5…4…3…2… and One. We have Registration!

Etape Cally people have opened their floodgates, and they’ve found me poking the Giddy Blonde with a sharp stick through the entrance. I did originally think it was just us two but after a quick canvassing not only is it us two, but also Ladies of the Lane (like of the lake except holding aloft Scott Carbon fibre road bikes), my mate Pam (must think of a proper blogger name for her, I was thinking Fuzzy Bear since at her 40th, a group of lads from her work turned up wearing Fuzzy Bear t-shirts but that’s their in joke and I don’t really understand it and I’m fairly sure it’s not etiquette etc), a Trevor and a Simon – not the TV comedy duo I’m told, another duo of sorts and one or two others who’ve expressed an interest but whom I don’t think have actually registered so am not going to jinx that by mentioning them here. Aims for this year: Skills: Get better riding in a group. I’ve started doing the slipstream 3” away from the Giddy Blonde’s back wheel when we’ve been commuting in the morning so getting better at that. He hates it, he ‘can’t see what’s going on and you could be up to anything’... It's the accusatory tone of 'you' I don't like, as if I'm sneaking drugs to 7 yr olds whilst cycling behind him. Cornering and descending needs and always will need work. Fitness: I will conquer those hills (though I quite enjoy it). I wonder if I can get 5 hrs….Hrmm….I’ve said it now haven’t I. So I suppose faster will have to be an aim as well. Commuting’s going fine – though the weather’s taken a turn for the worse. I had to wear padded cycling tights – full length ones - and it wasn’t fun. Not comfy and felt like I was wearing a nappy. So I’ve purchased a new set of long running leggings. I did try on two pairs – Nike and Ronhill. Nike ones – Legend Tight Fit – lovely material, felt quite thick and luxurious and would have been nice and warm but god awful fit. In every other sports wear – nearly – I’m a size 12. In theirs a size 16 and still feel too tight in places. Truly Awful. Their tracksuits are really lovely though I do end up buying a size 14 I’m coming to the conclusion they make clothes for women with no pelvis and tiny, tiny, tiny non-hips. Or their clothes are just for sucking it all in and posing. Ended up with a pair of Ronhill ones with extra lighty reflector bits. Much better fit (even a little loose). They’ve got zips on the end – I think they’re to help you put socks on, otherwise they’re like nipples on Batman – which I usually have issue with but me and my short arse seem to be quite comfortable in them. I have another pair with zips but those zips are much more heavy duty than these ones so don’t always like wearing them. In news that’s no really connected with this blog, I’ve nearly – properly nearly – finished my math course. Though that means gearing up for another much longer math course (oh, god. If I actually think about it, I’ll not do it. So best just do it then eh?) Mx

I'm a commuter!

I've been commuting! On my bike! We're now officially in the house which is a few miles from town. 3.5 to be exact, and it's along the beach so go given the sun doesn't rise until 8, I get to watch the sun come up as I cycle along! We've also signed up for this: Scottish Bike Show Challenge The 65 mile one. I really enjoyed it last year. Particuarly as a prelude to the Etape Cally - which is yet to open it's entry yet. And I could have sworn I'd signed up by now this time last year. Grr. Other than that we're just getting the house ready for Christmas - you know, putting up a couple of shelves (20) so... Tickety boo peeps! Mx

Right...

...assides from the Giddy Blonde's da' (who's never giddy, or blonde) cracking a few ribs on the path stairs outside my flat, we've managed to move my stuff to the house we didn't mean to buy, and having now been in that house, and had a proper look around - we actually meant to buy it, on purpose and I'm not sure entirely where you got the impression that it was an 'accident' and I was never worried it was going to be the biggest mistake of my life ever. We're still not in officially, the Gidds won't move in until there's interweb and a telly. I'd be happy with having the gas and electricity on but we are very different people. Still no official cycling. I have purchased this however. So shall set up my race bike on it when we're in the house we didn't mean to buy (but we completely ment it) once we have the tinternet and a TV (and possibly electricity and gas for the heating). Mx

Just a quick spot to say...

