Ye reap what ye sow

Days to go to Tour Ride 2010: 7

Its harvest time here at Chez AbandonedBicycle.  Mrs AB and I have spent a productive and, for once, relaxed morning on the allotment. Its been a bumper harvest this year.  For weeks we have been munching our way through a glut of variously sized courgettes and are quite glad that these have come to the end for another year.  The runner beans have been in full swing though today seemed to be the end of them and as I type, Mrs AB is de-stringing and topping-and-tailing several bags full ready to freeze.  We have enough spuds to keep a small Irish village through any future famine.  And our Squashes have been prolific.  All in all we have plenty to keep us going as the nights and weather draw in for another year.

Also drawing in is the big day of the Tour Ride.  7 days to go, not including today.  By the accounts of the many training plans I’ve seen I was meant to get in one last long ride this weekend.  Well, cest la vie, it’s not happened.  Whilst I could get (and in all honesty have got) worked up about this I am trying my best to resist.  In fact yesterday was a day of continual fluidity as plans changed constantly, partly in response to the ineptitude of Halfords to provide correct information both on their website and in their store, and partly down to our old friend the weather.  Looking out of the window it is meant to be raining. With that forecast I went out yesterday to avoid the wet yet again.  Needless to say it isn’t raining now but it sure did yesterday instead.  And after a confrontation with tweed wearing, fancy 4×4 driving, “country sport” middle-aged man on mobile phone (yes, I said on Facebook and Twitter yesterday and I reiterate it again toady – 2 fingers to you too!) it wasn’t the best. But nor was it the worst.  It was 30 miles more under the belt and its amazing how I seem to tick of those miles with more ease.  That in anyone’s book is accomplishment.

And so to my news from last week.  With my charms and the good looks of my brother I have wangled a VIP start at the Tour Ride.  So a huge thank you to Sara from the organisers, Paul and I now have maximum daylight hours to complete the route.

In the next few days I’ll provide some more details of the route and following discussions with the other half of the team try and work out the times we will be at various points.  There will be no excuses for not coming out to see us! ;o)

Its the final countdown

Days to go to Tour Ride 2010: 10

Okay, I couldn’t resist the obvious musically inspired title for this post but at least give me credit for sparing you the video of 80s mulletted rockers belting out the most overused track in New Year and Advertising history!

Yes, its only 10 days to the Tour Ride.  And don’t I know it.  Having said that I had a nice spin on the bike today.  Despite the gusty and ferocious wind I felt good, did a nice speed and managed the hills with comparative ease.  I’m not even going to cast a cloud over it apart from the say that the implicit gloating of poor weather for a certain ToB photographer (you know who you are) came back to haunt me as the rain did damped things a little.  But who cares, it was mainly sunny.

And in other news: the cameras have now come out of intensive care in the airing cupboard and seem to have made a full recovery – much to the relief of my bank account.  So anyone wanting a photographer can start getting back in touch.

So, it’s now almost 9 days to go.  A couple more training rides to squeeze in before the big day and plenty more thoughts to share.  Tonight I received a very nice surprise but I’ll leave you waiting to hear what that was until later in the week.

Indian summer turns monsoon

If I could start this week again I think I probably would.  It hasn’t gone to plan since Sunday evening.  I left you last time following a delightful trip into the peak district.  The weather had turned nice for the Tour of Britain as it entered Staffordshire, leaving behind the rain with our Lancastrian cousins.  Little did I realise what was to be in store on Monday.

Out of the gloom

As you can see, the weather was somewhat different.  An early start dropping Mrs AB at the station so that I had transport for the day meant a fairly leisurely drive across country to Brecon and an ever decreasing selection of radio stations to tune into (having said that I am both intrigued and impressed by some of the music that BBC Radio Cymru have to play even if I can’t understand a word). Also I was heading into the murk.  So by the time my lift had arrived at Brecon bus station and we were off towards Ystradgynlais, the windscreen were in full use.  By the time we reached Black Mountain, Monday’s mecca, the weather was awful. And here I reach the start of the problems.  With rain and wind lashing us on the climb (the non-cycling motorists must always think we are mad) and moments before the race arrived my prime camera started to play up. I raced to the car and retrieved my back-up camera and within a few minutes that to had started to play up.  I was able to get a few shots between glitches but had that overwhelming feeling that the day was a complete waste.  Several people have told me how I had a day catching up with an old friend so far from being a disaster it was a good day.  But I focus yet again on the negatives.

