PGT Day 23 - The Virtual Champs Elysee.

It was wonderful to wake up with sun brightly lighting our bedroom even through the curtains. After a disturbed Friday night a lie in would have been welcome, but my mind and body woke decisively at just after 6, so getting up and getting out on the bike in the early morning sunshine for the final stage of the People's Grand Tour was a desirable alternative.

My route choice was the Boscobel Loop, one of my favourite 2 hour routes. The sun was a welcome companion throughout the ride, and as it rose so too did the temperature meaning I was able to shed my gillet and arm warmers well before the half way point. The bird song was magnificent, and my day was already made when I spotted a hare, one of my favourite animals, running in a field adjacent to the Patshull Park estate. At that stage I seemed to be riding directly beneath a divide between two different cloudscapes, wispy Cirrus to the West and towering, white Cumulus to the East, one of which was anvil shaped and could easily have been drawn by Roger Dean for a Yes album cover.

I eventually arrived home a little late than planned having stopped to chat to a three cycling buddies I passed during the last 10km. There were many cyclists out this morning so I suppose it was inevitable I'd see a few that I know, and it's better to stop and chat at the end of a ride rather than having the early rhythm disturbed.
And that was that, People's Grand Tour II of 2012 was over. Statistics don't tell the real story of this tour for me, which was simply that it felt easier and more enjoyable than the previous edition, something I delightedly take as confirmation that I'm pretty much fully recovered from my surgery in January. It was disappointing that Finn was unable to ride more of it with me, but his irritating cough that keeps appearing and disappearing was certainly made worse by cycling and his withdrawal was unfortunate but necessary.

Congratulations to everybody that rode this edition, especially if you got out in some of the less desirable cycling weather, and many thanks as ever to Lionel for organising the event.

Final day data

Final Stats Tally

Number of days ridden: 23

Number of kilometres covered: 959.1

Time in the saddle: 38 hrs 11 minutes 

Metres climbed: 9637

Longest single ride in distance: 83km

Longest single ride in time: 3hrs 29 minutes

PGT Days 21 & 22 - Escape From Aberystwyth

There's no other way of putting it really - the weather for the final work day stage of the second People's Grand Tour of 2012 was absolutely vile! With strong winds, continual heavy rain and noticeable wind chill this was always destined to be a functional, "do what I need to do then stop" ride, indeed if it hadn't been for my participation in the PGT I would not have ridden. The honour of route today fell to my hour commute which I now call the "Hammer Hedge Loop", named after the delightful piece of rudimentary topiary pictured right. It's actually not a hedge at all, although it is strikingly shaped like a giant lump hammer, but two trees that form a natural gateway into the garden of the cottage. Trouble is Hammer Tree doesn't have the ring to it that "Hammer Hedge" does, and it certainly doesn't invoke an Izzy Stradlin (former/ original Guns and Roses member) song with a similar sounding name - Hammerhead . What is for sure is that when I arrived at the Hammer Hedge yesterday I had spent most of the ride grinding slowly up shallow gradients into a block or slightly off kilter headwind. In such conditions I always spend a lot of time spinning smaller gears as this at leaves gives the feeling of something in my man and machine combination moving freely. Pushing a big gear into a stiff wind is psychologically soul destroying!

After a brief check in at work I headed home and within an hour of arriving there was in the car with Paula, Romie and Finn heading to Aberystwyth. We had originally planned to camp with some relatives and friends from Thursday to Sunday at the wonderful Fforest Fields camp site near to Builth Wells, but a dreadful weather forecast caused discretion to become the better part of valour and we cancelled. Instead we booked a single night at the Plas Dolau Hostel 2 or 3 miles outside of Aberystwyth. A fabulous, sprawling house with great facilities, everybody took to the place instantly in spite of the incessant rain. A huge tea was enjoyed by all before 6 children (aged between 12 and 15) pulled an "up all nighter" and managed to drag 3 of the 6 adults "down" with them. Whilst I was one of the three grown ups who did sleep, it was a light and broken sleep and the journey home this afternoon was punctuated by frequent application of methods to keep me wide awake. Between sleep and the sleepy drive home however came the drama of genuine flooding. At 6.30 am I walked down the drive with the children to find that the river, at least 250 metres away from the estate entrance usually, was now several metres inside the front gate. Furthermore the quiet morning was frequently punctuated by the wail of sirens as the emergency services rushed to the rescue of stranded campers, caravanners and home owners. At around 11am we drove out of Plas Dolau with water cill deep in places, but managed to get out safely, then sent a few minutes watching a local farmer tow less fortunate vehicles and their drivers out of the flood on the A44. That said, in spite of the sirens and traffic problems and being in the midst of this melee, I think we got a bigger sense of the scale of the day's events from the TV and radio news at, and on the way, home.

