Given the downpour on last weekend’s Tour de Force ride in Richmond Park, I suppose it was no surprise that I have been commuting under a rain cloud all week. By some miracle, my proper soakings have come mainly on the homebound leg, giving me time to dry out my clothing, helmet, gloves and shoes before the ride in the following morning. Getting drenched on the way into work at 5.30am is no real hardship in itself, but with nowhere to dry clothes in the office, putting cold soggy clothes back on for the ride home that evening is seriously unpleasant. I have full waterproof clothing – trousers, jacket and overshoes – but when it’s raining really hard and there’s lots of water on the road too, it’s almost impossible to keep everything dry.
Perhaps then, not the best week to extend my home commute by 2.5 miles to take in the ride up the hill to Putney Heath. Not exactly the longest or most demanding col I know, but it adds a new dimension to the daily route and hopefully will bring some modest benefit to my climbing fitness given the rest of my commute is essentially flat.
During the week I’d started to notice that my commuting / winter bike was making a strange noise on every revolution of the wheels – like a rubbing noise, suggesting a tyre or wheel rim was catching the brakes or the mudguards. But there was no sign of the noise when I was spinning the wheels while off the bike, so nothing was rubbing, and the noise continued if I was on the bike, but not pedalling, so nothing to do with the bottom bracket or pedals. However, a quick inspection of the wheel spokes revealed several loose ones (front and rear!), which is very likely to be the cause of the mystery noise. I tightened a few up, but in the end decided that the bike shop was best placed to sort this out - my efforts were likely to leave the wheel distinctly out of shape and looking like it had been run over by a lorry. So the bike is now in hospital (the fantastic Holdsworth Cycles on Lower Richmond Road), getting a full service at the same time – and the mechanic has rightly pointed out that my rear wheel rim is severely worn out and needs replacing…so yet more expense (but still cheaper than commuting by train/bus and a whole lot more convenient and enjoyable).
To try to balance home, cycling and work life, I try to start my long weekend rides early in the morning to get home in time for the rest of the day. This typically means getting up before 7am – which doesn’t sound too bad, but hits the sleep bank after getting up at 5.15am all week for work and often coming after a late night out on Friday or Saturday. So you can imagine my utter delight when Cress suggested I do my weekend ride on Sunday afternoon while she hooked up with friends who have kids the same age as ours. Complete bliss – 2 consecutive lie-ins in one weekend, and we didn’t go out on either Friday or Saturday night, so a big win for shuteye hours.
Continuing the week’s wet weather theme, the forecast for the weekend was dire. The BBC website was expecting ‘heavy rain’ and high winds for the whole of Sunday – conveniently now presented in 3 hour chunks. And Saturday’s forecast also predicted consistent heavy showers. Not particularly inviting for bike riding. And since my winter road bike was now holed up somewhere dry and warm awaiting some tender R&R, and there was no way I was taking my ‘pride and joy summer bike’ out in this weather, I stayed in…well not exactly as it turned out. My third bike (extravagant I know, but my collection is still not complete – topic for another day!) is a beaten up old Scott mountain bike which I put together from some old parts I had lying around after buying the frame secondhand off ebay. The idea being, that I can ride it around town and it won’t get nicked (ha ha), and also use it to ride on tracks and towpaths with the kids. It’s not a particularly good fit, nor particularly advanced compared to some the amazing full suspension mountain bikes now commonplace. But it seemed like a great alternative to sitting on the turbo trainer – so I dressed for the poor weather and went out to Richmond Park for a couple of fun laps round the perimeter track, and a couple of circuits of a very muddy Wimbledon Common – 2.5 hours of seriously entertaining splashing around, and an excellent work-out. Got to ask myself why I hadn’t spent more of the winter doing this. Returned home with bike and self caked in mud, but with exercise needs thoroughly sated and still warm and toasty from the effort – Garmin suggested over 2500 calories burned, with an average heart rate over 140bpm.
To finish the end of the week on topic – I rode home from mates’ house on Sunday evening in jeans…in a biblical downpour.
