Welcome to Wales....its wet!

Well the longest ride I have ever done as a training ride was a success. Lengendary in fact. I set off on Thursday morning for Capel Curig from Birmingham along the A458 and onto the A5. The biggest hils are not in Wales! they're in Shropshire around Much Wenlock and Bridgnorth. Wales was a doddle in comparison.

I had been doing around 18mph average upto about 50 miles when the battery went in my Timex GPS receiver. I had been rained on a little but the gilet did its job and I didnt need the full wet proof jacket. As soon as I passed the Welcome to Wales sign I was into a downpour so a quickstop at the McDonalds for a sweet chili chicken sandwich meal with coffee and an apple pie was in order for lunch - 70 miles down, 41 to go.

The next section from the Halton r'about was easy. Rolling hills with plenty of rest on the descents but more rain! I was soaked. I played cat and mouse with a tractor for about 20miles, never managing to get more than 200metres ahead before he would catch me at traffic lights then i'd nail it again. I was feeling great though and knowing that the last leg should only take just over 2hrs was encouraging. After a long drag up hill and into wind the tractor caught me so I sat in for a draft for about 5miles before he pulled in with 12 to go.

I stopped in Betws y Coed for a cup of tea and some rasberry and coconut cake to wait for the guys in the wagons with my change of clothes. I spoke to a few local cyclists who were interested in my ride and the RAAM. They were doing a 50miler but nearly choked when I said i'd come from Birmingham. Total ride time to Betwsy was 5hrs:35min. The next bit to the training center was mostly up hill but easy considering i'd done most of the work and only took 10 mins.

so to summarise

0 punctures

1 man

1 Boardman road bike(without tribars)

1 mission

1 Mcdonalds meal with coffee and apple pie

1 rasberry/cocnut slice

2 cups of tea

2 countries

2 bottles of Be-well Fuel

5hrs 45 mins

19.3 mph average

111.2 miles

Feeling good for the RAAM now!! :-)

Today (Sunday) I met with Paul Breeze to do a 40 mile ride around Snowdon. Great ride in glorious sunshine! Starting in Llanberis I rode to meet Paul coming from Capel Curig. We went to Bedgellert then up the mountain towards Capel before leaving Paul to head up to Pen Y Pass and down to Llanberis again. Wales didnt get better weather than today!

Epic ride starts in a few hours after a few hours sleep!

Just finished packing to go to Wales with the students tomorrow but I have to be up early to vote before I go. The bike is prepped with flashing lights etc to make me more visible to the blind car drivers that race up behind you beeping their horns when they spot you at the last minute. I had to swap the front wheel at Halfords today after the original was not holding its true and spokes were loosening up. Good to their word though and without any hassle they swapped the wheel for a brand new one with a new Conti tyre to boot.
So the ride is 111.2 miles to Capel Curig from my address in Brum. Setting off about 0830 to 0900 and hope to make it there for about 1600 riding steady with the odd rest stop. Will up date on Sunday night to the journey experiences. Gonna take the A458 then the A5 all the way through. Gulp!

Did my fastest 10TT for the last 5years tonight in the Warwickshire RC courses K37/10. Last weeks was 23:11....this week was 22:32. It did feel a faster night with favourable southerly wind. My legs were also a little tired from a 78 mile ride yesterday.
I also tried out my new wheels. A Padova disc and a Prolite 90 deep rim both with tubs. fantastic!

running at last(sort of!)

Finally I am taking part in a personal clinical trial involving a walk/run program to test my achilles tendon injury. I started on 30sec run followed by 150sec walk with a total exercise time of 18minutes. This is did every other day. This also allows me to still maintain my focus on the cycling for the RAAM which seems to be(has) taking over my spare time. I have now upped the running to 1min run and 2 min walk and increased to 24min total. I am averaging 6.5mph as the running part is up to 9.5mph. This got me thinking....... can I do this at Ironman Switzerland and get a sub-4hr marathon after, hopefully, nailing the bike and having a decent swim and still come out with a sub-10hr IM. I've got a rep to protect Hmmmmmmmmm!!!! It does rely on me having a sub hr swim(done before) and a sub-5 bike(done before). I am certainly hoping I can run a bit more by then too, and walk less.

As for the biking.... my first 10mile TT last night was average but its a start to the racing season. 23:11 and third place in the Warwickshire RC club 10. I was about 10bpm down on heart rate than expected but I did a hard 40 miler the previous evening. I might try an easier ride next monday to see if the TT is faster subject to similar weather conditions.

Next week might be my biggest ever singular training session... a 110miler. A ride from Birmingham to North Wales. I've never been into monster mileage and 4-5 hrs is my maximum so we'll see!

OMG am I enjoying the turbo finally?

