It's been a long, long race season for me this year. Certainly a tough one, and one that finished on a great high with Reading Triathlon, which pretty much goes thrgouh my village. A perfect day, no need to travel (it was a 15 minute roll downhill to the start) and a great course, as well as plenty of people in the race who I knew, giving it a bit of a competitive kick...
This really has been a year of cycling for me...to date I've racked up approximately 7,000 miles in the saddle, even taking into account the atrocious weather conditions in January and February. I've managed to drag myself from being an OK cyclist, to one who can reasonably expect to finish in the top 5-10% of any cycling event I choose to attempt (so long as it's not an off-road one...I've learnt painful lessons regarding that!)
So what have I done this year? It's a fairly long list of events...
1 - Reading Half-Marathon
2 - Merchant Taylor Olympic Traithlon
3 - Fritton Lake Olympic Triathlon
4 - Deloitte Ride Across Britain
5 - Dorney Lake Sprint Triathlon
6 - Bournemouth Olympic Triathlon
7 - London Olympic Plus Triathlon
8 - Woodcote Sportive
9 - Vitruvian Half-Ironman
10 - Reading Olympic Triathlon
Given that last year was my first season of triathlon, and I only did a single olympic distance event (which, in case you're not sure, is a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run) to get myself upto half-ironman distance is fairly good, even moreso given that I've had real trouble with my knee.
I'm now officially in my off-season, and I intend to take a couple of weeks taking it easy, and let my body start to repair the various niggly injuries I've inflicted on myself. once thats done it will be looking ahead to next year, and working out the best way of improving my times. The most obvious areas will be my neglected swimming and running, and building up core strength and ability in those areas. I'm also going to give rock-climbing a go, hopefully as a way of improving my flexibility and upper-body strength a bit (which should all improve the swimming). My ideal goal should be to trim 3-4 minutes off both the swim and run legs, while keeping my cycling in it's current form, which should then see me edging towards 2:20 times for an Olympic triathlon, which is normally considered a good time.
For now though, it's a fortnight of laziness, relaxing and (probably) painting models...
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cycling. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Monday, 19 July 2010
RideAcrossBritain - The Epilogue
It's been about a month since I got back from Lands End...a fairly banal train journey from Penzance, and Gill met me at Reading station (still dragging that damn bag!)
The injuries were more painful rather than physically debilitating. A tear on the fascia of the right kneecap, and minor tearing to both quad muscles. I've had a couple of physio sessions to loosen the muscles up...for the first week I couldn't bend my knees past 90', however now they are about 90% there. There are a couple of sore points remaining, but even they are fading. Having access to daily physio and massage treatments definitely kept me on the road. No saddle sore at all (thanks to Assos Chamois cream, a Selle SMP saddle and clean shorts every day!)
The bike came away almost completely un-scathed. 1006 miles, and no punctures. The chain never dropped, and apart from some expected wear on the chain, cassette and brake pads it's been fine...just a quick wash and grease up the drive. Given it was one of the cheaper bikes on display at RAB (there was apparently one bike there in the £10k region, complete with Shimano Di2 electric gears!) I'm really chuffed at how it performed...
...which was to get me in with the 7th fastest time overall, and 5th in the amateur stakes (Sarah Storey and Andre...both amazing pro-cyclists, but they can't be counted in the paying guests "it's not a race!"). 5th out of 600 starters is something I can be more than happy with. Chris and David came 1st and 2nd (and if I was going to be picky the guy who came 4th has a couple of questionable results). An official time of 62 hours and 25 minutes, and from the Garmin 58 hours and 44 minutes of actual cycling over 9 days (taking the results of someone I cycled with on day 2, as mine died). Thats an average moving speed of just over 17mph, with rest stops in the region of 10 minutes each.
The results really do show how effectively cycling in a group is...for my training rides I was doing 100 miles in about 6 hours. Average speed for 100 miles for the ride was about 5 ½ hours, and that includes way more climbing than I could ever do in Berkshire. As the trip went on my average heartrate went down, and average speeds went up, which also shows how the body adapts to stuff like this. I've done a couple of triathlons since coming back, and while the run and swim have been mediocre, I've PB'ed the bike legs both times (at 20km and 40km). Doing my normal training hills I've now got a couple of extra gears spare when I head up them (for example Sulham Hill, the steepest in the area, I can now do with 2 spare cogs, and I have a new aim to get up it using the large chainset).
I'm really glad I did it, and I'm totally chuffed with the result...given that 18 months ago I had never ridden a road bike, and 12 months ago I hated cleats (clip-in shoes) it's been a fairly impressive performance. I did approximately 10,000 miles of training over 10 months, of which about 40% of that was my daily commute to and from work. The rest was mainly long rides in the evenings and weekends, and "hours of power" during my lunchbreaks. It was worth every second, from the cold hours over winter, to changing tyres in the rain. Gill has been sterling support, having to come and pick me and a broken bike up on more than one occasion...she's probably sick of me cycling by now!
Next up I have London Triathon in a fortnight...I've gone for the extended cycle option, so it will be 1.5km swim, 80km bike and 10km run. As such the next couple of weeks will be heavy on the time-trial work, looking to push myself hard for 2-2.5 hours on the bike. I've treated myself to a bit of bike bling for the TT bike (carbon deep-rim wheels and a funky helmet)...they may help a bit with speed, but they certainly make you <i>feel</i> faster!
The photos I do have were from random sources (some stills from the headcam, some from the phone, and some from the end when Rob took over photo duties!). There are some more on FaceBook for those who have me linked up on there...
The injuries were more painful rather than physically debilitating. A tear on the fascia of the right kneecap, and minor tearing to both quad muscles. I've had a couple of physio sessions to loosen the muscles up...for the first week I couldn't bend my knees past 90', however now they are about 90% there. There are a couple of sore points remaining, but even they are fading. Having access to daily physio and massage treatments definitely kept me on the road. No saddle sore at all (thanks to Assos Chamois cream, a Selle SMP saddle and clean shorts every day!)
The bike came away almost completely un-scathed. 1006 miles, and no punctures. The chain never dropped, and apart from some expected wear on the chain, cassette and brake pads it's been fine...just a quick wash and grease up the drive. Given it was one of the cheaper bikes on display at RAB (there was apparently one bike there in the £10k region, complete with Shimano Di2 electric gears!) I'm really chuffed at how it performed...
...which was to get me in with the 7th fastest time overall, and 5th in the amateur stakes (Sarah Storey and Andre...both amazing pro-cyclists, but they can't be counted in the paying guests "it's not a race!"). 5th out of 600 starters is something I can be more than happy with. Chris and David came 1st and 2nd (and if I was going to be picky the guy who came 4th has a couple of questionable results). An official time of 62 hours and 25 minutes, and from the Garmin 58 hours and 44 minutes of actual cycling over 9 days (taking the results of someone I cycled with on day 2, as mine died). Thats an average moving speed of just over 17mph, with rest stops in the region of 10 minutes each.
The results really do show how effectively cycling in a group is...for my training rides I was doing 100 miles in about 6 hours. Average speed for 100 miles for the ride was about 5 ½ hours, and that includes way more climbing than I could ever do in Berkshire. As the trip went on my average heartrate went down, and average speeds went up, which also shows how the body adapts to stuff like this. I've done a couple of triathlons since coming back, and while the run and swim have been mediocre, I've PB'ed the bike legs both times (at 20km and 40km). Doing my normal training hills I've now got a couple of extra gears spare when I head up them (for example Sulham Hill, the steepest in the area, I can now do with 2 spare cogs, and I have a new aim to get up it using the large chainset).
I'm really glad I did it, and I'm totally chuffed with the result...given that 18 months ago I had never ridden a road bike, and 12 months ago I hated cleats (clip-in shoes) it's been a fairly impressive performance. I did approximately 10,000 miles of training over 10 months, of which about 40% of that was my daily commute to and from work. The rest was mainly long rides in the evenings and weekends, and "hours of power" during my lunchbreaks. It was worth every second, from the cold hours over winter, to changing tyres in the rain. Gill has been sterling support, having to come and pick me and a broken bike up on more than one occasion...she's probably sick of me cycling by now!
Next up I have London Triathon in a fortnight...I've gone for the extended cycle option, so it will be 1.5km swim, 80km bike and 10km run. As such the next couple of weeks will be heavy on the time-trial work, looking to push myself hard for 2-2.5 hours on the bike. I've treated myself to a bit of bike bling for the TT bike (carbon deep-rim wheels and a funky helmet)...they may help a bit with speed, but they certainly make you <i>feel</i> faster!
Photos
One downside was that my headcam didn't perform as expected...trouble getting it to charge, and a seeming in-ability to take video meant I didn't capture some stuff I had hoped to... Also the official photos were less than great, typically being taken in the first half hour when we were all wrapped up against the elements and cold, rather thn later in the day when we were in full flow...The photos I do have were from random sources (some stills from the headcam, some from the phone, and some from the end when Rob took over photo duties!). There are some more on FaceBook for those who have me linked up on there...
Friday, 16 July 2010
RideAcrossBritain - The Home Straight - Part 3
The 3rd part of the notes on my cycle ride from John O'Groats to Lands End. The previously, and fairly un-exciting, episodes can be found here and here.
It was an early start, as we needed to be on the start line and ready to go by 6.30am. Breakfast was thrown down our respective gullets, overladen bags chucked on the lorry, drinks bottles prepped, and pockets filled with gels and bars. A bleary-eyed bunch assembled on the start line...it was the full crew of Chris, David, Stuart, Toby, Simon, Tom and myself. We'd all been advised to wear the official ride tops, and those who didn't have them were changed. We were briefed by the PR lass that it would be about an hour of filming, and the pace would be "no more than 17 or 18 miles an hour", which is a perfectly acceptable speed.
Cracknell turned up stylishly late, had a quick chat to the camera team (we had one camera on a motorbike, and a couple of outriders to keep the roads clear, tehn we saddled up, headed over the start line (the only time we were allowed to cycle over it, all the other starts were on foot, and saddling up on the nearby roads, and then Cracknell powered off at 25mph. A sensible bunch of people would have not tried to keep up, and make sure the pace stayed down in the manageable region...
...so of course we all sprinted off after him, and hunkered down into a chain as we screamed through the deserted Ludlow streets. The pace that Cracknell set was fairly brutal, moreso as we were all carrying wear and tear injuries of one description or another. The camerabike meanwhile zoomed up and down the line, capturing what may have been quite good shots, but probably look like a bunch of amateurs being hauled along by a double-olympiad. After the initial burst james peeled off, and we started a rotation at the front of the chain, which basically turned into a "who can drag the chain along at the most painful speed" competition, which quickly degenerated into a game of survival, as in ones and twos we started to lose riders. I dropped off at the 45 minute mark, leaving Toby and Stuart to tuck into Cracknells wake and vanish off into the distance...
We reformed about 6-7 miles before the first pitstop (minus Tom and Simon, who I suspect were broken by the stupid pace), and carried on a a slightly more sedate pace for some more shots, as the camera crew had set themselves up for some stationary drive-by sets. We finally rolled into the pit stop totally blown, wioth the realisation that we had another 70-odd miles to go today. Cracknell said his goodbyes, and dashed off into the distance, catching up with Alan "Ex Ironman UK Champion", while we planned a more leisurely pace...
