Monday meant flying to places foreign, my hotel had a gym so I was able to cycle for 27 km on the staic bike, plus a bit of a work out.
Friday the family were off to the brother-in-laws' just outside Basingstoke. The wife was kind enough to look after the kids and bring drive them over, whilst I rode via Farnham and Winchester on a 67 mile trip.
The wind was strong and gusty, I not sure why but it seemed that I was always cycling into the wind. Just outside Winchester whilst going entering a roundabout going straight over a complete idiot decided to turn left from the right hand lane at high speed, cutting me up and very nearly killing me. To be honest I don't think he even saw me. I certainly callled him a few names as he sped off into the distance. The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful, however I have to say that the A31 is a must nicer road to cyle down than the A33 which just seemed to be a series of hills and valleys. Still arrived only half an hour after the rest of the family and just ahead of the rain.
I had planned to do a long ride to the coast and back with Rich and e on Sunday, but the snow stopped that. So e and I agreed to go out on Monday morning nice and early. We did my 50+ mile route with the hills and made very good time. With the benefit of e's flashy Garmin computer we also found out that on the ride our total ascents was over 1,000m. The final ascent up to Newlands corner was my best ride up that particular hill so it looks like the gym sessions are having a positive impact.
Thursday 27 March 2008
Monday 17 March 2008
Diary Week 9
I knew was travelling this week and so was commited to get a turbo session in on Tuesday.
Wednesday's gym session went well with my new programme. Hopefully this will help to build up the strength in my legs and shoulders to complement the endurance training from all the rides.
Thursday up at stupid o'clock to catch my flight to Germany. The meetings went well and got back to the airport in plenty of time for my return flight. I had already checked in and so went straight to the long security queue. Whilst waiting get a text from BA - flight cancelled!!
Some idiot decided to run across the runway at Heathrow. So after much mucking about and siting in waiting lounges and on planes finally got home 3 hours late at 11pm.
Friday up at just after stupid o'clock for another journey to meetings. Again these went well and this time I got home in the afternoon so got to see the kids plus the wife (hurray!!)
Saturday started at 6am, breakfast plus supplements and then out on the bike to meet the rest of the team at 7am. Everyone was ready and we were soon on our way. I thought that we were in for a boring time as we had just planned to go down the A31 to Winchester and back plus a few local miles around Guildford. As it happens I really enjoyed it. For the first time we started to ride like a team and the "chain-gang" practice was excellent. The miles just flew by. Overall we averaged 16.5miles which was really good going as we had a couple of team talk stops plus a puncture (Simon not Iain this time!!).
At one point I decided to take the lead and accelerated without changing gear. At the next stop the boys were joking about my legs going round in a "blur". I have just checked my ride computer and my maximum cadence was 174!!!! Perhaps a world record!
We also had a chance to chat about our fundraising progress (the whole reason for the ride). The subject of Alan Shearer and Adrian Chiles bikeride for sport relief came up. We all agreed that they had done a fantastic job, perhaps now they are warmed up they would like to join us on a "proper" bike ride!! ;-) If Alan or Adrian read this please contact any of the team we would love to have you join.
Wednesday's gym session went well with my new programme. Hopefully this will help to build up the strength in my legs and shoulders to complement the endurance training from all the rides.
Thursday up at stupid o'clock to catch my flight to Germany. The meetings went well and got back to the airport in plenty of time for my return flight. I had already checked in and so went straight to the long security queue. Whilst waiting get a text from BA - flight cancelled!!
Some idiot decided to run across the runway at Heathrow. So after much mucking about and siting in waiting lounges and on planes finally got home 3 hours late at 11pm.
Friday up at just after stupid o'clock for another journey to meetings. Again these went well and this time I got home in the afternoon so got to see the kids plus the wife (hurray!!)
Saturday started at 6am, breakfast plus supplements and then out on the bike to meet the rest of the team at 7am. Everyone was ready and we were soon on our way. I thought that we were in for a boring time as we had just planned to go down the A31 to Winchester and back plus a few local miles around Guildford. As it happens I really enjoyed it. For the first time we started to ride like a team and the "chain-gang" practice was excellent. The miles just flew by. Overall we averaged 16.5miles which was really good going as we had a couple of team talk stops plus a puncture (Simon not Iain this time!!).
