Tag Archives: June100

The #June100 Awards

I Did Promise, Didn’t I?

Those with elephantine memories will recall that I (sort of) promised prizes for performance in the June100 challenge.  I’d quite happily let it slide, but the problem with publishing stuff is that people can remind you what you said.

The June100 was free to enter, a characteristic which meant two things:

  1. There’s no money for prizes, and
  2. There’s no money for prizes.

So in the best tradtitions of the internet, here are the virtual prizes….

And The Winners Are:

In case you were wondering, the Mutton Bird has the furthest annual migrationary flight of any bird.  In a figure-of-eight circumnavigation of the Pacific, it covers around 74,000 km (45,954 miles) in an average year.  Give or take.  John Berry has the furthest June 2010 leisure mileage of any man and thus he wins the Mutton Bird TShirt.

The other two shirts should be self-explanatory.

Special Awards:

My personal Special Awards are given, fairly arbitrarily, as follows:

  1. Carrie Foster, for using the June100 challenge to actually motivate her to ride less.  The weirdo.
  2. Rafe Forgot, for attempting to cover the 100 miles in just over a week despite not being allowed on his bike until the 18th on account of sawing his own thumb off.  He only failed due to mechanical failure.  Of his bike, not his half-a-thumb.
  3. Clive Chapman, for only recording his off-road Mountain Biking miles and still smashing the target, despite logging impressive (non-qualifying, demoralising) commuting miles.

You three get individual hugs from me.  Except Clive, who doesn’t do hugging.

Onwards And Upwards!

You probably know that the July150 Challenge has already started, so if you haven’t already signed up, do so this instant.  Follow the #July150 hashtag on twitter too.

The #July150 – Sign Up Here

It Had To Happen.

The #June100 has spawned a monster.  It’s Summer, it’s dry (so far) and we’re all loving our cycling, so here it is, sign up right here for the #July150 Cycling Challenge:

The rules are just the same as before.  Clock your leisure miles and just do more than 150 in the calendar month.  You can log your commute miles too but there’s no official kudos for that.

The Official #July150 Spreadsheet

You can look at the spreadsheet here.  Once you get your login details, you can Sign In to it and punch your information in throughout the month.  Please don’t break it!

Right. Enough said.  Please forward a link to this post to any cyclist you know, let’s try and beat the 31 participants we had in the #June100 (thanks!).

Join the #July150 and enjoy your cycling!

Yaay! #June100 Completed

Thank You!

Two remarkable things happened the other night.

  1. I went for a ride after a carvery meal out;
  2. I completed the #June100 challenge, doing my first 100 mile month in, probably, EVER.

It was Friday evening and I’d given up hope of getting any cycling done.  I had Avon orders to submit, we were late home from work and my OH’s Dad was moving home.  Not an auspicious outlook for the day’s riding.

But, things went a bit better than that.  We realised I could put the Avon order in on Saturday; the home moving had gone extremely well; and we decided to go for a local carvery meal rather than cook at home.

The 3 M’s: Motivation, Meat and Momentum.

A plateful of beef, turkey, gammon and all the trimmings is usually a signal for the evening to end.  Add to this a pint of San Miguel and normally you’d have two hopes of getting me to exercise – and one of those would be Bob.

But… the June100 had other ideas!  I knew I was only 2.74 miles short of target and it was a beautiful evening.  So when we got home, bellies full, I filled my drinks bottle, got the shed key and gritted my teeth.  I was going to do it.

As you can see, I did it… and it was a fantastic evening ride, just in time to see a stunningly beautiful sunset over Hollingworth Lake.  The phone’s camera doesn’t do it full justice, but I still love this photo and I’ll always remember it as the one I took after completing the June100 challenge.

What Next?

It’s been a great month for me and it’s not quite over yet. Last night, I put the new slicks onto the Focus Fat Boy ready for this Sunday’s Manchester to Blackpool bike ride.  Tonight I’m hoping to give them a quick blast out on the roads just to make sure I’m not going to get any pinch flats when I put a few miles in.

