We did it! We did the Crafted Classic 100 miler in August.
It took over 8 hours. It was hilly. It was hot. We were nearly the last back. But we did it. It was mostly beautiful. But the last few miles were very tough. I didn’t realise quite how beautiful Suffolk was.
And most importantly we raised around £1500 for Marie Curie. So it was worth all the pedalling and the pain.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts xx
Seriously. The things you learn when you start to cycle. If you are very prudey then perhaps this blog is not for you. There are some images that will be revealed in this post that cannot be un-imagined. Tune in tomorrow instead!
Anyway, we shall wait a while before getting to the butts. I was back at the bike shop Chaineys (see what they did there?) picking up my new pretty. I brought my very practical car along for the job. Admittedly the bike did not fit in the boot, but it fit a treat when the roof was down in my old Saab Convertible. Only a bit stuck out!
Made it home (all of 15 minutes) and Wayne suggested we went for a short trial rode to get used to the new, well, everything!
Me: “No, I don’t think so!” W: “So you want to wait until tomorrow when we have to cycle 40+ miles on busy roads?. I do hate it when he is right! But honestly it was scary for me! Everything really was different (except two wheels and a saddle). I had a bit of a crisis of confidence but eventually I agreed – we would go and cycle round a nearby garden centre car park that was closed and try out the pretty. Cycling gear on and headed out. I walked the bike to the car park as didn’t want to risk the road. I really was anxious. I know, I know.
Slowly, slowly I got used to it. I even liked it. And managed to cycle it home! But goodness, this past 2 weeks had been a steep learning curve. The next day we went out and good as gold we managed to cycle 40+ miles. It was okay! The pretty was okay. Phew. Now let’s talk about butts.
Let’s start with Chamois Butt’r. So really… who would have thought there would be a cycling cream for your, er
, butt? But there is and all the long distance cyclists recommend using it.
So why is it called Chamois cream? Back in the olden days, cycling shorts had a kind of pad in them that used to be made of – yep you’re ahead of me here – chamois leather to help ease the pain and sores (yuk!) from long hours in the saddle. Apparently, repeated washing of the chamois hardened it, so there became a need for a leather cream to keep it soft. Who knew?
Now we don’t live in the olden days, chamois pads are made of other high-tech materials, so you may think why do you need the cream? Same reasons as before: to prevent chafing / friction / saddle sores etc.
And in case you are wondering, you apply it to the pad and/or yourself. (sorry!) Liberally! But not so liberally that it oozes through your shorts and makes you slide around your saddle! I guess at least it would treat and moisturise your leather saddle, though. So Chamois Butt’r it is then, even if it does seem wrong!
Let’s move on but stay on the subject of butts! The good people over at Ride London recommend that you test out what you are going to ride in, to avoid any discomfort on the day. Wayne has some Marie Curie bib-short things (if you are a Brit, think of the Wrestler Big Daddy!). So he decided to try them out during an evening training ride. To be honest, I wasn’t feeling it that day. Wayne headed out first and I followed closely behind. It turned out that it was a bit too close behind!
My view had became a bit more interesting as Wayne’s new shorts turned out to be semi-transparent. Not quite a full moon, but I can say he was working as a good pacemaker with the muscles in his bottom contracting and expanding! 1,2 – 1 ,2 – 1,2 – 1,2 ! Highly amusing, if not slightly indecent. Too funny but definitely not recommended for the actual ride. Imagine if it rained! Oh, boy.
Back to our training ride. It was becoming dusk. A police car drove past us. Female officer driving. 5 minutes later, she loops past us again. We reckon she was wanting a another look at the (nearly) full moon! I’ll leave you with that image 😉
Until next time!
In an earlier post, I mentioned that people were asking me how I had lost weight – like I’d already met my goal (I hadn’t, but was close-ish). This got me thinking. How will I know if I’ve been successful in this quest to remain at a healthy weight?
I figured that success would be keeping it off for a year. So here I am, almost a year later checking in! So did I manage it? Did I keep it all off? No… not quite.