...only there were some signage issues. As we were on the road so early the route had not been fully checked, and it turned out that there had been a road closure overnight. David (who was local to the area) nipped off down a road, followed by Chris, while the rest of us hesitated, and lost them very quickly. 10 minutes of "where do we go" discussions ensued at the pitstop, until a local friend of David offered to guide us back to the main road and the route. Toby, Stuart and myself hared off after his Land Rover, and we dashed through some back lanes before re-appearing on the main road again...about 20-30 minutes later we came across David and Stuart, and it turned out that we'd been taken a fairly easy way around a bit of a hill!
The middle of the stage took us briefly into Wales, and then over the Severn Estuary on the bridge (a fairly spectacular bit of cycling, and most of us were wobbling along with phones out try to capture the view), and then over the Clifton Suspension Bridge. This was Stuarts home area, and he had a load of supporters out to cheer him on, so it was fairly awesome we were first out on the road by such a distance (nothing like a half hour head start to make you look fast!).
The finale of the day was a fairly brutal ascent of the Meddip Hills...a 5-mile constant drag upto base camp. Chris led Stuart into a stage victory (his parents were at the base camp), while the rest of us ground our way up to a finish. A tough day, especially given the brutal first hour. The filming was for Cracknell and Fogles next BBC TV programme, which I believe is a massive off-road cycling race in Mexico...keep an eye out for a training sequence where there is a little chap with red sleeves on a bike...that'll be me :-)
Lots of people had this one flagged as the toughest day...the third longest by distance, and the second by total ascent, however rather than the long sweeping climbs of Scotland we would be entering Devon and Cornwall, with it's notoriously sharp, steep sections.
Stuart had come down ill overnight, and while he was cycling, he was definitely taking it easy, and Toby was still not 100%, so he stayed back as well, so 3 of us set out at 7am...it started pretty sedately, with the descent from the Mendips (we didn't do the gorge road...it simply wasn't safe for so many cyclists), but after some nice roads we hit a stretch of flat, and put in some good time... Soon though, we hit the Quantock Hills, and with that a series of fairly brutal climbs, and with that the tone was set for the day.
That said, we'd done enough hills now that we weer able to get into the right mindset, and grind our way up them. We came across some early-starters (including one unfortunate enough to be wearing a polka-dot "King of the Mountains" top that we destroyed on a hill. Rule 1 - Never wear a cycling top that proclaims you to be excellent unless you can back it up), and typically dropped them in our wake. The tactic, as always, was not to sweat the hills, and work the flatter sections. As we made our way into Cornwall the climbs continued, and we just concentrated on keeping energy levels high, and protecting the various knee injuries.
At the final pitstop we bumped into Johnathon (who I cycled with on day 2)... He'd not been able to fit into a group throughout the week (I said he was a bit weird...), but asked to cycle with us. (I'm aware the next bit makes me seem like a bit of an arsehole...but fuck it...) We begrudgingly accepted, however then went on a bit of a go-slow, riding three abreast and chatting. After a while he headed off by himself, at which point we formed up into a chain and hammered past him. He absolutely killed himself to get back onto our tail, at which point we slowed up, claimed exhaustion, and started chatting again. He, quite probably slightly miffed, went off ahead again (while we sniggered like school children)...
...about a mile later there was a surprise food stop. I pulled up to grab a chocolate brownie, and got split off from Chris and David. Fortunately we were approaching a slightly less hilly section of A-Road, which is really my speciality, so I put down the hammer and did a bit of TT work. I very quickly caught up with Johnathon...not wanting to give him a free ride, I claimed my knee was starting to go, and I needed to take it gently, and dropped back to about 100 metres behind him (you can probably see where this is going already). I waited until a decent bit of road, while he picked up another straggler, and tried to get a bit of team-work going with him, and then dropped down onto my aerobars (my roadbike is set up to emulate a Time Trial bike, so in expense for a bit of comfort I can add 2-3 miles per hour onto my cruising speed) and smashed past them. Neither of them had anything left in the tank, and I quickly left them standing.
I caught sight of David and Chris in the distance, and spent the next 10 miles slowly reeling them in (they had thought I was Cracknell in the distance, and so gave me a bit of a chase). I finally caught them, then we had a run into the base camp (up a final series of viciously sharp hills), and overtaking a final couple of riders (including one right at the end...he must have been gutted). Thus ended the day of childish one-up-manship. Childish? Yes, however great fun. and remember kids...it's not a race!
The final day, and we were greeted with glorious sunshine. Everyone knew that today was going to be just a little bit daft...by now there were 20 or so "hardcore" types, who all had a bit of a race-head on.
Everyone set off in the same pack, however almost immediately we hit a 20% hill on a narrow farm lane, and lots of the weaker riders got off to push their bikes, splitting us all up. David And Chris pulled off ahead, and I killed myself to catch them, however then lost them again over Bodmin Moor...those 2 were on a mission, and I couldn't quite keep up on the hills. I settled into a Time-Trial mentality, which basically involves me riding to my heart rate. The vast majority of my training was solo, so I was fairly comfortable keeping a steady pace.
As far as I can work out everyone rolled through the first pitstop without a pause, I know I did. I'd stocked up to do the entire 95 miles without a break if need be...and with that I carried on. I caught and overtook one pack, and while it was tiring work (this was the first time I'd done a section fully solo) I was making good time...unfortunately though, my bowels decided that I really needed to stop at the second pitstop (and I was the first person to do so)...
...which was lucky in a way, as the second and third people to stop were Toby and Stuart. Company for the final 30 miles was just what the Doctor ordered, and as an added bonus Toby was on top form, pushing us to the finish. Stuarts parents were on the road as well in a car, so we hammered toward Lands End!
Rolling into Penzance (with a glorious view of St.Micheals Mount) we thought "nearly there", only to discover that we were being taken out of Penzance up the pig of a 20% ascent. After that it was a series of other sharp inclines and declines, and some comedian in the road department had decided to start signposting Lands End in half mile increments, effectively slowing down the approach mentally...
Coming round a corner, thinking "where the hell is this place", we saw the crowd of people and the big blue arch. Off goes the sprint, and we all power over the finish line, while one marshal screams at us to slow down before we plough into the barriers. Man hugs all round! Rob was at the finish line with Kate and felix to watch us come in as well, which was excellent, thought I was properly pumped and almost certainly making no sense.
We were then dragged off for some publicity photos (we made the newsletter), and a series of daft photos were taken around the iconic sign. After calming down, having a cuppa and a bit of cake, it was then the slightly anti-climactic dis-assembly of the noble steed (1006 miles, no mechanical issues or punctures. I love my bike), and a bus trip to the base camp, where I chilled with Rob, Kate, Felix, Stuart and Toby for a few hours, eating pig and ice-cream.
Next time (the epilogue) I'll go through the highs and lows. one thing I would say that if you ever get the chance to do something like JOGLE, you should! An utterly life-affirming experience!
Day 7 - Ludlow to Cheddar
Distance - 174kmIt was an early start, as we needed to be on the start line and ready to go by 6.30am. Breakfast was thrown down our respective gullets, overladen bags chucked on the lorry, drinks bottles prepped, and pockets filled with gels and bars. A bleary-eyed bunch assembled on the start line...it was the full crew of Chris, David, Stuart, Toby, Simon, Tom and myself. We'd all been advised to wear the official ride tops, and those who didn't have them were changed. We were briefed by the PR lass that it would be about an hour of filming, and the pace would be "no more than 17 or 18 miles an hour", which is a perfectly acceptable speed.
Cracknell turned up stylishly late, had a quick chat to the camera team (we had one camera on a motorbike, and a couple of outriders to keep the roads clear, tehn we saddled up, headed over the start line (the only time we were allowed to cycle over it, all the other starts were on foot, and saddling up on the nearby roads, and then Cracknell powered off at 25mph. A sensible bunch of people would have not tried to keep up, and make sure the pace stayed down in the manageable region...
...so of course we all sprinted off after him, and hunkered down into a chain as we screamed through the deserted Ludlow streets. The pace that Cracknell set was fairly brutal, moreso as we were all carrying wear and tear injuries of one description or another. The camerabike meanwhile zoomed up and down the line, capturing what may have been quite good shots, but probably look like a bunch of amateurs being hauled along by a double-olympiad. After the initial burst james peeled off, and we started a rotation at the front of the chain, which basically turned into a "who can drag the chain along at the most painful speed" competition, which quickly degenerated into a game of survival, as in ones and twos we started to lose riders. I dropped off at the 45 minute mark, leaving Toby and Stuart to tuck into Cracknells wake and vanish off into the distance...
We reformed about 6-7 miles before the first pitstop (minus Tom and Simon, who I suspect were broken by the stupid pace), and carried on a a slightly more sedate pace for some more shots, as the camera crew had set themselves up for some stationary drive-by sets. We finally rolled into the pit stop totally blown, wioth the realisation that we had another 70-odd miles to go today. Cracknell said his goodbyes, and dashed off into the distance, catching up with Alan "Ex Ironman UK Champion", while we planned a more leisurely pace...
...only there were some signage issues. As we were on the road so early the route had not been fully checked, and it turned out that there had been a road closure overnight. David (who was local to the area) nipped off down a road, followed by Chris, while the rest of us hesitated, and lost them very quickly. 10 minutes of "where do we go" discussions ensued at the pitstop, until a local friend of David offered to guide us back to the main road and the route. Toby, Stuart and myself hared off after his Land Rover, and we dashed through some back lanes before re-appearing on the main road again...about 20-30 minutes later we came across David and Stuart, and it turned out that we'd been taken a fairly easy way around a bit of a hill!
The middle of the stage took us briefly into Wales, and then over the Severn Estuary on the bridge (a fairly spectacular bit of cycling, and most of us were wobbling along with phones out try to capture the view), and then over the Clifton Suspension Bridge. This was Stuarts home area, and he had a load of supporters out to cheer him on, so it was fairly awesome we were first out on the road by such a distance (nothing like a half hour head start to make you look fast!).
The finale of the day was a fairly brutal ascent of the Meddip Hills...a 5-mile constant drag upto base camp. Chris led Stuart into a stage victory (his parents were at the base camp), while the rest of us ground our way up to a finish. A tough day, especially given the brutal first hour. The filming was for Cracknell and Fogles next BBC TV programme, which I believe is a massive off-road cycling race in Mexico...keep an eye out for a training sequence where there is a little chap with red sleeves on a bike...that'll be me :-)
Day 8 - Cheddar to Lauceston
Distance - 190kmLots of people had this one flagged as the toughest day...the third longest by distance, and the second by total ascent, however rather than the long sweeping climbs of Scotland we would be entering Devon and Cornwall, with it's notoriously sharp, steep sections.
