Last Training ride now complete

Yesterday, being Sunday the 5th August, saw a group of us travel up to the Sunday Sportive event at Woodcote near Reading, a quick 122km Road based blast around some beautiful English country side. Sleeveless T shirt on and raring to go, what a day 80 plus degrees not a cloud in the sky, bring on the sun tan. Completed the ride in around 5 hours excluding a couple of pit stops on the way, a few near misses with other road users and some very loose gravel, but we both made it without a hitch. Brian was also donning a very nice colourful sleeveless top as well trying to get the most of the sunny weather.

This week will be the chance to rest and recover ready for the big day on Sunday 12th. Maybe a visit to the gym for a swim and a bit of cross training and a few brisk walks with the dog. Hopefully we will get a chance to get a taster of the conditions and the altitude on Friday and Saturday when we get to explore around Panorama before the race.

Again I must thank everybody for their generosity and support up to this point. A big big thank you to my wife for her undivided support in putting up with me over the last 8 months during the training I can not wait to meeting her and Olivia at the finish line.

I will try and keep you updated during the event technology permitting.

See you all in a couple of weeks

Last week of training is here!!!

Yes the last week of training has now arrived. Nearly 18months in the planning and 8 months in the training and preparation, getting very anxious now, making sure we have all the right equipment and back up items to take. Taking great care on all the rides not taking too many risks! Spent nearly all of last week in the saddle clocking up over 215 miles and 6,200 plus metres of climbing, that's only half the Rockies ride length and half the vertical.

I have nearly been killing all my colleagues in my spinning classes that I have been taking this year so far. I think they will be glad when I eventually go!!

This week will be pretty much it on the training front, if we are not ready now we will never be.

I have found a couple of pictures that give you an idea of the views and the terrain that we will be up against. We will bring plenty more pictures back with us.

Bring it on!!! as quoted by that awful girl in 'Big Brother' called Tracey.

A big big thanks to all of you that have been so generous with your support leading up to this event, through your kind sponsorship and help. It means so much to me and my family.

Milo would have been so proud of you all!!!

Near miss could have lead to disaster!

Another busy training week has just flown by. I can not believe its only 3 weeks to go. Been very busy this week getting as much distance, climbs and time in the saddle as possible. Been out with Brian this week as much as possible finding the steepest hills around Boxhill to climb. Amazingly, I went up some hills I never knew were even there! Fantastic!!

Had a near miss on Wednesday over at Westcott way, went down a very tricky stony gully dropped the front wheel in to a pot hole and straight over the handle bars landing on my wrist and right leg. blood was everywhere and I was blessed with very sore wrist and knee. Luckily the bike was OK, I got back on and limped on for the rest of the ride. It caused a bit of worry on Thursday and Friday but by Saturday the bruises came out and the pain subsided. Phew!! A very close shave. I think I will have to became a bit more cautious. Brian had fun aswell over the last few rides with his new cleats, I must have seen him fall off a least six times !! Luckily no injuries just a red face moments.

We still managed to clock up 170 miles off road plus about 10,000 feet of climb over the week.

The picture above was taken by Dee's Brother on a nice sunny day a few months back. Amazingly it will be in a publication for some new flats being built in Redhill later this year. Autographed versions are available on request at £3.99 ea. Limited stock though.

Take care and I will see the guy's on Saturday 0800 usual place ........ Be there!!

Less then a month to go now!!! Big gulp!! 29 days to be exact. Getting the last minute preparations under way Insurance, spares, food energy drinks, what clothing to take the list seems endless.....

Cramming as much training in as possible, it seems I am spending my life on the saddle of the bike. I must admit I did take the weekend off what with Olivia's sports day, speech day and the Caterham School ball on Saturday. I even had two glasses of red wine on Saturday night....... admittedly I did go for a run and a quick visit to the gym on Sunday but not for long though.

The British Airways saga continues we have been told we will get a refund of £116 for the tax and charges, the rest of the fare will hopefully come from the insurance policy Markie took out. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly. Admittedly to get that far I did spend over 2 hours on the phone to their call centre listening to tacky Spanish on hold music and some announcer going on how wonderful BA. What a load of C**P !"£?"$?

Lots of training coming up over the next week when Brian gets back for Scotland. I will update you all on that front in my next entry.

Have a good week. Enjoy the weather......

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly News!

First the bad news, my Trans Rockies partner Markie, who as you can remember had a major fall in March, breaking his humerus and dislocating his left shoulder, when we were training in Wales, has had the news from his consultant at East Surrey Hospital, that he is unable to ride for about three months and will possibly need another operation on his shoulder to correct its alignment. This was a devastating shock for him and everyone. We had held out so much hope that he would be going to Canada. I know how much this had meant to him and how grateful I was of his support from the word go. It is a real shame! On the brighter side I have said to him once he is ship shape again we will attempt some other gruelling feat a bit closer to home. We will keep you posted on that one!

