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.