Update!

I meant to add this a while ago but I forgot. Anyway, Tim is also attempting 30/30. Assuming he rides today then he'll be up to 19 rides. Great stuff :)

In other news, I start work on Monday. Eeek! Driving in every day will drive me mental so I'm going to try riding in occasionally. Read all about it here - http://longdistancecommuting.blogspot.com/ :)

30/30 roundup

It's been a bit of a chore at times, mainly due to the awful weather that we've had all month - very windy, very wet. I've had some good rides though and I'm definitely stronger than I was at the start of the month. Would have liked to get some long road rides in but I really couldn't face battling the wind for 3+ hours. Anyway, it's done now. Thanks Jon for the challenge :)

Stats :

Rides : 30
Total Distance : 826km
Average Ride Distance : 27.53km (high 62km, low 15km)
Total Time : 41h:09m
Average Ride Time : 82m:18s (high 150m, low 60m)
Average Rating : 5.2/10 (high 7.5, low 1)
Offroad : 12 rides
Road : 18 rides
Geared : 5 rides
SS/fixed : 25 rides
Wet Rides : 11
Windy Rides : 30
Start weight : 89kg
End weight : 90kg

30/30

It's done! Needed to be back by 10am to watch the MotoGP. Eventually dragged myself out of bed (stupid clock changing) and out of the door by 8:45. Quick ride up to Rivi Pike and back. Trails very wet but it was a lovely sunny morning. I'll write some sort of summary post later.

17km|61mins|Dry, sunny, cool, windy
Rating 7/10

29/30

Woke up to unexpected sunshine so skipped breakfast and headed out as I knew it wouldn't last. Trails very wet from all of the rain we've had but still fun. Was pretty tired after a couple of hours (about my limit for a ride with no food) so headed home.

Two more people have dropped out of the running for 30/30 - Sara was undone by a trip to Scotland and a delayed flight and Jenn was ill :(

For the rest of us, 1 day to go!

35km|140mins|Dry & Sunny then cloudy, cool, windy
Rating 6/10

28/30

Two days to go. Looks like 2 more wet and windy rides to come. Oh joy.

28km|67mins|Very, wet, very windy, cold
Rating 5/10

27/30

Just an hour on the pompino today. 3 more rides to do. Shame the weather has been so rubbish, haven't felt like doing any long rides at all.

26km|60mins|Raim, hail, sun, windy, cold
Rating 5/10

26/30

More horrible weather, getting a bit tiresome now. Felt quite good after an hour so added another loop despite the weather. 4 days to go.

48km|110mins|Wet, breezy, cold
Rating 6/10

25/30

Had only planned to ride for about an hour today but when it started snowing heavily as I went up the school climb (cleaned again!) I decided to stay out a bit longer. Ended up quite a bit longer, including going up over Winter Hill (no idea if the mast is still there, I couldn't see a thing in the blizzard!). Pinch flat on the descent to Belmont was a bit annoying but I managed to get new tube in there without taking my gloves off. Result. Cold and tired when I got back, good ride though.

Samuri has dropped out of the 30/30 challenge with a week to go. Some feeble excuse about not being able to get his glove liners in his gloves. I thought he was tougher than that :)

35km|150mins|Heavy snow, breezy, cold
Rating 7/10

24/30

This morning's 'planned' ride with Steve didn't happen so I decided to take advantage of the sun and head down to Marshside to take some wildlife photos. Of course, by the time I got there the wind had picked up, the sky had clouded over and it was freezing cold. Didn't get any usable shots although I did get to see a kestrel hunting for a while which was cool. Just as I'd decided I'd got cold enough it started to snow. Great.

Fast forward to this afternoon. Didn't really feel like riding, still cold, cloudy and windy out. Eventually decided to head out at around 3:30, just as a blizzard started. Quick loop on the Voodoo - Home > Barn > School Climb > George's Lane > ICR > Barn > Home. The school climb ripped my legs and lungs apart as usual but I made it up without stopping (unusual for me on a singlespeed, usually have at least one little rest stop). According to my GPS it took me 11 minutes to ride up there from the gate to George's Lane (1.2km, 111m vertical height gain). Seemed much longer. Decided against going up to the Pike as there were loads of people up there (nothing to do with me not wanting to do anymore climbing, honest!)

