Day 3 - Abbeville to Beavais 68 miles

I was definitely feeling my muscles a bit at the start of day 3.  We didn't have to leave until 8.15 so had plenty of time for breakfast before setting off in somewhat chilly conditions.  The first 20 or so miles before the snack stop were beautiful but full of yet more challenging climbs, and we were certainly ready for our first break.  A banana and  a drink was enough to fuel us up for the next stage, which had a few more 'undulations' and then some windy open fields, but also some very pretty (but practically deserted) villages.
Lunch was at a gorgeous village by a church, and soon we were off again for the last 25 miles. The afternoon was less picturesque, with a lot of riding on busier roads, and we were pleased to hit the outskirts of Beauvais at 60 miles.  We were slightly less pleased 7 miles later, still cycling and not yet at our night stop, but eventually it appeared and we were set for a restful evening.
Next stop; Paris!!!!!

Day 2 - arrived in Abbeville

Today was a slightly later start (9am), but the first 25 miles was very challenging, with some huge climbs on tired legs. However after the first water stop the terrain got easier and the main problem was dragging Jenny out of the little cafes.

Lunch stop at 50 miles was by a pretty pond but lots of mosquitos.  

After that the last 20 miles didn't feel too bad, and we arrived in Abbeville with time to spare before dinner.

london to Calais - 97 miles!

So here I am in a motel just outside Calais with day 1 complete!
After a restless night with very little sleep we were up at 5am this morning to shovel down a big bowl of porridge before heading to Crystal Palace for 6am registration.
Nerves kicked in when we arrived to see over 100 keen cyclists gathering, but once we'd registered and dropped our luggage to the support vehicle we were keen to get started as we were very cold.
While waiting for the briefing we spotted a couple of cyclists communicating in sign language, so we introduced ourselves and they seemed very happy to have two more signers to chat to!
After a short briefing we set off just before 7, and though the first few miles through London were slow the roads were were  were fairly flat.  10 miles in we hit our first huge hill, but we sailed up it no problem.  After that we cycled well to the first water stop at about 30 miles, and after a short stop we had a great ride to the lunch stop at 58 miles with just a few demanding hills.  We were amazed to be among the first cyclists to arrive!
A long lunch of bread cold meat salad and chatting and starting off again was tough. The last 30 miles to Dover had some horrific hills, but it felt fantastic arriving in Dover with nearly 2 hours to spare before the ferry.
The last few miles through Calais were done in a leisurely convoy; and after 97 miles we can say we have successfully cycled to France.  Today, 75 miles to Abbeville.........

Finished training and ready to go!

Well this is it. We are on our way to London ready for a 6am start tomorrow.
We followed last weeks 90 miles with a trip out to the Purbeck hills the next day. We joined the lovely friendly and very fit Wessex CTC and they took us on a beautiful but very strenuous 70 miles up and down the Purbeck hills. It was a very tougjh day but a good way to finish the training.
All that was left to do was packing and eating..... Next update will be from France!

... and another 90 miles

We had a slightly quieter week, and then headed bravely back to the New Forest for another 90 mile ride.  I spent the previous 24 hours with a horrendous sore throat and then stayed up half the night coughing, so I was really not in the mood for an early morning start on the bike.
Nevertheless, the training schedule called, and off I went to meet Jenny at our 15 miles midway point.

The weather was clear for the first 30 or 40 miles, but the wind was very strong which made for very tough cycling, especially up the hills.  By the time we had stopped to repair a puncture for a stranded cyclist, we were taking far longer than we had planned.  However, some roaming pigs cheered us up....

A few miles more and the rain started, making us pretty wet and cold for a bit, and after climbing yet another steep hill the sign at the top seemed a bit redundant.....

But in spite of the cold, the wind, the rain, the random cows in the middle of the road, we persevered and made it to the end of the 90 mile trip.  Just one more 65 mile trip to do tomorrow, and we are officially ready for the London to Paris trip.......

