Tag: Cycling

Pump it up

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This morning I went along to the gym for my usual body pump class where I was very hardcore and used heavier weights and hurrah, my arms didn’t crack on the tricep tracks, so the glucosamine that I’ve started taking again must be doing their thing (or it’s the magic bracelet) and then after body pump I went and did twenty minutes on the rowing machine, then I had planned to do just a mile on the treadmill, although running on the treadmill doesn’t really count as running, but then I decided to do Thru the Gears and then usually on a Friday I go and do spin too but as I have a five mile run tomorrow, I didn’t really want to wear myself out even if it is Juneathon and so I wimped out of doing spin and got changed and then I had to go to the library and I decided to leave my bike where it was and walk the half mile to the library as after all, it is Juneathon, and Juneathon is all about making an extra effort and so I walked to the library and as I passed Top Shop, I saw a sign saying 20% off for students this week and so I went in and saw a stripey t-shirt that I had been eyeing the other day and I tried to work out what 20% off would be and then I saw a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it and I wondered if I was too old to wear a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it and decided I was and left the shop and opposite was Dorothy Perkins with a sign saying 30% off today and so I went in but there was nothing I liked so I went back into Top Shop and thought fuck it, if I want to wear a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it I will and so I bought the Mickey Mouse t-shirt and the stripey t-shirt and with my student discount got £8 off and then I went to the library to collect the books that had been reserved for me and then I strolled back through the town looking at all the teenage girls smoking over their babies and got back to my bike and cycled back.

Stats
Body pump: 45 minutes
Rowing machine: 20 minutes
Treadmill: 15 minutes
Walking: 1 mile
Cycling: 5 miles
Calories: about 845
Stripey t-shirts: 1
Mickey Mouse t-shirt: 1
Library books: 2
Teenage girls smoking over their babies: A few

Juneathon 2009 Days 28 and 29 – 17 miles, cows, sheep & sunshine

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Saturday morning I spent being a WAG, and my feet hurt so much in my new boots even though I only had to walk from the car to the bench, it felt like I’d run 20 miles, so does that count for Juneathon? 

And on Sunday Shaun took me on a new route on the bikes and although we went past sheeps and cows, I didn’t take my camera with me so there’s no photographic evidence of my bovine based excursion.Road sign

But today, on the penultimate Juneathon, I thought I’d go back in search of cows, this time taking my camera, and hoping I don’t get lost.  I get to the bit where I think I’m supposed to turn off but there’s road signs and I don’t know what they mean and maybe they mean I can’t go down there (and I still don’t know what it means as the website I nicked the image off doesn’t say) and so I turn round and carry on going up the hill and I think no, I definitely needed to turn off where the road signs are but I decide to go a bit further to see what’s up the road but not much really so I turn round and go down the road I was supposed to go down in the first place and I get back to the village and decide not to go home yet but to cycle through the village and go a way I’ve only been in the car before and there’s a lot of traffic but I’m brave and don’t go on the pavement and then I’m on a quiet road again and there’s a road I remember Shaun saying something about that it’s a mile loop or something but I can’t remember what as I probably wasn’t listening as usual and I decide to carry on going straight ahead and little while later I get to the road I just passed and I think aah, I’ll go down there and go back that way then and I decide to stay out longer as I still haven’t seen any cows and sheep and I don’t know why as there were plenty of cows and sheep yesterday but my quest isn’t over yet and so I carry on going and I go past a field of blue flowers

Blue flowers

and I decide to go the way I went the other day that leads me out onto the main road and just as I get round the corner I SEE COWS!! 

Cows

Woo hoo.  And sheep.  Woo.