We negotiated many new fords and witnessed many waterfalls on our way home, but we made it safely and in time for me to get my PGT day 22 ride in. Initially I didn't think that I'd be able to ride all 23 days of this edition due to our camping plans, and even after they were altered there was the possibility that I would be unable to ride today, but with so much tiredness in the camp, exacerbated by the come down from adrenalin inducing flood adventures, an early departure was requested. So lunch on Aberystwyth Promenade (in front of the magnificent University building), we headed home. After unpacking, tidying etc I still had plenty of time to do the reverse ride of yesterday's Hammer Hedge Loop (on dry roads to boot), get home, pack the family to bed en masses, write this blog, watch the end of Germany vs Portugal and finally check out the recording of this afternoon's stage of the Dauphine. Phew. Virtual Champs tomorrow, probably a morning ride before the rain returns, but I won't be setting an alarm clock so if I sleep in and ride late then I'll probably be glad.

Day 21
Day 22

PGT Day 20 - Riding My Own Wheel

Towards the end of my last ride yesterday afternoon, an hour or so after cycling through "the deluge", I began to notice a metallic sound coming from the front end of the bike. Having stopped and adjusted mudguards, checked for broken spokes and ruled out anything else being loose I concluded that the noise was under-lubed bearings "popping" over one another in my Mirage hub. A quick consultation with Steve Williams at Fred's confirmed that this was indeed the diagnosis, and that although the situation might rectify itself as the hub dries out it would probably need re-greasing and may simply be knackered. Fortunately I had a solution at hand, a beautiful and brand new Mirage hub set in the centre of 32 spokes and an Open Pro rim, a shiny new wheel that I had built myself last year. After spinning the old wheel this morning to confirm that the waterlogged hub was still rattling, I fitted some new, cloth rim tape to my wheel and switched the tyre and tube from the old.

Half an hour later I was dressed and rolling out onto an out and back commute (medium size again - this is the tail end of a Grand Tour you know), looking down at the wheel and feeling a little tentative about it. Initial nerves (aka lack of faith in my own handiwork) dissipated very quickly and I was soon far more concerned with the rain, wind and soaking wet roads than any non existent wheel issues. In fact it wasn't until I'd been at work for a few minutes that I suddenly welled with pride and considered that I'd just ridden on a wheel I built myself.

Neither workward or homeward journeys were particularly pleasant, it being the kind of day you might not ride under normal circumstances, but the People's Grand Tour generates the drive to say "sod the weather, let's rock 'n' roll". In fact I might even thank the weather if I manage to ride all 23 days of this PGT as I would have been unable to do that had we not decided to cancel a Mid Welsh camping trip booked from today until Sunday due to the awful forecast. An overnight stay in an Aberystwyth bunk house tomorrow night could still scupper me on Saturday, but with the virtual Champs Elysee in sight I shall strain every sinew to get a one hour ride in on that day. Watch this space.

Ride data

PGT Day 19 - Doctor, Dentist and Deluge.

Another surprisingly dry and bright start to the day afforded me the opportunity to continue riding my clean and shiny FP7 rather than my mudguard equipped Angliru which I expected to use for today and the next few as the wet, stormy weather squatted resolutely in our summer. As planned I rode my routine medium size commute to work, opening post and briefly lingering over email in the office before heading home to shower, change and head for an appointment at New Cross Hospital. There, at the appointed hour (or an hour after the appointed hour), I was to consult with my surgeon, Miss Soulsby, for the first time since she discharged me from Ward D2 in January, six days after removing a tumour from my bowel. It's a strange relationship that one has with a surgeon. For most people having somebody carry out a life saving procedure on us is a very rare occurrence and leaves us with a debt that we can neither repay nor fully express our feelings about. Yet the skilled surgeon carries out many such procedures, and has that relationship with, and holds that debt from, many people. It's easy to see how a God complex could develop, but Miss Soulsby retains a calm and gentle manner and is free of obvious ego, talking easily and freely - even whilst examining me in the most, ahem, intimate areas.

I'm delighted to report that she is entirely happy with my recovery, and after detailing the monitoring plan to which I will be subject for the next five or so years, and despatching me to provide a couple of vials of blood, I was heading home and into a rain belt. Once there I re-clad myself in Lycra, decided that the rain wouldn't amount to much, and jumped onto the Angliru to head to Stourbridge for a six monthly dental check-up and visit with the Hygienist.

For the first few kilometres of the journey the rain increased slightly in heaviness until, somewhere around Kingswinford, the heavenly sluice gates were cast open and spewed forth a deluge of water. Suddenly the edges of the roads were fringed with unavoidable, metre wide streams. Sheets of water careered down off house roofs, overshooting gutters and adding to the roadside rivers. Within a few minutes every item of my clothing was thoroughly waterlogged and water sloshed around in my shoes. And yet my face was cast in an inane grin - there comes a point when you're so wet it doesn't matter anymore and then I usually find myself heading into the puddles (today they simply couldn't be avoided anyway), splashing through the water like a big, happy kid. Today both air and water were warm too, which just served to make the sensation of getting drenched all the more pleasant. I just hope that the water was largely clean as I deposited a puddle of the stuff on both dental chairs that I sat in!

