Six Pounds Down, One Ride Up, and a Head Full of Snot

Well. This week did not unfold exactly as planned.

Let’s start with the good news, because it feels important to acknowledge it before the excuses pile up: I’ve lost 6 lbs this week. That’s not nothing. That’s six actual, real pounds — presumably evaporated through a combination of riding, stress, and coughing up what feels like my entire respiratory system.

Now for the rest of it.

The Week That Wasn’t

Between a brutal opening week back at school, a horrendous cold that has taken up permanent residence in my head, and Storm Goretti deciding that Derbyshire needed a couple of inches of snow, training options narrowed fairly quickly.

As a result, this week’s cycling portfolio looks… minimalist.

Ride One: Snow, Suffering, and Solidarity

I managed exactly one outdoor ride — a short 11-mile snow ride, completed at a majestic just over 8 mph, alongside my brother. Progress was slow, grip was questionable, and style points were firmly off the table.

Still, we got out. We stayed upright. We laughed at how ridiculous it all felt. In winter, that counts as success.

(Photos will follow, partly as evidence and partly because no one believes you unless there’s snow in the background.)

Ride Two: HIIT, Indoors, and Questionable Life Choices

The second session was a 40-minute HIIT workout on ROUVY. Short, sharp, and unpleasant — but effective. The kind of ride where you feel simultaneously pleased you did it and annoyed you ever pressed “start”.

I’ll admit here — quietly — that I’m occasionally using ChatGPT to create workouts. This feels either like a clever use of modern tools or the beginning of the end for structured coaching as we know it. Possibly both.

Still, it got me sweating, breathing hard, and momentarily distracted from the cold, so I’m calling that a win.

The Cold (Still Here, Thanks for Asking)

The cold hasn’t shifted. It’s the sort that doesn’t knock you flat, just lingers — dull headache, blocked nose, low energy, and a general sense that your body would quite like a lie down.

That’s probably why the training volume dropped. That, and the snow. And work. And life. You know how it goes.

What I’m Taking From This Week

Despite appearances, this wasn’t a write-off:

• 6 lbs down is significant, even if it feels slightly suspicious

• I still rode — outdoors and indoors

• I didn’t push through illness like an idiot

• Snow miles count double, morally if not on Strava

• Consistency sometimes looks like survival rather than progress

I’ll be posting a couple of photos and a Strava screenshot with this, partly to document the week and partly to remind myself that even scrappy weeks leave a paper trail.

Next week? Hopefully fewer germs, less snow, and a slightly more convincing training log. But if not, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing: turning up when I can, laughing when it goes wrong, and trusting that the long game still works.

Because it usually does — even when you’re averaging eight miles an hour and breathing like a Victorian invalid.

Christmas Cracking

 

Finding Shape in a Messy Week

This week felt a bit all over the place — not disastrous, but definitely untidy. I rode three times, indoors and out, with mixed results and fluctuating energy. The kind of week that doesn’t fit neatly into a plan, but still adds up to something useful if you look at it properly.

26/12 – Boxing Day, Outside and Honest

I kicked things off with an outdoor ride on Boxing Day, which already felt like a small win.

• Distance: 13.92 miles

• Elevation gain: 1,309 feet

• Time: 1 hour 22 minutes

• Weighted average power: 192 watts

This was probably the strongest ride of the week. The power was solid, the climbing unavoidable, and the effort felt purposeful rather than forced. It wasn’t fast — it never is round here — but it felt like proper work, the kind that leaves you tired but satisfied.

Gravel, gradients, and no hiding places. Exactly as it should be.

27/12 – ROUVY and Structured Suffering

The following day was a ROUVY session — Hilly Base Intervals.

• Distance: 9.64 miles

• Elevation gain: 864 feet

• Time: 58:02

• Average power: 132 watts

This was more controlled, more measured. Nothing heroic, but a decent aerobic session that ticked a box. I’m still finding it hard to fully commit to very rigid plans, but this felt like a sensible middle ground — structure without overthinking it.

28/12 – When the Tank Is Empty

The third ride was also on ROUVY, and this is where the cracks showed.

• Distance: 3.5 miles

• Elevation gain: 565 feet

• Time: 30 minutes

• Average power: 135 watts

I cut this one short due to a complete lack of energy. Not soreness, not pain — just nothing there. One of those sessions where every pedal stroke feels like it’s being negotiated individually.

Stopping was the right call. Digging a hole for the sake of a tidy training log never ends well.

