New Year and all that…

It’s with the usual sense of shock that I realise I haven’t updated this blog in some time. It’s not entirely surprising as since my last post I’ve only made it to the gym 2-3 times, walked 3-4 times, and have done no running or cycling. Some of this has been due to a new business venture I’m putting together, which has been consuming all my recreational time, including my exercise time, but essentially it’s poor time management and some misplaced priorities. What’s worse is that I’ve put even more weight on: I’m back over 120kg. In all, it’s abysmal.

Conversely, Tarkwin has been making great strides in his physical health plan. He’s almost down to my minimum from last year and is looking worlds better for it. People may seem — or say they are — happy when fat and overweight, but the physical, emotional and hormonal benefits of slimming down are undeniable. You don’t have to be the ridiculous “ideal weight” than the BMI fantasy encourages, but somewhere in the broader Overweight category is worlds better than Obese (or higher).

With my return to work this week, after a lovely break over Christmas and the New Year (happy new year, all!), I plan to resume my exercising. As might be expected, already there has been a speedbump in that plan as yesterday I managed to hurt my lower back whilst carrying stuff downstairs into the garage and slipping on the icy steps. Not ideal, but I know it’s just a speedbump. I’ll be careful with it and start out easy.

My shoulder is still not completely healed, as evidenced whenever I happen to sneeze. It’s making me think that I may never be able to resume recurve or traditional archery. I might be able to do compound archery (referred to as The Dark Side because it’s as far from conventional archery as it’s possible to be), but even that’s not certain right now. Besides, I feel that I need to regain my core strength and basic core fitness before I consider it.

Fortunately (for me) it’s the middle of winter, so nobody in their right mind is riding a motorcycle with any regularity. While this means my riding skills are going rusty (I find that even a week without driving a car makes my driving feel uncoordinated for a short time), it does mean I’m not tempted to try out a ride on the bike. The sore back also puts paid to this for now. I suspect I’ll need to think about a more upright bike soon enough, especially if the shoulder continues as it has. The original plan was for a touring bike anyway, so now maybe it’ll become a necessity. Still, we’ll see once the sun rediscovers the northern hemisphere.

I’ve also made the decision to completely give up fullbore target rifle. It’s not just because of the bad experience I had with my previous club, but also because the government and the MOD (as owners of the ranges most people shoot on) keeps adding more and more hurdles and requirements to clubs and members. As it’s not something I’m prepared to invest time in to become a competitive shooter, I may as well accept that it’s more effort than it’s worth and be shot of the increasingly wearisome responsibility of having a sniper rifle in my house. Increasing bureaucracy seems to be a sure-fire way of discouraging me from anything…

So there we have it. I’ve let myself go and am feeling physically and mentally bad for it (this is different from the “how could I have let this happen?” guilt/disgust, which also exists) and I’m full of good intentions and a plan to rectify it. Time to strap up my rustbucket of a body and rediscover my motivation.

Wish me luck!

The bike ride that wasn’t

Today’s plan was to do the now-familiar towpath circuit – from Caversham Bridge to the Kennet mouth, up the Kennet towpath to the Oracle, through west Reading’s quiet roads back to the start – and to finish it off with a nice lunch at the Riverside Restaurant. Tarkwin and I had arranged to meet by the bridge at 10:00, which would have timed it nicely.

As I was putting my shoes on and getting ready to head out the door, Tarkwin rang… to ask me to pick him up in my car with my bike rack attached. Turns out he’d bent his front wheel trying to get past a gate by Rivermead Leisure Centre. I got there to find a sheepish grin and a bike with a bent wheel – short of doing a wheelie all the way home, that bike wasn’t going anywhere fast.

So we loaded the bike onto the rack, dropped it off at his place and went to The Gorge Cafe, on the opposite corner of the roundabout from the restaurant, and had a nice fry-up instead. It’s a place I’ve wanted to visit for years, and I wasn’t disappointed – a proper English-style diner, but without the 1950s aluminium-and-lino decor and grime. Then went for a wander down to the waterfront and sat watching the world go by for an hour. It wasn’t as strenuous a morning as we’d planned, but it was a pleasant substitute.

