Two steps forward...

... one step back.

Where I work, Thursdays are a now traditional boozy evening if you choose to partake - x amount of bottles of wine and beer are set out on the 4th floor and it's pretty much first come, first served until the booze runs out.

In my tiny head, booking training sessions for a Thursday means I can avoid this temptation. It also means (in reality) that come 5.15 (ish) I feel like banging my head against my desk thinking, "Why? Why did I book it for tonight when all I really want to do is have a nice (free) drink with the people I work with, when we actually get to talk about real life etc?"

Anyway, due to being away last weekend (and having to wait until payday to book any more) it has been 10 days since my last personal training session. And god did I feel it.

I was hoping that having cycled into work for 3 days last week (54 miles) and on Monday and Tuesday this week (36 miles), that might have helped, but not really.

I felt knackered before I even got there (OK, a late night last night probably didn't help) but even so... I needed more time for recovery between exercises and it just felt like a lot more hard work than last time.

Liam the trainer said I need to be going twice a week apart from sessions with him, so I need to start actually plotting time in for that. He's right as well, time is ticking on.

Mind you, he also said I am still progressing, just not as fast as I should be. (Or as well as I want to.) But silver linings and all that... managed to hit 126 meters in 30 secs on my 7th set on the rowing machine, (I started at working up to 100m on 3 sets). I can now do 3 x 12 reps of the 12kg kettle bell squats, although I find holding the damn weight the hardest thing, legs seem fine while arms go all wobbly.

Hey ho. Hoping to cycle into work tomorrow unless I wake up walking like Douglas Bader. Also a months worth of rain is predicted in the next 2 days. Bloody weather.

Feeling a bit 'bah' and disheartened with everything tonight. And I sound like a right whinger too.

My current nemesis (apart from the weather) - a 12kg kettle bell:

Keep it safe people, keep it safe

As you can imagine, it can get a bit scary on London's roads. So I play it as safe as I can. If I can't get in front of a bus or a lorry at traffic lights, I sit behind it, rather than trying to squeak down the side.

I stop at red lights - and zebra crossings.

I opt for quieter roads even if it takes a few minutes longer.

Yes, I wear a cycling helmet and vomit-yellow jacket. Admittedly, no-one has ever made wearing a cycling helmet look cool, but I'd rather look like a bit of a tit than have my brains smeared across the tarmac.

I sound like a bit of a cycling swot, really.

But anyway, it annoys me when I see other cyclists powering straight through red lights and ignoring people waiting to cross at zebras - they give the rest of us a bad name. (Yes, I consider myself one of an 'us' now). Not to mention the testosterone boys (usually male, sorry boys, but it's true) who barge past to get a couple of vital inches ahead at lights.

In the past week I've seen two accidents, one involving a cyclist and one involving a scooter.

The first was on Friday, in a double cycle lane, just around the corner from work. Some moron on his phone, oblivious to the world, just stepped into the lane without looking either way. A girl on a bike didn't anticipate this (why would she? She was cycling in the CYCLING lane, where she was supposed to be). She crashed straight into him and ended up on the tarmac. Luckily she didn't seem to be hurt, just shaken.

The lane by the way is green, with white bicycles painted on it, which kinds of makes it a bit obvious. If it had been me, I'd have thrown my bloody bike at him.

I was too far away from the other accident (yesterday) to see exactly what happened (I was also right in the middle of cycling across Bayswater Road so I couldn't stop), but the scooter was down, the rider was on the road and everyone was blaring their horns (because that always helps). Hope whoever it was is OK.

Be safe out there. I'd rather be a swot than a squish.

Gym'll fix it

While all this was going on, I was of course still going to the gym. By late June I had graduated to squats with a 12kg kettle bell, I no longer feared ab crunches with a 4kg medicine ball, could manage 50 ab curls on the TRX apparatus and 40 girly press ups, 72 sit ups in various guises and a few other things mixed in. But the tricep exercises still killed my arms every time.

But, I felt much stronger in general and could notice the difference on the bike.

I also noticed the difference in my bank balance.

