Cycle

Rebuilding

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Today was one of those days when I woke up tired, stayed tired all day, and will probably sleep tired.

And it all happened last night.

No, it wasn’t her. It was a him. Julian, our spinning instructor.

He’s decided that winter is over, and we’re moving from base-building zone 3 rides to character-building zone 4 (and above) rides. My legs begged to differ.

If this was a road ride, I would have spent the first long interval tagging along, the second one barely hanging on, and the third seeing them ride off in the distance. Thankfully, it wasn’t. So, I was able to sit up for a couple of minutes, and then get back in the flow.

I never got into the high zone 4 that we were supposed to ride in in the 3rd interval. Barely got to 4.2 before the legs gave out. I’m far from the days when the heart used to be punching through the top end of zone 4 :(
At least I averaged 230+ watt for the non-recovery intervals.

Anyway, I ended up knackered. Completely.

Here’s to hoping that it’ll only get better from here.

Rebuilding

Middlering Miscellaneous

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Salomon XR Shift - Side
New Shoes: Salomon XR Shift

First up: I’ve got new shoes!

… and I don’t love them.

After running through my last pair of Brooks Ghosts in just 9 months, I didn’t want to spend another £100 on a new pair. With winter approaching, more of my regular paths will be turning to trail anyway, so decided to get a budget trail pair this time. Non-available sizes in my preferred model, and unreliability of some store brands meant I ended up buying these – Salomon XR Shift. Not the best shoes I’ve tried or run in, but at least I like the colour ;) Continue reading “Middlering Miscellaneous” →

Middlering Miscellaneous

Thank you, Girish!

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The bike
It all started with this bike (the green one in front)

21 February 2010

I rode the 12Km Bandra ‘cyclothon‘ – an organised ride, on closed roads, through streets of Bandra.

I didn’t own a cycle back then. I hadn’t even thought of riding that cyclothon, let alone going and buying myself a cycle. The idea was all Girish‘s, supported by Mehul, Amit and a few others on twitter1. We signed up – Raghi borrowed a bike from her friend, Simran, and Girish offered to lend me one of his old bikes.

We, Girish and I, didn’t know each other that well back then. We may have met once or twice, and had chatted on twitter for 6 months or so. And despite just that feeble connection, he didn’t just encourage us to sign up for the event, but also offered to lend his bike.

I loved the cyclothon. It was just 12 Km, mostly through narrow, potholed streets of Bandra. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed it (as did Raghi, I suspect). It’d been 9 years since I’d last ridden a (my) cycle, and that small event brought back flood of memories of cycling.

Thank you Girish for lending that bike! Continue reading “Thank you, Girish!” →

Thank you, Girish!

Downhill

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Weight has gone from 75.4kg in late April, to 80.1kg today. 5kg up in 2 months.

Total running distance for May and June, combined, is less than that for any one of the previous four months!

Last week was the first one this year with zero activity, of any kind – running, cycling, swimming, spinning or gym work.

Time to declare this the bottom, so the only way is up.

Aside

Training Update – 3 weeks to Fred

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Fred Whitton isn’t far now, just 2 weekends left in between. Training has been going well, almost. Had planned to ride 2 big rides in April – one with lots of ascent, and the other long in distance.

Rode the first one on 12th. Joined Andy, Nick and Damian for the Leith Hill Octopus, and followed it up with 3 reps of Box Hill to make up some more climbing metres. Combined with the ride home, over Ranmore Common, Greendene, and the home climb, the climb totalled up to just over 3000m of ascent. Item one: checked.

The 3000m ascent ride
The 3000m ascent ride

Continue reading “Training Update – 3 weeks to Fred” →

Training Update – 3 weeks to Fred

Meon Valley Riser – the good, the bad, the ugly

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Meon Valley Riser, Long Route
Meon Valley Riser – The Long Route

Rode a new sportive, the Meon Valley Riser, last Sunday1. I needed a longish, hilly ride and there are few sportives 100 miles or longer this early in the year, even fewer hilly ones. That it was located in a part of South Downs that I’d never visited before added to the draw.

The Route

Meon Valley Riser - Profile 100mi
Meon Valley Riser – Profile 100mi

Long, rolling, and pretty, with a couple of hills each thrown in at the beginning and the end. There were poor road surfaces in places, but nothing worse than what we see all over here in Surrey. There were also a few high traffic roads used, but almost always on a descent or a fast flat – nothing that couldn’t be managed.

With 2100+m of climbing in 102 miles, it was hilly for the south-east, but not really a killer. In any case, as things turned out, the hills were to be the least of my worries.

The Weather

Fareham-Weather-MeonValleyRiser
That wind be crazy!

The weather forecast wasn’t great – it was supposed to be quite windy with gusts reaching 71km/h, and rain all day long. I’d been trying the previous 12 hours to get out of riding it, dropping hints all around hoping Rags would take pity on me and let me stay home.