Weekly totals
Commute – 85 miles
Other rides – 32 miles (offroad)
Turbo – 1 hour
Funds raised to date £569
Sunday 28 February 2010
Sunday 21 February 2010
On the road to recovery
I've avoided the turbo and swimming pool all week, and thankfully felt sufficiently better to get out for a longer ride at the weekend - but not that long as the monthly Tour de Force was almost a complete washout. On what was actually quite a nice weekend weatherwise, the three hours of riding round Richmond Park were filthy - wet, windy and cold - while the rest of Saturday and Sunday was relatively bright, dry and warmer. Great turnout though and enough riders to need to split into three separate groups. Some rather amusing attempts by Steve to organise some bunch riding with 'through and off' technique, but I think everyone was having trouble enough seeing anything in front of them with the amount of spray coming off the road, and the general cold-induced numbness in feet and fingers. I noticed that sitting behind my wheel was quite popular as I was one of the only riders with mudguards. Richmond Park still seems to be taking its toll on tyres, with at least 6 punctures in the group, and a few turning for home prematurely, understandably fed up with the wind and rain. A few brave souls stuck it out for a bit longer, but everyone was done well before the planned stop-time of midday - thoroughly soaked, cold and mostly pretty miserable. My 5 laps were a long way short of what I'd originally planned, but I thought it better to call it a day before risking a return of my headcold or worse. Clare did superbly well on her first group outing, keeping up with most of the riders, and going 50% further than she'd ever been before too - and she was trying out clip-in shoes for the first time ever, successfully avoiding any comedy moments by remembering to clip-out when stopping. Hoping for a longer ride next weekend.
Had an interesting email from Tour de Force organiser and my room-mate on the Tour, Rick Wates this week. On the suggestion/recommendation of one of the other TdForcers, he is thinking of adding a physiotherapist to the Tour, with the idea that she would be available to ease the aches and pains at the end of each stage and return us to a fit state where we can get back in the saddle the following morning. Obviously it's not going to be free for those that want it, but even a half-hour massage every other day is going to be a massive help, especially given how tight my hamstrings seem to get.
As part of my regular checks on equipment, I noticed a crack almost an inch long on the inside of my helmet. Not quite sure how it got there as I haven't had an off for a while and don't remember dropping it recently. But anyway, there it was, and a crack in a lid is not good news - pretty terminal actually, so I had to buy a new one this week. Yet more expense, but I'd had it for about 4 years, so it had covered a few thousand miles and seen a few spills. The model to replace my old lid is now called the Specialized S-Works and is one of the lightest available. Frustratingly I'd seen it online at a discount of 20% a couple of weeks ago, but that retailer had now sold out. So I paid full price £130...but the lid is so much improved on the old one, with a much better fitting mechanism, and the padding is now attached without velcro - which previously could be uncomfortable on your forehead if the padding slipped.
I also bought a beanie to sit under my helmet and keep my head warm - the new helmet seemed to have much better airflow too - good on a hot summer's day, but a bit chilly in the middle of this cold winter. It's made by Altura, and being relatively thin but tightly woven, it's good at keeping the windchill out, without causing too much of a fug-up like my thicker headband.
Bike shops are dangerous places for my wallet. But seeing that Putney Cycles had a good selection of the energy bars / gels that I like, I took the opportunity to stock up. Having tried most of the ones on the market over the last 3/4 years, I find I can stomach (almost actually like) the Powerbar gels - strawberry/banana and vanilla flavours only, and the bars by Clif and Mule. Most of the others either taste revolting or are so hard to chew that you get jaw ache. However, I did also see a Cookies and Cream bar by Powerbar that sounded so good I couldn't resist getting one to try, although it does feel like a piece of concrete in the packet, so not sure if it's going to be that easy to eat on the road.
Had an interesting email from Tour de Force organiser and my room-mate on the Tour, Rick Wates this week. On the suggestion/recommendation of one of the other TdForcers, he is thinking of adding a physiotherapist to the Tour, with the idea that she would be available to ease the aches and pains at the end of each stage and return us to a fit state where we can get back in the saddle the following morning. Obviously it's not going to be free for those that want it, but even a half-hour massage every other day is going to be a massive help, especially given how tight my hamstrings seem to get.
As part of my regular checks on equipment, I noticed a crack almost an inch long on the inside of my helmet. Not quite sure how it got there as I haven't had an off for a while and don't remember dropping it recently. But anyway, there it was, and a crack in a lid is not good news - pretty terminal actually, so I had to buy a new one this week. Yet more expense, but I'd had it for about 4 years, so it had covered a few thousand miles and seen a few spills. The model to replace my old lid is now called the Specialized S-Works and is one of the lightest available. Frustratingly I'd seen it online at a discount of 20% a couple of weeks ago, but that retailer had now sold out. So I paid full price £130...but the lid is so much improved on the old one, with a much better fitting mechanism, and the padding is now attached without velcro - which previously could be uncomfortable on your forehead if the padding slipped.
