

Saturday 2^nd July from 1pm at our home.

We’d love you to join us!

Come see the bike, check out the route, drink tea and eat cake!

To read the full story of my training, visit:

https://chasingremission.blogspot.com/

@AndrewRudge67

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.

The JAB!

 I wouldn't go as far as saying the Covid Vaccine is evil, but has put me off my pace for a couple of days. Needed Friday off work and felt like I had a flu, attempted an easy MTB on Saturday and only managed 8 miles. Hence taking it easy for a few days before getting back into serious riding.

So Sunday turned into a pleasant day. Ride out in the MG and a visit to the Ludlow farm shop for lunch. What could be better?

Bit of a change for me to be photographing cars. Normally it's landscapes or nature related to my time on the hills or underwater. The Mg is such a fun car to drive, you may be seeing more of him.

New Record!

 My new record was a PB for speed - yes a true downhill with a following wind that resulted in me reaching a speed of 79.5KPH. The bike did develop a bit of a wobble and I wasn't looking at the computer. Therefore didn't realise until later just how fast I had gone.

Few issues this week that have chopped down the planned Km's. First an encounter with another owd bugger - who stopped to give me advice on changing an inner tube. Result was a broken valve, wasted gas cartridges and a long walk home. Not happy was an understatement. Thanks to FATMAP being able to give me a way out of the woods and through a new housing estate that resembled a rabbit warren, I was home before dark.

Then the march wind continues. It was windy on top yesterday, so to avoid long exposed miles I headed into the Severn Gorge for a short hard ride. If you want a challenge, then try Lincoln's Hill. A short 30Km ride burnt 2023KCALS and yielded 502Meters of ascent. This was mainly due to road works around the Ironbridge area leaving very few options for getting out of The Gorge - I took the hardest.

Also the diabetes may at last be heading in the right direction. Average blood glucose so far this month is down to 9.4MMOL/L. Not out of the woods yet, but I can see the light. 

Wet, wet and wet

 I only wish the ride yesterday had been as sunny as the FATMAP depicted it. The weather dumped rain once I passed Wellington on the way in, then for the ride home it reached biblical proportions. I wear good quality mountaineering gloves for winter riding and the rain even managed to penetrate them.

Good news is that the blood glucose levels are on the way down. Managed to get it down to 8.2mmol/L yesterday and is staying between 8.2 and 8.9 mmol/L. Not bad for someone who was told that he needed to attend his local surgery for immediate insulin administration. The exercise is burning the stuff up and I'm still using a good quality energy drink and bars. Without them I would be bonking at every hill. I must also give credit to my TCM practitioner who's herbs have nourished my liver and kick started my pancreas. 

Reading the odd book about endurance cycling, all authors mention getting into a bad place when cycling and having to dig deep to keep going. Maybe I haven't completed enough mileage yet but I don't get depressed on a bike, it is a pure sense of joy for me. There have been times when on the hills or paddling a kayak when I've been frightened or just plain exhausted and felt I could give up there and then forever. Yes I've pulled from races and declared a DNF, but never got to the point where I hate what I'm doing. Pam's accident left us both with a few issues, but I still get on a bike and love it.

However, yesterday I let my dad get in my head. It was his birthday and I began thinking about him as the rain hit and the tarmac became a crud fest. Just one little thought about his birthday present got in, it didn't leave me wanting to get off, but the speed went down and I narrowly missed a PB. Same happened on the way home, once I re-focused and started concentrating the speed came back.

Dad never approved of cycling. Bikes to him were just transport until someone was stupid enough to give him a driving licence. National Service has a lot to answer for. When I was a teenager he didn't understand what I was achieving on a bike. Devey rides at school would sometime clock over 100 miles in a weekend. Dad saw no achievement in this. The first time I managed the Redhill (a large hill in St Georges), his comment was that I enough gears to get up it and he might respect the achievement if I rode a single speed. The answer to anything I did was I should try it with a bag of plaster wedged in the frame - like was forced to as a child labourer.

Dad genuinely believes cyclists do not have rights because they don't pay road tax. He doesn't get it that not one penny of road tax has gone to maintaining roads since before WW2 and if it did, the money collected would still be billions short. His version of the highway code is that cyclists should dismount at junctions, stay left and if they need to turn right should remain left and pull across the front of the traffic - if drivers feel charitable and call them through. Cars should not be impeded, speed limits are advisory and if a car stops and he hits them from behind, then it is the car in front that is at fault for stopping.

So, I don't expect any praise from him next August and doubt he'll want to see the medal. For my London Surrey rides, he did come to the fund raiser, but strictly for the tea and cakes wasn't interested in the event or the carbon fibre bike sat on a turbo.