To the good news!! My friend Brian Trill has very kindly offered to take Markie's place on the Trans Rockies ride and I am very honoured to have him along as my team mate. Brian lives for his mountain bike, spending many many hours in the saddle and riding all over the country at some of the best venues Britain has to offer. He recently did a fantastic ride in Peru for a charity in memory of his mother who sadly passed away, riding over 500km up through the mountains at high altitude, finishing in Machu Picchu some 2,500m above sea level. A fantastic feat. I look forward to continuing the training over the coming weeks with him.

After the devastating news about Markie a bit of ugly news this time on the ticket front. British Airways - what a disappointment. What we thought would be a simple change of the name on the ticket turned out to cost £850. The miserable sods would not transfer the ticket, into Brian's name so it now becomes null and void. Therefore, we had to buy another in Brian's name, even after explaining the reasons - The injury - the charity - no budging. Well all I can say is 'Thanks British Airways' The world's favourite airline!!! Puff to that!!!!! I will take my bookings elsewhere next time.

Had a slightly easier training week this week just recharging the batteries. We had a good road ride yesterday. Brian, Ben and I took part in a charity ride for the British heart Foundation, 45 miles of Surrey's finest countryside in the rain. Brian had a near miss as he skid off on a sharp corner on the first fast descent. He's now got a bit of a bruised butt I think!! The ride was good training and we were home in about 2 and half hours which was not bad.

At last we have also decided a team name and what could be more appropriate then

'Team Milo'

Have a good week take it easy.

What happened to the Summer??,

Gosh it's so Wintery, the week started with good intention, even managed to get sun burnt on my shoulders on Tuesday when I went out for a ride with Markie, then suddenly Winter appears to have arrived and it has not stopped raining.

Tough week on the training front, but encouraged along with all the kind donations that have been coming in from friends and family - A big thank you to all of you for your kind support!! With Sundays London to Brighton and back ride I managed to clock up nearly 250 miles of cycling this week, amazingly that's just two thirds of the distance expected in the rocks and only about a third of the climbing expected - Gulp!!

With only 44 days to go now I have been looking at the final preparation's of items needed to be taken, the spare room looks like a shop at the moment full of energy bars, isotonic drink mixes, lotions and potions for all manor of possible situations that may arise.

Tested the bike box out on Sunday and phew!!! The bike does fit with a bit of room to spare, had to take a few bits of to squeeze it in though but on the whole its going to protect the bike extremely well.

That's all really at the moment, off to the office now, as I have not been there all of last week as I have been spending as much time as possible training and been very busy on the personal training front.

Have a pleasant week.

Caterham to Brighton and back 85 miles

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Caterham to Brighton & Back

Father's days went off with a bang this Sunday when myself, Ian and Roland left Merstham just before 7 am for our annual dash to Brighton and back. Battling with the roadies and giving them a good run for their money. We tagged along with the lead pack for a bit which was fun and very fast! We made good time arriving in Brighton at the finish line at just under 2hrs and 15 minutes had a quick snack then headed back up the old A23 route and arrived back at home just in time for lunch and a surprise box of Father's day goodies from my wonderful daughter, which I managed to consume that afternoon. The weather could have been better but the sun managed to came out a few times at least the wind was in our favour on the way back though that helped.

We had a laugh when we managed to activate the speed cameras as we shot through them at over 40 miles an hour in a 30 limit - Speeding ticket in the post Ha! Ha!

Topped over 180 mile this week, the longest and hardest yet covering over 10,000 feet of climbs. Roll on next week. Gulp!!!!!

Markie is back from the States so we are getting some rides in during the coming week. Decision time. I will report back on this next week.

Have a good week !!! Pictured Ian and Roland Discussing the ride and me looking well I'm not sure!!

Update & Charity Sale at Caterham School

Time is moving faster then ever now and the training is starting to take a new level. The minor injury I got last week has healed up nicely, luckily with very little problem. Managed to get a few extra miles in during the week. Thursday clocked up 40 plus miles travelling to the club on my bike, taking the spinning class, then shooting out for a 15 mile blast for the biking class I take at the club, then cycling home as fast as I could. Started out nice and early on Saturday and managed to get a 48 plus mile ride and topped 6,000 feet of climb the most yet and equivalent to a days ride in the Rockies. Amazingly, I felt fine when I got back.