Stuart had come down ill overnight, and while he was cycling, he was definitely taking it easy, and Toby was still not 100%, so he stayed back as well, so 3 of us set out at 7am...it started pretty sedately, with the descent from the Mendips (we didn't do the gorge road...it simply wasn't safe for so many cyclists), but after some nice roads we hit a stretch of flat, and put in some good time... Soon though, we hit the Quantock Hills, and with that a series of fairly brutal climbs, and with that the tone was set for the day.
That said, we'd done enough hills now that we weer able to get into the right mindset, and grind our way up them. We came across some early-starters (including one unfortunate enough to be wearing a polka-dot "King of the Mountains" top that we destroyed on a hill. Rule 1 - Never wear a cycling top that proclaims you to be excellent unless you can back it up), and typically dropped them in our wake. The tactic, as always, was not to sweat the hills, and work the flatter sections. As we made our way into Cornwall the climbs continued, and we just concentrated on keeping energy levels high, and protecting the various knee injuries.
At the final pitstop we bumped into Johnathon (who I cycled with on day 2)... He'd not been able to fit into a group throughout the week (I said he was a bit weird...), but asked to cycle with us. (I'm aware the next bit makes me seem like a bit of an arsehole...but fuck it...) We begrudgingly accepted, however then went on a bit of a go-slow, riding three abreast and chatting. After a while he headed off by himself, at which point we formed up into a chain and hammered past him. He absolutely killed himself to get back onto our tail, at which point we slowed up, claimed exhaustion, and started chatting again. He, quite probably slightly miffed, went off ahead again (while we sniggered like school children)...
...about a mile later there was a surprise food stop. I pulled up to grab a chocolate brownie, and got split off from Chris and David. Fortunately we were approaching a slightly less hilly section of A-Road, which is really my speciality, so I put down the hammer and did a bit of TT work. I very quickly caught up with Johnathon...not wanting to give him a free ride, I claimed my knee was starting to go, and I needed to take it gently, and dropped back to about 100 metres behind him (you can probably see where this is going already). I waited until a decent bit of road, while he picked up another straggler, and tried to get a bit of team-work going with him, and then dropped down onto my aerobars (my roadbike is set up to emulate a Time Trial bike, so in expense for a bit of comfort I can add 2-3 miles per hour onto my cruising speed) and smashed past them. Neither of them had anything left in the tank, and I quickly left them standing.
I caught sight of David and Chris in the distance, and spent the next 10 miles slowly reeling them in (they had thought I was Cracknell in the distance, and so gave me a bit of a chase). I finally caught them, then we had a run into the base camp (up a final series of viciously sharp hills), and overtaking a final couple of riders (including one right at the end...he must have been gutted). Thus ended the day of childish one-up-manship. Childish? Yes, however great fun. and remember kids...it's not a race!
Day 9 - Lauceston to Lands End
Distance - 150kmThe final day, and we were greeted with glorious sunshine. Everyone knew that today was going to be just a little bit daft...by now there were 20 or so "hardcore" types, who all had a bit of a race-head on.
Everyone set off in the same pack, however almost immediately we hit a 20% hill on a narrow farm lane, and lots of the weaker riders got off to push their bikes, splitting us all up. David And Chris pulled off ahead, and I killed myself to catch them, however then lost them again over Bodmin Moor...those 2 were on a mission, and I couldn't quite keep up on the hills. I settled into a Time-Trial mentality, which basically involves me riding to my heart rate. The vast majority of my training was solo, so I was fairly comfortable keeping a steady pace.
As far as I can work out everyone rolled through the first pitstop without a pause, I know I did. I'd stocked up to do the entire 95 miles without a break if need be...and with that I carried on. I caught and overtook one pack, and while it was tiring work (this was the first time I'd done a section fully solo) I was making good time...unfortunately though, my bowels decided that I really needed to stop at the second pitstop (and I was the first person to do so)...
...which was lucky in a way, as the second and third people to stop were Toby and Stuart. Company for the final 30 miles was just what the Doctor ordered, and as an added bonus Toby was on top form, pushing us to the finish. Stuarts parents were on the road as well in a car, so we hammered toward Lands End!
Rolling into Penzance (with a glorious view of St.Micheals Mount) we thought "nearly there", only to discover that we were being taken out of Penzance up the pig of a 20% ascent. After that it was a series of other sharp inclines and declines, and some comedian in the road department had decided to start signposting Lands End in half mile increments, effectively slowing down the approach mentally...
Coming round a corner, thinking "where the hell is this place", we saw the crowd of people and the big blue arch. Off goes the sprint, and we all power over the finish line, while one marshal screams at us to slow down before we plough into the barriers. Man hugs all round! Rob was at the finish line with Kate and felix to watch us come in as well, which was excellent, thought I was properly pumped and almost certainly making no sense.
We were then dragged off for some publicity photos (we made the newsletter), and a series of daft photos were taken around the iconic sign. After calming down, having a cuppa and a bit of cake, it was then the slightly anti-climactic dis-assembly of the noble steed (1006 miles, no mechanical issues or punctures. I love my bike), and a bus trip to the base camp, where I chilled with Rob, Kate, Felix, Stuart and Toby for a few hours, eating pig and ice-cream.
Next time (the epilogue) I'll go through the highs and lows. one thing I would say that if you ever get the chance to do something like JOGLE, you should! An utterly life-affirming experience!
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
RideAcrossBritain - Back to Blighty - Part 2
2nd part of the recap of my protracted cycle from John O'Groats to Lands End. The rivetting (and fairly cycling-based) installment can be found Here!
Another massive day on the road, and again riders were being sent off from 6.30am. The Unit assembled at the start for a 7am kick-off, minus Tom and Simon, who had both suffered fairly serious knee injuries the previous day. We started off with more tough, undulating terrain, so worked through it at a sensible pace. The weather had truely turned for the better by now, and I spent most of the day picking up a decent level of suntan and sunburn, and ended up with a comedy checkerboard across my body.
Past the first pitstop, and the terrain changed to some fantastic sweeping downhills. Toby, who knew the roads in this area very well, led us through some fantastic high-speed descents, and once again we started to move up the field. The second pitstop was at Gretna, just on the border, and approaching the town for about 10-15 miles was a long, flat section of road, and we could see small groups of cyclists strung out ahead of us. Spirits were high, and we formed up into our (now standard) chain-gang, and truly put the hammer down...we shot past about 60-70 cyclists, and over a 20 mile period averaged about 23-24mph. It was a real "in the zone" moment (and one all 5 of us still talk abut with massive grins on our faces). Whenever we had a new person at the front of the chain we expected the pace to drop back down to sensible levels, but everyone was feeling really good, and we ended up shooting into Gretna's pitstop about 20-30 minutes earlier than we expected. That section was one of the high points of the trip for me...a fantastic feeling of flying through the Scottish countryside, while watching other cyclists try (and fail) to stay with us!
Past Gretna we hit the border (hurahh!) and, after negotiating the urban area of Carlisle (going through big cities and towns were my least favourite sections...far too easy for groups to be split up) we were welcomed to the lake District with the vicious climb of Fell Hill, our first encounter with a properly steep bit of terrain. the climbs continued as we headed inwards, until we reached the descent towards Ullswater, and once again fantastic, sweeping roads with the fantastic views of the lake, while the sun beat down. We came flying into the base camp as a unit, completing one of the best days yet.
The base-camp was at the foot of the rather infamous Kirkstone Pass, one of the only ways through the Lakes, and renown as a tough ascent (the Sport relief £1,000,000 cycle had passed this way, and there was a famous clip of David Walliams coming to grief on Kirkstone, an image that stuck in many RAB'bers minds). I had a visit from a mate (Harry) in the evening...he was on holiday in the Lakes, and was (is currently) doing the ride from Lands End to John O'Groats the month after...only there would be 3 of them, not 600, and they wouldn't have all the support crew RAB had. I sensed jealousy as I showed him the base camp, with the massage crew working flat out!
After the huge distances and ascents of the previous two days, day 5 promised to be fairly gentle...once we had Kirkstone out of the way. In all honesty it wasn't as bad as I feared...it was long, and it was steep, however it was never un-manageable, and it occasionally levelled off a bit, to give some respite. The best indication I can give is that that it took us 20 minutes to do the first 5km of the day, and 6 minutes to do the second 5km (as we flew down the other side!), and quickly (once again) became the leaders on the road.
As we departed the Lake district the roads levelled off, and we made good time. David, in particular, was on form, and did some huge lead-outs...hauling the rest of us along at 20mph while one of the support motorbikes acted as an outrider for us, keeping traffic clear. Compared with the previous 2 days there was very little ascent of note, so we had a fairly comfortable cycle into the more urban areas of Bolton...
...where it all kicked off a bit. A couple of riders had killed themselves to catch us, and during the broken trip through Bolton they got past us and sprinted off into the distance. As a group we made a decision to let them go, rather than try and sprint to catch them, and instead do what we did best, and set a decent pursuit pace. this led to us regaining sight of them with 2 miles to go. For their part they thought they were well clear, and failed to spot us until we were about 100 metres behind, at which point it was too late, and we wolf-packed them and shot towards the finish in a group sprint. I probably would have lost, only a marshal mis-directed us, and sent us all into the service entrance of the Base Camp...I was fastest to turn round and complete the 50 metre sprint to the correct entrance, so comically stole the stage victory in a comical way (and I claim it still, despite the whinging of the other racers!)(it's not a race!)
One of the shortest days on the ride, and with statistically the least ascent, however there was one major feature of today's ride...a hill called Lond Mynd. Chris was local to the area, and had been advising us that it really was " a bit of a ramp". I knew the stats...about a mile long, and 25% gradient. Chris was going to ride ahead of the group today, as he had arranged with various local's that if he was first through towns etc, and ahead of James Cracknell then his sponsorship would be doubled. Toby had been taken down with a stomach bug, which was gutting for him, so Stuart, David and myself set off into the country roads near the welsh border.
The first 60-70 miles were fairly un-eventful...we were loathe to really hammer along as we had far more work each to do, and we were all mindful of the Mynd.
We hit the hills at about 100km in...there was an initial ascent of a minor foothill, which was tough but doable, then a long descent towards the foot of Long Mynd. As we got closer we could see the road heading up the side of the mound...it looked steep even from there...
Reaching the bottom you turn a sharp left, go over a cattlegrid, and then begin a fairly straight ascent on a single track road. I made in about 100 metres before my knee started to scream with pain, already in my lowest gear, out of the saddle, and my heartrate shooting up. Stuart was ahead of me, still in the saddle and forcing the pedals round. I made a call, hopped off and began the long push. David went past me, looking fairly paced, however after a couple of minutes I saw them both hop out of the saddle and walk up.
I really can't describe how vicious Long Mynd is, and I take my hat off to the few who beat it. I know Chris, Tom and Simon did, however I don't think I was mentally or physically prepared for that beast. My heartrate was well above my average "effort" level just walking up...the gradients varied from 21% to 28%...there is nothing in Berkshire like it (as examples, Sulham Hill at the back of Tilehurst is a mere 15%, while Walbury Hill, the highest point in the South-East has one ascent of 18%). The three of us reformed at the top of the main ascent, made a few comments regarding the geography, and then set off along the "looks flat, but was still a 10% gradient" remainder, before suffering a fairly terrifying descent into Church Stretton (I had both brakes fully locked, and was still at 20mph down the single-track, hairpin-laden road). Long Mynd had beaten me, but maybe sometimes it's good to know there are challenges out there.
