Day 1 Bristol - Bordeaux
Day 2 St Malo - Nantes
Day 3 Nantes - Rochefort
Day 4 Rochefort - Bordeaux (before intended group ride)
Training ride today 03 April 2011 was the Bath 100 where you have a choice of 100km or 100 miles needless to say we did go for the mile option, although I did have a couple of mates doing the 100km ride. It was the first time I have taken part in such an event and I knew from the profile this was going to be tougher than last week and the start was delayed due to fog at the Lansdown Race Course where it was starting. From the very beginning it was a taste of the whole ride with steep descents followed what seemed like steeper climbs, King Alfred's Tower will remain in my memory until next year! I met some really nice people on the ride and it does help to ride with those who are going at the same pace. The organisation and sign posting was excellent and if you live in the Bristol Bath area and you want a challenging ride this is the ride for you. See the route below as usual.
Ride 03 April 2011 Bath 100
Training ride today 27 Mar 2011 was alone because the other riders in my group were riding with the PROPS riders as some of them missed the last ride we did. I wanted to try a tougher ride so decided to ride the Devizes Bath ride but this time the other way round. The weather was good and I even managed to get the rain jacket off for the second half of the ride, this was always going to be tough as I knew that I would be riding UP Lansdown Road which I knew would be hard as I have ridden down it. It did live up to expectations and when you have done 78 miles it is a real test but I was sure it would have helped next weekend for the Bath 100.
Route 27 Mar 2011
Training ride today 18 Mar 2011 was on a Saturday as I am off to Stamford Bridge tomorrow for the game against Man City. Started as a group of 6 but did end up doing most of the route with Bob and we started with an aim of 70 + miles and did 82 in the end with some extra added to the route planned. Bob has been on holiday for the last two weeks and got cramp so speed dropped off in the end of the ride. I was out last night and thought I would suffer more than I did however 2 hour spinning session in the morning not sure how that will go. Took the Infinito out today with new shoes and had to adjust the cleats a couple of times, but generally although we had to slow down because Bob got cramp enjoyed the ride and my fitness are really better now. See the route below.
Route 18 Mar 2011
Training ride today 13 Mar 2011 was planned that we would join some of the other PROPS riders who were meeting in Bristol (Horfield) at 10.00. Started off from Chipping Sodbury and one rider got a puncture so we got delayed getting to Bristol, but as we leave early we still managed to get there on time. We all left the Welly and with a larger group the time was obviously going to be slower than we are used to with the normal weekend rides. I had resigned myself that this would be a slow 40 mile trip but with three punctures to riders and some very slow riders it did take some time. On the road back to Bristol the Yate riders split away and we did a loop from where we had been. I then joined one other rider to Bradley Stoke just to increase my personal mileage and finished with 62 miles showing on the Garmin. It was an easy ride but at least we still got the miles in, we are training next Saturday and I hope to add a couple of pictures, of the Yate riders.
Route 13 Mar 2011
Training ride today 06 Mar 2011 was a route that I have done before, but other riders haven't, so we decided that we would do the route that would take through Wooten Under Edge, Tetbury, Mamlsbury, Lyneham, Chippenham and the home to Yate. When we climbed out of Wooten I was challenged to go back down which I did, but after going a mile back down never saw the rest of the group for the rest of the day. I think we ended up on two different roads heading towards Wooten Bassett and therefore never got back together. It was nice to finally have the wind with me on the final leg, and made the last few miles more enjoyable than it has been for the past few weeks. I did realise that it is not as much fun riding alone when we started as a group, but there were loads of cyclists in the area as there was a time trail event in the opposite direction around Wooten Bassett and Lyneham. I have done this ride before and it was 66m but today with some turning back I covered 71m so all in all good training for the June PROPS ride. The route is below as normal.
Route 06 Mar 2011
Trained today 24 Feb 2011 as I am visiting my parents over the weekend and wanted to make sure that I kept the training up. I planned the route via Map My Run which told me it would be an 82 mile ride, unfortunately I did not notice it took a short cut until I got back having ridden 88 miles. The route was always going to be tough because I wanted to try the general route of the Bath 100 which follows this route generally, it is very hilly and for the event it will mean a climb into the Lansdown area. A good day with very little wind to start with but it did pick up for the last 12 miles into my face which made the finish tough also seemed to run out of energy, when we go out as a group we often stop so will be the chance to refuel with food. I am pleased that I finished just a shame it took so long to get the last few miles completed.
Route 24 Feb 2011
Training today 20 Feb 2011 was dry at least, Bob picked the route over to Wales Chepstow and local loop, there were 8 of us today so was great to get some time in with newer riders. We finished at about 52 miles I then followed a local route just to keep the mileage up. I also had some problems with the Garmin with so many bikes think it picked up interference from sensors kept auto pausing. Still route shown below.
Route 20 Feb 2011
Training today 13 Feb 2011 was always going to be a hard ride the original route was to be in the Bath area but with the wind and rain we turned back towards Yate. I did continue alone from about 40 miles where I headed for Tetbury and then when in Wooten Under Edge back home all into the wind. Some tough hills on this route so we had to work hard up some of the hills, but I have got into the habit now of turning back down to pick up the slow riders to encourage them up the hill.
Route 13 Feb 2011
Training today 5 Feb 2011 was tough the wind was strong at around 18+ mph and this ride was solo as I am busy tomorrow and can't train with the others. I got a chance to stop in Lyneham for some brunch with Carol (wife who drove there) and Nicola (daughter who works nearby). The climb out of Wooten Under Edge is always hard work, and the ride to Tetbury from this direction downhill incline. This ride was made even tougher by the fact that the wind was from the Southwest which meant that it was all into wind on the way back which really made me increase the effort.
Route 5 Feb 2011
Training route today 30 Jan 2011 again it states 56 mph max, but not real. The route was a good ride off the major roads and so we did not have to fight with traffic only the odd horse, we did go down the wrong road at one point but thanks to modern GPS from Garmin (not mine) we found our way back on the route that had been almost planned. I found the going easy today didn't push myself these trips at the moment are purely for getting some miles in the legs and I have really enjoyed the last two rides despite the cold weather -1 C today.
Route 30 Jan 2011
Training route from 23 Jan 2011 69 max false speed we had been in coffee shop
so guess some sort of interference
Garmin Player of route
There is a Spinnathon @The Mall Cribbs Causeway Bristol.
http://www.propsforward.org/news/post/mall-spinnathon-January-8-9th/
Please support us if you live in Bristol over this weekend.
I will use this page to add details of the training and ride for the charity ride from Bristol to Bordeaux the route is about 470 miles and should be completed in 4 days
Link to Poster For Charity Ride 2011
Link to the charity website PROPS
Link for website Pedal For PROPS
