Sunday 26 November 2006

...and they said it wouldn't rain

Before going to bed last night I checked the weather report for my ride today: Overcast until about 7am, but then clear and sunny from 9am until 1pm with a 9kph wind coming from the south Temperature at around 9C (48F). Sounded great despite the fact that, taking the 100km (60-mile) route I was planning, I'd end up fighting a mild headwind on the way back. As long as it wasn't too cold, windy or raining I'd have a decent ride. So hoping into bed at 11pm, I put my alarm on for 8am confident that I would have a nice ride the next day...or so I thought.

Next morning I wake from a very pleasant sleep and notice the light coming in through the window is a deep orange. Weird, I thought, and had a look outside. The clouds were lit up like it was on fire - was I still dreaming? It wasn't raining and the wind seemed a bit stronger than 9pkh. I had some breakfast and watched the sky and the weather report on TV over a cup of coffee. Still clear they said.

9am came along and I was dressed and ready to roll - it started raining lightly and I could hear thunder rolling in the distance. No problem - I'll give the rain an hour to clear up. I chilled out with my fresh copy of Pro Cycling and another cup of coffee for an hour. At 10 it was still raining, but it was clearing in the west and I took a pic of a lovely double rainbow. I took it as a good sign and decided to get going.

The air was pretty cold and the wind and rain made it even chillier, though I would be riding with a nice tailwind. I notice that the roads had flooded in places - it must have been really coming down the night before. 5-miles out I was soaked to the bone and contemplated calling it a day, but I didn't want to get wet for just 10-miles of training. I came across a group of 5 riders who seemed just as intent on getting in their rides. I greeted them good morning, but passed by as I wasn't in a group-ride mood. It had really started belted down by 15-miles covered and the wind was picking up considerably. I was flying along at 25-30miles an hour without putting in much effort - it was all very well until the hail started.

Stinging my face, the small hail stones were coming down mixed in with the rain and made me start looking for a bus shelter, however I was still another 3-4 miles away from the next town, so I just powered through. Misery makes me stronger, I thought. Memories of watching pros tackle the spring classics with snot running across their haggard looking faces started running through my mind. If I had have had a dry area to stop and put on some Johnny Cash on my iPod, I would have done so, but I didn't so had to be content with Brian Eno's Curiosities Vol 2. I hummed a little Creedence...

At the 20-mile mark I did myself the favor of turning back as I was now fed up and my behind was not happy with my shorts soaked and chaffing. The hail had stopped but the rain kept on falling and I had a massive headwind to contend with - oh how I wish a had have stayed with the group I passed... Some parts of the ride back were so hard I was standing on the pedals yet crouching as much as possible, sometimes yelling and swearing. My feet were soaked even though I was wearing rubber shoe-covers. The misery made me feel strangely comforted - I was having a good workout!

I eventually made it back home after 2 hours of cold hell. The last turn going across the road and into my driveway I took a little too quickly and literally ran out of driveway as I was still cornering. At about 15-mph my front wheel slid and I came down on my right knee and shoulder. I stood up immediately to assess the damage - nothing broken, just a nice scrape on my knee, my shoulder is nicely bruised and my right hand was a little sore from stopping myself at the point of falling. My bike's brand new handlebar tape was slightly ripped and I suspect I could have bent my rear derailleur as my gears are now skipping.

Anyway - nice and warm now and another weekend ride under my belt.

Monday 13 November 2006

Sunday metric century

I decided to get my metric 100km challenge out of the way today.

It was a chilly and slightly overcast Sunday morning but I felt good as I'd taken Saturday off from riding so I was well rested. I was picking a new route and was not entirely sure of my bearings so I took along a map of the area I was going to: a town called Hitchin.

At Welwyn Garden City, the number of turnoffs and overpasses left me slightly confused and I ended up circling a large area twice before taking a chance on one turnoff. This lead to a number of round-a-bouts and eventually my turnoff to Hitchin appeared - at this stage I'd covered about 35km which included some aimless circling.

