This was the day before Bolton Wanderers played at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final so getting home on time &  'unscathed' was at the forefront of my mind.

I came through the 2 days + panniers test okay :-).

Unfortunately my team weren't as fortuitous the folowing day!

Smashed through the 70 mile barrier today!

Had some knee pain in the last 10 miles though :-(

Getting used to 70+ miles now.

This was easily my worst days cycling so far.

I set off as usual but had a puncture after half a mile, I changed the tube & because I was so close to home I went back to wash my hands & get another replacement tube.

I set off again & this time managed to ride 1.5 miles before I had another puncture, in the same tyre! When I had the 1st puncture I looked for the culprit but couldn't find any sharp object, however I did spot a small cut in the tyre. I naively thought it would be okay for 1 trip.... how wrong I was. There was no point changing & puncturing another tube so I walked home.

Having no spare tyre I drove to a bike shop to get a new one, then back home to fit it.

I finally set off 2 hours later than originally. Clearly I wasn't going to do the same mileage I had planned but I wanted to get in as many miles as possible. The weather was atrocious; strong gusty winds & constant rain!

In spite of all this I still managed 50 miles, but got home bedraggled & wet through. I had to pour water out of my shoes but it was all good training for my JOGLE.

Broke through the 80 mile barrier today :-).

I stopped on the road crossing one of the reservoirs next to Woodhead pass to take a photo of my bike for this webpage, but the wind was so strong, whistelling up the valley from Manchester, that it was impossible to get my bike to stay upright without me holding it!

So sorry, no photo.

Settle is one of the places we regularly visited all those years ago when I was in a cycling club, not an insignificant distance to cycle it was quite cathartic to return on a bike.

 I set off at 9.00am in the sunshine, by 10.00am it had started to rain... it never stopped!

A couple of cyclists passed me on my return journey, so without too much extra effort I tagged on behind them to get a little shelter from the wind & rain, soon afterwards one of the riders peeled off & I was left behind the other one. It wasn't long before we started chatting as we rode & after a couple of miles I ended in front! How did that happen? !

Busted the 90 mile barrier today but this was a tough ride; lots of steep hills on my chosen route to Ilkley. I chose a slightly flatter but longer route for part of my return journey but there was a strong headwind most of the way.

If you're wondering why I didn't add another 3 miles to the end of my journey.... well, it did cross my mind but for the last 15/20 miles I was running on empty so if I had to do the extra miles I would have done, but I didn't have to so I didn't. That probably illustrates how shattered I was.

Besides breaking the 90 mile barrier I also recorded another maximum: I climbed a total of 6,202 ft., my previous best being 4,907 ft. 

One stat. I never take too much notice of, but it was another maximum, calories consumed: 5,456 (previous best 4,479).

I also equalled my maximum recorded heart rate (171 bpm), I didn't plan this or even wish it...... it just happened!

Had a good days cycling to Buxton, via Chapel en le Frith where I went 4 weeks ago. I also returned to the same cafe in C en le F (Stocks Cafe & Bistro) for lunch.... a cycle friendly place with good food (which helps!). I climbed a total of over 3,350 feet, much less than last week but similar to what I'll be doing most days on my JOGLE.

My cycle computer had a blip today; it showed a maximum heart rate of 250 bmp.... within a mile of setting off, I'm still alive so that's not at all bad for a 52 year old!

Ignoring this flight of fancy, my realistic maximum was 170 bmp, I'm going to have to stop choosing routes with steep hills.

100 miles completed!

I went via Ribchester, Longridge & Garstang to Glasson Dock. I returned via Knott End, Preston & Chorley.

My cycle computer had another blip today! it jumped from 87 miles to 6,672, ..... the mph was amazing! I hope it doesn't let me down on my JOGLE.

Early start today (6.40am) to get to Manchester for 8.00am to take part in the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride.... it's nearly all downhill from Bolton to Manchester so I got there far too early, I also got there quite wet having ridden through a couple of showers.

Once there I met up with my boss from work (Steve) & when we got through the queuing system we set off for Blackpool. As I know from my time cycling 34 years ago riding in a group is easier than riding alone due to sharing the force of the air resistance, there are 2 or 3 moderate 'uphill’s' on the route but generally it's downhill or flat from Manchester to Blackpool so, all in all, not the toughest route I've ever done & with the reduced wind resistance I achieved a slightly faster average speed than normal. In fact, I'm sure the speed would have been even faster if it were not for the huge number of cyclists that took part, leading to frequent occasions were our progress was hampered.

My very last training ride today, it was another rainy day but I had decided to keep the mileage fairly low before I knew what the weather was like.

Since I started last September I have clocked up over 1800 miles, two thirds of which were achieved in the last 3 months. Hopefully the work I have put in will make my JOGLE more enjoyable than it would have been if I had done less training miles.