Monday
I cycled in to work and then home. My legs and lower back were aching after yesterday's efforts.
I listened to my body and didn't lift any weights this evening.
No exercise, no junkfood, no alcohol
Tuesday
I cycled to work and back. I did an hour of weight training.
Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol
Wednesday
I cycled to work and back. I did an hour of weight training.
Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol
Thursday
I cycled in to work. I did some fantastic cricket umpiring with the sports group and bowled a couple of overs (no wickets this time!) After work, I had to collect the race numbers for the lads in preparation for the Mad March Hare on Sunday.This meant riding to Kings Heath to collect the rider packs from Gorilla Cafe on Drayton Road. I was riding my enormously heavy mountain bike and it was pouring down with rain. The chaps at the cafe were very nice and even offered me a free beer while I waited (I declined of course - training!) I then struggled home in rush hour traffic in the rain. I was completely soaked when I got home. I then got stuck into an hour of weight training.
In the March Hare goodie bag, along with my race number, I found some hand warmers, a sticker, an old medal from 5 years ago (!?), Vaseline, anti-chafe cream, and out-of-date coffee.
Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol
Friday
We drove into work today. Back at home, I took Lucy, Dodgy and Martha to the leisure centre where they went off to do different things, and I went to the dojo. Sensei Ronnie was in charge and he worked us on higher-grade combinations as well as spending some valuable time going over Hangetsu.
Home for two huge bowls of beef chilli before collecting Lucy and Dodgy at the train station.
I was in bed by 11!
Karate, no junkfood, no alcohol.
Saturday
I made myself get up at 6. I will have to get up much earlier tomorrow. It was a bright, sunny, windy day. After muesli for breakfast, I went along to Halfords for brake pads and over shoes and then to Lidl for beer!
I worked on the bike in the sunshine - I degreased the transmission, re-lubed it and then set the new brake pads. After this it was time for second breakfast - bacon and eggs!
I walked the dogs in the park and got talking to a older chap whose dog wasn't very well. He was thinking about having his dog put to sleep and it was hard for him to talk about it. We chatted for the entire walk and it turns out he got to brown belt in Karate! He likes football but finds test cricket boring. I hope I get to talk to him again and I hope his dog gets better.
Home for fishcakes for lunch.
Ironing followed by Karate. I was the instructor in charge and we did some fast-paced basics followed by Tekki Shodan with some partner drills after that. We finished with some pad work.
Back at home, I had an early dinner of two bowlfuls of beef chilli.
The weather report for the MMH is looking astonishingly bad: 90% chance of rain all morning with winds of up to 13mph. 70 miles with 5000ft of climbing in those conditions is rather daunting. I hope I can sleep tonight!
Karate,no junkfood, no alcohol
Sunday
I slept fine! Up at 5:45 (which, because of the clocks going forward this morning for BST, felt like 4:45.) The forecast was still atrocious so I cycled up to Jonnie's place wearing three tops under my rain jacket, two pairs of tights, overshoes, a scarf, thick hat, and two pairs of gloves with hand warmers. It was raining.
As always, Roger and James were there before me. We set off in our small convoy to the car park. The chaps set about putting their race numbers on while I stayed in the warm of Jonnie's car! At the start, Roger and I discussed taking some selfies but decided the fuss of taking off two pairs of gloves to work the camera simply wasn't worth it. I regret this now because we didn't actually take any snaps during the whole day.
We set off into the rain. James had studied the route and warned us about steep gravely descents in the rain early on. This put me in a cautious frame of mind and my descending, which is normally bad, was awful. Of course, every time the lads streaked ahead on the descents, I had to work harder to catch up with them afterwards. It soon took its toll!
Amazingly, the rain didn't last very long and the roads began to dry out. I still found I was overly cautious on the downhills and was frustrated with myself at the bottom of each one - I could have gone a lot faster.
As always, I enjoyed the climbs. My favourite was the Kinver climb past the gun club. I find I can keep a steady pace up a long climb and enjoy sailing past all the people that whizzed past me on the descents. It was a busy climb and I got separated from the lads early on. I tried to wait at a sensible average pace, but still enjoyed myself.