Next big session coming up is 17th June the London to Brighton and back ride. Currently, it looks like it's me and Ian, taking on the roadies on a blast to the coast and then back, just in time for lunch what, what!!

Had our last charity fund raising sale on Sunday at the Caterham School fayre. It was a beautiful, hot and sunny day and we were kept very busy on the charity stall. We managed to sell lots of items that were very kindly donated to our fund from lots of Companies and Celebrities - a big thank you to all of them and a very big thank you to Caterham School for allowing us to take part. We managed to raise in excess of £400 - which was not bad at all.

Take care and have a good week.

Auch!!!!............That stings!!!

I can not believe what happened this week, following bucket loads of training - Beating Natalie home on Tuesday on a Car Versus Bike race from Sutton to Caterham - I only won by about 5 minutes. A fantastic ride out on Wednesday with Brain over to Westcott, the other side of Dorking. Where we went up to Leith Hill and Holmbury Hill with a load of guys from Nirvana bike shop. Thursdays ride when Tread and Markie joined in at the club, Saturday Long one with Ben, Martin, Ian, Markie and Dee plus two spinning classes and numerous visits to the gym. It all nearly ended in disaster I bloody fell off going about 5 miles an hour up a bank. Crazy thing was I was actually doing a favour for Dee's Brother who wanted a couple of shots of a mountain biker in action. Action he certainly got. What a TWIT!!! Luckily nothing too major just a very sore cut up elbow, a stiff hip and a swollen ankle. Hopefully the pictures Dee's brother took come out well!!

That's great the weather has just changed it's pouring with rain. By the way pictured is the sore elbow ........ Lovely!!!

Have a good week.

Markie's Back and pretty in good form........

Markie joined in Saturdays ride this week, he covered about 22 miles from Reigate Hill across to Denbies and back, he found it fairly tough with lots of jarring on the descents. The ascents were especially difficult on the more technical parts especially when he can not really pull with his left arm that well yet. Great to see him back and in good form though. Looking forward to lots more rides over the coming weeks getting his training back in to full swing. I spoke to him on Sunday and he felt tired but good with it - Which is encouraging!!! Hopefully its Trans Rockies here we come!!!!!!!!!!

I joined the ride at 8am after leaving home at about 6am and got an extra 10 miles plus before the start. Later, I met Natalie with the dog and managed to top up a tough 46.8 miles in just under 5 hours in the saddle - I slept well that night.

Training for the week topped 160 miles in total. Finding it tough to fit it all in and get any extra distance along with the busy schedule of work and other commitments. I will have to try harder next week.

Take care............

Training Continues

The weeks are rolling by now Trainings going very well managed to break the 40 miles of ups and downs, poor old legs were feeling it on Saturday afternoon. Great to see Markie out on Saturday morning on his bike. Yes you read correctly he was actually out riding his bike and there were no stabilisers!!! This is fantastic news.

Ended up covering 2 extra spinning classes at the gym this week, which helped push the total mileage up to a record of 158 miles with a record amount of ascents.

Saturdays ride saw Ben and myself hit the trail from Reigate to Leatherhead and back to Redhill then a quick blast over to Caterham. A bit quiet from the other guy's hope to catch up with them next Saturday.

Have a good week!

Saturdays Epic

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	Epic

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Weeks rushing by......

I don't believe it!! Another week has just flown by, less then three months to go now. Markie is still making a good recovery. Hopefully we will see him out on the trails soon!!!

Busy training week, managed to push the mileage up to 156 plus miles with lots of up hills included. Dogs getting very fit as well, she loves coming out for some of the training rides. Don't worry though she only meets me for the last 2 or 3 miles, Natalie kindly meets me with her when I get near to home.

Saturday's ride had a small group of us do the Godstone loop again which makes a change, a nice scenic route from Godstone up to Chelsham and back. Ian had a near miss coming down the first descent, luckily just a small graze and bruising to the knee, a very muddy jacket plus a bent brake lever seemed to be the only sustained damage. The weather seems to have changed a bit waterproofs have come back out of the loft and the temperatures have dropped a bit and the trials have slowed down somewhat with mud and water everywhere. Hopefully, this will change back over the coming weeks.

Rumour has it we are going to Wales for a day or two at the end of May, I will update you on this nearer the time. The next big ride we are preparing for is the London to Brighton and BACK , yes that is correct and BACK about 75 to 80 miles of road riding on mountain bikes with knobblies we'll show the roadies!! Its on the 17th June so something to look forward to. Have a good week!!!

