cottages4you blog: inspiration for your cottage or villa holiday in UK, Ireland and Europe

Sunday 23rd

Set off at 10.30am with Mark, no sun cream and what huge mistake!  I managed to get as red as a tomato due to the pace he made me go and also got lovely red sunburn round my arms and thighs, back home at 12 and the temperature was 28 degrees – mad dogs and Englishmen comes to mind!

We went from Barnoldswick to Rylstone via the main roads, very busy on the A59 (past the Race for Life at Broughton Hall) and B6265, back home via Hetton and Bank Newton 25.5miles – most cars gave us a wide berth but the odd one seemed to want to get a better view!  I had 3 phrases – ‘watch out car’, ‘I’m alright I’ll catch you’ and one I can’t repeat. Managed to spit out 2 flies whilst gasping for breath but swallowed one!  Mark seemed to think I should improve my average mph from 12.5 and although I was still suffering with my cold I finished on 13.9 mph, struggled to get off the bike though, can’t seem to swing my leg round and get off smoothly so think I’ll need to be lifted off on the 26th June!

Monday 24th
12 mile solo ride, tried to take my own videos but sound like I have emphysema and don’t think you’d find it interesting!  Average back to 12.5mph.

Tuesday 25th
Feeling energetic so up at 6.30 for a 3 mile run before work!  Wow it’s cooler today.

Wednesday 26th.
12 mile ride again before 11am start at work, very cool today, sunburn fading!

Thursday 27th
Photo shoot at work – great to see everyone together in our lovely shirts – only 2 absent……

Lots of curious looks and questions from colleagues, quite a few looked at me like I was crazy though.
My mother-in-laws birthday so I rode to Nelson over ‘over the tops’, fantastic views, very windy though, why does the wind seem to always be in my face? Keep wondering if this is a sign to put me off but I am really loving it, honest. Average now 13mph!

Fri 21st May – 1.5 hours.

Inspired by the good weather I go out 2 nights in a row. Found a new hill to ride up near Cowling. Very nice all round.

Sun 23rd May – 3 hours.

Had planned a longer ride but my rear wheel had an EPIC FAIL and I was left turning the pedals without moving forward. Had to be rescued by my wife from what she described as the ‘middle of ******* nowhere.’ I also ran over a ferret / stoat which was carrying a mouse in its mouth at the time. I felt David Attenborough should have been narrating. Went to the top of Tatham Fell which is on the 100 mile sportive route, it’s nasty, brutish and long.

Mon 24th May – 1.5 hours.

Put the spare wheel on the bike and had a quick spin to get the miles in I missed yesterday. Broken wheel now in the shop. Expecting a hefty bill.

Tue 25th May

Wheel not repairable. Tears. Real tears. Replacement is £340. Sticking with the spare.

Wed 26th May – 1.5 hours.

Got soaked. A man in an ark passed by in the opposite direction. 10 minutes later it was sunny.

Thu 27th May 

Cycled to and from work. 25 minutes each way, so not too much of a stretch. We had a photo shoot of the team for the National Sportive. As we were riding the 5 minutes to get to the shoot in work time, it occurred to us that for just a few minutes we could think of ourselves as pro cyclists.

 Thought for the week: Would it be cheaper to take up golf?

Sun 16th May – 4 hours.
A small victory! 4 hours in the saddle without getting a sore backside! Rode the 60 mile route for the sportive (more or less, I didn’t have a map.) It’s got some lovely views, but you do have to cycle to the top of some big hills to see them. The descent of Waddington Fell is fantastic, very easy to do 45mph +.

Mon 17th May – 1 hour.
Easy ride to stop the legs from seizing up after the big ride.

Thu 29th May – 1.5 hours.
First ride if the year in really good weather, lots of cyclists on the roads, lots more sat outside pubs. I was a good boy and kept riding.

3 thoughts for the week:

1. Why is every cyclist I meet in the Ribble Valley called Dave?
2. Why does the Sun only seem to come out when I’m going up a long hill and not when I’m coming down the other side?
3. How many midges is it possible to eat in a one and a half hour ride and does it count as one of your five a day?

Great news – I now have a strap on gel saddle courtesy of my father-in-law Mick! Absolute bliss!  Highly recommended and appreciated!