90 miles in the rain

The day finally arrived for that terrifying 90 mile training ride. The forecast was for torrential rain and thunderstorms all day, but there was no staying in bed - we had both taken the day off for this and couldn't afford to cancel it, so by 7am we were on the road and heading towards our meeting point, 15 miles away from our homes.  By the time we arrived we were soaked to the skin and really not looking forward to another 75 miles, but it was great to meet up and have company in our misery :-)
I had downloaded a route from the internet so we didn't really have any idea where we were heading, but it turned out to be a really beautiful route looping around the New Forest, Boldrewood, Lyndhurst, Lepe, Beaulieu,,,,,,,,,
Jenny was very pleased with herself, having stayed up late the night before baking flapjacks and packing an amazing calorie-filled lunch box to fuel our efforts.  Imagine her mortification when we had our first snack stop, only to discover that she had left the food behind, together with her first aid kit, puncture repair kit etc....
However, in spite of the rain and managing on my (more meagre) rations, we got through the first 40 miles pretty quickly, with just a couple of nasty hills to slow us down, and decided to stop for hot chocolate at a pub to warm up.  It was a great idea, and we felt so much  better setting off again 30 minutes later, until we unlocked the bikes and discovered that I had a huge puncture.  It took more than half an hour in the rain to finally fix it enough to set off again, but the pressure was low in the tyre and it didn't feel great.
Suddenly I found I was really struggling on the hills, and felt like I was trying to cycle a  tractor, so we stopped again and had a go with Jenny's pump and managed to get another 20 psi into the tyre. That made a huge difference, and before long the weather cleared a bit and we were cycling happily again.  By the time we reached  Lepe ( about 57 miles) the sky was trying to brighten and we were almost enjoying the ride.

However, we didn't stay dry for long, as we discovered that the road had turned into a stream, and the only option was to ride through it unless we wanted to backtrack about 10 miles....

Undaunted, we pedalled on with wet feet and stopped for lunch at a little pub near Beaulieu, where we got chatting with a lovely retired couple who had been keen cyclists for decades. When we left the pub, they sponsored us too!!
We had a short drink stop at 70 miles to chat to some New Forest Ponies...

The next 5 miles were pretty good, with not too much rain, and all too soon we reached our "meet point" near Rhinefield and sat down for a quick New Forest ice cream before parting company to do the last 15 miles back home on our own.  It started raining quite hard again, and I can't pretend to have enjoyed the last few miles, particularly the final hill back to my house, but the sense of achievement as my odometer clicked over the 90  miles was worth all the effort.
Just a few more training rides to do, and Paris here we come!

New bike for Jenny, and long distances are getting easier.

I am really really pleased to announce that Jenny has a lovely shiny new Specialized Elite road bike with all the trimmings, made possible by the government subsidies provided to employers by the cycle scheme. If only my employer would sign up to it <sighs>.
Having survived my very long trip out over the South Downs, my next ride was an easy 16 miles to Marwell Zoo, and it was good to realise that this does feel like a  nice short ride now.
On Sunday Jenny and I were booked for a 30 mile Sky Ride in Bournemouth, so we decided to up the mileage a bit (!) to meet our training program demand for 60 miles.  We set off early in the morning and met at the 15 mile point between our two houses. Usually I get there a few minutes before Jenny, but this time she beat me by at least 10 minutes, so the new bike is clearly a very good investment!  A quick 15 miles back to Bournemouth for breakfast, and by 10 am we were at Hengistbury head to meet the rest of the Sky Riders. We didn't have a great start, with poor Jenny having a fall, a chain jam and a puncture all in the first few miles, but after some hectic pedalling to catch up with the group, the rest of the 30 miles was a really pretty route and not too challenging.  We got to the end of the ride not really feeling like we had done 60 miles, and could have happily done more, so we must be getting more stamina.  Also, it was really noticeable how much easier Jenny was finding the hills on the new lightweight bike.
A couple of days rest, and then a 25 mile round trip to Winchester got me out of bed bright and early.  What should have been quite a pleasant ride became a bit stressful as my chain came off twice - once when pulling away in front of a lorry.  Not long afterwards and another big lorry decided it couldn't wait 30 seconds for me to pedal along a narrow section of road, and hurtled past me on a corner nearly taking me off my bike.  Heart pounding and adrenalin pumping for the next few minutes, I had barely recovered when my GPS ran out of batteries, and I realised that for the first time ever I had not brought spares with me.  This shouldn't have been a problem on a local ride, but I managed to get myself quite lost in Winchester and had to resort to Google Maps on my phone to get me back on track.  Even so, I made quite good time so it wasn't all bad news.
Our next ride is the longest yet - 90 miles in one day.  We have a tentative route plan which involves a fair few hills,  and the weather forecast at the moment is predicting heavy rain and thunderstorms, so this could really test our resolve..............................