Fuel, Recovery, and Small Experiments

Post-ride, I’ve been experimenting with a simple recovery drink:

• Frozen bananas

• Milk

• A tablespoon of collagen powder

Nothing fancy, nothing Instagram-worthy — just something cold, easy to get down, and vaguely helpful. Whether it’s making a measurable difference is hard to say, but it feels like a small act of care, and sometimes that’s reason enough.

Plans, or Something Like Them

I’m still struggling to follow a very specific training plan, so I’ve signed up to ROUVY’s weight loss plan as a framework rather than a rulebook.

Alongside that, I’ve set myself a simple, realistic goal for the coming week:

• 2 × 30-minute rides

• 2 × 60-minute rides

• 1 × 3-hour+ ride

It’s loose, but it gives the week shape. At the moment, consistency matters more than perfection.

The Weight Bit (Because It Matters)

Mid-afternoon, after a ride, I weighed in at 274.5 lb.

That little sad face is doing a lot of work there.

It’s frustrating, obviously — but it’s also just a data point. One reading, at one time of day, influenced by fatigue, hydration, and probably a Boxing Day buffet somewhere in the background.

The danger would be letting that number overshadow the fact that I’m riding, climbing, and putting in work. Weight will move when the habits settle. For now, the habits come first.

What I’m Taking From This Week

• Outdoor riding still delivers the most value, mentally and physically

• Energy management matters more than stubbornness

• Loose structure is better than no structure

• Stopping early is sometimes the smartest training decision

• Progress doesn’t announce itself — it accumulates quietly

This wasn’t a perfect week. It wasn’t even a particularly tidy one. But it was real, and it moved things forward in small, unglamorous ways.

Next week is about rhythm — not intensity, not heroics — just turning up, again and again, and letting the bigger picture take care of itself.

One of Those Weeks (When Real Life Wins)

 

This was, by any reasonable measure, a shocking week for training.

Not disastrous. Not a collapse. Just one of those weeks where plans look solid on Sunday night and quietly unravel by Wednesday lunchtime.

I managed two rides. That’s it.

Ride One: ROUVY and Damage Limitation

The first was an indoor ride on ROUVY — Drava River Cycle Path, slotted in on Monday before the week properly went sideways.

• Distance: 15.53 miles

• Time: 50:52

• Average power: 137 watts

• Average speed: 18.3 mph

It was controlled, steady, and entirely unspectacular — which, in hindsight, was exactly what was needed. This was less a training session and more an act of damage limitation. The legs turned, the heart rate behaved, and a small box was ticked.

Sometimes that’s enough.

Ride Two: Gravel, Gravity, and Reality

The second ride was at least outdoors, and at least on gravel — which matters more to me than pace ever will.

• Distance: 26.84 miles

• Time: 2:29:24

• Elevation gain: 1,775 feet

• Average speed: 10.1 mph

This was slower, heavier, and much more honest. Mostly gravel, plenty of climbing, and that familiar Peak District feeling that no matter where you point the bike, it’s about to tilt upwards.

It wasn’t a bad ride — it just wasn’t an easy one. The sort of ride where your speed is dictated as much by surface and mass as it is by fitness.

Why the Week Fell Apart

There’s no mystery here.

It’s been a crappy week at work, and December has a special talent for stacking extra commitments onto already full days. Add in kids’ Christmas parties, disrupted evenings, and general end-of-term fatigue, and suddenly training becomes something you squeeze in rather than plan around.

None of this is unique. None of it is dramatic. It’s just life doing what life does.

Weekly Totals

For completeness — and because honesty matters — here’s what the week actually amounted to:

• Total rides: 2

• Total distance: 42.37 miles

• Total time: 3 hours 20 minutes

• Terrain: Indoor + mostly gravel

• Mood: Tired, slightly frustrated, but not derailed

What I’d Do Differently

Looking back, a few things stand out:

• One short, low-friction indoor session midweek would have helped

• I probably waited too long for a “proper” window to ride

• Accepting 30–40 minutes as enough would have kept momentum

• Planning around December rather than pretending it’s April might be wise

None of these are revelations — just reminders.

Real Life Gets in the Way (Part One)

This feels like the start of a recurring theme, so I might as well name it.

Training doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens around jobs, families, tiredness, illness, weather, and weeks that refuse to cooperate. The danger isn’t having weeks like this — it’s letting them turn into disengagement.

I didn’t stop riding. I didn’t spiral. I didn’t abandon the bigger picture.

And that matters more than any single week’s numbers.

Next week doesn’t need to be heroic. It just needs to be slightly better — one more ride, one more hour, one fewer excuse.

That’s how long roads are covered. Not in perfect weeks, but in imperfect ones that don’t quite knock you off course.

Too Cold, I Tried...

 

Cold Feet, Gravel Miles, and a Quiet Step Forward

Today felt like a proper return.