Congratulations to Cris who completed his 30/30 yesterday. Top effort!

17km|63mins|Blizzard/sun/blizzard/sun, windy, cold
Rating 6/10

23/30

Legs and shoulders too tired to go and play offroad in the overnight snow so had a pleasant bimble on the fixie for an hour or so instead. Saw some lambs when I was out so swung past the house to grab a camera so that I could take a few shots :)

25km|65mins|Dry, sunny spells, cold, breezy
Rating 6/10

22/30

Stupidly windy ride. Out round Healy Nab and White Coppice, up the steep road climb to Lead Mines where some nice work on the gates with another rider gave him a clear run on the top 2/3rds and me a clear run on the 2nd 2/3rds. Splendid. Up the road climb to the bottom of the ICR, up there (saw Matt coming down into the wind. He was going about the same speed down the hill as I was going up :) Missed the Pike out as I was bored of the wind by then down Jon's 200 yards then buggered about in the woods for a bit. Nice ride, hard work.

32km|140mins|Dry, sunny, stupidly windy, cold
Rating 7/10

21/30

More really strong winds. Would have been nice to head offroad to try and find some shelter but being Good Friday, Rivington will be full of numpties and burger vans blocking all of the paths. So, another quick ride on the pompino. It was wonderful spinning along at 20-25mph almost effortlessly with the wind behind me. Coming back into the wind was horrible and I was struggling to reach 10-12mph. 3 weeks done.

27km|63mins|Dry, sunny then cloudy, very windy, cold
Rating 5/10

20/30

Spring can be so cruel sometimes. Shorts yesterday, winter tights, gortex jacket and waterproof gloves today :(
Got the ride over and done with before breakfast as the weather is due to get worse throughout the day. Realised after I was 10 mins down the road that I hadn't put a pump in my pocket but decided to carry on. I got away with it. Legs felt pretty good, did a few traffic light sprints, threw in a couple of extra climbs. It was lovely having a quiet drivetrain for the first time in ages and now that I haven't got a centimetre of play in the rear wheel the brake wasn't rubbing either. Bacon sarnie to finish :)

25km|61mins|Wet, very windy, cold
Rating 5/10

19/30

A delivery of bearings this morning meant I could get the Pompino and the Soda back on the road. Yay. New rear hub bearings for the Pompino (and a thorough clean of the drivetrain) and a new NDS HT2 bearing, middle ring and drivetrain clean for the Soda.
Once that was done I headed off into the sunshine on the Soda for my first ride in shorts this year! It was nice having gears again for easy spinning up hills. Shortish route - up to the Pike, down the Ice Cream Run, back up and the down through the gardens followed by a play about in the woods looking for downhill runs. Very pleasant indeed. Back home to a huge bowl of risotto :)

22km|90mins|Dry, sunny, mild, breezy
Rating 7.5/10

18/30

Had planned a nice easy offroad loop with a few photo stops but that was ruined when my Ricoh R7 digicam screwed up again. I still did the loop but no photos :(

(edit: actually, just remembered that there were a few photos before the cam died. Will put them on flickr)

20km|80mins|Dry, sunny spells, cold, breezy
Rating 5/10

17/30

Had a 4ish hour road ride planned for today but with 2 bail out points - I ended up taking both of them! The cold air wasn't doing much for my legs and there was a permanent headwind. Still, despite the cold wind it was lovely and sunny and the roads were quiet making for a pleasant ride, even though the last 30mins were quite a struggle. Time to stuff myself full of food :)

62km|150mins|Dry, mainly sunny, cold, breezy
Rating 6/10

16/30

Tired legs, didn't want to go out. Quick cheeky loop around Anglezarke reservoir. Very windy, hard work. Got back, grabbed the pompino wheel and went round to Matt's to bang the shagged bearings out of the hub (he had some blocks of wood to support the hub shell). Just need some new bearings to arrive in the post now and the Pompino will be back on the road.