 Sheep

And one of the cows decides to demonstrate why they’re not very good at playing hide and seek

A not very well hidden cow

but then the cow comes out of its not very good hiding place and it’s the prettiest cow in the whole world

Unhidden cow

and it’s right up against the fence and I want to stroke its nose but I don’t know if cows bite or not and so I decide not to stroke the cow and I eventually tear myself away from the prettiest cow in the whole world and a bit further on I go past where we saw the ducks shagging in a most violent manner and there’s brown and white sheep

Brown and white sheep

but they’re a bit camera shy and run away

Brown and white sheep running away

except for one greedy fat bastard sheep who carries on eating

Sheep eating

and then I go down a steep hill I don’t remember going down before and I get to the main road and I decide to be brave and cycle down it to home and that’s today’s Juneathon done and as tomorrow is the last Juneathon for this year, I’m going to test out my new running watch and attempt a run and as Joggerblogger has entrusted me with the responsibility of choosing this year’s Juneathon Winner, you’d all better start getting your bribes in now.

Route

Splits

Stats day 29 (cycling)
Distance: 17.30 miles
Time: 1:43:02
Speed: 10.1mph
Calories: 475
Fields of blue flowers: 1
Cows: some
Sheep: also some
Hills I don’t remember: 1
Pavements cycled on: 0
Days to get bribes to me: 2
Juneathon’s completed: 25/30

Juneathon 2009 Day 6 – Competition time

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Another day, another Juneathon, and with the weather we’ve had the past couple of days, it could well be called a Decemberthon, apart from the fact that it’s not actually December.

I couldn’t really be bothered to do anything today but rules are rules and I don’t want anyone to call me a slacker so the little trusty steed and I went up to the tree and back.  And in case you’re wondering why, if I moved to the countryside, there’s only one tree, there is actually more than one but this one’s at a handy little junction.

And for those of you that only looked at this post because the title mentions a competition and therefore freebies, here’s today’s competition.

Crisis Cook BookIn the goody bag for Thursday’s Crisis Square Mile Run was The Crisis Cook Book.  I’m giving mine away because a) Shaun got one too and we don’t need two of them; and b) it’s full of meat recipes like Spiced Partridge Pilaf and Roast Bone Marrow and as you know, I’m one of those fussy vegetarian types.

Blurb from the book:

The Crisis Cook Book has been edited by Nicholas Lander who has had the enviable job of being the Financial Times restaurant correspondent for the past 18 years and is a long time supporter of Crisis, the homeless charity. During this period he has made the acquaintance of many of the top chefs around the world who have generously donated three recipes their favourite starter, main course and dessert for this book. The Crisis Cook Book comprises 84 recipes from 28 top chefs including Mario Batali, Paul Bocuse, Sally Clarke, Alain Ducasse, Chris Galvin, Mark Hix, Ken Hom, Simon Hopkinson, Tom Kitchin, Joel Robuchon, Rick Stein and Alice Waters, which have been converted into an easy-to-follow format by cookery writer, Silvija Davidson. The second section includes ten introductory essays on wine by Jancis Robinson.

It also says the other main objective of this book is to raise funds for Crisis, the homelessness charity www.crisis.org.uk which will receive a significant proportion from each book sold.

Although obviously not from the 2,700 copies they gave away on Thursday.

So, if you want to make such mouthwatering recipes as Squid and Mackerel Burger or Chicken Liver Terrine with Juniper all you have to do is post a joke and the one I like best wins.

Rules
UK entries only please (unless you have a UK friend who will post it overseas to you)
Competition ends Friday 12 June 2009

Stats (cycling)
Distance: 2.19 miles
Time: 14:01
Speed: 9.4mph
Calories: 62
Weight: 9st 4
Juneathons completed: 6/30
Competitions: 1

Juneathon 2009 Day 1

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Juneathon IIII hate my scales.  Last week they said I was 9st 2, today they say I’m 9st 6.  I haven’t put on 4 lbs in a week so scales, f**k off.  But as if my scales lying to me weren’t enough to push me out the door, today is obviously the start of Juneathon III (and if you don’t know that, why not?) and as Juneathon is mostly about running, I decide I should go for a run although I want to get out on my lovely little Raleigh Shopper (which is now complete with basket and drink holder) for 7 miles.

I decide to just do the two mile route, partly because I ran yesterday and I don’t usually run two days in a row and partly (ok, mainly) because I’m a wimp.

