End Of Year Report
New Year's eve 2013, and time for a quick reflection on the passing year (while pedalling out more miles on the turbo trainer).
I've cycled over 5,000 kilometres, climbed nearly 50km, learnt how to fix most things on my bike, ascended one of the hardest climbs of the Tour de France and finished in the top half of the Etape du Tour. Not bad.
I've set myself some pretty tough targets for 2014, and it feels like a metaphorical as well as literal mountain to climb. Confidence is low, but there's still time to build it up. Some early season targets will help in the build up to the Cingles and the Marmotte. The first is to complete two 160km (100 mile) rides in preparation for the Burgess Hill Springtime Classic at the end of March (where the target will be a gold medal time)
Stats for December:
Time on bike: 10hrs 47 mins (1hr 56mins on the road)
Distance cycled: 335km (42km on the road)
Total climbing: 1,000m
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Monday, 23 December 2013
Meet The Mountains
The recent stormy weather (and other commitments) means that training has been restricted to sessions on the turbo trainer since Wales, just to keep the legs ticking over through Christmas.
Seems like a good time to add a bit more detail as to what faces me come July in the Alps.
First: Col du Glandon:
Next: Col du Telegraphe:
And just when the legs can give no more: Alpe d'Huez:
Monday, 2 December 2013
Mentality
Took the bike to Wales at the weekend with the intention of doing a long ride on saturday, then tailoring another ride to how the legs felt on Sunday.
The route I'd chosen for Saturday is a great ride I've done before, which criss-crosses the spine of the Brecon Beacons 4 times and incorporates 7 decent climbs (including the Devil's Elbow)
After finding myself poorly fuelled for the last couple of long rides I've done, I made sure that I was properly fed and hydrated before setting off. Even still, the legs felt weak and progress felt slow up the first climb of the day. This started to make me think, and I realised that the problems weren't so much physical as mental - I've 'bonked' on the last couple of long rides I've done, and now I think I am being subconciously cautious about pushing myself too early in a ride as I don't believe that I have the power/stamina to complete a long, hilly ride.
Once I'd got my head straight, I started to feel much better and dispatched the second climb of the day up Cerrig Duon with relative ease. The descent of this is great fun, as the road surface is half-decent, and visibility was really good:
After losing all that altitude, I immediately turned north onto the A4067 and the climb back up to the pass over the Beacons. Again, felt good on this and the super-fast descent over the other side past the Cray reservoir. Took the junction and the immediate rise taking me towards Heol Senni and a date with the Devil's Elbow, when *PING*, and my legs were spinning freely.
A glance down showed my chain was trailing behind the bike, and I just managed to unclip before coming to a complete standstill (lucky I wasn't going up anything steeper). A quick check revealed that a pin had broken, separating the chain. Wisdom says that this is likely to be caused by a defective pin, but I like to think that I was just putting too much power through the pedals.
So that was it, 50km into a planned 110km ride. All that was left was to call up the team car (Dad) and wait in the sunshine for him to arrive. At least there are worse places to break down:
Having fixed my chain, I decided to go out and have a double crack at Llangynidr mountain on Sunday morning, as the base of it is only 5km away. This is a really good climb, and mirrors a lot of alpine climbs with an average gradient of around 7-8%, with a few ramps of 11-12%, albeit over a much shorter distance. On the first ascent, I turned off before the summit for the descent to Crickhowell, which is really fun. Nudged 70km/h despite not being entirely confident in the integrity of the road surface. Back to Llangynidr and begun the ascent again, this time pedalling all the way to the summit, which is a solid 400m climb.
Felt really good to get all this climbing done, and stopped quickly on the descent for a quick snap, before heading home.
Stats for November:
Time on bike: 19hrs 56mins (16hrs 21mins on the road)
Distance cycled: 501km (382km on the road)
Total climbing: 4,595m
Took the bike to Wales at the weekend with the intention of doing a long ride on saturday, then tailoring another ride to how the legs felt on Sunday.
The route I'd chosen for Saturday is a great ride I've done before, which criss-crosses the spine of the Brecon Beacons 4 times and incorporates 7 decent climbs (including the Devil's Elbow)
After finding myself poorly fuelled for the last couple of long rides I've done, I made sure that I was properly fed and hydrated before setting off. Even still, the legs felt weak and progress felt slow up the first climb of the day. This started to make me think, and I realised that the problems weren't so much physical as mental - I've 'bonked' on the last couple of long rides I've done, and now I think I am being subconciously cautious about pushing myself too early in a ride as I don't believe that I have the power/stamina to complete a long, hilly ride.
