A Rainy Ride

The rain hammered hard. It fell from the clouds and dragged my spirit with it, it ran from my head, rolled down my back, round the cheeks of my butt and eventually fell off the rear of my saddle into my rear wheel, only to be slung around and splatted against my white staining jersey. This was going to happen for at least another 50 kilometres. The joy.

Glasses don’t really help either, they fog up as my heavy respiration forces warm breath from my mouth upwards onto the cold lenses. I wiped them often, but they just get smudged and grimy from the dates I ate and the sugary energy bars that kept me going..

My helmet may as well have been a swimming pool. Every time I tilted my head captured rain would fall through the vents and run down my back. The helmet was essential due to the fact that the chances of crashing were considerably higher as the lack of friction was becoming a problem.

Damn the rain.

I aquaplaned a few times leaning into corners. It’s scary, but exciting in an adrenaline boosting way, it grabs your attention and makes sure you don’t forget that every corner is now your enemy.

My shoes were completely waterlogged. Each turn of the pedals created a squelch, an irritating noise it would seem as time goes by. My toes were going numb, a feeling I’m still getting used to.

The only parts of me that stayed warm were my hands and legs. Mainly because I had two pairs of gloves on and my legs were constantly spinning around.

Had it been a warm day we would have been travelling a lot faster as there would have been a reduced risk of crashing. But no, I had decided I would ride in this weather.

People often ask why one would go and ride in the rain. The answer is simple.

I love cycling more than anything in the world. More than eating rhubarb and custard sweets, more than a cold one in the summer, more than the smile on my girlfriends face…

When you truly love something you’ll do anything to feel that feeling of happiness, joy, ecstasy…

New Year and Stuff.

So, here it is. The New Year.

Happy New Year to you, I wish you all the best for the coming 365 days.

I’ve got quite a few plans for this year, most of which are cycling, education and fitness related. Maybe a little bit of self improvement too?!

I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my blog/s. Without seeing the hits on my posts I’m really doing this for nothing, it would look like I’m only typing to clear my head. However the stats show me that people from all corners of the world have read and continue to read my blog/s.

To start…

The year just passed.

If you’ve read my blog throughout the past year you’ll know that a lot has happened to me, some good and some bad. I did a lot for myself last year and really just started to understand who I am and what I’m doing here on this planet. I did quite a few things I’d never really do, I regretted some of the decisions I made but I also took opportunities I would never take too!

Everything I did has helped me to become who I am now and has helped me in planning a future based around the things I love.

The year ahead.

This year I aim to give you as much information as possible about what I’m doing, Training, Food, Music, Races… blah blah… And in return I’d like to hear back from you. Does anything I write about offend you? Motivate you? Even interest you? Let me know so I can improve what you see.

I have a secret plan for this year. I can’t tell you what it is obviously but I’m sure as the years comes to a close you’ll guess and maybe even understand what’s happening. Everything I do this year is working towards the secret… Dun dun dun…

You can follow me on…

Twitter; @Irideroad

Facebook; RideWithI

Instagram; @irideroad

Stay Flemish,

Orca Out.

Gran Fondo 8, SiS Summer 100 and Shimano Summer Challenge!

Sunday 10th August 2014

You always get a good view when you're on a bike

I'm sat here listening to E-Bow by Sigur Ros, a beautiful track, staring at this screen, teary eyed as the music fills my ears and memories fill my mind. I find a quote after searching online for something to express how I feel right now and this is what I found...

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams."

The last week has been brilliant for me, in so many different ways.

Coffee

Thursday...

I finally got to see the insides of the Conti, something I've wanted to do for a long time. I need to know how it works, without this machine I wouldn't be very good at my job.

I managed to speak to the technician as he went about repairing the machine. He was extremely patient as i wrote notes and drew diagrams for future reference, he talked me through every single part of the machine, mentioning what they do and how they do it. It was a brilliant experience...

Cycling

I did just under 300k this week, I should have really done more... Training is all that matters...

Monday...

I'm waiting for my Racing licence to come through the in the post so I can start looking ahead at the CX season over winter. This will be a great learning and training season for me, I'm' not going to be looking for the win, but if the opportunity shows itself I will attack until my legs are jelly!

Wednesday...

So this ride was pretty cool, minus the fact I was left to go solo 25 Miles in due to Dale having a puncture... But that's not going to stop the Orca from smashing his way up and down hills in the dark! I managed to cover 91.2km in the end, so i wasn't too disappointed about doing it solo. Plus I was on a total high due to the night before...

Sprinting around on Alice, no hands!

This ride made me feel incredible, the mixture of being out with my best friend, doing the thing I love more than anything, the views and the great memories from the night before made me break down. I cried on a downhill section overlooking Clanfield. The feelings were too much for me to handle, I just had to let it out... I also had to let Dale know how much I appreciate him.

Saturday...

I finished work at 6.30, went home, cleaned my kit, threw some food and gels into my musette, charged my Garmin and planned the route... I then rode to Dales to pick him up and off we went.

Gran Fondo 8 and SiS Summer 100 were my goals, complete them both in one ride! On top of that I used the ride as a top up for the Shimano Summer Challenge, 600k in 16 days.

At first I didn't think Dale would have been able to even do 100 plus miles, thankfully I was wrong. He was great company for what was to be a cold, windy and rainy ride.

