Save yourself, save yourself…

No, that’s not a line from Saving Private Ryan, it’s Ben (but it sounded like Jim Bowen in my ears with that northern accent): “OK, phase 1’s in the bag. That’s safe, save yourself son, that Puig Major’s a bugger, it’s spit me out so many times – I’m pacing myself today”.

Look - no hands!

Within that breath two pro cyclists went spinning past –WHOOSH – WHOOSH – WHOOSH. Hold on what’s Ben doing chasing them?

Imagine Ben & Jerry, oh no that’s an ice cream, I mean Tom & Jerry (Ben being Tom – hold on that’s getting too confusing!).

Anyway he’s off chasing like a maniac, I’m doing 50km and can’t get anywhere near them… he must be up to 65km down that hill. To say Ben’s competitive is an understatement. Well that pretty much sums up his character and determination, that’s why he’s ready for the “ride of his life” in 10 days, and that’s why I’ve enjoyed training him.

Saturday we cycled 135km of mountains, the toughest route in Mallorca, as difficult as Ben will experience on his journey. But we did it with comfort. For the first time Ben enjoyed that route, he’s confident, ready – in fact we stopped off to admire the scenery and have a coffee & sandwich instead of head down pure training!


We started out 12 months ago as complete strangers – trainer & client – and we rode the 135km on Saturday as mates – chatting, laughing and just enjoying each other’s company.

I’m not saying it’s been an easy journey. For both of us, so much has happened but those events have made us both so stubborn & resilient and strong enough to tackle the journey. A great example was Sunday. Ben was due to ride so I wished him luck by text. I could tell by his reply he wanted some downtime to chill with his family. I nagged him (if you can nag by text?!), his reply was “I’m all lycrad up”. I got another text 3 hours later, after getting another 90km under his belt “I hate you”. I laughed out loud – that’s the kind of relationship we have, I’m not his trainer, just a mate who happens to be a fitness trainer.



Bring it on!



Are we ready? Too right we are! This is not just a fitness challenge but a mental challenge. I guess we’re pretty mental to take this on, I mean mental as we’re both quirky characters, quirky but mentally very tough. 

As Ben always says “How do you eat an elephant – a chunk at a time”. That’s how we tackle this, a chunk of road every day until there’s no road left, nothing will get in our way.

Let’s go and eat some road matey!

Feeling HOT, HOT, HOT! – Dave’s training blog

Not sure how it happened but it did… it felt natural and comfortable and I could never have imagined it when we first met – after all it's only been 9 months.

So there we were, all hot and sweaty, naked and exhausted. We couldn't take any more – we got out of the SAUNA and had a shower… Come on, what did you think? You should know what my blogs are like by now!

So here we are, at the end of January and on the last leg of training. Where's the time gone?! Well I do know that we feel right on track and really positive about the challenge. Recently we discussed the route that Cenk had recalculated and feel so confident that we’re prepared.

We had our first ride of the new year a couple of weeks ago – a nice 65km to blow the cobwebs away. It was cold but the sun was shining, and not a cloud in the sky. We stopped half way for some caffeine and we both said how great it felt to be back in the saddle, just enjoying the fresh air and company. We also took some of Ben's mates out the other weekend – even Cenk agreed to go although he was puffing and panting just putting his helmet on! Fair play to him though, he did the 35km through gritted teeth. We had a serious hill climb and he did it.

The thing that touched me was Ben - without realising it, he’s such an inspiration. He comes across all bravado but he’s one of the nicest guys I've met – a real heart of gold. Honestly he literally pushed Cenk up a 750 metre hill climb; his hand on his back just pushing him up the hill. Ben wouldn't take no for an answer – Cenk was going up with him. That's the kind of guy he is and that's why I train with him, because I just love his character and attitude.

We've had a good week training. Ben's put some good sessions in the gym and did a real fast 50km on Tuesday. This weekend’s a biggy for us – we're back out on a 150km this Saturday to put some hard kilometers under our belts and then out again with friends on Sunday for some fun.

We’re back on the road, raring to go and like a coiled spring ready to go for it.

Oh and after that tender moment in the sauna we thought, sod it. We love being on the bike together and want to do something special together. You hear it here first; we're cycling from John O'Groats to Land’s End in late September. Who's up for that one with us!??

Oh, what a night!.. Claire's 2010 summary

Oh, what a night!
Late September back in 2009
What a very special time for me (and Ben) What a maybe? What a night!!

OK, so I've changed a few of the words and the song echoes round my head!