I also bought a beanie to sit under my helmet and keep my head warm - the new helmet seemed to have much better airflow too - good on a hot summer's day, but a bit chilly in the middle of this cold winter. It's made by Altura, and being relatively thin but tightly woven, it's good at keeping the windchill out, without causing too much of a fug-up like my thicker headband.
Bike shops are dangerous places for my wallet. But seeing that Putney Cycles had a good selection of the energy bars / gels that I like, I took the opportunity to stock up. Having tried most of the ones on the market over the last 3/4 years, I find I can stomach (almost actually like) the Powerbar gels - strawberry/banana and vanilla flavours only, and the bars by Clif and Mule. Most of the others either taste revolting or are so hard to chew that you get jaw ache. However, I did also see a Cookies and Cream bar by Powerbar that sounded so good I couldn't resist getting one to try, although it does feel like a piece of concrete in the packet, so not sure if it's going to be that easy to eat on the road.
Weekly totals
Commute - 75 miles
Other rides - 38 miles
Snooker - 2 poor quality frames!
Sunday 14 February 2010
Bit of a set-back - laid low with the lurg
Rather stupidly, I'd been congratulating myself on avoiding even a common cold over the last two years - what a healthy chap. Wrong! Not sure of the exact reason, but I have a nasty head cold, streaming nose and am feeling pretty rough. Probably a combination of the step-up in training, too many late nights at work and out with friends, booze and a couple of days standing in the cold watching football. But as a result, I haven't done any time on the turbo, and didn't go out for a ride this weekend either. Managed to get a swim in before the onset of the cold. But now just trying to be sensible and speed the recovery process along, so I can get back into training as soon as possible.
On Tuesday evening I went to see Fulham beat Burnley 3-0, with a couple of guys from the office. One of them, Paul, has 4 season tickets there, and took us along as kick-off was past his sons' bedtime! His seats have a great view of the pitch, but the wind doesn't half rip round that stadium coming off the river. Burnley were completely outplayed, but their support didn't stop singing for the whole of the second half - impressive!
Weekly totals
Commute - 60 miles
Other rides - zero
Swim - 1500m
On Tuesday evening I went to see Fulham beat Burnley 3-0, with a couple of guys from the office. One of them, Paul, has 4 season tickets there, and took us along as kick-off was past his sons' bedtime! His seats have a great view of the pitch, but the wind doesn't half rip round that stadium coming off the river. Burnley were completely outplayed, but their support didn't stop singing for the whole of the second half - impressive!
Weekly totals
Commute - 60 miles
Other rides - zero
Swim - 1500m
Sunday 7 February 2010
Much better weather at long last
Wow, what a difference a few degrees makes! I went out for a ride on both Saturday and Sunday, and the weather was so much more comfortable than anything I've experienced over the last couple of months. It may sound incredibly dull to keep harping on about the weather, we are in winter after all, but it's a relief to be able to ride for a few hours without having to worry about my fingers and toes going numb, or whether I'm going to make it round the next bend without hitting ice.
On Saturday I was out on my old stomping ground in Surrey's North Downs, aka The Surrey Alps, taking in Leith Hill and a couple of ascents of Box Hill - covered 75 miles. Although I of course notice the poor state of the roads on my daily commute in London, there are always holes appearing throughout the year, especially near junctions and bus stops. But going out on a route like Saturday's, where I haven't been for several weeks, really shows how much the roads have deteriorated this winter. In many places there are quite dangerous potholes and fissures, ready to catch out the unwary. I set out on my own, but after exiting Richmond Park started chatting to another rider at a set of lights - yes we had both stopped on red - great to have some company and we rode together for the next 10 miles or so, until we parted company shortly after Cobham. I rode fairly conservatively, aiming to maintain a heart rate under 160bpm, including uphill, to see if that meant I had more in reserve at the end of the ride having not gone into the red zone like on the last TdF outing. Seemed to work a touch, although I remain a bit doubtful.
I wasn't originally planning a ride on Sunday, but was tempted to round up to 100 miles over the weekend after hearing that my mate Gilbs was going out to Richmond Park for a few laps with his friend Ben - hard to resist. But had to be back by 9.10am, so Cress (Mrs G) and Mrs Gilbs could leave in time for their spin class. After starting out from the Roehampton Gate cafe a touch late, we reached the end of two fairly quick laps (HR well over 160bpm!) at 8.40am. Having ummed for a couple of seconds about whether we had time for a final lap, we set off at an uncomfortably fast pace up Sawyers Hill, led by a crazed Gilbs, who had discovered a new 'Contador' gear in his legs. This is the same Gilbs who'd told me that he was so unfit and that me and Ben were going to destroy him on the ride. Anyway I tucked in behind him and clung on for a sub-20 minute lap. Got home bang on 9.10am to spare myself a hiding for being late.
