Long time no Blog.....

I am hanging my head in shame as I finally start to write this post, it has been many moons since I last posted an entry here and what was originally a lack of content soon turned into an abundance of content and a lack of time not to mention an unhealthy amount of procrastination, but here I am so without anymore ado lets catch up.

The few people that have known me for a good many years will know that I have not always been a cyclist, for many years I was a very keen runner. Even back when I was racing it was a regular occurrence for me to go out for a run for both cross training and the enjoyment of it.

Well sadly I am no longer as fit and slim as I once was so I am going to have to build up once more and to do this I came across a brilliant program the Couch to 5k. The idea of the program is over a 9 week period is to build up by doing 3 sessions a week until I am able to cover 5k (3miles) at a constant run, well so far I think I need to complete a floor to couch program first, things have not gone too well and I have had to cut a couple of sessions short, but slowly and steadily I will get there once more.

My new Asics Enduro 7 trainers...not so clean anymore.

As for my cycling I have not really done much but I can at least say that my turbo trainer has become a solid investment with several session when the weather would otherwise have me run for the sofa and work on the new bike is going well, I am hoping to have the last few bits together ready to build in the next 2 months. With the completion of the bike I am hoping much of my enthusiasm will return as I have once again decided to enter a couple of races this year, once again I am hoping to do both the Bright Big Dog and the Newnham 24/12, I do not have any doubt I can complete the courses but I want to do better than my previous efforts, there in lies the victory for me.

Back in February i was lucky enough to get away into Pembrokeshire over in Wales for a few days with my girlfriend, although the weather was nothing to write home about we still had a great time and managed to get a few reasonable photos.


Freshwater West beach.


Strumble point lighthouse.


Carew Castle.

As you can see it is a beautiful corner of Wales one that I am really wanting to explore in better weather with the camera.
Well that is all for the moment, I do have much more to put down here but I feel it would be too much for one post, so expect another post or two before this week is out.

Simon.

A week off in December

Well here it is Sunday already and I cannot believe my week off has gone so quickly, it seems only yesterday I was relaxing into Monday morning. only regret this week off has been the weather, to say it has not been brilliant would be an understatement with strong winds and rain playing a large part in my not getting off my ass much at all, but this is not to say I have been idle on my week off.

The first real outing with the camera was on Thursday when I headed down to Wembury beach, a favorite spot of mine, but sadly the weather was still pretty bad and with the tide going out it did not make for much in the way of a photo, the Friday however was a different kettle of fish with brilliant sunshine, it was almost warm here.

My original plan had been to get up well before dawn and to get a sunrise shot that I have wanted for some time, sadly mother nature had other ideas that day.

I made it up pretty early and I was bang on time and on top of the very windy and cold tor a good 10-15 mins before sunrise at 08:04, setting up was pretty simple and just a case of waiting for the magic moment to happen.

Setting up.

Unfortunately as I said mother nature had other ideas, and sent a nice rain shower to totally dampen my filters and block the area I wanted to shoot across with rain. Well with the weather turning and the temperature just above freezing I decided to head off the top of the Tor down towards the car, has I descended the weather changed a little and I was able to get a couple of frames off with the image below being the result.

This one is actually a composite of two images, the foreground from one exposure and the sky from a second, given the soggy mess my grads were in I had little choice but to salvage something from my nice walk so I decided to head over towards Shaugh Bridge to see what the river was like.

I confess I liked the tree trunk in the shot but the lack of stable shore to shoot from limited the chances to explore it fully, plus I had another problem.......I needed breakfast.
After a quick breakfast bap (sausage, egg and bacon) I decided to see what it was like down at Wembury Beach again having been there unsuccessfully the day previous, despite the tide being out I still managed to get some nice photo's of which this was my favorite.

Saturday.

Today was a pretty nice day weather wise so my lovely lady and I decided to grab the cameras and head out for a pub lunch and a photo session over at Torcross, Devon and wander up the beach.