No luck. She did take pity and ask me to ride the 50 mile route, but that was her just being smart. She knew, as did I, that if I did go out, I’d be riding the full distance.

Continue reading “Meon Valley Riser – the good, the bad, the ugly” →

Meon Valley Riser – the good, the bad, the ugly

Addiction is a bad thing, right?

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Yet another back spasm, and hamstring niggles at end of last year meant I was off cycling, spinning and long runs for a while. Not wanting to start the new year with a lazy daze, I decided on something different – to run a shorter distance, 5K, every day of January.

It would help me keep in shape without putting too much stress on the back and the hamstring, while also challenging me – mentally instead of physically – to get out and run every single day irrespective of weather, mood, and work.

It worked out brilliantly

I ran more in January, 180Km, than I’d ever run in a month before. And I carried the momentum into February, running a 5K both the day before and after my target Half Marathon at Wokingham. And still improved my Half Marathon PB by almost 15 minutes. The daily runs didn’t just make me better at running, but also made me a happier, generally more upbeat about everything, improved productivity at work, and made me a regular at spinning, swimming and gym too. I loved it!

January 2015 – Run every day challenge
February 2015 – Half Marathon + Cycling Starts
March 2015 So Far – Only Cycling & Spinning

The plateau

After the consistency of January, and early February, there came a few breaks – fainting episodes that could’ve lead to potential head injuries making me take a few days off. Twice. It disturbed me a bit, but then the outdoor cycling season kicked in with two consecutive 100K+ sportive Sundays, including the very enjoyable Hell of the Ashdowns, and that helped stabilise the mood a little.

Still, there was a bad feeling in the back of the heart that things were plateauing. At 140Km for February, I hadn’t run even close to January’s total despite running a half marathon and a couple of 10K+ runs.

The descent

March began slow. We took a planned mid-week vacation in Cornwall1. Add in a weekend off cycling, and misc chores resulting in a whole week without any running. Things weren’t good, but the 3 days in Cornwall helped keep the spirits up.

Running restarted with the last of trail series runs, the Mudman, and then continued between spinning classes and Sunday cycling. But it never got close to the January levels. Or even February levels. More than missing the occasional daily 5K, what has been disturbing me more is the lack of Saturday long runs. The trail 10K at MudMan is the longest run I’ve done this month

  1. It was amazing! Thanks to everyone at the Scarlett. ↩
Addiction is a bad thing, right?

Hell of the Ashdowns. Heaven of sticky malt loafs.

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It was cold.
Roads were icy.
There were hills aplenty.
It got really windy & rainy near the end.

It was awful.

Loved it! I’ll be back.

Things I learnt this weekend:

  1. Hell is not hot.
    It’s cold, wet and windy. A snowball would do very well in there.

  2. They serve amazing sticky malt loafs in Hell.
    Wonder what all the good bakers do to earn their place in there?
    I may have gorged on half a dozen of them, eating more in calories than I ever hoped to burn over 65 miles of cycling.
    These sticky malt loafs should be mandatory at all cycling events! Make it a rule.

  3. People running Hell are quite a friendly and helpful bunch.
    The devil must be a jolly good fella to have gathered such a chirpy bunch. My kinda guy. Or girl.

  4. I like hills1
    Both, going up and down them. Don’t know when this happened. Maybe after I lost 20 kilos, thus increasing my power-weight ratio by 25%. Or maybe when we moved to this house in Guildford – living on top of the hill means rides back from everywhere are uphill. There’s no escaping at all.
    Whatever the reason, I have changed. From grimacing at the sight of a hill, I’ve gone to smiling at the thought of each one.
    A welcome change given where I live, and what I’ve signed up for.

  5. Big, old2 men can climb too!
    Andy claims to hate hills (wonder why he keeps signing up for hilly sportives?), and specially Kidds Hill (aka The Wall 3). Yet, he climbed it quite comfortably – chatting with me all the way up, so probably never above zone 3! Who said big men can’t climb?

  6. There is a ‘worst’ time to get a flat.
    It is 2 miles from the finish on a 65 mile ride.
    In freezing rain and driving winds.
    Finding the tiny piece of flint on a mud wrapped tyre is excellent training for building concentration under stress. Everyone must give it a go. Regularly!

  7. Surrey drivers aren’t such a bad bunch.
    Not when compared to some of the miserable twats who drive around Kent. One woman in a Land Rover honked continuously for at least a mile, driving way above safe speed across the lanes, almost running off 2 cyclists (hand stretched out to signal a turn) at the end.
    She was the worst I saw, but not the only one. Way more wayward, angry drivers than I meet on equivalent rides in Surrey or Sussex.

  8. Running is good for cycling.
    For this time of the year, I’ve cycled less this year than most years. I’ve run way more than any of the last years. And I’m climbing, out of the saddle, better than ever across all sorts of climbs – short and steep, long(!) and steady, short bumps and bridges, and more. So well that I’m climbing better out of the saddle than in it4.