My teeth, mouth, tongue and jaw all received a clean bill of health which, combined with my positive consultation at the hospital earlier, let me with a lovely feeling of well being. I stepped out on to the Lower High Street in Stourbridge as the sun broke through the clouds. The rain had stopped a few minutes earlier and the roads were already drying in the warm air and light wind, leaving me to enjoy a relaxing ride home through the urban borderlands of the Black Country. En route I considered the health related events of the past few months and set them against the realisation that I had been blessed with positive outcomes. It's been three or four months since my first tentative post operative bike ride, but today I rode my bikes with that old feeling that I could happily twiddle along for hours on end and without ill effect when I stop. In short I felt that I was back to how I was before the symptoms of Bowel Cancer first started to affect me.

Then I counted my many blessings, thanked God and made a large mug of coffee.

"What a long strange trip it's been"  

Ride data

PGT Day 18 - Yadretsey But In Reverse

It was a relief waking up to dry and reasonably bright conditions this morning. The last forecasts that I'd seen had suggested much rain was incoming, so I expected damp riding conditions today, but as is the way of the weatherpeople, that prediction had been revised to the expectation of just a wet afternoon. So after a hasty re-arrangement of plans I was out on the FP7, riding on dry roads, in cool (but not too cool) air, the ideal conditions only disturbed by a fairly robust southerly wind.

A late night last night at the Kinver Jubilee Beacon lighting had no effect on my pedal turning, although 200m of climbing in the first five or six km ridden did, and I felt pretty good as I rode the same route that I'd thoroughly enjoyed yesterday, albeit in reverse. My perception was that riding this in an anti-clockwise direction would be harder than the doing it the opposite way, but in fact with nearly half of the climbing out of the way in the first 20 minutes or so it probably isn't, although my speed on some of the long, shallow descents in the middle of the ride was definitely hampered by that southerly blowing into my face. The bottom line is that it's an enjoyable little 90 minute loop no matter which direction it's ridden in, and one I'll do again.

Ride Data

PGT Day 17 - Riding Hills and Lighting A Beacon.

After the blustery deluge of "Jubilee Day" yesterday it was good to wake up to bright skies and drying roads as well as lighter wind. A flat battery on Paula's car caused a re-shuffling of the day's itinerary and meant I could ride in the morning today rather than in the afternoon. After a great sleep and some decent food last night my legs and lungs felt much better today, so much so that towards the end of a tentative anti clockwise loop I decided to tack on a bit more and use all of the available 90 minutes. Not only that but I headed for hillier "add on roads", a sure sign that I'm feeling good in both body AND mind. The air was cool but the arm warmers and gillet combo proved just right after the usual initial chilliness, and the sun dodged in and out of the thick cloudscape that filled the sky throughout the spin. When it did appear though the warming effect was very noticeable.

The roads were dotted with pockets of loose gravel deposited by the storm water yesterday, and plenty of large verge-side puddles stood testimony to the amount of water that fell from the skies. I passed through the villages of Claverley, Worfield and Pattingham and they felt less bunting strewn and "Jubileefied" than they had. Perhaps the wind had blown the decorations away, or maybe the lady I saw removing the string of "flamme Union Jack" from the front of her house was one of the last so to do. Either way today felt like the quiet and hungover day after something big, with quite roads, villages and towns. To finish my ride I cut cross country up Springhill Lane, across Penn Common and onto the fast and hugely enjoyable descent of "Sedgley Bonk" back into Wombourne. 40 wonderful kilometres of riding then straight into the kitchen to knock up asparagus rissotto for the gang, to be timed perfectly and punctually for Paula to eat on her lunch break from work - mission accomplished.

In truth the Jubilee celebrations have largely passed me by, stirring little interest although I saw enough of the appalling BBC coverage of the Thames flotilla to be glad to have missed it! It's not that I'm a rampant Republican, I'm just utterly ambivalent about the Monarchy. Tonight, however, I will make my only concession to the weekend festivities by visiting Kinver Edge for the lighting of one of the 4000 plus beacons, there's something rather satisfyingly primal about a form of communication as simple as lighting bonfires on hilltops - that's a real tradition and one I can truly love.

Ride data

PGT Days 13 to 16 - Real Peloton to Real Gone Summer

Another catch up blog, four days of People's Grand Touring to report on, so here goes;

PGT Day 13 started early, 4.30am, with a quick bite of breakfast before heading out of the door at 5am bound for Greenwich Park in London. It didn't come as a great shock to me that driving the last twenty miles took me 15 minutes longer than the first hundred and twenty had, but I still passed through Blackheath Gate over an ahead of the meeting time. The purpose of my journey was to join old friends and new acquaintances on the third annual Team Real Peloton bike ride, an event first started in 2010 when Ned Boulting and Matt Rendell invited listeners to their irreverent cycling podcast, Real Peloton, to join them on the Devon Tour Ride, a 110 miles bicycle odyssey through the rolling hilly southwest. That event started on a rainy September morning under heavy, grey skies and the wet roads took their toll when Joad, one of our number of around 20 hardy souls, crashed en route to the start line and had to retire. After numerous mishaps and adventures we finished in a warm, dry - if not exactly sunny - Teignmouth.

