Jul 17 2008
Day 26
The day of the school cycle has arrived. I had a 30 minute lie in this morning as I chose not to do my 15 minutes early morning exercise as I would be exercising for most of the day. I packed my bag with plenty of water and fruit and set off to work/school.
We set off about 9:20 am. and headed for the railway lines in Peel. From there we cycled about 10 miles off road to Douglas. We stopped off a few times for a water break but it was a really good ride. Unfortunately the weather was miserable with quite a bit of rain but it never spoiled the fun and we had plenty of puddles to splash through. By the time we had arrived in Douglas we were all soaking wet and covered in mud but every one of us had big smiles on our faces.
On the ride back we took a detour up a big climb and ended up in the Archallegan plantation. We spent about 40 minutes riding around between the trees on some very muddy and slippy trails. Time was marching on and we headed back to the railway lines and followed them back to Peel taking a detour on the northerly lines which took us to the Poortown road.
We arrived back at school around 3:10pm and there was a great sense of accomplishment. We had ridden between 25-30 off-road miles today and had a great time. We were dirty, wet and a little tired but all felt great. In the staff room I took a look at my black socks and thought “Were they white this morning?”. They had been white but at this stage they were jet black.
As soon as I got home I took a shower and washed all of the mud off my legs. I then gave the bike a good clean and put it away for another day. I am looking forward to my next ride out as I really enjoyed this one today.
I have eaten more food today than I have since I started Phase 1. I have made healthy food choices and I think that it was necessary to eat throughout the day to ensure I had the energy to finish the ride.
This evening was abdominal night and I am now up to 20 reps. This will be the last session on the 4 exercise programme and I will be moving to a 6 exercise programme next time round.
