Buttercups with Bob

Ha! A Break in the 'iced up roads weather'... one must trundle with haste!

Decided to chance fate and headed to Buttercups Cafe nr Wooten Warwen (all previous attempts to frequent this cafe for a second visit have been thwarted!)

Ride went as planned, plenty of flooded roads but easy to ride through - nicely stopped to assess one flooded bit just as a passing cyclist went by, nice of him to test the depth out for us. 😀

At Buttercups we both selected the choc-orange cake.

As it was the last of the cake on display the owner very generously decided to give us a slice and a half each - muchos thankos! Went down well although cake was a little dry - assume because it was the last of it.

41 miles later we triumphantly returned from whence we came all caked and tea-ed out! 😳

A post shared by TheKay (@thekay666) on Jan 25, 2018 at 3:45am PST

Sunday Trundle

Surprised to wake up to rideable weather this morning so, as I fitted new brake blocks yesterday I decided to go out for another trundle to bed them in, this time 24 miles.

Having get out as and when this month as the temps are near freezing overnight and I don't do ice.

More freezing temps forcast for the next week or so... at least I got over 40 miles in this weekend! 😏

Becketts Bakery Baps

As it looks like ice for tomorrow I decided to knock gym on the head and ride 16 miles to Beckets Farm Bakery as I needed brown baps for my burgers for tea.

Upon arrival I discovered wheel benders attached to the wall just left of the entrance, secure enough to lean bike sideways against 2-3 of them and lock to bike frame... sorted!

Inside the bakery was choc full of cakes, bread and rolls - managed to be good and avoid buying extra goodies, mainly because I've still got leftovers from the festive period to scoff!!!

Nice little trundle out and about and nice baps! 😀

40mph wind!

Nope.. not from my backside...

First ride for 2018 - After a lazy festive season I managed to drag my ass outta bed before 10am, bit of a miracle to be honest!

Quick look at the forcast revealed 40mph wind predicted from around 1pm onwards.

Almost went back to bed in favour of gym this afternoon but the angry devil on my shoulder insisted I don my kit, scoff a banana, drink some water and get outside...

The odd gust but wasn't too bad and didn't get blown off - worse bit was leaning left into the wind on the Earlswood Lakes stretch with a car up my backside.

Just as I got back a few spots of rain started to fall... perfect timing!

20 miles within 2 hours, that'll do.

The 40mph gusts happened a few hours later.

My bike needs washing and a rear brake pad change.

Todays' Fuel:
Banana & glass of water (pre ride brekkie)
Peanut butter and banana sarnie (post ride)
Slice of  Xmas fruit cake (post ride)
5 Cadburys Roses (post ride)

(Still got another 2 boxes of chocs, fudge cake and cheese and crackers to get through yet!)

Boxin' Day!

Bit unwell so my Xmas riding plan is out the window and shall mostly be spending the festive break sitting about stuffing my face 😄

Felt good enough to ride today so went out on an easy flat mini tour in a vain attempt to offset the Xmas excess, wasn't too bad afterward.. still tired me out though.

17 miles covered.

Today's Fuel:
Chocs before ride
Water during ride
Chocs after ride

Closedcups

It is the Winter Solstice today yippee the days will start getting longer... eventually!

First proper ride in 3 weeks as I woke up to Winter Wonderland last weekend... and it was lovely! The aftermath was unrideable roads for a week and a half due to ice, I also wasn't feeling 100% either... aw well.

Decided to embark on a ride out to Buttercups Cafe in Great Alne with Bob & Paul. Unfortunately Bob had a wheel issue at around 7 miles in and had to about turn so I ended up riding alone.

Upon arrival at Buttercups I was greeted with a note on the door saying closed due to flooded kitchen, the owner then appeared and apologised for inconvenience, I hope the damage wasn't too severe.

Decided to carry on without stopping anywhere else, t'was nice to get out on the road again.

Distance: 41 miles

Today's Fuel:
Haribo's
4 Fig Rolls
1ltr water

Mini solo Wattbike sesh!

After my local Fitness First gym closed down at the end of May (damn you Lidl!!!) I spent the summer just doing cycling for fitness, as winter is drawing in it was time to join a new gym... enter Cocksmoor Woods Leisure Centre with it's brand new SERCO gym and facilities!

Rather than go to Body Combat I decided to download the Wattbike App and have a mini sesh, luckily I had mostly remembered what I learned at the intro Wattbike sesh at the Cycle Centre back in August. Once I found my way around the app I spent about 25 mins on the bike altogether - legs were a bit heavy when I got off! Think I will ease off the pressure a bit next time. 😳

Rather impressed the app synced directly with Strava.

After a warmup I tried the 3 minute fitness test - did it a bit wrong - turns out I'm supposed to hold 3 minutes at same intensity not go flat out and blow up! In my defence my phone did say target heart rate 230bpm!! 😮

Averaging 21mph over 3 minutes isn't to be sniffed at though! 😄