As most roadies know, friendships forged on the road prevail and so it was that on June 16th 2011 we assembled for the second annual Team Real Peloton Ride. The plan was to ride much of the Olympic Road Race course, especially including Box Hill, and thereafter to take in the final round of the Tour Series in Canary Wharf. That plan didn't include apocalyptic rainfall sufficient to submerging the car park in Richmond Park and to leave us wondering whether to ride or go and build an Ark. But ride we did, a few new faces mingling with a few Devon vets, and great fun we had - I can still laugh out loud when recalling the vile verbal abuse that Mr Rendell suffered from the puffy chops of an XXXL Anne Summers rep in Dorking.

And so we come to the 31st May 2012. Conspiracies of circumstance meant that we were merely 6 today. Matt was sadly unavailable (happily for him though as he was in Italy) and I can only assume that a lack of Real Peloton podcasts in 2012 had caused a dwindling of interest in Team Real Peloton. Hence our third annual ride began with just four vets - myself, Luke McLaughlin (ITV webmaster and everyday commuting cyclist) Ned and Jim Clayton (once the subject of much abuse from Boulting and Rendell for briefly pulling out of the 2010 Tour Ride team) - and 2 new "members", Ian Cleverly of Rouleur and Chris Alfreds from IG Markets. With Ian and Luke as two legged sat navs we negotiated our way out of Greenwich Park and into the Kent countryside in almost perfect cycling weather, warm, dry and a a little overcast. I can easily understand the "Garden of England" tag that the county has, it's beautiful and some of the roads are a joy. Finding fresh new tarmac on lanes where two cars struggle to pass each other was a delightful surprise, and the bunting clad villages of middle England felt a world away from the nearby metropolis. As expected the company was wonderful and relaxed, and when Ned, Jim and I arrived back at Blackheath Gate neither my mind NOR my legs felt like we'd ridden four hours and fifty miles - my first 50 in one go post bowel cancer. This I took as a sign of great enjoyment and (finally) a welcome return to full cycling fitness. Most shocking of all was that we experienced not one drop of rain or inclement weather on the entire journey, meaning that Matt Rendell, Jon Stump or one of the other two time RP riders is our Albatross killer!

After a welcome freshen up at Ned's we headed to Canary Wharf for the Tour Series race where this time Jim took control of navigation duties through the shiny shopping centre and glassy gorges they call streets. Although we had seen little sun during our earlier ride Chris was sporting some impressively red arms, and when he's had enough of working for IG Markets he can probably carve out a top level career in the World Speed Sun Burning League. Below is the elevation profile of our ride which looks ego satisfyingly like a Grand Tour mountain stage.

Thanks Jim, Ned, Luke, Chris and Ian for a lovely day out.

I thought that PGT Day 14 would be a toughie, but in fact I felt great throughout Friday 1st of June with my lungs and legs feeling superb. Sadly I wasn't able to repeat the mileage of yesterday but I still had a joyous day of litle local loops (including the obligatory Club Day trip to Fred's where I got a new team tee shirt).

PGT Day 15 was as awful as day's 13 and 14 were great. I read an interview with Ryan Giggs a few months ago in which he said how he could feel a deterioration in performance at training if he put butter on his toast. For the past few weeks I've been noticing clear links between what I eat on one day and how I feel cycling on the next. We are, after all, what we eat. In my case what I eat too much of is sweet things. So on the evening of Friday June 1st I succumbed to too much cake and sweets (sweet liquorice stuffed with Flake like chocolate - how can one resist?) at a nephew's 21st Birthday tea, then to too much junky snacky foods at a friend's sixtieth birthday party. On the morning of Saturday June 2nd I headed over to my sister's house in Wollaston (route detailed here in my PGT 1 day 5 blog post) to drop off my Oyster card (she's snagged tickets to the Jubilee Concert at Buck Pal) and, to be blunt, felt crap. The return journey was better, the wind was behind me for one thing, but I never once felt great and my breathing was awful going from fine to breathless in record times again and again. In the end I was glad that it was a short ride day and I am now absolutely certain that if I'm riding far I must eat well for a day or two before and stay off the cake and chocolate.

The temperature plummeted back down to 7° today, for PGT Day 16, and was accompanied by steady rain and strong wind. Thus it was that I suffered through a short ride for the second day running, this time along the regular Tuck Hill/ Six Ashes route (detailed here), only today the wind was behind me heading outward meaning much grunting and grinding on the homeward half of the ride. In fact the weather was so poor it felt like THIS should be the 2012 Team Real Peloton outing, not the dry run in The Smoke on Thursday, and so to acknowledge this I wore my Real Peloton jersey, but once again I was glad to get home, drink coffee and shower. Fingers crossed that the forecast for the rest of the week is largely wrong, but if not then it looks like a few days of riding with mudguards.



Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16

PGT Day 12 - Monsoon, Thunder and Bike Change

Short, easy day today. A work visit to Rugby took care of the morning (and the best weather), and Finn's cough is worsening again necessitating the enforcement of a bike ban, so my plan was to do a half hour afternoon ride to All Saints School for a Jubilee Event, then to ride another half hour route home. Sadly a massive downpour that gravitated into a thunderstorm whilst at school put paid to the return journey, which consequently took place later on my mudguarded bike. I didn't want to take too much out of my legs today (nor get my bike filthy and de-lubed) as I'm off to London tomorrow for the annual Team Real Peloton bike ride. The team was originally "created" by Ned Boulting and Matt Rendell on their irreverent cycling podcast to coax a few listeners into doing the 2010 Tour Ride - 110 hilly miles in Devon. Tomorrow's trip will be my first 50 miler in one single ride since my bowel op in January, so it's a bit of a milestone I'm aiming at, but it's also a chance to hook up with mates for a natter whilst riding a bike around new roads (Toy's Hill has been mooted), and watch some bike racing (Tour Series in Canary Wharf).

That's it, early to bed ready for an early start and probably a late finish. This time tomorrow I will be chugging coffee as if my life depended on it which, in some ways, it does - don;t want to doze off on the M40 after all.

Steve

PGT Days 8 to 11 - Phew, the end of lofty ambition!

Wow, that was a run of busy days, hence the no blog, but I've managed to keep riding and so will do a brief re-cap of events since the commencement of the second week of the People's Grand Tour II.

Finn and I rode into Wolverhampton on Saturday morning to collect the penultimate piece of ""Sun" Lego and headed home via the slightly more scenic route trough Telford. After a brief pit stop (replace the "t" in pit with a  couple of "S" if you wish) Finn asked me for the time. After I'd told him that it was 9.43 he said "well I'm not going to my guitar lesson then?" After silently screaming at myself for forgetting that weekly appointment we TTTed home in just a few minutes, climbing Bullmeadow Lane at about 22kph, and Mom readied the car enabling him to get to school for his tuition only 5 minutes late. The rest of the day was then lost in a steamingly hot haze of loft clearing (new insulation to be fitted tomorrow as I write), an evening bar-b-q at friends, followed by loading the cars up with the "good" but unwanted loft junk at about 11pm. Still, at least we got our drive back!

First thing on Sunday was lost to the utter displeasure of a car boot sale. It amazes me that people spend weekends visiting these things and that they are such an integral part of the lives of so many. For us it was an opportunity to monetise some things that would have been thrown or given away, but there are times during the unpleasant four or five hours when you wonder if it's worth it. Fortunately people watching and a game of "Porky or preggers" with Paula helped to pass the time, and it really did seem worthwhile that evening when we were eating the Chinese meal our booting had afforded us.

By the time I got home Finn had ridden his quota for the day having done about 8km back and forth on his BMX and didn;t fancy any more cycling, so I just headed out for an hour loop around some of the lanes around Highgate Common, Enville and Bobbington before collecting tea from the Chinese take away (and worrying about the plastic bag handles breaking on the ride home). I'd have to say that after a couple of rides, a loft clearance and a car boot in 25° temperatures I was properly knackered on Sunday night and slept for 8 hours and even then had to force myself to wake up.

PGT day 10 was a simple out and back medium length commute followed by the short out and back commute after lunch followed by two short blasts to school and back sandwiching a Governor's meeting. Finn was tired and is still coughing and so decided to entirely opt out of riding today.

And then it was day 11. Just under 5km on the BMX for Finn and another medium commute in, followed by a longer one home for me. Riding home across the Roller Coaster Ridge it was very noticeable that the fields painted a beautiful yellow by the Rape Seed Oil plants were not fading towards green as the leaves drop off and the plants bear forth their seeds (it's amazing that they can get any oil from those tiny pods). As I turned homeward at Patshull Park Golf Club (once part owned by Peter Alliss I believe), riding up the hill into Pattingham that the old boys know as "The Staircase", I was struck by how the fading beauty of the yellow sea on my left was being supplanted by the ever growing wash of lilac to my right, the flowers of Linseed plant coming to the fore in the sunshine.

Sadly the riding was followed by the final bit of loft clearing, the removal of the doors and boards previous owners had laid across the joists to enable safe walking. I once again lost half of my body weight in sweat in the cauldron roof space and was so glad to have the job finished. Paula and I both hope that the putting back of the surviving "junk" will be quick and easy although with 250mm thick insulation to contend with after tomorrow I suspect it wont be straightforward at all.


