Killermathon  

Completed the London Kilomathon on Sunday - 26.2 kilometres in 2 hrs 9 mins 15 secs and a respectable 55th place.

Training on the bike from now on, but will keep up the running as it helps with shaving the weight.

Feels like ages since I was on the bike...

The Stage Is Set.

The route for the Tour de France 2013, and more importantly (to me at least!) the Etape du Tour has been released. The course is a 130km loop to the south of Annecy, finishing on Annecy Semnoz:

As the profile shows, there's very little flat on the course, and just over 3,000m of climbing.

Honestly, my first reaction to the announcement of the route was disappointment.

With this being the 100th Tour de France, and the grandeur of some of the other stages in the race - Mont Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez, Col du Glandon and Col du Madeleine, I thought we were in for something spectacular. A real 'must do'. Instead this route seems to be an after-thought.

After I had mulled my initial thoughts however, a re-evaluation brought the positives to the fore:

1. The course is a loop, meaning that providing I can actually secure an entry, the logistics of competing are far easier.
2. The course is indeed short but the lack of flat km's means this is still a real test of fitness
3. This is the last stage of the Tour before Paris - surely there's a challenge there somewhere? And there is:

The final climb, although short at 11km, averages 8.5% gradient, with some really nasty bits on the way up. This will have a lot of under-prepared riders blowing after 120km - there'll be little chance of getting into rhythm and is likely to be an out-and-out grind where every turn of the pedals will be a battle against common sense.

A final plus point for my participation of the Etape 2013 is that I have found someone willing to undertake the challenge with me. So providing we can both secure entry, Jon and I will be loading up the car and driving to Annecy for our first etape on the weekend of 7 July 2013.

Time to put a training plan together...

Lance

So that's it, Lance has been scrubbed from the record books.

All that's left is the teary 'confession' with Oprah which will follow the well-trodden route of many exposed celebrities of "yes I cheated, but when you look at it I'm the victim..."

I'm not angry, or surprised. Just let down.

What is my motivation?

The realisation hit me this weekend that unless I can find someone to join me in attempting the 2013 Etape, then I'll be training on my own throughout the winter. That'll require a fair bit of motivation - 5 hours in the saddle on cold, wet winter weekends with no-one to hear my insightful social commentary. I may go mad...

Tour de France and Etape routes are disclosed on Wednesday. There's a fair few rumours about the route, but words such as Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez and Tourmalet are being whispered with reverential tones.

My Partner In Crime

I guess I should give some airtime to the bike I've chosen for this escapade.

My noble steed is a Cube Peleton Pro:

The observant cyclists amongst you will notice this is a triple, which I will happily admit is a lovely thing to have right now (although the bottom chainring is quickly becoming a 'safety net' rather than a legitimate option). I would hope that by next summer I'll have no need for a triple, but I doubt I can justify such dramatic upgrades to my bike so soon after purchasing.

A new set of wheels would be nice in the spring though.

The longest day. So far...

Really I should be training for the 26km run I've signed up to do at the end of the month, but the combination of a free Sunday and a beautiful late Autumn day persuaded me to get out on the bike for a spin down to Surrey.

Even without the couple of minor wrong turns, it proved to be my longest ride on the bike, so here are the stats:

Distance: 95.2km
Time: 4hr 22min
Total Climbing: 1,160m
Average Speed: 21.8kmh (13.5mph)

As well as going over Epsom twice, the 3 main climbs were:

White Downs Lane - they're not lying with that 18% gradient sign. Made it to what appeared to be a WW2 bunker before dropping onto the smallest chainring. Wonder if I'll ever make it to the top on the middle chainring...

Crocknorth Road - just a lttle longer than is comfortable. Could've stood on the pedals but wanted to save some energy for the last climb.

Box Hill - still the best road surface, despite the speedbumps. Everyone seemed to pass me on this today.

Other plusses were improved nutrition habits - ate and drank regularly and even learned how to open an energy bar on the go without falling off.

My feet were frozen though. Hopefully some kind soul will buy me overshoes for my birthday!

The thought of doing twice that distance and 4x the climbing scares the bejesus out of me, but hey, little steps...

A Line In The Sand pt. II

Weight: 78.4kg (for those reading in black and white, that's 12st5lb)

Resting heart rate: 47bpm (not sure how much I can improve this!)

A Line In The Sand

Now seems as good a time as any to establish a baseline for my fitness and lay down some markers that I can measure improvements against, so...

Longest ride (distance): 80kms - a ride down to Surrey incorporating two ascents of Box Hill
Most climbing on a single ride: 1350m - a 76km ride in the Brecon Beacons
Richmond Park 3-Lap TT: 64'15"

I will divulge my weight shortly, as soon as I can get my bathroom scales to work after my nephews 'adjusted' them.

A lesson in blogging...

...the number of views greatly increases when you include the word 'X-Factor' in a post.

OK, now I'm officially a blogger and a new cyclist.

I think that means I'm the most 'faddy' I've ever been. I'll be watching X-Factor and tweeting my every thought next...

I've been cycling for two months now and, as many before me, have been completely bitten by the bug. I've followed pro cycling for a long while, although mainly limited to watching the Grand Tours and reading the odd biography of some hero of a bygone age, but have always resisted actually participating in the sport.

The reason for my reluctance to join the lycra-clad hordes until now is a simple one - I know that I cannot simply enjoy it. I'm quite aware that I'm unable to do any sport 'recreationally' and for fun. I have to immerse myself in it completely: measure my performance, read every bit of information and opinion on the subject, and perhaps most significantly, spend a lot of money on it. And cycling is a sport that you can spend a lot of money on. I don't particularly believe that the best and most expensive kit will make me better per se, but I find some kind of beauty in the precision and the technology of high-end kit, and it's that that creates the want.

So now here I am, I own my first road-bike and have found that I have taken to the sport to such an extent that every morning I look longingly at my bike and try to work out when I can next ride it. But already fun rides aren't enough. I need to test myself.

And that is why I will hopefully be attempting the Etape du Tour in 2013.

Which brings me to the purpose of this blog. Firstly, I'm hoping that logging all my training (or lack of it) will be a motivation to keep going. It's easy to lie to yourself that you're doing enough when it isn't written down to be analysed. My other reason for creating a blog, rather than just keeping spreadsheets full of stats is that this will be a mental as well as physical challenge (please be aware this will be the first cliche of many). I'm very aware that I have an acute fear of failure, often to the point where I won't even attempt some things because I have already convinced myself that I cannot succeed. If that happens at the foot of a 1500m climb, then I have no chance. Therefore this blog is my reference that I (hopefully) have done the work and have prepared correctly, and is a place where I can articulate my fears so that I can manage them and learn to overcome them.