After 11 days off the bike with extensor tendonitis and yesterdays Rouvy ride, I finally got back outside — not on smooth tarmac, but where I actually ride: mostly gravel, cold, uneven, and honest. It wasn’t a long ride by any standard, but it was a meaningful one.

The numbers tell part of the story:

• Time: 1 hour 17 minutes

• Distance: roughly 14 miles

• Average speed: 10.8 mph

• Climbing: around 1,350 feet, at an average climbing speed of 6.6 mph

Not fast, not flashy — but steady, and more importantly, trending in the right direction.

If you’re wondering why my average speed looks a bit… aspirational rather than impressive, a few small details are worth mentioning. First, I’m carrying more ballast than your average cyclist, which means gravity and I are in a long-term, deeply personal and often oppositional relationship. Second, I ride in the Peak District, where “flat” is considered a rumour and every route appears to have been designed by someone who actively dislikes cyclists. And finally, quite genuinely, no matter which direction I leave the house, I’m immediately faced with a 10% climb — it’s less “warming up” and more “being thrown straight into negotiations with my lungs.” Given all that, the fact I’m moving forward at all feels like a minor victory

How It Felt Out There

The foot is still healing. There’s a background twinge that reminds me to stay sensible, but it never tipped into pain. If anything, it stayed quiet as long as I stayed smooth.

What did force the early finish was the cold. My feet were absolutely freezing, properly numb by the end, and common sense won out. I’d rather cut a ride short because I can’t feel my toes than because I’ve pushed an injury too far.

Unexpected Wins

Here’s the part I didn’t expect.

Despite the layoff, despite the cold, and despite riding mostly gravel, this effort actually trended faster than two previous rides on the same terrain. Even better, I picked up:

• A PR on the Collie Peak Trail 8 segment

• A 3rd best time on the HPT – Green Lane to Brickworks segment

I’m not chasing segments, but they’re a useful little yardstick — especially when coming back from injury. They tell me that something’s still there. That fitness doesn’t disappear overnight. That careful, steady riding can still produce results.

Effort, Fuel, and Focus

I rode this as a controlled mix of tempo and threshold, pushing the climbs but never forcing it. With a ride this length, I kept things simple:

• About 500 ml of water

• No food, because this was about testing the legs, not draining the tank

The average climbing speed of 6.6 mph felt particularly encouraging — slow by some standards, but faster than my previous efforts on the same climbs. For a heavy rider, that’s progress you can feel in your legs and see in the data.

What This Ride Means

This wasn’t about heroics. It was about proof.

Proof that the tendon is mending.
Proof that gravel still feels like home.
Proof that fitness is patient — it waits for you if you’re sensible enough to come back properly.

This was my first real training ride with next year’s Dolby Devil 160 km in mind. Short, cold, and cut slightly early — but absolutely the right step.

Next time: warmer socks, a touch more distance, and the same steady approach. Because if there’s one thing this ride confirmed, it’s that progress doesn’t need to shout. Sometimes it just crunches quietly under your tyres.

Check out my ride on Strava here

First Training Ride - Rouvy.

 

First Ride Back After 11 Days — Wakhan Valley and a Grumpy Foot

Well, that took longer than I hoped. Eleven full days off the bike thanks to a delightful little episode of extensor tendonitis — basically my foot’s way of saying, “Mate, sit down before I file an official complaint.”

Today, though, I finally swung a leg back over the bike. Not the gravel beast this time, but my trusty old Boardman road bike, perched on the Thinkrider X5 smart trainer like some ageing warhorse still willing to do its bit. I loaded up ROUVY and picked the Wakhan Valley, Ishkashim – Khorog route in Tajikistan. Because if you can’t climb real mountains when you want to, you might as well sweat all over your garage pretending you are.

Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/16724515573

The foot? Still a bit twingey — like it’s clearing its throat to remind me it exists — but honestly, miles better. Pedalling felt mostly smooth, even if I was a bit cautious for the first few minutes. After that, I got into a nice groove: a mix of tempo and threshold, and it actually felt… good. Not “float up the Alps” good, but “yep, I’ve still got some beans to work with” good.

Stats for the ride:

• 12.76 miles

• 43 minutes

• Enough virtual scenery to make me want to book a flight to Tajikistan

• About 500ml of water

• Zero food, because let’s face it — for this length of ride, I’d just be fuelling my guilt

Given the downtime, I’m counting this as my first proper training ride toward next year’s Dolby Devil 160 km. It wasn’t spectacular, it wasn’t heroic, and it certainly wasn’t pretty… but it was a start. And after nearly two weeks crab-walking around the house with a sulky tendon, that feels like a win.

