Miles mean smiles

Smiles are good for you!!!!!!!!!!

It seems a long time ago since those short winter 'training days' of multiple layers and frosted fingers. Where snow lay as thick across the land as the fat did around my girth.When my weekly Target was achieving 50 miles without the desire for an oxygen tent.

When shadows were long, and even the simplest inclines seemed longer still.

When gravity helped me to zoom down hills like a rolling barrel, but hurriedly pulled me back when I attempted to go up the other side.

When I entered the gruelling 102 miles sportive 'The Cheshire Cat' in March and nearly gave up cycling for good. Oh such was the agony, and tears from constant climbing at double figure gradients

When my number 8612 on the Houston to Austin MS150 ride reflected my waist line in millimeters!!!!!!!!! When other riders sought me as a wind break as they hopped from one paceline to another, and farmers mistook me for a stray longhorn.
When I stood at the end of Photo shoots praying that the camera might miss me out or at least the lumpy parts of me.
It seems a long time ago since me and my kitchen made up and became friends.

Where it stopped stocking naughty food to tempt me or leave traps in the middle of the night.

I can now visit this room day and night without fear of ambush.

Where previously I might slip up only to dislodge some peanuts or chocolate biscuits off shelves and into my unsuspecting mouth.

Those days are gone and new days have arrived.

Miles have brought smiles in abundance.

50 miles per week became 75, 100, 150 and now I do 200 miles + a week and I get high on the endorphins that they now give me.

On my recent Flat out in the Fens sportive I was proud to pull a paceline for the first time.

By that I don't mean just for a few minutes of heavy perspiration and blowing out of my arse. (After all I had done that dozens of times)

I mean pulling for hours at a time, for miles and miles that were recorded, registered in my heart and in my legs.

I have completed 3,724 miles this year with 151,607 feet of climbing and burned 219,468 calories. I have lost 28 lbs with still more to come off.

My biggest event of the Year 'The Hotter than Hell' (100miles) only 7 weeks away I am no longer intimidated by such distances.

I look forward to it as a new challenge even if that means 100 f heat to throw into the mix.

Bring it on I say.

For me Miles really do mean smiles.

Smiles at the ability to wear clothes that look as if they were sold in a shop rather than a product from a marquee retailers.

Smiles at seeing my car gather dust and unused petrol remain in the garage forecourt.

Smiles at encouraging others to ride too and sharing the same enthusiasm that I have

Smiles at being able to see the world at a slower pace and being able to record it all by my blog site

To pinch a phrase from my favoritve cycle blog 'Change your life, ride a Bike!!!!!'

Rather than see it all as the end of a journey I see it as the start of a new one.

This week my virtual ride reaches Lexington (officially Lexington-Fayette Urban County) is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 67th largest in the United States. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region. Lexington ranks 10th among US cities in college education rate, with 39.5% of residents having at least a Bachelor's Degree. It is home to the headquarters of Lexmark International, the Kentucky Horse Park, Keeneland race course, Red Mile race course, Transylvania University, and the University of Kentucky.

It is also where two well know actors hail from: George Clooney or George 'Swoony' as many women see him. I am a great admirer of his work both in front and behind the Camera. Then to balance things out there is also Ashley Judd who has occasionally entered my virtual world too, but not riding a bike.