Did you know - car commuting costs £1200 every year

According to the Energy Saving Trust, the average car commute takes 30 minutes and costs around £1200 every year in fuel alone - that's 5% of the average UK salary!

Give yourself a 2.5% payrise by sharing your commute with a colleague who lives locally. 

If every commuter in the UK shared a car with two others collectively it would save £5.4 billion and 11.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.*

Smarter driving can save you between £250 and £300 and between 500kg and 600kg of carbon dioxide a year if you’re a commuter*. That’s a 15% saving on your fuel bill, which is around two months’ worth of fuel a year.  Click here to check out the EST's tips. 

When you are choosing a new car, opt for the most fuel efficient model - this will take £515 off your fuel costs every year, £150 off the first year's road tax and £120 off subsequent years' road tax.*

* Source: Energy Saving Trust

Did you know - cyclists take less time off sick?

If you commute by bike you'll take less time off sick than non-cycling colleagues - they will take 18% more time off than you according to the CTC.

60% of men & 70% of women don't currently achieve the recommended minimum level of activity - 30 minutes 5 times a week - according to the CTC.  Cycling to work can really help to achieve this level, boosting our health.

Vicky gets the yellow jersey!

Vicky cycled 147 miles last week - so is the very deserving recipient of the yellow jersey.  She's been combining the gym (see her setup here for Friday eve!) with a turbo trainer, commuting and longer rides.  A turbo trainer BTW is a handy gizmo that enables you to cycle on your own bike in the comfort (and light!) of inside. 

Shaun did a very creditable 120 with a single ride of 70 - but he claims that his legs gave up at 60!

And Richard did 110 - very much back in the saddle after his injury.

You can see where we all are virtually on the map link.

George is leading the way though for total distance - he's now just outside Avignon and I think he'll get to Marseille this week virtually.

£1330 in sponsorship so far.

I turned a 4 mile commute into a 19.5 mile ride home by going via Winchester on Friday (evidence photo is to the right....). 

And on Saturday, on a rather good little off road ride near Ellisfield,  I managed to twist my knee as my bike got stuck in a very claggy muddy bit - the joys of a mountain bike.  Hobbled the rest of the weekend, but it seems to be healing well.  I'm applying the tried & tested technique of resting it for a few days - to be honest, if we weren't so close to the date of the challenge, I'd probably be cycling again by now, but I really don't want to be carrying an injury!

David on Drafting

Being a touring cyclist of old, I’ve had some experience of long distance riding and riding in groups.  Having started cycling again after a 15 year break I’ve been quietly please at how I’ve been able to get back into it and I can still remember many of the techniques that help keep you going on a long ride (i.e. past the shop at the end of the street).  Not saying it wasn’t hard work, but its coming together.  Julia is totally new to this and has had a steep learning curve, how to use toe clips, how to use the gears etc.  I think she has found our practice rides hard work.  She hasn’t been able to keep up if I lead, or ride hard for more than 15 to 20 minutes, meaning we’ve needed regular stops (not that I’m complaining about the stops!). 

Over the last few ride’s she’s just about mastered the toe clips and the gears so this week we a new trick, Slipstreaming (or Drafting).  Julia tried to stay within about a metre of my back wheel, thereby keeping in my slip stream and hopefully making it a little easier for her.  In return I kept an eye out to make sure I didn’t pull ahead and she could stay close.  I also made sure I didn’t do anything last minute, like swerve  to avoid potholes etc and off we went.  This time, a very different story.  On a 10 mile ride we didn’t need to stop and we were able to keep up a moving average or 14mph, with flat road speeds of 17mph to 20mph.  It also meant I didn’t get carried away kept my speed down so didn’t burn out early so win win. 

Its all about team work J

David Griffin

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!