London to Cambridge Cycle Ride

On Sunday July 26th I took part in the London to Cambridge Cycle ride. Just under 60 miles of cycling all for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. A fine cause. I had to cycle 5 miles to get to the transport to take me and my bike to London. I then did the cycle ride and finally cycled home after the event. All told I did 68.5 miles in a little over 4 hours. That included 3 stops to put my chain back on. Aarrggh!! I was having gear changing issues. Anyway a great day. I've never cycled anything like that distance before but it was really enjoyable and I was pleased that my legs held up really well. I guess the difference between running and cycling is that you have spells on the bike where you can freewheel down hills and get your heart rate back under control ready for the next hill climb. I'm definitely up for doing it again next year and will also look out for other charity bike rides before then. I entered the race as part of a group of people from my work (although the event had nothing to do with my employment or my employer) and between us we raised just shy of £700.

Michael McIntyre Gig

My wife and I went to see the very funny comedian Michael McIntyre on monday July 20th. It was excellent. He always makes great observations that manage to be very funny without having to vindictively poke fun at anyone. It's great feel good comedy with no malice. I love it! Bizarrely despite his huge rise to popularity I still find some people saying "Michael McIntyre?.....who's he?......what does he look like?" hence the inclusion of the picture.

Growing up Too Fast

Blimey there I was sitting having my breakfast this morning when my 10 year old daughter asked me if she could have a mobile phone as her friends all had them and it was embarrassing for her to admit to them that she didn't have one. Evidently they can be purchased from as little as £10 for a PAYG phone. She has been saving her money and said she would buy her own phone provided I said it was ok. Well put like that how could I refuse? So as we were going to town anyway we popped into Phones 4 U and picked up a nice little Nokia 1661 on Orange for £15. I added £10 credit for her. Hey I'm all heart! I was quite amazed at how good the phone is for so little money and my daughter is delighted with it. So I suppose all is well in the world. I just can't believe that my little 10 year old now has a mobile phone. It all seems so grown up to me and strangely makes me feel old. Oh well, as long as she's happy.

Tour De France 2009

Anybody else watching the Tour De France? It's great. Technology makes it so easy to stay on top of the latest action as it's happening. ITV have a great Twitter feed @itvtdf. The official TDF web site at http://www.letour.fr is also great providing up to the minute updates during the stages. I just read Lance Armstrongs 2 autobiographies which has given me a real interest in the Tour. It's great that this year he has made a return to the sport having retired in 2005 after his 7th straight TdF victory. He's looking fantastic in any terms but considering he's 37 now (38 this year) and has been out of professional cycling for 3.5 years it's all the more remarkable. He's riding for team Astana and in fierce competition with his own Astana team mates for the title. The big question is will Lance win? or Alberto Contador? or Levi Leipheimer? or will someone from outside team Astana win? Bradley Wiggins is looking fantastic for Garmin Slipstream. He's in 5th place after Stage 8 and looks like he can handle the mountains. I'm looking forward to the next 2 weeks to see how it all plays out.

6 mile run

I ran 6 miles yesterday in my fastest time since getting back into running. It took me 46'08" That's 7 mins 41 per mile average. It felt great too. Had it not been for the re-occurence of my groin strain pain I could have gone faster. For the rest of the day and today my left leg is wrecked. The groin pain is so bad I can't walk on my leg very well. Oh dear. The price of getting fit. I'll have to switch to cycling for a while and see if my groin strain problem completely heals up. I guess I might have to see a physio or doc if the pain keeps coming back.

Firefox Add-Ons

I just upgraded to Firefox 3.5 and installed a bunch of add-ons for it. One of them is enabling me to quickly add this post to my blog. It's called "Shareaholic". It's great for updating loads of different social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. I also installed FoxyTunes which enables me to control my media player from a discreet bar at the foot of my web browser. FoxyTunes has a thing called Twitty Tunes which means I can quickly Tweet what I am listening to and it also posts a link to more info about that artist. Finally I installed TwitterFox which is a great little Twitter client integrated into Firefox. Check 'em out good people of the Internet!

More Running & Some Cycling

I have to say that running in this baking heat is a totally different prospect. I'm finding it hard to run more than about 8.5 miles at present. I sweat so much when I'm out that I feel totally sapped of energy after about 6.5 miles and the last 2 miles are tough. I think my fitness is ok but my body needs better fuel whilst out running to combat the extreme sweating. Anyway it's still good to be out and about getting fit and de-stressing. Also been enjoying the new bike. It's great. I haven't had a bike with nice thin road tyres for many years and the difference from a mountain bike whilst chugging along the tarmac is noticeable. I can carry much better speed with less effort. Cycling to work has been a joy these past few days. Even the hot weather is not so bad because the breeze I get from travelling fast on the bike cools me down. I would definitely advocate a faster cadence in an easier gear to give longevity to your cycle rides and minimise lactic build up and "burn" in the legs. It's taken me years to realise it so hopefully I can save others the grief of years spent cycling around in your top gear wondering why your legs start to burn so quickly.