Not wanting to be left out I recently got the Garmin Forerunner 50 which as a runner and cyclist seemed ideal to cover my training needs, plus not too expensive either at £30 from Amazon (thanks Kirst!)
It picks up data from both a heart rate monitor and the wireless bike speed/cadence sensor which I got separately (£37). [...]

In an attempt to get a better structure to my training I am following the Bike Radar site’s  ‘Mega Euro Sportive Plan’ which runs over 12 weeks and will take me up to about the first week in June, in time for the Dragon ride in Wales that Kev and I have entered.
This is a [...]

In an attempt to add something to my training through winter I recently acquired my first ‘fixed’ bike, from Velo Ecosse in Edinburgh. The idea being to build up leg strength and smooth cadence and so far I love it. Have been using it for my daily commute and last week I took it on a [...]

After joining Kev on the 100 mile ride round Islay it was back to ‘normal service’ in and around Edinburgh on some of our usual West Lothian roads.
7.30am on Sun 21st Sep saw me repeating a previously completed loop (c.50kms) out to Kirkliston, into Winchburgh turning left on to the B8020 and then right on to the [...]

As Kev mentioned in his last post I managed to miss our run on Saturday so felt it only fair to undertake the same route on Sunday. Was glad I did as it turned out to be an awesome mix of hills (c.1000m of climbs) and some really quiet roads (and well surfaced) on a loop [...]

Edinburgh cyclists favourite on Monday this week - laps of Arthur’s Seat - 3 squeezed in during lunch hour. Glad to say that the uphills not too bad (despite being passed by 2 faster cyclists) but with a headwind it was actually harder maintaining any sort of speed going downhill through Holyrood than going up! [...]

As Kev was away this weekend (but didn’t know he was cycling halfway to Ayr!) thought I’d better get out on the bike as I had not been on 2 wheels for over a week due to hols etc.
Weather was good, although cold, but 2 pairs of socks and some blu-tack in the vent holes [...]

Training for this week has comprised dragging myself out of bed at 6.30am and getting on the trainer (in the kitchen) and spinning away for an hour before everyone else starts getting up me and distracting me. Thank goodness for ipods.
Tip - make sure the central heating doesn’t come on mid-session otherwise it gets way too [...]