Lion Vets, Bike Polo and Mr Berridge Challenge

Well, in 9 days time I will have said hello to 36 people and on my way on the 1st day of the cycle.

To update everyone from the Saturday's post. I got up on Sunday with lots of enthusiasm, a bowl of slow releasing Muesli inside me and cup of Coffee to fuel my energy for the football match against Bristol Lion Vets. That is short for Veterans, although there is a Zoo in Bristol and Longleat (both with Lions), I do not think there is  a big demand for Lion Vets to make a whole football team. I started the game really well 1st half, but I tried to do a few things like a Cruyff turn in the middle of the pitch when we were getting back into the game. We were 4-2 down with chances to score coming and I tried a bit of skill, lost it, they scored and our heads went down. We lost 8-2 in the end.

After the game I went to a Bike Polo tournament to watch, the only reason I didn't enter was because I was playing football. Perhaps with hindsight I should have sacked off football. The tournament was really good fun and the skills of the players were immense. Predictably two London teams got to the final, but it was a good turnout with 2 London teams, 2 Sheffield, 2 Oxford, 3 Cardiff and 3 from Bristol. There was a Bike mechanic on site which I went to, I asked him to have a quick look at my gears as I have been having a few issues recently. He said I was missing a vital screw in my front derailleur, I probably should get that sorted. He also mentioned I was missing half a pedal and I explained that it happened 2 years ago, I have never been bothered to fix it, too lazy. 

In other news,

• I picked up a new smartphone Monday night so hopefully I will be able to update on my location when cycling.
• The cycling Tour of Britain is going on and the stage 4(South West) winner finished yesterday 110 miles in 4 hours 30. I will see how I get on next weekend!
• This Saturday I will be cycling a custom bike with a barrel of Cider from Bath to the Full Moon pub in Stokes Croft as part of the BristolCycleFestival.

Louis

It was acceptable in the 80s- Overtraining and The FA Cup

I received a training pack through the post, from the charity in the week. This raised loads of questions in my mind especially the paragraph about overtraining.

Signs of over training

• A raised resting heart rate
• Disturbed sleep
• General Tiredness
• A lack of enthusiasm for riding

So let me recap this last couple of weeks, I have had a couple of disturbed sleeps. This is because I had been watching Big Brother, going to bed late and having to get up early for work. I have also been constantly tired and have only been on one big ride since 28th August, a 60 mile ride. So I can conclude maybe I have been overtraining? Or more to the point I have been busy with work and my friend's wedding and I like getting up early even on weekends, so have been short on sleep. This will only get better as BB has finished so I can get an early night or two.

Also it talks of training tips "work your weakness not your strengths. If you hate hill climbing, go and climb. If you hate riding on long flats, ride long flats." What about if you hate cycling? Their tip is surely to cycle lots. I had three options today:

• To go to Bristol Open Days when many of Bristol’s significant contemporary and historic buildings open their doors to the general public 
• Go to a Bristol Cycling Festival event, as there is almost 100 cycling inspired events around Bristol between 11th and 26th September.
• 3rd option came up after listening to Talksport radio, realising it was FA Cup 1st Round

So going back to a previous blog I thought I would use football as treat and combine the other two options, create my own cycling event and visit a significant site, (well I had never visited Bitton AFC's stadium, the Recreation Ground) I would therefore force myself into getting on the bike and train.
I am however not going to extend that training tip to start putting vinegar on my chips, filthy.
The handy part to getting to the Bitton ground is it is really close to a cycling route which is all off road and the whole journey only has 200 metres of road cycling. It uses the Bristol to Bath disused railway.

At this stage you are probably thinking where is the link to the 80s? Well my girlfriend has gone to Langley nr Slough and taken our digital camera with her. I thought that is okay I have a phone with a camera but I remembered my phone is broken and my temporary phone is the Nokia 1800. This is an amazing phone it even has a flash light function in the top, but no camera.

Smart Phone? No camera

Thirty years ago people wouldn't have even dreamt you would be able to be contactable anywhere by phone and take pictures on the same device. It will be funny to tell the next generation "when I was a lad... you had to remember all your friends telephone numbers off by heart!" Anyway digressing I will have to say there were some good views I couldn't capture today and if you live near Bristol or Bath it is an easy weekend ride to go with the kids. After 9 miles of the cycle path you get to Bitton Steam Railway station and the ground is 200 metres from there.

It was refreshing to go to a local match reminded me of going to see Tonbridge Angels in my 80s youth. It was £5 well spent and this thought must have been shared by about 44 other people. The game was Bitton versus Old Woodstock FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round the result was 3-2 to the away side. I was surprised the high level of standard of their passing games, it was a well fought battle. For a more comprehensive review I am sure my friend who blogs about non-league football will put a post on his blog AdventuresInTinpot when he has time and he has an IPhone so there should be pictures. 

So I will now get an early night, then tomorrow embark on another cycle ride to football and try and incorporate the passing game into Sunday morning football.

Louis

Last Couple of weeks. Last £100K to raise

So I thought I should write another post. I spent most of the last couple of months harassing people writing blog and email after another. Then nothing, it has even got to the stage where people are asking how did my cycle go?

Spot the Ball

So a little catch up. The Bank Holiday Saturday, I cycled to Nailsworth near Stroud to watch Bath City play away against Forest Green Rovers. I wrote down some directions from mapmycycle website and went on a cycle through the country lanes. Using B roads I went past where Josie Gibson from BB lives, Iron Acton where a massive illegal Vodka factory has been found and Wickwar where an amazing Brewery is based. I cycled for 30 miles to watch the game, however I got a little lost and ended up getting there 10 minutes late. I am sure I didn't miss anything as the final score was 0-0 and paid £15 for the privilege. It was good for a Blue Square Premier Game. 60 miles workout and back in time to watch an interesting play called Beanfeild.

The following week I was writing a Best Man speech, which was recorded, I think they hoped it would go terribly wrong and they could redeem £250 from You've Been Framed. However I went down a storm and it is now going on sale to the highest bidder. So if you know anyone called Yannick and Ruth that are getting married then I have the speech for you. The day went well, the sunshine was blazing it was really good.

Best Men Speech

Then Sunday, my football team had its first game of the season. We were playing a team new to the league so there was no idea of what standard they were. I cycled to the game it was pouring with rain. It was at this stage the amount of time on the saddle in my challenge coming up sunk in. I am hoping that we do have an Indian Summer and the fact I am unprepared for the challenge ahead, so I will need to get some waterproofs. We lost 3-1, for a review of the game Google 'Shadwell Rovers' however I felt Cameron Currie should have got a 7 for the effort he put in during the game.

Cycle and Funraising

Now, with regards to the cycle and the fundraising I am with 36 other riders. I know names and a few are on the AboveandBeyond facebook page. One even posted the elevation data inputted into mapmyride.com the other day. Hopefully if you follow the link and then click in the box that says 'elevation data' it will show you the hills.....nice.

Here is Bristol to Barnstaple:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-kingdom/bristol/355128025528636883

Barnstaple to St Austell:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-kingdom/barnstaple/167128026368739732

St Austell to Lands End:

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-kingdom/-/904128026663243377

There is only £100,000 left to raise of the £1.6M for the CaRE appeal so dig deep and sponsor you can make a difference