Training underway

A few weeks in and the training is going well, i can't wait to get out on the bike as the turbo trainer is not the same.
The good news is the legs and cardio fitness are returning quite quickly and i have 15 weeks until the big ride.
The fundraising is slowly getting there as well and i have cleared the £100 mark bringing me up to 20% of my target, if anyone would like to sponsor me just follow the just giving link on my blog.
Many thanks in advance.

Training

Day 1 of the training started, it's amazing how much fitness I've lost being off the bike for a few months

I'm going to do this.

I am going to do this ride even if it kills me.

I have signed up for the ride and started my fund raising I have raised £60 in 3 days so I'm off to a great start.
My training needs to start as soon as possible and since the British weather is so poor and unpredictable at the moment I have invested in a Turbo trainer for the stage one training program. I have also decided that a weight check is in order to see how bad I have been recently so new scales purchased and I was pleasantly surprised to see I am only 13st 5lbs and 25% Body fat, I will admit I was expecting much worse.
The training starts with a vengeance on Monday ! I can't wait.

If any of you would like to help me reach my sponsorship target please click on the just giving button on the sidebar. Many thanks in advance.

Velothon 140

Now the Christmas period is over I have signed up to take part in a 140KM cycle ride, I will be taking part in the Velothon 140 which takes place in South Wales on May 22nd  in aid of Prostate Cancer UK, this charity means a lot to me and my family as my father was diagnosed with advanced terminal prostate cancer early last year, so although things are too late for my father the money will go towards research into finding a cure and advanced treatments for anyone suffering from this disease, if I can help one person the hard work will be worth every second.

 I want to raise as much as I can to help support this great charity.

I know that in the these tough times everyone is not always in a position to be able to, but if any of you can sponsor me no matter how small the donation it would mean a great deal to me. I would really like to achieve the target I have set myself and help make a difference.  

Please help me raise money for this great cause by donating directly to my fundraising page -

http://www.justgiving.com/Gary-Warriner1

Just Giving sends your donation straight to Prostate Cancer UK and automatically reclaims Gift Aid if you are a UK taxpayer, so your donation is worth even more.
Thank you for your support!

Now the training begins.

After a long break and a change in my personal circumstances i am going to start re-blogging.
In February of this year, i found out that my father has prostate cancer, which is quite advanced, i also separated from my wife, who i had been with for 18 years, I have moved into a new house and started my life again.
As a side effect of all this happening, my fitness routine has taken a back seat.

I am now with a new partner and we are very happy settling into our new home, I have started loving life and will be kicking myself into gear soon, My new partner has expressed an interest in joining me on my quest for health and fitness, so we will be undertaking the journey hand in hand every step of the way. My father has started living as if every day is his last and is fighting every step of the way.

I will be logging every step of the journey so thanks for viewing my page and on wards and upwards.

Ache and pains

It's finally happened,
on Thursday during my commute home fate conspired against me my first hold up was a puncture, a quick tube change at the side of the road and I was good to go.
2 miles later and a car overtook so close that they clipped my handlebars as they passed, this resulted in me being flipped over the handle bars as they were spun through 90 degrees at 25 mph.
As I was flying through the air my only thought was " this is going to hurt " it did.
I came down on my head and shoulder with so much force my helmet cracked through and a muscle tore in my shoulder, along with a few other minor injuries such as a bruised hip and knuckles.
Luckily the car stopped and the driver was so apologetic and upset I didn't even lo
se my temper, all it took was a brief lapse of judgement (she thought there was enough room) and I am off the bike for a few weeks until the shoulder is ok again, at the moment I feel constantly winded.
On the plus side at least I am still alive, if that sounds a bit dramatic, I don't think it is, looking at the crack in the helmet that could have quite easily been my head.
I have also found out that the older you get the more it hurts, in my teens a tumble like that would have resulted in a few obscenities being uttered and shaking it off, now it resulted in a few more obscenities (I have learnt a few new ones in the last 20 years) and lots of pain for a week or two. I don't bounce like I used to!!

I urge all cyclist's to wear a helmet and all car drivers to have a little more respect for us, you are in a 2 tonne missile we are on 9Kg's of aluminium.
Stay safe out there people.