Finn totals so far;
Days ridden - 9
Total distance ridden - 171.0
Total time in saddle - 10.16
Longest ride - 41.5km

Steve totals so far;
Days ridden - 11
Total distance ridden - 455.8
Total time in saddle - 19.13
Longest ride - 83km

Steve Day 8
Steve Day 9
Steve Day 10
Steve Day 11

PGT Day 7 - Watering Asparagus

Jay  Ratcliffe
Photo by David Perry

It was functional Friday for me and for Finn today. First of all I rode into Wolverhampton City Centre for my final working week collection of free Lego (free that is apart from the cost of buying The Sun and the resultant moral bankruptcy) from W H Smith. Friday is Club Day which meant a trip into Fred's to take a cake for Jam, top mechanic and top bloke, who celebrated his birthday yesterday (a day I spent thinking it was the 23rd, hence my being a day late). There was also an obligatory de-brief on last night's race in Bobbington. Turns out there was a major team effort when the elite group caught the next bunch on the last lap, whereupon our three lads in the caught group hit the front in turn and ripped the legs off everybody, stringing out the Peloton and giving Jay, who had towed the elite lads round the circuit 3 times, much needed respite and helping him to eventually win the race comfortably. Chapeau to Adam, Mark and Paul for the teamwork.

De-brief over and I headed back into work, before a ride home via Pattingham to await the arrival of a nice man from TNT. Actually he was a nice guy and literally just the messenger so I shouldn't in any way berate him, but I'm staggered by the palaver involved in exchanging a faulty Battery Bank that I could have safely posted back to Expansys on Monday when I first notified them of the issue. However, the process is the process, so a courier collected a £50.00 item which has to be transported to France, after the safe arrival of which a replacement will be sent to me. Ho hum.

After lone road rides in the morning, the evening spin with my boy was always planned as another MTB outing. We rode, largely cross country, up to Halpenny Green Vineyards, where Paula works, simply to water the Asparagus newly planted in the cottage garden that she has designed and planted to supply the kitchen of the on site restaurant. Sadly the poor water pressure and long length of the hose meant that this was a long slow job. In fact it would almost have been quicker to drink directly from the tap and to spray the plants "naturally" after our bodies had processed it. However, we persevered and eventually got to go home by the route we came, although the strong Easterly breeze blowing into our faces made it a good deal tougher AND cooler.

Finn
My morning ride
My evening ride

PGT Day 6 - Race Chasing

Work commitments during the day meant that PGT 6 started late by my usual standards at 6pm. That was when Finn and I slung our legs over our bidon laden bikes and headed for Bobbington Village Hall, the start venue for Round 5 of the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Cycling Clubs Road Race League - referred to henceforth as the SSSCCRRL if only to prevent a bandwidth shortage. On a very warm evening there was a good turnout and Fred's Racing Team, well placed in the league having held the yellow jersey until last week, was well represented by six riders. The vets had a few minutes head start before the other Cat groups rolled (!) off at two minute intervals. All of the roads on the 11 mile long circuit (covered 3 and a bit times in the 55km/ 35m race) are very familiar to me, a combination of long grinds and undulations interspersed with the odd drag strip on a slight downhill.

Once the racers were all on the road Finn, myself and a couple of friends we'd bumped into at HQ headed up the slow climb from Bobbington before stopping outside the Six Ashes pub which marks the top and provides a corner vantage point that is ideal for seeing pained riders heading off one climb onto a heavy, treated road surface that undulates like a fairground roller coaster. Here, in a stunning, selfless act of solidarity with the Peloton, Fred's team manager John Taylor removed his cold, refreshing pint from view as they passed. After they had been through that junction three times we saddled up and followed the course for 2 or 3km (I was amused to see that Finn hadn't had chance to dispose of his J2O bottle before our rapid departure and so was carrying it in his jersey) before diving off onto a shortcut to the finish which is on another slow starting hill that fires pain into the muscles on a small gradient then starts to steepen - it tortures me EVERY time I ride it let alone race it.

Ad and Edgeways

The finishing straight itself is the first 300 metres or so of the rising road, averaging around 3% I'd guess. It was brilliant to see James Ratcliffe of the Fred's team cross the line first a few minutes after our arrival. Better still Adam Howells and Paul "Edgeways" Horton crossed the line a few seconds later utterly exhausted but equally elated by the contribution they'd been able to make to Jay's win. The buzz of the race accentuated by the buzz of the team ethic and success. Chapeau chaps, and to all the Fred's boys.



With the dust settled and daylight fading Finn and I headed the 3 or 4 (mainly downhill) km home. Unfortunately a momentary lapse of concentration at the top of Camp Hill sent my Dude into a zero speed fall. He got up and dusted himself down (aided by me and a helpful race official) but seemed unusually hurt by the incident, which is when I realised that he'd managed to fall straight onto that J2O bottle, leaving him with a "dead leg" injury and nice bruise on his left buttock.

And so ended sultry day 6.

Finn (slightly more mileage than me due to my Garmin starting oversight)
Steve

PGT Day 5 - Here, There and .... Blimey, 80km!