I take my little quiet route where there aren’t any nasty bends but there are a couple of cars and I wonder why I’m scared of them when I’m running but not so scared anymore when I’m cycling and it shouldn’t make any difference as, if they can get round me when I’m cycling, then they can get round me when I’m running as I don’t suddenly expand to twice my width when I’m running, at least not as far as I know anyway and then I see the tree and think hooray, half way there and then I realise it’s not the tree, it’s just a tree and I have to go further before I can turn round and then there’s some dirge playing on my iPod and I realise it’s Radiohead and Thom Yorke’s singing (and I use the term “singing” loosely) about cutting a kid in half or something and then I get to the tree and I’m tempted to touch it and say tag before turning round and going back the way I came but I resist the urge and the tree remains untouched and then I start to walk and I say to myself stop walking and get running you wuss and so I do but then I hear a strange noise and I stop to see if I can see what’s making the strange noise that’s like a cross between a duck and a pig or something but I can’t see anything and then the noise stops and I’m still walking and so I tell myself I haven’t got any reason to keep walking now the noise has stopped and so I start to run again (and I use the term “run” loosely) and I can see the main road and I want to walk again and when I get to the pavement I turn up my iPod and skip through it to see if there are any motivational tunes on there and Terrorvision’s Perseverance comes on and I think that’s quite appropriate for a lightweight like me.

Splits

Stats (running):
Distance: 2.16 miles
Time: 23:39
Pace: 10:58 m/m
Calories: 202
Weight: 9 st 6
Lying scales: 1
Duck/pig hybrids: 1
Juneathons completed: 1/30

Stats (cycling):
Distance: 7.32 miles
Time: 48:29
Speed: 9.1mph
Calories: 202

Music:
Radiohead
Blur
Terrorvision

A little (Raleigh) Shopping

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I don’t care if my scales say I’m 9st 2, my scales are lying.  Either that or my mirror is as I am turning into a dumpy country thing and I have no intention of being fat and forty, so I think today I will run and then I remember this

Raleigh Shopper

is living in the garage, having arrived yesterday and after giving it a test run last night, decided it’s the best bike in the whole world, even though when I was given a pink Raleigh Shopper by my parents when I was about 10, I wasn’t very impressed, as I hankered after a racer like my brothers had and didn’t want to be seen on a stupid girl’s bike and especially a pink stupid girl’s bike with a basket but now I love my stupid girl’s bike and will even buy it a basket especially although I won’t be going so far as to spray it pink. and so I decide to take my stupid girl’s bike out for a couple of miles and then come home, get changed and go out for a run and so I get my SGB out of the garage and venture outside on a bike on my own for the first time in about 30 years and I get to the tree a mile away and I think I don’t want to go back yet, I want to go further and maybe I can do the 7 mile loop I looked at on gmaps but it was ages ago I looked on gmaps and I can’t remember what the route is and so I just keep on going and I see lots of bunnies and not dead ones this time and there’s a car coming up behind me and I try not to wobble and remember what Shaun said about they don’t want to hit me and it overtakes me and woo hoo, I don’t wobble and it doesn’t hit me and I go past a road and I wonder if I should turn off there but I still carry on going straight and  I see some horses and I think that makes a change from sheep and I go past some houses that the owners probably think are posh but they look new and like they should be in Essex and after a while I get to a residential area and I think hmm, I think I’ve gone tReebok 5 Series Roweroo far and so I turn round and go back the way I came and I can hear something behind me and I don’t know what it is but it sounds big and it overtakes me and it’s a trailer or something with HUGE wheels and I think I don’t want to end up under them and then I’m back at the tree and the road is very narrow and a car comes along and there’s only just enough room for both of us and I pretend not to be scared and then I’m home and decide not to run but because I am sort of hardcore, I try out our new rowing machine which is harder than the one in the gym and after 15 minutes I’m knackered.

Route

Stats:
Distance: 6.91 miles
Time: 40:53
Speed: 10.1mph
Calories: 212
Stupid girl’s bikes: 1
Bunnies: lots
Horses: some
Trailer things with HUGE wheels: 1
Rowing machines: 1
Runs: 0

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