So despite being a bit remiss in updating the blog over the last few weeks, I have at least two excuses:

1. I have been working stupid hours at work.

2. I moved house.

The former is now largely over, and was very necessary due to a big fundraising that the company was doing. It proved very successful, and was very rewarding, but involved rather more midnight oil than I would have liked.

The latter was just as hard work. It is actually the first time that I have moved house on my own. I’m trying to count and think that I have moved house now about a dozen times all told, and it is never easy. It wasn’t all exactly on my own, thanks to Mel (thank you:)) who helped a lot, but I still did the bulk of it, apart from the removal people of course. Oh yes, and Dan and Becca came down for the weekend and did a huge amount too, and then there was Alain from work who helped also. I am sure I did something though…..

Anyway, in between all of this, the biking schedule has finally got underway. The people at The Great British Bike Ride had sent out a suggested training schedule. It starts with doing about 60 miles a week and ends up doing about 200 miles a week. Sort of takes you from ‘zero to hero’ type of thing. You train every other day in the week, and then always consecutively at weekends. I set myself a wall chart telling myself what I had to do and when, and that was three weeks ago now. Trouble is, out of the first fifteen sessions, I think I have made three of them. I have excuses for that too of course:)

So the first weekend I was moving house. The second weekend I was away in The Lake District on a walking weekend, doing Scafell Pike, and this weekend just gone I have been in New York and New Jersey, seeing Heather (of Kilimanjaro fame no less). It is now Wednesday 2nd June as I write this and have just got back. I will post more about both of the latter two weekends separately. Save to say that this weekend just gone was absolutely fantastic. You end up going through quite a lot together when you do something like Kilimanjaro, and some people you invariably get on with better than others. I was blessed, I think, to get on with everyone (as far as I was concerned anyway) really well, but something certainly clicked with Heather. If you are reading this Heather – thank you enormously for a great time and for being the perfect host. Oh and we may just be planning another adventure too, but more of that in another post certainly.

So anyway, out of the first 180 miles I should have biked so far, I think I have managed about 40 tops. That’s bad. I’m away this weekend too, and so that will scupper that one as well. In fact come to think of it since I moved house I have probably slept there about three times in total, thus cutting down the chances to even see my bike, let alone ride it.

I may get round to trying out those nice new twenty billion pound bib shorts soon too. I wonder if they help me go faster?:)