The Capital Trail - 24 hour cycling challenge

getting nervous

About a week to go till the start - another useful training ride at the weekend, some sections in the Pentland hills to get over and work the legs a bit.  

First 50km

Coming up next....

This weekend’s training will be focused on the first 50-60km of the route I’ll be doing in August – from Portobello to (roughly) Crib Law, on the of the highest points in the Lammermuir Hills.  This will be an out and back route to get used to the terrain.    My speed won’t be too hot doing it but apparently the weather’s going to be very warm, so plenty of food and water needed.  

Back to normal life

The annual Kelburn Festival is now over!  4 days of camping, partying and hanging out with friends and family in Ayrshire - and it was wet from thursday to Saturday, although Sunday things improved and we got the sun out for a few hours.   And then a whole day packing up and heading home (and a shower of course!).  Great fun - but now we've got 1 month to go till the start of the challenge, and it's time to get training again.   

Wow - this is DEFINITELY going to be hard.....

25% of the route done (the section from Peebles back to Edinburgh) - and it was brutally difficult - one of the hardest rides I've done in my life.  Imagine having to do it in the dark after you've already done 180km........hence why it was important to do a trial run.   

Training update

2 rides this weekend - 70km (Hilly) on Saturday then a shorter outing on the Sunday (42km) - was ill last week on wed / Thu so thought it best to pace things.  

Back out!

After getting hit by a sick bug, our house is gradually getting back to normal - the plan was to do a big ride this weekend to keep training but I'll take it a little easier after a few days of rest and recovery.   Going to be pretty hot as well due to the weather just now.  

Back out on the bike

Useful training ride on Sunday - quick loop up and back from Cramond (watching my son's football team playing at Royal High School) then back out around the hills and gravel tracks in East Lothian before heading home to spend the rest of Sunday with the family.  

What to eat on a long bike ride to keep you going?? Here's an idea......

Chocolate and Honey flapjacks

 

1) Get some chocolate (a decent amount, maybe 150g), honey (about 1/3 of a squeezy Rowse bottle), butter (a big slab) and brown sugar (a couple of dessert spoons is fine), throw into a bowl (glass Pyrex ideally) and melt this over the top of a pan with some water simmering inside (this part should take about 10 mins).  You can put in anything extra you want (fruit, nuts, broken biscuits etc) but the 4 basic ingredients above are pretty standard.  

 

2) Mix in some jumbo rolled oats (or regular porridge oats if you don't have any) and cover it all in the melted mix.  The idea is to make it evenly coated, not too moist and sticky.  If it looks too dry after adding the oats, put some more honey or butter in. 

 

3)  Put the bowl back over the heat for a few mins and roll the mix around to get the oats fully covered before you finish up (and please be careful if stirring over the stove - I badly burned my foot in January when a pan of boiling water tipped on it)

 

4) Lay down some baking paper in a glass dish and pour the mix in, spreading evenly with a spatula (this works best to flatten it all out) - cover with clingfilm / foil then put in the fridge to harden.   

 

5) Cut into whatever shapes and sizes you want and enjoy.  

 

I started making these last December and now struggle to get any myself as they're so popular with everyone.   But I’ll have plenty of them to eat for the ride!

Thank you!!

Thanks to Nomeda, Justyna, Craig and Damian for contributing to the cause - much appreciated!

Next up

Seeing as I've done a fair bit on the bike recently, decided to have a couple of quiet days of (relative) rest this week.  

A taste of what's to come

Cameron Mason - one of Scotland / UK's most talented all-round bike riders - attempting the route with some pals back in 2023.    

Getting ready

Training well under way now - back down to Peebles for a few hours on the mountain bike trails at Glentress Forest with my son Zach and some friends.  Rode most of the way home at the end to get some extra miles done.   

Hello colleagues

On August 8th this year, I’m going to try and complete a challenge on behalf of the Civil Service Charity by cycling The Capital Trail – an off-road route that’s usually done over a few days in a group.  I’m attempting to do it in one long stretch inside of 24 hrs.   

 

In terms of numbers - it’s roughly 250km long and has around 5,000m of climbing involved, so it’s going to be a serious job just getting to the end.   My reward at the end – apart from hopefully raising some much-needed funds for the charity – is that my bed will be waiting for me to climb into (might be there for a while).