Well folks its only taken about 19 years of messing around bikes and cycling to finally get my head round sitting in the living room pedalling a bike but getting nowhere whilst watching TV.
In the last 3 weeks I have covered about 650 cycling miles either on the road or turboing and whilst I have always been an outdoor fan come rain or shine, I have recently turned to fair weather cycling and succumbing to the piece of metalwork with a roller that interfaces with a training bike.
Lets face it indoor cycling isn't fun. You sweat buckets(well maybe a slight exaggeration), you get nowhere and the scenery is dull. On the plus side though you can have a cup of tea when you're pedalling, get off and go for a pee in a real toilet without disturbing passersby and you can watch TV or a film as distraction. But still you get nowhere!.....well actually you do get somewhere. You get the fitness that will take you forward. I'm starting to notice the difference. My quadriceps are growing and becoming more defined, my abdominals are starting to look bigger and more defined too as a result of being able to concentrate on core stability, and you don't fall off(which I did on Saturday on my 80 mile ride. I can also focus on turning circles with my feet and pushing and pulling on the pedals. All good cycling drills!
So am enjoying the turbo? Not entirely. I miss the wind on my face and a bit of green countryside but to get the mileage in for the RAAM its a necessity and I'll grin and bear it knowing I'm going to take part in a very special race that requires me to be on top endurance form. The 200 miles a weeks is far less than the 750 I will be expected to do come June. Bring it on!

The miles are racking up!

Well since getting back from La Santa and being made an official Race Across America (RAAM) team member I have been trying to focus on getting bike miles in rather than worrying about not being able to run. I'm still doing physio on the achilles and stretching etc but have moved to heat rather than ice on the affected area.
I'm managing to get decent rides interspeRsed with turbo-ing(I still hate it).I have even managed 2 x 2 hour turbo rides this week. Its tolerated and needed rather than for fun. If I had a choice I'd be ironing or cleaning or doing a 1000000 piece jigsaw of a heard of zebra rather than turbo. I have watched some DVD's whilst I'm doing it as distraction therapy and watched the RAAM DVD called 'Bicycle Dreams'. It is very inspiring and almost brought me to tears when a rider dies hitting an 18-wheeler truck. Devasting! The finish too is awesome knowing I'm gonna be there in a few months.
Last week I hit about 180-200 miles and still with 2 rest days. This week is the same. 200 miles including an 80 miler yesterday in just shy of 4hours including a crash onto the verge. Look where your going not where youv'e been is the advice!! A good round trip that had me worried when I saw signs for Oxford after heading out of Brum towards Kidderminster, Worcester, Evesham and back into town.
To cap the week of I received a 'Best Running Performance in 2009' at the BRAT awards last night for my Fleet half marathon and London Marathon results. Sarah Springman was guest speaker recalling her days as an elite athlete and European Champ and top 5 at Ironman Hawaii.
Today my legs were pretty fragged so a gentle 40 miles in 2:10 was called for to close the weekly mileage. My quads are starting to look buff again for those that ridiculed me at Henlow 10 a few years ago(John Crewe you were one of them!)
Roll on 12 June when the race starts. Follow the team at http://www.raf-ultra.co.uk/
Its gonna be an experience to remember for ever!

back from Lanza and a bike review

Well Lanzarote training camp proved interesting for many reasons but I finally got to ride my Boardman Carbon Team bike for the first time. Still unable to run from an achilles tendon strain picked up a few weeks before the tour meant I was able to focus on biking with some swimming thrown in for good measure. Those who know me are aware of my dislike of swimming but in triathlon its a means to the bike leg. I did enjoy the open water swim in the lagoon where I took a session for some novice triathletes.

As for the biking.... well I was meant to be on ride one day then day off to let my achilles get better but it didnt ache so I decided on a good ride followed by an easy ride day. This worked and I managed to clock about 280miles during the week. Picking up a cold and sore throat the day before departure didnt help with the breathing and heart rate. I had to ease back when I saw 192HR going up Tabayesco switchbacks.

The bike itself felt great at first but I did notice that accelerating uphill leaves a lot to be desired. Certainly not as stiff as my old Giant TCR which used to skip at the backend. Overal though the steering was precise and I was able to go faster into corners than I have in recent years. The SRAM Rival groupset took a little to get used to with the doubletap system but after a while I am beginning to think I like it better than Shimano. I do miss cables at the front tyo hold on to though as if in a tri position. The wheelset are good to. They roll nicely and held true on the bobbly rough Lanzarote roads. The only real downside was the saddle. I have been wearing trishorts to train in and with a great big pad the saddle made the nether regions a little tenderised after a few days. This will be getting swapped very soon. Maybe a SLR XP or an Arione.

Still the bike was definately worth what I paid and the bike shop in La santa village is getting 30 Team Boardmans soon(not the Ltd Ed version in white though :-))

Roll on summer, its cold being back in Blighty. Got a 2hr ride tomorrow with some old friends.