Surf bubble on the pebbles

We took a few photo's but this is more a sunrise place to shoot so we decided to head back around the coast to Thurlstone to watch the sun set over the great rock formation there, and well we were rewarded with a lovely sunset and some great clouds to set the sky off perfectly.

To say I am happy with the pictures here is an understatement, I am still struggling with not being able to use a circular polariser with my grads and the ever present problem of spray getting on the filters.

Well I hope you lie the photo's here today, I had wished to have brought more to you all but time is limited and I need to get to bed and go to work tomorrow once more, I am hoping getting back into my routine once more will help my fitness and cycling as I am so very behind with my program now it is scary, so until next time, have a good one all.

Simon.

November 2011

Hello everyone it has been a little since my last entry here, things have been quiet on the bike front but I have been out and about with my walking boots and my camera instead.
I was quite disappointed to miss the best part of the Autumn season this year but I was still able to get a few late shots in, I think this seasons unseasonable mild weather has thrown mother nature a curve ball and messed the timing up a little.

A few weeks ago I took a walk down to Plymbridge here in Plymouth to get s couple of shots down the local weir, this is one of my best loved spots along the river and I try and get there now and then.

Sadly it was pretty grey and flat out there and I was running out of good light to shoot with but I managed to get a couple of nice shots.

This weekend just gone we took a trip down to Tintagel in Cornwall with the camera gear to explore a couple of locations, we took a nice walk down Rocky Valley and picked up a few shots.

Before we then headed over to a small Village, Therewith Strand to have a look along the beach there.
Although we were there long before sunset the biggest problem we faced was the wind and what can almost be one of the fastest tides I have seen, the sea had us beating a hasty retreat to the safety of the rocks pretty fast.

These two from the beach are pretty much the same slightly different locations, I did the second in B&W just to work with the textures there, I kinda like it although the first one I feel the foreground has been over exposed a stop too much for my liking but that is part of my learning curve with the D300s.
I can honestly say this is one area that is going to see a lot more of me in the future, already just from this short visit I have some fantastic ideas and I can seen a weekend maybe this spring/summer being planed.
As for my cycling, well it is happening, I am must putting some miles in where I can with this weather, I am still needing to pick up a desk fan for my indoor trainer and I shall get around to that real soon, one thing I need to start again soon is working with my weights and body weight exercises, the don't take long that's the silly thing I just need to organize my time so much more effectively now, well that is another thing to work on, my list expands once more. will be back again soon all have a good one.

Simon.

Soggy Bottom

Hello again everyone, looking outside the window here in CyclingSi towers I think we can safely say that winter has finally arrived with a huge wet slap in the face, not that I am complaining I just wish that is was a little dryer and colder right now.

Despite the wet weather we have enjoyed recently this past Sunday was absolutely lovely, the sun shone from dawn to dusk and despite a cool breeze at times it stayed warm and very pleasant, the great weather made the running, or rather the riding of the Soggy Bottom XC race here in Plymouth all the more enjoyable.
In the past the race has been a full 3-4 race series but this year it is a single race so I made sure that I had my entry in nice and early, I think i was the first hehe. In past years I have helped out at the event with marshaling and taking photo's for the riders, it was a great way of spending some time out in the fresh air and indulging my love of photography whilst at the same time supporting a much loved local race scene.
I awoke nice and early on Sunday, and took a nice leisurely start to my day, sadly a little too leisurely and I ended up running late and panicking, my own fault but it meant that I forgot to pick up my backpack containing my tools, supplies, helmet cam and Garmin unit, great start! So after a quick warm up I stood on the start line enjoying some banter with the others and despite the mad start I was feeling relaxed and in a good mood. Unfortunately everything went to hell on the first climb and having used too large a gear from the start my legs were not ready for the massive gravel track climb up towards the top of the course and I was forced off the bike to hike up.. okay fact, I don't like walking in my cycling shoes, my feet roll and it puts strain on my ankles, something that made the rest of the race hell.

