Posts Tagged ‘Hungerford’

2014 – A Year to Remember

Posted: January 12, 2014 in charity, Cycling, Travel
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So, this is to be my first post of 2014. What I’d really like to be writing about is our special cruise coming up in February this year, in fact less than 6-weeks away but I’m afraid I’ll have to wait a couple more weeks before I can do that. Save to say, that the event fills me with excitement, even more so than my 60th Birthday cruise.  No; this post is about a ‘call to arms’. An unashamed attempt to attract fellow supporters / cyclists and even wannabe cyclists. What am I on about? I hear you think. Well:

I want to raise £35,000 for two causes that I genuinely believe are worthy of significant support: Bruce Trust Barges and War Child UK.

How? By taking a maximum of 70 riders to cycle for 7-days in France visiting  Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno & Sword D-Day Beaches while also dropping south to the Loire Valley then heading back north to Argentan, a town which itself which was severely impacted by the D-Day events; and finally, onto Pegasus Bridge and Café Gondrée to regroup, exchange stories and bask in our own satisfaction that we risen to the challenge given and succeeded.

But, be assured, this is not in any way a race. This is not an event where only cycling whippets can take part, though they are welcome. This ride is for anybody and everybody, male, female, old, young, or even ancient like His Podgeness here. You don’t have to be an athlete by any means, those that know me can attest to that. For last years event we took one gentleman who was the wrong side of 60 and only used to the occasional ride between 5 & 10 miles. Yet, our structured / social training rides prepared him such he completed the event with comparative ease. Even for myself, with less than 50% lung effectiveness, and now the wrong side of 59 🙂 such an event is possible, though I do acknowledge I may be a bit slower and recognise the true meaning of a ‘Push Bike’. So, if there is anybody out there who wants to join me on this amazing adventure and help me raise that money for two really worthy causes, then either contact me direct though this medium, or register your interest via the website: http://www.wheels-for-rotary.info.

In the meantime, I shall start to compose my writing on our next, very, very special cruise.

 

Job Done

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

I Was Not Ready For This

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

Am I Ready

Posted: July 5, 2013 in charity, COPD, Cycling, training
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I started my training proper on the 7th April and over the subsequent weeks, increased the ride mileage from the initial 14 mile ride to the longest ride at 74 miles.

Over that time, My average speed has gone up by 2.5 mph while my average heart rate has dropped from 130 to 118. These facts suggested to me that I must be at least more ready than I was for the Hungerford to Ligueil Cycle Challenge. So, when the time came for my regular respiratory test, I was quite naturally upbeat.

how misguided was I!

After numerous goes at getting my best blow into the machine, nearly passing out each time, the results came back worse than they were in March. The figures suggested that my COPD had deteriorated from moderate to severe. The nurse could see that I was clearly downbeat, especially with all my efforts over the last three months and she tried to impress upon me that irrespective of the results, the main thing was how I felt in myself and I must be doing all the right things: nevertheless, my lung performance had dropped.

disheartened? Of course I was, and very upset.

But, having had time to mull it over, I decided, I’m not going to give in. I’m going to complete the challenge: I’m going to lose even more weight: I’m going to keep on cycling; and when I can cycle no more, I shall organise and support cycle rides by whatever means I can. The one thing I’m not going to is resign myself to becoming inactive. Neither am I going to quit cycling. Now, it truly is what I live for, and Debbie of course who is just so supportive: I’m not sure what I’d do without her. And then of course there are her two boys, Matt & Nick who carry on my passion for cycling. I love them all though in slightly different ways…..

So, until the Good Lord decides otherwise, cycling shall be my driver for life. After this years ride, I start to prepare for next years ride to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings. My aim is to find 70 riders. Tall order, but it’s the stake in the ground. Give me nudge if you might be interested.

