It's almost time...

Over the last few days I've done a bit more cycling.  This time with the bike fully loaded.  The ride took me from York via Market Weighton, Driffield and Hull to Hornsea where I spent one night camping and then up the east coast via Bridlington, Bempton and Hunmanby to Scarborough.  Just over 100 miles and approx 2300ft of ascent.  As a shakedown ride its told me a few things I needed to know or need to complete before I set off next Monday.

1. It's heavy man.  All up the bike is heavy.  I mean real heavy.  And that's before I get on it.  If it had legs and nostrils and could make a sound I'm sure it would be kicking, snorting and braying its heart out like an overloaded mule.  The good news though is that the bike was totally fine over both days.  KOGA do build them strong!

2. Bum cream.  I'll never suffer a gel seat again.  Ever.  My Brooks B17 saddle has done me proud for many a mile and so it did again on this shakedown ride.  Apart from a very small irritation close to my bits which I think is because of a poor fitting set of cycle shorts.  However I will now listen to my mate Nigel so its off to the bike shop later today to buy some more Chamois cream.  I thought it wasn't working after already getting though half a tub of the stuff.  I later found out it's for external use only.  I should have known.  It tasted funny.... mmmm creeeeem!

3. Right knee.  Ma boy made copious 'no Daaad!' whines on the way out to Hornsea.  Strange really as some times he's totally quiet and I can stand in the pedals and push hard (well as hard as a fat man standing in pedals can...) but at other times it was a though he had jumped straight from having minor teething problems to a full blown set of rotten gnashers.  Oh how I did not look forward to the ride to Scarborough (bigger / longer hills) the next day.  Strange though that on the Scabby run the boy was totally absent.  I think I left him sleeping at the Hornsea campsite as I snuck off early doors.  He's not found me.  Yet.  Thank God I don't have real children cos I'd end up in more than a bit of bother if I did...

4. Feed ME!  It is said that on LEJOG you can eat what you want and you will still lose weight.  I like that kind of challenge as I can eat for England, Wales, the USA and good few other places all rolled into one.  I am the Seymour to my Audrey II stomach which is calling at regular periods 'Feed ME Seymour, pleeease!' just like the human blood drinking plant in the Little Shop of Horrors film and musical.  For me it's carbohydrates.  Feed ME! Feed ME!  I've never noticed it before but on long rides for sure Audrey II is crying out for food at frequent intervals.

5. Camping.  It finally arrived, my German Wechsel Pathfinder one man and his blog tent.  As easy as kicking a skin off a rice pudding to put up and exactly the right size for this middle aged blogger and some of his bits (no the other bits) inside.  Met the loveli couple who ran the Wood Lake Camp Site just outside of Hornsea which had some trees and a lake around it (yeah).  Great adults only camp site which only had non adult games and some hot water and other useful bits on offer for nine quid.  That night it chucked it down so another thing proven, rain can't get in the tent.  Great!  But also I found it difficult sleeping on a small inflatable mat on the floor.  Also that farting in a small tent in the middle of a rain swept night is a really bad idea.

6. Health.  I was back at the drug pushers the other week.  Again.  This time to argue with the Doc about the blood pressure tablets I've been taking which have given me a really itchy and sore skin condition on my lower legs.  So irritating that I've raked my legs until they bleed.  At the end of a rather intense discussion (he's the only doctor its easy to see cos no other bugger likes him either) he's agreed for me to stop the blood pressure tablets (I voluntarily stopped them 4 weeks or so back) and also the Metformin for my type 2 diabetes.  The great news and I think it is purely because of the riding I've been doing in prep for LEJOG is that my blood pressure is normal.  Yay!  Well is hovers around 127/78 or so with a 51 pulse.  Thats good innit?  And also that my HBA1C was down at 44 (normal is 42 and its been as high as 80 for me) so the Metformin is also on hold whilst I do LEJOG.  Great innit!  What a difference this is making to my life.  I dare not weigh or measure myself just yet - lets do that when I've completed the ride.

The ride to Hornsea, 'cept for ma boy, felt great.  Legs felt good.  Sunny and cloudy intermingled.  Cool with a wind mainly to my rear, parp!  Two parts of the journey followed old railway line tracks, firstly from Market Weighton to Driffield and then from Hull to Hornsea.  To this day I remain completely gobsmacked at the amount of abandoned railway infrastructure often in remote places and I'm annoyed I did not in this selfie crazed world take photo's of it for this blog.  High arched bridges that have stood for well over 150 years and still look good, to old deserted platforms overgrown with bushes and weeds in the middle of nowhere.  I lament the Beeching Report of the 50's and the huge dereliction of the railways in the UK.  Ghosts of the past are everywhere.  The great thing though is that some of it is now Sustrans cycleways and so has not been completely lost to history.

The ride from Hornsea to Scarborough was 10 miles shorter but turned out to be a day of riding up some especially steep and long hills into a headwind.  Coffee and cake at Bridlington harbour followed by a hard ride through Bempton and further, harder ride though Hunmanby across the end of the Yorkshire Wolds to Scarborough.  Some strange places the Garmin sat nav takes one along.  I must remember to remove 'unpaved roads' from its settings and take note that signs that say 'unsuitable for motor vehicles' also means unsuitable for bikes as this is what you get if you don't.

I followed some of the Tour 'de' Yorkshire route but not at the same speed.  No, its the Tour 'of' not 'de' and whilst I'm moaning why the hell is it the 'Cote de' for all hillclimbs? We're Yorkshireish, not French.  Sort yourselves out boys.

So my shakedown rides are now done.  LEJOG starts on Monday 14th and I'm so looking forward to it.  Legs are good.  Bike is very good.  Bum needs a bit of help.  Camping is not restful but is cheap and is not really that much of a problem if wet.

So here's my decision.  I have some ginormous rides up through the midlands and no camping really planned until I get oop north.  That combined with the fact that even though I want to, I can never leave ma boy behind.  So... I'm going to forgo the camping until I get up to Penrith where Kathryn is planning to meet up with me so that we can celebrate her, ahem, 50 something birthday on the 25th May.  I'll add the camping stuff to the bike at that point as camping is much more likely in Scottie land, especially if I do the run across the top and along the west coast.  It does not save me a lot weight wise but I'm bothered that ma boy will be with me all the way and may grow huge achy molars post puberty which will undoubtedly happen on the ride.  And there are some almost 100 mile legs from Taunton to Penrith, phew!  I just need to be sensible as non-completion is NOT an option unless some medical person tells me so...

Finally.  I was wrong in an earlier blog entry.  There is another type of cyclist - the Lamenting Tourer.  Likely to express regret or disappointment at every stage of a ride.  Whilst out, I found several of them, all ploughing along Sustrans route 1, towards Scarborough off the main roads and so deep in the steep hills.  Many with a heads down arse down grinding riding style even when riding downhill.

I'm hoping not to evolve into one during the ride.

Speak soon