...I may have signed for some MTB next week. The Deeside Diva's have closed their road season and my mate has said she's keen to go out with the group. There's nothing close at hand I can sign up for, everything else would involve taking days off work and I've used up my hols allowance already. So I'm a bit narked - and feeling bloated because of it. That assides I'm holding my breath waiting for Etape Cally to open it's registration for 2013 - it's a very long time coming. Other than that I've done nothing, nada, zip and ziltch. Not entirely true. Have just come back on holiday in Tobago and did a 35 degree Celsius ride from Crown Point to Plymouth. On mountain bikes. And then more or less (considerably less) repeated the feat from Crown point to Mt Irvin (about 6 miles round). Haven't done much else. Appols. I'm off to hang my head in shame. Mx

I need a project!!!

Help me!!! An event or something!!! I am beset by lazyness, as I am doing nothing!!! Not even going to the gym!!!! ARRRGgggghhhhh! Mx

Hello, I'm still here...

...I'm working on something at the moment. Gyming it lots and going out Cycling during the weekend - though I have been busy. If anyone's going to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh I can heartily recommend the following acts: Voodoo Rooms: Young And Strange Jolly Boat Mat Ricardo:Vaudavile Schmuck The Gilded Balloon The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre The Pleasance Theatre Rhys Darby Mx

Guess what...

...I've been up to today!  Cycling!  Actual velocipede activity, and not the half mile to the gym either.  27 miles! I haven't been out in a while - so I had a mini bonk just before getting to Warren Wood - and we weren't pushing it, just pootling.  Then it was a stop at Drumoak Gardening Centre for the food of champions and some cake, then back into town.  Not exactly stretching the boundries in route or anything else really, but it still counts!

I got stung on the lip on the way back - or at least I think I was stung.  The swelling's gone down but there's a weird electric shock feeling around the area - it's not too uncomfortable, but it has given me toothache like pain on the front lower teeth, like cold shock.  I don't look too bad either - there are no John Merrick like swellings on my face - so I don't think I was stung properly.

Distance:	26.4 mi
Elevation:	+ 2156 / - 2159 ft
Max Grade	13.8 %
Avg. Grade	0.3 %
VAM	482 Vm/h
Ascent time	01:21:48
Descent time	00:58:33
Total Duration:	03:50:28
Moving Time:	02:20:44
Stopped Time:	01:29:44
Calories:	775
Avg. Watts:	92
Max Speed:	27.4 mph
Avg. Speed:	11.3 mph
Pace:	00:08:44
Moving Pace:	00:05:20
Max Cadence:	111 rpm
Min Cadence:	19 rpm
Avg. Cadence:	63.3 rpm

I'm going to start going out for rides on the weekend again.  Perhaps try for 40 miles/weekend or something.  I've lost some hill climbing ability, and my legs tightened up on one or two wee hills on the way back so I really need to watch this on this 'down time' at the moment.  The Giddy Blonde's wanting to do the Etape next year as well - with him being a tad stronger and taller than me I don't think he'll want to hang back - but it will be good with the both of us training next year, unless he wants to hit it like he did the Scottish Bike Show - 2 bonked rides and wearing clothes from the Army Surplus store. But we'll see.

Mx

Barefoot Running notes by Exception...

...The exception is I got crapped on by an Aberdeen Sea Gull. I think it was this one.  No doubt those crisps belonged to orphans, and when the ransacking and thievery from babes in arms gets boring he he looked upon other sport.