Must Cycle Harder

Go Podge, Go

The Hungerford Big Wheel

Posted: July 2, 2013 in Cycling, training
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Ok, so there I am, lying in bed on a Sunday morning, recovering from the previous days cycle ride down to see Mummy, when the 07:30 alarm goes indicating time for me to get up and psyche myself for today’s great adventure. To be honest, after the 50, 60, 70+ mile rides of late, the 26 mile family ride wasn’t really going to be an issue!

It would however be different..

All the banners advertising The BigWheel suggested a start of 10:00 but I suspected otherwise and that 10:45 was nearer the mark: I was right 🙂

Actually I wasn’t right: we started at 10:43 but what’s 2 minutes between friends?

Anyway, Charles, Nick and I arrived to register and pay our fee, plus donations to the causes as well of course (as we weren’t getting sponsorship for this ride). Then came Nicks turn: oh, have I got to pay? ‘Err, yes you do” I replied. Now I should of course known that ‘oh, have I got to pay’ actually meant ‘get your money out’ 🙂 still it was for a good cause and I knew Nick would enjoy the ride! Especially as he’d brought his Colnago EP (all carbon) to do the ride! Mind you, it was decked out with Shimano 😦
So, at the allotted hour of 10:43 we were set off from Hungerford Common (pleased to note that the cows had been moved away: I hate cows) along the back roads. Then it happened, we were directed off the road into a field where we followed a single track across farmland, crossed A338 and into a private estate with yet more tracks. Generally speaking, we were off road more than we were on road. Small wonder then that Nick buggered off with his brother, Matt, to do their own thing. The next time I was to see them was to be back at home.
Down track, up track, along track we went. I was amazed to see just how many homes there actually down these tracks, though we never saw any inhabitants. Curious. Then we came to a long track under low hanging trees all flooded. 2-choices faced me: go through the flood (but what was under the water) or work round a small track made by previous riders (that’s right, we weren’t at the front): I opted for the latter. Trouble is, I didn’t see the outcrop of flint against bare tree roots. Both were slippery and both went in different directions as did and my bike. The bike folded and laid down while I went over the bats into the lake (okay, the ‘lake’ was a puddle) where I found the water to surprisingly warm, as was the day.
Naturally, with the minimum of fuss and just a slight murder of ‘oh bother’ I remounted my steed and carried on. And on I went wondering what was the rattling, scraping sound coming from my rear tyre. Charles quickly appraised me of the situation, my mud / crud guard had loosened and fallen onto the wheel. This was an easy fix, rip it off and shove it in my back pocket on on we went, deeper and deeper into Savernake Forest until at last, the BBQ was espied. Burgers, Hot Dogs, Flap Jack, Cake (all makes), tea, coffee & juice. We had arrived at cycling heaven. And so Charles and I relaxed and pigged out. Well actually, I had two burgers and a very very small piece of cake while Charles tucked into his Veggie burger.
All too soon, it was time to leave, but which way? There were no signs. But, secretly, I’m an expert tracker so we followed the wheel tracks left by previous cyclist (still not at the front). Charles had already warned me about the next bit. Apparently, it was to be a very very steep drop down a grassy bank and though trees. F%#*k me he was right. There were even signs (confirming we were on the right route) advising us to dismount – believe me, I already had. It was steeper than stairs down to a town house cellar but, slippery as well. Down we went through small trees and huge stinging nettles, all desperately trying to sting my wounds from my earlier fall) until at last, we reached level ground.
From here on it was a dioddle, an absolute doddle. All the way, it wad flat, bumpy (very bumpy) but flat. Charles provided a running commentary on who lives where and which greedy cad owns which fields and the scoundrel who gave over the minimum amount to public right of way (I don’t think Charles likes rich land owners) until at last we reached the point from where we started. After that, it was down to thee Downgate for a pint, or two, of rehydration fluids (beer). And then off home to rest an recuperate.
So that was that: 26 miles, mostly off road, which must equate to 40 miles on road.
The next big ride will be the BIG one, to Ligueil.

Go Podge, go

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