We climbed, we descended and we CTFU. We rode 50 miles before our first break, we sat in the road on top of a hill somewhere near Bishops Waltham.

One of the nice things about being up in the hills and away from towns is the lack of traffic and the fortunate lack of light pollution. Unfortunately the sky was full of huge clouds and we couldn't see the moon or stars, this is usually a perk I look forward to. Thankfully there were no cars around for miles, so we were not blinded every ten seconds unlike on other rides.

We had ridden around 60 miles when Dale mentioned he had a front puncture... Fuck!

Just what we needed. I was standing around not being very much help at all, freezing to death and CTFU. Dale luckily had packed his saddle bag with everything we needed, he fixed the puncture promptly and we were off again... Then it started raining... Not just raining... Pissing down!

We were drenched, worried about our phones in our jersey pockets and the terrible country road surfaces in the wet. I was blinded in one eye for at least a mile and a half, which was not very fun considering we were on a downhill.

The rain stopped as we re-entered Meon, however the wind was still howling at us, it was torture.

So, anyhow we managed to get on top of Portsdown Hill, somewhere near Southwick, but not using the A road... It was a complete mission climbing 128 meters after riding in conditions we had been riding in. At last we made it to the top... Everyone knows that what goes up must come down... And we did... Fast!

We descended into Fareham and rode towards Gosport... This is when I threw in the towel "I don't want to ride down that fucking road" I really dislike this particular road, I was cranky as hell, tired and cold. I just wanted to get home.

So we turned around and headed back towards Portsmouth.

We got onto the island and headed towards Clarence Pier, we needed to do a lap of the seafront and then add on how ever many miles Dale needed to make it to a complete century. We finished our lap in Eastney and turned to find another 4 miles. We pedaled and pedaled. In one mile I had completed my 3 challenges, 3 miles after that Dale would complete 2 of them too! I started shouting words of motivation. Our speed raised as well as our spirits.

Its a brilliant feeling seeing someone complete such a big ride, the biggest ride they've ever done! The longest time spent in the saddle! The highest number of meters climbed! The personal records stacked up!

A smile crept onto my face. Dale had done it! I had done it!

I didn't care much for my own goals, I only had time for my best friends achievements!

I'm so proud of him for everything! He really impressed me on this ride. He was great company, a great wind breaker and a complete fighter!

I rode back to Dales to pick up some amazing cake he had made, Peanut butter and chocolate spread marble cake! It was amazing and definitely helped in my recovery!

I got home and collapsed onto the floor, looked around for a while and decided I needed sleep. I slept.

Flandrian tanlines...Hot!

Check my Strava/Challenges page for all my ride information.

Personal/Other

 Go out and listen to Arkells new album High Noon! Its great, I wouldn't say its better than the old albums but it's on par.

Saw nan, all is ok. She went to Legoland with my Brother, she's a total nutter!

Get in touch?

Facebook-Instagram-Twitter

Just click on the boxes on the right!

Stay Flemish!

Orca out!

Stolen bikes, Awesome sunsets and a Hedgehog???

I'm not dead!

Sorry for the lack of posts... The reason...

As many of you may know I had my bike stolen a few months back now, and it sucked big time.

When something that means so much to you is stolen the feelings you feel are hard to explain, I honestly didn't know how to react to finding Spartacus missing from my workplace, a place I thought it would be safe. How was I meant to get home? How was I supposed to go out and ride?

So obviously after phoning the police and giving a complete description of Spartacus I just had to sit and wait. I waited and waited.

Until finally one day at work a policeman walks in and asks for me.

Long story short… They found him!

So I'm off to Bristol of all places tomorrow! They moved him to a complete different county! But he’s safe! I literally cannot wait to see that beast again!

Other than my life being screwed for a month…

Amazing sunset whilst riding.

 

I bought a Specialized Allez as a replacement until I got Spartacus back, it’s a mean machine and for what I paid I got an absolute bargain. “Alice” as she is now called rides like a dream. Fast as hell in any direction! After having a bike fit a few months back I really noticed the difference in choosing the correct frame size and stem length, both of which are perfect on Alice.

Work has been ok, I've been trying some new latte art out and have had some good feedback, and I’m also in love with cold brew!

Yesterday I viewed a house just around the corner from work and it looks like I’m moving in on Friday! So I am going to be pretty busy this week. I hopefully have a ride planned on Sunday too which is sweet. Since getting Alice I've not really been in much, I've been at work or out smashing it up hills. My legs are feeling like tree trunks right now, so it’s time to order some new kit…

Met this little dude on a ride.

Me and my friend Dale have been discussing “Irideroad” as a brand quite a lot recently and are looking to start our own local team, so plans for kit are underway and finding a few sponsors are too! So if you know anyone who wants some advertising let me know and we'll see what they can offer in exchange for being plastered on our chests and backs…. We're also looking to start a few community projects too. I’m currently planning something to combine my two loves too, but that will have to be a whole separate post entirely.

I hope to be able to do a post every other day and if I can persuade Dale into it get him to do some guest posts, he’s my main man “The Mechanic” So no doubt he'll be able to help you with some repairs, fitting and general care tips for your ride.

Stay Flemish

JC out!