Monday 13th July

I didn't cycle last week as I was starting a new job and doing some training so today was the first time I cycled in about 10 days.

Despite being off for so long and not eating particularly well in the mean time I actually lost about a pound last week getting me very close to losing a whole stone since I started.

Starting out from the flat in Wimbledon things felt a little strange and my knees felt a bit sore which was odd.

I was running late and had to find all my kit so I didn't manage to get on the train until 6:52. Severe delays were reported on the Jubilee Line (the one I get to Canary Wharf) but I didn't care as I was cycling!

Cycling in in the morning I felt pretty good - on the first flat bit (after a bit of a downhill) I was doing 18 MPH but I didn't want to tire myself out so I slowed down. It did feel slightly like I was cycling through treacle though. Turns out my back tire had gone down. I was surprised how much harder it made it to cycle. I did make it all the way though and bought a pump at lunch time.

The pump that I bought was a small portable one and was actually pretty useless – only good for emergencies really. I managed to get the back tyre pumped up to about 70 psi and tried to pump the front one up. Unfortunately it had a different valve and I only succeeded in letting most of the air out. I managed to cycle to an Evans on my way home though. The man in the shop told me how to adjust the pump to work with the other valve (which involved dismantling the pump). Evans also have proper floor standing pumps that you can use to top up your tyres. I topped both tyres up to 90 psi.

The bike felt much easier to ride after that although I did notice the bumps in the road more.

There was also a LOT of wind on the way back, especially over Tower bridge.

Despite these 2 problems (along with the fact that the bike was heavier as I had more stuff with me) I managed to cycle all the way back in 1 hour and 2 minutes. My average heart rate was 147 though and I burnt 988 kcal. I think these are higher because of the wind.

O: HRav:143 kCal:403 D:5.2 Av:11.3 Max:20.3 T:27:34.9
R: HRav:147 kCal:988 D:12.3 Av:11.8 Max:25.3 T:1:02.36