At one point I decided to take the lead and accelerated without changing gear. At the next stop the boys were joking about my legs going round in a "blur". I have just checked my ride computer and my maximum cadence was 174!!!! Perhaps a world record!
We also had a chance to chat about our fundraising progress (the whole reason for the ride). The subject of Alan Shearer and Adrian Chiles bikeride for sport relief came up. We all agreed that they had done a fantastic job, perhaps now they are warmed up they would like to join us on a "proper" bike ride!! ;-) If Alan or Adrian read this please contact any of the team we would love to have you join.
Wednesday 5 March 2008
Diary Week 8
Tuesday I was not feeling up for turbo training but felt that I should go for it.
Got really fed up with the squeaking seat so ended up taking the seat completely apart, still didn't solve it. I moved the seat back a bit still no good, so I think I am going to take it apart again and insert some tape to try to stop the squeaking - I have a plan, lets hope it works.
As the mucking about with the seat took so long and I started late I decided to really go for the turbo training and use the "big cog". Big mistake!!
After about ten minute I noticed little specks on black on the floor, it was then that I noticed that I had been wearing down my tyre!!! So I cleared up the mess and went to bed. Fortunately I only wore down about a 3-4mm band so hopefully the tyre will be OK. I will keep an eye on it.
Wednesday the wife and I had our weekly gym session. I got my new programme focused on my cycling. The work out is leg and shoulder based so it will be interesting to see how it improves my performance.
Thursday I was in a much better place mentally than Tuesday. I got home from work in good time and managed to investigate my seat and put felt between all the bits of metal. It did not improve the situation. Anyway I still did 70 minutes on the turbo (on the small cog!) and felt really good at the end of it.
This weekend Rich-mate and his lad were coming round Saturday morning so I could only do a relatively short ride. I sussed out a route which let me get in some good hills and approx. 50 miles. I set off at 6.30 with my backpack on with extra water. The route was excellent, with tough ascents earlier on and then rolling hills later on. I decided to use my "big cog" whenever appropriate whilst maintaining y cadence above 90. I even managed to overtake a couple of other cyclists - which is a first for me! I managed to get back before 10am averaging 15.5 miles an hour, just in time for Rich-mate. The kids had a lovely time and it was great to catch up with Rich. He also brought round some kit for me to borrow which has already proven to be useful and he gave some great advice on training and the potential problem with my saddle - the cause of my squeak!!
Sunday morning I had to change the flat tyre on the wife's car. The tool provided with the car was worse than useless, so I ended up going shopping for a decent wrench. I found a great one In B&Q and dropped into Halfords to get some Teflon based lubricant - thanks for advice Rich and managed to also pick up an large bottle plus extra cage for a a couple of quid - excellent value for money. In the afternoon I did the same route, this time without my backpack, but the road was wet. It thought I was going faster but I actually averaged 15.3 miles an hour!
Got really fed up with the squeaking seat so ended up taking the seat completely apart, still didn't solve it. I moved the seat back a bit still no good, so I think I am going to take it apart again and insert some tape to try to stop the squeaking - I have a plan, lets hope it works.
As the mucking about with the seat took so long and I started late I decided to really go for the turbo training and use the "big cog". Big mistake!!
After about ten minute I noticed little specks on black on the floor, it was then that I noticed that I had been wearing down my tyre!!! So I cleared up the mess and went to bed. Fortunately I only wore down about a 3-4mm band so hopefully the tyre will be OK. I will keep an eye on it.
Wednesday the wife and I had our weekly gym session. I got my new programme focused on my cycling. The work out is leg and shoulder based so it will be interesting to see how it improves my performance.
Thursday I was in a much better place mentally than Tuesday. I got home from work in good time and managed to investigate my seat and put felt between all the bits of metal. It did not improve the situation. Anyway I still did 70 minutes on the turbo (on the small cog!) and felt really good at the end of it.
This weekend Rich-mate and his lad were coming round Saturday morning so I could only do a relatively short ride. I sussed out a route which let me get in some good hills and approx. 50 miles. I set off at 6.30 with my backpack on with extra water. The route was excellent, with tough ascents earlier on and then rolling hills later on. I decided to use my "big cog" whenever appropriate whilst maintaining y cadence above 90. I even managed to overtake a couple of other cyclists - which is a first for me! I managed to get back before 10am averaging 15.5 miles an hour, just in time for Rich-mate. The kids had a lovely time and it was great to catch up with Rich. He also brought round some kit for me to borrow which has already proven to be useful and he gave some great advice on training and the potential problem with my saddle - the cause of my squeak!!