Personal trainers do not come cheap. Each hourly session costs me £44 if I book them in blocks of 3 (plus of course, gym fees). And I have roughly 4 a month which comes to around £265. Yikes. But I've found it's the best way to keep me on track and motivated.

Plus, I do still have a normal life which requires me to go out, socialise and spend money on petrol, food and boozes - and I'm ashamed to say I'm still smoking. Alas I fear the fags' and boozes' days are numbered. But this is all part of the bigger plan.

(Although I'm a bit worried about turning into a teetotal, health freak/cycle bore who no-one wants to hang out with. Mind you, I won't be able to afford to go out in a few months anyway).

A very British drought

The powers that be announced a drought sometime around May. This, of course, resulted in the heavens opening and rain pouring from the skies for 40 days and nights. Then it just carried on raining.

This put my cycling on hold for a bit. Call me a fair weather cyclist and you'd be right. But I have my reasons...

While there are showers at work, there is nowhere to dry a towel and short of draping wet clothes around my desk (which I'm sure my colleagues would love), I'd just have to put them all back on again to cycle home at the end of the day. Bleugh. Cold, wet, clammy shorts? No thanks.

So I didn't cycle to work for around a month. It was frustrating, as it felt as though my progress was starting to slide backwards.

A few dry days towards the end of June helped to get me started again, and I cycled in 3 days on the trot. I also worked out why cyclists wear lycra - when you get wet it dries out a lot quicker, and it's also a lot lighter than soggy cotton/khaki shorts which just soak up rainwater.

My journey time is now down to 55 minutes on the way in, slightly longer on the way home. I can't work out if this is because I'm tired by then, or due to more traffic on the roads etc.

It's all the more confusing as, according to my bike computer, it's 9.1 miles on the way in (14.6km) and only 8.7 miles (14km) on the way home. How does that work?

But anyway, I'm back in the saddle again. And yes, it's still bloody raining.

Finding my way

I finally stopped getting lost on the way to and from work. I worked out a route which, although probably not the fastest, was what I felt was the safest.

Along the river to Hammersmith, past the RAPP building where I used to work (for three agencies in total: RAPP in its previous incarnation as WAVV RAPP Collins, and as a freelancer for CDM and DDB Health).

Then over Fulham Palace Road to Baron's Court, over the A4 and up to Hammersmith Road, right along up to Kensington High Street which is my least favourite bit as it gets a bit hairy with buses, taxis, traffic etc. But I can't avoid it as it takes me up to Hyde Park.

Hyde Park is, unsurprisingly, one of my favourite parts of the ride. I go past the Albert memorial and the Royal Albert Hall.

Here's Albert in all his (ahem) morning glory...

Instead of going around the park, I realised it's much quicker to go North from Alexandra Gate, over the Serpentine, follow the path around to the North Carriage Drive and exit at Albion Gate.

From there, I head North East, cut over Edgeware Road and Baker Street, then wiggle across Marylebone High Street onto Weymouth Street, then a right, then a left and past the BT Tower, before heading across Tottenham Court Road, another right and then I pick up a cycle path which takes me to Tavistock Square.

There you go, a stalkers map of my route to work.

I've got a lovely pair... of panniers

One of the (many) issues about cycling to work is that I used to carry a backpack with a change of clothes/purse/accoutrements etc. But when you're cycling 9 miles, it makes your back quite sweaty which just gets a bit icky when you're going to work.

But for my birthday at the end of April, my lovely bunch of friends clubbed together and bought me a pair of panniers, the rack that goes on the bike and paid for the bike mechanic's fee to put them all together. Again from the fab folk at Fudge & Sons.

Look now, aren't they shiny...

Ditto

Day 2 of cycling to work. Pretty much the same as day 1, except with tireder legs. I thought I'd find the way back easier... but no. Lost again. Dead ends again. One way systems taking me the way I didn't want to go again. Very irritating.

And to add to the fun, once I'd got past Hammersmith, on the home stretch down Chiswick Mall next to the river, the heavens opened and it started hailing with fury. At first I thought it was funny as they pinged off my cycling helmet and the bicycle bell, but rather quickly realised that they HURT when they pinged off my bare knees. OW!