Today saw the undertaking of the first annual London to Hastings cycle,I was sporting a stinking cold over the weekend which made it hard just to get out of bed on Sunday morning at 5.30am but you gotta do what you\'ve gotta do.

Mark Williams Cycling is now on Twitter,Follow all of the events,get new pics,or just stop by for a random chat today! Add \"MW Cycling\".

London to Hastings is only 5 days away and it appears that so is the gale force winds!

I ride my bike for the 28 Million people worldwide who are affected by cancer,working as a Livestrong leader will help me to do my little bit to help us beat this thing once and for all.

Today saw the undertaking of the official London to Southend 59 mile route organised by Bike Events starting in East London\'s Victoria park and finishing in Southends Priory park.

The route is best described as undulating and was well thought out as the organisers managed to include quite a few of the rolling hills of Epping/Basildon and the outskirts of Raleigh,at around the 15 mile in mark the route changed direction and brought us into a ferocious headwind of around 15mph which was a persistant issue and a fellow rider began to tow onto the back of me riding in my slipstream to shelter himself from the headwind which I didnt really have a issue with as I expected to rotate this order so that we could both make use of this benefit,but I sure was wrong!.

A further 15 miles down the road and I glanced back to check if the rider was still behind me and to my suprise a train had formed behind me of 7 riders all riding at the pace I was setting and use my slipstream to minimize their efforts and vulnerability to the wind,it was at this point I was starting to get frustrated as they were reaping all the benefits and I was doing all the work taking the full force of the wind and having to keep to a cadence of  70-85 revolutions per minute to maintain the 19mph average that was constantly being lowered by the elements,I kept looking behind expecting another rider to come to the front but it just didnt happen,so in the end I just couldnt be bothered to try and force them to assist me and although leading the front for nearly 40 miles across the open fields taking the full force of the wind was sapping on my energy levels I was still feeling strong and decided just to leave them to do as they pleased.

I turned into Southend priory 2 hours and 55 minutes after departing London which I was very pleased with considering how bad the wind was and still felt pretty strong afterwards which was a good sign,as I was winding down in the finishing area two guys came up to me and shook my hand and said \" we just wanted to thank you for towing (leading) us along for the last 40 miles or so and if we were feeling better we would of alternated\" which I actually thought was quite nice of them as I am sure they would have.

All in all it was a great ride,the weather was pretty good in general apart from the wind factor which didnt really cause a major issue on the whole and we took in some great scenery along the way.

Ive now signed up for the Tour of Exmoor a.k.a \"The Exmoor Beast\"

A 100 mile route taking in all the absolultely leg killing ascents of the Exmoor national park,the hammering that the October British weather has to offer and battle against the clock to finish the UK\'s toughest cycling sportive that a non pro can enter all with the end goal to \"Tame the Beast\"

This years event will start and finish from the Minhead Butlins where I will be staying for 2 days prior to the event and a day after (Halloween weekend)

Ive managed to secure my place for the 2011 Etape Caledonia,The UK\'S only closed road race consisting of 81 miles of closed roads through the Scottish Highlands.

Every rider will be electronically tagged and tracked and will then go out on the course and try for the best position and time,so one could look at it as a massive time trial with the exception that people who dont make the time cuts get disqualified from the course.

It sure does look to be a great event so stay tuned for future updates.

Sunday 20th began with a early start waking at 4am to head over to Clapham common for a 7am start for the London to Brighton 2010 in aid of the British heart foundation.

It turned out to be quite a warm day,and the event organisers said that around 36,000 cyclists turned out in the end,being quite near the start I was able to get away quick meaning no congestion on Turners Hill or Ditchling Beacon and it gave me a good chance to try out my new time trial position on my event bike,I rode at a high cadence and finished the 52 mile route in 2 hours flat starting at 7am from the Common and arriving onto Brightons sea front at 9am which I was very pleased with.

Overall it was a great day out,really good to see so many eager cyclists out and about its just a shame to hear of the tragedy regarding a cyclist who actually died this year on Ditchling beacon.

Sunday 27th of June saw the undertaking of the London Bikeathon,I participated this year with two work friends Jim & David undertaking the challenge route which was approximately 46-50 miles around the edges of London/Richmond park.

The weather was the main enemy mustering up a blisteringly hot 35 degrees celcius at the hottest part of the day,but I have to say that the organizing of the event was very poor,the marshalls did not know what they were doing and the signposting was inadequate for the volume of riders and the complexity of having multiple routes going at the same time.

On the whole the ride was a sucess,but paired up with a few knocks and bumps,the lack of interest and enthusiasm by the supporting marshalls and the badly arranged routing I think it would be a event that I would miss off my list for 2011!

I have added the London to Hastings event to my schedule after a decision over the weekend to take part in this new event for 2010 hosted by Bike Events.

The 61 mile route will start in London's Crystal Palace before  taking you through the Garden of England as the route then heads over into the North Downs and the High Weald before dipping down to finish by the sea in Hastings.