That was when Ben was told to shape up, face his health issues head on, and do something positive to see his young family grow up. It’s been 15 months and the time has flown!

Ben set his stall out to get in shape and WOW, did he ever surpass that!

I got dragged, kicking and howling with laughter, into the equation a year ago, when Ben announced his intention to train up to professional athlete status and accomplish ‘The Ride of his Life’ to raise money for kids who aren't as fortunate as ours, and lack a loving family.

When I sit and reflect upon that statement alone, I get a lump in my throat. All kids deserve a fabulous childhood, no matter what their colour, creed or family status. That alone drives Ben, myself and the team onwards and upwards - and look how far we have all come in a year!

We have the website, a magnificent team of professionals, sponsors joining our happy band all the time, and Ben has done the impossible! He’s got more than fit, he has accomplished his aims, and now sits on a bike for hours, knowing that the ball he set in motion a year ago cannot be stopped.

He competed in and finished a bike race he shouldn't even have entered in June, the Mallorca 312, and did it in around 15 hours – shutting up loads of critics and growing in stature immeasurably on a personal level! He finished last in a starting field of professional athletes who fell by the wayside along the hardest, most gruelling course in Europe with the first 100km being up a series of mountain ranges. To finish was way more than he or anyone else expected!

Ben has overcome mountains of pain and physical obstacles that most of us would not even attempt and he does it with massive smiles, loads of laughter and with the help of one of his now best mates, Dave Bladon. Dave is aiding and abetting him get to the mental and physical shape that is required to start in April 2011 to complete this momentous challenge.

He has discovered new friends over in Mallorca, who help him train out on the road, have given him invaluable support and challenge him constantly! He has roped in many others via the team to join him in getting into a new shape, instead of the round one we were all used to!

When Ben has fears, worries and questions about his mental and physical abilities, I remind him of how far he has come in such a few short months, how he has inspired so many people, how much support he has all over Europe and from reading the stats from our website, this has now gone global! He has followers in the Americas and as far afield as Down Under!

So as we all settle ourselves down for a merry, fun filled, family and friends filled Christmas, Ben is coming home with his family, not for a rest, but (weather permitting) to complete 1,000 km. He’s only taking Christmas day off and that's only because I refuse to follow him in a car as he pedals off on yet another 200 km ride!

Spare him a thought, talk about his achievements with your family and friends, spread the word, help us to reach the million followers on Facebook that we want and put a few words of inspiration for him on his website. And if you can, spare him a few quid, donate!

As we enter 2011, the clock is ticking down rapidly and the heat is on for the entire team, let alone Ben.

And when it comes to thinking about your New Year resolutions, just think about what Ben has accomplished in 12 months. Make a resolution and stick to it and see how your year can improve beyond measure!

On behalf of Ben, the team and myself, we would like to wish you all a Synfully wondrous Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

See you all in 2011 xx

Claire

Mr Grimsdale!!!! - Dave's training blog

Rest in peace Norman Wisdom, knowing that your legacy lives on through Ben Miles. Where did that come from, well his image just flashed before me last week as Ben was in the gym just polishing off a gruelling abs workout. He was at the end of an hour’s gym session, lying on his back like a dying fly, struggling with the last 5 reps. Ben lost his form, wriggling like a snake, face red and contorted with little murmurs....... erhhh erhhh, erhhhh, (the only thing missing was Mr Grimsdale – for those who can remember?!) honestly it was the best Wisdom impression I have ever seen. Now I kid you not, he had a shower and walked out the gym in a scarf and flat cap, you couldn't have scripted that. Apparently Cenk bought him the gear for his birthday – priceless.

So how's the training going? Well I think Ben's lost his bike… I think he's eaten it as he's put on a couple of kilos. Joking apart it is a really tough time, very disjointed due to Ben going on a Quad jolly with his buddies for a week. I’ve been off Mallorca for a chunk of time too, and with Christmas coming up there's been little consistency in his training for December. We’ve been training in the gym, a good few sessions this week in preparation for the next phase of training which is a 5 day, 1,000km UK cycle over Christmas. So whilst you’re sat watching the Queen’s speech with a crepe paper hat, sharing crappy Christmas cracker jokes with the comfort of a warm coffee & brandy, our caped hero will be out on his bike – that's dedication and determination for you.

Now is the biggest challenge of it all for Ben. It’s now a mental challenge not so much a physical one. The hype and adulation has dyed down, it's cold, short, dark days, familiar routes and programs to follow. I can tell you form my experience you don't want to be out on the road. The next 6 weeks are so, so hard to keep motivated and strong. Ben is strong, he has character, he's tough but we all have our limits. Now is the time to that he needs support from everyone, he needs a mental push, he needs every single one of us to rally round and encourage and get over this hurdle into 2011 and the countdown for the ride of his life.

