Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

Job Done

Posted: July 15, 2013 in charity, COPD, Cycling, Rant, Travel
Tags: , , , , ,
0

First and foremost, let me express my heartfelt thanks to all those that supported me through my 550 Mile Cycle Challenge. To all those who supported me through donations via my Just_Giving page I would like to say a big Thank You: both the charities (End Polio Now & Bruce Trust Barges) and I genuinely appreciate it. For those who supported me during my training and the event itself, I also say Thank You: without you, I wouldn’t have been able to make it.

I’m not to going to make out it was easy because it wasn’t. In fact it was harder than I thought it would be. The combination of daily long distances, temperatures as high as 105f and a worsening of COPD did take its toll. But there are others worse off than me, which is why I take on, and complete these challenges.

While I will write a more comprehensive account of each day, this is just a brief recount.

We left Hungerford at the allotted time (mid-day) to head for the Ferry Terminal in Portsmouth where we were to encounter our first challenge of getting 6 bicycles and 7 passengers into a 2-berth camper van along with all the associated luggage and provisions including 18 Kilo’s of Bananas(!). One big problem was that the cycle rack on the van was only designed for three bikes, but with the aid of numerous zip ties, we were able to extend the rack’s capacity to 6 . I’m not sure if we could have taken to the public highway, but for boarding a ferry, it was ideal.

2013-07-07 20.08.00

Each day thereafter brought with it, its own challenges, low points and high points. The challenges, in the main, were distances and hills combined with high temperatures. The highpoint, for us all, was the reception we received from Hungerford’s Twin Town of Ligueil: they certainly know how to lay on a barbeque and their hospitality was second to none. The low point? It has to be me being taken out by a stupid driver who clearly wasn’t yet awake. As I was navigation round a roundabout, using the well marked cycle lane, a Renault 4 failed to spot me (a great big overweight cyclists in garish cycle clothes on a garish Colnago) a turned off the roundabout taking me with it. I was only bruised and winded but with a dented pride I just lay there gathering my thoughts before getting back up and continuing with my journey.

All too soon however, the ride was over and we headed back to England and Hungerford to a fantastic welcoming committee laid on by the local Rotarians and Bruce Trust Barges plus many more well wishers, all of whom plied us with drink and cakes (I think there was sandwiches as well). And then, it was over: we all dispersed and went home to rest and then rest some more.

Now the planning starts for next years ride……

Must Stop Cycling: Must Stop Cycling. . . .

Go Podge, Go

www.justgiving.com/kevin-stirzaker

Day 2 – 105 = Melting Tar & Melting Rider

Posted: July 9, 2013 in charity, COPD, Cycling, training, Travel
Tags: , , ,
0

The ferry dropped us in St Malo at 07:15 (08:15 French time) having released all our bikes from the back of the van. Our first task was to locate the train station as we needed to. Get the 09:30 to Rennes as we had lost one day due to the Saturday ferry being full.

We now know that the Ferry’s were so full because there were loads of poxy cyclists coming over to see the Tour in the area.

Having found the station, found the train, hooked up the bikes in their special hooks on the trains, we all settled down for a 50 minute snooze before the cycling began.

Heading out of Rennes ( having agreed to meet the support crew, Graeme and Norman in Chateaubriante) we quickly split into two groups with one going off route while the other pair, the two old Codgers, staying on route. How smug were we.

20130709-062454.jpg

I Was Not Ready For This

Posted: July 8, 2013 in charity, COPD, Cycling, Travel
Tags: , , , , ,
0

So, the ride down from Hungerford went pretty well having set off only a few minutes after 12:00, my first obstacle was Combe Gibett, when once again my bike realised the term Push Bike. But, after that, it was so much the better as so much of the next fez miles were either down hill or flat.

Being an uneventful, albeit slow ride, we opted to stop at Cheriton for a drink and lunch, but as always,  they had stopped doing food so we had a quick drink and set forth for the Ferry Port. This ti,e, to cut out as many busy roads as possible we opted for the back roads over Ports Down Hill via Pigeon House Lane: by now, i was too hot and bothered and caved in a little bit too quickly and climbed off to push ny bike up the hill. On reflection, it wasn’t that steep and I could probably have nade it, but hey ho, fro, here on in, it was all down hill, pqst the hospital, past the scene of the cat incident, and round the back roads to the Ferry Port.

This when the truth hit us, we had been pooked on as 7 passengers with 6 bicycles all in one camper van. Well, we did it, we placed three bikes on the outside rack then zip tied the others to then so that we had all 6 bikes hanginf oof the back. In all, these 6 bikes were probably worth in excess of 10 grand, but what the heck: We had to get on. We had a few strange looks but we got away with it 🙂

That’s about all I can say about Day 1. So what was I not ready for? The next dqy’s temperature hitting 105° F. More in next Updqte.

Go Podge, Go

www.justgiving.com/kevin-stirzaker

When you have wind, Go with it!

