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