Light Cycling Warm Up In Eyemouth

Arrived in Eyemouth last night and went for a light cycle warmup around the town this morning....

By the sea front

Starting Off, apologies for the early bum cleavage shot, we are trying to keep this clean .....

Testing the legs up a hill......

Another hill .......

The sea front at Eyemouth

Dinner at the Golf Club, courtesy of Duane, cheers matey

 Relaxing in the bar

Tweaking the route 

Bar time part 2

Thats all for today, tomorrow the real fun begins, please return tomorrow for more updates of us setting off from Edinburgh Castle :)

Team Ashworth

GG

The Everards Arms Fundraising party for the Ashworth Cycle

Huge thanks to Gaz and Mandy at The Everards arms pub in Corby and to everyone that came along to show there support for James Ashworth,Team Ashworth and our two amazing charities BLESMA/Help For Heros.

They raised a massive £4544 and they is still more to come!!
It was a great night and a brilliant turn out for the fun packed night of events:

Two of Team Ashworth dressed up as woman and help to collect money using Help For heros collection tins and there charm.



Auction of a painting of James Ashworth by a local Corby artist Dean Rummy.

One of the highlights of the night was the inspirational head shave of Natalee Bennett.

Below is a post from Natalee
Just thought I would take some time to write about the night I shaved my head for charity to do my part in raising money for Help For Heroes and Blesma and support the friends and family of James Ashworth taking part in The Ashworth Cycle from Edinburgh to London this month!
I was a mixbag of nerves and excitement on the night, and the shave time came round so quickly! Before I knew it I was sat on the chair in front of lots of people who came along to support the cause being shaved like a little lamb! The chanting, cheering and applause made it much more enjoyable and easy so thank you again to everyone who was there.
After it was all over with (and after I sobered up from the night) I woke up and rubbed my head and can only describe it as a tennis ball! I thought I may have felt sad at the fact I had no hair, but in all honesty I just feel happy... happy that such a small act has helped raise lots of money for two great charities. I am still unsure of my total amount raised because collecting all the sponsor money in is taking some time, but it is in the region of £2,000 - £2,500.
Good Luck to all the boys involved in The Ashworth Cycle! I’m sure James is very proud to call you all his friends and I can’t wait to see all the photos from your journey and hear what the total amount raised is.
Love, Natalee x

They was also unplanned head shave by Connor Fleming who raised £100 when talked into having his head shaved.



Spurs merchandise auction : that went for £460 as was proudly given by the winner to James Ashworth mother.

Huge raffle of some amazing prizes donated from local companies and friends.

To finish the night we had x-factors John mac who stepped to the stage to sing 4 songs to which the crowd loved.
Thanks again to everyone that made it and took part. 

JJ

Supporters & Sponsors

Team Ashworth would like to say a huge thank you to all of our many supporters and sponsors that have helped us over the last couple of months. From generous donations to all different kinds of cycling products, we couldn't be more thankful.

Yesterday we received bike spares from all the cyclists at Rockingham Wheelers who chipped together to help us. Rockingham Wheelers are an amazing local cycling club with many years of experience in cycling located in Middleton, Northampton. To find out more visit their website here

We also received a whole load of coconut water from a brand called Zico. We hadn't used this product before but had seen it advertised in a magazine and thought it looked perfect for our long distance cycle. Since then we have never looked back - this coconut flavoured water rapidly refreshes and re-hydrates us quicker then anything we have tried! The taste might not be for everyone but its an amazing product and we can't imagine attempting the cycle without it.

To check out some of our other amazing supporters click here

JJ

Nutrition

Nutrition is a huge part of any type of physical exercise so we have spent a lot of time looking into the different nutrition options out there and finding out which one’s work best. A lot of brands and products on the market claim to be the best so we decided to trial them throughout our training.

We soon realised that as we were going to be on the road all day we need to make the most of breakfast and dinner and also finding a way of taking in carbs and water whilst on a bike.

Carbs table

Time:	Carb Intake:
2-3 hours before the ride	Low-mid GI: porridge, muesli, weetabix, rye bread toast or scrambled eggs

Our cooking facilities are going to be pretty limit so to get round this we are going to use Quaker oats (oats so simple) as they are easy to make.

30 minutes before the ride -

Mid GI snack: a banana

During the ride

Fast delivery, high GI isotonic energy drinks, energy gels,energy bars and dried fruit such as raisins are best. 80 -100grams an hour.

