Well, I’m just in from my last training ride, so that’s it. The next time I park myself on Claudette it’ll be the Great Notts Bike Ride on Sunday. Tonight I’ve just done a gentle 4.5 miles, mostly on the flat, having picked her up from a pre-event service. Had some troubles with my seat slipping but I guess that’s just been the opportunity for me to raise the saddle anyway, something I’ve been thinking I’m ready for for a little while.

Here’s some photos from a little sit down and ponder moment I had this evening at the amazing Attenborough Nature Reserve. I’m so lucky to live close to such a fantastic place. And now it’s easily cyclable!

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about progress and how far I’ve come in a very short time. Today is exactly day 40 since I picked up the bike and my fitness levels have improved amazingly quickly. I’m still not going to be able to do the Tour de France. or even the Tour de Yorkshire, but I’ve been looking back on some of those earlier rides and remembering just how ill I felt after a tiny 2 mile ride, admittedly in the cold rain.  It seems hard to believe that tonight I was comfortable to think of more than double that as an easy leg stretcher! I’ve been tracking my rides on my phone but have now started to convert them to one of my favourite things – a spreadsheet! I can begin to chart my rides to see my progress!

Terrific news for me at Slimming World last night after a, frankly, disappointing few weeks. I lost 2.5lbs and got Slimmer of the Week! I’m now at 39lbs in total, so there’s a lot of motivators to keep me on plan – just a pound away from 40lbs, 3 pounds from my 3 stone award and 6 to be down into another stone bracket. It really helps me to have small targets to aim for. With the amount I have to lose the only way to tackle it is in small pieces and therefore small victories. My one worry about this week is that with the bike ride I know I need to keep my energy levels up and as Wayne told me, I could use up to 2,000 calories on Sunday doing the ride. But I’m not Bradley Wiggins so the whole protein shakes, drinks additives thing is out for me. I am conceding that I may need something so I’ve bought some Nak’d bars and some flapjacks, but I’m hoping that bananas is going to be enough. I’ve pre-ordered food for after the event, just got to do my best to stay on plan but fuel my body sufficiently to perform and recover.

And I also started to think that I need something to aim for to motivate me. So, I’ve entered another event, a 35 mile Sportive – which apparently is a race! It takes place in September in the Peak District so I need to be on top of hills by then!