Not been to well this week – full of cold so I haven’t been out since Monday but I now have the inspiration after watching an evening with Mark Beaumont  at the Burnley Mechanics – he cycled the world and also cycled from north to south America with saddle sores and 40 days of headwinds but didn’t give up! So now when I am feeling tired and sore I think of his journeys.

View Mark’s website here.

Only local rides last week  – 9 or 12 miles but on Monday 17th Wendy I did approximately 40 miles with my colleagues Wendy and Aaron.

We meet at the White Bear in Barrowford and cycled up to Barley, then round the first half of the route to Waddington Fell. We timed ourselves to see how long it would take to get the the summit – Aaron and I have done it before but Wendy was a first timer! Wow – the sun was shinning, wind in our face though but we all managed in one attempt to get to the top in 30 minutes – I now have a speedometer so could watch the distance ebb away.  Great feeling when we got to the top!

Aaron had a great idea to video us going back down (will upload soon) – so off we set and got carried away watching the speedometer that he couldn’t catch me – I got up to 45.4mph and decided I had better brake as I didn’t want to go
back up and start again!

Got our shirts on Wednesday – a little tight but we will all look fantastic on the day!

5 weeks this week-end!

I’m hoping to gain a couple of mph once I can go for a ride without 3 tonnes of winter clothes on. I’ve only done one ride this year in shorts. Of course when / if the shorts finally do come out, there’s the perennial question of ‘to shave or not shave?’

This is what I’ve been up recently:

Sun 2nd May – 2 x 2 hour rides. 2 hours to a children’s party, 2 hours back. Sore down below. After struggling over hills earlier in the week, I decided the best course of action was to avoid them. Got lost in Keighley.

Tue 4th May – 2 hours. Hilly. I used to like going up hills. Ironic moment of the week: Went over a ‘SLOW’ sign, I was doing 4mph.

Thu 6th May – 1.5 hours. Only one hill, still struggled up it. Confidence is not high.

Sat 8th May – 1.5 hours. While Bradley Wiggins was winning stage 1 of the Tour of Italy, I was struggling to get as far as Skipton.

Sun 9th May – No idea how long. Ride on the Leeds and Liverpool canal towpath towing my 4 year old on his ‘trail-a-bike.’ ‘Look Daddy no hands!’ ‘That’s OK Felix, but not in traffic!’ It was good for practicing my balance if nothing else.

Tue 11th May – 1.5 hours on the coldest May night for 15 years. Got soaked, could barely hold the handlebars for shaking. This is meant to be fun.

Planning a long ride for this weekend to try and make up for the lack of miles this week. I’m moderately concerned about getting around the course now.

Ben Boardwell, cottages4you

Please click here to read part 1.

Click here to learn more about Pendle Cycle Fest.

Training going well – bits aren’t wobbling as much except for my legs when I get off my bike!

I am either cycling or jogging 5 days a week – I have done a couple of 30+ mile routes over the Bank Holiday weekend – managed 31.5 miles with Mark on Sunday to Settle via Paythorne and Rathmell – wind in our faces all the way there! Think I am going to need a gel saddle to cope with the uneven road surfaces - we all know the amount of potholes in our roads have increased over the winter, they are noticeable in a car but on a bike they are so hard to avoid as you can’t swerve to avoid them in case you have a  car closely behind you!  Also gravel makes you skid, flies affect your vision and birds are suicidal!

Monday – 12 mile bike ride, up Salterforth Drag, to Blacko, Brogden and home.

Tuesday – 9 mile – Greenberfield, top of Brogden and back

Wednesday – 3 mile jog, new PB 8.59 minute mile!

Thursday – 5 mile jog.

Friday – rest!  Bad headache – need to drink more water!

Saturday – 5.6 mile bike ride working today so rode to work and back.

Sunday – 31.5 mile bike ride to Settle with Mark – Barlick to Settle via Paythorne and Rathmell…and back!

Monday – Aaron (who’s also from sales and doing the 60 mile route) and I met at the White Bear in Barrowford and did part of the route – climbing into Roughlee, Barley, up the side of Pendle, Twiston, Downham, Grindleton, West Bradford to the top of Waddington Fell – all 1122 feet of it – I was cursing all the way up – again wind in our faces – we had to stop to compose ourselves at the Moorcock for the final ascent – then when we got to the top it hailed on us!  Great feeling riding back down though! Home a different routeand 36.5 miles, a lot of caravans testing our balance too!

