I thought it (well beyond) time that I updated my blog, so here goes:

The year so far for me didn’t get off to a good start. In fact it was awful. In January, four days before my 50th birthday, my Dad passed away. He had been ill, as I think I’d said in a previous post, for some 6 months or so, with cancer. He (only at the end, at least) was in pain, and so I should to some extent be grateful that he is now in a better place, or something like that. But that doesn’t help at all really. Fact is that I’ve watched both of my parents die of cancer now, and it took them both from (far far better) places of apparently otherwise fitness and good health, to being dead in a matter of months both times. I therefore hate cancer, and in this case, hate is by no means a strong enough word. I shall dwell no more on this, and put it away now :(.

I haven’t had the appetite for cycling much so far this year, and let’s face it, the weather has been woeful. I think we’ve had three weekends where winds topped 50mph, and also the wettest start to the year since records began. For this admittedly fair weather rider, and coupled with all else that has been going on, that was too much of an excuse for the bike to stay locked in the garage. Oh and I did also suffer a broken toe, but I shan’t dwell on that one either – it’s healing now!

I have been out in fact, only on four occasions altogether. Once on a brief ride in January, twice (although only about 35 miles each) on a short trip to Northern California, where the riding was fabulous, and then last weekend, when I did my first sportive of the year. The sportive was the aptly named “No Excuses” around Huntingdon, so called because as long as you turn up, they refund your £35 entry fee, and if you don’t, they give the money to a worthy charity, in this case prostate cancer. They apparently raised £22,000 for the charity, which means a whopping 630 people didn’t show up having entered. The stats are copied below in case anyone wants to take a look, but suffice to say I was absolutely knackered by about two thirds of the way through. Over 80 miles had me cramping and not really having fun, but I was very glad to be out there, cold as it was.

http://www.strava.com/activities/116934691

I have cycled only 200 miles this year though, and it is scarily almost a quarter of the way through. I must get out more now….

The weekend that is now just ending (9th March as I write) has seen me decide to get my walking legs back, having done basically none of that either. I did join a gym a few weeks ago, but the attractiveness of a stair climbing machine has and probably always will be lost on me I’m afraid. So blessed with some rather fine sunshine at last, I went and put some good old miles in, with a smallish (10lb or so) pack on my back for good measure. Yesterday (Saturday) I got in about 12 pretty flat miles around Milton Keynes, and today I headed out to Woburn, just about 6 or 7 miles away.

Blessed with totally beautiful weather (and frankly if we get days like today in the summer I won’t be complaining) I put in just over 14 miles, making 26.2 for the weekend. Although that is not exactly a huge number, I cannot actually remember the last time I walked 26 miles in two days, so that has to be a good thing. I also saw so many deer it made my head spin – witness this shot below for example:

The deer at Woburn Abbey

Here are some a little closer with part of Woburn Abbey in the background:

Deer in front of the Abbey

So with me planning to be back to full fitness as soon as I can, I am now starting to look forward with relish to the rest of the year. I have planned the Welsh Three Peaks in May http://www.thethreepeakschallenge.co.uk/welsh-three-peaks-challenge/, am trying to get a full Three Peaks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Three_Peaks_Challenge trip in June , and am also looking to try to get a Mont Blanch trip in in July, prior to Elbrus in August. I have also contacted International Mountain Guides to see if they can’t get me that Aconcagua trip back on for the end of the year. Third time lucky, all being well……….

More soon, I promise.