Once I'd got my head straight, I started to feel much better and dispatched the second climb of the day up Cerrig Duon with relative ease. The descent of this is great fun, as the road surface is half-decent, and visibility was really good:
After losing all that altitude, I immediately turned north onto the A4067 and the climb back up to the pass over the Beacons. Again, felt good on this and the super-fast descent over the other side past the Cray reservoir. Took the junction and the immediate rise taking me towards Heol Senni and a date with the Devil's Elbow, when *PING*, and my legs were spinning freely.
A glance down showed my chain was trailing behind the bike, and I just managed to unclip before coming to a complete standstill (lucky I wasn't going up anything steeper). A quick check revealed that a pin had broken, separating the chain. Wisdom says that this is likely to be caused by a defective pin, but I like to think that I was just putting too much power through the pedals.
So that was it, 50km into a planned 110km ride. All that was left was to call up the team car (Dad) and wait in the sunshine for him to arrive. At least there are worse places to break down:
Having fixed my chain, I decided to go out and have a double crack at Llangynidr mountain on Sunday morning, as the base of it is only 5km away. This is a really good climb, and mirrors a lot of alpine climbs with an average gradient of around 7-8%, with a few ramps of 11-12%, albeit over a much shorter distance. On the first ascent, I turned off before the summit for the descent to Crickhowell, which is really fun. Nudged 70km/h despite not being entirely confident in the integrity of the road surface. Back to Llangynidr and begun the ascent again, this time pedalling all the way to the summit, which is a solid 400m climb.
 |
| Not sure how I got 61m below sea level in the Brecon Beacons, but hey.... |
Felt really good to get all this climbing done, and stopped quickly on the descent for a quick snap, before heading home.
Stats for November:
Time on bike: 19hrs 56mins (16hrs 21mins on the road)
Distance cycled: 501km (382km on the road)
Total climbing: 4,595m
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Race Diary
Have cobbled together a rough calendar of events for next year to keep the training on track:
March: Burgess Hill Springtime Classic (120km)
April: Training weekend in South Wales
May: Etape Caledonia (130km)
Trip to Provence (inc. attempt at les Cingles - 5,000m climbing)
May try to find a 160km+ sportive to do (no Tour of Wessex for me this year), but if I'm disciplined enough, there will be a few 160km rides in April/May/June as part of my general training.
Have cobbled together a rough calendar of events for next year to keep the training on track:
March: Burgess Hill Springtime Classic (120km)
April: Training weekend in South Wales
May: Etape Caledonia (130km)
Trip to Provence (inc. attempt at les Cingles - 5,000m climbing)
May try to find a 160km+ sportive to do (no Tour of Wessex for me this year), but if I'm disciplined enough, there will be a few 160km rides in April/May/June as part of my general training.
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Sunday, 17 November 2013
Knock, Knock
I'd had this weekend penciled in as the start of serious Marmotte training for a while (this is not to say that the Hellfire sportive was some kind of 'leg loosener' however).
A gorgeous early winter day greeted me on Saturday, so off I went to Richmond Park with no goal in mind other than to practice cycling at a higher cadence. The cadence sensor on the bike wasn't quite set up right, so the reading was occasionally a little intermittent, but I returned an average of 83rpm, which is pretty much the centre of the zone I was aiming for. It felt slow speed-wise, but apparently that's normal and the pace will return once I get used to the new technique.
Today I headed out in the direction of the Surrey downs. This lasted only a couple of KM's though, before I had to turn back to the house to retrieve the water bottles I'd left behind! Liquid refreshment in place, off I went again. Felt good all the way down to the first climb, Ranmore, but as soon as the climb began the legs felt tired and devoid of any real power. I put the bike in a low gear and span away at a very slow speed, all the time wondering if I should call it quits there and then and head for home.
Once at the top, I pedalled along Ranmore common and ate the sandwich I'd brought with me, and began to feel a little better on the descent down Critten Lane. Consumed an energy gel before the 2nd climb, Crocknorth Rd, and began to work my way up the 15% slope. Again, there was nothing in the legs, and at times it felt like I was going backwards.
Once up on Ranmore Common again, my speed picked up as I pointed the bike towards Box Hill. Another energy gel before the start, then I was onto the climb. I'd resigned myself to the fact it was going to be slow, and indeed it was as many cyclists went past me on the ascent. After that, it was the 30km home, where my lack of energy became a full-on bonk. Getting the knock is a horrible experience, and my legs turned to jelly and my mind went blank - not good in London traffic. My last ounces of energy and autopilot got me home, upon which I consumed my weekly intake of calories in one sitting.
