Monday 30 April 2007

EF-Wheathampsted-Weston-Hertford-EF

Tough day's solo riding - very windy and pretty warm. Started out too quickly and by 60km covered I was getting pain in my calves. The hills north of Stevenage and the unrelenting headwind from the east didn't help much. By the time I'd hit Hertford I was bonking badly, so stopped for a Lucozade. The hills up to Brickendon and through to Potter's Bar were a nightmare and I started to get a very worrying little voice in my head that was saying that this was all too much and I should just quit. Several times during this period I felt like throwing up, but managed to hold it together until I arrived home.

Despite the poor avg speed, I look at today's ride as a reminder that if you push it too hard too early, you will pay for it later...big time!

Distance: 126.1km / 78.4mi
Time: 4:26:25 (5 min subtracted due to traffic)
Speed: 28.4kph / 17.7mph
Calories: 5008
Elevation Gain: 1274m
Heart Rate: 154bpm (avg), 178bpm (max)

View this ride data at Motionbased



Sunday 29 April 2007

Training: EF-Broxbourne-Hertford-L.Berk-EF

No one turned up for today's group ride except for one on the slower guys from last week. Was tempted to tell him that it wasn't worth the effort today (then go for a solo ride), but didn't have the heart. Ended up riding with him, just taking it easy as last week. When we finished and split at Potter's Bar I picked up a very fast rider for the last 12km back. Avg speed over the this distance was around 36-40kph - and that was through busy traffic! Despite the slowness of the day, at least I got a nice bit of pain towards the end.

I'm going to stop riding with the Potter's Bar group if this continues. I'm really losing out on proper training and can't afford it with less than 10 weeks before the British Sportive...I think I'll aim to be at Potter's Bar at 10:10am from now on, and if I see the same slow riders there, I'll just keep on riding solo.

Distance: 72.2km / 44.9mi
Time: 2:28:56 (3 minutes subtracted due to traffic)
Speed: 29.1kph / 18.1mph
Calories: 3139
Elevation Gain: 845m
Heart Rate: 127bpm (avg) / 175bpm (max)

View this ride data at Motionbased


Sunday 22 April 2007

Training: EF-Whitwell-Colney Heath-EF


My regular Sunday group ride today was frustrating, but got miles into my legs nevertheless. There were five of us: the leader who was very strong (ridden with him before), an older guy (must have been about 55-60) who was also very strong, me - OK, getting there, and 2 other guys who were definitely on the wrong ride - very slow, but nice guys just the same.

These guys were constantly being dropped even during the first 10-miles of warm up - I felt a bit sorry for them, but confused because I'd seen them on this ride before and they were also dropped very quickly then. Anyway - the 2 stronger guys had to turn back halfway along the route which left me with the 2 slow pokes - I was now the designated leader...

A few miles into my new role and the guys wanted to stop for tea at a roadside pub. We'd already covered 35-miles and I felt like I wanted to just press on alone at my own pace, but because I was the leader (and the only one who knew the way home), I agreed and stopped with them for a 15-minute cuppa. They were interesting guys and good to chat to, but I felt like I was wasting my day. Not wanting to appear like an a-hole, I kept my bitterness to myself - I would just cruise through the rest of the ride and enjoy the scenery.

Luckily there was a brisk headwind on the way back, so I sat in front, very upright - to get the full drag of the wind, and pulled the other 2 along, but still not feeling much effort, even though they were struggling to keep up. I'd sprint to the top of every hill, then coast easily down the other side, waiting for them. If the weather and scenery hadn't been so good, today's ride would have been downright lousy...

Eventually the ride was over and I headed home, feeling bitter - I realised today that I actually crave pain and speed. I didn't get my fix!

I loaded a course I'd done before in this area on my Garmin to find my way and accidentally wiped out my data from my current ride, so unfortunately no GPS data for my blog post. I did take the distance/time data from my Cateye computer, though - slowest ride done all year!


Distance: 102.1km
Time: 4:04:42
Speed: 25.0kph / 15.6mph


Sunday 15 April 2007

Training: EF-Buntingford-EF

Distance: 125.3km / 76.8mi
Time: 4:17:26
Speed: 29.2kph / 17.9mph
Elevation Gain: 1446m
Calories: 5290
HR: 146bpm (avg), 181bpm (max)

Grueling ride with the Potters Bar group. Started out with 5 guys, but we dropped 2 guys during the first 30km. I guess they came to the wrong ride... Very strong German rider led the way and pushed me and a British guy very hard. Suffered on most of the hills, but stayed in touch. I punctured about 25 km to the end and the guys waited. Back home feeling very drained...just in time to collapse on the couch and watch the Paris-Roubaix on TV.

