Met up with Helen and Adey today who are doing the Hamm Ride with me.
We decided to meet at Richard Dunn's car park and we knew we were on a time limit as Helen had an afternoon appointment somewhere. So we went down to the Spen Valley Greenway and had a chat as we rode. Helen spurred us on to go fast on the way down. We had a short break at the bottom and then turned round and headed up again.
It's great riding this with others as the time and distance soon passes and before we knew it we were back near the top end. Adey left us at Low Moor to weave through the streets home but Helen and I continued to the top of the Greenway and then back up Staithgate Lane which is a long uphill road.
Helen of course is faster than I am up the hills and she waited for me at the top. She then went back to Richard Dunn's and I cycled around the roads back home. So 23 miles done today for me.
Friday 3 February 2012
January 25th
Not a work day for me today so after much deliberation decided to go to aquafit (well not that much deliberation).
Fairly busy with the over 50's today (what am I saying I am over 50 now too).
Made sure I worked as hard as I could despite feeling slightly annoyed by the people who take the foam 'weights' and wave them in the air (It's not my problem, it's them that are losing out on the exercise).
Afterwards I had a good chat with Chris and then went and did 32 lengths of swimming which is half a mile in that pool. I did it in 20 minutes 30 seconds.
Fairly busy with the over 50's today (what am I saying I am over 50 now too).
Made sure I worked as hard as I could despite feeling slightly annoyed by the people who take the foam 'weights' and wave them in the air (It's not my problem, it's them that are losing out on the exercise).
Afterwards I had a good chat with Chris and then went and did 32 lengths of swimming which is half a mile in that pool. I did it in 20 minutes 30 seconds.
January 23rd
Work today but went aquarunning this evening. Boy was it busy! We have a maximum capacity of 28 and there was 27 of us there.
Thursday 2 February 2012
January 22nd
Blood and Sand. It was windy today!!! Real 'trees at 45 degrees' type wind. I didn't think we would be going cycling today but I went to pick Richard up anyway.
As Richard was our lead rider today we went to the meeting point not expecting anyone much to turn up. When we arrived there was Peter, Neil, Graham and Helen. After a little discussion, where we were torn about whether to go or not, it was decided to do just a little ride to Harewood House cafe and back again.
We set off and it wasn't too bad going on the Arthington Road util we got to some open areas. We then turned right up towards Harewood House. Oh boy that is a killer hill. Thought I would have to stop at some point but I kept turning the pedals and managed to get to the top where the others were waiting. A quick drink and let my heart settle down to it's normal rate and we entered into Harewood's grounds. Unfortunately there is no cycle path down to the house so they wouldn't let us in so we turned tale and headed back out again.
Crossing the road we headed down the Wetherby Road where I suddenly found myself in the lead and started pedalling at a fairly rapid steady pace. After a few minutes Peter headed me off and told me Neil had lost something off his bike and could I pull in and wait. Bugger, I thought I was having it a bit easy.
Neil has only recently started using clip in pedals and he has become famous for falling off as he can't get his feet out fast enough. While we were in this layby he fell off his bike again. This time he was standing still anyway so how did he manage that? Thankfully he wasn't hurt.
So we carried on down to the end of the road after being blown into the road a few times. Then we turned towards Wetherby and reached the sanctuary of the cafe and a hot drink a piece of carrot cake, mmmmmmm!
All of a sudden there appeared another group of cyclists - good grief it was Woody and the Sports group! After a bit of banter and an exchange of stories of derring-do we set off again.
This is where the going got tough. I struggled up the hills and I was soon left behind apart from Richard who always supports the slowest rider (ie me usually). Then something strange but nice happened. We were pedalling along a country lane when a red kite bird came down to just above us and flew alongside for a little while then we saw it swoop down into the middle of the road, land and take off again about 15 feet in front of us. It was amazing! We were both chuffed to have witnessed it.
Anyway we carried on and could see nothing of the rest of the group. Coming back on Arthington Lane we got a call from Helen. They were worried about where we were and it turned out they had taken the Weeton Road so we agreed to carry on and we would see them for a debrief at the end of the ride.
The Arthington Road felt like purgatory. My legs weren't happy at all but we got back in one piece. Only 25 miles in total but in those winds it must count double!
As Richard was our lead rider today we went to the meeting point not expecting anyone much to turn up. When we arrived there was Peter, Neil, Graham and Helen. After a little discussion, where we were torn about whether to go or not, it was decided to do just a little ride to Harewood House cafe and back again.
We set off and it wasn't too bad going on the Arthington Road util we got to some open areas. We then turned right up towards Harewood House. Oh boy that is a killer hill. Thought I would have to stop at some point but I kept turning the pedals and managed to get to the top where the others were waiting. A quick drink and let my heart settle down to it's normal rate and we entered into Harewood's grounds. Unfortunately there is no cycle path down to the house so they wouldn't let us in so we turned tale and headed back out again.
Crossing the road we headed down the Wetherby Road where I suddenly found myself in the lead and started pedalling at a fairly rapid steady pace. After a few minutes Peter headed me off and told me Neil had lost something off his bike and could I pull in and wait. Bugger, I thought I was having it a bit easy.
Neil has only recently started using clip in pedals and he has become famous for falling off as he can't get his feet out fast enough. While we were in this layby he fell off his bike again. This time he was standing still anyway so how did he manage that? Thankfully he wasn't hurt.
So we carried on down to the end of the road after being blown into the road a few times. Then we turned towards Wetherby and reached the sanctuary of the cafe and a hot drink a piece of carrot cake, mmmmmmm!
All of a sudden there appeared another group of cyclists - good grief it was Woody and the Sports group! After a bit of banter and an exchange of stories of derring-do we set off again.
This is where the going got tough. I struggled up the hills and I was soon left behind apart from Richard who always supports the slowest rider (ie me usually). Then something strange but nice happened. We were pedalling along a country lane when a red kite bird came down to just above us and flew alongside for a little while then we saw it swoop down into the middle of the road, land and take off again about 15 feet in front of us. It was amazing! We were both chuffed to have witnessed it.
Anyway we carried on and could see nothing of the rest of the group. Coming back on Arthington Lane we got a call from Helen. They were worried about where we were and it turned out they had taken the Weeton Road so we agreed to carry on and we would see them for a debrief at the end of the ride.
The Arthington Road felt like purgatory. My legs weren't happy at all but we got back in one piece. Only 25 miles in total but in those winds it must count double!
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