The thing is the Gulls up here are not normal gulls.  Feeding on the fish trawlers, swallowing eels whole (I have actually seen this, it wriggled as it went down his throat) they live well into their twenties with the surrounding lore that goes with any animal that can stare down the dominating species and win.  My favourite was that Aberdeen City Council had hired the sniper to shoot down the meanest ones - because they will and they have swooped down to take your food from your hand, not like Mary Poppins 'feed the birds...tuppence a  bag...traa laa laa.' Oh no! They swoop down and snatch under threat of your eyes!  The general populace lives in abject terror of these things.  They had a Face Book page but like all good terrorist organisations they're hard to pin down. 


I will not be cowed, oh no.  I shall re-claim my streets, and they can crap on me all they like (within reason) besides, I'm Scottish, black cats and being shit on is lucky.

Mx

Well, What have I been up to...

...rather a lot as it happens. 

Not much on the fitness front I'm afraid.   Me and the Gids were here for the week with an extra two days either side in Barcelona.  Beautiful Sandy Beaches, blue skies and Music what else does one need.  Bikes!  I did get pictures but no actual ride (the Gids says that sounds rude but I don't care) so no doubt when I'm not being held captive by The Lazyites I will post properly.

We're going away again shortly so I am having some thoughts on sorting myself out for that, I shall also get some goals out and down on e-paper as it's kind of what's needed.

We've also been watching Bradley Wiggins smash the TDF out, and feeling sorry for Cadel Evans, so roll on tomorrow for the cycle to the Champs Elysees!

Mx

It's still raining....

I'm not sure, but I hear the sky is blue, and the sun is bright yellow and is put there by a man holding a pole too far away to see.  Is that true?

Anyhoo... I went to spin class on Monday.  I couldn't sleep on Sunday night and it was dawn before I decided to do something about it. So I was still pretty much 'chemically induced' at noon the next day.  I didn't fall asleep at the wheel or anything but I did sweat profusely.  I'm a bit of a sweaty betty as it is but I wasn't even trying due to deciding to wear my feet (which was a lot like taking spin class in my bare feet, surprisingly enough) and I actually sweated through the little air holes that they say are to ensure you can put and pull them off with ease. How many people can say they've sweated through little plastic feet.  I've bought toe socks to try and stop the leaking as they were quite slippy but I won't be wearing them spinning (not enough support for the pedals to be comfortable). I intend to wear them in my first group run tomorrow with my local gym.  I hope they don't intend to go longer than the rough mile I manage but we shall see.

On the cycling front there's good news! Luella has a new front derailler! And it's attached.  Might try her out tomorrow.  The Diva's are meeting again tomorrow though it is blowing a hoolie oot there just now and they're doing intervals.  Which I could do with the way they're doing them.  So I might go.  I don't know.  

Mx
from the land that Summer forgot
(which sounds like a porn film).

Inverness in The Rain...

...which is supposed to be a rip off of a Deacon Blue song but it's not.  Even though Inverness was very rainy. And cold.  June! It's Midsummer as I write this, and it has rained since 2pm today.  And it's so windy that the Giddy Blonde TV isn't working, and the dog is in hiding in the bathroom, trying to wrap herself round the U-bend as much as possible.  I wouldn't mind so much but she seems to want me there with her.  And we're at Giddys flat and he's a very stinky boy - as was testament last weekend in Inverness - lets just say the things ensuring his toilet doesn't walk away isn't the rusty bolts through the floor!  Any way, last time it rained this much there was the Black Death, which is one of the four horsemen of the Apocolypse, the others were War, Famine and Archie.

Anyhoo.  We were in Inverness in for the mighty Shinty, for the MacTavish Cup Final.  And what a final it was.  There was blood, sweat (cos lets face it Lochaber did do an awful lot of running around)  and a wee boy behind one of the goals busting a joyous move every time Newtonmore scored - which was quite a lot.  It was a bit of a shame really.  All of Lochaber and their dog were there in magnificent support, but it was all to naught as Newtonmore - who seemed to have recruited the towns joiner and woodworking profession, so you and your shelves were scuppered that weekend - gubbed Lochaber 5-1.