So what went wrong? Well I'm not sure. Maybe I was feeling tired from Saturday's ride. Maybe I still hadn't recovered from the Sportive last week. Maybe I hadn't fuelled properly over the weekend. Maybe I need to lay off the booze for a bit. My suspicion is it's a combination of all of the above.
Still, stats for the weekend below. Nice to feel like I'm getting some real miles under my belt.
Distance cycled: 146km
Time on bike: 5hrs 56mins
Average speed: 24.5km/h
Total climbing: 1,623m
I'd had this weekend penciled in as the start of serious Marmotte training for a while (this is not to say that the Hellfire sportive was some kind of 'leg loosener' however).
A gorgeous early winter day greeted me on Saturday, so off I went to Richmond Park with no goal in mind other than to practice cycling at a higher cadence. The cadence sensor on the bike wasn't quite set up right, so the reading was occasionally a little intermittent, but I returned an average of 83rpm, which is pretty much the centre of the zone I was aiming for. It felt slow speed-wise, but apparently that's normal and the pace will return once I get used to the new technique.
Today I headed out in the direction of the Surrey downs. This lasted only a couple of KM's though, before I had to turn back to the house to retrieve the water bottles I'd left behind! Liquid refreshment in place, off I went again. Felt good all the way down to the first climb, Ranmore, but as soon as the climb began the legs felt tired and devoid of any real power. I put the bike in a low gear and span away at a very slow speed, all the time wondering if I should call it quits there and then and head for home.
Once at the top, I pedalled along Ranmore common and ate the sandwich I'd brought with me, and began to feel a little better on the descent down Critten Lane. Consumed an energy gel before the 2nd climb, Crocknorth Rd, and began to work my way up the 15% slope. Again, there was nothing in the legs, and at times it felt like I was going backwards.
Once up on Ranmore Common again, my speed picked up as I pointed the bike towards Box Hill. Another energy gel before the start, then I was onto the climb. I'd resigned myself to the fact it was going to be slow, and indeed it was as many cyclists went past me on the ascent. After that, it was the 30km home, where my lack of energy became a full-on bonk. Getting the knock is a horrible experience, and my legs turned to jelly and my mind went blank - not good in London traffic. My last ounces of energy and autopilot got me home, upon which I consumed my weekly intake of calories in one sitting.
 |
| Chris Froome bonking on Alpe d'Huez in the 2013 TdF - unfortunately I had neither a team car or a Richie Porte to get me food in the Surrey Downs! |
So what went wrong? Well I'm not sure. Maybe I was feeling tired from Saturday's ride. Maybe I still hadn't recovered from the Sportive last week. Maybe I hadn't fuelled properly over the weekend. Maybe I need to lay off the booze for a bit. My suspicion is it's a combination of all of the above.
Still, stats for the weekend below. Nice to feel like I'm getting some real miles under my belt.
Distance cycled: 146km
Time on bike: 5hrs 56mins
Average speed: 24.5km/h
Total climbing: 1,623m
Friday, 15 November 2013
Don't Sweat The Technique
Following my ruminations below on my current shortcomings, I have invested a considerable amount of time researching climbing technique and how to improve it. The following article seems to back up what I had identified as my problems with hill-climbing - it appears that I am a 'masher', when I need to be a 'spinner'
The article lays out everything really well (apart from indentifying the real reasons behind Lance's climbing ability!), and the problems associated with being a 'masher' do ring true with me (high heart rate, low cadence, lactic acid build-up)
So my course of action is clear - my next few training rides should be used to get used to pedalling at a higher cadence (both on hills and the flat). Once I'm comfortable with that, then I will have a better idea of how my HR will respond to the new technique when the road points at the sky.
Click here for Mark Consugar on climbing
Following my ruminations below on my current shortcomings, I have invested a considerable amount of time researching climbing technique and how to improve it. The following article seems to back up what I had identified as my problems with hill-climbing - it appears that I am a 'masher', when I need to be a 'spinner'
The article lays out everything really well (apart from indentifying the real reasons behind Lance's climbing ability!), and the problems associated with being a 'masher' do ring true with me (high heart rate, low cadence, lactic acid build-up)
So my course of action is clear - my next few training rides should be used to get used to pedalling at a higher cadence (both on hills and the flat). Once I'm comfortable with that, then I will have a better idea of how my HR will respond to the new technique when the road points at the sky.
Click here for Mark Consugar on climbing
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