The approach to the Base Camp was a sedate affair...we met up with Chris to find that he had beasted the course (locals had sprayed his name on the Mynd on the way up ala Tour de France...he had great support in his home town). We were based in Ludlow race course, so it made a nice change to eat under a proper roof in the clubhouse. As we were preparing to call it a night, we were approached my Mr. Cracknell with a proposition...he needed to do a teelvised training sequence for his next challenge with Ben Fogle, did we want to be the training pack? It would mean an early start the next day. Big cheesy grins all round ensued. Early day tomorrow then!
One more instalment to go...the trials and tribulations of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, those well-renowned flat areas?
Day 4 - East Renfrewshire to Ullswater
Distance - 210kmAnother massive day on the road, and again riders were being sent off from 6.30am. The Unit assembled at the start for a 7am kick-off, minus Tom and Simon, who had both suffered fairly serious knee injuries the previous day. We started off with more tough, undulating terrain, so worked through it at a sensible pace. The weather had truely turned for the better by now, and I spent most of the day picking up a decent level of suntan and sunburn, and ended up with a comedy checkerboard across my body.
Past the first pitstop, and the terrain changed to some fantastic sweeping downhills. Toby, who knew the roads in this area very well, led us through some fantastic high-speed descents, and once again we started to move up the field. The second pitstop was at Gretna, just on the border, and approaching the town for about 10-15 miles was a long, flat section of road, and we could see small groups of cyclists strung out ahead of us. Spirits were high, and we formed up into our (now standard) chain-gang, and truly put the hammer down...we shot past about 60-70 cyclists, and over a 20 mile period averaged about 23-24mph. It was a real "in the zone" moment (and one all 5 of us still talk abut with massive grins on our faces). Whenever we had a new person at the front of the chain we expected the pace to drop back down to sensible levels, but everyone was feeling really good, and we ended up shooting into Gretna's pitstop about 20-30 minutes earlier than we expected. That section was one of the high points of the trip for me...a fantastic feeling of flying through the Scottish countryside, while watching other cyclists try (and fail) to stay with us!
Past Gretna we hit the border (hurahh!) and, after negotiating the urban area of Carlisle (going through big cities and towns were my least favourite sections...far too easy for groups to be split up) we were welcomed to the lake District with the vicious climb of Fell Hill, our first encounter with a properly steep bit of terrain. the climbs continued as we headed inwards, until we reached the descent towards Ullswater, and once again fantastic, sweeping roads with the fantastic views of the lake, while the sun beat down. We came flying into the base camp as a unit, completing one of the best days yet.
The base-camp was at the foot of the rather infamous Kirkstone Pass, one of the only ways through the Lakes, and renown as a tough ascent (the Sport relief £1,000,000 cycle had passed this way, and there was a famous clip of David Walliams coming to grief on Kirkstone, an image that stuck in many RAB'bers minds). I had a visit from a mate (Harry) in the evening...he was on holiday in the Lakes, and was (is currently) doing the ride from Lands End to John O'Groats the month after...only there would be 3 of them, not 600, and they wouldn't have all the support crew RAB had. I sensed jealousy as I showed him the base camp, with the massage crew working flat out!
Day 5 - Ullswater to Manchester
Distance - 186kmAfter the huge distances and ascents of the previous two days, day 5 promised to be fairly gentle...once we had Kirkstone out of the way. In all honesty it wasn't as bad as I feared...it was long, and it was steep, however it was never un-manageable, and it occasionally levelled off a bit, to give some respite. The best indication I can give is that that it took us 20 minutes to do the first 5km of the day, and 6 minutes to do the second 5km (as we flew down the other side!), and quickly (once again) became the leaders on the road.
As we departed the Lake district the roads levelled off, and we made good time. David, in particular, was on form, and did some huge lead-outs...hauling the rest of us along at 20mph while one of the support motorbikes acted as an outrider for us, keeping traffic clear. Compared with the previous 2 days there was very little ascent of note, so we had a fairly comfortable cycle into the more urban areas of Bolton...
...where it all kicked off a bit. A couple of riders had killed themselves to catch us, and during the broken trip through Bolton they got past us and sprinted off into the distance. As a group we made a decision to let them go, rather than try and sprint to catch them, and instead do what we did best, and set a decent pursuit pace. this led to us regaining sight of them with 2 miles to go. For their part they thought they were well clear, and failed to spot us until we were about 100 metres behind, at which point it was too late, and we wolf-packed them and shot towards the finish in a group sprint. I probably would have lost, only a marshal mis-directed us, and sent us all into the service entrance of the Base Camp...I was fastest to turn round and complete the 50 metre sprint to the correct entrance, so comically stole the stage victory in a comical way (and I claim it still, despite the whinging of the other racers!)(it's not a race!)
Day 6 - Manchester to Ludlow
Distance - 173kmOne of the shortest days on the ride, and with statistically the least ascent, however there was one major feature of today's ride...a hill called Lond Mynd. Chris was local to the area, and had been advising us that it really was " a bit of a ramp". I knew the stats...about a mile long, and 25% gradient. Chris was going to ride ahead of the group today, as he had arranged with various local's that if he was first through towns etc, and ahead of James Cracknell then his sponsorship would be doubled. Toby had been taken down with a stomach bug, which was gutting for him, so Stuart, David and myself set off into the country roads near the welsh border.
The first 60-70 miles were fairly un-eventful...we were loathe to really hammer along as we had far more work each to do, and we were all mindful of the Mynd.
We hit the hills at about 100km in...there was an initial ascent of a minor foothill, which was tough but doable, then a long descent towards the foot of Long Mynd. As we got closer we could see the road heading up the side of the mound...it looked steep even from there...
Reaching the bottom you turn a sharp left, go over a cattlegrid, and then begin a fairly straight ascent on a single track road. I made in about 100 metres before my knee started to scream with pain, already in my lowest gear, out of the saddle, and my heartrate shooting up. Stuart was ahead of me, still in the saddle and forcing the pedals round. I made a call, hopped off and began the long push. David went past me, looking fairly paced, however after a couple of minutes I saw them both hop out of the saddle and walk up.
I really can't describe how vicious Long Mynd is, and I take my hat off to the few who beat it. I know Chris, Tom and Simon did, however I don't think I was mentally or physically prepared for that beast. My heartrate was well above my average "effort" level just walking up...the gradients varied from 21% to 28%...there is nothing in Berkshire like it (as examples, Sulham Hill at the back of Tilehurst is a mere 15%, while Walbury Hill, the highest point in the South-East has one ascent of 18%). The three of us reformed at the top of the main ascent, made a few comments regarding the geography, and then set off along the "looks flat, but was still a 10% gradient" remainder, before suffering a fairly terrifying descent into Church Stretton (I had both brakes fully locked, and was still at 20mph down the single-track, hairpin-laden road). Long Mynd had beaten me, but maybe sometimes it's good to know there are challenges out there.
The approach to the Base Camp was a sedate affair...we met up with Chris to find that he had beasted the course (locals had sprayed his name on the Mynd on the way up ala Tour de France...he had great support in his home town). We were based in Ludlow race course, so it made a nice change to eat under a proper roof in the clubhouse. As we were preparing to call it a night, we were approached my Mr. Cracknell with a proposition...he needed to do a teelvised training sequence for his next challenge with Ben Fogle, did we want to be the training pack? It would mean an early start the next day. Big cheesy grins all round ensued. Early day tomorrow then!
One more instalment to go...the trials and tribulations of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, those well-renowned flat areas?
RideAcrossBritain - A Rambling Re-Cap - Part 1
It's about a month since I finished Ride Across Britain, which I will henceforth refer to as RAB. I've attempted to type up a sort of review of the event before, however I think I exceeded Blogger's character count for saved drafts, and it was comprehensively eaten...
From Wick airport we were met by a double-decker bus (that was to follow us down the country, and act as a sweep wagon, office and portable hospital as we cycled) to take us to Base Camp 1, right at Jogn O'Groats. We were met by a sea of 1-man tents, a series of marquees, and a vicious wind from the west (the way we would be heading off the next day).
The first evening consisted of prepping my bike (which had travelled up by lorry the previous week), settling into my small tent, checking out the facilities (which were pretty good...plenty of showers, decent loo's, and a massive catering tent, as well as a chill-out marquee and a host of medical facilities), and attending the initial briefing. the weather, for it's part, got slowly worse, and when sensible people retired to bed (about 9pm), some tents were in the process of collapsing. Mine stood strong, though the conditons were so bad I reckon I got 2-3 hours sleep...not the perfect prep for a long cycle ride!
The real challenge here was not the route, but the weather. I set off in the first wave (for better of worse I had been flagged as a top 50 rider based on some arbitary quizzing over the phone), and we had the first 40-50 miles into a 25mph headwind, with occasional rain. Within a few miles we formed a pack of about 10 riders (pack riding improves efficiency massively, as only the front riders take the headwind...in normal conditions you are talking about a 25-30% efficiency saving, though with headwinds that can easily go upto 60-70%), and I quickly spotted I was in with like-minded people. After about a couple of hours riding we spotted a small group ahead of us, and determined that it must contain an olympiad of one flavour or another (the famous people had set off first). We put the hammer down (a phrase that was used repeatedly over the 9 days), and were soon overhauling Rebeca Romero, gold medallist in Beijing.
After the first pit stop (she skipped it, and gained a lead again) we headed back out, already first pack on the road, and as the weather cleared up a bit we started to spit up. Being the over-competitive swine that I am I held with the front group, and ended up riding with 4 other chaps for the rest of the day. I shall introduce some of the protagonists now;
...I should probably do a bit of an aside here. Those who know me probably know I have a bit of the competitive spirit about me.one thing I learned during RAB was that as a pack of riders we were extremely strong...each person had a role they could play...David could haul us along for long periods at a very high pace, Chris and Stuart were good on hills, whereas I was good for bursts of speed, which was used for shaking free-riders off our tail. As we overtook people, we noticed that they would try to catch a free drag, though without offering to do any work...my job was to goto the front and put down 5km at a pace that was uncomfortable to live with, and "snap the elastic". This way we could keep the team at a manageable size. I should probably say now that while it wasn't a race, sometimes it certainly felt like one!
...anyhow, Toby was obviously a great rider, and cheerfully did stints at the front to help the pack, so we quickly invited him to join the Unit :-) As a full pack of 5 we quickly set to cleaning out a team of 10 who were trying to draft us, resulting in me hauling us down the banks of Loch Lomond at 22-23mph for a while.
The final part of the day was very, very tough...the outskirts of Glasgow consisted of a seies of sharp and steep valleys, where getting a rhythym going was impossible, and by then we had already ridden 100 miles. Getting into basecamp was a relief, and I had the first signs of knee pain at the end. A visit to the Physio (often referred to as Sue the Miracle Worker) revealed a tear to my right knee fascia, and binding on both quads (where the muscle sheath is sticking to the muscle, causing tearing). Neither were terminal, though the knee-tear would mean the rest of the ride would be on painkillers.
