My best training week to date, and a total of about 63 miles.

Started off on Monday as I had my 4 month scan and blood tests at Hammersmith, and so tradition dictates that I ride there (something I have done for the last 5 years, with one or two minor exceptions). Not the most picturesque 18 miles as the route goes through the west London urban sprawl, but some miles nevertheless.

This weekend, as there was no football match, I completed a flat 29 miles on the Saturday, and followed this up with another quick 15 miles on Sunday. Although still early days, even with the little bits of cycling that I am doing, I feel my legs getting stronger, and I feel relatively comfortable about the London - Krakow ride, as we have chosen as flat a route across there as we possibly could, and with a certain level of fitness, it is relatively easy to ride long flat distances. Having said this, I once the football season finishes (in a couple of weeks) then I will start to become a bit more adventurous and start to tackle the hills around Harrow, just to build up the strength in the old legs.

I need to try and get in to the habit of cycling when I come back from work, but time and tiredness prevent this - the other option I need to investigate is trying to cycle at lunchtime!

Simon Gledhill becomes the latest person to commit to completing the whole of the Bike to the Future 2008 ride. Simon, a verteran of the original BTTF 2004 ride, is looking forward to being back in the saddle, as are the rest of the team.

Despite having another 2 days off on holiday, I do not manage to get out on the bike - instead I spend a lot of time working on the organisational aspects of the ride. I thought I had better book the ferry to Holland, as if full, then that would snooker the whole planning, and fortunately, not problems, so at least we can get across now. So my fitness comes once again from football, but at least I have managed to get the other guys in the team to agree to participate in a linked ride in July.

Inspired by actually getting outside on my bike, and having a few days off as part of the kids Easter holiday, I try to get myself going around the roads of Harrow. A familiar route that I have used frequently in the past is a variation on the old Harrow Half Marathon, and which I use if I do not want to stray too far from home (as it essentially does a loop around where I live). With one or two errands to do linked onto the route, I manage around 20 miles which after the Bolton 34 miler is a stroll.

As it was my mum’s 80th birthday this weekend, we took the opportunity to travel up to Bolton and celebrate together with the rest of the Niewiara family. This also gave me an opportunity to take my bike and go for a ride with Jordanna and Smit. So after a hearty meal and wine on the Saturday evening, the three of us, together with David (my sister’s boyfriend who will be riding the Harrow to Harwich stage) set out for what Smit said was a gentle 34 miler.

After spending an hour repairing and oiling the bike that had been stuck in my shed for 4 months), I finally managed to get onto a real saddle outdoors. There was a nip in the air, but apart from that it was a beautiful day made even better by the snow on the hills all around us. Unfortunately, Bolton is surrounded by hills, and so for the first couple of hours, we went up and down dale. Smit looked strong, I was just about managing to grind it out, and Jordanna was not far behind, although she was beaten by one or two of the steeper inclines. David, the first time in anger on his bike suffered, and was fast eating his way through my supply of bananas, flapjacks and energy gels in order to keep himself going. We finally made it to Rivington, and a welcome tea / soup to revive the spirits, and get ready for the relatively flat road home. Unfortunately, the sky started to get a bit grey, and not long into this final section home, it started to snow, and get extremely cold. We all got strung out as it was every man / woman for themselves back to base, and we finally arrived back at my sister’s house in a blizzard which was driving the snow horizontally into my sunglasses.

The ‘gentle’ ride was hard, but beneficial, and credit must go to David for managing to complete the whole lot (in the end it was a matter of survival). But it was good to get out with the rest of the team.