  9. Being good at riding out of the saddle is useful!
    Not just for climbing. It’s a useful get out of jail card.
    Left hamstring started cramping on the up stroke just after I started the climb of Ide Hill. Riding out of the saddle helped stretch it, while still climbing comfortably. The niggle was almost gone by the time I reached the top of that 2 mile climb. I may even have accelerated past a bunch of riders near the top ;)
    Ridin out of the saddle is also very useful, even outside of climbs, as a back-stretcher for heavyset folk like me who frequently end up with lower-back pain. Ask the guy at Woking sportive who I carried back to the finish with a broken back. And me.

  10. Commuter jackets should be kept just for commuting.
    I’m not a jacket guy. The only one I have is a commuting one – very good at keeping dry on not-hard rides, and at keeping me highly visible day and night.
    With the threat of rain looming, I wore it for the ride. It did a great job of saving me from the freezing rain all of the last 30 mins of the ride. Sadly, by then I was thoroughly drenched under the jacket from sweating all through the ride. Doesn’t breathe. At all.
    I think I’ll stick to gilets.

  11. I missed out on a good looking bidon :(
    Turns out there were a few good looking bidons for riders to take away. I saw them lying around when I finished and went to the sign-in area. By the time I returned after swallowing a load of pasta and hot chocolate, they were gone.
    I have often criticized events for passing out characterless bidons in goody bags, but here I am rueing not picking one up this one time. Shallow, two faced me! (Now hand me that bidon)

Hell of the Ashdowns Bidon (photo courtesy @lulhandy)
Hell of the Ashdowns Bidon (photo courtesy @lulhandy)
  1. NEG + well trained volunteers beats all the goodies in the world

  2. Volunteers running Hell, standing around in freezing cold and rain, are way friendlier than the folk who pay to ride through it.
    Cyclists, specially the non-pro, road-riding variety need to lighten the F up.
    It’s not a race. You’re not riding against other riders. You’re riding with them, against the elements, against the terrain, and probably against that extra pint you had last night.
    No one forced you to ride. You volunteered. You even paid for the pleasure. Behave like it’s a pleasure!
    Smile at, and thank the volunteers. Every one of them. Yes, even the one at top of that hard hill you huffed and puffed up.
    Say hello to, and exchange banter with fellow riders. Rode with someone, off and on, along the way? Ask them how their ride went. Maybe share a fist bump. Don’t sit a table in the corner and pass shameful, snide remarks on the humanity of riders trudging in from the freezing cold5.
    Someone hung on to your wheel? Feel good that you helped someone out. Not shout at them, and call them names.
    We cyclists have got a lot to learn from us runners. There are more smiles and shakes at end of a single 10K running race than at end of all cycling, not-a-race sportives I attend in an year!
    #IHateGrumpyGrimpeurs

  3. Not taking a cold shower can have serious consequences
    Had my first episode of lactate suffering last night and today. All because I skipped the ritual, post-exercise cold shower. No, let’s not even talk about the foam roller.
    Feeling better since today’s lunch run, which was promptly followed by a cold shower and compression socks.
    Stupid me!

All in all, the never flat, undulating route, tasty grub and friendly volunteers more than made up for grumpy grimpeurs and crazy Kentish drivers. It was a good day out.

  1. I use the term hill quite liberally here. The hill I live on top of is 140m high. The highest in the region is barely over 250m! The climbs up them are either short and sharp, or not-very-short-but-not-long-either and steady. The best would probably rank as Cat 4 in the Tour. ↩

  2. If I disappear in the next few weeks, Andy did it – for calling him old. Tell the police! ↩
  3. There must be a hill climb nicknamed The Wall in every county of the UK! ↩
  4. I do need to work on seated climbing. Between spinning and running, the quads really haven’t been getting much power training. ↩
  5. Specifically, the two rich, fully Rapha-clad MAMILs sitting on my table making unmentionable comments about all the men and women they could empty their potty mouths at. ↩
Hell of the Ashdowns. Heaven of sticky malt loafs.

Butterflies

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Butterflies in Stomach

Haven’t had them for a while, not for cycling events at least.

Riding the Hell of the Ashdowns tomorrow. It isn’t really long at sub 110K. Last weekend was marginally longer at 110K. It’s slightly hillier than last weekend, but not by much.

It’s just… new.

I haven’t ridden in those parts before, while I’d ridden most of the last weekend’s route multiple times before. It’s a new organising team, though well known. On the other hand, I’d ridden plenty of events with the Evans Cycles’ Ride It team before, including two from the same venue as last weekend’s.

Then there’s the weather. It’s expected to be quite cold – starting at below zero, and topping up at not much above it. It’s expected to be windy – heading into the wind most of the way out. And, if I get delayed, or the wind picks up – it’ll be raining, possibly even sleet or hail. Despite having run this year in all kinds of weather, I’m not sure I’m up for those kind of elements on the bike yet.

Add to it the 55 min drive all the way to Kent. One way. Not a very happy chappy I am tonight.

Butterflies