Its all in the legs

Hey everyone!

This week has been a really positive week.  Lots of cycling in including a trip to Blackpool and back on Saturday with Mark O’Reilly in the name of training!  We set off at 07:00 in the morning and the weather held all day (apart from the god awful wind).   We went there in 3.5hrs which we where both pleased with especially as we both thought we where riding into a headwind…turns out we where not.  We had some food refilled our bottles then set off to come back.  The first 10 miles where a little windy but manageable then we made about a 45 degree turn towards home… at this point what can only be described as a very strong wind took hold.  From our pace of 5 miles every twenty minutes on the way to Blackpool it turned into 8-10 miles every twenty on the back.  I have included the links to the Garmin so you can have a nosey if you like.   

Out to Blackpool 

Return leg from Blackpool 

I was still feeling fairly comfortable on the way back my legs where in good shape however I was becoming increasingly more and more uncomfortable as we hit around the 30 mile mark on the way back.  My lower back was aching and my hands felt they had pins and needles running through them when I moved them off the bars.  I also got cramp in my arm due to the amount of climbs we had to do on the way back.  We had taken plenty of food and water so energy remained high until the last 5 miles or so.  We also stopped for ice-cream and coffee in a lovely shop in Chorley.  Mint choc chip is the best flavoured ice-cream.   Having got home and counted the miles we had done 116, which we where both pleased about.  I feel like I could go again today no aches and pains.  One thing is for sure we are going to have to do some back to back days to see how we cope.    

A massive positive for me was that my knee was hurting I had been to see my good friend Marek from MHCPT physio (www.mhcpt.co.uk)  on Tuesday and he had found the problem.  There was a big know just above my knee in the quads.  He was looking for it for some time but when he did touch it I nearly hit the roof.  An hour later, lots of pain and some tears brought to the eyes I could feel how much better it was.  Big thanks to Marek.

This week I received £20 in donations On Saturday evening we went to the Bridge Pub on Dane Road in Sale and had a really fun evening Race Evening organised by Sally Weatherilt and Mat.  In total we raised £216 so thanks to everyone for coming and making the evening a big success!  My total is still sitting at £1259 overall, which is excellent and I should make it to £1500 soon hopefully!

Please make your donations to www.charitygiving.co.uk/jamescrossland you can also let me know if you want to buy some raffle tickets for our 50/50 draw, which will see the winner receive 50% of the total raffle fund!  The tickets are £2 each or £10 for a book.