40 Goals

Cyclefilm Etape Reccie Film Released The 36 minute reccie of this years route has been announced and will be available from March 11th as part of an advanced cinema screening. The list of cinemas they've signed up includes; London - Clapham Picturehouse London - Notting Hill Gate Picturehouse Cambridge - Arts Picturehouse Bath - The Little Theatre Cinema Sheffield - Showroom Cinemas York - City Screen Cardiff Area - Venue to be confirmed Birmingham Area - Venue to be confirmed Manchester Area - Venue to be confirmed Leeds Area - Venue to be confirmed So not so great for us Surrey folks but hey, at least we're in the UK! What about those poor souls overseas? I bought their Fred Whitton DVD a while ago and the production quality is top notch on these films, they're just a little on the short side. Still, placing my order now ......

Goring 10k Disappointed with a 47.29. It was very congested at the start with plodders and recreational runner types at the front (why don't they start from the back?) and with an uphill start it was slow anyway. I guess the start at Foix will be similar... It was fairly windy and more hilly than I remembered, but good to run rather than cycle for a change. It didn't rain which was cool, especially since it caned it down in the afternoon. Can't fault the marshalling and organisation and I'd thoroughly recommend this race, but not if you're looking to set an especially fast time, although the winner seems to regularly post a 33 minute time, so what do I know? Not quite ready to hang up the shoes just yet till I've posted a sub 45 for this year. I suspect the next goal after the Alpe and Etape will be the NY marathon in September ... try and follow in Lance's footsteps (!).

Weigh-In Saturday Weight: 77.5kg/12st 2.5lbs Body Fat/LBM: 17.6%/63.9kg Calories: Good Riding: 200k Thought I'd better get back into the habit of the weekly weigh-in again and moved it to Saturday to make sure I have time to do it. Not much to report with a bit of a plateau, feeling lean and doing a regular commute to the office on Friday which is a 100k round-trip. Giving up refined sugars for Lent should help keep me on the straight and narrow and see more weight loss.

Lent Given up refined carbs for 6 weeks. No sugar in tea, no cake, no chocolate etc. I'll weigh 8 stone in 6 weeks if I can pull that off (I don't drink). I seriously considered giving up shaving my legs. Its been a complete pain in the pipe and if you leave it a while you look totally stupid. I sort of wish I'd never done it, but then I do look more like a cyclist ...... Anyways, I'll be eating the world largest Easter Egg in 6 weeks time .... is Lent really that long? yeesh.

Entered the Legs of Steel Ride In memory of Dave Aitchison an up and coming star of the British triathlon scene who died tragically of a heart attack in January of this year. The challenge is 81km over many of the climbs in the Surrey Hills. Its also a couple of days before my wedding anniversary. If I don't place well I'm giving up cycling, although the entry list looks quite exclusive! I reckon 3 and a half hours will be a good time. 1600m climbing over the usual suspects ... Ranmore, Box Hill, Leight Hill etc and my "home" climb in Cranleigh of Horseblock Hollow (although they bill it as Winterfold hill, which is a completely different climb of a mere 17% not 21% but hey lets not be picky). If you're interested in taking part the online entry is here .

Things you should never say ... Today's long ride has been put on hold whilst I sit, with the rest of the Liversedge clan, in my car on the front drive. Its 7.5 degrees and Oliver (our 3 year old) is driving us all mad. I guess you are wondering why? The iginition lockout on our boiler kicked in last night and failed to reset. After many attempts we finally gave in and rang homeservice to come and fix it. My wife made the call. 10 minutes later we're evacuating the house. It turns out that during the conversation on the phone Samantha happened to mention she thought she could smell gas. Oh. As it happens there is no great problem, the 'smell' was not detectable by the other 4 members of the family. But anyway here we are, sitting in the car waiting for Transco to come along and tell us everything is fine. Moral of the story: When talking to British Gas Homeservice because your central heating system is faulty do NOT say 'I think there is a vague smell of gas in the ...

Weigh-In Tuesday Weight: 77.5kg/12st2lb Body fat/LBM: 16.8%/64.46kg Riding: 195km Intake: OK then Binged on Sunday Forgot to do a weigh-in yesterday - but getting up at mid-day would have skewed the results anyway. I only lost half a kilo this week but thats not a bad result since it was an (unintenionally) lighter week and I had a bit of a blow-out watching the Superbowl on Sunday. Steady weightloss is the order of the day anyway so happy with just half a kilo. If I can keep up this progress I should be able to make 70kg by Summer. I now have a 34" waist which is pretty cool. Of course the major downside is none of my clothes fit me anymore. I've spent a packet on work clothes which is ok - its when you need to get new tights and bib-shorts that it gets a bit annoying - do I buy them now or wait until I've hit my target weight?

Post Superbowl Tour of the Surrey Hills Bailout Had the day off Monday after watching the Colts crush the Bears in Superbowl XLI. Got to bed sometime around 4am and tried to get a lie-in, which was difficult with the kids all excited that I was home instead of travelling. Got up around mid-day and went for a Tour of the Hills ride. I'd normally do it on a Sunday but hooked up with some guys yesterday and only got a couple of hours or so of training in for a number of reasons. It was freeeeeeezing, my new (very expensive) Assos jacket kept my body warm but man my nose and ears were covered in ice. I'm sure ice was forming in my water bottles.... Decided to bailout and make a dash for home, light was failing and the cold was making the roads a bit treacherous. Still managed 3 hours and got 75km in, which is a bit of a surprise. I'm back to 53/39 chainrings after my compact cranks failed on a commute ride mid-week. Whilst I could go much faster on the flat it knocked me out on...