Pleasant for me: I don’t have to fork out £50+ for a new wheel.

Lunchtime ride around town

Got a text last night from Tarkwin asking if I fancied meeting him for lunch at the Riverside Restaurant, a place I’ve wanted to visit for ages. We arranged to meet out in the back patio area, which has nothing but a low wall and the towpath between patrons and the water. Then plan was to then ride along the towpath to the Kennet mouth, up to AW Cycles, back into the Reading town centre to stop by Tarkwin’s office, and then whatever. In all a lovely way to spend the afternoon when we’re both on holiday.

Today day was humid, though the ride to the restaurant was fine, and there was a nearby bike rack so we could lock the bikes up without having to have them cluttering up the outdoor dining area. Sitting a couple of metres from the water, enjoying a club sandwich and orange juice while watching the world cycle, run or stroll past was very relaxing. After lunch had settled, we headed east along the towpath to the Kennet mouth and the footbridge.

As Tarkwin wanted to stop by his office and go to AW Cycles, we decided against riding along the Kennet towpath, so went back the way we came and crossed Reading Bridge, dodging the roadworks. We took the back roads through Lower Caversham, nicely avoiding all the traffic, and came out onto the Henley Road exactly opposite the bike shop. We spent 20-odd mins in there with Tarkwin pointing at things and cooing (“Ohh, shiny!” was a common theme). Though in the end it was only me who bought something: all-weather chain and bearing lube.

It was when we got out that I realised my Forerunner had been left running, but it could be worse. We waited for the rain to subside and then headed back the way we’d come and over Reading Bridge, then going up past Forbury Gardens and around to the eastern end of Friar Street. While Tarkwin was in his office picking up whatever it was he needed, I sat on a bench enjoying the scenery… there was plenty walking past.

Then we decided to call it a day, as Tarkwin was feeling worse for wear. Something about being an old man…? When we parted ways, I headed down to Forbury Road by the station, back under the railway bridge and onto the towpath to Caversham Bridge and home.

In all it was just over 9 miles of riding. The total time out was 3.5 hours, but the actual time in motion was 1 hour, which is not a bad average speed of 6.7 min/mile (or 9mph). Here’s the MotionBased data.

Today was my first ride with the new cycling shorts and handlebars. The shorts made a huge difference – the outer shorts were comfortable and looked nice, and the inner padded shorts made a huge difference on the saddle. It doesn’t feel like I’ve ridden at all – no chafing and no pain. Highly recommended.

Saturday gym & bike bits

Encouraged by Tarkwin last night, I decided to ride to the gym this morning. Except before leaving I got a text from him to tell me he wasn’t well. So I went out on the bike anyway, knowing now that it’s an easy ride and chose the waterfront promenade route that took me into the leisure centre by the back route. I just love spending time by the water. (Yes, you’ll hear me repeat that often now).

As I’d ridden the 2 miles to the leisure centre, I chose to remove the bike from my scheduled workout. No point in doubling up – especially when I still had to ride home. And 4 miles real riding trumps 9 minutes on a gym bike!

On this penultimate workout of my programme, some of the weights are becoming quite demanding and, in retrospect, this is probably something I should have rectified earlier on. Most of the circuit on this programme was too easy to manage – defeats the idea of the sets and reps, where you should find yourself almost unable to complete the final set (some say that for all sets).

Anyway, the workout went well – saw a number of faces I hadn’t seen for ages, including the Jennifer Garner look-alike, despite the gym being almost empty again. Perhaps it’s because of the weather, or perhaps everyone’s away on holiday this time of year. Either way, I don’t mind – it’s nice not to have to fight for a machine. The ride home was uneventful, though I am noticing it becoming easier, as one would expect.

Made a visit to AW Cycles in the afternoon, as it’s only a couple of miles from my place, and used that as an excuse to use my bike rack for the first time. I’d purchased a Saris Bones 3 bike rack not long after I bought my mountain bike, the idea was that my former girlfriend and I would go riding in interesting places, but for whatever reason that never happened. Have to say that it’s as solid as a rock on the back of the hatchback.

