Made in Essex?

We did our best to take advantage of Matt's knowledge and skill and tried to think of intelligent questions to ask about our preparation and "training" for the Norfolk 100 and for France.He agreed that our carefully worked out regime of a couple of 20 miles ish rides during the week and a longer ride of 50 to 60 miles at the weekend is about right. Phew. At least our intentions are good even if living up to them is sometimes problematic.
Bearing all this in mind when Shaun expressed an interest in visiting the Munnings Museum in Dedham it seemed like a an ideal chance to head in that direction and cadge a lift home. We reassured ourselves that we would go as far as we could and that Shaun would always pick us up if we got stuck/exhausted. Of course we are both fuelled by stubborn determination as well as cereal bars and bananas...so in our hearts we knew it was Dedham or bust!
Despite the clocks springing forwards we managed to leave pretty much on schedule. Relevant maps had been consulted and packed and a hit list of villages to pass through drawn up. Having basked in bright sunshine for several days it was disappointing to set off in chilly cloudy conditions. I was glad I opted for winter style layers including the obligatory 2 pairs of socks. Even with those precautions both of us suffered frozen feet for most of the journey.
The trip can be described in 3 sections. The first third to South of Diss was fine - we knew where we were going and cruised happily along despite the feet.
The middle part involved Stowmarket which , to be honest , was a bit grim. We hit our 30 mile customary wall , had to consult the maps more times than we like and ended up cycling the length of the High Street several times before alighting on a Costa for caffeine and croissant ( a crucial part of the France training regime). We opted out of a visit to the Wimpy. Neither of us had seen one for several decades let alone been in one.
The sun came out at last and we found ourselves in mid Suffolk proper. Our spirits sank a little as we realised that this part of East Anglia is by no means flat and our route was dominated for some time by RAF Wattisham. We had visions of being tailed by a drone as we skirted the intimidating perimeter fence- stopping several times for map consultations to ensure we didn't end up in a minefield..
The hills surrounding Hadleigh looked daunting from a distance but were fine in reality.The town is delightful and further endeared itself to us by providing a flat section of route on a disused railway track which is part of National Route 1.
Much happier now we glided down to the Stour Valley admiring the chocolate box cottages accessorised with Porsch Cayennes. We narrowly avoided heading down the A12 in the wrong direction and before we could think major East Anglian artists we were in Dedham. Despite being fed misinformation about some of the welcome party being in Flatford ( the wrong side of the river) we managed to rendez vous in the car park by Dedham Mill. Lesley and I had first done a tour of the village and ascertained that the Museum doesn't open until April. I also did my first splat with grown up pedals in another part of the car park. No one saw so it doesn't really count ?  My pedals had engaged when I hadn't asked them to , I panicked, couldn't disengage , had to choose between a soft landing on a BMW 4x4  or a less soft one on tarmac sprinkled with gravel. For insurance reasons I chose the latter and a small part of rural Essex will be forever in my elbow...

That's life and bikes and we made it ! Hooray!

The Bike Man

I met a chap at a party. No this is not going the way you think...I had "met " him previously when he sailed past me as I huffed and puffed along a section of the Cambridge to Norwich ride. Naturally we got talking about bikes and journeys and he told me I must go and see a marvellous man who will ensure that my bike and I are as compatible as Brangelina. I have to admit that I was very sceptical about this idea as I am Mrs Amateur with (shock horror) only one bike which will have to do come what may.
After many months of prevarication I was given a firm nudge in the direction of making the call by my chiropractor who once again relieved my aching back with acupuncture and by my family who are becoming tired of my stressing about whether I am up to the France trip physically.
So off I trotted with Lesley for moral support to a converted garage in a nearby village. Had to go by car given lack of daylight but it was completely in keeping with my amateur status anyway!
Matt is a total star. He helped to sort out my position within the limits of my equipment and I didn't even flinch when he took a hacksaw to my handlebars. He is following up the visit by sorting some more bits of kit and has arranged a meeting with a local retailer who can give us the best advice about lightweight essentials for our travels. I hope he found our visit a bit of light relief after an afternoon of dealing with serious cyclists whose primary concern is performance - sod the comfort. Obviously our priorities are skewed differently!
His advice has been worth every penny so far. His details are:
Matt Jackson - Advanced Cycle Science
Tel : 01508 531769 /07795 424671
Email : thefootlab@me.com
Website : www.thefootlab.co.uk

Eddie Izzard

Eddie Izzard is a hero. Luc met him on Monday at Goldsmiths. When asked about "cake or death?" the response was "cake". In the absence of cake the answer would be biscuits. I just thought everyone should know this.
Apparantly he also talked about standing for Parliament at some point. Personally I think he should skip the democratic process and go straight for Supreme Ruler of the Universe.
I am hoping that he may need my chauffering assistance during the Olympics. Perhaps I should have put the delegation of Eddie Izzard on my preference form.....However I fear he may be too busy running 400 marathons in 2 weeks or something similar. It puts our cycling endeavours well and truly in the shade.