The difference in rolling speed will be interesting too – I’m hoping I can get past the magical 30mph mark on the way back down into Littleborough from t’Lake this time!

After tonight’s ride, the June100 will be over for me, so I’d like to thank all those who’ve kept me going over the last few weeks.  It’s been emotional and I’m amazed how many have stuck it out, motivating me (and hopefully everyone else) through the challenge.  22 out of 31 riders have already done it, and I think more will finish over the next 2 nights.

Thank you all.  I love you (though not in the biblical sense, and I don’t want your babies) and you’ve been a massive help.

Now, about this #July150…. ! 🙂

The Nearly Man (#June100 Jealousy)

Nearly Is Nowhere.

Tuesday…

I’d planned to complete my #June100 on Tuesday, by hitting a nice 15 mile ride on a Tuesday: an evening where our home routines usually allow me plenty of free time.  It didn’t happen.

Working late (both the OH and myself); shopping; brownies… each of these things conspired to make our evening meal fairly late and as a consequence my ride simply didn’t happen.  I sulked for a couple of hours like a spoiled kid.  This is the negative aspect of being positively motivated to ride, I suppose 🙁

Wednesday…

I had half a day off to watch some football team with the lads from work.  We watched our national team’s long-overdue reasonable performance at the place where we also play 5-A-Side each Wednesday.  The half day holiday gave me the chance to get home, get changed and get the Fat Boy out.

It’s less than 2 miles to Soccer Village from home.  Hardly enough to get me the 15 I needed.  Nevertheless I headed out there and tucked my bike behind the bar while we watched the match.  After the game on the telly, we had a proper game on the pitch and (as usual) my legs weren’t worked very hard.  I’m a lazy sonofabitch.

So…. I took the long way home, treading the fine line between accruing mileage and missing my tea.  Two laps of Hollingworth Lake, back home then an extra little lap by the brook to Milnrow and alongside Firgrove playing fields, until my time ran out.

The Ride Showing Speed via Google Earth

The Ride Showing Speed via Google Earth

I was moaning last week about not being able to hit the 30mph mark on the run down from t’Lake to the canal, if you remember…

Nearly!

#June100 mileage:  97.26 🙁
Max. Speed:              29.7 mph 🙁

Despite the miles on a very pleasant afternoon, and a decent result (at last) for the boys in South Africa, I was left unsatisfied.

Ah well, at least I know I’ll hit the 100 on my next ride out, unless I have a Jon-style broken bike/self incident! 🙂  Probably Saturday. Meh.

Almost There – #June100 Miles

15 Miles To Go!

On Saturday, it was a bit gloomy and cooler than recently, but N1S and I threw an extra layer on and headed our for a lovely loop.  For once, we stayed away from t’Lake and headed South.  We used the cut through Firgrove playing fields to get to Milnrow, then ducked down Buckley Lane to play around on the empty cycle paths of Kingsway Business Park (which is still largely empty thanks to a global recession and crappy local Government).

From there we joined the canal and headed to Castleton.  Surprisingly, some holidaymakers were negotiating the lock on their barge, which made for a nice photo-opportunity.  N1S helped them with the lock gates and then off we went, leaving the canal at Stakehill and starting the climb up Thornham Lane.  Most of the way up there is a little pub called “The Tandle Hill Tavern” where apparently the landlady is only 20 years old.  Well, regardless of her tender years she did a good job of presenting us with 2 cokes (diet for me) and 2 bags of mini cheddars.

Up and over Thornham Lane we went, before realising we were running short of time and deciding to take the most direct route back to the canal and home.

Just over 13 miles and a couple of very pleasant hours bonding with my boy:   Sweet.

Fathers’ Day Bonus

As an added highlight, my kids bought me the Banksy book.  It’s a tenner at HMV and you should buy it.  Very beautiful graffiti, and very though-provoking commentary.

My kids are way too cool 🙂

Where is your business growing to?

Find out how Phill Connell Marketing Solutions can accelerate your business growth. Practical, realistic steps to improve your revenue generation.

%d bloggers like this: