As it was the Bank Holiday weekend myself and smit decided to go to his mum and dads caravan in Pateley Bridge (not far from Skipton).  We took our bikes with us with the intention of doing some hardcore cycling……….which we did. 

25/05/08 - Smit mapped the ride, with a bit of guidance from his dad who suggested the route.  Although the weather was sunny it was very windy which did not help the some of the big hills we endured.  The first hill was a mammoth one……….and I had to stop at the 3/4 stage whilst I watched Smit struggle on in the distance.  After composing myself I got back into it and managed to meet smit halfway up the hill to which he gasped……..’I feel sick…..i think I’m gonna be sick’!!  Luckily he wasn’t.  We took a breather before setting back up hill.  I discovered that setting off on steep hills is not an easy task and soon found myself in a heap on a grass verge amidst numerous thistles!!!!!  Finally managed to get going again and soon reached the top.  All in all the ride after this was good, although the wind was proving to be tough at times.  We cycled a total of 30 miles

 26/05/08

Again a very windy day, even worse than the previous day. The ride itself was relatively flat, however the wind appeared to make even the smallest incline a challenge! No matter which way we cycled it seemed the wind was constantly against us. The route was a total of 55 miles which is my longest ride to date. Although by the end of the ride my legs felt like jelly I now feel confident in being able to cycle a fair distance.

If I thought last week was bad, then this week was even worse - I have not even touched my bike.

I was in Keighley again for work, but by the time we finished a long day, it was too late to go out cycling, and so once again, I left it all for the weekend. Unfortunately for the cycling, I made the mistake of agreeing to play football for my veterans team on Saturday. The game ended in a 5-5 draw, but it was worth it as I scored a cracker of a goal - left foot piledriver into the top corner. Although it looked spectacular (which it was), some years ago I probably would not have scored this goal as in reality the shot was a very ‘low percentage’ option, however, playing at my age, sometimes you are so knackered when you get the ball that you have to take this low percentage option as anythings else requires too much energy. But I’ll take it!

This meant that Sunday was a write off cycling-wise as it was all I could do to get my creaking muscles to get me down stairs. Anyway, I have now decided that that must be my last game of the season as, with only 2 months to go before the real thing, I really do need to get some serious miles under my belt.

On the organisation front, everything seems to be fitting into place and with all of the linked rides we are just about three quarters of the way around the world with all of the pledged miles, and with getting on for 300 people who will be doing some form of cycling event.

This was my last week in my 20’s.  Was it all going to go downhill from now on?  Do things really start to ache? Will I be going to bed at 10pm? Well the answer is no, not yet anyhow.  I have noticed that my hangovers (which there have been many this week!) have take me a little longer to recover from.  As it was half term the following week, Jordanna and I decided to visit my folks caravan up near Grassington.  My Dad had told me of a couple of rides that we could do and mentioned that there was a hill that was steep and that we wouldn’t be able to get up it.  How I wanted to prove him wrong, but as ever he was right.  I started strong and adopted the “out of saddle ride experience”, my breathing was deep and rhythmic and I felt good.  Not more than 500 yards up my legs were burning, my breathing was all over the place and I felt bad. The local cud chewers must have wondered what on earth this thing was as I puffed, panted and grunted slowly past them.  I wanted to stop however an army jeep had pulled into a layby to allow me to pass (this was a narrow, steep Yorkshire hill), so they sat in their vehicle waiting (and for me it felt like they waited a long time!) as I slowly but surely crept past them.  I managed a weak and feeble ”thankyou” to their smiling faces and stopped with a sudded urge to vomit. Anyway enough of the hill.  The rest of the ride was a good and now the hill is a distant memory.

Not really the best week in terms of miles - only a poultry 20 miles to and from Hammersmith Hospital. I was there to visit a dietician to whom I had been referred following my last results at the hospital because for the first time since pancreatic cancer became part of my daily life, I have started to lose weight (mainly due to not being able to keep it in my body for long enough!). The verdict was that I need to eat more, and more frequently, and in general eat more fat. So I duly started to eat more!

I was then hoping to do some serious cycling over the weekend, but despite the weather being good, I felt absolutely wiped out - a mixture of work, and I think a virus laid me low. Over the years I have learnt to ‘listen to my body’ and knew there would be no value in trying to push myself through it, and instead look to fight on another day.

A poor week overall, however I managed to drag myself out of bed at 6.00am to begin my first early morning ride to school.  I gave myself extra time to get there due to the fact that even though my eyes were open I was not sure whether my legs were awake.  I surprised myself in getting there with just the caretaker to bid me a “mornin, cycled have we?”. Nothing else to report on although i’ve still not managed to get my computer working.  I’ll keep at it.