Not bad for a Monday

It was another one of those great ideas. Why not do a circular ride that takes in the Reedham Ferry? After a few postponements today was fixed as the day it should happen - so eastwards we peddled admiring the scenery and wildlife as we went.
Luckily the Ferry was back in operation after its winter maintenance break and before we could say "marsh harrier" we were in the Broads proper with lots of water and not so many roads. We were therefore forced to either build a boat or head home via central Norwich in order to cross back over the Rubicon. It was a good test of our country mouse mettle as we skirted the A47 and headed in to the City on the Thorpe Road. Note to the City Council - how about lovely walking and cycling paths that could run along both banks of both rivers? At one point we had to cut across a building plot on foot in the Broadland Business Park. A stark contrast to our unhassled glide along country lanes earlier in the day.
Obviously, we lived to tell the tale - although as I do not normally cycle 60 odd miles on a Monday I fear I may rust to a standstill like the poor old Tin Man.
Whilst cycling we covered the usual breadth of topics and wrestled with the problem of how to return Lesley and her bike from France on the back of Shaun's motorbike.

An idea...But possibly not the most comfortable.

Accommodation

Having perused various maps and guidebooks we now have a hit list of attractive sounding destinations for our night time stops/ collapses. We started with the romantic notion of setting off and seeing what we find along the way but we reminded ourselves that after a long , hot day's cycle the last thing we need to have to do is search for reasonable looking accommodation. I think it will be better for morale if we can be reasonably certain that on arrival at the intended town/village we can leap(?) in to hot showers , crack open the vin rouge and put our feet up.

So having worked out which centre of civilisation we are heading for each day the quest is on for hosteleries that offer that perfect combination of comfortable , welcoming and within budget. I am easily seduced by descriptions of bijou, quaint historic buildings in central but quiet locations..I just hope I don't manage to land us in tumbldown health and safety hazards with medieval plumbing!

What a Gorgeous Day

Wow! What a perfect cycling day. We must have done something to please or appease the cycling gods for once. Our hesitantly and hastily formed plan to cycle from Wells Next the Sea to home came to fruition.
We managed to align the necessity to collect a child from a sleepover with a minor(!) diversion to the coast and blagged a lift all the way to the beach car park at Wells. Hardly daring to believe our luck with the weather we set off in a Southerly direction with joyful hearts. Any other choice of direction would have resulted in an unforeseen triathlon entry. We totally failed to find the track which was intended to join us to National Route 1 but managed to find it in Wighton. From there until just north of North Elmham we merrily followed the little blue signs with only one minor hiccup.
After Elmham we decided to go free range and head in a diagonal line towards home via Wymondham.
We had to make a few map checks but by a process of following our noses, trusting signposts and taking the odd off road diversion we actually made it all the way home. (55 miles)
It was good to get a long ride under our wheels at last but my legs are definitely telling me that I need to train with more gusto to be ready for the Norfolk 100. So smugness tempered with nervousness is the best way to describe my feelings this evening....

Route Planning

February has disappeared like a snowperson in the rain - so we really feel that the talk of organisation and training has to transform itself into action.
Whilst the countryside was still covered in ice and snow we grasped the opportunity for some "proper" route planning ie looking at actual roads on actual maps and trying to see if A really can lead to B and eventually on to (Le) M. Happily the maps of France do dovetail in to each other so we had a chance of finding a coherent straightish route. Of course, we rapidly became distracted by thoughts of the Musee des Beaux Arts in Rouen, Giverney, the Percheron stud in Montagne au Perche.....The eventual route will look like a drunken spider's attempt to walk the line.
Our distance calculations are heavily reliant on bits of string and vaguely remembered school geography lessons on scale. For this reason I have a horrible feeling we may find we have been over ambitious with our targets for some of the days because we forgot to multiply the scaled up figure by our combined ages and then divide by the number we first thought of. Time will certainly tell.
"Training " has acquired more focus now that our entries for the Norfolk 100 are confirmed. Our attempts to get some miles under our belts and tyres have been frustrated by gales and horizontal rain. So much so that we had to resort to static bikes at our local gym today. Grrrrr. However, last week's Spring- like interlude meant that on the round trip to the bike shop in Diss we were shedding layers for the first time in 6 months and I was cursing my lack of sunglasses. More of the same please. We need to acclimatise to June temperatures en France.