Now what have I let myself in for

Well I look the part I suppose, although I'm not actually moving you'll notice...

Following on somewhat tardily from my post last month pondering it, I've finally signed up for the 'Tour de Helsinki' (TdH) - a 140 km (86 miles for the fossils/Yanks) cycle ride in September.  Once-upon-a-time this wouldn't have been such a big deal (as I mentioned before), but since I can probably count the number of times I've cycled more than 10 km in the last year on the fingers of one hand with two fingers cut off I figure I have a bit of training to do.  

We've already been trying to do an hour of sauvakävely (Nordic walking) each day (with about a 30% success rate if truth be told) this month, and we managed a 20 km ride (semi off-road) on Sunday, although it did take about 2 hours, or 10 km/h ... since I want to do the TdH in less than 7 hours (and preferably less than six) I will need to average more than 20 km/h (23.33 for the 6 hour target). I guess I will need to get a bit of training in by then, so pottering around Åland in the summer will help a bit, and work up to 80 km rides by September... 

As it happens 20 km/h is also the slowest of the seven organised groups; the fastest being 35 km/h - a speed I can probably only manage down-hill with a following wind, which unfortunately is a bit tricky to organise on a circular course.

Well it seemed a good idea at the time.  I'll keep you posted on how my saddle sores develop.