20km|75mins|Dry, sunny spells, cold, very windy
Rating 4/10

15/30

Half way! The early rain cleared and the sun tried to peek out from behind the clouds. An hour's spin on the Pompino. Fairly pleasant. Bearings in the White Industries rear hub are shagged after 4000km. I guess that takes the Pompino off the road until I can sort out some new bearings.

25km|60mins|Dry, hazy sun, mild, breezy
Rating 6/10

14/30

2 weeks done. The rain stopped and the wind died down so decided to see how well my lungs had recovered so grabbed the road bike and went hard (probably around 85% effort) from the start. Covered the first 10 miles in 29:10 (mainly into the breeze) and then eased off a bit for the second half of the ride. Felt pretty good for the first time in ages :)

31km|61mins|Dry, cloudy, cool, light breeze
Rating 7/10

13/30

The ride didn't get off to the best start when I got out of my back gate and realised that I hadn't put my spds on. D'oh! It then got worse as 5 minutes later it started to rain. The rain continued and got harder throughout the ride. Still, I had motorhead drowning out the noisy drivetrain on the pompino and my legs were starting to feel better. Kept getting caught at traffic lights but at least that gave me some trackstand practice. After one set of lights I got passed by a couple of guys in GB team kit. They must have been freezing - shorts, no gloves or jacket. Mad. Anyway, one of them turned off at the next set of lights and I sat on the wheel of the other guy for a couple of miles as he was going at a nice steady pace. He didn't seem to mind as he was pointing out potholes and debris for me. Very decent of him. We soon went different ways so I had to battle the wind on my own for the rest of the ride.
Noticed a police car up ahead blocking the sliproad onto the M61 which was ace as it meant I didn't have to fanny around crossing the busy junction - just joined the cyclepath and hopped off the kerb in front of the police car without slowing down. Splendid. Looked down from the bridge to a completely empty motorway, not something you see very often. The rain was really heavy by now so instead of extending the ride as I had planned I headed pretty much straight home to a cup of hot tea and a flapjack :)

Seventeen rides to go.

27km|62mins|Very wet, windy, cool
Rating 6/10

12/30

After retrieving my wheelie bin from half way down the street I set off for a battle against storm force winds. Pretty mental really with wheelie bins and roadworks signs scattered everywhere and quite a few trees down. The winds up on Rivington Pike were insane, I could barely stand up at the top and got blown clean off the side on the way down. Luckily my god-like bike handling ability allowed me to ride it out :)
In places I was struggling to pedal 32x18 downhill!
12 down, 18 to go!

21km|90mins|Dry, stormy winds, cold
Rating 5/10

11/30

Has it only been 11 days? Seems much longer. Anyway, more rain, wind & cold today. No surprise really. Picked up a new middle chainring for the Soda, will be fitting that later. Hopefully that'll sort out the annoying chainsuck I've been getting.

35km|80mins|Wet, windy, cold
Rating 5/10

10/30

A nice bimble down the canal past Top Lock towards Pennington Flash. Would have gone a bit further but the wind picked up and the heavens opened so I turned around and came back. Legs felt ok until I'd been riding for 2 hours, bit of a struggle after that which was ok as I wasn't far from home then. I probably should have had some breakfast before setting off. Very muddy in places. 1000km for the year.

40km|140mins|Dry & sunny then wet, windy, cold
Rating 6/10

9/30

Clockwatching. Misjudged the route slightly and rode for 2 seconds more than I needed to. I hope I can do a proper ride soon. 3 weeks to go.

25km|60min|Dry, cloudy, cold, windy
Rating 4/10

8/30

Into the second week. More stupidly strong winds with some heavy rain thrown into the mix. It almost makes me wish I had some rollers ;-)

26km|66mins|Wet, very windy, cool
Rating 4/10

7/30

One week done. Stupidly thought that I was feeling better today. Saw another cyclist up ahead so decided to chase and pass him. Went past him with a cheery hello doing about 20mph uphill into the wind and then tried to hang on as best I could. Of course, he just latched onto my wheel and sat there getting a free ride. Kept the power on for the next couple of miles until I had to turn off. It was here I realised just how screwed my lungs still are - lots of coughing and struggling to get enough air into them. Looks like a few more days of gentle cycling are needed. To try and get away from the wind and the school traffic I dropped down onto the canal for a few miles. It was a bit muddy for 25mm slicks but was a fairly pleasant diversion.

