Sunday, 24 January 2010
Progress
I constructed my bike today in the comfort of my living room. It was raining and cold outside so it seemed the only sensible place to do it. I say constructed, the wheels don't really go round properly and i still haven't got any air in the tyres. I going to have to ask Stuart to fine tune today's effort and make it fit to ride. I'm not going to get very far on a bike with wheels that won't go round. Anyway at least it's a little bit of progress. My running project is going well. Day 10 today, only another 21 to go.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
The Journey has started! I ventured into my garage and opened the box with the bike in. It looks good and is only in 4 bits so i might even be able to put it together myself. Alas though i didn't actually get much further than looking at it. I did take one wheel out of the box as i wanted to try out the new pump i got for Christmas but i couldn't work out how to attach it to the wheel. I'm guessing i need an adaptor but it's a bit of an inauspicious start. There's a long way to go.
I have started to try and improve my fitness level so that once i start cycling i've got a good base on which to build. My aim it to try and run every day (at least 2 miles) for the next month, or 31 days as i started yesterday. I did manage to do 26 days in a row but that sequence came to a halt on Christmas day, so it would be nice to reach my target to kick start 2010. I will put my bike together soon but this delaying tactic also gives me a little bit more time to consider whether i actually need to purchase something Lycra to wear on the bike. I'm not sure i really want to do that but from all the cyclists i seem to see on the road it appears to be compulsory.
I have started to try and improve my fitness level so that once i start cycling i've got a good base on which to build. My aim it to try and run every day (at least 2 miles) for the next month, or 31 days as i started yesterday. I did manage to do 26 days in a row but that sequence came to a halt on Christmas day, so it would be nice to reach my target to kick start 2010. I will put my bike together soon but this delaying tactic also gives me a little bit more time to consider whether i actually need to purchase something Lycra to wear on the bike. I'm not sure i really want to do that but from all the cyclists i seem to see on the road it appears to be compulsory.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Beginnings
I'm not sure why I wanted to start a blog . I want to go on an adventure and not really be sure about where it will lead and what i will discover on the way. Hopefully the discipline of blogging will help keep me on track and make me focus on actually getting something done. It will probably be quite a while before i tell anyone i know i've been keeping a blog, so i should be quite far along the journey if you are reading this. Anyway here is a bit of background information.
It's my mum's funeral tomorrow and after that i feel i really need to try and move forward with my life in a way that would make her proud. I got married last summer and hope to have a family soon so that side of my life is good and i know where I'm going. The death of my Mum has just reinforced my belief that family and friends are everything. Without them nothing else really means anything. However particularly with the work that i do , i seem to lack a bit of direction. I feel i can and should be getting more out of myself and be pushing myself a bit harder. I want to try and find something that is going to excite me, challenge me, take me out of my comfort zone and the focus of this blog is going to be my pursuit of that.
What i've decided i want to do is cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End in Cornwall. Why that? Well I was telling my friend Stuart that, having previously done some adventurous and exciting things, i felt this was something i longed to do a bit more of . I wanted to feel that all-consuming passion of imersing myself in a task. Stuart is a keen cyclist and he was saying that some of the things he wanted to do were cycle from Norway to Holland and do the Lands End - John O'Groats cycle ride. This got me thinking and at the time i had just booked tickets to go and listen to Alastair Humphreys talk about riding around the world at Chester Literacy Festival. Well, I listened to Mr Humphreys do his chat and started reading his books and found them quite inspiring. It wasn't long before i decided on my task based on the following facts.
Enjoyment - Reading Alastair Humphreys' books made cycling on the road seem such a wonderful way to spend a day.I loved his philosophies and wanted to know what would feel like to wake up and your sole objective for the day was to get to the next stage of your journey, it had a certain simplicity to it.
It was wife friendly (to a degree) - It would take an acceptable amount of time (10-12 days to complete) and Chester, my hometown, was at about halfway so i could stay there en-route . Therefore i would be away for about two 6 day periods rather than one 14 day stint and thus minimize the damage to my husband 'points' balance. I am also aware that if i were to have children in the future the oportunity for doing something like this would dwindle.
