I broke the camera

Josh and I of the Team Spent Sunday afternoon with our photographer. It was a good afternoon but Josh did nothing but complain about the cold. He needs a good meal: It's not often that I look fat, but next to Josh...

...I hope his camera still works

My legs are waking up and I'm starting to get a bit carried away, but it's not my fault. It's the Satmap!! I just followed it along roads that were sort of heading my way, on my commute home from work yesterday...

...and just kept going.

Up, down, up down, up, up, up, up and home.

Cream crackered and satisfied.

A good week. Training to train

Well, I commuted once this week, trained both days afterwards and have a good weekend planned.

Strength training, core stability, a couple of hours on the rowing machine and cross-trainer and a spin class to finish my week, means that come the 3/11/08 the proper base training can start.

I'm looking forward to it!

Good Days!

I got my spare Team bike for next year and spent the whole night fettling, when I should have been training lightly, and changing the contact points. The Azure looks nice, and that's what I'm all about. The green Team issue Ergon Grips look just the part and nearly match the ironhorse-extreme colour scheme.

We also took delivery of the Satmap Active10 and a bunch of goodies to keep it running for hours and hours. I just HAD to use it on the drive home from work and the ride in today! It's easy to use, which is good for me, because I find techy things difficult to operate when I've been awake for over 24hrs. That's kind of an important point when we talk about WC2C, I suppose.

The ride in? 14 days exactly since having "some work done."

Well, my leg is officially on the way up. I couldn't manage (and didn't try) to hit the high(ish) watts for sweet spot training that I'm meant to. That will come in two weeks, once I'm all better and properly healed. But it felt good to get out, get mown down by a bus, cut up by a car and spat at by a schoolgirl! All within a 25mile ride!

Must have been my silver shoes that did it.

Relief!

11 days ago I had knee surgery. Didn't I tell you? I'm sure I did.
Today was a good day: I managed a lap of Cwmcarn without too much hassle, and felt stronger at the end than I had anticipated. My swelling was, and remains, reduced post ride.

Riding my bike seems easier than walking, for me, at the moment since I never actually fully extend my knee in the saddle or standing to pedal.

I'll have one or two days bike commute this week to break myself into training, gently.
Building and fettling bikes for the following week, and learning how to use the Satmap

It's going to be time to make a start on the recce for the WC2C next weekend, after i ride my new "Killer Looptm" depending on knee status.

Happy Days!

Get on!

It seems that this project (remember, mine is a small part of a right old biggie) has perked lots of peoples interests.

The sponsors are showing their interest at a great rate. We have managed to secure support from the following, so far.

Ironhorse, Satmap and Skins are on the cards already, but that won't be the end of it!
I'm really happy about this, because it's the sort of stuff I already use and would buy.

The Ironhorse Mk111 is my type of bike--Take it large and hammer rocky trails with it, or ride it for hundreds of miles at a time. It's a bike that will suit most trail riders or spirited XC hounds on smooth or lumpy terrain. I wasn't allowed to buy one last year, because I had just spent a small fortune on 2 race bikes.
The satmap has the kind of functionality that you would expect from mapping software on a pc. I got to play with it at the cycle show with the designers and it was hard work, giving it back. It is going to uber useful, and worn out by the end of the year.
Skins? Well the evidence speaks for itself. How stoked am I?

I managed to go back to work 4 days after surgery on my knee. It was good to get back, which is strange for me. Cartilage, out; Hoffa's body, out; microfractures, in; partial lateral release, done; and a plica, out. I only went for a small lump removal!
I've been to the gym, spun gently on my bike, and done some weights. I will start swimming 1-2 miles (after a build-up) in the mornings once my surgical scars are waterproof.
Get On!

Back to basics

Had my knee surgery 4 days ago and am starting to get bored with having a left knee that looks like an elephants leg.

We spent the day at the cycle show on Saturday, meeting most of the sponsors for next years racing, "Welsh Coast2Coast" and the "7 Deadly Spins."

It's going to be a good year. People like what I, and my teammates are doing next year. More news soon.

At the start of the day my leg was sore, but by the end it was HUGE and a bit painful to say the least. My crutch handles were buckling under the weight I was pushing through them, and everyone else in our group was winging about their feet hurting. If only they knew!

Woke up today, and my knee range is about enough to spin on my turbo. It was nowhere near that ability yesterday, so things are looking up quite quickly!

Publish Post

Me and My Boys!

The first of many posts, I hope!

Look out for myself and the rest of the http://www.ironhorse-extreme.com team at the main 12 and 24hr events in 2009.

Booked for mid-May, 2009, I will make an attempt at the first non-stop solo ride from North Wales to South Wales coasts, on a mountainbike, offroad.

I will be riding my Iron-Horse (great name) over some of the most arduous height gains in the UK and it will be tracked by my Satnav Active10 system. It will also be logged live by feed on the internet.

330-350km and between 5 and 10000m of climbing is going to depend on the route I actually finalise over the winter, but it'll be an eye opener, that's for sure!

This is a precursor to something (actually, multiple events) even larger, so keep your eyes peeled for our names cropping up!

I hope you find what follows to be interesting.

Yours Aye,
Blanche