So like many of you, I'm sure, as it is the beginning of a New Year, I'm making some resolutions! Most of them have been made before but let's try again!
Fitness and weight come top of the list, as ever, yesterday I joined weight watchers, and today I went out for the first bike ride of 2012, so a start has been made on both of those!
Use up some of my stash and get back to some of the principles I practised when Wardrobe Refashion was going strong. I have also made a start at this. Over Christmas and the New Year, I knitted
Leisl by Ysolda Teague in Flirt, I had bought this yarn for another garment but that is the joy of using stash yarn, it has several 'lives' before it actually becomes a garment!
Last year I have made a good start at making and selling bags, the impetus for that has been raising money for Women v Cancer, but I'd like to keep it going after I have raised the money for my bike ride in India.
The last one is to get up earlier! I'm much more likely to get a training ride done if I get up earlier, and if I don't sleep in the day maybe I'll sleep in the night!
My bike ride today was beautiful, lovely crisp sunny day, bit chilly but I was well wrapped up in new merino top bought by my lovely son for Christmas! I'm not really one of life's exercisers as I may have mentioned before, but when I do get out on my bike I so enjoy it! I was pleased because although I haven't been out for a month or so I was able to get up the hills,even Cemetery Hill, which is right at the start of
my ride and quite long and steep! While it was lovely and peaceful along by the canal it was very muddy and I had a skid moment, which makes me a bit nervous by such a large body of dirty water, which I'm sure is very cold. With my history of falling off I think it may be better to find a less watery route until the paths dry up a bit!
My lovely husband bought me a new bike for Christmas, it's very splendid, has front suspicion and is all black and shiny, very pretty, or was before I splashed through the puddles this morning! It is wonderful to ride a bike where the gears actually work! I do think my old bike was quite good for training as so few of the gears worked! But I must say I'm enjoying the help from the new bike gears! At least this one doesn't creak at every bump, I was always a bit scared something vital would break on the old bike when I was furthest from home!
So I'm all set up for the new year's resolutions and I think this time I might keep them well at least for January! How about you?
So all packed and ready for the off, the sky was grey but it was dry so I packed my waterproof but didn't wear it! Just lately this is an event in itself!!
I started my ride by going to Chaddesley Corbett, a pretty village with a great teashop, where they make the most magnificent scones and the best poached eggs on toast that I have ever tasted!! However, I'm attempting to stick to a diet so I resisted, which as you will discover is a major achievement in itself!!
This village and those close by are full of lovely chocolate box cottages like this one.
My cycling is becoming more fun each time I go out, as my fitness increases I'm getting such a buzz when I can cycle up hills that had me feeling like a heart attack on legs only a little while ago! Please don't get any ideas about me being some great athlete, I do get up the hills but at speeds that I would be overtaken by the average jogger, and my bike computer can't always record the speed because I'm going so slowly!! I'm doing a 5 day ride from Newcastle to Edinburgh later in the year and that involves a section through the borders across The Moorfoot Hills, and the road is going uphill for 10 miles!!!! So every time I get up a hill I have that in mind.
This next picture will give you some idea of the amount of rain we've had lately
I had to cycle through it, I was slightly nervous, with my record for falling off as I was quite a long way from home and didn't fancy the rest of the day soaking wet.
I got to Stratford in just under 4 hours cycling time and it was 42 miles so a good start for this weeks target.
I didn't go out on Sunday but Monday I took the bike on the train to work and cycled home, so clocked up 10 miles. My family always laugh when work and I get into the same sentence, and I must admit this is one of the best jobs I have ever had, I teach knitting and they pay me! Most of the ladies in the group are good knitters so I really provide ideas and sometimes I teach them a trick or two and sometimes they teach me!!
The challenge worked really well yesterday as I had lots of small jobs to do and I was out all afternoon, pre 100M/WC cycling would not have happened, but I got up early baked a cake, then went out on my bike and clocked up another 13 miles!
Today I have had a short ride of 5 miles and it is lovely and sunny but sadly some time must be spent on the mundane, like food shopping, cooking etc. So I opted to go to a supermarket a few miles away and over a hill, which got the shopping done and I got some exercise.
Back home and I made weight watcher jam, milk jellies both very good for my diet and then choc chip and nut cookies! We're visiting friends this evening and I will take the cookies there and no tasting before I go.
Running total for the week is 70 miles and 2 days to go to do another 30 miles, hopefully the sun will be with us tomorrow as I plan to do a 35 mile ride, which goes up a very steep hill that shares properties with a cliff face!
I've just checked this post on preview and for some reason blogger has ignored all the paragraphs and it is coming out in one lump, I do apologise for this and hopefully I will work out how to change that before the next post.
