Active Weekend

Why is the weather mocking me so much, I need to be outside on a day like today.  I have had such an active weekend that I want to be out there again.

I woke up on Saturday and went out for a massive walk, I reckon it was about 10 miles, it was a beautiful cloudless day.  With the Volcanic ash of doom about there were no planes, so in some parts it was incredibly silent, but walking through the fields was nice.

H came round later on Saturday afternoon after work and after much deliberation we decided that we would go to the pub, so we went to the Ship at Langstone, and sat by the sea drinking a nice pint of Fullers Discovery, which I do like.

Reflection from Hayling Bridge

On Sunday we got our bikes out after we had decided that we were going to  ride to Hayling Island.  We left from mine and cycled down to Farlington before heading along the marshes to Langstone.  We crossed the bridge and headed up the old Hayling Billy Railway line, which was closed due to the Beeching railway reforms and is now used by vast amounts of Walkers, Cyclists and Horse Riders.  Once we had reached he end we decided to ride along to the Ferryboat Inn and have a pint in the sun, which was lovely, before riding back.

This is about a 20 mile round trip (I just Google mapped it, and its not far off as the cycle path runs down by the road).  I am incredibly impressed as before last week H hadn’t been on a bike for over 10 years.  The padded shorts she has purchased are obviously working.

Later on Sunday afternoon we went and had dinner sat in my parents back garden, which was lovely and warm.  The rubbish thing is I am wishing the week away, because I want it to be next weekend now so that I can do this sort of thing again.

Signposts wanted.

I left home at 9.30 this morning with Rich to go on a fairly long road ride, we headed out past Langstone and then hit the beach path towards Emsworth.  From here, we headed down the South Coast Cycle Path, which is posibly the worst signposted route ever, we swiftly left this, as we had no idea where it went and headed around Chichester Harbour, which is bigger than I thought and kept going, so we did about 6 miles off roading before hiting the road to Fishbounre and then onto Dell Quay, where we had a well deserved pint. We would have eaten, but as this is a nice pub and restaurant the food was far too expensive for us.

The way back proved to be a struggle as all the way there was a headwind and roads that seemed to be uphill on the way out also seemed to be uphill on the way back.  To break this up we headed to the Beefeater for 2 courses for £7.99.  Now I am not saying that Steak and Apple Crumble are the best energy food, but it did the trick and we finished our ride just after 3 pm.

40 miles today and feeling good.

OK Forestry Commission, Where’d It Go.

I was out on the bike again today (22miles, get in) and I took the hard slog up Farlington Avenue and then down to Hundred Acres Woods where I was going to pick up the mountain bike trail, but all of the paths were overgrown and all of the signs had been taken away.  To say that this was a little dissappointing is an understatement, so I took a few paths and ended up in a sand pit, after this I decided to come home.

Bring back the path please, so that I can save my frustration.  On the plus side, I did 22 miles and I feel fine, I could do with getting a new saddle though.

Getting Fitter

I have been out on the bike again, and I am getting fitter, I believe anyway.  The last time I went out, my eyes nearly exploded and my lungs almost collapsed but today I was out and felt great, the steroids appear to be working now so my lungs don’t hurt, but I managed the course at QECP twice.  OK, the course isn’t very long but it is very hilly and the uphills have been the bain of my life for my lungs.  Still I think that it is a good sign.

The 2nd lap was the most fun that I have had on a bike for a long while and I caught some great air

Something good is coming out of this anyway.

Exercising the Demons

I am trying to use this time off of work to try and get a bit fit.  Early in the year I had a chest infection and couldn’t get out on the bike for a while.  So now I have started Mountain Biking again, I took myself up to Queen Elizabeth Country Park for a bit of off roading.  As always I made the mistake of taking the first hill far too quickly, and needed a bit of a sit down at the top.  This has nothing to do with my legs, they are fine, but my lungs just seem to scream in pain when I breathe in too deeply, back onto the steroid inhaler me-thinks.

I got over this inconvenience and decided that I know the pace that I normally ride at, I should cut some speed off of this, and so I didn’t have too many stops after that.  I am a bit dissappointed  that they have changed the ending to the 1st half, as now, instead of being 3 long sweeping fast curves they have changed it to a set of 7 switchbacks which mean that you can’t get any momentum for the next hill, which you really need (in the 15 years of riding at QE, I can only remember making it up this chalky hill about 3 times, its a right bugger and without any momentum its virtually impossible).

As usual I had great fun on the 2nd half with lots of singletrack and fast downhills, I even managed to avoid the tree that I usually clip.  Once the track was finished I headed for a celebratory cup of tea in the cafe to warm me up after my camelback had leaked all over my spine.

I really need to get fitter.