Okay, so there was a whole blog devoted to Challenge Roth. I think it deserved it as it was THE final event that the “old Nick” had planned. Although I physically could not complete it myself due to my messed up leg, I think I can safely put that one to bed and move on with what I can do.
As soon as we were back from South Germany we were preparing to travel to New York for the celebration of our friends’ 50th birthday. Trying to summarise the week in NYC in a few words is quite hard to do but I’ll try…
We flew out from Heathrow with Virgin Atlantic at lunchtime on the Saturday, Suzy is very good by purchasing a lot of things each month on her Virgin Card and paying it all off at the end of the month. This way, there’s no interest charges and she accumulates Virgin Air Miles to use on transatlantic flights. By doing so we were upgraded to Premium Economy – a bit more legroom, posh cutlery when being served food and a fairly limitless supply of snacks and drink, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic throughout the 7+hour flight.
We arrived at JFK airport mid-afternoon “New York Time” and after getting an organised private taxi to our hotel on 28th street we attempted to stay up until New York bedtime! Shattered is putting it lightly after that amount of travel and staying up until about 4am Uk time.
Our first proper day started by visiting the World Trade Centre, its museum and surrounding area. To say it was quite sobering is not quite correct – to see the reality of it all, the bashed up fire truck, the actual foundations of the towers, the stories of the people on that fateful day left us all a bit shellshocked. We ventured into the Wallstreet district, took the usual photos and after lunch (Buffalo wings of course!) we made our way back to the hotel.
Second day was a trip to Central Park where I ticked off one of my “bucket list” and rode a bike around the 10k circuit of the park. We did it twice actually but the second time around we tried to take all the sights in. The weather was mid 30’s (Celsius) and the humidity was sky-high so we didn’t look “dry” at the end of it! Another “bucket list” ticked off in the evening when we went to a Yankees baseball game – and as it was the day before the 4th July Celebrations there was a fireworks display after the game – a nice bonus. Did I mention I had buffalo wings again at the game?
Day three and the 4th July started with an organised 5/10km run on Governors Island – Suzy had this organised for Danny & Michelle and herself and I wasn’t one to sit in the hotel and wait for their return and went with them. The temp was mid-30’s again so god only knows how they managed to run in that heat – the ice-pops offered afterwards were very much welcomed. Slowly back to the hotel to get changed and then to Brooklyn to see the 4th July fireworks display sponsored by Macy’s department store. We wanted to see the show from the Brooklyn Bridge but it turned out the police were not allowing anyone onto the bridge until after the display so we somehow managed to get ourselves back into the Manhattan-side of the river and go with the crowds and watch the display from the motorway that was reserved for the locals. 60,000 fireworks apparently and boy were they loud – every single one of them. I’ve never seen a display like it.
Day four and a visit to Grand Central Station to whisper in the corridors (look it up) and then to watch a show – “New York, New York” which was quite cheap to purchase so we weren’t expecting much but it was actually one of the best shows I’ve watched. Then a buffalo wings dinner and then onto the Rockefeller Centre to watch sunset from the “Top Of The Rock”. The fact I don’t like heights and this was quite a few floors up into the sky suggested I would be quite panicky. To be fair, compared to the last time I was up there, some 5 years before on a cold February evening, I was much better. I still couldn’t look over the edge down to the streets below us but I was a bit closer to the edge this time around.
Day 5 was quite relaxed, a trip to Hard Rock Cafe, Times Square and then a boat trip around Manhattan Island, up to the Statue of Liberty and back round to Chelsea – where we set off to then walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset to get some good photos of New York.
Day 6 was just filling in the gaps on what we hadn’t done yet – China Town, Little Italy, Ghostbusters Firehouse, the Berlin Wall (a bit of it) and back to the pub we visited on our first day as “sleep-deprived zombies” to have more buffalo wings and a few beers.
On our last day we were being picked up at lunchtime so only had a few hours in the morning to do something else, so we went to the Museum Of Natural History (Night At The Museum if anyone has watched it) and had a good wander around before being aware it was getting close to the private taxi to pick us up and we got back to the hotel with the taxi actually just turning up (slightly early). The flight back was made all the much better when Suzy had secretly bid for an upgrade from Premium Economy to Upper Class…and she won the bid! So we all came back in Virgin Upper Class – I was asleep for a lot of it not being well due to the humidity & heat all week but it was nice to live like the rich & famous albeit for a few hours.
