Rescued!

Yesterday long bike turned into a bit of a disaster. 35 mins into 4 hour ride, my I haven't puncture in 3 years phase was no more. Replaced inner tube, First canister of CO2 did nothing. I'm not a Chrissy Wellington when it comes to changing tyres/tubes. So i was a bit confused. 2nd canister the same. In between canister 1 and 2 i should have checked the inner tube. because after wasting my 2nd and last canister i discovered the reason no air went in was that the cold from the CO2 had cracked the brittle rubber around the value. I guess not having to use my spares in my saddle bag for 3 years is not such a good thing!

I started the 1 mile walk towards train station, where i was rescued by a group of Cycle tour-ers never been so glad to see them. I think i managed to save face, by whipping my tyre off and rolling in back on, without a single tyre lever. Anyway new inner tube, and pump borrowed i was back on my way. I decided to return to Eastbourne to pick up supplies, good job too as puncture again later. The worse part is my lovely new sticky tyres have little thorn holes in them :-(

Lessons to take from this:
Check and replace inner tubes in saddle bag regularly
Carry pump on long rides just in case!!

On a different thought - Friend Guy Crawford has a new blog - should make for some interesting reading!


Just put my power tap Head unit in the washing machine. 5 minute of panic waiting for it to drain! bloody lucky it's working :-)

Sarah x

Where did February GO!

February has flown by in a daze. I promised a blog at the beginning of the month and never got to finish it. The weekdays in February were filled as normal with work and training, eating and sleeping - nothing new there! But the weekend were are equally packed full, which was unusual for me as i normally like my sat and sun afternoons to chill out a bit. The first weekend was filled with a 70th birthday lunch and catch up with Simon's side of the family, up in Godalming. The next weekend was the TCR Show. I went up and worked for Zoot/ DJM Products for the weekend. Which was surprisingly fun! I love the Zoot products and could talk for England. I manage to take myself away a brand new - full of storage and pockets over sized rucksack. Which made me very happy indeed!!

Simon came up on the Saturday night and we stayed at his Aunts in Esher, who he hasn't seen in years and years. So that was lovely! Catching up over 3 Pizza express takeaway pizzas, 2 Garlic breads and some wine, between 3 of us - very greedy and a weekend of minimal training which would not balance food intake, with energy expenditure!!!

Then Kris from the Tri Store left on his epic around the world bike ride! His blog http://www.riding-east.blogspot.com/

I then blame the close proximity to other athletes with air con, with the fact that i then came down with a chest infection. This time the doctor gave in to my pleas a prescribed antibiotics to knock it on the head quickly, as i was due to go out to Spain the following week.

Then for the last week of February we were training out in Spain, staying at Simon's Aunt and Uncles just outside Calpe. We got to enjoy some lovely weather, while the UK was underwater! we had shorts, jersey and arm warmers riding weather! We got in some great rides, including a couple of epic all day-ers. The first not so successful, requiring a coke (sugar and caffeine) and crisps (salt and calories) stop and hour from home. We got some funny looks with me sitting outside a petrol station on the kerb!! But the second was more successful and better fueled. Although Calpe has been the base for some of the pro teams this February, we didn't see many. The only one we did see was 2 x Tour de france winner Alberto Contador. At the time i had a bag of power bar ride shot hanging out my mouth, as I was reaching into my jersey pocket, and probably had snot and saliva all over my cheek nice!!

Caterpillar snake!

Insect bit from hell. That's my leg with a massive lump on the side. The photo does not do it justice!

Unfortunately the week had to come to an end and we returned back to the UK and the cold. I've had an interview on the Monday for a Band 7 Physiotherapist position, which I got despite severe interview nerves. I was more nervous than before an Ironman!! The post is in Hastings so means a commute each way. Hopefully be able to ride a couple of days (or more). Meeting with coach next week to discuss. Only sad bit is I'll missed Bodyworks early am swim sessions and the banter :-(. Its okay I've got 6 weeks until I start.

16 weeks till Ironman France!

Sarah x

Blog on the way!

It's been two weeks since my last post. One is on the way shortly - just need to make some finishing touches!

On being slack, or is that very busy!

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. Training has been going well, After what seams like months (but was actually only a couple of weeks!) of being off due to illness and recovering, I am now back on the training plan. The snow hindered training slightly and became a complete annoyance. As every child I loved snow, and could never understand my Dad's (he's a builder) cursing the white soft stuff. He always said when I'm grown up I'll understand. Well I'm now 28, and completely hate the snow. I've had to walk to and from work (positive - my wheelies were much used and my liners kept my feet very cosy!), ride on the turbo and swimming was cancelled as pool closed. Simon and I did have a fun long run on the Sunday a 90ish min run turned into a 2 1/2 hour run/hike, through mostly knee high, occasionally hip high snow on the downs around Eastbourne. Despite this bit of fun i was definitely glad when the rain came, and washed the snow away.

Work has been hectic, with the hospital i work in being on black (i.e no beds) and the demand to get patients through and out of hospital increasing with a depleted team of physio's :-( has made for a slightly stressful couple of weeks. I'm leading our stroke team at present and learning a lot about people management at a steep rate. This kind of thing definitely doesn't come naturally to me! Lots of work, reflection and changing my approach is required.

We have just booked our apartment for Ironman Nice, after a bit of searching we have settle on one close to the race start. It's on the 5th floor so will make for interesting stair descending on the days post Ironman! What was going to be Simon and I travelling down and back up in our van, has changed completely. Were now flying out. Simon's Sister, her boyfriend, Mum and Dad will be joining us, for the trip to Nice. A little sad that our van will not be used, but very happy to have their company for the week and their support on race day too :-).

Christmas FUN and the wellington boots!

Since I've spoken about them - So here they are, in the puddles on Boxing Day!














We had a fab time this Christmas weekend. We spent it at Simon's Mum and Dads, and had plentiful visits from his nephews and the rest of his family. It was very Starwars themed with both the 3 and 6 year old being completed obsessed with it. Also their uncle Simon is also a bit of a fan to! A last minute visit from my dad and lunch in Chichester on the Sunday, finished off the weekend nicely. Shame its been back to work as normal since then! Okay it was a 3 day week, but a busy 3 day week!