So in the words of Lord Kitchener – WE NEED YOU. If you haven't spoken to Ben for a while, pick up the phone, send a message, make a donation. Whatever your actions, spare a thought for what he is doing, what he's trying to achieve and the sacrifices he has made and is going to make as a proud family man.

Have a fantastic festive season and I wish you all a healthy, prosperous 2011, thanks for reading and your continued support.

Dave

Catch the pigeon, catch the pigeon... Dave's training blog

If you’re old enough to remember that catchphrase then you'll remember Wacky Races. And so my story begins, in fact the old Mallorcian man that was part of the dispersing crowd looked like Dick Dastardly – thin, frail, with a slim pointy moustache and a devious look in his eye... yes there was panic in the sleepy villages of Mallorca the other week as Ben cycled around in his Lycra shorts, but that's not Ben's fault, it's mine.

You see a week last Friday I was support for Ben. Now what he didn't realise is that at 5' 7'' (well, with 3 pairs of socks on!) I could hardly reach the pedals of his big shiny truck, plus I’m not used to driving a mini lorry. You can imagine the fright in a little sleepy village when they see a blingy red sports truck swerving down the road with what seems like no-one driving (well you could make out a pair of hands and some tufts of hair just protruding from the wheel, but that was it!).

It always helps when, as a support vehicle, you know where you're going... "Morning Dave," – I could swear I heard Ben rattle as he got out of the truck, there's so many supplements he's taking lately. "So, where we going?" I replied. "Well, I thought...." as soon as I heard that word "thought" I knew that there was no plan… I was in trouble.

"I'll meet you in Arenal", I confidently agreed and set of to get ahead and chill out with a coffee. I swear I sat down for only 3 minutes after finding a cafe 20km into the journey, and there he was in the corner of my eye already. I jumped into the road like Billy Elliot to grab his attention, and to stop him, I’m such a nerd I need to plan and hate not being organised. He went gliding past. "Not stopping," he shouted. I screamed back at him to ask directions, “Cala D'or" I heard faintly. Bloody hell that's the other side of the island and numerous ways to get there. God I hate life…

****** Half an hour later & the phone rings *******

"Where are you?" said Ben in a stroppy tone. "Where am I? Where am I? Stressed – trying to find a bloody needle in a haystack!", I replied. "It's a lovely ride this, by the coast, sun shining, nice breeze!" said Ben. The coast? The coast! I was miles away and losing tufts of hair by the minute. You get the picture but it got better, at least when I caught up with him about 3 hours from the start, you know he's starting to move at some pace!!!!

Back to the less stressful task of training with him. The day before our ‘adventure’ I rode with Ben, South to North and back – 135km, great to spend some quality time together and train, talk, get some fresh air and appreciate our wonderful island. You should have seen his face light up when at 70km we had a full English brekkie treat at a British bar in Alcudia. This was Ben's toughest weeks training to date, 4 continuous days, 600km, it was by no means easy but he cracked it, with a smile and not too many aches & pains. That's a massive boost to Ben and his confidence is soaring. I'm really chuffed with his progress and Ben is duly proud of what he has achieved to date.

In terms of timescales, we are now half way through the training schedule that I set with Ben and he can now tackle a tough riding week at 50% capacity of his target weekly ride. Ben's on track. The problem we now face is that it's impossible for Ben to increase the volume of bike hours with work and family commitments. So I’m devising a tough gym plan to challenge his cardio system and throwing in some eye watering endurance leg work to take him to the next level.

I must say we do have fun training and have a great rapport, I do give Ben some stick on my blogs sometimes but I assure you he gets his own back. In the gym last week I asked him to do some hanging leg raises, it involves hanging from a static bar from the wall. The bar is 6ft plus off the floor. "Don't know that one, show me", he said with a straight face. “Hmmm OK" I said as I stood under the bar, concentrating on my leap. Well a full stretch with my hands above my head (as if I have a revolver pointing at me) leaves me 6 inches short! I jumped and just managed to hold on – he had a grin as he knows I normally need a box to get up. He walked over to the bar, easily grabbed it and started swinging his legs like a little kid on a swing

Cheeky git… I always get my own back; he knows he pays the price. You see Ben, you think I keep losing count with reps, I don't, I just add up all your practical jokes for the week and add them to your rep total…easy. As Muttley would say "heeeeeeheeeeeeeheeeeeeeheeeeee".



Q Rings, weight loss and three painful parts!

Hi everyone

I had a great week last week! I did 4 back-to-back rides – Wednesday 50k, Thursday 135k, Friday 200k and then another 200k on Saturday.

I’m chuffed to bits with myself. I’m so happy that my body allowed me to do the distance and the time on the bike, and I felt strong throughout it all. This gives me even more confidence that I can do the ride next year. I still have lots of training to do and am nowhere near ready yet but I will be on the day.

People think I have loads of time for training and that the ride is a long way off, but it really is close and I have to push as hard as I can to be ready for next year.

After these 4 days on the bike I discovered out a few problems that I’m working on now. The main problem is pain in the 3 points of contact on the bike - my hands, feet and bum.

I’m going to go back to the shoe company that did my insoles as they are better but my toes are killing me, so I need to try and fix this. My bum is still killing me as well, so I’m now trying new seats to see if I can find one that’s better for me. My hands hurt because I’m putting too much weight on them, so to help with that I’m going to train my core a lot harder at the gym. I’m raising my handle bars by 1cm, tilting them up a little and trying a new gel strap that wraps around the handle bars to see if that helps.

I am also trying to strip weight off the bike too. A new carbon seat post should save me 50gr, new seat 25gr, new carbon pedals, which move out a little wider to help on the pressure on your knees and hips, save 60gr.

I’m also going to try something called Q rings. Q rings are the 2 plates at the front of the bike that the pedals are attached to, and instead of being round they’re oval! This gives me 2 more teeth on the pedal stroke down when my leg is at the angle with the most force and 2 teeth less on the angles where my legs have less force. This should make my rides faster and help me recover quicker. I could write a whole essay on the things, but if you’re interested in knowing more about the Q ring just Google it.

With the Q rings I’m also getting new pedal arms, so in total I’ll have lost 235gr off the bike. Don’t even ask me about the price as it is getting ridiculous! What I can tell you is, it’s a lot cheaper to lose weight at Slimming World than trying to do it on a bike!

I’ve sent my bike off for the changes so this week I’ll be in the gym doing some really good training to gain more power for speed, core training for my hands and back and also massive cardio to strip off more fat. I’m after no fat at all - I just want skin!

Love the comments on Facebook and the website, Keith Walters seems to be having the time of his life on his bike, well done to him. Thanks to Dave my trainer for his funny blogs (just to let you know I always get him back every week after his blog taking the mick, but he never tells you! Numb nuts Dave is what I call him - he needs to find a better saddle too!)

And well done to John my ride buddy over here in Mallorca for doing his first 200k last Saturday.

Keep you posted

Love

Ben

Crash, bang, wallop.....oh what a picture, what a picture - Dave's training blog

Old Jetta, 12 years old (or 80 something in dog years) flinched again as Ben went hurtling towards the ground. I could see him wobbling out of the corner of my eye – not surprising really as he was trying to ride the e-roller with no hands!

Blood trickled from a cut on his leg, his dodgy Flashdance headband looked like a crooked pirates’ bandana, and I can tell you he didn't look too fetching in his Lycra pants!

"OK - time for a break!" …Yes, leg break if you don't keep your hands on the bloody bike!

That was last Thursday and as part of Ben's training he has an e-roller (check it out on You Tube - most of the videos show people falling off!) It's an advanced stationary cycling system for your bike, and I can tell you it's an art to ride. For endurance Ben’s been putting in 4 hour stints, and it's boring... really boring, and he hates it! And, as he has the attention span of a goldfish, he likes to attempt party tricks! Hence he's covered in bruises and his dogs are on valium.



A possible solution to Ben's attention span!



Ben's best training sessions are always outside, fresh air, variety of scenery, mountains - and there's no better training ground than Mallorca. This week’s training is a bit of a milestone for Ben, it's going to be the toughest yet and a real gauge of where he is in his European quest to cycle 6,000km. So Wednesday night is a 75km night ride with John, followed by a 100km on Thursday which I'll join him on, then Friday and Saturday will be 200km. Four back to back rides with the last two at distances which Ben proposes to sustain for a 6-week period in April 2011.


This is a massive, massive event for Ben and a turning point in his training, a positive week and he's off and flying to the next phase. To crash and burn – well that's not even worth contemplating how tough that is mentally.

So Ben needs all the support he can to motivate and push him through the pain barrier. Please send Ben your thoughts and wishes this week to spur him on and get him home before the dogs start to worry!