Oh - looks like there's a dent in my frame from yesterday's accident. I'll have to call the car driver back to see if he can give me another £200 for a new frame...

View this ride data at Motionbased





Elevation (ft.)
Speed (mph)
Heart Rate (bpm)
Heart Rate Zones
ZoneRange
(bpm)
Time
In Zone
Distance
In Zone
Zone 5167 - 1860h 56m21% 11.47 mi
Zone 4149 - 1671h 51m43% 31.85 mi
Zone 3130 - 1491h 28m34% 23.59 mi
Zone 2112 - 1300h 58m22% 11.15 mi
Zone 193 - 1120h 27m10% 3.29 mi
(none)out of range0h 00m0% 0.07 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com

Saturday 14 April 2007

Training: EF-Newgate St-L.Berkhampsted-EF


Short but hard ride. Hard for 2 reasons - 1) legs sore from yesterdays after work pyramid interval session..and 2) I had a nasty crash!

On the last 1 kilometer of the leg back home, coming up a hill in my neighborhood, I was doing about 18mph at the top. A car pulls in front of me, turning across my path from the other side of the street. I couldn't react in time and went straight into the side of his bonnet / left front wheel. I went flying over and crumpled down the other side, rolling along the road. In shock I lay there wondering if I'd injured myself badly - people were crowding around and a guy came over to me saying he knew first aid. He checked me over, but all I had was two scraped knees and hands, sore left leg inside muscle and a bit of pain in my right quad - no ripped clothing.

The driver was really concerned, admitting fault, and since my injuries were not too bad I told him that I wouldn't press charges as long as he paid for the damages to my bike. He agreed. Took my bike to the LBS - which was about 100 meters down the road - and had the bike checked over - front wheel buckled and saddle ripped up - total cost of replacing wheelset and saddle plus labour, they quoted £200. The driver paid for it on the spot.

He called me after I got home to apologise and say that if there was anything else he could do, or if any of my injuries developed, or if my bike needed anything else done to it (the LBS is currently giving it a proper check over) he would pay the cost of these. Although angry that I was knocked over and the blame lies with this driver, I respect him for his concern. At the moment I'm feeling OK - the scrapes aren't really bad at all and my bike will be ready to collect later (hopefully there won't be any frame damage). As long as I'm OK to do my long Sunday ride tomorrow, it would be as if this never happened at all, though I am tired of crashing - 3 now in the last 4 months, though this is the first one with a car for a long time.


Distance: 46.7km / 28.7mi
Time: 1:28:38 (3 minutes subtracted due to traffic)
Speed: 31.6 / 19.6mph
Elevation Gain: 529m
Calories: 2168
HR: 153bpm (avg) / 177bpm (max)

View this ride data at Motionbased



Map
Elevation (ft.)
Speed (mph)
Heart Rate (bpm)
Heart Rate Zones
ZoneRange
(bpm)
Time
In Zone
Distance
In Zone
Zone 5167 - 1860h 19m20% 4.98 mi
Zone 4149 - 1671h 10m76% 17.51 mi
Zone 3130 - 1490h 21m23% 6.26 mi
Zone 2112 - 1300h 06m7% 1.60 mi
Zone 193 - 1120h 15m16% 0.24 mi
(none)out of range0h 00m0% 0.00 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com

Sunday 8 April 2007

Training: EF-Colney Heath-Whitwell-Hatfield-EF

Lovely day and lovely ride. Another good average speed. Decided not to go out with the Potters Bar group today as I wanted to be back home before 12pm for the Tour of Flanders on TV. Pushed myself hard wherever I could. Spent a lot of time close to my max HR. Very pleased with today's ride. I definitely feel like I've gone up a level in speed. Nice!