I know that I need to keep him out of my head when heading down the road in the rain. The support I receive from Pam and our friends is always amazing for these events and I look forward to seeing you all again soon. M&J have always been there, M and I have peddled many miles together and hope to cover many more once J is well again. I know that once I start the ride who will be watching the dot cross the screen and it won't be my dad.

Fatmap

 I've finally managed to add Fatmaps to the blog. So if you fancy trying some of my rides, please download via the onscreen icons.

So far the blog and Just Giving page have been a bit of soft launch until I have everything debugged. Main launch will be in May when I announce the route I will be cycling, but until then if you would like to support Shelter and have the privilege of being my first supporter - please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andrew-rudge4

 

Chelsea Tractors and other creatures.

This morning I saw Dr R. He's always entertaining and able to dispel the myths created by other medics. He once told a depressed young woman to buy a bottle of wine and a packet of cigarettes, then go home and cheer up:

"Isn't that bad for my health doctor? She asked returning to the waiting.

"So is being depressed." Came Dr R's reply.

If all medics were like this, I'm sure the world would be a better place. He told me he thought cycling from Shrewsbury to Atcham was a long ride and that he needed a lager and lime to recover when he got there. I didn't rub it in and tell him how far I can normally manage in a day.

So the world can look out. Sod the doom and gloom from nursey last Friday, I'm back on the bike and the world can look out. Especially the Chelsea Tractor driver who pulled out on me yesterday. He was illegally parked, dropping off his fat Mrs in Southwater Square. I just needed to cross from the square to the cycle path - a distance of about 50 Metres, arsehole had other ideas. He looked, raised his hand to thank me and drove straight across the front of me. I gave a middle finger salute as he pulled into a loading bay to attempt a 20 point turn.

"He dai' sin yer!" Shouted the fat Mrs.

"Well tell him to open his bloody eyes!" I replied.

What is about the drivers of certain vehicles? Last week I had a driver in a 20 year Jag put his foot down as I crossed a roundabout, just so he could blast his horn in created annoyance. He thought the Jag made him a higher order lifeform, little did he know that my tyres may have been worth more than hi gas guzzling heap. There's a reason old Jags that haven't made it to classic status are cheap, no body wants one! 

 

Enough of the moaning. This first appeared on my kayaking blog back in 2015 when I was preparing for the Ride London Surrey.  I think it kind of explains where I've come from and why I ride a bike.

What a couple of weeks I’ve had. I don’t really want to talk about the day job, but needless to say I’ve been appointed centre manager – starting after Easter. Two weeks ago I was at the point of walking out.

Then there is the bike ride! The Prudential RideLondon 100

http://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/

YES! I’ve have a place! I still can’t believe it, hence why this blog is called DNA. I think both Pam and I have a little bit of cycling in our DNA – if that’s possible.

Unfortunately Pam didn’t get a place on the ride and Pam’s link to cycling is direct - her granddad was a track cyclist. For me it’s a bit more complex, my dad always claims we have links to the Rudge bike family. I’ve never found any proof and would love to be corrected. However, according to an election website there are less than 4000 voters named Rudge in the UK, so I suspect we’re all related somewhere along the line.

Preparing for the ride started on Saturday with a bike fit at Bicycles by Design in Coalport. In photographs of two events I rode last year I didn’t look quite right on the bike – I rode with extended arms. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but might be when attempting 100 miles. So I thought it was best to get a proper fit. So the saddle has gone up, a new stem fitted and cleats adjusted. On a test ride on Sunday I was averaging 2mph faster on freewheel sections of road. Therefore I recommend everyone gets a proper fit before venturing out for any distance.

My cycling really started when I was about seven; I found it difficult to learn to ride a bike. I think in part due to stabilisers being popular in the 1970s, my parents had fitted them in good faith to a very old bike my dad had bought from someone at work. When I say old, I really mean vintage – it had rod brakes! Eventually losing patience the bike was about to be sold on. Stabilisers off I was given one last chance to try it before it went off to a new home, off I went around the garden like a rocket. Swung around the garden shed, through the apple trees and only realised my dad wasn’t holding the saddle when I turned for home.

My dad went off up the road to give the new owner his money back while I carried on circuiting the garden with increasing speed. My parents have a picture of me in 70s dodgy Sunday best riding over the Priorslee banks after chapel. They couldn’t keep me off the bike that day. The great thing about having a 1940s bike was it could go anywhere. It was built for potholed roads and cobbles, I guess I was mountain biking before it became recognised.

My dad completely stripped the bike, repainted it and fitted it out for my birthday. I really did love that bike. It was heart breaking years later when my mum thought she was helping out a local destitute family by giving it to them so the boys could have a bike to get a paper round and earn some cash. They got the paper round – took the wages, burnt the papers and trashed the bike. Never trust chavs!

