Night Rider

Well what can I say, its 10pm and I've only just walked in the door from my second ride of the day, totalling 90 miles today. And the funny thing is, I felt better on the second ride than I did on the first and after both I'm still not too tired either; I'm fine, other than being a little bruised and battered from an accident involving Joe and myself at thirty-something miles an hour.

The fact that its still light enough to ride at 10pm is my favourite thing. It means getting two rides a day in is easier simply due to the length of the day itself. I've done two or three 2 ride days this week and it I feel in quite good form. I just need to do more intervals now as I have 5 days to a league race and 10 days to the Fulstow race, which is irritatingly flat, and as such is not my sort of race.

For more information on today's night ride check out Dan's blog.

Climbing Practice

After two hard days training with some 150 miles covered I decided to take the day off today as my legs didn't feel at their best this morning. The weather was good which was a shame but it would only have damaged my legs by over training if I went out.

Fortunately I got rid of the family for a week today so I can live like a cyclist - eat when I want to and get up at sensible hours. I may be cycling out to Clumber Park where they are staying for a week - cycling amusingly. I can cycle down one day, then cycle back the next day.

Tomorrow however I plan on doing some climbing specific training. I have devised a circuit with some nice climbs and I'll do it 4 or 5 times, making a total ride of 60 to 70 miles with the 10 mile ride there and back. I won't put a time constraint on myself as there is no average speed to aim for. The idea is simply to push as hard as I can on the climbs and relax and recover on the flats.

climbing practice Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

To check out the details such as the elevation graph click HERE.

Tan Lines

Today, as you may know, was a very sunny and warm day, and although I still had last year's tan lines, they have been brough on in earnest now.

A cyclist's badge of honour, if you've got the tan lines to show off you command a certain respect amongst riders. So check these out:

A New Job?

Well this weather isn't great is it? It's so changeable that you cant go out in the sun for long before getting soaked. It does kind of put you off training.

I think I'm pretty much going to write off this season's racing because my bike is dying and hopefully I'll be getting a job in the next week or so, meaning by the end of the season I should be on a new bike, although not being able to race on it this year will be disappointing. I will probably be working more days than not so my training is bound to suffer, but this is what has to happen to get a new bike unfortunately.
Due to my injury right before the start of the season I'm at a big disadvantage to my competitors, so I'm going to keep some good base fitness up and get a solid off season in ready to take the 2010 season by storm! This doesn't mean I won't be racing at all this season, I've got to keep some good results coming through, and despite my original intentions I will be doing a couple of time trials.

For now though, I'm about to set upon making my TT bars more comfortable so get ready for a nice tutorial.

The Apprentice(s) - Cycling Style

After my trip to the club on Monday night, myself and Joe have been tasked with training up some youngsters. So today one of them came out for a ride, and I bought Lewis out with us, another newbie to road cycling. The four of us went out, despite heavy rain, and actually had a good time. I guess it's nice to be able to get out on the bike with a group of younger guys!

We only did 40 miles ish but with two beginners that's not to be sniffed at. We deliberately went up some big climbs, and Dan seemed to take to them like a duck to water, which is great for me as a climber to have someone else to compete against.

I made sure we also put some sprint efforts in too, which turned out to be a great idea. Not only did it mean I got more out of the ride, but the others did too. The highlight definitely had to be coming from Caistor to Limber on a nice bit of road. We were trundling along at a reasonable pace, then I saw Lewis put a bit of effort in. I shouted for everyone to draft off him, and coincidentally we were in the right order too. Lewis picked up the pace a bit, then Dan took over and drove it a bit more, then Joe popped out and did his time trialling thing, and I burst out from behind him and put down a hell of a sprint. This is just how racing in a team should be!

Out on the TT bars

Against all my plans for the season of not doing any time trials, today I found myself doing a training ride with the dreaded tt bars on. As they are just TT bars fixed to my road bike they were not the right height: they could've done with being significantly lower, and also a different shape. As you can see below my TT bars curve upwards and join at the top meaning although this does allow for a number of possible positions, it does not allow for the one I want.

To solve this problem over the course of the next week I shall be taking a hack saw to my current TT bars and attempting to turn them into to straight bars, and find some way of making them a lot lower than the current set up permits.

Stay tuned for a tutorial on how to turn annoying TT bars into useful and comfortable aero bars.

Back Into The Swing

After a disappointing race on Wednesday, where I bonked out due to arriving just minutes before it started and not getting a warm-up, and a severe lack of training over the past two weeks due to exams and assignments, I came home to a great club ride. There were several people missing due to an LVRC race and a local charity bikeathon. However a new younger guy called Adam turned up which was good, glad to have some more youngsters to take on the ex-pros.

We racked out a good 80 miles, with an over 20mph average speed. I put a fair few sprints in there too, which turned it into a good training ride: just what I needed to get back off an annoying break from training.

I'm going to be doing some intervals tomorrow I think. They're horrible but neccessary to get me back upto speed.

Still Got It

I thought after a week of only 2 training rides I'd be a bit crap to be frank, but I was on pretty good form today. I did the Tunstall Wheelers club run, without Stu or Adam for nefarious reasons, but there were still 5 or 6 of us out on this very windy day. I soon regretted wearing a single layer, but it wasn't too bad once you got moving.

I was riding pretty well today, putting down some good pace, especially on the hills...as always. Mat unfortunately nearly died trying to race up a hill whilst having a panic attack, so when we got to the top he was slumped over his bars. A few puffs of his happy gas (inhaler) soon sorted that though, and we were on our way once again.

On the way home I detoured via Mat's and Adam's house to admire Mat's new steed, a custom Rourke steel frame, with SRAM Red groupset. Very expensive, worth every penny though!

Now to get myself something similar.....

Check out my big ring!

The ever-wrong weather forecast said today it would be nice in the morning and rain by lunch time, so I figured I'd get up early and get some miles in while its nice, especially since i've trained once in the past week due to important assignments and an exam, as well as the rain. Obviously I wasnt quite on top form but noticeably better on some big hills than I was straight after the injury, so I won't complain.

I headed out towards Cheadle from Stoke then up towards the Peak District, through Leek then back by Rudyard Reservoir and through some more beautiful countryside. I do believe I set off a speed camera somewhere near Leek whilst doing 40 in a 30 zone, but brakes are for emergencies, not to spoil my fun!

There were plenty of big hills, just how I like it. Favourite moment of the day: overtaking a guy climbing up a big hill, him struggling in his tiny gears and me churning a 53x21 gear, leaving him in the dust.

This is what I do.