Euro Mooch - Day 3

Woke up middle of the night to intense rain on top of the van ... Not optimistic of what the day would bring we were surprised to wake up to a beautiful day and spectacular mountains ... Why have I never been here before .. At moment sitting in town Vaduz after a longish walk. This afternoon bike is coming out and going to follow one of the many marked trails that head up the valley sides.

Euro mooch - Day 2

End of day 1 saw us finish in Luxembourg .. Schlek country :) .. Beautiful place and as it was Grace's birthday we splashed out on schnitzel and beer :)

Day 2 We lleft Luxembourg and went in search of the Tour ... We found the finish in Porrentruy, Switzerland. Found a great spot in the town but the view of the riders was all too brief in comparison to the wait for them to arrive ... You wanna 'watch' the tour then stay at home and put tv on.. You wanna 'see' the tour wait for hours in a small village :) managed to catch a glimpse of Cadel trying to claw back some seconds in the GC ... Tough rider.

We then did some cross country driving to get to the motorway again and ended up in Liechtenstein.

Euro Mooch - Day 1

After much rushing about and van having a new turbo managed to make drive to France yesterday only to arrive at campsite late and be told to go away by a stoner French lady :(

In true rebel fashion we just parked outside campsite and used facilities for free :).

Today already I have ridden the Trouee d'Arenbourg of Paris Roubaix fame ... Crazy tough section of cobbles that did its best to try and snap my steel Vaya.

Now en route to Luxembourg :)

Dirty Kanza 200 ... Completed :)

This is very much a brief update ... So 2 days ago I took on the Dirty Kanza 200 gravel grinder ... 204 miles of Kansas gravel road.

Happy to say that I finished .. 14hrs 20mins.

Slower time than I thought but on reflection I'm very happy I crossed the finishing line ... The event was superb and I'm looking forward to sitting down when I get back to the UK and writing a good race report.

Right now the recovery process is almost complete and as we are now in Colorado and travelling west seems only right to go ride some of the most iconic bike trails in the world :)

Final few days

As always happens the closer I get to an event the less time I have for blogging.

I have managed to squeeze a few good events into the final month or so having positive rides at the Colne valley Mtb challenge and the Selkirk Mtb marathon.

Recent event rides have highlighted the importance of nutrition and managing heat ... Weather is looking cool and dry for Kansas on Saturday which means easier going but far faster conditions.

This race is still a massive unknown but I'm going with the mindset to ride hard and the result at the end of the day is what it is.

Today is a day of packing .. Both bike and clothes then later a drive to Manchester to drop the dogs off and tomorrow we fly out. Hoping Friday will allow a relaxing spin and good opportunity to eat and get ready as Saturday is gonna be crazy !!!

Thanks to all that have wished me luck and let's hope my legs and lungs are fit for purpose :)

Spring ... mostly just riding bikes.

The blog has been a little neglected of late this spring ... not through lack of content as I have been busy just through I guess plain old lack of time to sit down and pour some thoughts onto the internet.

At the moment it seems if I am not riding bikes i'm building bikes .. and even when bikes are built they are needing constant love and attention as the weather is still taking its toll not to mention the miles they are having to cover.

Stand out recent events have been the Whinlatter Challenge, the Ronde van Oost and some just good honest long day rides with friends.

Whinlatter really didn't go to plan for me ... I was ill with a cold, the weather was real hot and I just didn't feel right .. however on the plus side the riding was good .. I had made a fair start and was up in the top 2o steadily making my way up through the field but I felt sick so couldn't eat so just had to survive till the end. I ended up in 26th ... worse than last year but in a field of 350 plus riders I can't feel too bad.

Ronde van Oost , a tribute ride organised by Alan Dorrington to the great Ronde Van Vlanderren road race of Belgium ... this 50 mile low key event is basically a meeting time and a route with a fantastic cake stop toward the end of the ride.

Starting at the Heritage centre in Pendle the route then takes in the quiet lanes and sections of historic cobbles the local area has to offer. As I was staying in south Manchester at Graces parents it seemed a good idea rather than drive the 30 miles to the start to up the mileage and take a ride over. Endurance racing types Dave Powell and Jason Miles were in attendance as well as top photographer Ed Rollason .. we set off in the last group and the pace although variable was comfortable.

There was some fantastic long climbs and some short sharp efforts too ... just before the cake stop a cobbled climb out of Hebden Bridge I struggled to walk up although Dave Powell made it look easy... as the climb topped out the cake started :)

Huge thank you to SportsSunday Photography for the cake stop !!

The final 15 or so miles I rode back to Pendle with a rider from Honister 92 road club, unfortunately I failed to get his name but the Ronde was rounded off with a tea cake and coffee before the ride back to Manchester. Look forward to next years.

Day rides have been a plenty .. I really haven't found many events I want to ride in the run up to Dirty Kanza so have been concentrating on just good days out on the bike.

First started with our recent spell of good weather .. definately worthy of a day off work mid week ... myself and Adam Cooke took the opportunity to go ride a long route in Swaledale .. starting out from the Dales Bike Centre as it offered both route advice and a cafe we soaked up all the best tracks the area had to offer ... long climbs then flowing descents ... Trail centres really do allow a much better appreciation of natural riding... ride a trail centre all groomed and sanitised then try and flow a natural trail with no defined line where you really have to think about what you are doing... was a pleasure to ride this route.

Now we come to this bank holiday....

Good Friday ... again myself and Adam Cooke took the time off the get some good miles in ... after the great weather we were now enduring not so great weather .. we rode a road route to Alston and back ... 130 miles ... low points being drifts of snow and Adam feeling ill after only covering 30miles .. high points being the miles are in the legs and Adam still completing a further 100 miles whilst feeling sick ... legend !!

Saturday ... finally I got to ride the Salsa Vaya .. went out on the local club run so got a decent 50 miles in at least ... mixed it in the faster longer ride .. constantly stretching legs until only 3 riders were left then had to sit up as the previous days ride stiffened up my legs.

The Vaya was a pleasure to ride ... even if I subsequently discovered my cranks weren't spinning freely .. it really is the right tool for the job and i'm very happy to be taking it to Dirty Kanza ..

Sunday .. the mountain bike came out for a local 2 hour loop .. I really like this mountain bike ... I actually might keep this one :)

Today .. an easy spin on the turbo ready for another solid week of training :)

Hoping that the weather forecasts are works of fiction and next weekend will see some better weather as I want to do a VERY long days riding :)

Numbers

Cycling is all about the numbers ... HR Zones, Power Readings, Mileage covered, Minutes in intervals ... number, numbers, numbers !!!

Well my important numbers this week are 83 and 16.7.

83, my weight in kilos .... when I started weighing myself at the start of the year I was at a staggering 87kg ... hefty for a cyclist .. i've not been dieting ... i've just been on the bike ALOT more and i'm happy with the current trend of weight loss... by the time Dirty Kanza comes around I should be south of 80kg without any drastic weight loss plan and hanging on to good old fashioned diesel strength .. i'm not the fastest guy but I can hold a speed for a long time :)

16.7, my average speed in mph recorded on Saturdays training ride ... I covered a distance of 83 miles .. the first 50 were hilly with some decent climbs then the remainder were fairly flat .. using the cross bike on the Halo Twin Rail 38c tyres and a good mix of road and gravel. If I can hold that average for another 117 miles on a ride then I will be in good shape for a decent finish at Dirty Kanza.

The weather is now showing good signs that spring is firmly on its way .. winter gear has given way to arm warmers and knee warmers :) .. miles in the sun over the next few months :)