Next step: ease myself back into regular sessions, see how the foot holds up, and resist the temptation to jump straight into overdoing it (again). Slow progress is still progress — even for a heavy, middle-aged bloke with big goals and a slightly sarcastic set of feet.

Hunting for the Right Wheels

 

Why I Chose the Hunt Gravel 35 Wheels (And Why I’m Sticking With Them)

I’ll be honest right from the saddle: I didn’t pick the Hunt Gravel 35 wheels because of wind-tunnel data, pro-tour glamour, or some mystical gravel-guru recommendation whispered across a campfire. Nope — I picked them for one very simple, very practical reason:

They can actually handle my weight.

At 268 lbs (and aiming steadily downwards!), finding kit that doesn’t flinch beneath me is half the battle. Most gravel wheelsets top out well below what I need. But the Hunts? They’re rated over 300 lbs. Finally — something that doesn’t panic when I roll into view.

But the weight limit is only half the story. After six months of riding them, here’s the bit that’s honestly surprised me:
they’ve needed absolutely nothing.
And I don’t mean “nothing… but a little tweak.” I mean literally nothing.

I used to be a bike mechanic, so checking spoke tension is practically a reflex now — like cyclists’ version of checking if there’s still cake in the fridge. But every time I put the tension meter on, the result is the same: even tension, no loose spokes, no wobbles. Considering the state of Derbyshire’s roads and trails, that’s basically witchcraft.

Then there’s the ride feel. They’re stiff — properly stiff — without feeling harsh. Compared to my other wheels, the Prime Baroudeurs and Fulcrum 500s, the Hunts feel… well… less “noodly.” The Primes are decent but a bit flexy when I’m grinding uphill; the Fulcrums are fine but definitely narrower. The Hunt Gravel 35s, on the other hand, give my bike that planted, confident feel that makes you think, “Yeah, go on then — let’s take the stupidly rocky route.”

The internal width is another big win. I run 45mm Panaracer GravelKing TLRs year-round (because if it ain’t broke, don’t mess with the sealant), and the hookless rims give the tyres that nice, round profile without squirming. And yes — before anyone asks — I run them tubeless. Big tyres, low pressures, zero faff. Perfect.

Are they the lightest wheels on earth? Nope.
The most aero? Not really.
Do I care? Absolutely not.

They’re the first wheelset I’ve ridden that doesn’t punish me for being a bigger bloke getting back into serious riding. They’re strong, dependable, stiff where they need to be, and — most importantly — they let me ride with confidence whether I’m out on limestone trails, muddy farm tracks, or my usual Peak District punishment loops.

For anyone my size (or close) who’s struggling to find wheels that don’t feel like they’re tapping out after 50 miles, honestly: these have been a game-changer.

And with events like the Dolby Devil 160 km and the Kielder Triple Crown 200 km on the horizon, I need kit I don’t have to babysit. So far? The Hunts are exactly that.

Week 4: A Pause, A Reset, and a New Target on the Horizon

 

Week X: A Pause, A Reset, and a New Target on the Horizon

The last few weeks have been… quiet. Not in a peaceful way, but in that slightly defeated way where work piles up, illness steals your energy, and the bike gathers just enough dust to make you feel guilty every time you walk past it.

I haven’t trained much — if I’m honest, I haven’t trained at all.
But life gets in the way sometimes, and that’s not a reason to quit. It’s just a reminder that this journey won’t always move in straight lines.

With the fog lifting and my energy slowly returning, I’ve found myself looking at something new: the Dolby Devil 160km gravel ride. It’s earlier than the Kielder Triple Crown, shorter (just), but still a proper challenge — the kind of ride that forces you to respect the distance and prepare properly.

Part of me wonders if entering it might be the spark I need. A mid-season milestone. A reason to stop drifting and start training again.

So next week, I’ll begin rebuilding the routine:

• A couple of steady endurance rides

• Some gentle turbo sessions

• A focus on getting my weight trending downward again

• And, hopefully, the feeling of momentum returning

I’m still carrying too much — 268lbs, morbidly obese by the cold logic of BMI charts, and definitely not built for long climbs. But I am built for stubbornness, and that counts for something.

If you’ve ridden the Dolby Devil, or if you’re a gravel rider who’s tackled other long-distance challenges, I’d love your advice.
How did you structure your training?
How did you fuel your rides?
How did you stop the hills from breaking your spirit?

Drop your thoughts, stories, or tips in the comments. I’m listening — and learning.

Right now this journey feels like starting again, again. But maybe that’s the point. Success isn’t a straight ascent; it’s a messy, winding gravel track — and I’m still on it.