The reason for the visit to the bike shop was to get advice on the numb hands, lower back pain, aching neck and saddle chafing. I was fully expecting to need to buy kit to resolve most of these, and wasn’t disappointed. After chatting with a chap named Andy, he recommended an adjustable stem, swept MTB handlebars, a set of thick grips, and an extension bracket. The stem should allow me to adjust my height and reach, the bars should reduce the twisting required to hold on (as I had to do with the flat bars), the thick grips should make it easier to hold on (my hands are larger than averager), and the extension bracket will allow me to keep all 4 items on my handlbars: bell, bike computer, Polar/Forerunner mount and front light.

I also picked myself up a set of cycling shorts – not the lycra/spandex abominations you see on audax, track and road-racers, but knee-length baggy shorts that look just like your everyday outdoorsy shorts, but they have all sorts of tech in them: clip-in removable padded lycra shorts (removing the liner makes them plain old tech shorts), air vents, map pockets, plenty of other well-placed pockets, seamless inner thigh/crotch, cut to not impede cadence, etc, etc. Pretty great pair of shorts, all round. I know it’s only a pair of shorts, but I’m looking forward to being able to ride without chafing or feeling like my seat is trying to tear me a new one.

When I got home they needed to be fitted. Without delay, of course. It’s the rules. So an hour or so later 95% of the fitting was complete, with just some cable re-tying of bike computer wires to do, and possibly trim 1-2cm off the handlebar ends. I’ve leave the latter for a while as I need to make sure it’s needed and that I don’t remove too much – it’s easy to trim a bar end, but infinitely more difficult to extend one.

Wednesday evening bike ride

Got home a little later this evening, but still decided to get out for a ride. It’s summer… might as well make the most of the extended sunlight. I was keen to do the 6-7 mile route I had planned the other day, so headed off with the plan in my head, using the bike computer for cadence and the Garmin Forerunner for everything else (route mapping, speed, heartrate, distance, etc).

I stopped briefly by Reading bridge and somehow hit Stop on the Garmin. I didn’t realise this until I was well along the Kennet towpath and looked down and saw a resolute 1.75 miles staring back at me. While it’s no great drama, it does mean all the stats and mapping will be screwed up for that period, shortening the apparent ride time, etc. As can be seen on MotionBased.

The ride along both towpaths was lovely, and I’m very impressed with the waterside properties alongside the Kennet. It seems they’re the 1970s equivalent of the shiny apartment blocks being built elsewhere along the waterside towards the centre of town. Were I still a renter, I’d be tempted.

I screwed up as I got near the Oracle. The plan was to continue on the towpath/footpaths past the front of the Oracle and turn up Bridge St, but I ended up turning sooner and going through Minster St and St Marys Butts (such an odd name), then I was back on track up Castle St & Castle Hill. Then once on Tilehurst Rd I somehow missed the planned turn onto Prospect St, which would have taken me all the way to Great Knollys Street, out onto the footpathed part of the IDR, and an easy ride back.

By missing this turn and continuing to look for it, I extended my ride by almost 2.3 miles, almost a mile of which was along Oxford Rd, which is not known for its road friendly or sane drivers – even gone 8pm. It was an experience that I’m actually pleased to have done, as drivers in this country make me nervous (most are nutters, one way or another – sorry, but 7 years here shows me it’s true). Here’s the route in red and the missed turning in blue:

I suppose using the Garmin’s route feature might help with this in future. Might have to play with it properly some time – unlike my childhood, these days I often learn just what I need from a gadget and use it, discovering additional things later on. And I call myself a gadget geek…

I had two short breaks in all, both <2 miles from home. The main reason was numbness in my hands, which from what I’ve read in most likely caused by configuration problems (seat adjustment, handlebar adjustment, stem height, etc) rather than me being a lard arse. I’d adjusted the seat slightly before heading out – tilted the horn down so it was level – and it didn’t make a huge difference. I suspect the problem now is the stem height or the handlebars, as they’re a straight bar which makes my wrists twist to rest on them. I might pop into AW Cycles on Saturday for some advice – numb hands, sore neck and aching lower back aren’t normal.