Trek 1.5 T H2

Trek 1.5 T H2
£680 
buy it here


The Rider.
Since changing my job in march I have been commuting by bike, having borrowed a hybrid bike for a few days I was surprised at how much easier it is to ride a bike specifically designed for the road.
After a discussion with my lovely wife, it was decided that a road bike would be a good investment. The company I work for operates the cyclescheme, this is where the company buy's the bike and you pay for the bike directly from your wages, before Tax so the bike works out even cheaper.
A trip to the cycle shop and a very informed chat with the salesman and the list was narrowed, a few test rides and the final decision was made -
A Trek 1.5 T H2 was ordered, and the paperwork started. six weeks later and I picked the bike up and started to ride.

The Bike.

How do trek describe themselves?  Trek are the #1 performance bike brand in the world. Our R&D department packs more engineering horsepower than any other bike company, and they're committed to making every one of our road bikes, from hand-built carbon race machines to refined aluminium models, the absolute best in its class. You'll feel the difference, from the first ride all the way to the podium.

The 1.5 is the top of the one series range and light, my example weighing in at 8.7 kg's

The Frame.

Made of Treks Alpha Aluminium the tubes are manipulated to balance  strength with light weight (1540g), the tube shapes are formed to match the high end  race bikes and the quality of welding and paint finish are excellent.

There are cage mounts for two bottles and mounting point for mudguards and even a rack.
The frame is also UCI approved in case you want to go racing.

The Fork.

The rigid fork is a high point being made of Carbon fibre, they are stiff and light (540g), the carbon doing a fantastic job of dampening road buzz. The FSA Intellaset semi cartridge headset bearings are smooth and should be easy to maintain.

Wheels.
The Bontrager branded wheels are made with 6061-t6 rims attached to cup and cone aluminium hubs attached by 22 flat bladed spokes in a radial pattern at the front and by 24 flat bladed spokes in a cross 2 pattern at the rear are very smooth and offer easy maintenance, they spin up quickly and are quite light at 1182g for the front and 1840g for the rear including tyres and skewers. The excellent Bontrager R1 hard case lite 700x23mm tyres grip incredibly well inspiring confidence to push harder and feature a built in puncture protection system, which so far seems to be working.








Drivetrain.

The drivetrain is Shimano's midrange Tiagra with an FSA Vero chainset, The T in the name indicates that the bike is fitted with a triple chain wheel, I chose this since the area I live in has hills that are 1000 ft at 20%, so I thought the lower gears would come in handy. The rear cassette offers a good spread of ratios ranging from 12 to 30 over 10 speeds. The shift action is amazingly light partly thanks to the Jagwire cables. Unlike mountain bike shifters the combined shifters and brake levers offer a tuning feature that allows you to use a wider spread of the gears without the annoying chain rub.
the chain is also a bonus, being a KMC  X10.93 which in my experience are much more durable than Shimano chains.
The bottom bracket is a square taper which is a little outdated, although it feels ridged enough.

Brakes.
With Dual pivot aluminium brakes acting on the rim the brakes are adequate, getting more powerful as the pads bed in. the brakes are long drop to allow clearance for mudguards. The leaver shape is excellent and the action is light even when riding on the hoods.


Components.
Treks in house component arm Bontrager supplies the rest of the equipment.
The bars are 420mm Race VR-C with an oversize 31.8 centre to increase stiffness, the stem is 105mm SSR putting the weight over the front wheel.
The saddle is an Affinity 1 attached to the bike via a race lite alloy seat post and is a very comfortable place to be.

The Ride.
Moving from a mountain bike to a road bike is a shock to the system everything is different. Due to Treks H2 geometry the front end is higher than a lot of road bikes and gives a comfort orientated riding position especially on the hoods. The bike feels so lively and light making light work of the hills.  From the first ride my speeds were up from the mountain bike, my average speed was in the low 20mph and a few times I hit a peek speed of 31mph.
The ride is comfortable but a lot harder than the mountain bike (skinny tires and no suspension)
The steering is a lot more twitchy due to the narrow bars and long stem. But the biggest shock was the brakes which offer about a 10th of the power of the hydraulic discs on the mountain bike.
overall I love the bike, I think it looks fantastic and rides like a dream, I have made the addition of some lights and mudguards for the winter and hopefully I can commute right through.