A big high FIVE!

So it's five challenges down and the first of the cycling ones complete.

I'm really glad I've got this one out the way, I always knew it was going to be tough as I only had 3 weeks from the end of the running challenges to get ready.

It's fair to say it was tough and by far the hardest of the challenges to date which I put down to lack of training and preparation. 

As the saying goes "fail to prepare, prepare to fail!"

It wasn't my fitness that was a worry and certainly I knew mentally I could get through the 100 miles it was purely the conditioning of the legs and given the amount of hills this was definitely my achilles heal!

But after 7hrs and 46mins I completed the 103 mile course and I one piece, just!

By that I mean that after roughly 65miles my knee was telling me no more hills but unfortunately I had to push through it with every hill which meant going even slower than I normally do up them.

All in all I'm pleased I got through it especially as I had only had 5 hours sleep  and I had to leave just after 5:30 to get to the start.

Despite the hills the route took us through some beautiful countryside and villages and the weather even surprised us by staying dry and then in the afternoon breaking into blue sky's and sunshine.

The support was great at each of the feed stations with the last one being supplied with wonderful home made cakes. Apparently the lady had been spending the last course of weeks preparing them to feed the 1100 riders which included Phil Spencer from Location location location and using my celebrity radar (with a bit of help from my wife) I hunted him down at the end and got my picture with him! 

Celebrity stalker strikes again!

The night before was the joint birthday party of Eva's grandparents Martyn and Viv. It was a great night and they had asked that instead of presents to donate to my challenge in raising funds for Springboard.

It was very humbling with their kind words as they introduced me at the guests at the start of the night.  

The pot now stands at just under £2,500 including gift aid which is amazing as we approach the halfway point.

So now I have 3 weeks to rest and sort my knee out before taking on 134miles of welsh valleys and more bloody hills!

Time to be a Knight and do it right........to the Castle(ride)

It's the end of what seems to have been a very long week but that means one thing....it's challenge number 5 time the Castle100!

I have found this week incredibly tough and for the first time since I started this whole challenge my motivation to train has taken a bit of a hit. I am putting it down to the persistent miserable weather finally start to grind me down.

This next challenge is the first of the cycle events and training in gala force winds has pushed me both mentally and physically. I have managed to get in over 200 miles since the beginning of the month but the last 3 days I have gone back to running instead of being on the bike.

Despite this, what hasn't changed is my passion to complete the challenge and raise as much money for Springboard Opportunity Group!

During the week I have signed up to the London Duathlon which is Challenge 9. I did this event last year which is a 10k run - 40k bike - 5k run event where I completed it in 2hrs 53mins so I will be aiming to improve on the time this year.

This now means that 11 of the 12 challenges have been confirmed all that remains is the December challenge so any ideas or suggestions please let me know?

My preparation for Sunday will involve me throwing some shapes at the joint birthday party of Eva's grandparents and two of my biggest challenge supporters, Martyn and Viv on Saturday evening. 

Unfortunately for my other half despite me driving we have a very early start on Sunday morning so she may need to curb her alcohol intake otherwise it's going to be a very long day entertaining 2 kids with a hangover!

The photo I've attached is the official photo from the Shakespeare Marathon and the last marathon of the 6 in 6 days. 

I still can't believe that I did that and it was a real bump down to earth when I ran this week as it was a real struggle.

But onwards and upwards...its time for me to put on my armour (cycle helmet) and mount my stallion (specialized allez bike) and head to the castle of Tonbridge and battle the honour of my lady Eva! 

Huzzah!!!!

Who will be the king of the castle?

Well this time next week I will be underway on challenge 5, the Castle 100.

This is a 103 mile cycle ride in and around Tonbridge and the Kent area which starts and finishes at the Castle. I'm not expecting this to be an easy or leisurely ride as there are a number of hills in particular a bit of a beastie about 12 miles in!

As with running I'm not exactly built for endurance cycling and hills are my nemesis! The fact that Sir Wiggins is probably the size of one of my legs it really isn't a pretty sight of me in my Lycra.

Cycling is massive at the minute, thanks to the success of the team sky and the GB team, with thousands of people starting to get in to it and taking part in the many of the well organised sportives that are out there.

Living in Essex I see cyclists of all abilities out there doing it which is great to see and it is a great thing to do as a whole family, although given my track record of family outings on the bike I'm sure the Knight family won't be going out together in the immediate future.

It's now been 2 weeks since I completed the last challenge of 6 marathons in 6 days and although it was an amazing achievement it is but a distant memory now. 

Two days after finishing the last marathon I was out on the bike for the first time, since then I've clocked up over 170 miles with the longest ride being 50 miles in both strong winds and heavy rain but I still manage to complete it in 3 hours which was an average of approximately 17 miles per hour.

So have I done enough in preparation for next week? Although people have been saying it will be easy with the amount of training I have been doing, I'm not so sure.

This will definitely be good preparation for the next challenge when I head off to Wales to take on the valleys! 

But that's a month away and I need to get through this one first!

More during the week.....