Saturday was a glorious sunny June day and I had Blenheim Triathlon start waiting for me at 11am.

Jonny Bellwood had put together 3 teams to take part in the ’sprint’ triathlon with a total of 121 teams taking part in our category. I was very pleased to be doing the cycling and avoiding the swim in the Blenheim lake. The cycle course was 3 laps of the roads around the estate with a couple of hills thrown in for good measure in stunning surroundings.

Blenheim Palace Coutyard became the transition area for the Triathlon

Tom in action on the bike

The Winning Team / All 3 Bellwood teams

Thanks to all the support from Team Bellwood, Alex, Nicko, Ollie, Penny, Sasha and Luke it was great to have you there cheering me on.

Then joined Ollie for the 40 mile cycle back to Newbury

Many thanks to Jonny for organising a great day - same again next year….

Triathlon distance: 12.4 miles (20km)
Total Teams: 121
Team placing: 23rd
Tom Cycle Ranking: 16th
Average speed: 21.6mph
Time : 34min 54sec

Well, Georgie and I had good 3 days of cycling back to back in a mixture of gorgeous weather through to wind and rain.

Saturday we clocked up 152km (95miles) in the glorious sun cycling on some new roads we had never been on. Certainly a lot more hilly and interesting than normal. It was a HOT day with temps reaching 32 degrees. We managed to average 28kph (18mph) and have a maximum speed of 59kph

Sunday, the weather turned so we did a morning and late afternoon ride. We were chased home by thunder, lightening and rain! By the time we reached our garage door the heavens opened and all hell broke loose as the storms carried on late into the night. We managed a combined 65km (35miles)

Monday, the weather was cold, wet and windy… so naturally we got on the bikes to do a short run only to realise it turned into a longer run by my poor map reading (sorry Georgie). Also made a big mistake heading outwards with the wind behind us as we had the wind + rain in our faces for the return part of our journey. To add insult to injury the storms revisited us all over again as they chased us home. Really hope we don’t have bad weather on our journey! Anyhow we covered 88km (55miles), which was superb given the conditions.

- Bottles of water consumed = 12
- Bananas consumed = 6
- Soft squishy melted Mars Bars eaten = 2
- Flies eaten = lost count!
- Sore butt rating out of 10 = 8
- Punctures = 0

All in all a good weekends cycling…

Might as well read Target: missed, to be honest. Poor weather meant I had to abort my quest to ride up Snowdon, but instead I got turfed out of the car at Wrexham as we drove up to North Wales on Saturday morning, and cycled across to Snowdonia.

First challenge the Clwydian mountain range - not too bad on the way up (10-13% gradient), hit 44mph on the way down. On the bit of road you can just see on the left in fact - steeper downhill than it looks. Then on across country via Ruthin and Denbigh.

Snowdonia finally hove into view (see above), but I completely underestimated the final challenge. Pen’s Mum lives up a singletrack lane that brings new meaning to the word steep. It makes Streatley Hill seem like a walk in the park. A 200 metre (600 foot) vertical climb in about a mile. Here’s the signpost…

I’ve previously failed to cycle up there on my mountain bike because the front wheel wouldn’t stay on the ground because it’s so steep. This time I made it, but it nearly broke me. Even in bottom gear it was all I could do to simply stand up and crank each pedal. Pen said I was grey when I got to the house…

End result was 1,372 metres of vertical in just 43 miles at an average of 15.9mph

Tom and James picked the perfect weekend to have a break from training. They were on Al Keiron’s stag do in Bristol on what must have been one of the wettest weekends of the year.

I really wanted to try to clock up 100 miles on the bike this weekend, but being a lily-livered so-and-so couldn’t persuade myself to get up at 6am on a Sunday morning when the raindrops were dancing a fandango on the roof. However, the clouds broke up briefly on Sunday evening so I got out for a 45-miler over around Pangbourne and Goring - including the infamous Streatley Hill.

More importantly James swung by on his dash back to Heathrow to pick up his and Georgie’s new bikes - fresh in their boxes from Banjo Cycles.

Ollie

With a Bank Holiday weekend ahead of me I set myself a 150 mile target and diligently set about getting the milage racked up.

Friday night with a stunning ride on the mountain bike,
Saturday was 58 miles of great road and sunshine - see previous blog.
Sunday another good ride but the pace was a bit slower (rode with my father…..)

