Another Generic Cycling Update...

I have a feeling that this may be the general pattern of my winter...

I've completed the first month of my training for Ride Across Britain 2010, and by my calculations racked up about 800-900 miles in the four weeks. The new bike had some teething issues, however a couple of visits to a local bike store, and some emails to Wiggle sorted that out, and now the odometer on it is ticking over nicely.

The rides are basically taking four forms;

• Daily Commute - About 14 miles round trip, fairly flat. Goals here are fast pace, and practicing technique and cadence control
  
• Lunchtime Rides - a 1 hour, 18 mile loop, where the focus is on improving overall time over undulating terrain
  
• Weekend Rides - Long rides on Saturday and Sunday, to get used to cycling on tired legs, and also improve endurance over 40-80 miles. Also includes several climbs
  
• Velodrome Intervals - Speed and power work, aiming at holding a high pace and cadence for about 5 minutes at a time

The big challenge coming up is the transition to winter training. We visited the Cycle Show at Earls Court a fortnight ago, hoping to pick up winter gear, however the retail opportunities were a bit rubbish generally, so ended up ordering a lot of stuff online. I now have a windproof jacket and gloves, more shorts, some base layers and some rather clever Crud RoadRacer Mudguards, which I'm resisting fitting until I need to. The cold weather really kicked off this weekend, after a pleasantly mild start to autumn. Hopefully I'll acclimatize to the colder weather, and it would be really nice if it was a dryer winter...

One real issue I have is lights. I bought some cheapy Argos specials, and they are absolutely rubbish. Last week I had to cycle across town after dark to get to Palmer Park, and could see nothing until I hit street-lit areas. The way back was even worse, as the "light" (it barely deserves to be called that) decided to go intermittant. I've done some reading round, and there is a strong current of opinion that cycle lights are basically over-priced torches, and there have been a lot of advances in the torch arena that have not transferred over to the cycling arena. As such many suggest simply buying a torch, and strapping it to your bike. Given that I was already jury-rigging the light attachment, due to a general lack of sensible handlebars (all the clear space is given over to areo bars and elbow rests), I've ordered a Lenser P7, which has a power output of more than my current Inova T2. That and some velcro strapping should sort me out nicely. If it works out well I may pick up a second, and some LockBlocks (a simple device to make bolting the torch to a bar easier)

Weakness...

I pretty quickly cracked, and I have a day off work today to await delivery of my brand new Focus Cayo 105 from Wiggle. The Giant Defy has done really well this year, and I've clocked up over 3200km on it in 6 months, however it lacked in the gear department, which accentuated my generally patheticness on hills. I've sold it to a chap who has just left work, as he is looking to start doing some longer distance cycling.

Not only is it a jump-up in drive-chain quality, but it's also a full carbon frame. After a fair bit of shopping around I wasn't able to find any other bike that offered both a 105 system and a carbon frame for the price.


I've been trying to stick to the training plan for JOGLE, though I've slacked a bit on the interval sets, as I'm waiting for the velodrome to re-open. Last weekend I did my first back-to-back sessions, doing a fairly rapid 40 miles on Saturday, and a slower, hillier 60 miles on Sunday. The 60-miler was led by a chap called Callum, who is a fairly awesome cyclist, and he managed to haul us up most of the big hills around Henley and into the Chilterns...hard work, but I got up a couple of gradients I would have failed at a month ago, so it's a good sign. The plan for this weekend is to do another similar set, which will also be a good chance to break in the new bike (if and when it arrives...I'm checking out the window for a City Link van pretty regularly...). I'm racking my long cycles up on my Nokia SportsTracker page (I don't bother with the commutes, as to all intents and purposes they are too short to count as training). It's some great, free software for my phone, even if it is Beta, and occasionally crashes.

To back up the cycling I'm having a fortnightly physio/massage, in an attempt to conquer the continual injuries I've strugged with in the last year. The sessions are insanely painful, however I'm seeing some real benefits, adn I've been able to train at an intensity that would have reduced me to a limp earlier this year. I'm driving her mad by effectively not taking a rest day (apparently cycling to work invalidates a day as a rest??). Today will be a rest day, unless the bike arrives in the next hour and a half, in which case I'm cycling into town for PIE!