Next time...we'll actually get out of Scotland!
Day 0 - Reading to John o'Groats
I set off with me, a bag which weighed considerably more than the specified 15kgs, and Gill, who accompanied me to Basingstoke Train station. From there it was to Southampton Airport (where I bumped into my first fellow RAB'bers, each dragging equalled over-weighted bags) to begin the flight upto Wick. At the plane swap in Edinburgh the number of cyclists heading northwards became very apparent, and Logan Air (who run the flights to Wick) were struggling with the volume of luggage (which all had to be pre-booked, so not sure why it was a surprise). The small plane was entirely composed of RAB cyclists, with an air of apprehension and eagerness.From Wick airport we were met by a double-decker bus (that was to follow us down the country, and act as a sweep wagon, office and portable hospital as we cycled) to take us to Base Camp 1, right at Jogn O'Groats. We were met by a sea of 1-man tents, a series of marquees, and a vicious wind from the west (the way we would be heading off the next day).
The first evening consisted of prepping my bike (which had travelled up by lorry the previous week), settling into my small tent, checking out the facilities (which were pretty good...plenty of showers, decent loo's, and a massive catering tent, as well as a chill-out marquee and a host of medical facilities), and attending the initial briefing. the weather, for it's part, got slowly worse, and when sensible people retired to bed (about 9pm), some tents were in the process of collapsing. Mine stood strong, though the conditons were so bad I reckon I got 2-3 hours sleep...not the perfect prep for a long cycle ride!
Day 1 - John O'Groats to Kyle of Sutherland
Distance - 167kmThe real challenge here was not the route, but the weather. I set off in the first wave (for better of worse I had been flagged as a top 50 rider based on some arbitary quizzing over the phone), and we had the first 40-50 miles into a 25mph headwind, with occasional rain. Within a few miles we formed a pack of about 10 riders (pack riding improves efficiency massively, as only the front riders take the headwind...in normal conditions you are talking about a 25-30% efficiency saving, though with headwinds that can easily go upto 60-70%), and I quickly spotted I was in with like-minded people. After about a couple of hours riding we spotted a small group ahead of us, and determined that it must contain an olympiad of one flavour or another (the famous people had set off first). We put the hammer down (a phrase that was used repeatedly over the 9 days), and were soon overhauling Rebeca Romero, gold medallist in Beijing.
After the first pit stop (she skipped it, and gained a lead again) we headed back out, already first pack on the road, and as the weather cleared up a bit we started to spit up. Being the over-competitive swine that I am I held with the front group, and ended up riding with 4 other chaps for the rest of the day. I shall introduce some of the protagonists now;
- Chris - chap from Shropshire...extremely good cyclist.
- Tom - Chris's brother. again a good rider, but not quite as strong as Chris
- Simon - cycling journalist for the Independant newspaper
- David - a chicken farmer no less. Able to hammer out a crazy pace without showing any pain!
Day 2 - Kyle of Sutherland to Loch Linnhe
Distance - 160km the Garmin refused to record the ride today, due to the conditions On the plus side the wind had died right down, and swung into a gentle tailwind. On the downside it was raining...a constant heavy drizzle. I met up with a couple of lads at the start-line from the original pack of 10 from yesterday;- Stuart - a mountain biker from Bath
- Johnathon - a slightly weird chap, who would feature again later in the ride
Day 3 - Kyle of Sutherland to East Renfrewshire
Distance - 210km The biggie. Today we'd cover 130 miles, and go over Glen Coe. Due to the length of the stage they started setting people off from 6.30am, so when we formed up at 7am there were already plenty of people on the road. The weather had finally cleared up, and we had a fantastic view of Ben Nevis as we set out. Despite plans to take it easy, David decided we wanted a bit of clear road, so hauled us along at 20mph for a while, then we kept a steady pace until we reached the base of the Glen Coe ascent. once climbing we held a steady pace...to be honest the climb was nowhere near as bad as we expected...long but not overly steep (about 5-6% for those who understand such things). We reached the top, and were greeted with some fantastic views, and even better some amazing descents, which we took full advantage of...nothing quite like flying down a mountainside at 40mph! Next up was the banks of Lock Lomond...once again great views, and where we met up with the final member of the team (or "the Unit", as we referred to ourselves)- Toby - a lad from Edinburgh who was on home soil here
...I should probably do a bit of an aside here. Those who know me probably know I have a bit of the competitive spirit about me.one thing I learned during RAB was that as a pack of riders we were extremely strong...each person had a role they could play...David could haul us along for long periods at a very high pace, Chris and Stuart were good on hills, whereas I was good for bursts of speed, which was used for shaking free-riders off our tail. As we overtook people, we noticed that they would try to catch a free drag, though without offering to do any work...my job was to goto the front and put down 5km at a pace that was uncomfortable to live with, and "snap the elastic". This way we could keep the team at a manageable size. I should probably say now that while it wasn't a race, sometimes it certainly felt like one!
...anyhow, Toby was obviously a great rider, and cheerfully did stints at the front to help the pack, so we quickly invited him to join the Unit :-) As a full pack of 5 we quickly set to cleaning out a team of 10 who were trying to draft us, resulting in me hauling us down the banks of Loch Lomond at 22-23mph for a while.
The final part of the day was very, very tough...the outskirts of Glasgow consisted of a seies of sharp and steep valleys, where getting a rhythym going was impossible, and by then we had already ridden 100 miles. Getting into basecamp was a relief, and I had the first signs of knee pain at the end. A visit to the Physio (often referred to as Sue the Miracle Worker) revealed a tear to my right knee fascia, and binding on both quads (where the muscle sheath is sticking to the muscle, causing tearing). Neither were terminal, though the knee-tear would mean the rest of the ride would be on painkillers.
Next time...we'll actually get out of Scotland!
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
The Final Countdown (cue 80's big-hair music)
10 days until I fly out, and this will probably be the last blog I do before I head off...
I'm fairly certain at this point that I haven't trained enough. We received the route details a couple of weeks ago, and the amount of climbing is immense. The hardest day (day 3, Monday 15th June) will see us cycling 130 miles, and doing the equivalent of cycling up and down Snowdon 3 times. The next day is the same distance, but "only" up and down Snowdon 2½ times. My training has been mainly in the Thames valley, and while I've been hitting the available hills, over 100 miles I struggle to fit a single Snowdon equivalent in (I've decided that "a Snowdon" is now a viable unit of vertical measurement).
The bike gets packed off on Sunday, and I've going through the kit-lists and doing some last minute orders. The provisional weather forecasts are out for Scotland, and currently they are favouring "chilly and wet", though I'll take more notice middle of next week, when predictions will become a little more accurate. I fly out Friday morning from Southampton (with a stop-over in Edinburgh before heading onto Wick), and should arrive in John O'Groats mid-afternoon.
I did my last race on Sunday...an Olympic Triathlon over in Norfolk. Predictably my swim and run were sub-par (29 minutes and 47 minutes respectively, bringing me in mid-field), with the bike leg dragging me up to a semi-respectable 54th overall out of 200. I clocked an average speed of 22.5mph on the bike over 25 miles, though the course was fairly flat. My next race is at the end of June,l and it's a sprint distance...once JOGLE is out of the way I intend to do some work on the running, which is pretty pants right now. I reckon there is 6 minutes to gain in the run, and a minute on the swim.
While I'm cycling down the country I won't have access to a PC, so will be attmepting to run updates from my phone. A group of the more geeky of us are on Twitter, and will be using the tag #RAB10 . There will also be personalised oens based on our numbers, so I will also be using #RAB10-208. Expect photos, whining about sore legs/bum/feet, and if I'm particularly cunning video (though don't expect it to be exciting!)
I'll be back in the land of the living on the evening of Monday 21st June...hopefully. So long as I don't die or something silly like that...
I'm fairly certain at this point that I haven't trained enough. We received the route details a couple of weeks ago, and the amount of climbing is immense. The hardest day (day 3, Monday 15th June) will see us cycling 130 miles, and doing the equivalent of cycling up and down Snowdon 3 times. The next day is the same distance, but "only" up and down Snowdon 2½ times. My training has been mainly in the Thames valley, and while I've been hitting the available hills, over 100 miles I struggle to fit a single Snowdon equivalent in (I've decided that "a Snowdon" is now a viable unit of vertical measurement).
The bike gets packed off on Sunday, and I've going through the kit-lists and doing some last minute orders. The provisional weather forecasts are out for Scotland, and currently they are favouring "chilly and wet", though I'll take more notice middle of next week, when predictions will become a little more accurate. I fly out Friday morning from Southampton (with a stop-over in Edinburgh before heading onto Wick), and should arrive in John O'Groats mid-afternoon.
I did my last race on Sunday...an Olympic Triathlon over in Norfolk. Predictably my swim and run were sub-par (29 minutes and 47 minutes respectively, bringing me in mid-field), with the bike leg dragging me up to a semi-respectable 54th overall out of 200. I clocked an average speed of 22.5mph on the bike over 25 miles, though the course was fairly flat. My next race is at the end of June,l and it's a sprint distance...once JOGLE is out of the way I intend to do some work on the running, which is pretty pants right now. I reckon there is 6 minutes to gain in the run, and a minute on the swim.
While I'm cycling down the country I won't have access to a PC, so will be attmepting to run updates from my phone. A group of the more geeky of us are on Twitter, and will be using the tag #RAB10 . There will also be personalised oens based on our numbers, so I will also be using #RAB10-208. Expect photos, whining about sore legs/bum/feet, and if I'm particularly cunning video (though don't expect it to be exciting!)
I'll be back in the land of the living on the evening of Monday 21st June...hopefully. So long as I don't die or something silly like that...
Monday, 22 February 2010
Hard Graft
The snow seems to have held off a little in the past month, so I've been working on getting some mileage out of the bike. It's still been stupidly cold, and wet, and windy, so it's been a long way from pleasant, but it's important that I get myself moving now, so I don't suffer too much in June.
On the last weekend in January I did a training ride with Threshold. Really good day, and great confidence builder for me. There were about 50'ish riders there, and after a number of talks (Halfords, who are providing the machanical support, SIS, who are doing the 'sports nutrition' aka liquid carbohydrate, as well as a little bit from Chris Boardman and James Cracknell) we all kitted up for a ride in the cold, slightly icy West Berkshire countryside. I bit the bullet and put myself in the fast group, along with about 14 other brave souls. We were being led by a local lad, a 9-hour Ironman (which is a pretty awesome time), an SIS athlete and Cracknell himself. We very quickly managed to lose the lad who knew the route (he dropped back to help a straggler, and we missed a couple of key turnings), and found ourselves about 10 miles the wrong way, and on a main A-Road. After a bit of discussion and map-pointing we decided to head up towards Swindon, then cut back to the route. The A-Road managed to contain a fair percentage of arse-hole car/va/lorry drivers, most of who received cheery waves and verbal abuse (it would have been quite funny if one of them decided to stop...Cracknell is a big fella, and some of the other guys were well-built too, and I'm more than happy to kick when they are down), but we eventually found our way back on route, just in time for a monster 16% climb. If I'd known it was coming I would probably have failed it, but as it was I ground my way up, which was a huge mental hurdle beaten (I've previously died on 11%+ hills). We ended up going past the slower groups (who had cunningly not taken an enormous diversion), and most of our group ended up staying back with them, so at the end only 3 of the riders finished as the fast team, and I was really chuffed to be one of them. We covered about 70 miles in total, with just under a mile of vertical climb, and an average speed of 17mph.