Posted: June 25, 2013 in Cycling, training, Travel
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

After my 74 mile epic last Sunday, I decided [on behalf of the others] that this weeks ride would be a shorter one. I did concede however that hills ought to be included and so the decision was to redo the Gibbet ride of a few weeks ago when I was plagued with punctures. This should give us about 40 miles plus three or four series climbs. We also had the added benefit of very, very strong winds.
After the first mile, straight into the wind, Mike suggested we did a straight out and back flat ride; the logic being straight out into the wind (resistance training) and then straight back (fast riding). Excellent idea I thought and so we stopped and reset the Garmin 800 (cycle sat nav) to take us to the centre of Devizes via Burbage and Pewsey. That done we set off, into the wind, following the purple line on the Garmin for a long 25 mile flat ride out.

  • I’ve used the Garmin (other makes available) for some time and can’t recommend them enough. On a trip through France, we would type in the hotel address we needed to get to and simply did as we’re told, and it never let us down.

    • On reflection, the concept of a flat ride through Wiltshire was perhaps a little flawed, but the scenery is stunning. And, I saw another White Horse carved into the chalk: that’s two in as many weekends.
    After passing Pewsey, poor old Charles shouted ‘PUNCTURE’ at the foot of what looked like being a long, long drag uphill with no cover and all into the wind, but stop we had to do. ‘poor Charles’! Well, he’s been riding his trust 23 year old steel ‘mountain’ bike without a single problem, then we switch him to a Colnago Road Bike. Since then, he’s had punctures every time and his gears needed needed to be adjusted as many times. The latter is more down to me not setting them, but nevertheless it’s ironic.
    Puncture fixed, off we set, onwards and upwards, straight into the wind. The rest of the ride was much of a muchness, head down and pumping pedals, we eventually reached Devizes where Charles asked that we stop while he went into the local Lidl for supplies. Basically this consisted of chocolate, and very yummy it was too.
    So, hunger staved off, we reset the Garmin to take us back home, this time with the wind. Such joy. Hills? Of course we had hills, but who cares when you have such strong winds helping you along, but we deserved it. 25 miles headwind had been good resistance training, now it was time for speed. At one point, Mike was doing 30+ mph trying to catch me: His Podgeness had been released. No more punctures, no hill trouble, just lots of speed. It was so much worth the effort going out.
    Before long, the finish arrived and it was all back to Podge’s Towers for a couple of Speckled Hens and a Desperado for Charles and just chilled in the afternoon sun, yes the sun was coming out to greet us, as we ‘lived the dream’ reflecting on our adventures.
    And that was that, 50 miles clocked up. Our first ride of the year on the 7th April, we did 14 miles and both Charles and I were knackered. Now, here we are, chilling after 50. We are all definitely fitter. Tomorrow, I shall do another 20.

    Go Podge, go.

    Update , I did do the 20 miles the next day.

    Just 15 Days To Go – Cycling For a Better Future

    Posted: June 23, 2013 in COPD, Cycling, training, Travel
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
    0

    Blimey, time seems to accelerate as you close in the target. In this case, the 550 miles I challenged myself to cycle from Hungerford to Ligueil and back to prove that ‘The Old Codger’ can and to prove that COPD need not stop me from doing what I like to do, while also helping others.

    At my last checkup with the nurse my obstructive lung lung effectiveness was 48% while my restrictive lung effectiveness was 49%. Now looking at these figures, this suggests to me that i’m effectively operating on one lung, which isn’t that good. My understanding is also that while my restrictive effectiveness can be improved by losing a bit of weight (too much fat restricting the movement of the diaphragm is bad) the obstructive part will NOT improve. If that’s the case then, ooh err, I’m in for some bad times ahead.

    A hint at the possible bad times ahead came to the fore last Sunday when I was out on my 74 mile epic. As I ‘pumped those pedals’ onwards and upwards my breathing would get harder, as for everybody else. In my case however I was breathing in vast amounts of air (well, I thought it was vast amounts anyway) but I seemed to breathing back out the same. It felt as though while I was breathing I wasn’t getting the oxygen: that, was scary. Obviously I was getting oxygen otherwise I would be here and you wouldn’t be reading these words 🙂

    I have a checkup tomorrow followed by a lung function check the Thursday before I depart and I will be interested to see what the figures are. In the meantime, the next 15 days are all I have to prepare myself for the big challenge which will hopefully help others. Others such as those less mobile than myself and would welcome the opportunity to enjoy the nicer things in life just like those more mobile. In this case, it is enjoying some tranquil relax time on canal boats: Canal boats that have been specifically designed to accommodate wheel chair users, such as those operated by Bruce Trust Barges who rely on charitable donations to keep the boats operating and even acquiring new boats. Others that I hope to help are those still at risk of contracting Polio.

    Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease, and for as little as US$0.60, a child can be protected against the virus for life. If we don’t finish the fight right now, more than 10 million children under the age of five could be paralyzed by polio in the next 40 years.

    The above was taken from the End Polio Now web site. The site shows that we are so close to eliminating this disease. But my fear is that because we’re so close, there’s the danger that we may ‘take the foot off the pedal’ and relax. We must make sure we avoid this, we must keep going to totally eliminate Polio once and for all.  But this takes funds. This is why I’m riding my bike: To prove I can and to help others, so who will help me?

    If you want to help me to help others then why not support me, and encourage me via my just giving page at www.justgiving.com/kevin-stirzaker.

    Now, I’m off for breakfast and to plan today’s training ride not sure how far yet but it will be less that 74 miles I do know that much 🙂

    Go Podge, Go

    Older Entries
    Newer Entries