Thunder thighs, Warwickshire Hills and cycling with the Richmond brothers

Its been a while since I blogged, so thought I would get back into it with a write up of my cycling exploits this weekend. I moved down to Leamington just over a month ago; when I was cycling around Doncaster I thought I was doing quite well - making good time, becoming more confident on the bike, enjoying myself quite a bit. Get to Leamington and it's as though Brian McMassiveHill who likes to build large hills has been and decimated the entire Warwickshire countryside with steep climbs! (Obviously this is a slight exaggeration before people start piping up about the hills in Cornwall, or that mountain range we're cycling through in Scotland...)

The first major one I tackled took me about 5 attempts, and it felt as though I had been shot in the thighs. Since then I haven't been doing too well on the hills, stopping half way up. Luckily, my Fairhurst, and moth-like mentality means that I completely forget the bullet wound type feeling in my legs, and just keep going back for more!

After finally getting his bike last week, Tom from down the street, and his brother John, joined me out on the roads on Saturday. Like Rich and I were saying last week, its always much nicer to go out with someone, and these two were really encouraging and John even said at one stage 'You're not too bad...for a girl'. Brilliant. After almost killing myself again on what can only be described as a small mountain, John and Tom suggested that we swap bikes to see if it would make any difference as his has more gears than mine, thus making it much easier to climb. At first I was a bit dubious about someone else getting their hands on Joyce, but having almost had a small heart attack at the side of the road I was open to suggestions! So I hopped (/struggled to get on Tom's bike), and flew up this hill!

Towards the end of the ride, we hit another hill so swapped over the bikes again. My legs were getting pretty tired by this stage, and it was a total nightmare trying to get up there but I dug deep, and all the while remembered the phrase 'pain is weakness leaving the body!'. Tom and John were really encouraging, which helped so much...right up until the stage when John cycled passed me, pulling a wheely....I can't type the words that came out of my mouth but suffice to say, I was livid. Nevertheless, I made it to the top, all in one go! A first for me, and although only a small victory (again for anyone who wants to pipe up with comments about how hard the Pennines will be, or think about the distance you'll be doing on whatever day), I was pretty chuffed with myself!

Just another note, to say thanks to everyone for the sponsorship so far! Justgiving has seen a bit of a flurry of donations in the last couple of weeks and I for one am blown away! £1568.32 is our total so far, making us top fundraisers for Zoe's Liverpool! Keep the donations coming guys, it really means a lot to us all!

Watch out for the Alfie's Team Bike Ride website which is coming soon! And by soon, I mean this week!