And it was cold, 7 degrees at the most, in June.  I could see my breath in the air. It wasn't too bad in our little tent.  We camped out as a test for going to Benicassim soon, and I've decided there is no way I am sharing a two man tent with a 6'5" trumpet arse in 30 degree heat.  No way suree.

We then decamped to Scary Blondes flat (GB brother) for Chinese food where they watched football and I fell asleep.  I'm not one to drop off of an evening, it could have been the cold, the Chinese food, or the 4 pints of red kite we had watching the Shinty.  More than likely it was the lack of oxygen from spending a night in that tent with GB's phfaarrffy bot-bot.

We did do some cycling, quite small but glorious all the same.  Inverness has a brilliant pathway which goes straight through the City from one side out to the other, running along side the river.  It was perfectly safe and a little sheltered from the worst of the weather.  We cycled from Bught Caravan Park to the city centre in what must have been 10 minutes, across little suspension bridges with leafy pathway on either side framed by glorious sandstone houses.  In the city centre there were loads of places to park your bike and we had lunch in a place called Leakey's which is definitely the place to go on a rainy cold day.

Other than that my exercise these past couple of weeks has been minimal - I did do a spin class this week and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I didn't go to Deeside Divas this week as they were doing threshold work and I'm a bit funny about doing intervals on the road - I feel much safer going a bit grey around the temples in doors - but I'll see what they're up to next week.  Also this weekends pretty quiet so I might go out for a longish ride too.  Perhaps do 30 miles or something reasonable.

Mx

Playing nice with others...

...is something I'm not known for.  At best I'm shy at my worst I come across as superior and any attempt at banter comes out down right hurtful, and the frustrating thing is I'm lovely.  So knowing this  I took me and myself down to Deeside Divas last Wednesday, which is run for free by these lovely people here.

On arrival I was 'inspected' then 'dismissed' as non-threatening, and then was I spoken too.  Which I kind of expected, the first thing I do when I see someone on a bike, is check the bike - I've not got the 'leave your competitors in the dust' gene so seeing how fit they are isn't a consideration for me per se, but I understand others have that.

I was then spoken to by a man called Tim who was soo tall and lanky he looked like he'd been wrung through a Victorian wringer.   He of course was OUR LEADER or COACH.  Kind of.  I wonder what he gets out of running a group of about 20 women in Lycra?  He wasn't very shouty and didn't have any weird demands as OUR LEADER slash COACH and I was most disapointed when he didn't make me do endless sit ups whilst shouting 'NO PAIIINN!!!!!'.

We then headed up Causey Mounth, I intentionally hung back as I didn't want to awe everyone with my mountain climbing prowess, given that Causey Mounth isn't really a mountain and prowess is a term I'm using loosely to mean 'get out of breath a bit sweaty'.   We had a little pootle for about a mile to put us in a group as we were doing an AMT (Australian Man Tango - I may have heard that wrong) Session, which is when the 'handicapped' get a two minute start before they unleash the dogs let the other cyclists try to catch up with them.

I of course was in the handicapped group, however I much prefer the term cyclistickly challenged.  And I'm very cyclistickly challenged. I managed to keep up on the first lap, was dropped round on the second and ended up going round by myself on the last.  With a lot of folk going 'Well done!' for managing a 4 mile route.   And me wanting to go 'No!!! Honestly!!! Fuck Off!!! I'm just slow!!! I can do this all day!!! I've done this for 80 miles!!! Six weeks ago!!! According to Garry Garmin I have at least another 60 odd miles in me!!! '  But we weren't doing it all day.  We'd only been up there for an hour, and were only going to be there for another 5 minutes at most.  Or at least until I caught up with everyone who passed me on my last lap. So I kept my trap shut, and instead consoled myself with 'Well, it would have been disappointing to find myself the fastest.  Where's the challenge in that really?'