Testing mobile update

I'm hoping to update daily on route to Paris using my mobile, so this is a test blog.

Over the South Downs..

With less than a month to go the training schedule is looking pretty scary now.  I started the week with a 'quick' ride to Winchester and back (22 miles).  My GPS is good for tracking rides, but doesn't give me any hill climbing data, so  I have a new app for my phone (Endomondo) so that I can see if I am doing enough climbing in my training. I was really despondent when I got home and looked on the wehsite only to find that I had climbed just 60 meters in total.  On the London to Paris we need to climb 1000 meters in a day!
So, determined to get some hill training in, I made a plan to send the family out to Petworth House in the car, and I would set off really early in the morning to cycle the 45 miles over the South Downs to join them.  I made it in good time, cycling up and down some killer hills, and could harldly believe it when I arrived in Midhurst in Sussex, 37 miles from home....

Getting to Petworth from there was an easy few miles, and after a good day out together (with a lift to Uppark!) I set off for the 30 miles back home.  My GPS thought it would be hilarious to direct me over the hilliest part of the downs, and at a couple of points I really thought I could not possibly climb another hill.  But I made it, without getting off my bike, and 72 miles after leaving home I was back again, certain that I must have some really good numbers on my hill climb data.
I was gutted to see that I had still only climbed 380 meters.  In fact, looking more closely at the elevation profile of my ride I knew that this had to be wrong! A quick trawl of the forums confirmed my suspicions - Endomondo climb data is way off!  So, being a geek, I imported the data into excel and calculated it myself.
The reality?  1483 meters of climbing!! And even my little Southampton to  Winchester ride is actually 370  meters of climbing.  So maybe I can do this after all....................

A peek at what my early mornings look like

I really didn't feel like rolling out of bed at 6.30 this morning to head out for 30 miles of training, but I thought that at least the roads would be fairly clear. Silly me - as if the A35 would ever be clear of lorries hurtling past me.  However, the New Forest was as beautiful as ever, and as I pulled into my 15 mile turnaround point I could almost believe that I was enjoying myself (almost).  This video is a snippet of what life looks like from on my bike.

More than 1000 miles in training and only a few weeks to go

Once again I have been incredibly busy and not updated the blog for ages.  The training distances are increasing every week and it's getting harder and harder to fit it all in.
However, sheer determination is keeping me on track (call it pig-headedness if you prefer, so long as I don't hear you!).
I had managed to get to the point where 50 miles felt okay (!) and then took a weeks holiday in Crete, with no training.  Arriving back home, a bit too relaxed and rested, I was not looking forward to a 60 mile ride on the first day back in England.  Let's face it - which would you prefer?

