Training

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Riding a bike in the snow and wind or watching Wales win the Grand Slam in a toasty Millennium Stadium/London Welsh Rugby Club/Dublin's fair city? Not a difficult choice. For that reason and my own laziness, training got off to a slow start. Nevertheless thanks to some awesome mates and a lot of lucozade I've managed to get a bit of preparation in. Having decided not to subscribe to the dark world of sweat, lycra and cardiac arrest in spin classes I've limited my training to weekends and the occasional bank holiday adventure.

The Big Ones

A big ride needs some big warm-ups. Here are a couple of them:

LE (Nearly) JOG

LE JOG is the ride from Land's End to John O'Groats usually enjoyed over a couple weeks with a big support team cruising through some quiet coastal lanes.

Over the Easter weekend Matt Dearden and I attempted the 1000 mile ride over five days, straight up the main A roads and assisted only by a credit card and mobile phone.

Had everything else gone to plan - punctures, injuries, weather - we would have struggled. With four punctures, a gammy back and one of the coldest and windiest weekends since the end of the ice age we were lucky to survive. Through gritted teeth we had to settle for LE GG (Land's End to Gretna Green).

There were some dark moments, of which hammering through a head-on blizzard at 7am in Kidderminster still haunts me as much as sharing a double with Matt in Wigan. Nevertheless we learnt a massive amount about long distance cycling and I now have a dominatrix and a one-legged man as friends on facebook. By anyone's measure that's a successful trip.

Londres-Paris

The Eurostar now does it in 2hr 30 mins but why rush? Covering the 600km over three days of glorious Kent and northern French countryside in balmy May weather is about as enjoyable a way to spend a bank holiday as I can think of.

Highlights included cycling off the ferry ramp into Calais, cobbled streets, the champs elysees, pastis, random cultural exchanges with the natives, a ridiculous tan and great banter. Thanks to Tim Harris for teaming up for a trip to remember and apologies to fellow Eurostar passengers who got a dose of "Eau de 3 day old lycra" into their ticket price on the way back.

Sutton Coldfield - London

Ah, I hear you say, that old classic. Surprisingly enough no photos from this rip through the heart of England but recommended are Kenilworth Castle, Rickmansworth Canal Fair and the Chilterns. To be avoided are Solihull gyratory, Buckingham Little Chef and the A40 road works. I also saw an Aylesbury duck.

The Little Ones

I've been trying to get out on the bike at least once a weekend. Because of the difficulties with traffic in London that usually means a 7:30 or 8am start which may make me a sissy in rowing circles but seems pretty painful when you have bumbled out of Reflex at 4am.


The routes I tend to go on are:

Windsor Route

Surrey Route

London to Brighton

The Olympic Ones

Cyclists love banging on about the history of the sport - Tour de France winners; Kings of the Mountains; Legendary mixers of Amphetamine and Pastis Cocktails - but London has its own little bit of cycling history: Herne Hill Velodrome.

It is the only remaining working venue from the 1948 Olympics and every Saturday it gives complete novices a chance to get out on the track and sample the unique mixture of speed, danger and pain that track cycling has to offer.

No brakes, no gears, no room for the faint-hearted, I have used this place occasionally to try and break the monotony of mile after mile in the Surrey hills. I recommend it to anyone who wants something a little bit different, provided you are not put off by lining up next to a bearded courier in a wife beater with Love and Hate tattooed across his knuckles.

The Ones That Got Away

During Welsh rugby's return to the top table, training rides, and whilst I will be in Kazakhstan itself, I'll be having to miss out on some of my favourite cyclosportif rides this year.

The one that really grates will be La Marmotte. Held on the first weekend in July every year I have taken part in this suffer-fest for the past three years. It is hailed as the toughest amateur ride in Europe and if anyone has anything to compare bring it on....

Good luck to the guys taking part again this year. Whilst you may be wishing you were anywhere else, somewhere on the Kazakh steppe there will be a man (possibly wearing a Mankini) dreaming of being on the Alpe d'Huez.

Due to other Kazak related commitments I will also have to miss the Dragon Ride, the Lakeland Loop and the Fred Whitton Challenge. Enjoy them lads and look forward to joining in next year.

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