Starts in:	Aberdeen, Scotland, GB
Distance:	23.9 mi
Elevation:	+ 1355 / - 1450 ft
Max Grade	8.5 %
Avg. Grade	0.9 %
VAM	367 Vm/h
Ascent time	01:07:33
Descent time	00:44:40
Total Duration:	02:19:28
Moving Time:	01:52:13
Stopped Time:	00:27:15
Calories:	609
Avg. Watts:	90 ( with 0s)
Max Speed:	33.4 mph
Avg. Speed:	12.8 mph
Pace:	00:05:50
Moving Pace:	00:04:42
Max Cadence:	117 rpm
Min Cadence:	17 rpm
Avg. Cadence:	63.6 rpm
Max Heartrate:	179 bpm
Min Heartrate:	44 bpm
Avg. Heartrate:	109.2 bpm
Heartrate zones:
Zone 1:	18 min
Zone 2:	10 min
Zone 3:	10 min
Zone 4:	5 min

At least I have somewhere to go.  I think I'll go next week as well.  I did enjoy myself and I haven't been out much though a bit more prep before hand might be an idea.  Defo a snack or something before I leave, I only had a gel snot at the top of CM when he was explaining Alien Mouth Tent.

The metrics are quite interesting. My heart rate seems (in my opinion) to be a bit all over the place, moving time was just under two hours but my zones were just under an hour?  Does that mean I wasn't working that hard consistently or that my hr monitor is not working - and as we know I do have misgivings about my heart rate monitor.

I do have other activities to post about but I'm running a bit behind due to other constraints.  Myself and the Giddy Blonde have just come back from a weekend in Inverness (where there was some cycling) and where Not So Giddy Blonde may have to have his name changed to 'Mibbies not as Giddy but sure as hell cut from the same cloth Blonde'.  Here's a 'Choice' excerpt from my Weekend -

Giddy: Do you know what a Gilet is?

Mibbies: Yes, no, is that a thing you carry babies in?

Giddy:  No! That's a BAIN MARIE

Please don't put your baby in a bain marie.

Mx

After by being tagged by...

..This Glorious New Yorker  I've to post 7 things people don't know about me...

1,  I haven't had a TV in about 12 years.  It's been ace, I've got loads of reading done and have met a cast of hundreds in the folks I've met both on line (they're not all KA-RAZEEE) and face to face and I'm a better individual for it.  However, me and the Giddy Blonde are moving in together soon and his TV misses him when he not here because I 'don't turn her on enough' - WTF!?!?!?!? -  though when round at his TV is all I do.

2, I've entered a state of being constantly educated. I went to collage and got an HND in Communications, since then I've also gained an OU degree in the Humanities and am now after all that Arts Education nonsense I'm now training to be a mechanical engineer.  I haven't done maths in like 20 years. I'm finding it difficult and tiresome, though mostly difficult.

3, I'm vegetarian.  With a small v.

4, I'm a card carrying bunny hugger. I don't care.  I can't watch animal programmes because I don't like seeing the crocodile eat the baby deer.  I don't like the whale (or what ever the feck it is) eat the crocodile.  I don't care IT'S NATURE AND THEY'D ALL STARVE OTHERWISE.  I'd rather just watch Big Bang Theory.

5, Beer is ace. Most are.  They have a beer festival here in Aberdeen every year though sod knows what they're going to do when they build they re-build the stadium out of town.  Me and the Giddy Blonde have been about 3 years on the trot.  It's very low key under one of the stands in Pittodrie Stadium (Pittodrie - Gaelic for Dung Heap,  just saying) there's no music and the serving wenches are grizzly half cut bearded old guys who drink up the slops. It's done on a voucher system where they serve halfs (more like three quarters) and pints.  I had one that tasted like Cheese.  Like that weird orange dust on Dorito's, not 'cheese' cheese.  It was odd. I'm also quite partial to cider.

6, Reading books is like breathing, if I had to stop I'd die.