Someone told me when it comes to Jet-Lag that “East to West is best”. I didn’t really know what that meant until I had the worst ever Jet-Lag you can imagine. It basically put me in bed for two whole days. In fairness, looking back at that first week back from NYC, I was “in the red” for nearly a fortnight.
The following weekend I had (stupidly) entered an Olympic distance Aquabike at St.Neots in Cambridgeshire. I had taken part in this event 5 year previous as a Triathlete so was aware of the course and knew I could feature – at least if I was fighting fit and not fighting the Jet-Lag.
Nonetheless I stood on the startline at the river and tried as best I could to stay afloat and move forwards at least and get out on the bike course and try to ride as hard as I could for the 42km course. The swim, although faster than my 2018 visit was “average” in my head as I was time at 29-minutes. I had swam a 1500m before in 25 minutes so you can see my disappointment. The bike was plagued by a hideous crosswind at the start and try as I might to maintain my aero position I had to break out of it quite a few times because I just wasn’t feeling it. Nonetheless, I continued as best I could and came into T2 where my race was done and managed a 3rd place! A complete surprise to me as I was feeling quite bad in the whole week leading up to this event and only at about 70% throughout the race. Suzy was over the moon and so proud but all I could think of was how I didn’t win because I was ill. Never happy!
A fortnight later and it was the Beccles 25-Mile Time Trial Championships at Stalham, North of Gt Yarmouth. As I was TT. Captain of the club I felt duty-bound to show up and ride. With the 3rd-place result in my mind (still) from my previous race I was unsure how this one would go so when I was called for my start time and then set off I held back a little to make sure I didn’t blow up too early. This TT had a crosswind too, although not as strong as the race before, and I held a little back to make sure I was stronger than the rest in the exposed sections in the countryside. I made sure that the only metric I could see on my bike computer was power so I couldn’t be put off by my speed dwindling into the head/crosswind at the end and I finished without knowing my time. As it turned out I won the event with a 56:42 – I was quite surprised to have gone that fast considering I was not as strong as I potentially could have been. The next rider was some 5 minutes behind me making me the only rider to go under the hour. The “Never Happy” theme kicks in here where everyone was saying “well done”and I was looking at my power numbers knowing there was more in the tank!
The following weekend there was another “Lido to Locks” swim, this time I swam 2000m ahead of everyone else turning up and then joined in the 4300m swim with everyone else. The reason was because I had The Henley Marathon Swim (this weekend) to do – this is a 13k swim broken up only by 3 or 4 locks where we have to get out and jump back in after the lock. I’m told there are feed stations at each lock so that should be good to fill myself up before hitting the next section.
As before, we had something to eat at the Locks Inn at Geldeston to make a bit of social thing afterwards – a bit of live music and good company and that made quite a nice Sunday for us.
On Tuesday this week I decided to have a go at the Godric 10-Mile Time Trial. It was my first time back at this distance since before Roth (Club 10 Champs) so was keen to see if was back to my old form prior to Roth & NYC. I did fairly well with a 21:50 – only 8 seconds short of my champs time two months earlier. Judging by others, it wasn’t the best of evenings and with that I had to be pleased with my effort. Never the one to be totally happy with my performances at least it showed I was coming back to good form and I do hope this continues a bit more before the Europeans in Belgium later this month.
Great Yarmouth Cycling Club at their 10-mile TT’s too 🙂
I think that’s it as far as catching up is concerned. In the meantime I’m still ticking the boxes so-to-speak and going to the gym three times a week to deal with my gammy leg! I’m swimming at least three times a week. Recent weeks have seen some all-time distances in a pool with some 7k sets and I’ve totalled 20-30k each week to prepare me for Henley. Some session have been with others in Oulton Broad and The River Waveney but mostly on my own at the gym.
Cycling is going ok – judging by the results I’ve been getting you’d argue it’s more than “ok” but I can see more room to improve before Belgium and with that I’m pushing myself – sometimes too hard and starting to see some progress.
I’m watching my weight as well – that’s an eye-opener when you get a fat-test at the gym and see a trunk fat score of 200%+. Just when you think you’re ok and then you realise all those buffalo wings from NYC have showed up!!!
Yep – I’m going to mention her – Suzy!
She organised the whole NYC trip – the flights, the hotel, the taxis, the boat trip, the museums, the mini-excursions …the lot! She also puts up with my tantrums about how crap I am when in reality I was going quite well! She also puts up with my whinging on how fat I am (recently)!!!!