However, I rolled out of bed at 6am and pulled on the padded lycra before I peeped out of the window and discovered the pouring rain.  The temptation to crawl  back into bed at that point was almost overwhelming, but knowing I'd already missed a weeks training forced me out of the door and onto my bike.  However, the sense of achievement was amazing when 2 hours later I arrived in Bournemouth to join Jenny for breakfast, before cycling the 30 miles back again to complete my first 60 mile trip!  Mind you, I was extremely grateful for the hot shower and change of clothes.  No such luxury will be waiting for me at my food stops next month....

Two days later and I was out again, this time to do a 50 mile round trip in the New Forest.  With my muscles still protesting from the previous ride I thought I was never going to complete it, but the weather held out and the forest was so beautiful that somehow my poor tired legs churned through the miles without stopping, and in just under 4 hours I had done it!
Another days break and then an "easy" 11 miles with the family made me realise that my muscles were starting to really suffer, and not recovering between rides.  Even the small hills were painful.  So, alien though it is to my nature, I had to ask for a bit of help....
To the rescue came my wonderful husband and his sports massage skills.  An hour or so of painful but very therapeutic ministrations, and I felt like I could get back on the bike again, and so, a little nervously, Jenny and I prepared for our longest ride yet - 75 miles if we could make it!
Life got in the way a little, so we couldn't set off until 3.30pm, but we packed our panniers with dry clothes, tool kits and plenty of snacks and drinks, and set off for the first leg (Southampton to Winchester and back - 25 miles).  We made good time in nice weather, but cycling back past the house knowing we had another 50 miles to do was very depressing, and making a quick stop to refill water bottles had us very tempted to collapse on the sofa and not continue.
We hit a bit of a wall at 30 miles, but we were fighting a strong wind and cycling through the city at rush hour, so I think we were a bit despondent.  We soon got through it and picked up speed as we headed out towards Lyndhurst. The next 10 miles were pretty good but then poor Jenny started really flagging, and was struggling even on the flat.  We couldn't work out what on earth was wrong, until we did some quick calorie calculations and realised that she was a very long way into minus energy ( and those of you who know Jenny will know that she doesn't have a calorie to spare anywhere).  A big guzzle of a fortified energy drink and suddenly she was flying along again -  a good lesson learned for next time!
Arrving in Brockenhurst as our odometers clicked over the 50 mile mark was fantastic, although the smell of all the restaurants preparing dinner, and the fact that it was now 8.30 pm with another 25 miles to do made us seriously consider staying the night....
A short food stop and we were ready (?) to go again, although suddenly it felt very cold, and we had to put on jackets to  stop the shivering.  However, a few miles of hills and we soon warmed up.  55-65 miles was really amazing - we felt full of energy and powered our way across the stunning landscape lit up by the setting sun.  We saw rabbits, horses, donkeys and even some deer and finally felt like we were actually enjoying the training.
We got back to Lyndhurst at 9.30 pm, and the last 10 miles in the dark back through the city was less fun, but the sense of achievement when we got home at 10.30 having done 75 miles in 7 hours - well that was incredible. And thank you Vaughan, the muscles held up brilliantly!

We are certainly working hard for our sponsorship (1200 training miles so far) but the personal achievements along the way are brilliant.  It is definitely starting to feel like London to Paris is achievable.........

Half way there and it's getting tougher!

We are now half way through the training program, with less than 10 weeks to go before we head off to Paris.  The next few weeks are looking a little scary - 40 and 50 miles quite regularly and heading for 60+!
It wasn't so bad when a training ride took an hour or so, but now they are taking 4 or 5, so a big chunk out of the week.
Nevertheless, we are still on track, and amazed and how much fitter we are getting.  On Sunday we signed up for a "SkyRide" which was our first experience of group riding.  "Only" 30 miles, but we were able to keep up with the others which was reassuring.  However I did discover that my bike weighs at least twice as much as the posh new ones most of the other cyclist had.  That may have to be my excuse for struggling on the hills en route to Paris!
One of the real bonuses of all this training is that I am getting to see lots of the countryside surrounding Southampton, and some of it is really quite nice.  Also, I can now ride far enough to make trips to the New Forest feasible, so I've had several out to Lyndhurst and Rhinefield. Lovely!