The next bike was a Chopper - another salvage job. This time a neighbour’s son had snapped off the bottom bracket. My dad worked for a small engineering company with a brilliant fabricator who managed to weld it back on without any trace of a join. Once again my dad worked wonders with this bike. Perhaps this was Rudge DNA and bikes meeting - not for the first time. We spent hours one Saturday night fitting new shiny parts and truing wheels when we could have been watching Jim’ll Fix It. Even at the time, watching dad with chalk and a spoke spanner was more interesting.

That bike really was something to behold. 1970s turquoise blue with hand painted green snakes. Money couldn’t buy anything that looked remotely similar. Even the gear change was white vinyl (salvaged puller from a curtain system). A truly unique bike! Some of the posh kids around passed the odd comment because it was a MK1 chopper and built at home, but I really didn’t care. It rode as good as it looked. My dad really should have been a bike builder and not an electrician, the world would have been a safer place.

At primary school we weren’t allowed to ride bikes to school, except for cycling proficiency training and  the subsequent test. This would be my first act of rebellion – I had a great Aunty Nelly who lived by the school and agreed daytime parking in her coal shed.  Headmaster and his rules for limiting the mobility of the proletariat completely stuffed! There were some unhappy faces on the school walk when I cruised past.

Aunty Nelly and her husband great Uncle Edgar were on my Nans side of the family. A long and proud family of miners – rules were for breaking. At work I’ve run into the trust fund socialists who talk about helping the miners under Thatcher, I shock them when I reply I helped the cause in the 1970s strike and the 80s. Yes I was only 7 years old when Uncles Edgar, Harry H, Harry T and cousin Dennis used to call and see my Nan after the daily punch up with the police and scabs outside the pit. My mum and I were on tea duty, in addition to that I was even sent to school in red football socks to wind up my infants teacher who we suspected was a tory. My granddad (Nans side) had died in 1957 due to a coal industry related illness, he had been fundamental in unionising the Shropshire coalfield – hence the daily visits during the strike and regular weekly visits from a member of the extended family during the rest of the year. Then people wonder where my politics come from!

Back to the bikes! My Chopper finally gave in around 1981 when the bottom bracket finally succumbed to metal fatigue. Before it died it had one surprise for dad, it nearly killed him and would have been YouTube gold today. While I was away at school he decided to borrow it to cycle to Beverley (about two miles away) to buy a part for his marooned car. Dad didn’t know that the MK1 Chopper had a design feature – it pulled wheelies really easily. The MK2 had extended wheel stays to take the danger or fun away (depending if you’re a parent or child).

The M54 extension hadn’t been built then and the Snedshill Furnace junction was very busy, complete with HGVs, cars and the odd tank road testing from COD Donnington. Into this maelstrom of traffic ventures my father, who decides in order to get across the junction he has to push down extra hard on the peddles. Picture my turquoise mean machine with a Hitler look-a-like (he does) in brown nylon flares pulling a wheelie across a T junction on a busy A road - while trying to stay on the saddle. Something he failed at as he landed arse first in the middle of the road. Of course it was my fault!  Despite being locked up in school some 20 miles away.

The next bike also had history – a Black Hawk 10 speed. My mum worked at Woolworths, a customer had paid a deposit for the bike but failed to collect it. So the manager let mum have it at cost price as the deposit covered the mark up. This bike would carry me for 100s of miles. One of the few advantages of being locked away in a dingy boarding school was a bike mad form tutor - Mr. Devy. He would organise youth hostel trips to avoid weekend duties. We started local venturing to South Shropshire and built up to further afield. One weekend we got as far as Malvern – 125 mile round trip. He also started a tradition that I have continued with my own pupils – when hillwalking every summit is a chocolate stop.  Following the trips with Devy I haven’t really been off a bike since.

As a teacher I don’t think I would be allowed to run some of his trips today – main roads, no support vehicle, no mobile phones, only a vague idea of a route and as for risk assessment; did they ever exist before 1995? Well he did teach us to ride defensively, so we didn’t have accidents and I have evolved to become the mamil that drivers just love to hate!

Therefore  as I train for the London 100, if you feel intimated by a large lycra clad cyclist who will not allow you to own the road, who will try and chase you down and who has a very prominent middle finger. Just remember it’s nothing personal, I have cycling in the DNA!

Committed

 Paid and confirmed my entry to the big event. I'm now committed - or should be for attempting this one. I've also changed the name of the blog. Feeling the prick was not a great idea, named it that when feeling very angry about being told I was a knacker by the medical profession. More news due tomorrow after my appointment with the nurse.