Springtime Classic

Underlined my intentions for an earlier start to the cycling season by signing up for the Burgess Hill Springtime Classic sportive to be held on 21 March - I had tried to book a couple of earlier ones to find they were already full (Including 'The Hell Of The Ashdown' which is this weekend). There are obviously some keen winter riders out there. Anyway this one should be good as it is mostly along local routes around the forest which I know and includes both Kidds Hill and Groombridge Hill amongst a total of 1,700 metres of climbing. The total distance is 114km and I am now negotiating with Lawrence my 18 year old to see if he will join me! Better get some training in.

First ride of the year

The extended cold and snowy weather ended during the week, to be replaced by plenty of rain and low grey scudding clouds. Temperatures still hovering around the freezing mark, so miserable all round - until yesterday when there was an unexpected break in the weather with a sunny day and temperatures up to 5 C! Spurred on by this and the sights of the pro teams making their preparations for the forthcoming Tour Down Under, I decided to venture out to kick off my cycling year. Suitably swathed in arm and leg warmers, long gloves, overshoes and a bandanna under the helmet to keep my precious bonce warm, I ventured forth into the Ashdown Forest - leaving Mrs M in front of the fire unable to comprehend why I would bother at all. A nice short 75 minutes later I had completed a potholed circuit around Sharpthorne and East Grinstead and despite it being some 3 months since my last foray on a road bike (In France) and the Christmas excesses I felt reasonably OK. Not tip top, but a good average speed and a start anyway, considering my first ride of 2009 was not until early March.

2009 and all that

Well, we are now in 2010 and I never did get any further rides in in 2009 and thus did not hit my 2,000 km target.

2009 was good in that I managed 1,916 km on the road, up on previous years which were:

2006 - 1,298 km

2007 - 1,042 km

2008 - 1,630 km

Also rather pleasingly this year' average speed was up by 0.5 km an hour over 2008 and 1.0 km an hour over 2007. The secret to 2009 was more distance done in France (1,098 km).

So for 2010 the aim is again 2,000 km and in order to do that I need to make an effort to do more in the early period of the year before May. Sounds like a good New Year's resolution!