Feeling good, training hard and 2 become 1

After all of the problems I had a few weeks ago I'm now back on the bike and clocking up regular rides of 14 to 20 miles with a bit of running when I don't have the bike with me.

I'm now feeling confident that I will be able to complete the ride although obviously it's going to hurt!

However, I'll now be riding solo as my mate has not been able to commit the time to train and prepare. I'm disappointed but am still sure it will be a great experience. Although we are talking about him coming up in the car to shadow me on the ride. Not sure what's going to happen yet but we'll sort something out.

I've started trying energy/recovery bars and drinks that may well be my diet through the day. I'm still struggling to find something that doesn't upset my stomach while riding.

I've also lost about 20lbs over the last 3 or 4 months which is really helping with the riding. It's a lot less weight to drag around with me.

I need to sort out my luggage and do some rides on and off road with a full load to see how much it affects my endurance and the stability of the bike. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Slow recovery

I'd hoped I'd be feeling better by today but it's not worked out. I feel just as bad, totally wiped out.

I went to the doctors this morning and it seems I've got a severe tonsil infection which they believe is causing all the symptoms. So I'm spending another day in bed and on the sofa trying to recover.

I've ordered a couple of brands of some isotonic tablets to make up drinks to try out. They won't take up much space and if they do the trick and don't make me sick then they will make life easier.

I'll look for some energy bars and real food to try out after the weekend when I start feeling better...........hopefully!

Not a great week

I've done no training since Sunday. The last few day I've come down with some kind of flu bug. It's totally knocked me out. I'm exhausted all the time, ache everywhere, having a constant head ache plus some mild cold symptoms.

I feel better today than yesterday but not a whole lot.

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A "Week Off" the bike for holidays

We've just come back from our summer holidays in Cornwall which was excellent. We never took any bikes so I decided to try to keep my fitness levels up by doing some running instead.

I haven't run for about 3 month since I hurt my achillies so expectations were very low. Cornwall is a lot hillier than these parts which did not help. I put in a total of 4 sessions starting at 30 mins and increasing to just over 50 mins. To be honest this is far better than I could have hoped. Although the last run pushed me to the limit of my ability.

With this all behind me it's now a little over a month to go Neil we set off. I need to ramp up the training now and catch up with Aaron to see how his preparation I going.

I also need to start thinking about an inventory for the ride. I'm keen to keep the luggage to a minimum so I have room for a few spares and plenty of food and drink.

Now's the time to start experimenting with energy drinks and food too to see what I can tolerate the best.

Lots to do and think about!