Back riding and running

Friday May 27th 

After the busy weeks of early May the theme seems to have continued, finally finishing off bathroom and kitchen and some more grandchildren visiting.
But! as I said on my last post, I did manage to get out on my bike on a lovely morning and did 42 miles out round Muchelney, but this time I went down the old railway line cycle track that connects Chard and Ilminster, this used to be part of the 'Stop line' from the last war. A line of defenses from Axmouth in Devon across the South West Peninsula to Bridgwater. there are still lots of remnants making an interesting ride.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taunton_Stop_Line

The photos show some of these, the tank traps just at a narrow bridge, overlooked by a pill box housing a 6pounder Anti Tank gun.

Its a lovely 5 miles along the old railway, much safer than the A358!! the weather was lovely and was probably the first time in shorts this year.

The week I also made an effort to get out and run so two 5 mile runs, I was surprised after a couple of weeks off that I felt OK.

Sunday this week my eldest brought his Gazelle vintage bike over so after completing the building work it was nice to get out and ride bikes, so we did a 26 mile ride on vintage bikes a pair of Gazelles !!! 

 Gazelle Mondial all 531 tubes forks and stays with a full Shimano Durace group set 1984ish
it also has a nice pair of Royce hubs that are from the same year, and run really smooth.

Gazelle Trim Trophy 531 main tubes with Shimano Golden Arrow groupset, 1984ish

Really nice ride.

An early morning run before Bikeability [4 days this week!] at a local school, twice! on beautiful mornings 5 miles each time. Also an evening ride on my Gazelle another 27 miles, trying to get miles in in preparation for the 'Eroica Brittanica' in less than a months time.

I have entered the 'Herepath half' an off road half marathon, 

http://www.herepathhalf.org/home

A great run I did last year, its still 5 months away but at least its something to aim for, it will soon be here!!
Unfortunately I am not able to do the Charmouth Challenge in July as it clashes with Gdaughters  4th birthday party, I will have to look around for another off road event in July.

So last two weeks back into some good exercise , now I need to maintain it, 

What no cycling or running??

Monday 16th May

A whole 2 weeks without running or cycling!! But I hope to get a few cycling miles in this morning.
Helping my eldest son fit a new bathroom and kitchen, repainting bedrooms etc for 5 days as well as 6 days in Gloucester looking after our grandtwins, we were, however, able to use our campervan again, this time in lovely warm weather at the Briersfield site at Cheltenham. The only downside was being woken at 3:30 on Friday morning to the sound of an ambulance being recovered after breaking down right next to our van! Apparently the crew used the motel linked to the campsite for breaks and parked the van near our van ( which they shouldn't have done according to the owner) so a very disturbed night, Friday's drive back down to Somerset was once again difficult because of very heavy traffic, the M5 is 'bonkers' on a Friday afternoon.

Fortunately, the only event I have is the Eroica in a months time, so should be able to get back on track and get enough miles in to make the ride enjoyable. There are no Audax planned until July but! I have an eye on the ' Charmouth Challenge' the most southerly fell run in July, have done it twice before, 8 miles over Golden Cap near, Bridport, Dorset, a lovely but hard run.

Having said no running or cycling over the past 2 weeks, lifting, painting, hammering, carrying etc whilst working on the house with eldest have given me a whole body work out that along with lifting 2 twins now 8 months old has had me using muscles I didn't know I had!!
Weather is fabulous at the moment so looking forward to a nice cycle out today, 40 miles planned over the levels, probably one of my favourite routes round Athelney.