Wow! Long day. 13 hours in lycra. Still REALLY enjoyed the riding though, but it's late (for me) so bullet point summary of Day 5 of The People's Grand Tour II 2012;

• W H Smith, Wolverhampton to collect Lego.
• Fred's at 9am to collect Garmin quarter turn mount for MTB (and bearing Cost Flat Whites).
• Work via Trysull and 3 cycling buddies en route. 
• One hourish lunchtime loop taking in Pattingham (see pic). 

• 75 minutes or so spinning around lanes with Finn, loving the chatting time with my son and over-using our phrase of the day "how green is that green". The late afternoon sunshine really brought out a magnificent, deep verdancy in the fields that was truly stunning.
• Stop to pick up Finn's phone which fell off his bike whilst riding and completely came apart. Strava didn't miss a beat recording his ride although it is in now two parts. Phone still working (HTC Desire) - thanks to all the motorists who moved to avoid it.
• Fast ride to Trysull for Curriculum Committee meeting at the school.
• Fast ride home as the light faded.
• Shower

                                    BED!

Me

Finn 1

Finn 2

PGT Day 4 - Commutin', Coughin' An' Off Roadin' ......

........ and all with exposed knees and in short sleeves.

So today was the day that drivers in the Wolverhampton area run the risk of temporary blindness as the summer sun glares brilliantly off my lillywhite pedal pushing quads for the first time this year. Perhaps I should have left the "Save A Cyclist" jersey at home as it was motorists who were more at risk, particularly as most of the ride was commuting at rush hour. Fortunately I largely avoid the main roads as part of my standard out and back commute, thereby enabling the strengthening sun to lay down some colour onto my pale skin.

Leaking Camelback alert!

Finn was back at school today, still coughing but not so badly as yesterday and without the the need for a stream of spitoons. Having done his statutory duty by day he was keen to head out for a ride in the evening, and to keep things varied and interesting we decided to try a little off roading on the mountain bikes. It was lovely to head out in short sleeves at 6.30 in the evening under a gloriously bright, cloudless sky. Although the sun has worked it's magic and dried up most of the muddy sections of our route, there were still enough patches to give us the occasional thrill of a rear wheel slip. We also sought out some testing and fun single track and wound our way round in a 12km or so route in just under an hour. I'm not sure how accurate the distance reading is because we forgot Finn's Strava enabled phone and my Garmin didn't like the (former) railway cutting that we rod along - I suspect the depth of the track and the quite thick canopy of overhanging trees combined to confuse the Edge. 

Anyway, the distance is irrelevant, it's the thrill of the ride that counts. I'll always be a roadie at heart but the occasional bit of off road action is really refreshing.

Lap 1 data is my morning commute and lap 2 is our off road sortie this evening - Strava data

PGT Day 3 - Say Cheese!

Overnight Finn's cold had passed off but his cough had become considerably worse, turning him into a phlegm producer at industrial levels. An ultra rare day off school to enable loads of rest and recuperation was prescribed by Mom and Dad, but sadly so too was an enforced rest day from The People's Grand Tour. And so it was that I rode into work, came home, got sent off to pick up today's Lego character, made lunch, did some work then made tea for the children before finally heading off to Himley Park for the Fred's Racing Team First Annual Photo Shoot, a long planned event that, as luck would have it, coincided with what felt like the first day of Summer 2012 (or maybe the first lovely day of late Spring) in the West Midlands. The last time I'd been out on the bike without knee or leg warmers was last summer except for one balmy March day during the first People's Grand Tour of 2012 when the temperature freakishly rocketed into the high teens.

This is the first full season that Fred's Racing Team has officially existed, and it's main raison d'etre is to be an apolitical club for all types of cyclists and triathletes. It's a real mixed bag of skills and disciplines but there's an amazing commonality of personality running through the members, and also a refreshing lack of ego or demarcation related to each individual's skills. So we have international level triathletes mingling with ironmen (and women) and potential elite level cyclists mixing it with sportive riders and commuters. We also have a couple of pro cycling gold medallists associated with the club, namely Andy Tennant who snagged gold at this year's Worlds (as well as at junior level in the pursuit in 2005) and also the legend we call El Presidente, Mr Hugh Porter, BBC commentator and raconteur extraordinaire. On the right of the picture above is James Ratcliffe mixing it up in the Lincoln Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago (photo taken by the living, breathing encyclopedia of cycling in Britain, Aussie Larry ) 

Sadly neither of them were available for the photo shoot tonight, and the fact that it was an early evening start in the working week meant that others were absent too. Nevertheless it was a bit of fun, full of the sort of banter that always kicks off when groups of blokes get together - we have lady members who would hold their own in ANY group of men but sadly they all fell victim to unavailableitis. Look forward to seeing the results when our Andy has had chance to process them (they almost certainly need a HUUUUGE amount of Photoshop work).

