CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[CitroJim]

Neil, thanks It's the result of an awful lot of dedication to regular training... I'm out on my bike nearly every day and it's a rare day now when I don't go for a run of around 5K...

Do that for a few years and you and I would be good for a race

I'm very much a grimpeur due to my build and light weight. Big, heavily muscled sprinters breeze past me downhill and on the flat but I then float past them going up the next hill or fighting into the wind

I'm not a bad rouleur though

This also translates into my running; I'm quite quick running uphill - most runners hate hills (and cyclists for that matter) but I love them

I'm never so keen on descending steep hills though...

[CitroJim]

For a long while now I've been looking to do a bit of an epic cycle ride after being inspired by several accounts I've read of daring deeds in the saddle...

Tim Moore's ride around the 2003 Tour De France course and Mike Carter's account of his ride around the entire coast of the UK mainland have been particularly inspirational..

I'm not quite up to one as major as either of those just yet but who knows for the future

I have now decided upon what I think is an achievable 'dip my toes into the water' sort of a ride... Nothing too ambitious for the first one

I'm going to cycle all the way from my adopted home here in Newport Pagnell to my birthplace and real home down in Huish Episcopi in Somerset.

I'll be doing the journey over the course of a full week, looking to ride about 70 or 80 miles a day, travelling light and staying in B&Bs overnight. I'm now busy planning a suitable route out and back that avoids all major A and B roads - I expect that aspect to take some months and I'll be busy riding segments of my planned route(s) to check them. Planning is going to be the key to success here I think.

It's going to be one heck of an adventure and should be good for a few stories. I'll likely try to use it as an opportunity to raise some money for the ME Association.

I plan to do this some time in the spring of 2018 when it's likely to be relatively warm and dry...

Stay tuned for further updates

[van ordinaire]

Jim, I offer you my late father as inspiration.

In his late teens, I should imagine, he rode the bike he went to & from work on, from Bermondsey to Woolacombe &, so disgusted was he by the standards of cleanliness in the hostels or whatever he'd used, came back non-stop. Possibly the most extaordinary aspect of that, was that he couldn't find his way out of a paper bag!

[CitroJim]

Gosh Van, that's a commute and a half via any mode of transport, not least a bike!!! Chapeau to him!!!

I'm very fussy about where I sleep so I'll be looking for recommendations...

Route planning has started... I'm currently just past Oxford...

[NewcastleFalcon]

I'm very fussy about where I sleep so I'll be looking for recommendations...

Can't be of any direct assistance there Jim with a first hand recommendation on your route, but these days the good old internet should be able to come up with some options to satisfy your needs.

eg here's a site with Cycle-friendly B&B's slap a county/location in and up come the options.

https://www.bedsforcyclists.co.uk/searc ... =wiltshire

Click on Circles B&B in Pewsey (wherever that is) and up come the pics and the blurb. Then go to booking.com and see if it comes up cheaper!!

We stayed at our first ever "Air BnB" in Grange over Sands pulled from that site. Right in with the family in their family home but private room en-suite and worked out fine.

Regards Neil

[Hell Razor5543]

If push comes to shove I have a couple of tents that you could borrow, Jim.

[daviemck2006]

You could get a caravan, and then get a volunteer to tow it as your backup vehicle for food and water stops and for sleep stops too.

[CitroJim]

eg here's a site with Cycle-friendly B&B's slap a county/location in and up come the options.

https://www.bedsforcyclists.co.uk/searc ... =wiltshire

Click on Circles B&B in Pewsey (wherever that is) and up come the pics and the blurb. Then go to booking.com and see if it comes up cheaper!!

Neil, that's brilliant and just around the locality I'd be stopping for the night too... Great find and just what I'm after Thanks ever so!

If push comes to shove I have a couple of tents that you could borrow, Jim.

The second word here is 'off' I'm sorry to say James I shall definitely not be roughing it in a tent after a hard day of cycling, no way!!!

I'm planning to travel as lightly as I can with just a 30 litre backpack and a small bar-bag for all my needs... I'll be stopping for lunch and dinner in carefully chosen eateries en-route... Ones that are amenable to my dietary requirements...

You could get a caravan, and then get a volunteer to tow it as your backup vehicle for food and water stops and for sleep stops too.

Now, as I see the Somerset run just a prelude to a much bigger one that would be just what I'd be looking for on the next one Perhaps even better would be a nice motor home

Now, if anyone would care to join me on this little trip I'd me most delighted to have a bit of company It will be fun and an adventure for sure...

[Stickyfinger]

You are not parking a flipping snail box in my garden.....I will burn the thing if you do....

[CitroJim]

You are not parking a flipping snail box in my garden.....I will burn the thing if you do....

No danger of that on this trip Alasdair For this one my mind is firmly made up to stay in bike-friendly B&Bs and dine in nice pubs... Ones that don't mind you walking in dressed in finest lycra and wearing cleats on my feet

The caravan will be for the next ride; the destination of which is still not known, not even by me - it's nothing more than just a twinkle in my eye at present...

[CitroJim]

A most fantastic parkrun today

Many parkruns enjoyed a special guest appearance of a Rio 2016 athlete... We were most honoured to welcome Chris Clarke to ours

He really is a top bloke and a real pleasure to meet and chat with...

He took part in the run as tailwalker and joined us in the post-run cafe social and was one of the very last to leave...

Chris is a true credit to GB athletics

Here he is with me...

Own Work

And to put some icing on the cake I scored a new parkrun PB of 25m15s today!

[taffy]

wow jim first pic ive seen of you dont you look well!

[CitroJim]

wow jim first pic ive seen of you dont you look well!

I trust you're not confusing me with the other person in the picture Taffy! I'm the one on the right cradling the stopwatches and wearing barcode scanners around my neck

[CitroJim]

Just returned from a most excellent cycle sportive of 67 miles with lots of testing hills

The ride was to raise money for our local hospice. Always good to do something for our local one and later in the year I'll be running for them too...

Another medal to add to the ever growing collection!

Own Work

And my utterly awesome steed that does so well to carry me on these rides I love this bike immensely!

Own Work

Here's the ride on Strava

Now resting my legs - they ache a bit!

[van ordinaire]

f-w-i-w, Pewsey's sort of on Jim's route but while it's got a railway station doesn't appear to be on any useful road.