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!
No comments:
Post a Comment