So that's day 2 of PGT 2. All being well my sidekick will be back on the road again tomorrow, I certainly hope so.

My data on Strava
.

PGT day 2 - Bridgnorth and the Div Champs

Finn's People's Grand Tour nearly stalled before stage 2 having woken up this morning with a cough and a sniffly nose. At 7.30 Mom and I decided that he shouldn't ride today, but he perked up and was quite insistent that he wanted to give it a go so Dad eventually relented.

The air was cold, although not bitingly so, when we set out at about 9.30am and headed up to Halfpenny Green Vineyards to hook up with Tom, Finn's cousin/ my nephew. He used to ride as a teenager but lapsed until recently so was glad of the opportunity to ride with company at a gentle pace. Finn being a sociable beast was quite excited about riding with his cousin, and so we wound happily along the Shropshire lanes and on into Bridgnorth. W H Smith was shut to our surprise, so the second Batman Lego model, available in today's Sun, would have to be gained by other means. Fortunately Costa recently opened a branch just a few metres from Smiths giving us a perfect place to which to repair and plan that alternative method of Lego acquisition.

Suitably refreshed we headed up the infamous Hermitage climb to take in a lap or two of the West Midlands Divisional Road Race organised by Wolverhampton Wheelers. One of their promising young riders, Adam Lewis, took the junior race but the main event was taken by Kieren Frend of the Node 4 Giordana team after Rapha Condor Sharp's (and Fred's) Andy Tennant had driven an unsuccesful breakaway for a lap and a half (or a quarter of the race). Thanks to my mate and fellow Fred's rider Andy Whitehouse for this photo of Frend at the moment of victory.

With the still air warming but the chill factor when cycling still noticeable we headed home, reversing our outward route with one or two minor deviations. Apart from being buzzed by a Transit sized van - I felt the wind movement created by his wing mirror on my ear - the return trip was uneventful, if a little slower. Ring rustiness, plus the effects of his cough and cold, took their toll on the young 'un, but he kept going, kept smiling and enjoyed himself before eating us out of house and home!

Work and school tomorrow for the Trice boys, followed by a Fred's Racing Team photo shoot at Himley Park in the evening. Full report to follow.

Finn's data
Steve's data

PGT Day 1 - Lego and Knee Warmers

Having fought the strong inclination to sleep beyond 6am on every working morning this week, it was with galling irony that I rolled easily out of bed, wide awake, at 5am this morning. A more familiar feeling was drawing the curtains open to gaze out upon grey skies, this morning's dullness accompanied by a pervasive, cold drizzle. "Never mind" thunk I, "We're not riding for at least three hours, it will have cleared up by then". Sure enough, by 8.45am we were setting out in 6° air with that cold drizzle coming down a little heavier than it was three hours earlier.

So began my second People's Grand Tour of 2012, although this time it will be OUR People's Grand Tour as my son, Finn, will be riding along with me as often as is practical. I'm used to doing most of my riding alone, so it's probably not surprising that I hugely enjoy our father and son bike rides, partly because I have a companion, and partly because it's Finn. He's the boy equivalent of a Jack of All Trades - he loves doing lot's of activities although never to obsessive levels, but when he plays he does so with full on gusto and enthusiasm. So this PGT will be tailored to suit that element of his personality, meaning that we'll be varying the types of cycling that we do.

Originally day 1 was planned as a fairly flat road loop of around an hour on a route that could be trimmed accordingly. We were to be constrained by Finn having to be in school for a guitar lesson at 10am, so we needed to be out by 8.30 and stick to the hour time limit. However, the unwelcome claws of the Murdoch empire reached in to our lives by offering free Lego Batman figures, a double attraction to a 12 year old. The downsides of his excitement was that firstly (and worstly!) I would have to buy The Sun, and secondly (which we only discovered after doing the firstly) that we would have to go to W H Smith to pick up the figures using a token printed in the rag. That is why our first stage ride was changed from a spin around picturesque local lanes into an urban expedition into Wolverhampton City Centre. Furthermore, leaving at 8.45 meant that we were under a degree of time pressure if we were to ride for the hour minimum that we have set ourselves.

The fortuitous side to our ride into town was that after Finn realised that his (usually well placed) faith in his internal heating system had been misplaced, leaving him with cold knees, we were easily able to make the familiar detour into Fred Williams Cycles to pick up a pair of knee warmers for him. This was probably our quickest ever visit to Wolverhampton and beyond's finest cycling emporium, but with the knee warmers in place we headed back out into the drizzle for a 2 up TT home, arriving chez nous by ten to ten and getting to school a quarter of an hour after that, only 5 minutes late for the lesson. Unfortunately we'd only ridden for just over 45 minutes but, far more importantly, we both enjoyed the jeopardy tinged adventure AND snagged a Lego Batman jet ski. 

Finn's ride data (courtesy of the Strava Android app) - http://app.strava.com/rides/8842842#162226081


Steve's ride data - http://app.strava.com/activities/8868679