George Gets The Yellow Jersey

Last week’s yellow jersey was a close contested affair – Vicky completed 90.5 miles, I did 97.9, but George just pipped us both racking up 104 last week.  King of the Mountains goes to Richard who is back on his bike, starting with a “gentle” 46 miles on Sunday!

I’ve updated the map (finally!) and it’s me, Vicky & George who are ahead, getting close to Dijon.  Ben and Richard are both just south of Paris.

http://goo.gl/maps/TuKfW

It’s really good to see some longer rides appearing on the tracker – both Vicky and I managed rides of over 50 miles last week and George’s longest recorded pedal was 43.5.  Julia, David, George & myself are planning a group ride on Saturday from Bishops Waltham – let me know if you’d like to join us.

It’s also good to see some after work rides appearing – somehow, David & Julia squeezed 10.5 miles into Monday evening on top of lawn mowing & other exciting jobs.  George has also been managing to ride into work a couple of times a week from Bishops Waltham, which helps with the miles.

On the sponsorship front, we're just over £1,100 with just over a month to go before the challenge commences!

Gin

Gin's first long ride

I do a fair amount of mountain biking - but I think the last time I did a longish road cycle ride, it was from Glasgow to Edinburgh back in 2010 for a Start challenge.  For that, I was on a mate's (unfamiliar!) racing bike & I knew my training hadn't been right about 2 streets into the ride!

So this time, I have a bit more experience to draw upon!  I'm going to be doing the challenge on a hybrid - and I suspect I'll be the only one to do so!  It's the bike I use to commmute most days & the only nods it makes to hybrid-ness are a mountain bike frame and disc brakes.  I have tried it on gravel paths - and it is so not suited to non-tarmac.  I love the more upright posture it gives me than a pure road bike & since switching to discs on my mountain bike, I've not been a fan of rim brakes - it's not what I'm used to.  I will be fitting clipless SPD type pedals to make it a bit speedier and have already changed to stronger tyres.

So the bike is going to be more familiar - how about the training?

On Saturday, I set off from my home in Eastleigh to Rockbourne - a lovely chocolate box village near Fordingbridge that's home to my boss Sarah.  My route planning was OK, but there was one nasty hill going up a dual carriageway where I needed to turn right - poor views of speeding cars & no speed for me due to the hill!  Having survived that, I enjoyed fantastic views of the north bit of the New Forest.  I got to Sarah's about 45 minutes earlier than I thought which was a good confidence booster.  Quaffed vast quantities of homemade elderflower cordial and refused offer of a sandwich as (unusually for me) I really wasn't hungry. 

Heading back, it felt harder.  The day had got much hotter and I really regretted not sorting out a bottle holder for the frame or taking my rucksack that has a water bladder built in.  To drink, I had to stop & dig the bottle out of my pannier so it wasn't surprising that I wasn't drinking enough.  My stomach was also hurting.  Legs were fine though! I pulled into a tea shop & made myself eat scones & had a drink - this seemed to make a difference & I got home OK.  Stomach still not good that evening - I think due to dehydration & not eating the right stuff at the right times.  I will be stocking up on M&S Veggie Percy Pigs for the challenge as they've worked well for me on long runs in the past.

58 miles pedalled, averaging 10.6 mph.  I won't be in the same league as Ben, George, Richard & Nick for speed, but I think that's a respectable pace.

Gin

Thanks to Whitbread and Kingfisher

Victoria Johnson will be our tour manager - as organising events is her USP, this radically increase the chances of everything running like clockwork during our challenge!  She's at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta at present running the Start/B&Q Energy Saving Shop Roadshow.

Whitbread have very generously offered us big discounts on hotel costs - we're very grateful for this support.  Kingfisher will be sponsoring windproof gilets for the team - we wanted something that would go over waterproofs & other layers but still look distinctive.

New riders to add to the team too: Ed Wilton from Kingfisher and a colleague from Brico Depot.

Ben's set us a new target of £6K for sponsorship - this is what M&S Plan A's team raised on a similar event & we'd like t at least equal their efforts.  £270 raised so far - so we have some way to go - check the latest total here.

Last week's yellow jersey goes to (drum roll!) Ben who clocked up 73 mile last week:

• Ben 73
• Gin 62
• George 38
• Vicky 12.5

On the tracker, I've gone past Paris, with Ben & George not too far behind. 

No news on Richard's leg - except that Caroline reckons he's hard to keep up with on crutches so I guess recovery is going OK!