My birthday is at the end of April, and around that time, I tend to do quite a bit of pondering. This year, I was pondering how I'd largely got out of the habit of exercise. Well, I'm not sure I was ever properly in it... but I was doing hardly any, and was feeling slovenly and unfit. I saw an advert for a charity event, where you signed up to do the distance of an IronMan race, but across a whole month, rather than a single day. It was free to enter, there was no set amount to raise for the charity, and the whole thing felt like a bit of a challenge, but not so unreachable as to be off-putting. I signed up. I started with a plan to space all the activity evenly across the month, but, well, May was rather a mess, and life got quite in the way. Still, I headed out on my bike whenever I could, mostly along the old railway trails. It was lovely to do some more cycling. I left the bike in the car, and stopped off at the trails on the way home from work, which isn't something I'd usually do, but was lovely. The swim was, surprisingly, the least hassle. It was 2.4 miles, which worked out as 155 lengths of my local pool. I went swimming each week, including when we were away in Llandudno, and this was the first discipline I finished. I think I was most worried about the cycling - 112 miles is a long way, and takes a long time when you're as slow as me. I did ten miles here, fifteen there, but by the last week or so, I still had 76 miles left. I had a couple of rather long rides, including what felt like a rather epic 36 mile day cycling around and near a reservoir. Some of that day was rather outrageously uphill. With a couple of days before we went to Scarborough (which took us into June, and I didn't want to take my bike), I still had 16 miles left. I planned to go out along the trails one night, but as I got home from work, a piece fell off the underside of the car, and I had to wait for the AA. I was busy being annoyed, when I remembered the exercise bike. I thought I'd get a couple of miles ticked off, but by the time the AA turned up, I'd done five miles, and as it didn't seem that bad, I figured I might as well do another five. The next morning I was feeling quite wobbly, and finished off the final miles on the bike in the living room. I'd thought the run would be ok - it was only 26 miles over a month, after all, and I was meant to be training for a 15 mile running race in June. Somehow, I kept putting off running, until I found myself with about fifteen miles left when we went on holiday. I took my running shoes, and set out for a long run both mornings, accepting that I was going to have to do quite a bit of walking. I made it, finally, and spent much of the rest of the holiday sitting down.
Overall, I raised about £300 for Cancer Research UK, and rediscovered my love of cycling along the trails, and generally being outside. I also ended up quite pleased with myself that I'd actually done it - I often leave race preparation to the last minute, but because this wasn't a single race, and it was impossible (for me, at least) to do everything on the last day, it was fun to have a tracker and add a few miles here and there throughout the month. Obviously, a fair bit did still get left to the end... but it gave me a great sense of achievement, like I could actually commit to something and see it through. I'm still carrying that with me now.
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July was a month of cycling, and then in the last two days I broke both of my bicycles. Nothing drastic - a new wheel for one is waiting for me in the bike shop, and the other just needs punctures repairing in both wheels - a bit of a faff as it's a folding bike and the folding mechanism has to be removed to take the wheel off. On my last day of cycling (when I got a puncture - fortunately just half a mile from the car), I went down the Manifold Way for a change. I normally cycle down one of the other old railway tracks, and haven't been down this one for years. I'd forgotten how different the landscape feels. The other trails have expansive views of rolling hills, whereas this one is more wooded, with high rocky outcrops and cliffs, and a small river running alongside the track. I'll definitely be heading back here when I've fixed at least one of my bikes.
I am so much enjoying cycling at the minute. Nothing epic, just a few miles up and down one of the railway trails, either first thing in the morning, or at tea time. Six, eight miles, I don't think I've gone further than ten at all this year, so it's never a long ride, but it's enough to move my legs, get a bit of fresh air, see the flowers. I keep taking photographs and they're all kind of the same, but the sky changes, and the flowers change, and I like to look back on this landscape and remember each ride and what I was listening to at the time. I wanted to venture off the trail and cycle to a local cafe while I was off, but I've not managed it this time so that will have to wait for later in the summer. In the meantime I'll just keep cycling up and down these trails, before breakfast or after tea, when it's quiet.
We've had some good weather round here lately, and while it's tempting to stay at home and tackle the endless round of Things To Do, I have managed to sneak off for a couple of little bike rides on our local trails. I confess they haven't been very speedy bike rides, as I often seem to find myself off my bike, taking photographs of flowers. I just don't know how it happens. I don't always know what they are, and I keep meaning to find out, but then something else distracts me and I forget again. These are old railway trails, and I love the way they cut through the hills and look out over the countryside. On one of my recent forays, I came across preparations for a local bicycling festival - it all looked very exciting and on the way home I saw someone driving with a penny farthing on a bike rack on the back of their car. Occasionally there's an old station, or a dry stone hut, or even another cyclist, but mostly it's just me and the flowers and the weather.
Today was the first non-snowy day without visitors for a while, so I finally retrieved my bike from the garage, pumped the tyres up, and set off for a cycle down one of the old railway trails that criss cross the national park. I used to do this fairly regularly before, but they're a lot closer to home now. Our old house was on top of a hill and surrounded by city roads, and our new one is perched on the side of a hill surrounded by narrow roads with windy bends, and on the whole I prefer my leisure cycling to be flatter and involve a lot of stopping to take photographs. I did question the wisdom of choosing today for a bike ride. It was raining all morning, and I squelched about the garden as I got my bike ready. But there was a brief break in the clouds which convinced me that it might not rain all afternoon, and I set off (clad in plenty of waterproofs). The sky was at least a little more interesting than the blank dull grey that it's been recently. I do like to see scudding clouds (although I prefer little fluffy white ones scudding across a blue sky). There was a lot of water on the trail too, and at times it was like I was cycling through a river. Needless to say, between the rain coming down, and the puddles coming up, I was drenched. I don't actually mind being drenched on a bike ride, as long as I can dry off and get warm straight after, but this was quite ridiculous. Even after removing my (supposedly) waterproof walking boots and two pairs of socks, my feet were still leaving wet footprints on the floor. I'm quite pleased I lasted for 11 miles. I've not been on a bike for months, and while this was flat, it was also quite hard going with the rain and the wind and the puddles. I was quite pleased to get home and dry though, and gained a new appreciation for the rain when I spotted this double rainbow behind the house. Rainbows aside, I'd quite like things to dry up a bit soon. Between the rain and the snow, and our many visitors with their extra cars, we've ended up with quite a churned up moat outside our front gate. I'm very grateful for my wellies right now.
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Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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