Belly Buster Challenge

The commute

smiddyslife — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:41:52 +0000

Starting tomorrow I will attempt to drive to work and dump the car a short distance away then commute the remaining 6 miles into work, hopefully this will give me an extra 12 miles per shift towards the Facebook challenge “2012milesin2012″

Because I do 12 hour shifts it’s gonna be a tough call to drag myself out of bed at 05:00 and not get home until 20:00, blimey now I’ve put that down it scares me!

Also doing the usual #12×100 on twitter so all these miles will build up toward a decent end of year mileage.

Let’s see how long I can keep this up?

On a lighter note, no pun intended here’s my weight loss thus far since Jan 1st

Jan and the 2012

smiddyslife — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:58:32 +0000

Well so far so good, this month I’ve managed 188 miles toward the Facebook challenge of 2012 miles in 2012 and as I have to average about 166 per month I’m well ahead, started running as well as swimming and gym work but the main miles comes from the cycling through the oxonian cycling club and Witney mtb, can thoroughly recommend joining a club as the amount of extra effort put into training is far more than just pootling about on my own.

Some very cold rides so far this year with a -4C ride last week out around Bicester way with a visit to and ice cream parlour which brought a few laughs,

Off to a flying start

smiddyslife — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:08:48 +0000

Off to a great start this year with a mission to lose a pile of blubber for my holidays, have joined two cycle clubs the Witney mtb club and the Oxonian CC cycle club hopefully riding with others will give me the incentive I need to lose a bit and improve my all round ability. Also joined a gym as its important to vary your training, I’ve found I tend to plateau with weight loss as the body becomes used to a certain exercise ie in my case cycling, a good variation should kick start my metabolism to start shifting the lard again.

2012 miles in 2012

smiddyslife — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:00:19 +0000

Starting off the new year in style with a night ride of 19 miles with Witney mtb club very wet, cold and muddy.
Started following the Facebook page 2012 miles in 2012 as a nice challenge for the year, managed 1400 in 2011 mostly off road so will need to stepup it for this year, get on facebook people’s and sign up its well worth the effort.

Happy 2012 to all

smiddyslife — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:18:15 +0000

Happy new year to you all and I hope the new year is good to everyone out there in blogging land, got a few new year resolutions to set up, the principle one being that old chestnut, weight loss, there’s a surprise! from Jan 1st it’s all go on a 12 week diet plan with slimming world, yes I’ve succumbed to drastic measures now I’ve put on a pile of bulk over the hols, off to florida in march so I have an incentive to lose the blubber and look like Adonis around the pool but knowing my luck I will look more like Adoughnut.

Had a thoroughly good year on the bike in 2011 both road and mtb some blinding rides all over the country and the odd challenge completed for charity man, obviously the highlight for me was the tour de France stage visit, and hope to repeat the trip in 2012.

Anyhow time to be off and enjoy the day, Oh hang on I’m in sodding work, there you go the life of a shift worker .

Merry Easter and all that.

Sports personality of the year UK

smiddyslife — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:54:32 +0000

Big massive congratulations to Mark Cavendish for winning the UK sports personality of the year trophy, he was up against some pretty stiff competition and came
Out on top for the public vote, he’s undeniably had a blinding year culminating in becoming world champ so a well deserved round of applause to him.

Where the hell have I been?

smiddyslife — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:09:25 +0000

Months of nothingness I thought maybe it’s about time I wrote a post, lazy lazy lazy there’s no other excuse and from January on I will make more of an effort and try and be a little bit interesting.

Tour de France 2011

smiddyslife — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:47:32 +0000

Stage 6: Dinan to Lisieux 227km

Without a doubt the highlight of my cycling thus far, from a teenager it was a dream to go and see the tour de France so when I was given the opportunity I jumped at the chance and as an added bonus we would be cycling to the stage, happy days.

We were to meet at the ferry at Portsmouth for the overnight crossing to Caen were we would cycle the 40 odd miles to the second hill climb of the day at Coute du Bourg d’Ouilly.

I’ve always been mixed about sea crossings, me and the sea have never seen eye to eye and ive come down with sea sickness on numerous occasions over the years but luckily the sea was not angry and I hit the sack in my cosy cabin for the duration waking nice and refreshed, even managing a full English breakfast which was a first.

Meeting most of the guys for the first time Dave, Martin, Guy and Gavin who’s fiancée Jim (Jemima) also joined in the fun. We met off the boat at the car park at the Ouistreham ferry terminal and headed off for Pegasus bridge the famous WW2 bridge taken in 1944 as part of the Normandy landings.

Pegasus Bridge

The trip to the stage was really tough for me as the pace was a lot faster than I am used to, I was kind of hoping to stop somewhere for a coffee and a croissant but the guys decided to push on and get some grub at the stage, so with strong winds and showers and a steady climb I was pretty goosed by the time we arrived 42 miles later.

