It's been a few weeks of training and things are starting to get moving. Since coming back from Tiree, I've bought my own bike (a rather lovely Specialized mountain bike) and have been commuting to work for 2 weeks now. My speed is starting to pick up - I'm usually 10+ mph if I make the effort and I have pedalled up to 14mph on a nice long straight stretch - not sure how long I could keep that up for though... I'm gaining confidence in traffic by working on the general principle that I can't trust motorists actions and erring on the side of caution in every situation - probably slows down my journey sometimes but I'd rather get there a little slower but in one piece! I've been up the canal path a couple of times which can be very pretty when you get away from the city centre - I had to slow down for a heron the other day! Hoping to make it to Worcester (30 miles) at some point in the next few months - I know there will be a good meal waiting for me at the other end as I have friends whose back garden backs on the Worcester end of the Worcester-Birmingham canal.
In other, non-cycling news, I've joined Slimming World, as I decided I need to train myself with some new healthy eating habits to get rid of the excess weight. 2 weeks in and I've lost 6lb so something is obviously working. I actually got the Slimmer of the Week award last week and won myself a big bag of low-fat goodies as a reward. I've also joined a new gym, Bannatyne's, and had my induction there on Saturday. I've got a full cardio programme to follow for the next 3 weeks and then I'll have a review. They seem very helpful and a lot more proactive than Virgin was, though obviously I'm more motivated as well. They've also offered to help with publicity and fundraising via their PR department so you might be seeing me in the papers...
Today was a long day, with early morning gym session, cycle to work, full days work, and then cycle home. I was feeling rather lacking in energy by the time I reached the final hill, but I made it home. The real killer will be when I start teaching again in a few weeks, it's a good thing I like to be busy!
I don't have any major short-term goals at the moment, as I'm really working on basic fitness, but I'd like to be able to join Beacon Roads Cycling Club for their Intro Ride by February 2011 (i.e. one year before Kenya) and work up to their B Run over the few months following - I don't think the A Run (15-17 mph) is a realistic goal on a mountain bike and I'm not really going for speed anyway, endurance is the key. Even longer term, I'm looking at doing a Coast 2 Coast ride or similar as a 'warm-up' sometime in the second half of next year.
But for now, it's just the daily slog, trying to up my general fitness, lose weight and gradually build up speed and distance on the bike.
Please visit my fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/mimcycleskenya or check back to this page regularly for other events which will be going on over the next 18 months.
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