Peters Charity Bike Ride 2008 You can sponsor me HERE You can send a message HERE
Jump to the latest instalment
1st March 2008. T minus 90 days and counting Yes, I know, I'm mad. A 100 mile bike ride in 2 days for me, Peter Reynolds, whose only regular form of exercise is to get up in the morning... I was asked by Richard Price if i'd like to join him and a group of friends to cycle the length of the Trent and Mersey canal in May 2008. I happily agreed without thinking it through. At least, I thought, a canal tow path means no hills, except perhaps around locks. At the time of writing, we are just approaching Mum's birthday, she would have been 71 on March 5th, but she died after a long battle with cancer on 21st March 2007. I had the idea almost immediately to put the two subjects together, and dedicate my ride to her memory and try to raise funds for Cancer Research. I'm using the JustGiving website which allows sponsors to pay via the internet with the funds going directly to the chosen charity on a weekly basis. I initially settled on £250; not wanting to be greedy or hound people into giving, but the generosity of my colleagues knows no bounds and I passed this target within a few days. My new aim is to raise £500, i'm up to £375 at the time of writing. I also collected my bike today. It's been in 'hospital' at Perry's Cycles in Wellington 'being serviced'. I knew it was a bit worn out, having been purchased very cheaply on Ebay about 4 years earlier, though I was surprised to get virtually a new bike back ! The bill : 2 x new tyres 2 x new 'sludge' inner tubes 2 x new pedals Wheel bearings New brake pads Seat bracket Pannier rack Rack bag Mud guards Service Safety helmet Various tools and spares for the journey Total : £127. Add this to some waterproof clothing and cycling gloves from dear old Tesco a few days earlier and the ride has so far set me back £145. More to come i'm sure ! If you would like to sponsor me, please visit www.justgiving.com/peterreynolds_Eds. I cycled my bike back from Wellington to home, around 5 or 6 miles. It didn't take too long, but boy I could really feel it ! The big worry has been sitting in the saddle for 100 miles, but I think attention now moves to my knees which felt very sore. Must be an age thing although the effect of 20 years behind an office desk and the weight increasing over time is more likely. I starting dieting at the end of November last year. I peaked just short of 17st, and today i'm just 15st 7 with a BMI of 26.  My clothes don't fit any more. My target weight is 14st 7lb for the start of the ride. I'm shedding weight easily and eating very heathily thanks to Tesco Diets. (note 2 mentions of Tesco so far, seek commission payment !) My real cycle training starts on Monday night (3rd) There are four sessions per week. I'm using a book called 'Cycling for Fitness' which I bought in Dublin a couple of years ago. I'll check in after each session ! This has nothing to do with cycling, but this Greater Spotted Woodpecker is a regular colourful visitor to our garden. Heather and I are members of the RSPB. 4th March 2008. T minus 87 days and counting First training ride at 7am this morning - cold and frosty. Managed 30 minutes as per the plan - but the knees oh the knees ... Heart rate reached over 150bpm at one point. (Oh add £29 heart monitor to the bill making £174 so far). They say that fitness is demonstrated by speed of recovery. Well I got home, made breakfast, sat down ate it and afterwards I was still running at 104. So I guess I have a lot to do ... Thanks to my new sponsors John, Kathryn and Robin Ogleby from the London Supporters Club. 6th March 2008. T minus 85 days and counting I've posted a couple of links here to a map of the route, well the first few miles anyway. I'll add a bit more every few days. The first link shows the start point by the long tunnel near Preston Brook, just to the east of Runcorn. The River Mersey would probably just creep into the top left corner of the page if the text wasn't there. The route follows the red line to the South East into the 2nd image. Not much to see on these two pages, but the next few to follow possess a few more landmarks. The first bit. Likely to still be confident and smiling at this point. Click image for full size. Over the page ... I must give thanks today to my new sponnsors (since last time), they are Chris Palmer, 'SkyBlue87' from the Coventry City Supporters Club, and Lauren, my Stepdaughter who firmly believes this will lead to flexibility with ongoing board payments ! 8th March 2008. T minus 83 days and counting Six more miles. Not a huge distance but Rome wasn't built in a day. I rode to the 'mother-in-law's' to put up half-a-dozen bird boxes in the back garden. They are in the enviable position of having dozens of mature trees in their extensive garden. We have been trying to attract birds to our own garden for weeks at home, and within 24 hours we get a call to say two of the boxes in her garden have residents ! 9th March 2008. T minus 82 days and counting Wonders never cease. Two rides in two days and really starting to enjoy my re-discovered youth'; hell I might even clean the bike this week ! Knees still a concern ! Heather took the dog for a walk in Town Park with a 30 minute head start and I went and found her at-a-pace. Only three more miles today but it is habit-forming. Town Park is one of Telford's best secrets. We can 'almost' go from our house to Telford Town Centre, about 3 miles, without crossing a road. 12th March 2008. T minus 79 days and counting The effects of exercise shouldn't be underestimated. I've shed another 5lbs this week and now stand at 15st 2lb which is 25lbs down overall. Working remotely has affected my ability to get on my bike this week, so i'll be checking the batteries in my lights and heading out before the sun rises. My original fund raising target was a modest £250. That figure came and went within days, so I doubled up to £500. A £10 donation today from Kathy Coppin has got us there, so after careful thought i've set a new target of £750, with a number of promised donations set to be made. Thanks to everyone for your amazing support, including recent sponsors Andrea Cross (good luck on maternity leave!), Heather Martin and Dave Melia on Tyneside, and Kathy Coppin who raised the donation total to £500 today. 