Trying to take food in on the move is going to be tricky so we decided to use a ‘topeak tri bag’ from tredz.co.uk It’s an easy to install bag which attaches to our bikes and will be a great help as its so important to eat on the go.

We have also found that Mule bar energy bars and mule bar gels provided us with good energy and a nice taste which all of us like. We will also be using the Science in sport GO hydro which will keep us hydrated when we need it most.

High 5 zero extreme can also be used for an extra caffeine boost when we are struggling to stay alert.

After the ride

Fast recovery, corn flakes or rice crispies (high GI) with milk (for the protein for muscle recovery) Jelly babies to get sugar back into the body

We've also been using maximuscle promax as this gets protein in to our bodies really quick and speeds up the recovery time even quicker.

2-3 hours after the ride

Low-mid GI: grilled salmon with steamed broccoli and sweet potato mash, mince beef,pasta  (low/medium GI carbs) is ideal

Our 10 Tips Avoid Premature Exhaustion

Our top 10 Nutrition tips

1. Eat a suitable diet as mentioned above ensuring your glycogen reserves are fully stocked

2. Increased high-mileage training will reduce glycogen consumption as your stamina builds (and muscle regeneration slows)

3. Gradually reduce mileage 7 days prior to a major endurance race to build glycogen reserves

4. There are glycogen reserves in muscles and the liver, however the reserve in the liver usually takes longer to mobilise. Therefore begin your ride relatively slowly for between 5-15 minutes (10-15 minutes is best), otherwise you'll burn up your muscles glycogen supply before the liver has started depletion.

5. Eat whilst cycling

6. Drink plenty even if you feel you don't need it

7. Eat lots of carbohydrates the night prior to cycling

8. If taking part in a race, eat at least 3 hours before the race and nothing after 1 hour before, otherwise eat food with low protein and fat so that it's digested quicker

9. Drink a strong black coffee 1 hour before cycling as the caffeine mobilises fatty acids - then follow with plenty of water

10. Don't forget to eat and drink as soon as possible after exercise to regain lost energy and fluid

JJ

Training Continued

Well, here we go ….. my first ever blog, hope you enjoy it

I have been a bit more fortunate than the others here as I cycle quite a bit anyways locally around the Welland Valley and off road up the Peak District so I have had a bit of a head start over the other boys.

We first went out as a group after the initial meeting where I took the boys on a little 27 mile loop around Welland Valley to see where people were at, I think it shocked a few of them as I was a bit mean finding all the biggest hills to climb mwuhahaha

Next time out was a much better experience as it had been a few weeks before we done the same loop as a group as people have different shift patterns / responsibilities:

Massive improvement J

We then branched out a bit and started some 50 mile rides:

Not a bad effort from the lads but again after a few weeks we have managed to get much quicker:

So as we were basically getting faster and covering more distance what does the good old British weather give us? Snow and lots of, thanks for that it was definitely not in the script!  Having to kick the front derailleur to unfreeze it to change gear whilst on snow …..

Icicles off the seat … lovely weather!!!

Nicely frozen ……

I think after that experience we should of acclimatised to the Scottish weather.  We have endured 30 mph winds, rain, hail, snow and sleep so hopefully the we are ready the coastal winds and conditions.

What is nice about all this training is getting out around Welland Valley, Northamptonshire has some really beautiful scenery:

Looking forward to seeing all the coastal scenery on route as well.

Hopefully Ash has made a few of these en route, think we will need them! J

Overall really looking forward to this event with a little trepidation thrown in as never tried liked anything like this before and probably won’t ever again!!!!!

TEAM ASHWORTH!!!!

GG

Click the links to watch our training videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRZK-fDJsRQ&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU-NLpJPis8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6mvSr9T9eU&feature=youtu.be

Overall cycle training

For the last 6-7 months Team Ashworth has been training intensively in all weather conditions. We have endured rain, sleet & snow and are now one week away from the big event.

We have had our ups and downs and found it harder to get out on the bike with all the heavy snow we have had since January. We have been cycling through towns and villages across Northamptonshire such as; Middleton, Cottingham, Oakham, Rutland, Gretton, Harringworth, Ashley, Geddington & Weldon to get used to the various hills, surfaces, climbs & roads that lie ahead of us on our 500+ mile journey from Edinburgh to London.

Now that the start date is creeping up on us - we are concentrating on final light training, diet and resting and intend to keep everyone back home updated as much as possible on our progress whilst we are away.
We will be posting photos & videos every day so keep checking back to see how we are getting on!

JJ