Upping the pace, and good news for my old bike

Well, it's been even busier the last couple of weeks.  With Vaughan away in London and Paris it as tricky to fit in work, training and family, but I managed to stick to the schedule by doing some early mornings and late nights.  However the poor bike has been getting  less and less reliable, with slipping gears and chain jams happening more frequently.  Last week I was working in Milan, and had great intentions of keeping up with my training in the hotel gym.  However, after an hour of hard cycling on day 1, the heat totally defeated me, with only 20km completed.  With temperatures climbing to 32 degrees, and full days at the conference, I gave up on the plan.  However, back in England for the weekend, I was amazed to discover that my lovely sisters had sent my bike off for a rebuild, and delivered it back looking and feeling as good as new. I headed straight out to the New Forest for a 30 mile ride, which felt really good, and probably the nicest route I have done so far.  Followed it today (Sunday) with an "easy" 16 mile to Marwell, and the bike still felt great.  So now I'm feeling like I finally have a bike which might make it through the training and on to Paris.
This weeks training schedule is around 100 miles of cycling, so looking like I'm about to have my toughest week so far...........................

Dead bikes and drowned rats

This post should really have a picture, but my poor phone camera couldn't cope with the deluge.  This week needed a 30 mile ride (to add to the 16 and 23 earlier in the week), and Friday evening was the only free time.  Undeterred by the torrential rain (well, a little bit wimpy, but determined) I dropped the daughters to gymnastics for a few hours and headed out on the A27.  After a couple of miles, and the third head-to-foot drenching by a large lorry, I might has well have been cycling in a river. For the next 2 1/2 hours the rain and wind didn't let up at all, and it became a battle of my pig-headedness against the weather.  I refused to turn back until I hit 15 miles, although when I took a wrong turn and started to get lost on country lanes with 2 feet of running water, I actually turned back round after 13.5 miles.  Arrived back at the sports centre with only 27 miles on the clock, so kept going for a 3 mile loop around Hamble to make sure I did my 30.  However, rather stupidly I hadn't brought a change of clothes, so spent the next hour waiting for the girls to finish training, dripping wet, freezing half to death and running pools of water all over the gym floor.  Even a scrounged cup of tea and a borrowed sweatshirt couldn't get the feeling back in my hands and feet, and I have never been so grateful for a hot bath as I was for the one I finally got 5 hours after setting off in the downpour!
My poor bike, which has been coping so well, decided that it really was too old and tired for this sort of abuse, and I had 3 chain seize-ups during the 30 mile ride, and now it clunks, squeaks and slips whenever I ride it.  Emergency measures needed I think!

BBC news; cycle to work - busy week!

Saturday we got a call to ask if Jenny and I would be available for filming with the BBC on Sunday afternoon. Some rapid rearranging and Vaughan taking charge at home saw me heading to  Bournemouth in the rain to meet with Jenny. For some reason, the reporter decided it was best to film us cycling first, and then interview us when we looked like drowned rats, but it's all in a good cause!  Sadly the clip they showed was very short, but aired several times during the day and Jenny came over really well.  It did get a couple more sponsors, and hopefully raised awareness too.
After filming we headed out to Sandbanks, which was a lovely (if wet and windy) ride along the seafront.  The bikes were very sandy, so needed a good wash down, but I forgot to oil mine afterwards which was nearly a disaster! The first major ride this week saw me out at 6.30am and heading off to Romsey and the Test Way.  Just a few miles into the journey and my bike starting making horrendous grinding noises and then seized up completely.  A bit of roadside tlc, some brute force and ignorance got things moving again, and it survived the remainder of the ride (25 miles) without incident.  Overall a really nice trip, except for the bits in the city at either end. However, gears are starting to slip regularly, so I may have to invest in some more repairs :-(
Today (Thursday) was my first attempt at cycling into work.  22 miles in 90 minutes, so I was quite pleased with myself, although getting back home tonight may be a  challenge! 
Note to self: Find the cycle route into the city, because the A27 in Portsmouth is a death trap for cyclists!