This also left a further headache – 2 cameras that either don’t work or work intermittently. To cut a long story shot and on the advice of Canon I now have them both sat in the airing cupboard drying out.  Hopefully this will work though the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach is a constant background sensation until I know they work.  All in all this has left me feeling at a real low this week.  No bike, no cameras – my non-work obsessions have not been part of life and so it has felt hollow.

On a brighter note my partner in crime and companion for the Tour Ride has broken his Marlon Brando cover and we are making plans for the ride.  For those of you who don’t know this is my brother Paul who is currently on the Tour of Britain with the Rapha Condor Sharp team,who themselves are having mixed emotions and fortunes over the course of this week.  By the sounds of it Paul and I are at a similar physical state which shows you perhaps how little he has done rather than how much I have done but its great to know we’ll be doing it together – and may even have a small posse of RCS staff with us (Mr Verrall and I will compare notes on climbing technique!).

So, after a coffee morning in Brum tomorrow its off out for a couple of hours riding. Here’s hoping the wind dies down, the showers hold off and the sun shines.

Broom or Bust

Broom or Bust - Hedging Your Bets

There’s a reason for this picture – it struck a cord, one I will get around to playing in just a moment.  This weekend has been devoid of training and full of socialising. Yes, Friday lunchtime was taken up with a relaxing lunch in Tettenhall with a very good friend.  Friday night was relaxing, perhaps too relaxing given the beer, red wine and port. Saturday morning was lazy. Saturday lunchtime was spent in Bridgnorth and by Saturday eveing I’d made it to Bishops Wood to see an old school friend.  Finally this morning I did my neighbourly duty and took our neighbour’s youngest son along to the Tour of Britain and more snapping. So no time for the bike. But maybe that is a benefit in disguise.

Over said drinks on Friday night the fact that the cycling has become yet another element of stress was discussed by us al.  And in truth it has.  I’ve commented on it here before but there’s a constant striving for a perfection. The “perfect” training plan will always be a dream when fitted into the reality of life’s pressures. And so, yes, I am here, with 2 weeks to go, not riding and potentially under prepared.  Put it another way, I’ve got out on my bike a whole lot more than I did last year and at times have been enjoying it.  If only the second perspective was the default way of looking at life and things would be a lot easier.  Oh for this brain rewiring to be complete and work!

Today could almost be called training.  For the past week I’ve been thinking of heading to Gun Hill, the potential scene of my downfall in a fortnight(?). But with that in mind I opted for the 2nd category climb of Ramshorn.  Now this is a strange affair: a 4 mile climb complete with descent in the middle; easy a the start, easy at the finish but a kick like a mule after the middle descent.  I was told by a local cyclist that it is actually worse then Gun Hill.  I am feeling less confident by the minute.

And so to the picture. I snapped it as the rear of the race convoy was held up as one of the Team Ireland boys had a bike change.  I looked at it and it seemed odd, a real oxymoron.  But I suppose it is also the way of looking at the Tour Ride to come. I can either be swept up by the negativity or focus on the finish line and meet my challenge.

Until then its another date with the 2010 Tour of Britain in my old South Wales stomping grounds and a rendezvous with another good friend.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking on that.

Half Century

This might sound like a cricketing analogy and unashamedly it is.  Yesterday’s ride was a further mark in progress and milestone crossed in reaching the 50 mile mark.  It was a “bat raising” moment and I do have to confess to taking my hands off the bars in some form of personal celebration.  The pure cyclists amongst you may think this is too little too late. For me it is a marker that I can make it around the 100 miles in 2 weeks time. And passing Hugh Porter on the outskirts of Brewood and leaving him for dead on the climb to Chillington was somewhat pleasing.

What still concerns me is the hills.  Again these are both metaphoric and real: the shark’s teeth of what Procycling Magazine calls the Queen’s Stage of this year’s Tour of Britain are my immediate concern for the next 2 weeks as I’ve never been a climber despite my long legs; the hills of life are just an ongoing concern for which there seems to be no end – the good days a bit like a transition stage in the Tour de France is for the like of Mark Cavendish, a silver lining before more clouds.  Still, I’m determined to get over both however much it hurts at times.  At least the real hills have some physical end and a practical way of getting over them, even if this involves dismounting and walking.

And so to the weekend. Today I’m seeing a very good friend of mine from my days in South Wales and I feel like a long coffee/lunch date before some nice home cooked food tonight. And then Sunday and Monday see two days following the Tour of Britain with the camera – pictures to follow on my Flickr pages in due course. The rendezvous with the race on Sunday will also allow me to reacquaint myself with the hills of North Staffordshire and the peril which awaits me!  At least I now have £600 in sponsorship to keep me going.