Bank Holiday weekend, and the training continues! 

Trying to find some extra time to fit in training for the ride is always hard, so it was nice to have the luxury of an extra couple of days over the holiday weekend. The forecast looked set fair, so as well as bike miles to help prepare body and soul for the ride to France, we’ve also been running, and swimming to help with variety, and to keep us on point for other race events later in the summer.

And it was a bonus that most of the ‘gang’ congregated at Romford’s newest regular sporting

Raphael parkrun. Free weekly timed 5km

event to put in some training. Raphael’s Park hosts a weekly parkrun event (if you’ve not heard of the parkrun phenomenon, where the hell have you been?!) – in a nutshell, it’s a free, timed weekly 5km run, jog, walk (whatever you want to do, just do it!), organised by volunteers, and held in hundreds of locations every Saturday morning at 0900.

Claire, & Andy (left) at Rapheals parkrun

Claire’s Ironman training appears to be coming together nicely, as she set a new personal best time in the parkrun series, and David brought home age-group honours as he steps up the intensity of his training. Andy pushed Claire around the course immediately after his 50 mile training ride around some hilly lanes and roads in Essex, and Kevin consolidated his swimming build-up with an open water session in his wetsuit.

And afterwards, we all headed over to Cycle Surgery in Romford, for a quick chat with Sam, Adam, and the team. They’ve been brilliant supporters of our efforts leading up to the ride, with heaps of technical advice and pointers.  I picked up my Specialized Roubaix bike there which will be my tour bike in July, and Kevin is currently wrestling on the horns of a three-bike dilemma; He’s using the brilliant ‘Cycle To Work’ scheme to buy his ride down to France, his employer, University of East London, and Cycle Surgery, as a retailer sell bikes using the scheme- find out in the next Blog entry whether he went for a Giant Defy, a Cannondale Synapse, or the Cube Agree! Any thoughts and advice would be welcomed in the comments section at the bottom of the page!

Riders hanging out with the Cycle Surgery team

The Cycle Surgery girls and boys really couldn’t be any more helpful! Half an hour of advice,  questions about the trip, and hearty helpings of technical advice really had us brimming with enthusiasm for our long weekend of riding.  So a huge ‘Thank You’ to Sam, Adam, and the team! So proud to have you on board! We all follow the guys on Facebook - why not pop over there and join their page! 

Duathlon, at the Olympic Park Velopark

Sunday, and a few of us headed over to the Olympic Park velopark, to take on a duathlon. Decent weather, and a friendly well organised event, meant that the 15 mile race ride, sandwiched between a 3 mile and 2 mile run was great event to be part of. If you are fairly new to cycling, or looking for an 'in' to duathlon, these events come very highly recommended. They are a monthly series, and the Olympic park is a beautiful place to bring family/friends, or just hang out in after a fun morning racing! Maybe see some of you along at a future event!

AP