Going The Extra Mile - Endurance Adventure

A training session at Newport Velodrome, Jan 09

Training for the ride has already started and I am focussing mainly on aerobic fitness. At the moment, I am training for the London Marathon and am putting in the running miles for this, which will all help when the time comes to dust the bike off again and start getting in the long rides.

A training session at Newport Velodrome

After long hours of consideration, I have decided to use my mountain bike for the trip. I have heard that the roads in Morocco can be strewn with rocks and have a tendancy to drift out into dirt tracks and so thought that my road racing thoroughbreds would probably struggle to cope! I plan to use a trailer and a rear pannier rack to carry all the kit, which again is new and something I am looking forward to trying out over the summer ( I've had enough of winter camping after the Tea Room Challenge in November!) I have fitted the bike with some new rigid forks and put some skinny slick tyres on and I am planning to do a weekend tour before the spring to try it out - at the moment, all I can tell you is that it looks great!

Following the success of the British cycling team in Beijing, a few of us here in Bristol were inspired to have a go at track cycling at the velodrome in Newport. A training session at Newport Velodrome We have been to a few 2hr coached sessions which have been great! These have been really hard workouts and we've been particularly enjoying been able to get out on the bike without dressing up like we're going skiing and battling icy winter head winds!

My brother Andy and I also managed to grab some time cycling in the Lake District over the Christmas break. This was during the seriously sub-zero temperatures! We cycled from Keswick, along side Derwent Water which was partially frozen over and people were walking on the ice, down to Honister Pass. We cycled over the pass, (Andy fell off twice on the frosty road!) up a leg breaking 25% ascent. As we could only just stay on the bike riding up hill at 10mph, we thought better of riding down the steep section at the other side (in the photo)! We walked/slid the 25% downhill section and then jumped on to speed the remaining descent past Buttermere, on past Crummock Water and then back to Keswick over Whinlatter Pass. Whinlatter from the South was pretty straight forward, but I would like to go back and do this ride in the other direction - I think it's quite a bit steeper!

This was a great ride and I'd recommend it to anybody who wants to ride passes in the Lakes!

At the top of Honister Pass in the Lake District, Jan 09

A view down Honister Pass in the Lake District, Jan 09