My legs hurt but the feeling of completing these rides has made me determined to carry on!  My mum wonders why I am doing this but the support I am getting off colleagues,friends and family is brilliant!

Jackie Bonsall, cottages4you

Click here to read part 1.

Please click here to learn more about Pendle Cycle Fest.

When not working as a business analyst at cottages4you, Ben Boardwell is in training for the National Cycle-sportive event at Pendle Cycle Fest. In his first training diary he details his slightly unusual training regime, which has so far included watching cyclists on the French Riviera and renting a shopping bike.

We’d better let Ben explain this one himself…

I took up cycling 7 years ago after watching Lance Armstrong win the Tour De France for the 5th time, I realised that as long as you didn’t decide to ride over the Alps or Pyrenees, it was largely easier than walking. After a year or so of pottering around on an old mountain bike I bought a shiny Trek (it’s what Lance was riding at the time) racing bike and decided I’d like to have a go at the ‘Etape du tour’ sportive ride.

The Etape is an annual event where 8500 alarmingly fit, garishly attired, people ride a stage of the Tour De France. It was quite hard. It also cost a lot of money, but I loved it. Consequently I’ve tried to do at least one ‘challenge’ ride each year which have taken me back to France, to Scotland and most glamorous of all, Stoke-on-Trent.

I’ve put off riding the National Sportive course in previous years as the course looked too hard. It may well be too hard, but seeing as we’re sponsoring it…

In the last month I’ve been ill and then gone on holiday with my family, so riding has been at a minimum. I thought that a couple of weeks of the bike wouldn’t affect me too much, but it turned into 3 weeks when we got stuck in France due to the volcano. To make matters worse I had to watch 100’s of cyclists touring around the French Riviera each day. It got so bad I rented a shopping bike and took that out for a few hours. http://tinyurl.com/39b6c2l . The outfit comes with the bike.

My recent riding is a follows:

France:

Wed 21st April – 2 hours on a shopping bike in Nice, tried to catch 2 pro riders who were taking it easy and having a chat, I couldn’t get close, got odd looks from the tourists.

Britain:

Mon 26th April – 1.5 hours on shiny best bike. Felt surprisingly good. Wore my expensive new shorts which don’t fit properly, looked like Nora Batty’s lycra clad grandson.

Tue 27th April – 1.5 hours on not as nice bike. Felt OK. Vikki Haydock spotted me with a ‘light on my head.’ Which was in fact, a light on my head.

Wed 28th April – 1.5 hours shiny bike, not so shiny legs. Hilly. Tired.

Please click here for more information on Pendle Cycle Fest.

Click here for more information on Pendle Hospice, the dedicated charity for Pendle Cycle Fest.

In the run-up to the Pendle Cycle Festival and National Road Race Championships that are taking place on the 26th and 27th June, we’ve asked a few professional riders to offer hints and tips on training and equipment to prepare you for the National Sportive ride.

First to contribute is local lad Ian Wilkinson. Since his career began many years ago on a plastic Womble bike, Ian has progressed to winning the Rutland Melton International Cycle Classic 09, the National U 23 MTB in 2000 and becoming the overall winner of the Girvan 07, not to mention representing GB at international competition, among many other achievements.

If you’re looking for advice on how to compete, and perhaps more importantly, have fun at the Pendle Cycle Festival and National Road Race Championships 2010 then Ian’s your man. So without further ado, here are 5 tips from the man himself.

1) Give your bike a good check over, make sure it is working well and that you have a spare tube or two, and a pump strapped to your bike. Also don’t forget to oil the chain and check the seat is a comfortable height – you don’t want to get to the day and find something is not running right or you get a puncture and cannot finish!!

2) Make sure you have got some decent cycling shorts with good pad in them, this will improve comfort and therefore enjoyment, no end. But make sure you don’t wear underwear underneath, good shorts are designed to be next to the skin!! Look out for a good brand like Endura; they make top notch kit at a reasonable price.

3) Try to do some riding that is similar to the event you are going to do, maybe even try and find where the route goes and take a pedal round it as training. Knowing where you are or what is coming up on the course will help you measure your effort.

4) As training try and build up to the full distance in stages, weeks before the event so if the event is 60miles and you are 4 weeks away try to get a good few rides in around 15 mile the first week, 30 the second week, between 15 and 45 in week three and one ride the week before at full distance. Then you know you can do it.