Since then I've ben doing the mileage I can, averaging about 150 a week. I'd really like to see that moved upto about 250-300, and hopefully once the weather sorts itself out, and we get a bit more daylight I can work on making that happen. As the big countdown on my blog reminds me, it's now 110 days to go...all the transport is booked up, and it's really time to knuckle down and get the mileage in. In March I have a week off, and I plan to do 9 days of 50+ miles a day (about 3 hours in the saddle), to put in some hard work on recovery and fatigue management. Towards the end of March I have a weekend in Exmoor planned with a mate, and we are going to do laps of the UK Half Iron-Man course, with a goal of doing 100+ miles in a day, with about 3 miles of vertical elevation as some hardcore hill training.
When I'm not cycling, running or swimming, really enjoying being back into 40K. I've been going down to Spiky Club in Reading, and finding out that;
1) I suck at 40K
2) Tau are a really un-forgiving army to play
I have an impressive loss:win ratio at the moment...perfect in fact. I am un-non-beatable. as such I intend to start work on a second, and more forgiving army to help me learn the game... This time I'll be working on a Blood Angels army, as they have a new Codex out in April. I've picked up a job-lot of second hand miniatures, and planning to begin work on painting them sometime this week. What I really need is another dose of snow, as that gets me painting in double-time, however it does affect the training somewhat!
On the last weekend in January I did a training ride with Threshold. Really good day, and great confidence builder for me. There were about 50'ish riders there, and after a number of talks (Halfords, who are providing the machanical support, SIS, who are doing the 'sports nutrition' aka liquid carbohydrate, as well as a little bit from Chris Boardman and James Cracknell) we all kitted up for a ride in the cold, slightly icy West Berkshire countryside. I bit the bullet and put myself in the fast group, along with about 14 other brave souls. We were being led by a local lad, a 9-hour Ironman (which is a pretty awesome time), an SIS athlete and Cracknell himself. We very quickly managed to lose the lad who knew the route (he dropped back to help a straggler, and we missed a couple of key turnings), and found ourselves about 10 miles the wrong way, and on a main A-Road. After a bit of discussion and map-pointing we decided to head up towards Swindon, then cut back to the route. The A-Road managed to contain a fair percentage of arse-hole car/va/lorry drivers, most of who received cheery waves and verbal abuse (it would have been quite funny if one of them decided to stop...Cracknell is a big fella, and some of the other guys were well-built too, and I'm more than happy to kick when they are down), but we eventually found our way back on route, just in time for a monster 16% climb. If I'd known it was coming I would probably have failed it, but as it was I ground my way up, which was a huge mental hurdle beaten (I've previously died on 11%+ hills). We ended up going past the slower groups (who had cunningly not taken an enormous diversion), and most of our group ended up staying back with them, so at the end only 3 of the riders finished as the fast team, and I was really chuffed to be one of them. We covered about 70 miles in total, with just under a mile of vertical climb, and an average speed of 17mph.
Since then I've ben doing the mileage I can, averaging about 150 a week. I'd really like to see that moved upto about 250-300, and hopefully once the weather sorts itself out, and we get a bit more daylight I can work on making that happen. As the big countdown on my blog reminds me, it's now 110 days to go...all the transport is booked up, and it's really time to knuckle down and get the mileage in. In March I have a week off, and I plan to do 9 days of 50+ miles a day (about 3 hours in the saddle), to put in some hard work on recovery and fatigue management. Towards the end of March I have a weekend in Exmoor planned with a mate, and we are going to do laps of the UK Half Iron-Man course, with a goal of doing 100+ miles in a day, with about 3 miles of vertical elevation as some hardcore hill training.
When I'm not cycling, running or swimming, really enjoying being back into 40K. I've been going down to Spiky Club in Reading, and finding out that;
1) I suck at 40K
2) Tau are a really un-forgiving army to play
I have an impressive loss:win ratio at the moment...perfect in fact. I am un-non-beatable. as such I intend to start work on a second, and more forgiving army to help me learn the game... This time I'll be working on a Blood Angels army, as they have a new Codex out in April. I've picked up a job-lot of second hand miniatures, and planning to begin work on painting them sometime this week. What I really need is another dose of snow, as that gets me painting in double-time, however it does affect the training somewhat!
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Getting back into it...
It's been a tough month if you're keen to be outside training. We've had just shy of a foot of settled snow in Berkshire, combined with a shortage of grit meant pretty much impassable roads. The snow has left (for now), but it seems to have left behind some fairly epic potholes, and vast amounts of crud on the road in the way of stones, grit etc, so cycling contineus to be a challenge... The trainig plan has gone out of the window, and right now it's very much catch-up and mileage building again. I have a training ride this weekend (Sunday), and overall I'm expecting to break 100 miles that day...
As the countdown cheerfully reminds me every time I head here or the RAB2010 website, we are now over halfway through the training, with about 135 days left to go...faintly terrifying. To aid me in my constant terror that I'm not doing enough I have a new toy (Christmas present from Gill ) that lets me keep very accurate track of how little I'm doing, and how badly I am doing it. The stuff it kicks out can be seen here. It's way more accurate than the old phone stuff, and includes other funky data points like cadence and heart rate, which has already proved very useful in working out how I react to fatigue (I now have it bleeping warnings at me if my cadence goes below 80)
Quite aside from the training, there is also the sorting out of the logistics of getting to and from John O'Groats and Lands End. The trains run as far as Wick, which is about 20 miles from JOG, and can deal with (wait for it) about 16 cyclists a day, which would be an issue when you consider that roughtly 650-700 will be turning up. instead our bikes are being shipped up separately, and we make our own way. I've decided to fly, as most other options involved a 6-7 hour coach ride from Edinburgh or Aberdeen (I don't travel well, and I can't think of anything worse than violent travel sickness the day before setting off on a 1,000 mile cycle). I'll be heading to Southampton, flying to Wick via Edinburgh, and then taking teh shuttle bus to JOG. It's all booked, and ready to go, and again makes it all sem just round the corner now...
While this year the focus is going to be on cycling, I'm also going for a fair number of triathlons. Currently booked up are the Merchant Taylor Olympic tri in May, the Fritton Lake Olympic Tri (also in May), the London tri (in August, doing the extended bike ride to 80km), and the Vitruvian Half Iron-Man (in September...season finale I guess). On top of that I'm doing the Reading Half Marathon (March...probably going to be rubbish again), and I'm looking at teh Human Race Evening Sprint Triathlon series at Dorney Lake as well. There has been some mention of giving bike Time Trialling a go as well, as Reading has a fairly active cycle club, and it would give me an excuse to give the TT bike a showing.
So all in all a fairly manic year. I estimate last year I cycled approximately 5,000 miles... I would be shocked if I didn't top that by some margin this year. I also need to keep the running up (I need to be at least half-marathon fit throughout the summer, and into autumn) and also comfortable doing 2km+ swims in open water...so I could really do with the weather sorting itself out!
As the countdown cheerfully reminds me every time I head here or the RAB2010 website, we are now over halfway through the training, with about 135 days left to go...faintly terrifying. To aid me in my constant terror that I'm not doing enough I have a new toy (Christmas present from Gill ) that lets me keep very accurate track of how little I'm doing, and how badly I am doing it. The stuff it kicks out can be seen here. It's way more accurate than the old phone stuff, and includes other funky data points like cadence and heart rate, which has already proved very useful in working out how I react to fatigue (I now have it bleeping warnings at me if my cadence goes below 80)
Quite aside from the training, there is also the sorting out of the logistics of getting to and from John O'Groats and Lands End. The trains run as far as Wick, which is about 20 miles from JOG, and can deal with (wait for it) about 16 cyclists a day, which would be an issue when you consider that roughtly 650-700 will be turning up. instead our bikes are being shipped up separately, and we make our own way. I've decided to fly, as most other options involved a 6-7 hour coach ride from Edinburgh or Aberdeen (I don't travel well, and I can't think of anything worse than violent travel sickness the day before setting off on a 1,000 mile cycle). I'll be heading to Southampton, flying to Wick via Edinburgh, and then taking teh shuttle bus to JOG. It's all booked, and ready to go, and again makes it all sem just round the corner now...
While this year the focus is going to be on cycling, I'm also going for a fair number of triathlons. Currently booked up are the Merchant Taylor Olympic tri in May, the Fritton Lake Olympic Tri (also in May), the London tri (in August, doing the extended bike ride to 80km), and the Vitruvian Half Iron-Man (in September...season finale I guess). On top of that I'm doing the Reading Half Marathon (March...probably going to be rubbish again), and I'm looking at teh Human Race Evening Sprint Triathlon series at Dorney Lake as well. There has been some mention of giving bike Time Trialling a go as well, as Reading has a fairly active cycle club, and it would give me an excuse to give the TT bike a showing.
So all in all a fairly manic year. I estimate last year I cycled approximately 5,000 miles... I would be shocked if I didn't top that by some margin this year. I also need to keep the running up (I need to be at least half-marathon fit throughout the summer, and into autumn) and also comfortable doing 2km+ swims in open water...so I could really do with the weather sorting itself out!
Monday, 14 December 2009
The last post (of the year)
Well, it probably will be...I doubt I'll be organised enough to do another one this close to the end of the year.
So what have I been upto? For a change we'll start with non-exercise related stuff. I finally finished painting my copy of Space Hulk (images here on BGG ). In the most part really enjoyed doing the painting again...the dipping method is really very effective, and you get very good results for comparatively little time investment. It's inspired me to take on a larger painting project, this time a Warhammer 40K army, and I've decided on the Tau. Many moons ago I used to play Space Marines, so I thought I should go for something a little different. Elves/Eldar are "the ghey", Necrons are just a bit silly, Imperial Guard, though thematically great, are a little shit (possibly my next project though) and Chaos never really appealed to me. Tau as an army have a nice strong theme, and their play style is nicely focused...good strong points and weak points. I also think that they will suit the dipping technique perfectly. I've spent the last few weeks on eBay hoovering up squads, and I'm now at the point of assembling the minis, with a target of commencing an industrial painting operation over Christmas and the New Year...
Speaking of 40K, last weekend was a Fishcon, where we make a pilgrimmage to Norfolk, invade Fish's country house with a selection of PC's, and spend 60 hours beating the crap out of each other virtually. This time we spent a long time playing Dawn of War, an RTS based on Warhammer 40K. It's probably the first RTS I've actually enjoyed, as it delivers on massive firefights, and proper squad-based shenanigans, rather than the normal RTS result I see of snakes of units coming out of a factory... The rather less cerebral Left 4 Dead 2 also got some heavy play-time, being perfectly suited to a 'con (apart from the glaring omission of a LAN-based interface...all set-up has to be done via archaic console commands...). Great weekend, I really enjoyed it...