Then it all turned sour - Monday what a misable day - The forcast was a bit like this:

Without doubt the worst 35 miles of my life - Set out at 8am in light drizzle with 2 spare inners and a pump as normal (not had any punctures on the road bike to date) - By mile 5 that light drizzle was heavy rain that did not stop, it only got worse.
Puncture Number 1 - picked up at the furthest point from home stopping to change it in the rain
Puncture Number 2 - 10 mins after the first another delightful stop in the rain
Puncture Number 3 - Half a mile from home - remember only had 2 spares so trudged home sodden fed up and more than a little grumpy.

If we have 10 days of rain on our trip it will not be fun - was a good ‘training’ ride but currently perfecting my sun dance to ensure brighter weather come 17th June……

Total for the weekend was 154 miles - not all of them pleasant!

Had quite an adventure over the bank holiday weekend. Not only did we have a practice with the VW California camper van that Pen’s driving (ably assisted by Sasha and Luke) as our support vehicle, but I had a cracking cycle on Saturday.

Caught the train from Andover to Yeovil (which I made by the skin of my teeth), then hopped on the road bike to pedal the rest of the way to our campsite at Seaton down on the Devon coast. On the way I dropped in at Ariel, a tiny sports car company to have a quick catch up with owner Simon Saunders who I haven’t seen for ages. If anyone’s interested in spending a morning down there and test driving an Atom, then he’ll gladly do that in return for a donation to cycle4charity. Trust me, it’s worth it!

The only other notable thing about the ride was the amount of climbing involved. Over 1,100 metres of vertical in just 44 miles.

Flies swallowed: 1
Times I had to resort to the map (read getting lost): 3
Buses that failed to overtake me up a hill: 1
Angry bus drivers as a result of the above: 1
Cycle tan line: 0/10

If can be hard to force yourself out training when it is the last thing on your mind after a day at work. However there are some moments that make it all worth while - Tonight I tackled Combe Down which comprises of a 120m vertical climb in little over haf a mile, but the view from the top was ample reward and the worries of the day were left behind (as I concentrated on breathing in an attempt to get my breath back!)

Cracking Sunday in the country for Tom and I. We set out not really sure about how far we’d cover - just a plan to head for the Cotswolds and have a pub lunch on a river bank somewhere. Pedalled up the Lambourn valley into a constant headwind - we had a good go at drafting behind each other which was really effective but neither of us was exactly enamoured of the view we had to tolerate - brother’s buttocks in tight lycra.

Eventually made it to the Trout Inn in Lechlade, met up with our cousin Edward, but with an hour long wait for lunch we had to forego the pub grub our bellys had been crying out for and find a supermarket. Ended up scoffing flapjacks in a layby. Not so idyllic.

Pressed on South to Wantage, picking up a handy tailwind, then a big 160-metre vertical climb up from there, then pretty much downhill for the next 12 miles home - speed rarely dropped below 25mph.

End result: 73.3 miles (Ollie’s longest ride ever) at an average of 17.4mph (very happy with that), max speed of 46.9mph (particularly chuffed with that!)

Gags about Ollie’s lack of thatch while passing a thatched barn: 1
Flies swallowed: Tom 2, Ollie 0
Speed limits broken: 1 (’nuf said)

Well back on the bikes and an early start for 130km on Saturday, down on our usual route to Starnberg and an extra loop on the bottom of the lake to give us some decent hills to climb and stunning scenery. Scorching hot and plenty of flying bugs in our path!! Sore legs at the end, a little reminder of our holiday time last week! But still energy and enjoying the great weather on our way!

Sunday was a little more leisurely, down the Isar River, and 40 km, looking forward to getting our road bikes this week and doing some longer distance at the weekend… 160km next Sunday is planned! Will keep you all updated!!

Plenty of warm weather forecast so many more miles on the bike this week and plenty of sun cream!!

OK, so I didn’t manage to get close to matching Tom’s 100-mile ride over Easter - but I bet I had more fun on my bike. Trouble is, it wasn’t the road bike…

We spent Easter with Pen’s Mum in North Wales and she lives right on the doorstep of the Snowdonia National Park, home to some of the best trail centres around. So on Good Friday I rode the Penmachno loop, and on Saturday I did the Marin Trail above Betws-y-coed.

Both are an absolute blast. It was the first time I’d ridden Penmachno
and it’s a bit trickier than the Marin with a couple of sections that seem to have been designed to catch you out. I fell off twice…

But great weather meant both were dry and there were loads of other riders around enjoying the trails, which is good to see. I do enjoy my road bike, but hammering along twisty singletrack just can’t be beat. Just a shame I was riding them both alone - the only thing that could have topped it is to be out there with a load of friends. Anyone up for an excursion in late May? I’m also planning an assault on Snowdon…

Ollie