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Today was supposed to be the first of mine and Bev’s ‘Cake Stop’ rides, however, last night we were out at a Roller Disco 40th Birthday Party and Bev lost a fight with the skates and the floor. So we did what we had to do together through the day and I sneaked in a quick 10 miles before it got dark.

Just a quick 10miler or so after work today, little faster this time, fitness coming back slowly…

Well, I was off work today so decided to go out, it was a bit chilly and frosty so I decided to do 16-20 miles depending on my route. Found after 10miles or so that my winter gear was working admirably so I decided to extend, I visited my Mam and extended yet again and ended up doing 37.5 miles. Cold in places but overall a really good day. Got a couple of photos on the way up the coast but my phone decided to die just when I found something interesting: a shed in a hedge, upside down, think the wind may have blown it over the farmer’s field. Nicely on the way to February’s 100 I reckon.

Oh, today was also the first time I’ve worn my heart rate monitor, surprised it didn’t explode once or twice when I hit sheets of ice, felt like it was going to jump out my mouth. I took it nice and easy today though and had an average of 136bpm and a max of 166bpm.

Coquet Island

Got out today when the wind dropped to blowy rather than just a gale, Bev finally got out for a full ride on her new bike, we just did a short ride round the local lake, as there’s a nice stop for refreshments at the far end. Maybe we should have had a hot drink cos it was bloody cold.

Got back on the bike this month, preparing myself for a good year of cycling. Definitely want to hit a Century ride this year, already have a route and potential date mapped out, watch this space.

I’ve already made a good start to the year by completing 100 miles in January for the first time since I joined the #12×100 friendly challenge.

January looks like this:

Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.

Bev got herself a new bike and plans to cycle a lot with me this year. She has also got her own blog to chart her cycling progress, we’ll see if she keeps that going more regularly than I do this one ;-)
You can find it at http://www.thehesitantcyclist.co.uk

A blast before work, took the MTB today and did a circuit of Ashington. Beat my previous KOM time by 4 seconds and progressed up the top 10 leaderboard of other segments despite actually stopping twice due to dogs on the route, one of which wouldn’t stop following me till I’d stopped and he ran back to his owner.  One day I’ll get a dog free ride, although as I’m out at 7am I dunno how much earlier I’ll have to head out to get that ;-)

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Quick blast before work, went out and went for it but the wind had other ideas, the uphill bit between Cresswell and Ellington was pretty crap to be honest. The ride is named Passenger as that’s the song that came on as I was heading uphill, fighting the wind and being overtaken by a bus where I was wishing I was sat on one of the seats ;-)

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 A nice leisurely ride out this morning with Bev, no pushing at all, well not for me anyway :-) We did my usual 20 miler but in reverse, with a stop for coffee and a bacon & egg sandwich.

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A nice steady Sunday blast, not pushing it just enjoying the morning, although I did do my fastest overall time for this loop. After this headed off to Ingram Valley with Bev for a picnic, was a canny Sunday overall :-)

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A quick blast before work saw me get a KOM and 2 overall top 10’s, wow, the 2 day break I gave my legs seems to have kicked them into action :-) That’s May off to a start, just got to keep it up now, not aiming for every day though, just taking each day as it comes.

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