(Indi pictured have a well deserved rest after all the training)

Norfolk & Clue really did not have a clue at the quiz night

Saturday 5Th May 2007 7.30pm - What a fantastic turn out. Over 80 people joined in our first attempt at a quiz night. Richard, who created the questions, did an absolutely fantastic job hosting the evening. A big thank you to my wonderful wife, Natalie, whose massive help made the evening go so smoothly (Luckily she is still talking to me after all the suggestions I have been making about the running of the event). A thank you to Natalie's Mum for helping make some of the food. A big thank you to Geoff for coming up trumps, lending us a superb PA and sound system. A big thanks to all those who came and supported the event and not forgetting the Priory Health club for letting us stage the event there. - I'll stop here!!!! Oh two more pats on the back, one to Hannah & Bethan for selling loads of raffle tickets and lastly one to Olivia for being very helpful during the event. (Pictured team 'The Quizerables')

A very close competition between 17 teams of between 4 & 5 people - the winners with a massive 80% correct answers 'The Slow Burners' -congratulations to them. Team 'Shush' were very popular and the 'Legless Again' were all literally legless again. Every body did very well with a lot of very tough questions. Even aptly named 'Norfolk & Clue' scored very well. even though they were the last team.

A big thank also to Firefly for providing the wonderful soft drinks for the evening. They all went down very well - a great alternative to beer and wine. Also a thank you to State Penn Pretzel Company for providing a variety of pretzels to munch on as well.

All in all a great evening and a massive help for the Charity. Thank you to all those that helped and participated! We all hoped you enjoyed yourselves.

Training

I will be brief on the training this week

Monday Spinning class at club

Tuesday Spinning class at club

Wednesday Resistance training at club. A mountain bike ride out with the dog

Thursday morning Spinning class at club plus and evening spinning class at club plus an hour and a half mountian bike ride with club members.

Friday Spinning class at the club

Saturday Resitance training session at the club
Lastly, Sunday 36 mile jaunt out with the lads

Clocking up some 135 miles or there abouts.

Sunday's Little Jaunt 6th May

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Saturday Big One 28 04 07

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Update News and Quiz Night

Another week has flown by, only 105 days until the plane leaves the tarmac. Training harder then ever now, increasing the distances and pace adding in a few more spin classes - feeling good.

Our Friend Brian is off to Peru this weekend, he is riding hundreds on miles across Peru on his mountain bike in memory of his sadly departed Mum. We all wish him the best of luck! This is after his unfortunate injury just over 6 months ago when he broke is tibia a week before the departure.

We are holding a quiz night on the 5th May at the Nutfield Priory to help raise some extra funds for the Children's Trust and raffle off some of the superb items we have been donated. If you can make it either on your own or if you can muster up a team of up to 5 people please let me know and we will book you some tickets. Don't delay though spaces are very limited.

I hope you all have a good week be in touch soon. By the way I have added a superb new blog video I made of our ride last Saturday 21st April, just scroll down and take a look - Check the surprise appearance of someone at the end ...............

Only 4 months to go

Gosh doesn't time fly, only 4 months to go to the big day and already halfway through this years training. Distances are going well, last week I managed to clock up 136 plus miles in the saddle, all off road as well, well nearly, a couple of spinning class on the way.

Marky is on the road to recovery (excuse the pun) stitches came out successfully on Tuesday. What a scar!!! its about 10 inches long but very neat !! I will try and get a photo of it. The specialist seemed quite happy with his progress but wants to see him ever 2 weeks to see how he is going.

Still have not got a suitable team name - Come on someone give us some ideas! BBB

Broken Bones boys has been mentioned.

Our very good friends Richard and Julia are getting very near to their big day at the London Marathon. A week on Sunday in fact. I hope you will all be looking out for them and cheering them on. We all wish them the best of luck and thank them for their fantastic support. Please everyone dig in to your pockets and sponsor them at the link below.

http://www.justgiving.com/thewrightpage

Training Up A Level

What a week! The training has started its new level - 2 hours in the gym on Sunday, a 30 Plus mile ride on Monday. Ride on Tuesday, 2 hours gym on Wednesday, 4000m Row and a Spinning class Thursday, Spinning class Friday and then the first ride from home to meet the guys (Roland, Brian, Ben, Dee & Ian were there) at Reigate hill on Saturday then out for our usual ride and all the way home again - nearly 38 miles with some 4,000ft plus of ascent. See the ride below. Feeling good though. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Saw Markie at Reigate Hill on the way home, he was feeling a bit sore this week. It's his big day on Tuesday - Stitches hopefully coming out and a review of his progress. I will keep you posted on that as soon as I hear.

Anyway have a good week. Make sure you check out the Video clip at the bottom of the Blog to see Markie in action!!!! (First Video in list below)