Emily’s written her 13th blog entry, you can read it here…
The website has been through a minor revamp, the main change being that our posts have been relegated from the front page and replaced by a version of our press release for our fundraising big push! Look out for London to Leamington stories in your local press as the unstoppable publicity machine rolls on…
We’ll keep posting here of course, and if any of you subscribed to the RSS feed that should still work.
We continue to be totally overwhelmed by the amount of money that is being donated to Ovarian Cancer Action for the London to Leamington 100 bike ride.
We have received donations totalling £1350 in the past week! (Not including any GiftAid that can be claimed)
In the early days we were able to thank donors individually, but now we just can’t keep up! We hope you know how grateful we are.
The London to Leamington 100 Team
Emily’s written a new blog entry, you can read it here…
She’s also had the camera out paparazzi style, grabbing this shot of Justin heading off for a ride…
…looks like he means business!
A big weekend for LDN2LEAM training. On Saturday Furry and I did a practice ride for the first day, and after a bit of getting lost and a diversion to a bike shop for some running repairs we completed the route. By the time we made it to Milton Keynes station to catch the train to Euston we had covered 87 miles.
Today the weekly team training ride covered 27 miles, videos from the ride are attached…
Not everyone will be familiar with this particular ditty, but it probably symbolises the clans progression through then highlands of Scotland (http://www.ccsna.org/cacmusic.htm). However, for today’s money I am referring to my wife and I and our eventful, motion-filled weekend.
We had our first attempt at two days of cycling and in the end turned out not to be too bad, for Sarah at least… On Saturday we flicked though a book of London cycles and picked out a shortish route from Battersea Park down to Putney, over the river, back though Chelsea Embankment and home. The total ride was about 23 miles, with a bonus lap of the park and was pretty good – only issue was the directions in the book which kept us guessing on the route and led to increased stopping and starting – sapping in itself and led to the main lesson that knowing the route, or being confident that someone does (Mark/Kate/Tom) makes the whole ride a lot less stressful. We also both trialled our padded shorts – not convinced they’re really worth it, but very fortunate for the masses that I got some baggy over-shorts to hide the joys of lycra. Highlight – stopping near Battersea Park on the way back and watching the last 10 mins of England/Australia.
On Sunday we went our separate ways, Sarah joined the main practice group and racked up an impressive 42 miles including the trip to/from Richmond Park. The joys of cycling East demonstrated by the conker that was thrown at Sarah as she travelled through Roehampton – good job the aim wasn’t so hot!
I decided to cycle to football once again, not really expecting the meagre 20 miler to take it’s toll… more fool me. My journey through London was not a great advertisement for cycling in the capital, I was very nearly knocked from my bike by a van turning left across me when both of us were at speed – very glad my breaks worked, and also glad that I was on a mountain bike rather than a racer as I managed to keep my balance, I know I wouldn’t have done so on a smaller bike (childhood experience…). A very apologetic Polish man shook my hand that was already shaking. We sail on and I managed to overcome my immediate fears and continue as planned. Football was a bit of hard work for me… lasted 50 mins in the end (good for my fitness, but not so good for the South London Tangerines), not having the legs to peg it up and down the touchline with the desired frequency. 4th defeat of the season, this time to the bottom place club when we should have won – but that’s another story. The cycle home wasn’t too bad, thanks to the 50 min break I had, with the only real pain being around Brixton Hill. Another 20 miles for me.
Much for Mark’s amusement more than anything, I am now starting to believe that Sarah is fitter for this challenge than I am – the after effects of both our weekends fun are not as close as I’d like. My quads are showing the pain and also have the usual Sunday League bruises, but Sarah’s recovery is really impressive… I’ve got some work to do…
Simon
Emily’s Blog
You can use this icon as the thumbnail picture for your post...
Alternatively, add the JustGiving application to your Facebook profile and choose to show your support for LDN2LEAM.
