And now for something completely different

I have spent the last two Fridays mountain biking in the afternoon with some kids from school. I was volunteered for this as I apparently know how to ride a bike. Unfortunately these two afternoons have proved that I am not quite as good as I or my colleagues at work believe me to be. Lots of mud, deep ruts and loose gravel make for a bumpy and twitchy ride which is very different from a head down blast up a dual carriageway.  The rides have been led by a chap called Barry, who is an amazing rider.  He is basically a pair of quad muscles with lungs attached in a Lycra package.  I can hang on to him just, when going uphill but I don't stand a chance when descending.

We've looped around Epsom Downs and made our way up and down the hills of Headley with some steep climbs and narrow descents which had me hanging onto the bars for dear life at times.  Despite all this it was a hell of a lot of fun and another few hours on a bike. I guess it all counts.

I'm back running again. Two runs this week of 20 and 30 minutes sticking to soft ground to take as much stress off my Achilles as possible. A third and final run tomorrow and then a final road ride on Sunday.

The Winter plan

I am on eggshells at the moment as I am definately fighting something off and I am fearful that this could really put the kybosh on my Luton Marathon run. I want it to either break so I stand a chance of getting rid before next weekend or to just magically dissolve away. It is very frustrating but with the run miles that I had put in recently it is not altogether unexpected as I was feeling quite run down and everyone and their mother at work has had a cold. I suppose the only good thing to come from it is that it will be another factor to force me to be conservative in my pace. Every cloud.......

I have finally finished building the mountain bike that I started last month. As expected, Mrs Wheezy blew a gasket when she saw the multitude of ebay and bike shop purchases but she calmed down eventually and my bruises have started to fade. It's a real mongrel of a bike with a mix of old and new equipment and at about £250 not too bad cost wise (best bargain was a set of Shimano SPD pedals for £10 and the frame for £15)  I just enjoyed tinkering and putting my own machine together and I'll be able to upgrade further as time goes by. I took it out for a little spin this afternoon along the bridle path to my parents' house and other than the need to tinker with the front mech, all was good.

My main reason for putting it together was to give me another opportunity to get on a bike over the winter and to get out outside when the weather is bad. I just need to mix my riding up; road, turbo, mtb, commuting. The more I do, the more likely that 5.30-40 IM bike split will be next year. There are quite a few off road duathlons in the winter months so they are the main races that I would like to have a go at as they just look like they've got a high grin factor.Add in a lot of bike commuting, the odd long ride and a paddle or two a week, then that basically constitutes the Winter Plan.

Off. To. Bed.