Weeks 3-5 - making progress

Apologies for the lack of blogging the past few weeks - Blogger has unlinked my page from my profile, so I haven't been able to update it, hence the new  link!
Nevertheless, lots has been happening and it's all (mostly) good.  My bike has had the all-clear from the friendly bike Dr in Southampton - he did lots of work on it, tuned, tidied and new tyre, and hardly charged me anything :-).  With that and the promise of a decent bike to borrow if mine goes wrong, equipment is looking better.  The Echo article was followed by another, and a spot on Radio Solent, and also a bit in the Portsmouth News. Although I'm not convinced that the publicity raised much more sponsorhip, if it raised awareness of transplants and donor registers then that is a good result.
I have been sticking to my training schedule (which has involved some very early mornings) and am now up to being comfortable on a 20 mile ride.  Hills are still daunting, but definitely improving.  So far I have clocked up 292 miles in training, so I must be getting some fitness along the way?
I've been bravely heading out to new areas,  trusting in my little GPS to rescue me if I get lost.  Mostly that has worked well, but only after I remembered to tell it that I'm on a bike, not in a car!  Oh, and the day I got off course, thought I knew better than the GPS, ended up carrying my bike through bracken and streams and got a tick bite as well.  Hmmmm.
Fundraising is challenging but people have been amazingly generous, and I am now over £500 towards my target, which is fantastic.  Today was a real encouragement, as a random stranger stopped us on a training ride and asked if we were riding for charity.  When we explained what we were doing, she gave us a donation on the spot. Wow!
I should be back to blogging more regularly now, so long as I don't get locked out again.  Pop in and leave the occasional comment to keep me motivated.

Echo article and week 2

Well, the bike has survived it's first couple of weeks back in action, although a closer inspection today revealed dozens of splits in the old tyres, so it looks like I may have to be spending some money on it sooner than I planned. I'm working on trying to find a nice bike-shop-owning sponsor, but no luck so far. This week have done a couple of nice runs - one 16 mile trip out to Marwell Zoo and back (didn't get to see any animals), and then a gentle mostly flat 12 mile run along Bournemouth seafront. Doing the Marwell ride again on Sunday, which should just about take me to the 100 mile mark on my training total. Right on target for week 2 of the training program.

The big news of the week (literally) is that the Bournemouth Echo have picked up Jenny's story, and run it including her fundraising link http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9027613.Bournemouth_woman_is_first_in_county_to_donate_a_kidney_to_a_stranger/
Looks like they are going to run more of her story next week, so hoping to raise awareness for altruistic donation and more funds for Transplant Links.

Training - week 1

I have to confess that the first time I pulled my old bike out from under the tarpaulin and looked at the flat tyres and rust, I was tempted to back out of the whole plan.  However, cleaned up and with various child seats removed, it actually looked quite rideable, so I bravely set off for my first ride.  9 miles later and I wasn't at all sure it was a good idea. However, after a shortish ride Sunday morning, Jenny came to Southampton to join me for a longer run, and we managed 12 miles, so pretty proud of ourselves for our first week!

My amazing sister and our cycling challenge

Some of you will already know that my wonderful sister Jenny donated a kidney to a stranger just a few weeks ago.  Her generosity has completely transformed someones life, and incredibly, just 8 weeks after the operation, she has signed up to a London-Paris cycle ride to raise money to enable more people to benefit from this life-changing surgery.
She has so inspired me that I have committed to join her in this challenge, cycling around 500 km in 5 days, and completing more than 1300 miles during training!
We will be raising money for "Transplant links" - see my justgiving page at http://www.justgiving.com/WendyPowell if you would like to support this great cause and help us to change lives.