14th March 2008. T minus 77 days and counting One of those days. A meagre 1.75 miles and i'd had enough. Some days it's just doesn't feel right ... and the day got worse. A totally crap day at work - if it was going to go wrong, it did. I've decided I need some sort of dartboard on the desk where I can write the name of 'target of the day' onto the bulls-eye. 15th March 2008. T minus 76 days and counting Hill Sprints. Hadn't heard of this before Kathy at work mentioned it. Did an internet search and found loads of stuff. It's about running up a short hill as fast as possible, before jogging or walking back down allowing the body to recover, then repeating. Guideline from Kathy was 6-9 repetitions; well I managed 4 on a steep 30 metre incline. Will try more later next week ! 16th March 2008. T minus 75 days and counting After spending the morning stripping wallpaper in the living room in preparation for the plasterers visit on Monday, I managed to cycle nearly 24 miles - two laps of Lake Vyrnwy in West Wales today accompanied by Richard. It hurts already, I could barely stand after the 2nd lap ! A hot bath helped (not administered by Richard I hasten to add !) After the first 12 miles we took a breather and felt ready to go again. I know now that I can go the full distance with the right training. The 24 miles took around 2 hours which bodes well for 'the biggy'. The photo below is of me in front of the Lake Vrynwy dam around 3pm on Sunday, at the end of lap 1. I receiving an overwhelming sponsorship donation today from Heather's Mum and Dad. They are always generous, but £100 is quite something. Thank you very much, it means a lot. I'm also very grateful to my other recent sponsors Lisa Howells and Stuart Nicholls. Thanks guys. 17th March 2008. T minus 74 days and counting Two more bits of the route for you to explore. Click the thumbnails below for parts 3 and 4.     This is part 3 on the approach to Northwich. The section incorporates the well known 'Anderton Lift' built in 1875 by Leader Williams and connects the Trent and Mersey with the Weaver Nagivation 50ft below. Part 4 takes us past Northwich and on towards Middlewich 'which' will feature next time. 18th March 2008. T minus 73 days and counting Went swimming with Lauren tonight. Managed about 30 minutes - not too strenuous; but pleased to report no lasting effects after the weekend bike ride marathon. Back on bike or hill sprints tomorrow. 23rd March 2008. T minus 68 days and counting Didn't manage to do much on the bike over Easter weekend. Our work on the living room refurbishment is quite time consuming. Managed about 5 miles Saturday morning though. Only planned 3 but went off down a cycle track and became disoriented; rejoined a main road, went the wrong way down a hill before I realised where I was ! 24th March 2008. T minus 67 days and counting Bought a book called 'Cycle Rides in Shropshire'. There are 20 routes around the County with varying levels of difficulty. I'm going to try and tackle them in order at weekends. The first is around Oswestry totalling 23.3 miles. Got some new sponsors ! Thanks to Diane Hughes at EDS, Andy Clark a great friend who works for Zurich (insurance) in Swindon, and my masseuse (yes I really have a masseuse) - Sarah Jones who runs 'Serenity' in Bridgnorth. 31st March 2008. T minus 60 days and counting Good news, bad news. The bad first. Exercise regime has been almost none existent this week - if you discount laying wood floors, painting and decorating. The house and garage are in chaos due to D.I.Y. activity. Bike buried somewhere beneath skirting board offcuts and old carpet. Good news, i've reached my £750 target. I will raise it one more time to the magical £1000; with the belief that I can collect some money on the day of the event. A big thank you to Jon Strange and John Bradbury (next door!) for some very generous donations; plus £50 from Dad, which I put in for him after he bought a band-saw for me from Aldi ! It made the floor laying a breeze !; though not sure why it still took four hours though meaning I missed Coventry beating Plymouth on Saturday afternoon. They only win when I stay at home ... 2nd April 2008. T minus 58 days and counting Did some hill sprints last night. Had a bit of trouble. Took Josie, our 8 month old labrador who thought it was a great game. She'd wander off into the distance, spot me scrambling up a hill, dash over and jump on me before i'd get to the top. Still, managed eight repetitions. I've also lost some more weight. I'm now 15st 0lb. About seven pounds to go to reach my goal. Bike still buried under decorating materials. Will get on it this weekend. Last weeks planned long ride around Oswestry was cancelled due to the weather. 8th April 2008. T minus 52 days and counting Not much to report really but thought it was time I checked in. The D.I.Y. stuff nears a close and i'll have more time to get out and about. Exercise this coming weekend will be in the form of garden renovation. Simon (my brother) runs a garden company and we'll be playing with giant tonka toys (aka diggers !) in our back yard. Apparently I have a ride-on wheelbarrow to drive. I've had a t-shirt printed with a fundraising message which amounts to 'stop me and sponsor me' to ride on the day. I hope to raise the rest of the money this way. At the moment that looks like £2.50 a mile ! 9th April 2008. T minus 65 days and counting Date reset ! Due to a clash the bike ride has gone back a fortnight to 14th June. Funds update - back down to £740 as a promised off-line payment hasn't materialised. 28th April 2008. T minus 46 days and counting Well I have been slipping lately, but with the living room and dining room now fully decorated i'm back on two wheels - starting tonight ! You can send a message HERE