Biking, walking and not much in between

March

This month saw Gemma gallivanting off to Wales, to Amsterdam and many more places all without me :(

After the sulk of not getting to go to all these places my mood cheered when I planned all of my bikes rides, some solo and some with my mates

It all started with a ride that turned into a bit of a walk when I hit snow.

Still, it was a fun ride and made it feel like I was in proper mountains.

Next up even saw time to get out for a walk, its a while since we had done that and was a throw back to last year and all of the walks I was dragged on as Gemma trained for her massive climb.  Although walking ins't my first choice of activity, its always nice to be outside and I can sneak in a selfie or two much easier on foot.

After all of Gems trips away we were soon back on the bike and also into some sun, what a contrast from trudging through the snow only a few weeks back

Overall it was a good month for training, I really felt in the groove and managed to get some good riding in with 22 rides done pedalling over 534K and climbing over 10,000 metres, phew!

Not Worthy

February.

February, a month filled with anniversary's and birthdays with an added trip to America thrown in for good measure.

After a good start in January, this month turned out to be somewhat more difficult.  This was mainly due to a work trip out to the US of A and a week in Atlanta.  Now, don't get me wrong the trip was good both work wise and of course getting out there, but with no bike and not a salad in sight it was a tough week for training.

I did manage to get some running in, and I hate running so that was some effort for me!

Once back home I managed to pick up the training a little and got some good commutes in (a 28K commute I might add) and I got back tat the gym.

February also included a night of shame, but a great night too.
For all of Gemma's and her friends fundraising efforts last year in which they raised over £7,000 whilst completing the small task of climbing Mount Killimanjaro the were invited to a night of great celebration as the Jane Tomlinson appeal celebrated hitting the amazing milestone of raising over £7 million pounds over the years.

Its an amazing accident and it was nice that many of the fundraisers over the years were invited to celebrate.

How I managed to get involved was beyond me as so far I have raised not a penny, but invited I was. I think this goes to show how much of a friendly organisation the appeal is and after just two meetings with the team (and no doubt being married to Gemma) they felt I was worthy of an invite.

It was an amazing night with lots of fantastic people and stories to match.  Leaving me, the freeloader with a huge weight wondering how I can come even somewhere close to what others have done before me.

Better get a good just giving page up then eh.  justgiving - HimalayanMTBchallenge

I had a little birthday to celebrate too of course

Let the training begin!

Once past the festivities of Christmas and New Year we really needed to get a wriggle on and start some training.

January
January came and we had a little trip to Scotland booked right after New Year so off we went.  It was a good start to the year and got some good rides in nice and early.

Gem had joined a gym so I thought I better start a bit of that too.  Home gyming and planks are not my idea of fun, but I give it a go and got a few sessions in, but man do I hate planks, I think they are the one thing that can stop time.
Also this month was the introduction of the turbo trainer, again a home schooled one and this was hideous, I could barely do 45 mins before my mind went into meltdown and my butt was not happy with me at all.

I made it through and January ended with a few gym type sessions and over 30 hours put in on the bike.

Where to Begin?

The whole thing started abut a year ago, my wife Gemma had recently returned from conquering Mount Kilimanjaro with two of her equally crazy mates, raising a cracking sum of money along the way.  Obviously scaling a mountain nearly 6000m above the sea wasn't enough and she was busy looking through websites at other crazy adventures.

Now I don't mind walking but I much prefer to be on my bike so the focus turned to cycling challenges.  One that caught our attention was a ride from Tibet to Kathmandu which just happened to pop into the mount Everest base camp settled at a nice 5,200m above the sea.  Sounded great, sounded hard, LETS DO IT! was the cry.

Research completed and the trip was booked, all Gem's handy work I must add.  We were in October now so had a year before we set off.

Then the thought of actual trip began, 75K of riding each day with over 1,000m of ascent.  Eugh training, and I assumed lots of it.

The next decision came about should we try and raise some money for charity while off on our little ride.  Once we decided we are the choice of charity was easy and it was to be Jane Tomlinson, this was the charity Gem and the girls chose when the did their walk. Not only does the appeal go to great causes that are close to both our hearts, they are genuinely a fantastic organisation that really took a personal interest in the whole event and made them feel the amazing amount of money raised really will make a difference. A few emails and a meet over lunch and I was already felt to feel like I am doing something special without even having a just giving page set up.  Let the pressure commence!

I biked a fair bit already so thought it may not be that bad so decided to ignore it all until Christmas.  With Christmas came (what wasn't at the time but is now) a great present to Gem from her big bro Mark.  What this present was, was  a full, almost life size detailed training plan from January until we set off.  This thing is amazing is broken down into the am and pm of each day giving exercises, times and intensity for everything, this thing must have took ages to make and would not only be a great training guide bit also the wake up call telling me a couple of bike rides a week was not going to cut it.

And so hit the new year.