Gone With the Wind

Good spin down to North Berwick and back today. However, I really should have realised that when I was crusing at 25+ mph on the way there, and couldn't feel a breath of wind, that it was going to be a tough ride back into the 'breeze' - and it definitely was.

It's all about the food

I've heard cycle touring being described as 'riding your bike between meals' and as my training mileage is starting to ramp up I'm beginning to really understand that that phrase isn't too far from the truth. As I sit here this morning munching on an energy bar ahead of today's training ride I thought I'd give a quick example. An average training ride of 50 miles will see me burn about 3,000 calories, which is equivalent to my normal daily intake. I'm currently riding every second day which means I currently need to eat about 50% more than normal. Looking ahead to the actual trip, I reckon I'll be looking at about 5,000-6,000 calories extra per day, so that means I'll need to eat getting on for three times what I'm used to. Now, as many of you know, I like my food, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous about having to find, carry and consume that sort of quantity of food every day for 3 months. Anyway, I'm off now to see if I can find a chippy that sells deep fried pizzas at 9am.

String theory - Knot a clue

Just how long is a piece of string? I was genuinely asking myself that question today as I was getting together more bits of kit. Specifically, how much to take for a drying line along with any pannier/tent emergencies? Well I settled for about 12 feet ... or should I take more? ... or is that too much? ... is it the right type of string? ........ arrgghh!

Low Winter Sun from Calton Hill

The recent 'warm' spell has rapidly made the battalions of snowmen from last week become a distant memory. As a result, I've been able to pick up the pace of training this week - which is just as well more as every time I sit down to tweak the route it seems to get longer (went through the 5,000 mile mark yesterday). Here's a shot from up Calton Hill on today's training run.

Cross straining

Waking up to another snowy morning left me with two choices; another training session on the turbo-trainer in the garage which, if I were being honest, gets a bit dull after around, err...15 mins or so; or do some cross training by playing a game of five-a-side football this evening. Well, the footy won out (not much of a contest really). After all, I told myself, most coaches/trainers will tell you that some cross-training is a good idea? Well, five minutes into the game this evening my right quad muscle begged to differ, massively so as I badly strained it after a wayward shot (not my first of the night). Still, been on the winning team always makes the pain somewhat more tolerable :) However, think I'll be best sticking to the turbo-trainer from now on.

Mmmm.... Beer

Now, I was planning on using my super-lightweight cannondale bike for the trip, but I might just have to reconsider that choice having seen this http://www.pubcrawler.uk.com/pubcrawler.html.

Training, but for what?

Yesterday's training ride - visually stunning but thermally challenging. Had more than a few moments where switching to the slick tyres earlier in the week seemed to have been a lunatic idea. To be fair, it probably was but it definitely kept the ride 'interesting'. With no sign of a thaw here in Edinburgh anytime soon I might end up being better trained to do this http://www.iditarod.com/ rather than the US trip.