The road between Welwyn and Hitchin was beautiful - lovely rolling green hills and quaint little villages on the way. I passed by one cyclist on the way - an old man who gave me a friendly wave as I rode by. By kilometer 55 I finally reached Hitchin and stopped at a Subway sandwich shop for a break. The people in the shop looked at me like I was alien - I guess they don't see many lycra clad cyclists stopping by...lock up your daughters!!!

On my way back I'd noticed that the wind had changed direction to a strong side (cross wind), making handling a little precarious. I wasn't out of Hitchin for 2km before I heard the swoosh of a group of cyclists behind me. It was a pack of about 20 riders out on their Sunday mission. I gratefully joined them at the back to get some rest and speed in their draft. I got chatting to one of them and found out they were triathletes from St Albans.

I arrived in Welwyn much sooner than expected and split from the group to make my way home. I was already pretty tired from the pace of the group and still had 30km to go into what wa now a fairly strong headwind. This last hour or so was a real struggle and I found myself in a lot of pain. I stopped at a gas station outside of Potter's Bar to fuel up on Powerade and a Snicker's bar and got going again.

By the time I arrived home I was knackered - I showered, ate a lunch of spaghetti bolognaise, watched a DVD and had a very early night. It was a tough but rewarding day for this day was the furtherest I'd gone since starting cycing again a year ago - 105km.

Friday 10 November 2006

Commuting with my camera

I decided to take some snaps of my ride to and from work in London today. It was surprisingly easy to snap away with one hand on the brake - even in heavy traffic. I also couldn't resist adding a couple of shots of my setup at work including my space in the basement and the shower I share with 2 other commuters (though not at the same time, you understand! )

The night time pics on my return home came out really unexpectedly...mostly turning into a psychedelic colour fest!

Anyway - enjoy the pics of my route which covers quite a few famous London landmarks including Trafalgar Square (with Lord Nelson gazing down on us humble surfs), Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.







Saturday 4 November 2006

Early winter ride

I decided to take my camera out on my ride this morning.

The temperature when I left at 9am was hovering just above freezing so I had to dress very warmly. Thick woolen socks, undershirt, cycling top and my new Campagnolo long sleeved full-zipper jersey, full-fingered gortex gloves and full-length leg warmers under my cycling short. Also wore a skull cap under my helmet and over my ears - this is thin lycra hat used to keep the head warm. Its been clear skies for the last week or so, so no need to worry about rain gear.

The route I look was 70km and went to Hertford and along a freeway for about 10km to Hatfield and then back home via Potter's Bar. I saw quite a few cyclists on my ride, but they were all going in the opposite direction. I am now in a base-training routine which means long distances at around 70% of my maximum heart-rate, basically meaning that I don't exert myself too much, but enough to get the blood pumping nicely...

It was a highly enjoyable ride - average speed for the day was just under 30kph.







Wednesday 1 November 2006

Sunday session

Ended up going for a 43km ride on Sunday on my usual Ridgeway route. I was planning on just taking it easy and enjoying the countryside on this frosty but sunny day. At the top of the hill that leads into Barnet I was passed by another cyclist who was out on his training ride. I caught up to him on the other side of the town heading out to Potter's Bar and fell into a drafting pattern with him without saying anything - we were both listening to our iPods.

Well, this guy soon started picking up the pace and it became increasingly difficult for me to contribute to the pacemaking and I ended up just hanging on to his back wheel. On the steep hill outside of Cuffley he finally pulled away from me and I ended up struggling up the last bit, but a bit glad that I was back to my own pace again. Just before I got to the turnoff to loop back to Potter's Bar I saw this guy had turned around to go back the way we'd come. He waved and I waved back - shweet bro, catch ya laterz.

Rode back home with a nice little tailwind and surprisingly my avg speed was almost 32kph for the 43km - not bad, and I didn't feel tired.

Anyway, so far this week, the commuting has been cool, just damn dark in the evenings - better get new batteries for my blinkies as they're starting to look a bit dim.