Discovering a nice little cafe in the town of Pont d’Ouilly we had some food and cokes and some bright spark decided we should ride the climb to the summit.

Pont d' Ouilly

The climb to the summit was a fairly easy Cat 4 climb and only about a mile long but the atmosphere was superb, the road was closed and all the crowds had gathered for the race so for the entire climb we were being clapped and cheered on with allez allez , it was a truly amazing experience, I felt like I was in the race, superb!!

The Caravan passed us by with loads and loads of freebies, hats, sweets, cakes etc brilliant experience, it created the atmosphere for the race coming through half an hour later, we all managed to get a hat each which was a bonus, the race as expected passed us by in the blink of an eye as those boys were motoring.

The breakaway

The Peloton

Superb trip back to the ferry as the wind was behind us all the way much more enjoyable with quite a fast average speed, in all we managed 82 miles during the day which is a new PB for me, finished off the day with a Pizza at a local cafe next to the ferry then on board for a shower and a beer in the bar, thoroughly enjoyable trip to France and a cracking ride through some beautiful French countryside, thanks Gavin for the invite.

The gang

Me on the climb

2011 Pasty Ride

smiddyslife — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 11:01:04 +0000

My first Pasty ride with a few of my blogging buddies Rafe, Matty, John, Toby got under way with a nice cup of tea and some bickies, this would set the tone for the day, multiple stops for treats and snacks and why not this ride was not about banging the miles in it was supposed to be a leisure ride around the beautiful Cotswolds and that’s exactly what it turned out to be.

Just over 1 mile in and our first puncture quickly fixed by Rafe and John as the rest of us stood idly by, gassing and laughing.

As we continued toward Lechlade and beyond I discovered we would be skirting Little Farringdon and the wedding celebrations of one Kate Moss, thinking we may have some paparazzi roaming around it was with great disappointment that there was bugger all about and a shot of me in my lycras in OK magazine was going to be highly unlikely.

Onward toward Bibury I was shocked at the total lack of sense of the tourists and their inability to cross the road safely or at all, they seem to be in a dazed nostalgic haze blindly walking all over the place with cameras and daft accents. After negotiating this human slalom course we stopped for a nice cuppa at the trout farm cafe and joined the tourists in a bit of nostalgic photography.

Next stop was Cirencester and our half way point, the idea of the whole ride being the place were the West Cornwall Pasty shop was, Getting there was a problem and if I’m honest the only crappy bit of the ride being there is no way into the centre of town other than to use some major roads and roundabouts, the bonus was seeing some old boy in a car getting beeped at by everyone for trying to go the wrong way down a one way street, fun and games.

The lads went for the more unusual Pasties filled with god only knows what? but I decide on the traditional which had just come from the oven and was effin hot. We retired across the road to the war memorial and munched them down with me munching more than I had bargained for losing a filling in the process, costly pasty this was going to be.

Next stop the pub around the corner for a pint of cider and a bit of people watching at the Bear Inn, The people we were watching were of the lesbian variety and it was all very interesting in full public view, all of this and a pint of cider how very lovely.

Out of Cirencester we headed toward the Cotswold water park were John sadly had to leave us as he had already ridden a million miles and it was easier for him to go direct from the park, we on the other hand were not finished with the food and Rafe wanted to go for an ice cream at the park so with a slight detour we headed off for another binge.

By this time I was full and the thought of an ice cream sloshing about in my belly with beer and Cornish pasty was just to much so I settled on a nice flapjack, Oh what a party animal I am.

Off we headed on the final leg of the route passing through some beautiful Cotswold villages and back toward Shrivenham and Rafes place, a thoroughly enjoyable day with some top blokes who I look forward to cycling with again, before the next pasty ride I hope?

Ride Stats:

Finished Road Cycle: 2 Jul 2011 16:48:09
Route: Pasty Ride
Shortened Google Maps URL: http://j.mp/mkcPjl
Ride Time: 3:47:59
Stopped Time: 2:22:35
Distance: 51.66 miles
Average: 13.60 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 40.65 miles/h
Ascent: 1162 feet
Descent: 1269 feet
Calories: 2904

Some Fun Bits and proof for the doubters:

Fed up with the knees

smiddyslife — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 21:41:00 +0000

After my fall in Northumbria the other week I have slowly and progressivly had knee pain that seems to be worse when twisting to the side, arse arse arse.
Had intended on doing the CX Sportive today out at Letcombe regis, booked and paid for, but it was too great a risk with me wanting to go to the Tour de France next week. A trip to the Docs I think and the obligatory long wait for treatment. Hope to god it’s not an Opp job.