The home stretch was quiet and uneventful. When I got back I was totally knackered, though none of my rides so far have required the use of Ventolin – my asthma hasn’t featured at all. The total calorie burn – according to the Garmin that has the missing chunk of time – was 1,100 calories. Assuming that’s more like 1,300-1,400, I’m very impressed. That’s like a gym session and a 2 mile run rolled into one. Tired or not, I’m feeling very good about myself. The map below shows the hand-entered route.

Monday evening bike ride

Got home from work this evening, got changed and headed straight out the door for a bike ride without giving myself a chance to change my mind. Only this time I remembered my helmet and gloves – makes the handgrips much more comfortable. This gave me the chance to try out the new Supergel saddle and hybrid tyres I bought from Halfords yesterday afternoon. The ride was certainly a lot quieter and – even with the remnants of yesterday’s saddle-sore backside – it was a lot nicer all round.

This time when I got down to the Thames towpath, I turned west and kept going until the bike computer said 3 miles, then turned around and headed home again. I figure a 6 mile ride would be a good solo starting point as it was a gentle increase from yesterday’s bumble and I could get a measure of myself. It turned out to be very easy – hardly surprising as the lion’s share was along a river towpath, which aren’t noted for their hills and valleys – and was extremely relaxing. So I spent much of the ride getting used to suitable gears, finding the ideal cadence that I could maintain, and thinking about keeping my heart rate in the right zone.

Along the way I found numerous places that would make for excellent picnic, fishing, sitting on the bank and general relaxation. My favourite place in the world has always been on the bank of a fresh water source. I’m going to be spending a lot of time along that route.

The track varied from proper tarmac at the start, as it’s a riverfront promenade for 1/4 mile or more, then it turns into a gravel track of varying width, sometimes with brambles, stinging nettles and such up close on both sides, and other times a track through a big grassy open area, then back to a narrow track again. Shortly before the halfway mark I came to some buildings by the waterfront and tarmac covered carpark with a few businesses (boat repairs, engineering, etc), and then it was back to a narrow scrub-lined track.

View Interactive Map on MapMyRide.com

The track varied from proper tarmac at the start, as it’s a riverfront promenade for 1/4 mile or more, then it turns into a gravel track of varying width, sometimes with brambles, stinging nettles and such up close on both sides, and other times a track through a big grassy open area, then back to a narrow track again. Shortly before the halfway mark I came to some buildings by the waterfront and tarmac covered carpark with a few businesses (boat repairs, engineering, etc), and then it was back to a narrow scrub-lined track.

I only had to dismount a few times along the route. Once because I decided to stop and smell the roses (an opening onto the waterfront, so sat down on the bank and enjoyed the scenery, rowers, etc) and other times because of passing people on really narrow bits, and once (each way) for a stile near the waterfront business area.

That was a thoroughly enjoyable time spent on my bike. I’ve seen parts of Reading in the last two days that I was completely unaware of, and I’ve burned over 1,200 calories doing so (690 yesterday and 550 today, which was surprising, as today I averaged a greater speed for almost the same time on the bike as yesterday). I’d go again tomorrow if I could but I have a work do in the evening, so it will have to wait until Wednesday – if the weather behaves.

That kind of eagerness is a good sign, don’t you think?

Sunday bike ride

Having seen that the forecast for today was supposed to be brilliant – around 20°C with only 10% chance of rain – I rang Tarkwin last night to talk him into the idea of going out for a bike ride this morning. I’ve only used the bike twice before – once for a less-than-stellar short ride with my ex-girlfriend and once in a poorly chosen ride to the gym during my induction. Much to my surprise he agreed, so we arranged to meet by Caversham Bridge, where the ramp goes down to the Thames Path. And he was still agreeable to it when I rang at 9:30am this morning to double-check – even better.