...however it does bring us back to the ugly spectre of fitness. As I've probably bleated on about before, I'm still training for Ride Across Britain. Normally weekends are taken up with long cycle rides in the rolling hills of West Berkshire, so to appease the guilt of sitting down and having no sleep for 3 days for Fishcon I decided to Yin the Yang, and cycle there. On paper it seemed fairly realistic to accomplish. A fairly simple route around London clocked in at about 170-180 miles, so if I stopped halfway at a B&B that would mean about 80-90 miles a day, which seemed emininently achieveable... what follows is a lesson in planning, and the lack-of therewithin.
I mapped a fairly high-level route, which consisted almost entirely of a list of major towns I had to pass through. For day 1 this read "Reading - Henley - High Wycombe - Hemel Hempstead - Stevenage - Cambridge" I booked a B&B in Cambridge for my overnight stop... Simple! I would simply cycle to one, then using my phone GPS pick a rough trajectory, and repeating this technique pick my way around the north-western corner of London. this looked great in theory, and I set off bright and early on the Thursday morning, well wrapped up against the cold and rain, with a rucksac with spare clothes, a lock and a plentiful supply of Torq bars and gels, while cunningly leaving my water bottles on the windowsill. I knew the route from Reading to High Wycombe, so made good time, even on the outskirts of the Chiltern Hills. I had never cycled to High Wycombe itself before, and very quickly discovered that it is remarkably well-named, though it doesn't mention it's general steepness as well. My average speed nose-dived, and at this point the rain really kicked off, and didn't leave again all day. I struggled through the Chilterns, reached Hemel Hempstead, and then struggled for 20 minutes to re-attach my chain after an impressive double-loop squeezed through the front gear-mech...
...and then I hit the Bedfordshire Downs...more bloody hills, and due to the general weather conditions I couldn't even really enjoy the downhill sections, as they were too steep to free-wheel, and corners were accidents waiting to happen. I continued to plod across the country until reaching the M1/A1, at which point I planned to head northwards to avoid major trunk roads, before crossing over to Cambridge. It was about 2pm at this point, and I reckoned on at least another 2 hours in the saddle, bringing up a concern over remaining daylight hours (mental note...December "days" are only about 7 hours long...). By the time I reached Hitchen I was pretty low on morale. My legs were frozen from the incessant rain and cold, and I had real concerns about a final run into Cambridge in the dark. Then my GPS died... Of course being as well planned as I was there was no backup navigation system, and after a (pretty feeble) attempt to get it working again I turned back to Hitchen, and headed to the train station to grab the next ride to Cambridge. The phone came back to life (it was probably the cold that killed it, though it was running Google Latitude, Nokia Sports Tracker and Google Maps, which in retrospect was not that wise), and I made my way sheepishly to the B&B to recover. I'd covered about 120km (80'ish miles), and reckoned I had about 30 or so to go when I stopped.
A hot shower, some junk food and half an hour leaning on a radiator watching crap TV and I was able to re-assess the situation. Physically I was fine. No aches or pains, plenty of energy and no injuries. I had simply been beaten by the weather, lack of daylight, and a lack of planning. I spent most of the evening working out a turn-by-turn route for the next day across Suffolk and Norfolk, as well as turning off most of the toys on my phone to preserve battery life, before collapsing asleep.
The next day, in comaprison to the first, was a complete doddle. I left the B&B at first light, and headed out of Cambridge on it's wide and generous cycle paths towards Newmarket. Half of the route was on cycle paths, the other half on a quiet A-road. Once past Newmarket I had proper country lanes and National Cycle Network routes all the way to the Norfolk Broads. The weather, as if in apology for Thursday, was dry, calm and sunny (though not especially warm far better than the day before...). The hills were behind me, and while it wasn't flat they were rollers, not cliffs. Having the planned route meant I never hit another A-Road, and very rarely even saw cars. Instead I had really rather pleasant roads around farmland, and small villages with 3 houses... I ended up racking up 130km, arriving at the Mill about 2.30pm, feeling rather cheerful.
I'd decided Thursday night that the return journey was probably not achieveable...given I ran out of time the "easy" way (with a tailwind), heading back would be even slower, and there was a 10-mile section between Henley and High Wycombe which was a major trunk road...scary enough in daylight, but terminal in the dark, and during a rush hour. With the aid of Gill I worked out a route using trains that would be fairly pain-free, howeverMr.Dr. (though it's not like he could actually help you if you were bleeding to death...) Rob Lang went above and beyond all calls of duty, and drove halfway across the country to pick me and my bike up, before taxi'ing me back to Reading. Sterling work, and much appreciated, especially in the torrential downpour that occured.
All in all it was a good experience, and I'm glad I gave it a go. Perhaps next time I won't try such idiocy in December in the UK, and perhaps I may plan my route a little more thoroughly. It makes me very glad that when I go down the country in June someone else is doing the navigation and logistics, and there will be dedicated bike engineers with us. I'm also glad I won't be alone, as if the roads are not with you there is nothing worse than having no-one to pull you along. Other people may not be able to help you, but at least they can suffer with you!
My next blog post will probably be the New Years Resolutions one...expect it to include a lot of cycling, swimming, running and triathlon-related hijinks...
So what have I been upto? For a change we'll start with non-exercise related stuff. I finally finished painting my copy of Space Hulk (images here on BGG ). In the most part really enjoyed doing the painting again...the dipping method is really very effective, and you get very good results for comparatively little time investment. It's inspired me to take on a larger painting project, this time a Warhammer 40K army, and I've decided on the Tau. Many moons ago I used to play Space Marines, so I thought I should go for something a little different. Elves/Eldar are "the ghey", Necrons are just a bit silly, Imperial Guard, though thematically great, are a little shit (possibly my next project though) and Chaos never really appealed to me. Tau as an army have a nice strong theme, and their play style is nicely focused...good strong points and weak points. I also think that they will suit the dipping technique perfectly. I've spent the last few weeks on eBay hoovering up squads, and I'm now at the point of assembling the minis, with a target of commencing an industrial painting operation over Christmas and the New Year...
Speaking of 40K, last weekend was a Fishcon, where we make a pilgrimmage to Norfolk, invade Fish's country house with a selection of PC's, and spend 60 hours beating the crap out of each other virtually. This time we spent a long time playing Dawn of War, an RTS based on Warhammer 40K. It's probably the first RTS I've actually enjoyed, as it delivers on massive firefights, and proper squad-based shenanigans, rather than the normal RTS result I see of snakes of units coming out of a factory... The rather less cerebral Left 4 Dead 2 also got some heavy play-time, being perfectly suited to a 'con (apart from the glaring omission of a LAN-based interface...all set-up has to be done via archaic console commands...). Great weekend, I really enjoyed it...
...however it does bring us back to the ugly spectre of fitness. As I've probably bleated on about before, I'm still training for Ride Across Britain. Normally weekends are taken up with long cycle rides in the rolling hills of West Berkshire, so to appease the guilt of sitting down and having no sleep for 3 days for Fishcon I decided to Yin the Yang, and cycle there. On paper it seemed fairly realistic to accomplish. A fairly simple route around London clocked in at about 170-180 miles, so if I stopped halfway at a B&B that would mean about 80-90 miles a day, which seemed emininently achieveable... what follows is a lesson in planning, and the lack-of therewithin.
I mapped a fairly high-level route, which consisted almost entirely of a list of major towns I had to pass through. For day 1 this read "Reading - Henley - High Wycombe - Hemel Hempstead - Stevenage - Cambridge" I booked a B&B in Cambridge for my overnight stop... Simple! I would simply cycle to one, then using my phone GPS pick a rough trajectory, and repeating this technique pick my way around the north-western corner of London. this looked great in theory, and I set off bright and early on the Thursday morning, well wrapped up against the cold and rain, with a rucksac with spare clothes, a lock and a plentiful supply of Torq bars and gels, while cunningly leaving my water bottles on the windowsill. I knew the route from Reading to High Wycombe, so made good time, even on the outskirts of the Chiltern Hills. I had never cycled to High Wycombe itself before, and very quickly discovered that it is remarkably well-named, though it doesn't mention it's general steepness as well. My average speed nose-dived, and at this point the rain really kicked off, and didn't leave again all day. I struggled through the Chilterns, reached Hemel Hempstead, and then struggled for 20 minutes to re-attach my chain after an impressive double-loop squeezed through the front gear-mech...
...and then I hit the Bedfordshire Downs...more bloody hills, and due to the general weather conditions I couldn't even really enjoy the downhill sections, as they were too steep to free-wheel, and corners were accidents waiting to happen. I continued to plod across the country until reaching the M1/A1, at which point I planned to head northwards to avoid major trunk roads, before crossing over to Cambridge. It was about 2pm at this point, and I reckoned on at least another 2 hours in the saddle, bringing up a concern over remaining daylight hours (mental note...December "days" are only about 7 hours long...). By the time I reached Hitchen I was pretty low on morale. My legs were frozen from the incessant rain and cold, and I had real concerns about a final run into Cambridge in the dark. Then my GPS died... Of course being as well planned as I was there was no backup navigation system, and after a (pretty feeble) attempt to get it working again I turned back to Hitchen, and headed to the train station to grab the next ride to Cambridge. The phone came back to life (it was probably the cold that killed it, though it was running Google Latitude, Nokia Sports Tracker and Google Maps, which in retrospect was not that wise), and I made my way sheepishly to the B&B to recover. I'd covered about 120km (80'ish miles), and reckoned I had about 30 or so to go when I stopped.
A hot shower, some junk food and half an hour leaning on a radiator watching crap TV and I was able to re-assess the situation. Physically I was fine. No aches or pains, plenty of energy and no injuries. I had simply been beaten by the weather, lack of daylight, and a lack of planning. I spent most of the evening working out a turn-by-turn route for the next day across Suffolk and Norfolk, as well as turning off most of the toys on my phone to preserve battery life, before collapsing asleep.
The next day, in comaprison to the first, was a complete doddle. I left the B&B at first light, and headed out of Cambridge on it's wide and generous cycle paths towards Newmarket. Half of the route was on cycle paths, the other half on a quiet A-road. Once past Newmarket I had proper country lanes and National Cycle Network routes all the way to the Norfolk Broads. The weather, as if in apology for Thursday, was dry, calm and sunny (though not especially warm far better than the day before...). The hills were behind me, and while it wasn't flat they were rollers, not cliffs. Having the planned route meant I never hit another A-Road, and very rarely even saw cars. Instead I had really rather pleasant roads around farmland, and small villages with 3 houses... I ended up racking up 130km, arriving at the Mill about 2.30pm, feeling rather cheerful.