Sunday morning I had to change the flat tyre on the wife's car. The tool provided with the car was worse than useless, so I ended up going shopping for a decent wrench. I found a great one In B&Q and dropped into Halfords to get some Teflon based lubricant - thanks for advice Rich and managed to also pick up an large bottle plus extra cage for a a couple of quid - excellent value for money. In the afternoon I did the same route, this time without my backpack, but the road was wet. It thought I was going faster but I actually averaged 15.3 miles an hour!
Monday 3 March 2008
Diary week 7
Monday was a rest day, but on Tuesday I managed to get just over an hour on the turbo trainer.
On Wedensday the wife and I had our weekly gym session, I need to get more specific about my exercise regime and so next week I will be getting a new program specifically design to complement my cycling training.
Saturady was an early start, I was on my bike just before 6.30 and at e's before 7. Unfortunately e was not quite ready so we did not get on the road until just after 7. He had organised the route. All was going well, we were making good time and decided to stop at 9am at Wisborough Green. Even with the strong wind we were making excellent progress. Things started to go wrong at this point as e's managed to run over a drawing pin and so we spent 20 minutes changing the tyre. We also proved that you need to know how to work the CO2 canaster before trying on a ride, still the hand pump worked well. We set off and after an hour e was struggling. He had eaten some malt loaf instead of a power bar during our stop and clearly he was not getting the energy he required. We stopped again and had another power bar each. This seemed to do the trick and e was soon back at full strength. Unfortunately the impact of the various delays meant I was going to be late getting home which would be a big problem for the wife.
Fortuanately we had the wind to our backs and once on to the A31 we used our big cogs, and manged to get from Alton to Guildford in under an hour and I was only 15 minutes late, giving me enough time to have quick shower before taking the kids to their swimming lesson (with sandwiches from the wife to keep me going ;-) )
Overall with the extra to and from e's I managed to do 95 miles. I have to say I found the 95 miles much harder than the 100 miles the prevous week. Although I really enjoyed cruising at 23 miles an hour using the big cog. I guess we all need to pray for a south westerly wind to help us on our way (and no drawing pins!!)
I am starting to get concerned that although I am ahead of the training programme on the individual longest rides but I am not keeping up with the overall weekly total. Hopefully I can rectify the situation once the clocks change and I am able to cycle to/from work and it the evenings.
On Wedensday the wife and I had our weekly gym session, I need to get more specific about my exercise regime and so next week I will be getting a new program specifically design to complement my cycling training.
Saturady was an early start, I was on my bike just before 6.30 and at e's before 7. Unfortunately e was not quite ready so we did not get on the road until just after 7. He had organised the route. All was going well, we were making good time and decided to stop at 9am at Wisborough Green. Even with the strong wind we were making excellent progress. Things started to go wrong at this point as e's managed to run over a drawing pin and so we spent 20 minutes changing the tyre. We also proved that you need to know how to work the CO2 canaster before trying on a ride, still the hand pump worked well. We set off and after an hour e was struggling. He had eaten some malt loaf instead of a power bar during our stop and clearly he was not getting the energy he required. We stopped again and had another power bar each. This seemed to do the trick and e was soon back at full strength. Unfortunately the impact of the various delays meant I was going to be late getting home which would be a big problem for the wife.
Fortuanately we had the wind to our backs and once on to the A31 we used our big cogs, and manged to get from Alton to Guildford in under an hour and I was only 15 minutes late, giving me enough time to have quick shower before taking the kids to their swimming lesson (with sandwiches from the wife to keep me going ;-) )
Overall with the extra to and from e's I managed to do 95 miles. I have to say I found the 95 miles much harder than the 100 miles the prevous week. Although I really enjoyed cruising at 23 miles an hour using the big cog. I guess we all need to pray for a south westerly wind to help us on our way (and no drawing pins!!)
I am starting to get concerned that although I am ahead of the training programme on the individual longest rides but I am not keeping up with the overall weekly total. Hopefully I can rectify the situation once the clocks change and I am able to cycle to/from work and it the evenings.
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