7, I'm petrified of the Dentist.  Properly.  I need drugs to attend. The last time I had to get a tooth out, I came round from the anaesthetic because I remembered feeling a metal implement in my mouth and 'Howled like a baby', because I came round for seconds during - or I may even have been dreaming - I don't have a bad dentist, I just have a ridiculous high tolerance to certain drugs - sleeping tablets, pain killers and anaesthetic etc.  I'm trying to get better at going.  I sat through 2 fillings last year, after spending about 17 years not going.  I also have 'a very clean mouth' just crappy teeth.

Unfortunately I've been ill.  I wasn't at work for most of last week due to a throat infection (and tongue swelling!!!), but I've put in for some gym classes this week, and signed up for a few next week.  I also might attend a Deeside Diva's training session this week, though I'm wanting to take it easy given the circumstance.

I've also decided to post on the running by exception as I'll be at the 0.8mile mark for quite a while, and there's only so many ways you can blog about that whilst keeping it interesting.  

Mx

Shoes with Toes...

I got these...

They smell like this...

Only not as evil looking.  

I went here (I have no idea why the lines look wiggy):

Initial tests are promising.  But I want to try them a few times before I decide on how they go. Fit seems fine, I was worried that they were too small on my 4.5 size feet but they fit fine.   

The figures:

Starts in:	Aberdeen, Scotland, GB
Distance:	0.8 mi
Elevation:	+ 114 / - 163 ft
Max Grade	9.5 %
Avg. Grade	-0.7 %
VAM	415 Vm/h
Ascent time	00:05:02
Descent time	00:04:33
Total Duration:	00:19:33
Moving Time:	00:09:35
Stopped Time:	00:09:58
Calories:	79
Avg. Watts:	137
Max Speed:	6.2 mph
Avg. Speed:	5.2 mph
Pace:	00:23:22
Moving Pace:	00:11:27
Max Heartrate:	169 bpm
Min Heartrate:	92 bpm
Avg. Heartrate:	135.1 bpm
Heartrate zones:
Zone 1:	1 min
Zone 2:	7 min

My heart rate monitor crapped out half way round (I think it was when I put it into my pocket), though I am now the proud owner of a pouch thing I can't say the name of because it either sounds like something a person with digestive problems would wear though the American versions much worse.   It'll be useful for going on the bike when I've not got proper bike jerseys on.

I've signed up for a spin class next week, will be out on the bike some point one evening, and out on the feet again shortly.

Mx

I have a question...

...why do 'how to' books tell you 'how to' in the last third of the book, not in the first page.

After going 2 miles in me bare feet, and then being crippled for the rest of the week, I get to the end of 'Barefoot Running Step-By-Step' and discover you're only supposed to be going 300 meters on your first time out.

So went out Tuesday night, only went a mile, took Garry Garmin though forgot to switch it on until half way through... So this is what I did:
 

Departed:	May 28, '12, 06:43pm
Starts in:	Aberdeen, Scotland, GB
Distance:	0.5 mi
Elevation:	+ 38 / - 11 ft
Max Grade	6.4 %
Avg. Grade	0.2 %
VAM	174 Vm/h
Ascent time	00:03:58
Descent time	00:01:19
Total Duration:	00:12:08
Moving Time:	00:05:17
Stopped Time:	00:06:51
Max Speed:	5.5 mph
Avg. Speed:	5.1 mph
Pace:	00:26:50
Moving Pace:	00:11:41

Do youse think that if I can average 5.5 mph I can do a marathon in 5 hours?  Or will the medal folk have gone home by then?

Mx

MTB: I love to Hate You. - WITH ROUTE!!