I'd decided Thursday night that the return journey was probably not achieveable...given I ran out of time the "easy" way (with a tailwind), heading back would be even slower, and there was a 10-mile section between Henley and High Wycombe which was a major trunk road...scary enough in daylight, but terminal in the dark, and during a rush hour. With the aid of Gill I worked out a route using trains that would be fairly pain-free, however
All in all it was a good experience, and I'm glad I gave it a go. Perhaps next time I won't try such idiocy in December in the UK, and perhaps I may plan my route a little more thoroughly. It makes me very glad that when I go down the country in June someone else is doing the navigation and logistics, and there will be dedicated bike engineers with us. I'm also glad I won't be alone, as if the roads are not with you there is nothing worse than having no-one to pull you along. Other people may not be able to help you, but at least they can suffer with you!
My next blog post will probably be the New Years Resolutions one...expect it to include a lot of cycling, swimming, running and triathlon-related hijinks...
Monday, 9 November 2009
4 Months of Improvement...
In August I did my first 100-mile cycle, and it very nearly broke me. I suffered horrendous saddle sore, had a huge calorie deficit, and pushed my knee over into injury...it really wasn't pleasant. I'd quite obviously ramped up my distance far too quickly.
Yesterday I did 100 miles again, and coped far, far better. It was a combination of factors...partly I have strengthened up my legs, and had continual physio and massage work on my legs to keep injuries from settling in. I also approached the entire day far better, by keeping a far closer track of how I was feeling, and managing any needs. I was taking part in the first training day for Ride Across Britain. Due to the utter in-eptitude of the rail system I couldn't take my bike to Hungerford (about 25 miles away) on the train, so decided instead to cycle there and back. The weather was overcast, witha level of humidity that constantly threatened, but never quite delivered rain. I started the day with a steady session along the A4 to Hungerford...the lack of geography meant that I was able to settle into a good rhythym. I arrived at Threshold Sports, the people running RAB. They pretty much nailed all my requirements by welcoming me with hot tea and chocolate cake!
Once everyone had arrived (about 40 people were there), we all headed upstairs to slouch around on beanbags for a talk from Prof. Greg Whyte, where he covered some of the main challenges we were going to face. It was good stuff, and there were some real eye-openers to what can happen if you let a problem lie too long before you fix it. 1997 Ironman Womens Finish...this is either hilarious, or horrendous, and I'm still not sure which, but as a result of it I'm sure as hell going to make sure I keep myself well fed and watered.
We then had a quick chat from Mike Veal of Bike Dynamics, where he quickly covered the basics of bike setup...he was a man much in demand, and he stayed behind after the ride later to get people on a turbo, and do some basic adustment. I had a 10-minute session with him, and a couple of tweaks to saddle position later and I'm feeling a little smoother rolling along.
For the ride itself we were split into 3 groups roughly based on claimed abilities from phone calls over the last week. I'd obviously said something bad, as I'd been put in with the experienced riders. We started with a group of 14, led out by a pleasant chap called Tim. The route was a 19-mile circuit around West Berkshire...no big hills, but plenty of undulations, and the wet weather and leaves made some sections "interesting". We set off at about 16mph average, which is well with my ability levels, and for the most part stuck together (a couple fell off the back, however there were chaperones with each group, so they formed a new group behind us). This was my first experience of group riding, and it's going to take a little getting used to. On the plus side sitting in a group saves a huge amount of energy. At the end of the second lap Tim said we could fit in a 3rd, but the pace would have to go up...he reckoned about 18mph. I was feeling pretty good at this point... I'd been keeping topped up on gels and bars, and had also remembered to drink occasionally!, and again 18mph is within my pace. Five of us went for the 3rd lap, with the others heading back to base. Throughout the 3rd lap we started to fragment, and I'm pleased, and fairly relieved, to say that I didn't drop back. Eventually 3 of us finished on pace, with Tim dropping back to bring in the stragglers. I was really pleased with my performance...I kept up with far more experienced riders, and the work I've put in on hills paid off, as on the rolling sections I was keeping good pace, and not burning energy pointlessly.
After the ride we had a de-brief (which involved more cake for me), and then I had the 25 miles back along the A4 to do, and to add fun in it was getting dark. I have some decent lights (on both the helmet and the bike), so I prepped the bike and headed off. As I came into Newbury I started to feel fatigued. Normally I would have pushed on, and maybe taken a break once I was out the other side of Newbury, however taking Prof. Whyte's words into account I pulled over, had a food bar and a good amount of drink, and gave myself a 5-minute break...once I started up again my energy was back, and I was able to tap out a good rhythym back to Reading and home.
Really enjoyed the day...great to meet other RAB'bers, and was also good to crack out 100 miles without feeling like death the next day, and with no noticeable pain. It's still a long way to go to being able to do 115 miles a day for 9 days, but yesterday was a good milestone to hit...
Yesterday I did 100 miles again, and coped far, far better. It was a combination of factors...partly I have strengthened up my legs, and had continual physio and massage work on my legs to keep injuries from settling in. I also approached the entire day far better, by keeping a far closer track of how I was feeling, and managing any needs. I was taking part in the first training day for Ride Across Britain. Due to the utter in-eptitude of the rail system I couldn't take my bike to Hungerford (about 25 miles away) on the train, so decided instead to cycle there and back. The weather was overcast, witha level of humidity that constantly threatened, but never quite delivered rain. I started the day with a steady session along the A4 to Hungerford...the lack of geography meant that I was able to settle into a good rhythym. I arrived at Threshold Sports, the people running RAB. They pretty much nailed all my requirements by welcoming me with hot tea and chocolate cake!
Once everyone had arrived (about 40 people were there), we all headed upstairs to slouch around on beanbags for a talk from Prof. Greg Whyte, where he covered some of the main challenges we were going to face. It was good stuff, and there were some real eye-openers to what can happen if you let a problem lie too long before you fix it. 1997 Ironman Womens Finish...this is either hilarious, or horrendous, and I'm still not sure which, but as a result of it I'm sure as hell going to make sure I keep myself well fed and watered.
We then had a quick chat from Mike Veal of Bike Dynamics, where he quickly covered the basics of bike setup...he was a man much in demand, and he stayed behind after the ride later to get people on a turbo, and do some basic adustment. I had a 10-minute session with him, and a couple of tweaks to saddle position later and I'm feeling a little smoother rolling along.
For the ride itself we were split into 3 groups roughly based on claimed abilities from phone calls over the last week. I'd obviously said something bad, as I'd been put in with the experienced riders. We started with a group of 14, led out by a pleasant chap called Tim. The route was a 19-mile circuit around West Berkshire...no big hills, but plenty of undulations, and the wet weather and leaves made some sections "interesting". We set off at about 16mph average, which is well with my ability levels, and for the most part stuck together (a couple fell off the back, however there were chaperones with each group, so they formed a new group behind us). This was my first experience of group riding, and it's going to take a little getting used to. On the plus side sitting in a group saves a huge amount of energy. At the end of the second lap Tim said we could fit in a 3rd, but the pace would have to go up...he reckoned about 18mph. I was feeling pretty good at this point... I'd been keeping topped up on gels and bars, and had also remembered to drink occasionally!, and again 18mph is within my pace. Five of us went for the 3rd lap, with the others heading back to base. Throughout the 3rd lap we started to fragment, and I'm pleased, and fairly relieved, to say that I didn't drop back. Eventually 3 of us finished on pace, with Tim dropping back to bring in the stragglers. I was really pleased with my performance...I kept up with far more experienced riders, and the work I've put in on hills paid off, as on the rolling sections I was keeping good pace, and not burning energy pointlessly.
After the ride we had a de-brief (which involved more cake for me), and then I had the 25 miles back along the A4 to do, and to add fun in it was getting dark. I have some decent lights (on both the helmet and the bike), so I prepped the bike and headed off. As I came into Newbury I started to feel fatigued. Normally I would have pushed on, and maybe taken a break once I was out the other side of Newbury, however taking Prof. Whyte's words into account I pulled over, had a food bar and a good amount of drink, and gave myself a 5-minute break...once I started up again my energy was back, and I was able to tap out a good rhythym back to Reading and home.
Really enjoyed the day...great to meet other RAB'bers, and was also good to crack out 100 miles without feeling like death the next day, and with no noticeable pain. It's still a long way to go to being able to do 115 miles a day for 9 days, but yesterday was a good milestone to hit...
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
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;
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)
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)
Friday, 2 October 2009
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!
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!
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Getting braced...
This week I received my training plan for RAB 2010... Well, actually I got 3, for varying levels of ability. You were given a brief questionnaire to determine which training level you were;
It's starting to hit home just how far JOGLE (the nickname for John O'Groats to Lands End) is...this week I clocked up 2,000 miles cycling in the last 6 months...by comparison JOGLE is 1008 miles, and I'll be doing that in 9 days...previously it's taken 3 months! I've set myself an arbitary goal of doing the cycling bit in 60 hours, which equates to just under 17mph average, and about 6½ hours a day cycling. I'm already starting to think that I might be way too optimistic there. To add fun into the factor we'll be going north-to-south, which is against the prevailing winds in June.
I'm determined to stick close to the training plan... on a day-by-day basis items will need to be shuffled, however I'm looking to stick to the weekly targets, and use it as motivation to haul my ass off the sofa and get the miles in. In true geek fashion I've added a countdown and training agenda to my blog...it won't help any, but it should make me feel guilty whenever I see it...
Aside from the training, I will also need to sort out kit. I'm going to the CycleShow in a couple of weeks, and hoping to pick up some new shorts, tops, and also try out some saddles, looking for one that doesn't turn into a razor blade after 3 hours. I have a cunning plan that involves transplanting the aero wheels from my TT bike onto my road bike for the actual event, though I'm still half-tempted to upgrade the road-bike, as I only have 14 gears on the current one, and the 20 on the TT bike are a real blessing... Might be tricky convincing Gill on the sense behind that one...
- Enthusiast - What's a bicycle?
- Club - Has ridden a bike on occasion
- Pro - My name is Bradley Wiggins, and I display god-like powers on 2 wheels
It's starting to hit home just how far JOGLE (the nickname for John O'Groats to Lands End) is...this week I clocked up 2,000 miles cycling in the last 6 months...by comparison JOGLE is 1008 miles, and I'll be doing that in 9 days...previously it's taken 3 months! I've set myself an arbitary goal of doing the cycling bit in 60 hours, which equates to just under 17mph average, and about 6½ hours a day cycling. I'm already starting to think that I might be way too optimistic there. To add fun into the factor we'll be going north-to-south, which is against the prevailing winds in June.
I'm determined to stick close to the training plan... on a day-by-day basis items will need to be shuffled, however I'm looking to stick to the weekly targets, and use it as motivation to haul my ass off the sofa and get the miles in. In true geek fashion I've added a countdown and training agenda to my blog...it won't help any, but it should make me feel guilty whenever I see it...
Aside from the training, I will also need to sort out kit. I'm going to the CycleShow in a couple of weeks, and hoping to pick up some new shorts, tops, and also try out some saddles, looking for one that doesn't turn into a razor blade after 3 hours. I have a cunning plan that involves transplanting the aero wheels from my TT bike onto my road bike for the actual event, though I'm still half-tempted to upgrade the road-bike, as I only have 14 gears on the current one, and the 20 on the TT bike are a real blessing... Might be tricky convincing Gill on the sense behind that one...
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