Training has started again in earnest! The four of us ALL got out on Saturday 16th April so I planned a route from Witney to Cheltenham and back (Here). It was a really pleasant route alongside the A40 using the smaller B roads. The outwards journey was very hilly and took quite a while, there were also some extremely dodgy road surfaces which the guys weren’t too happy about, but, as I keep telling the guys… “It’s character building”.
We had lunch in Cheltenham (scrambled egg and smoked salmon, which was very nice by the way) and decided not to go my “off-road” route home and instead took the more direct A40 straight back to Witney. I had reservations about this as it’s a busy road, but I suppose we’ll experience similar situations on the JOGLE so off we went.
The route out of Cheltenham included a steady climb of about 650ft over 10 miles and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s not as social as you can’t ride side by side, but it was a lot quicker. The ride, including almost an hour stop, was 6 hours at an average overall pace of 10.5 mph. This is approximately what I’ve planned for the JOGLE and as you can see from the picture below, the terrain was similar to what we'll experience (harder than day 1) so I think we are well on track.
We had lunch in Cheltenham (scrambled egg and smoked salmon, which was very nice by the way) and decided not to go my “off-road” route home and instead took the more direct A40 straight back to Witney. I had reservations about this as it’s a busy road, but I suppose we’ll experience similar situations on the JOGLE so off we went.
The route out of Cheltenham included a steady climb of about 650ft over 10 miles and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It’s not as social as you can’t ride side by side, but it was a lot quicker. The ride, including almost an hour stop, was 6 hours at an average overall pace of 10.5 mph. This is approximately what I’ve planned for the JOGLE and as you can see from the picture below, the terrain was similar to what we'll experience (harder than day 1) so I think we are well on track.
Wayne and I set off for Wales in the early hours of Friday 22nd April as we were invited to join my mountain-biking mates for two days on the trails near Dolgellau in Snowdonia. It became very apparent, very quickly that Wales is mountainous! I’ve never been around Snowdonia before and I have to say it scared the bejesus out of me! But... What a weekend! The trails were fantastic and if anyone fancies a bit of serious off-roading I would thoroughly recommend it. However, it does hurt if you fall off! Which, of course, I did…Twice!
The first fall did the most visual damage and was the funniest. On the very first trail of the first day after only 20 metres!!! I followed the guys into the trees, went too slowly over a rock step, buried the front wheel and went straight off the track over the handlebars and into a thorn bush… I had a few cuts down my leg, but nothing too bad.
The first fall did the most visual damage and was the funniest. On the very first trail of the first day after only 20 metres!!! I followed the guys into the trees, went too slowly over a rock step, buried the front wheel and went straight off the track over the handlebars and into a thorn bush… I had a few cuts down my leg, but nothing too bad.
The second could’ve been sooooo much worse! It was only half an hour after the first and I had lost any fragile confidence that I had in the first place!!! I was faced with a drop, again, I took it too slowly and the front wheel stopped, my weight was too far forward and I went over the handlebars AGAIN! This time I bruised just about everything! My shoulder, my legs, my elbows and my face actually hit the floor! I have the slightest graze on my chin! Although I still ache 2 days later, I could have been in a real mess.
Even with all the climbs, (total for the weekend was 7,600 feet in 47 miles!) the weekend was great. I actually enjoyed the climbs, to the horror of everyone else. But I figured that the ups earned the downs, and as I was getting faster on the downs, I was at least enjoying the downs by the second day!
Here are the route’s we did:
Day 1 here
Day 2 here
By the way, our fundraising’s going well, we’re up to £4,683.03 now. We have another Pig Race Night on May 7th in Middle Barton, Come along if you can, it’ll be a great night!
Come back soon to www.5blokes-end2end.weebly.com and please donate as much as you can at www.justgiving.com/5blokes-end2end
All the best,
Nathan
Even with all the climbs, (total for the weekend was 7,600 feet in 47 miles!) the weekend was great. I actually enjoyed the climbs, to the horror of everyone else. But I figured that the ups earned the downs, and as I was getting faster on the downs, I was at least enjoying the downs by the second day!
Here are the route’s we did:
Day 1 here
Day 2 here
By the way, our fundraising’s going well, we’re up to £4,683.03 now. We have another Pig Race Night on May 7th in Middle Barton, Come along if you can, it’ll be a great night!
Come back soon to www.5blokes-end2end.weebly.com and please donate as much as you can at www.justgiving.com/5blokes-end2end
All the best,
Nathan