The plan was a ride east along the Thames towpath at least as far as the River Kennet mouth – and possibly as far as Thames Valley Park, where the local model aircraft club fly – then west along the Kennet towpath past The Oracle, up Bridge St and Castle St/Hill, and then the West Reading back roads back to the bridge. The total trip, including to and from home, is ~6.5 miles – most of it along easy towpaths.

We met by the Three Men In A Boat, as planned, and Tarkwin looked very much the worse for wear, so we rested and chatted for as long as was needed. I completely sympathise with him on this, as during my first ride on the bike (mentioned above), at one point I had to get off, sit down and watched as my vision became a bright pinprick and my hearing got muffled – Very Bad. He wasn’t that bad today, but near enough. After showing him the Cycling in Reading pamphlet (courtesy of the excellent Sustrans website), he decided he wanted to try riding along the towpath to Tesco, then back via the route originally planned.

The towpath ride was nice and relaxing, though Tarkwin was trying to conserve energy by pedalling furiously in a spurt then coasting until a near stop; rinse and repeat. It seemed to work for him, though I chose a lower gear and followed in a more relaxing style (remembering to stand on the pedals while coasting to stop the seat from trying to enter my body through my perinaeum). I might see about getting a softer saddle.

We got to Tesco, had a rest and then I remembered that I had a groceries delivery scheduled for sometime in the next 2 hours (11am-1pm), so we went back the way we came and parted ways by the bridge. The ride from the bridge to home was the hardest of the ride, as most of it is an uphill slope.

View Interactive Map on MapMyRide.com

Although the start was hard work for Tarkwin, and we both found the saddles agony, we’ve agreed to continue riding. It was fun, and it’s a nice way to get out, enjoy fresh air and improve fitness. Roll on next weekend!

Gym induction – Part 2

This morning was part 2 of the gym induction, so I jumped on my mountain bike and took the plunge of riding to the leisure centre. Tarkwin was already there, and was filling in his membership form. Now we’re both tied in (mentally) to this whole gym malarky.

This time we were with Lindsay, whose job it was to take us through a full workout as per the new programme Claire had drawn up for us, and making tweaks as needed. Lindsay looked at it wide-eyed, then looked at us. Oh dear. It seems as though Claire mistook our “we’ve been doing run/walk for the last week” as “we’ve been running daily for a month or so”. Still, that’s what the initial guided workout is for…

The start of the programme is warm-up and cardio, so here it is:

• Elliptical machine for 12 minutes. It became evident after 4 minutes that it was too much, so I dropped it down a couple of notches and was able to complete the exercise without falling over. Definitely a leg munching machine – my thighs were burning.
• Treadmill, the trusty workhorse of gyms and spare rooms worldwide. The exercise was simply walking for 10 minutes on an alternating flat and 3.0 gradient. That was no problem, though it was substantially faster than either of us normally walk.
• Rowing machine for 10 minutes in cycles of 30 seconds “fast” (2:30min/500m) and 2 minutes slow. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to do this without much difficulty, as the last time I tried a rower (over 10 years ago) it floored me.
• Reclining bike for 10 minutes on the same profile as the treadmill. This was okay, too, despite having ridden to the centre.

The only real difference between Claire’s recommendations and revised reality is the level of settings on each of the machines. Where one machine might have had ‘4′ recommended, it was dropped to ‘3′ (or ‘2′ in one case), and so on. So not glaringly wrong – just a little… ambitious, perhaps.

As that all took the better part of an hour, we had to leave it at that and make another booking to do the second half of the programme – weights – another time. So we’ve booked in for Thursday evening, but I’m planning on going down before then and doing the part we’d just done. No point in wasting the opportunity.

Then came the fun bit. I’d ridden there, so I had to ride home. Winded, sweating and with legs that very much wanted to be put up in front of the (new) telly. The ride home was fine, but was nearly all a very gentle uphill climb, such is the layout of the area in which I live. I was very fortunate in that I was able to ride through the valley floor, rather than having to go up the side of it and back down again. Even so, as I approached the end of the trip where there’s a sharp slope leading up to my house, my legs were calling me all sorts of names, and packed up just as I reached my garage door.

I’d call that a successful workout, when coupled with the ride there and back. Taken to the edge but not over it.