I do.  There's some gorgeous weather happening in the 'deen so myself, GB and his brother (Not-so-GB) headed out to Kirkhill for some fat tire action.  This is the second outing for my barely used mountain bike so currently it's usage is working out at £very-expensive per ride.  I got about 10 minutes in and discovered that Pancakes with double cream and strawberries is not the food of athletes, it's the food of the ill prepared who can't mountain bike and wimp out at the first hill.  After the boys got sick of waiting for me (again) I managed to pootle a few miles out and back again.

Here's the route:



The numbers:

Departed:	May 27, '12, 01:42pm
Starts in:	Aberdeen, Scotland, GB
Distance:	7.8 mi
Elevation:	+ 815 / - 811 ft
Max Grade	11.9 %
Avg. Grade	0.4 %
VAM	352 Vm/h
Ascent time	00:42:23
Descent time	00:28:08
Total Duration:	01:45:57
Moving Time:	01:10:31
Stopped Time:	00:35:26
Max Speed:	16.9 mph
Avg. Speed:	6.6 mph
Pace:	00:13:35
Moving Pace:	00:09:02

The 'VAM' thing's interesting.  I only noticed it last week when I work my heart rate monitor (which I forgot to put on today).

Any hoo, after the boys ditched me I managed to pootle a little.  Found the airport (took me 5 minutes wondering as to why there was a massive go-cart track in the middle of the 'Deen), and then up to the top.

Not-so got burned 'cos he's Giddy's brother.  I bruised the palms of my hands from holding the handlebars too tight (they have tiny little pointy grippy bits which dig in horribly), and my bum with my seat digging into it every time I had to put my foot down, and my thumbs from jamming them in the gear switches, and a few others where I don't know what happened.

Oh well.

Apparently the weather's due to break and we're about to go from 23 degrees C to 11 so I might consider the gym this week.

I never did the Alford Sportive.  It was supposed to be yesterday but then we were having a picnic on the front lawn (front lawn=two feet of grass surrounding his flat block) and I kept wondering where where I should be... On a bike going round Alford apparently. What an eejit.

Mx

Apologies guys! Now with the route!

Enjoy Yourself, it's later than you think!

Went out last night on one of the few glorious Summer nights Aberdeen is ever likely to see this year.  It was just a pootle with the Giddy Blonde.  Nothing going but the intent of enjoying myself on a shiny 'deen evening.  As soon as I got on the bike I felt like I was home, and I was flying! I've had amazingly sore calves since Monday night - even though it's only Wednesday it's felt like a very long week hobbling around - but that all went when we were out. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed it even if it was just for two hours.

Here's the route:

And the Metrics

Departed:	May 22, '12, 06:38pm
Starts in:	Aberdeen, Scotland, GB
Distance:	25.4 mi
Elevation:	+ 1284 / - 1207 ft
Max Grade	9.1 %
Avg. Grade	0.3 %
VAM	310 Vm/h
Ascent time	01:15:39
Descent time	00:52:52
Total Duration:	02:13:37
Moving Time:	02:08:31
Stopped Time:	00:05:06
Max Speed:	30.6 mph
Avg. Speed:	11.9 mph
Pace:	00:05:15
Moving Pace:	00:05:03
Max Cadence:	105 rpm
Min Cadence:	19 rpm
Avg. Cadence:	60.2 rpm
Max Heartrate:	192 bpm
Min Heartrate:	96 bpm
Avg. Heartrate:	159.7 bpm

Also for the first time wore my Heart Monitor.  Apparently in a 2 hr cycle ride I burned 1340 odd calories - which doesn't seem right.  What do we think? I've tried working with HR before but it always seems to have me working lower than what I feel like work.  For example - if I were to work at 154 (near enough the average) I'd feel like I was cooling down.

As soon as the calves wear off I'll go do a 1/4 of a mile barefoot (they really have been sore), and then out on the bike this weekend I think.  We were ment to be doing a sportive round Alford but I've not done anything about it.  I'm still in two minds about doing it - I think I should, just not really sure I want to.  Will have to register that morning though - as they're only accepting Paypal or cheque.

Mx