21km|61mins|Dry, sunny, cold, very windy
Rating 5/10

6/30

Didn't get out until late today for various reasons which meant battling with rush hour traffic. Almost felt like commuting, not sure I like that! Legs slowly starting to feel better, average speed slightly up[1] despite feeling like I was putting in less effort than over the last few days. All good.
I've decided that the drivetrain on the Pompino is really starting to annoy me as I can hear it over the sounds coming out of my MP3 player. I'll have to do something about it. Not tomorrow though, United Utilities have decided that they're going to bugger about with the water pipes on my road so I'll have no water all day. Oh joy.

24km|60mins|Dry,overcast, cool, windy
Rating 5/10
[1]still slow!

5/30

Another cold and windy ride. Still really struggling into the wind, no power at all and still coughing up green stuff occasionally. Drivetrain on the Pompino is sounding a bit unhealthy, not surprising really as it probably hasn't seen a drop of oil since last summer.
I appear to be running out of clean riding clothes now, should really do some washing.

30km|75mins|Dry, overcast, cold, windy
Rating 4/10

4/30

Well that was much better. Mainly clear blue skies, overnight snow rapidly melting, legs working slightly better. It was actually a pleasure to be out despite still being very slow and needing a few rest stops.



20km|90min|Dry, sunny, cold, windy
Rating 6/10

3/30

Wow, that was deeply unpleasant. Temperatures have dropped sharply so back on with full winter clobber. Unfortunately I neglected to put on overshoes which I realised after a few mins. Oh well, shouldn't be a problem with dry roads. 10 minutes later I was being blasted by hail being driven into my face by the strong wind. The road turned white in seconds but then the hail melted leaving it soaking. This is when I started regretting forgetting to put my overshoes on! Cold wet feet for the rest of the ride. The 2nd half of the ride was was worse. Lots more hail and I was mainly riding into the strong wind. I resorted to pulling my beanie as far over my face as I could and covering the rest of it with my gloved hand. At least occasionally the hail was replaced by less painful sleet & snow! I would have rated this ride a zero but conditions were so unpleasant at one point that I spent a few minutes laughing out loud at the sheer stupidity of it all. I also thought of those poor sods that have resorted to rollers and turbo trainers to get through 30 in 30 :)

edit: Still plenty of green stuff coming out of my lungs

24km|65mins|Hail/sleet/snow, very cold, very windy
Rating 2/10

2/30

Day 2 done and dusted. I was hoping that by waiting to ride until this afternoon that the wind would have died down but it was still pretty blustery. Of course, on the outward half of the ride this was most pleasant but I wasn't looking forward to the return leg! As I got near Horwich I realised that there must have been a football match this afternoon as it was traffic hell and there were people wandering everywhere getting in the way. Most inconsiderate. A slightly uphill sprint away from some lights quickly reminded me that my chest is far from recovered and then turning for home I hit the full force of the wind. I was slowed to a crawl and grovelled pretty much the rest of the way home. At least the fixed gear meant I couldn't shift into an easier gear and ride even more slowly!
I'm sat here now eating a lovely pea & leek risotto. That should aid recovery :)

23km|61mins|Dry, sunny, cool, very windy
Rating 2/10

1/30

First ride in 2 weeks due to illness. Possibly the first ride of 30 in 30 days. Still feeling ill. Breathing hard work, throat sore, heart rate high, overtired, empty. Spinning uphill in stupidly low gears like an asthmatic octogenarian despite a gale force wind behind me. Slowest descending in history back into the gale force wind. No leg power to overcome it. Saw Samuri in his high powered sports coupe, saw Matt on his gaybred.

15km|63mins|Dry, some sun, mild, gales
Rating 1/10