Sunday 14th August 2016
My 3 older boys have gone away for a few days leaving me, Matt and my youngest son, Jake. The house is very quite.
We find when Jake doesn’t have his brothers around we are the ones he comes to for entertainment. Matt thought that we should take him out for the day.
When Matt was younger he went to the Peak District to a place called the Tissington Trail a number of times. It’s an old railway line that is now used for walking and cycling.
He thought we could cycle down it and make a day of it. I thought it was a good idea because an old railway track sounded flat and easy to ride.
When we arrived I saw a sign that showed how many miles the next villages and towns are away.
I thought I would like to get to Alsop but if I reached Hartington I would be really happy.
The trail was a lot tougher than I thought. I wrongfully assumed that it would be flat but it had a steady incline all the way which made things harder. It also wasn’t smooth to ride on like the roads which also didn’t help.
I had to stop a few times on the way not because I was tired but because my fingers were going numb and I had saddle sore. Matt thinks that I need to start relaxing into my riding rather than being tense. I was leaning on my handle bars which is why my fingers went numb.
When cycling if I take one hand off the handle bars I end up wiggling all over the road so I have always kept them firmly holding on. Today was the perfect time to practice taking one hand off. I think I got it by the end.
I am really happy to say we made it all the way to Hartington. 11 1/2 miles of peddling up a gradual hill
Eventhough the tracks are now gone the stations and signal boxes were still there.
The cycle back was so much better. 11 1/2 miles down a gradual hill – I hardly peddled at all. Going back was so much more enjoyable – it made the first part worth it. We ended up cycling 23 miles by the end of the ride.
Considering at the beginning of the year I wouldn’t even get on a bike and 8 months later I have done 23 miles makes me immensely proud of my achievements and I actually can’t believe I did it. It shows you what you can do in such a short space of time!
Start weight 21st 5lbs
16st 7.8lbs. ⬅️➡️. 67.2lbs⬇️total
Start weight 136.5kg
105.1kg. ⬅️➡️. 31.1kg⬇️total
