Weight: 10st 3lbs
Blood Pressure: 150/68
Resting Heart Rate: 55
I woke up feeling decidedly down. I lacked energy and just felt a bit sad.
I cycled in to work and got through some uninspiring lessons. My students and support staff were awesome and put up with my crappy mood.
On the cycle home, I decided a rest day was in order. So, instead of doing any exercise, I slumped on the couch and drank 4 beers.
No exercise, no junkfood, alcohol
Tuesday
Weight: 10st 1lb
Blood Pressure: 147/72
Resting Heart Rate: 57
Some good news! My barrage of emails and threats of visits from social services paid off! The student who was removed from college by her parents (see last week's blog post) has now come back. Phew! The news instantly put me in a better mood.
I cycled home to get ready for Karate.
I spent most of tonight's session working with the young ADHD learner. He's coming on in leaps and bounds. I was able to enjoy the last 10 minutes up at the deep end and got to practise some fighting techniques with two higher grade adults (and Martha!)
Home for a healthy dinner.
Karate, no junkfood, no alcohol
Wednesday
Weight: 10st 2lbs
Blood Pressure: 137/70
Resting Heart Rate: 51
I cycled in to work. It was a long day - I was at college for eleven hours. By the time I'd cycled home and had some lovely homemade dinner, I was too tired to even think about picking up the weights.
No exercise, no junkfood, no alcohol
Thursday
Weight: 10st 1lb
Blood Pressure: 135/69
Resting Heart Rate: 51
I cycled in to work. I got through some difficult lessons and then cycled home.
Tonight's run was very slow. However, I managed to run without stopping or walking for just over an hour. I can work on distance in the coming months.
After a glass of milk and a shower, I thought I deserved a beer. So I had three!
Run: 60m 18s, no junkfood, 3 beers
Friday
Weight: 10st 1lb
Blood Pressure: 142/67
Resting Heart Rate: 55
I cycled in to work and back.
Tonight's Karate session was run by Sensei Ronnie Christopher. He focused entirely on kumite techniques. The dojo was so busy that there simply wasn't room for any freestyle so we did one-step stuff with a partner. Sensei didn't seem very impressed with us! He gave us a talking to and explained that there was no point in teaching anything else until we show the right attitude.
At the end, we were asked to demonstrate the technique individually. When Sensei scrutinised my ashai barai to front leg mawashi geri he said, "That's okay, we can move on from that."
I went home feeling very relieved!
I ate two huge bowlfuls of stir fried chicken and brown rice while watching Jon Snow get killed in Game of Thrones. "For the Watch!"
Karate, no junkfood, no alcohol
Saturday
Weight: 10st 0lbs
Blood Pressure: 132/79
Resting Heart Rate: 44
Up at 6:30am.
I had some good results in my daily health MOT: I'm the lightest I've been this year - just in time for the big ride tomorrow.
I drove round to Dynamic Rides to register Jonnie and myself for the Mad March Hare and to collect our race numbers. After this, Lucy and I went to do the big shop at Morrison's and then Tesco. Later, I had to remove a dead pigeon from the kitchen (it had flown in through the front door and smashed itself against the window) before helping neighbour Dave drop two fence panels in place in his back garden. Then, I was back round to cut the edge off Lucy's potting table so it would fit in her potting shed. Next, I was up a tree with my reciprocating saw cutting off branches and getting sawdust in my eyes and down the inside of my shirt. I tried to scoff some lunch but, before I could finish eating, I was whisked off to B&Q to get some silicone sealant. Back at home, I was in the girl's bathroom resealing the shower.
In the man cave, I set about repairing some inner tubes just in case we need them tomorrow. Mouse was so impressed with my skill with patches and rubber solution that she told her mother about it. "I should think so," her mother replied, "he's been doing it all day."
I did some weight lifting before a healthy dinner and then watched the highlights of Milan San Remo.
Next, I did the ironing and then it was a case of waiting for Martha to finish work. Unfortunately, Martha didn't finish work until 11:45pm. Montydog and I went to meet her so she didn't have to walk the streets alone.
I finally got to bed at just past midnight.
Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol.
Sunday
Weight: 10st 1lb
Blood Pressure: 143/72
Resting Heart Rate: 50
I struggled out of bed in the dark at 5:20am. Will five hours of sleep be enough to get me through the ride? After a big breakfast of four crumpets with peanut butter, a flapjack and a banana, I called for Jonnie and we loaded his bike into the back of the Multipla.
The weather was glorious! Blue skies and sunshine with just a light wind. When we arrived at the HQ and found Roger, we also found a long queue of riders! We thought we'd set off early (at 8am) but it seems that most people had the same idea!
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| At the back of the queue at 8:00am |
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| The queue ahead of us... |
The route started on some uninspiring urban roads but that couldn't be helped. As soon as we got into the countryside it all made sense! We were met with beautiful views and quieter lanes. We were also met by our mate Russ who is a local lad. He was out taking photos of the ride. When I spotted him at the top of a hill, he jumped on his bike and rode with us for a while.
Unfortunately, Jonnie suffered a puncture while braking downhill. While Jonnie was struggling with his back tyre, a local lady cyclist appeared and offered to take a photo of us. She was a very nice lady, and a little bit of a loony. Then another loony cyclist appeared, a man this time, and he told us about a crash that had happened a little farther up the road. He wasn't part of the Mad March Hare, he just seemed to be patrolling the route for some reason!
When Jonnie got a new tube in his tyre, it punctured immediately! A second tube seemed okay so we set off again.
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| The nice lady took a photo of us: me, Russ at the back, Jonnie and Roger. |
As the route went on, the scenery became even more beautiful. The wind had picked up a little bit, but by now we had turned eastward so it became a very handy tail wind! A lot of the route was on tiny country lanes, the kind with grass growing up the middle - definitely my kind of route. The big talking point, besides the location and the weather, was the amount of climbing we were doing! This was the kind of ride where, if you weren't descending, you were climbing. And there were a lot of steep climbs! As you may know, I don't mind climbing but I'm hopeless at descending. I was grateful for the dry roads but I was still struggling to descend quickly on unfamiliar, very steep lanes that curved and uncoiled behind tall hedges. A lot of the ride went like this: Jonnie and Roger would streak off downhill, I'd manage to catch them up on the next climb, we'd have a bit of a chat, and then we were descending again! In total, we covered over 5200ft of climbing.
The feed station was a small, mostly outdoor affair that seemed to work perfectly. We were some of the last riders to arrive and there was still plenty of grub: flapjacks, shortbread and bananas along with energy powders and water. There was a mechanic onsite and there were some portaloos at the back. Once we'd refuelled, we set off towards Stourport on Severn.
The ride through Stourport was a traffic-heavy, sketchy affair. I was separated from the other two at a traffic island and had to work my little legs hard to catch up again. After we had cleared Stourport, we came to my favourite part of the route: we were having to work steadily upwards to the Lickey Hills. There was only one crazy descent at 15% which I was rather terrible at, but with that out of the way, I got back to the serious business of climbing from the front with Jonnie and Roger doing some great work on my wheel.
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| Roger climbing |
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| Jonnie climbing |
I loved the old route of the Mad March Hare, but it had become a little stale. I'd ridden it for the last 6 years (maybe 7) and thoroughly enjoyed the change of scenery this year. It was also a brilliant idea to move the event closer to April to take advantage of the better weather. The March Hare is the perfect target and keeps us training throughout the winter months. We'll be ready to sign up to next year's event as soon as the entry is open.
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| Surprisingly good ale! |
What a fantastic day!
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| Waiting for dinner. |
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