It would be a challenge - I am relatively fit but by no means a cyclist in fact my cycling skills are extremely modest. I'd had comment passed during previous leisurely rides with friends about the odd position of my feet on the peddles (pointing out) and the fact that i have a strange rhythm to my cycling. This tends to consist of 3 peddles then a glide, 3 peddles then a glide and so on which is not the most efficient way to travel 1000 miles. So in summary i had a lot to learn.
Cost - It could hopefully be done with a relatively low budget. I didn't want to spend a lot. Hopefully no more that £1000 for everything (bike, transport, equipment, accommodation)
Well that moment of inspiration was in about October. I did buy a bike for £200 on e-bay. It took ages to come, I've not even opened the box yet and it's been sitting in my garage. I've also found a few routes and mentioned it to a few people. At this stage i think I'm either going to do it in May or July, maybe with someone else, maybe on my own. I've got a lot to sort out but i really hope that it's going to be the kind of journey I'm looking for both metaphorically and physically and hopefully by writing this blog i can look back someday with pride at what i have achieved.
It's my mum's funeral tomorrow and after that i feel i really need to try and move forward with my life in a way that would make her proud. I got married last summer and hope to have a family soon so that side of my life is good and i know where I'm going. The death of my Mum has just reinforced my belief that family and friends are everything. Without them nothing else really means anything. However particularly with the work that i do , i seem to lack a bit of direction. I feel i can and should be getting more out of myself and be pushing myself a bit harder. I want to try and find something that is going to excite me, challenge me, take me out of my comfort zone and the focus of this blog is going to be my pursuit of that.
What i've decided i want to do is cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End in Cornwall. Why that? Well I was telling my friend Stuart that, having previously done some adventurous and exciting things, i felt this was something i longed to do a bit more of . I wanted to feel that all-consuming passion of imersing myself in a task. Stuart is a keen cyclist and he was saying that some of the things he wanted to do were cycle from Norway to Holland and do the Lands End - John O'Groats cycle ride. This got me thinking and at the time i had just booked tickets to go and listen to Alastair Humphreys talk about riding around the world at Chester Literacy Festival. Well, I listened to Mr Humphreys do his chat and started reading his books and found them quite inspiring. It wasn't long before i decided on my task based on the following facts.
Enjoyment - Reading Alastair Humphreys' books made cycling on the road seem such a wonderful way to spend a day.I loved his philosophies and wanted to know what would feel like to wake up and your sole objective for the day was to get to the next stage of your journey, it had a certain simplicity to it.
It was wife friendly (to a degree) - It would take an acceptable amount of time (10-12 days to complete) and Chester, my hometown, was at about halfway so i could stay there en-route . Therefore i would be away for about two 6 day periods rather than one 14 day stint and thus minimize the damage to my husband 'points' balance. I am also aware that if i were to have children in the future the oportunity for doing something like this would dwindle.
It would be a challenge - I am relatively fit but by no means a cyclist in fact my cycling skills are extremely modest. I'd had comment passed during previous leisurely rides with friends about the odd position of my feet on the peddles (pointing out) and the fact that i have a strange rhythm to my cycling. This tends to consist of 3 peddles then a glide, 3 peddles then a glide and so on which is not the most efficient way to travel 1000 miles. So in summary i had a lot to learn.
Cost - It could hopefully be done with a relatively low budget. I didn't want to spend a lot. Hopefully no more that £1000 for everything (bike, transport, equipment, accommodation)
Well that moment of inspiration was in about October. I did buy a bike for £200 on e-bay. It took ages to come, I've not even opened the box yet and it's been sitting in my garage. I've also found a few routes and mentioned it to a few people. At this stage i think I'm either going to do it in May or July, maybe with someone else, maybe on my own. I've got a lot to sort out but i really hope that it's going to be the kind of journey I'm looking for both metaphorically and physically and hopefully by writing this blog i can look back someday with pride at what i have achieved.
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