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| A picture I stole from the photographer's website. It shows one of the rare moments on Sunday when I seem to be enjoying myself. |
The big problem of the day was my back brake. I thought the pads were okay when I checked them yesterday, but they wore through extremely quickly today. They were worn to the point where they started to eat into the rear wheel. The wheel has been clicking and grinding away for months now. I decided that today would be its final ride. I had to keep using the brake although I tried to rely on the front as much as possible. To top it all, the back brake made a hideous grinding noise that let every rider in earshot know that I was killing my back wheel!
Eventually, we got to the feed station. There was a disaster when James and I got to the front of the queue: they ran out of boiled water! We stood around for about 5 minutes until we were told it would be a while yet and to come back later for coffee. By this time, Jonnie had scoffed his sandwich and was dispatching a flapjack or similar. I started in on a bag of nuts and a banana but soon found that it was time to go... I felt okay at the time, but this would spell disaster later on.
The rest of the day was spent negotiating a few more climbs until we found ourselves on a long flat section. Unfortunately, I had to stop for a few minutes because of cramp in my left foot. We got to the last big climb of the day - The Holloway. This 7.4% climb, after 65 miles of riding, was enough to splinter our little group immediately. Each man entered his own private world of suffering as he did battle with gravity armed only with his aching limbs and his determination. I did my best to settle into the pain and turned the pedals. My largest rear sprocket is a 25, which doesn't normally bother me, but today I would have benefited from a larger ratio with which to tackle this hill! At the top, stationary riders were strewn across the road eating jelly babies. I got a little frustrated at the hold up and grumpily refused the offer of the sugary sweets...A decision that would cost me dearly in a few minutes time.
After the Storrage descent, James and I decided to wait at the bottom for Roger and Jonnie to join us. We didn't have to wait long until we were off on the final 4 miles.
And this is when the Man with the Hammer struck.
The Hunger Knock, or the dreaded 'bonk' is where a cyclist (or endurance athlete) simply runs out of energy. I hadn't eaten enough to fuel myself to the end of the ride. As I tried to set off with the lads for the final 4 miles I suddenly, very suddenly, found it almost impossible to lift up my head. The hunger pains in my stomach were becoming nauseating, and my breathing was now ragged gasps, last experienced when I was recovering from COVID for the first time. The legs were the worst - they felt like empty alien things, belonging to someone else. I found it incredulous that, after 3 months of solid training, I had felt relatively strong for 66 miles, to then almost collapse in the last 4. By mile 68, I was seriously, SERIOUSLY, considering pulling over to sit in a hedge and eat whatever I had left in my back pockets. With only 2 miles to go the lads were straining at the leash to get over the finish line, whereas I could barely get the bike above 10mph. It was at this point where I had to use my secret weapon - my father died 8 years ago on this date, the 26th of March. I made myself imagine what he went through that day and it immediately made me realise how insignificant my sufferings on the bike really were! It was then quite easy to find the mental strength to keep going. And as always, we looked after each other - Roger and James took it in turns to nurse me to the finish line.
As soon as we stopped, I started to shake. My arms and legs had pins and needles, my hands were numb, and it was only sheer force of will that enabled me to get my phone out of my back pocket to stop Strava. Unable to zip my jacket back up, unable to stop shaking, unable to speak, I wobbled off towards Jonnie's car, hoping that the lads would follow me. Of course they did.
Jonnie drove me home while I munched a chocolate brownie and sipped the last of my water. I already felt ten times better before I walked through the front door.
The rest of the day was given over to debauchery - beers, homemade curry and puddings! My neighbour Luke came and joined me to take over when Jonnie and the chaps went home!
In summary - this was the third longest March Hare we have ever ridden and certainly the one with the most climbing. There was 2000ft more climbing compared to the days when the Hare went to the Cotswolds! It was one of the hardest rides I've done, maybe even the hardest. My three riding companions out rode me easily, with Roger the fastest man in his age category! No doubt, we will ride the MMH again, but now even getting back on a bicycle seems like something I may not do for a while...
Cycling: 70.1 miles with 5644ft of climbing, junkfood, loads of beer
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