I struggled through the rest of the first lap often stopping to release the tension in my legs that were steadily getting worse to come through in a 51 min lap....shocking for 3 miles, but things started to improve a little as I pointed the bike up the gravel climb once more and apart from the steepest bit about two thirds up the climb I rode the beast and up and over the top RAWR!
The rest of the lap went pretty well too and I spent much more time on the bike and less on my feet as my handling skills slowly came back to me and I finished my second lap in 45mins, again not great but I was happy, I elected not to head out and do my third lap, I think I could have done it well I could have done it but given my speed I would have finished around the same time the next race was coming through oh and I was out of water too.

Looking back at the race I can take much away from the day, firstly is to prepare for it better, to get all my gear ready the evening before as I used to do, I was also impressed with my mental strength....the old me would have climbed off after the first lap but today the idea of quitting was not there and as such I have already signed for my next race a 40km enduro at the same track on January 2, so time to get my ass in gear and work it!

I had intended on writing this blog a couple of days ago but I have been awaiting the arrival of a new tool to help my fitness, a Pedometer.

This one seemed pretty well recommended and had a good write up so I ordered myself one, I am a fan of anything I can do to help me get fitter, loose weight and keep me motivated through the months ahead, plus it is one more column I can fell in on my #gothedist record sheet!

Well that is all for now I am looking forward to getting back on my bike tomorrow seeing as my legs are finally back to normal, going to get some miles in.

Simon.

Going the Distance

It is hard to think that is has been over a year now since Robby came up with an idea of setting ourselves a monthly challenge via Twitter using the #OctGTD hash tag (we now use #gothedist), it allowed us to break down our larger fitness and weight loss goals into smaller bite size goals and to support each other through the months for myself the mutual support has been the best part of this and although in the more recent months I have taken a back seat I often tried to help others. Over time the challenge evolved as did the people involved and soon we were not just recording miles but now things like fluid intake the small things that matter so much that and we have to remain mindful of in order to reach our goals. It also helped us develop the mind too, with self image and positive thinking.

The Year

This past year has been a long and tough one, each month I have set my goals and worked hard towards them some times failing often due to the weather, in my first month I set and reached a goal of 80 miles but by the summer I was doing 150 mile months even up to 200 at on point, through the winter and into the summer I have found it tough struggling against the weather and fatigue as I kept on pushing myself harder and faster, this was to be my undoing in July and what was looking to be my most awesome month of all.
July had started off as a 150 mile month but I was flying by now, I had reached my target for the past 3 months and I although fatigued was really going well, by the middle of the second week I had already reached over 50% of my monthly target so I decided to up the goal to 200, but I had pushed too far and increased my mileage too much over the past few weeks and I was to pay for it over the next few months as over training and exhaustion set in and as my season was almost over I took it easy.

Learning Curve

So what have I gained and learned over this past 12 months? Well quite a lot really, first of all is the friends I have made, the support we have given each other has been great, I know that I would have struggled more with out it, I hope that I have managed to help others as much.
My fitness has grown quite significantly, when I first started I was doing 1 hour rides, now I am able to do 2-3 hour rides happily and even race albeit slowly, I do not think I would have some so far with out the challenge. I also learned several things about my training, although I have rough ideas of where I want to be with my fitness and weight I had no real solid measurable goals so instead of setting smart monthly goals towards them I just randomly pushed harder and harder until my body broke, also that I have to be mindful of all the little things, drinking, stretching just looking after my body allowing myself to train more effectively.


For the Future

Well the next year has realistically started and although I am still healing from the damage to my body, not just fatigue but my shoulder injury I am putting in the miles in, next month being November I will really start my focus on my training and the #gothedist challenges, but this time I am better prepared and more focused than before. First of all with aid of The Cyclist training Bible I have put together a training program to take me through to the spring at which time I will sit down and re assess my progress and adapt my program and challenge goals as and if needed for the next stage of training.

As long as the challenge still keeps going I will be a part of it.

Peace.

Simon.