5) Try to eat a generally good diet as standard, maybe sub in a bit more pasta dishes if you are riding more. Try to avoid a takeaway the night before the event; the toilet two-step isn’t good for form on the day!!

Thanks to Ian for taking time out to share his secrets!

Do you have any tips you’d like to share? Feel free to leave them in the comments section below. And don’t forget to keep checking the cottages4you cycling blog for more training tips, cycling news and features.

If you wander off the beaten track in Britain you’ll find some great cycling routes that give you incredible views of the beautiful landscape. Touring an area by bike also allows you to stop and look at the things you would often miss in a car and you burn off some of those extra calories from the delicious cakes you may ‘accidentally’ sample in the cafes and bakeries en-route.

The following are just a brief selection of some of the fantastic cycling routes you’ll find in the UK. And if you get the bike bug, then each one will also help you to prepare for the cottages4you sponsored Pendle Cycle Festival and National Road Race Championships that were recently launched in Pendle. We’ve also included a link to cottages4you listed properties nearby, so you can find somewhere to unwind in comfort at the end of the day.

For some leisurely family cycling, try the Eden Valley, tucked between the Lake District and the hills of the Northern Pennines. The valley is fairly quiet but easily accessed from the Lakes. Stop at the Village Bakery at Melmerby (www.village-bakery.com) for some special organic home baked goodies. You’ll then be ready to tackle Hartside Pass – it’s the nearest thing you’ll find to an alpine pass in this country. At 5 miles uphill, it’s a challenge but the view over the Lake District at the top is well worth it – and there’s a café at the top too. The road can be busy in summer, so take care on this one.

Click here to search cottages4you properties in the area.

The Tarka Trail is one of the best ways to explore the delightful Devonshire countryside. With over 30 miles of disused railway track running alongside the banks of the River Taw, the path makes for a tranquil and relatively undemanding exploration of the region. Of cultural interest, the area provided the inspiration for Henry Williamson’s classic novel: ‘Tarka the Otter’. Find more info on the Devon County Council website: http://www.devon.gov.uk/tarkatrail

Click here to search cottages4you properties in the area.

The Camel Trail in Cornwall is an easy 17 mile off road family friendly route from Padstow to Pooley’s Bridge. It takes in some of the most beautifully diverse scenery that Cornwall has to offer plus there are a range of different routes that allow for all abilities. While in Cornwall you might want to bring your cycle and get discounted access to the fantastic Eden Project. Just another incentive to keep you out of the car! Find more info about the Camel Trail at:  http://www.thisisnorthcornwall.co.uk/camel_trail.htm

Click here to search cottages4you properties in the area.

The Edinburgh to Falkirk Wheel takes in a stretch of the Union Canal, built in 1817 by construction workers, including the notorious Burke and Hare, whose dastardly deeds are soon to be retold on the big screen. This gentle route follows a towpath but is quite narrow in places so it is perhaps best to attempt it at quieter times during the day. Most riders should find the trail fairly easy and the pace is most definitely yours to set. To follow this route you will need to display a British waterways cycling permit, download for free here: http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/cycling/permit. You can find more info on the route here: http://cycling.visitscotland.com/find_route/edinburgh/edinburgh_falkirk_wheel

Click here to search cottages4you properties in the area.

The Tissington Trail runs along a 13 mile route from Ashbourne to Parsley Hay in the Peak District. As with the Tarka Trail (not to mention some of the UK’s finest routes) it has been repurposed from its former use as a railway line. And as it’s a fairly flat route you’ll get plenty of chance to admire some of the glorious countryside around Buxton. You might even encounter some of the local wildlife in their natural environment. Find more info here: http://www.derbyshire-peakdistrict.co.uk/tissingtontrail.htm

Click here to search cottages4you properties in the area.

Dumfries and Galloway provide plenty of off-road opportunities to test your mountain biking abilities. The 7 stanes trails have different options for all levels of experience but have one thing in common: beautiful scenery and a fantastic opportunity to get out and explore the wilds of Scotland. View more information at http://www.7stanes.gov.uk/.

Click here to search cottages4you properties in the area.

There are far too many family cycle trails to list but check the national cycle network website before you leave for your holiday –  http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/national-cycle-network and find the bike routes in the area.