I think at the root of my problem is the fact that I am a fundamental optimist. I always try to see the upside. In the past year I managed to keep off most of the weight I had lost. Note the use of most. In my head that means I’ve succeeded. Unfortunately… reality is checked when I try on the tight-fitting cream dress (the goal dress) from May last year. Nope… the zip won’t do up! I’ve conveniently dismissed the weight I’ve put back on, as I’ve still kept ‘most’ of it off. In my head keeping more than 50% off was a success. Blatantly this is skewed thinking so I’ve given myself a talking to and I’m back to fix it!
During the year, I’ve been weighing regularly myself, but had been thinking ‘I just need to lose my holiday weight’. What only just dawned on me is that I’ve now got 3 holidays to recover from, dating back to August last year – and that includes the WHOLE month of December which was one long food and drink holiday! In truth, I’d also ignored the fact that it’s been taking me longer to get ready in the mornings – looking for flattering outfits to wear to cover up – how shall I put this – some extra bumps and bulges that really shouldn’t be there!
I realised all this last week and so I started my new quest last Monday. Today is day 6. I have set my goals. I have written them down in a spreadsheet and an old-fashioned diary that I carry round with me. That always helps for me.
My friend, Jott, said to me last week “Last year, nothing would stop you from meeting your goal – you were so determined”. And it’s true. I wanted to fit in the dress more than I wanted a big glass of wine. I have refound my motivation and I’m bringing that determination back in an 8-week attack to get the weight back off – taking me to mid-May.
If you’re doing something similar – good luck – we can do this.
It seems there’s a feeling amongst my friends and me that now is the time to get healthy – so I’m back on the blog! Yesterday was the Spring Equinox and represented day 4 of my own reclaiming of healthy living habits.
I’m re-evaluating my goals (some that have been mislaid in the few months… ahem!) and will be setting some new ones. I’m going to start with a review of the past few months and what’s gone well and what has not.
Stay tuned and let me know if you have similar challenges or questions.
Happy Friday! And happy good habits, too.
Time to report in on the previously documented four-week push. So far, so good. A little wobble (involving a certain Mr Pinot Grigio, scrummy bar food and some 10-year old Port last week) but still managed to lose weight in the week overall. So just under 3 weeks to go now for the final push!
Super-busy at work with multiple deadlines. In the denial* days, I would have come home from a long day and hit the wine (I deserve it) and food (I deserve it) as some kind of instant gratification and my reward for getting through a long day, long week, blah blah blah! This time, I decided that I would just have some healthy food (which was on-hand luckily – the secret is in the planning) and that I didn’t need the wine – so I could stay true to my four-week final push. And – yippee! – I managed it.
I felt a little wardrobe update was called for, as I was last at this weight in 1995. So shopping, we went. Pre-‘project-Andrea’ I couldn’t shop in places like H&M and Zara. So I ventured in. Cautiously, I tried a couple of things on. Happy days – they fitted! I can’t tell you how nice it is to be free to shop where you like, because you are not restricted by your size. It’s extremely motivating. So a rather summery peach-coloured jacket was acquired and worn to work this week.
I also did some online shopping as I wanted some new jeans. Size 14s arrived (Size 10 USA). I tried them on straight away. They were too big. What? Surely I can’t be a UK 12? Re-order online. Size 12s arrive. OMG. They fit! They fit! Cue singing around the house! Now, I am not naive enough to think that all size 12s are created equal, some are obviously bigger than others, but I am so happy, happy, happy about this.
It’s funny, I obviously know I have lost weight, but my brain hasn’t quite kept pace with my physical appearance – it’s like it needs some time to adjust to the new me. I have had some lovely comments from my friends and colleagues this week. I don’t know why in particular this week, maybe it’s the new jeans and jacket in the right size? Who knows? What I can say is that it does help that other people are noticing – and it makes me even more determined to keep getting closer to my goal and ultimately keep it off. Thank you to everyone who commented – it really does help!
And finally, gym this morning to kick-off the weekend in a good way – which, shock-horror, I really enjoyed. So, it’s definitely been a good week overall, and I have a few key ‘lessons learnt’ from it:
Have a fab few days and be good to yourself!
*denial = denial that there was a problem
Changing - one step at a time 