Joined up with Ben and Dave for a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon at the Bridge watching Chelsea humiliate Arsenal 2-0. I've not been to many games this season as I thought it would be asking too much of the family, with the additional cycle training I'm now doing at weekends, so nice to have a good game to see. Wenger had the nerve to suggest Arsenal were the better side - have a look at the table old boy, it suggests otherwise.
On my mid-week turbo session I decided to watch a DVD that had come with this month's Cycling Plus magazine. It was essentially a recce of stage 17 of the 2010 Tour de France and the stage chosen for the Etape. So I thought quite apt, seeing as I am going to be riding it myself in July. It was quite picturesque, but was really just a long advertisement for Science in Sport, a sports nutrition company, that had filmed the ride. It did make me laugh - at the end of the ride it gave a summary of what each person had eaten/drunk over the day, suggesting that is what's needed to complete a ride like that. If I was to buy that amount of their product on the high street, I'd be spending about £20 on every ride just on food/drink! Totally unrealistic...
Weekly totals
Commute - 60 miles
Other rides - 101 miles
Turbo - 1 hour
Swim - 1500m
On Saturday I was out on my old stomping ground in Surrey's North Downs, aka The Surrey Alps, taking in Leith Hill and a couple of ascents of Box Hill - covered 75 miles. Although I of course notice the poor state of the roads on my daily commute in London, there are always holes appearing throughout the year, especially near junctions and bus stops. But going out on a route like Saturday's, where I haven't been for several weeks, really shows how much the roads have deteriorated this winter. In many places there are quite dangerous potholes and fissures, ready to catch out the unwary. I set out on my own, but after exiting Richmond Park started chatting to another rider at a set of lights - yes we had both stopped on red - great to have some company and we rode together for the next 10 miles or so, until we parted company shortly after Cobham. I rode fairly conservatively, aiming to maintain a heart rate under 160bpm, including uphill, to see if that meant I had more in reserve at the end of the ride having not gone into the red zone like on the last TdF outing. Seemed to work a touch, although I remain a bit doubtful.
I wasn't originally planning a ride on Sunday, but was tempted to round up to 100 miles over the weekend after hearing that my mate Gilbs was going out to Richmond Park for a few laps with his friend Ben - hard to resist. But had to be back by 9.10am, so Cress (Mrs G) and Mrs Gilbs could leave in time for their spin class. After starting out from the Roehampton Gate cafe a touch late, we reached the end of two fairly quick laps (HR well over 160bpm!) at 8.40am. Having ummed for a couple of seconds about whether we had time for a final lap, we set off at an uncomfortably fast pace up Sawyers Hill, led by a crazed Gilbs, who had discovered a new 'Contador' gear in his legs. This is the same Gilbs who'd told me that he was so unfit and that me and Ben were going to destroy him on the ride. Anyway I tucked in behind him and clung on for a sub-20 minute lap. Got home bang on 9.10am to spare myself a hiding for being late.
Joined up with Ben and Dave for a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon at the Bridge watching Chelsea humiliate Arsenal 2-0. I've not been to many games this season as I thought it would be asking too much of the family, with the additional cycle training I'm now doing at weekends, so nice to have a good game to see. Wenger had the nerve to suggest Arsenal were the better side - have a look at the table old boy, it suggests otherwise.
On my mid-week turbo session I decided to watch a DVD that had come with this month's Cycling Plus magazine. It was essentially a recce of stage 17 of the 2010 Tour de France and the stage chosen for the Etape. So I thought quite apt, seeing as I am going to be riding it myself in July. It was quite picturesque, but was really just a long advertisement for Science in Sport, a sports nutrition company, that had filmed the ride. It did make me laugh - at the end of the ride it gave a summary of what each person had eaten/drunk over the day, suggesting that is what's needed to complete a ride like that. If I was to buy that amount of their product on the high street, I'd be spending about £20 on every ride just on food/drink! Totally unrealistic...
Weekly totals
Commute - 60 miles
Other rides - 101 miles
Turbo - 1 hour
Swim - 1500m
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
