Last Training Weekend - 93 Miles - New Forest Off-road Trails

For the final weekend of training of the Go Ghana Cycle Challenge Jill booked a great Bed and Breakfast on the edge of the New Forest recommended by our friends (David, Eraine and Billy Allan) so that I could get some further off-road experience.

It was an excellent weekend, with great weather and I managed to cover a total of 93 miles over the Saturday and Sunday with about half through the New Forest off-road trails and the other on roads.   This was a total of almost 8 hours in the saddle to get used to back to back days on off road conditions.

The trails were great fun, particularly dodging the various wildlife roaming freely including ponies, cows, highland cows, deer and pigs!!!!.   Some of the trails had lots of pot holes so good experience of what is to come in only 5 days time in Ghana.

Sunday was challenging with 2 punctures within 30 minutes, which was frustrating but also good experience to be able to fix them and continue for another 20 miles.   Amazing that I have now covered over 1,500 miles this year training for the event and these were the first two punctures - I have been very lucky!

Many thanks to our friends the Allan family for their fantastic hospitality, dinner on the Saturday night was lovely and a hot shower on the Sunday was particularly welcome, especially as I was covered in oil and muck from the punctures.

  Trails and animals in the New Forest:

Although I had a map of the New Forest cycle trails I still managed to get lost a few times:

I now have all my kit ready to be packed and just need to do a final check before squeezing into my bag ready for Friday 30th September this week.  I am very much looking forward to the challenge and feel that I am as prepared as I can be with my physical training.

Looking forward to meeting everyone on the challenge on Friday morning at Heathrow.

Bring it on!

My kit ready to be packed in our spare room (hopefully it will all fit in my bag!)

Penultimate Weekend Training

This was the the penultimate weekend training before the Go Ghana Cycle Challenge and after a week working away in London and Reading there was no opportunity to train in the week evenings.   Thankfully I managed to get out for 28 miles on Saturday and with my friend Mil on Sunday for 47 miles, a total of 6 hours in the saddle, despite the wind and rain.

The Sunday cycle was particularly pleasant. It is  much more enjoyable with a training buddy and Mil introduced me to a great cafe next to the canal in Stourport-on-Severn where we stopped for tea / coffee and fruit cake.  Note not chocolate cake!     

Even so, the fruit cake made the climb out of the town much more challenging and we were both regretting it by the time we reached the top.  Still I would recommend the cafe just take the flat road out of town and not the hill.

Many thanks to Mil for helping with my training during the year which has been challenging keeping up with his super slick road bike with me on my heavy mountain bike! but great fun. 

Next week will be the same working away in London but we have booked to stay away for the last weekend so that I can do off road trails (hopefully a minimum of 4 hours each day) and spend time together as a family and with friends.   

Although my fitness has improved I had hoped that we would have had some hot weather over the UK summer to get used to the conditions in Ghana as I'm sure it is going to be hard with 34 degree constant sun!

12 days and counting to the start! 

Cannock Chase - Off Road Training

Many thanks to my friend Phil for taking my brother Gary (also doing the Go Ghana Cycle Challenge) and myself around off road trails in Cannock Chase for a training session.

It was great to get off roads and gain some experience of trails which should give us good preparation for the off road (60%) sections of the cycle challenge.  As it has been dry recently the trails were very dusty and we pretended we were in 34 degree Ghana!

Some great routes through the forestry commission on red, blue and green tracks.

I managed to fall off close to the start with only slight bruising of my side and pride.

Amazing difference to being on the road. We covered 15 miles in 2 hours which we could have covered in half the time on the road.

It was really great to be able to spend time with my brother to do joint training especially with only 4 weeks to the event and we are both so excited.

At the highest point on Cannock Chase:

Phil, Gary and Neil after a well earned break.  Thanks to Phil for the donation for the coffees:

Sun, Sea and Spinning - Training Dedication

I managed to complete eight cycle Spinning sessions in the last two weeks on board the fantastic Azura P&O Cruise ship whilst on our family holiday cruising from Southampton to Venice. Such training dedication for the Ghana Charity Cycle Challenge!!!!

The holiday was fantastic with great ports of call (Malaga, Cephallonia, Dubrovnik, Venice, Korcula, Corfu and Vigo in Spain), excellent weather, calm seas (with the exception of a Force 11 for one night) and making great new friends with the Allan family!

The Spinning classes were really hard work for 1 hour on each of the 8 sea days and the fitness instructor Tyler from New Zealand worked the group to a high level of intensity.  This was only my second time Spinning and  I have never sweated so much in my life!   People thought that it had been raining as I was soaked from head to toe.

I'm sure that the five course meals, afternoon teas and ice creams had something to do with that!

It was great fun and very motivational with a nice bunch of people.

I hope to do a few more sessions at the local sports centre before the challenge which is now only 5 weeks away, which is coming around very fast!!!!

1,200 Training Target Achieved

Just a "short" 21 miles this evening broke through my 1,200 training miles target this year (achieved in 7 months) before the Ghana Charity Cycle Challenge in September.   To celebrate it only seemed fitting to have a pint at our favourite local pub the Red Lion at Earlswood.

The final eight week count down now to the event and I need to focus on keeping my fitness and doing more long back to back rides over the weekends.  I have set a target for a 60 mile cycle with Mil in September which will be the longest in a single day on my mountain bike and  to do some off road with Phil at Cannock Chase.

Arriving at the Red Lion to celebrate cycling 1,200 miles in 7 months

Northgate Laptop Donation

Many thanks to my company, Northgate Information Solutions (www.northgate-is.com) and in particular Alexandra Moseley in our Purchasing team for providing a Laptop so that I can blog my way around Ghana on the Cycle Challenge.

This will be a great way to keep everyone updated on my progress.

On an even more generous note Northgate will be donating the laptop at the end of the challenge to a young person from the town of Kwahu Tafo starting at University to use during their study.  This will make a great difference to the education of the young recipient.

Many thanks Northgate!  

Snake and Castles - Longest Training Cycle with Mil

A great training ride today with Mil (friend and former colleague from ITNET), longest ever cycle covering 56 miles. Many thanks Mil, it was a really good test of my fitness (particularly as I did the ride on my mountain bike) and my kit for Ghana.  I was particularly impressed with the base layer which kept me cool, very good investment, even though it does not seem right wearing 2 layers in hot weather!

Map of the route

The route was from Wythall to Kenilworth Castle, in Warwickshire...

 via Warwick Castle...

... and then through Great Alne before the return climb up to Wythall.  The weather was great with  sunshine and the temperature reached 25 degrees.

Not long after leaving Great Alne we came across this snake on the road.  It was either sleeping or "expired".  We believe it is an English Adder and was approximately 18 inches long!

We think it is an English Adder