View this ride data at Motionbased


Distance: 84.8km / 52.6mi
Time: 2:42:48 (3 minutes subtracted due to traffic)
Speed: 31.3kph / 19.5mph
Heart Rate: 155bpm (avg) / 182bpm (max)
Calories: 3754
Elevation: 912m
Map
Elevation (ft.)
Speed (mph)
Heart Rate (bpm)
Heart Rate Zones
ZoneRange
(bpm)
Time
In Zone
Distance
In Zone
Zone 5167 - 1860h 38m23% 10.52 mi
Zone 4149 - 1671h 53m68% 35.09 mi
Zone 3130 - 1490h 23m14% 7.29 mi
Zone 2112 - 1300h 10m6% 2.07 mi
Zone 193 - 1120h 01m0% 0.45 mi
(none)out of range0h 00m0% 0.19 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com

Friday 6 April 2007

Training: EF-Broxbourne-Hertford-Essendon-EF

Beautiful day for riding - 21 degrees celcius and just a gentle breeze to cool things down. The ride was perfect, feeling strong all the way, and without incident. Completed the ride with a good average speed despite the hilly route that I chose.

Taking tomorrow off from riding (well, I might do a short recovery ride seeing as the weather is supposed to be lovely again) and will do a nice long ride on Sunday with the Potter's Bar group.

Distance: 70.3km / 43.6mi
Time: 2:13:53 (5 min taken off due to traffic)
Speed: 31.5kph / 19.6mph
Heart Rate: 156bpm (avg), 178bpm (max)
Calories: 2807
Elevation Gain: 746m

View this ride data at Motionbased
Map
Elevation (ft.)
Speed (mph)
Heart Rate (bpm)
Heart Rate Zones
ZoneRange
(bpm)
Time
In Zone
Distance
In Zone
Zone 5167 - 1860h 39m28% 10.97 mi
Zone 4149 - 1671h 27m62% 27.47 mi
Zone 3130 - 1490h 21m15% 6.61 mi
Zone 2112 - 1300h 06m4% 1.19 mi
Zone 193 - 1120h 02m1% 0.28 mi
(none)out of range0h 00m0% 0.01 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com

Thursday 5 April 2007

Training: EF-Wheathampsted-Welwyn-EF

So I took my new back tyre out for a spin today - its a Vittoria Open Corsa - more expensive than the Rubino Pro I have up front - though it matches colour-wise. Anyway - took a new route that made a left at the main traffic lights in Potters Bar, then onto a nice quiet and very flat road that took me through Colney Heath and round the outskirts of St Albans. It was a beautiful day with hardly a breath of air. I was keeping my HR inside Zone 4 and going up to 4.2 max going out of the saddle up small elevations in the road. I was averaging between 34-38kph along this section for about 10km - very nice and smooth.

The GPS route I'd plotted lead me to a proper off-road track with green fields teaming with sheep on either side. I decided to take the track as I could see it lead back onto a paved road at the bottom of the hill. Sheep baahed at me all the way - I baahed back. Eventually connected onto one of my favorite country lanes through Symondshyde Great Wood. It was here that I punctured my new tyre :-(

Worked for 20-odd minutes repairing the tube and fitting the tyre onto the rim. All around me was the quiet forest and just the odd barking dog in the distance could be heard - felt very Blair Witch-ey... I was glad to be back on my bike and out of the woods. At this point I decided that I would call it a day and rode back home via Welwyn and Hatfield - reason was that the tyre was only inflated up to about 75-80psi as this is all the hand pump I have can inflate up to. Didn't want to risk another puncture many more miles further away from home.

In all a good ride that was enjoyable despite the short distance - will make up for it on Sunday's ride. Oh yes - I forgot to press "Start" on my GPS, so the ride was not recorded - oh well :-)

Distance: 64.8km / 40.3mi
Time: 2:07:49 (taken off 5 min due to traffic)
Speed: 30.4kph / 18.9mph

Wednesday 4 April 2007

Training: EF-Newgate Street-Essendon-EF

Steady paced ride with a few 15, 30 second plus 1-3 minute intervals thrown in. Had the same tire problem as a few days ago. The GP4000 seems to pop out at any pressure above 110psi...going to buy a new tyre today.

View this ride data at Motionbased


Distance: 54.6km / 33.9mi
Time: 1:49:42 (5 min taken off for heavy traffic)
Speed: 29.9kph / 18.6mph
Heart Rate: 152bpm (Avg), 181bpm (Peak)
Calories: 2125

Map
Elevation (ft.)
Speed (mph)
Heart Rate (bpm)
Heart Rate Zones
ZoneRange
(bpm)
Time
In Zone
Distance
In Zone
Zone 5167 - 1860h 24m21% 6.28 mi
Zone 4149 - 1671h 05m56% 19.83 mi
Zone 3130 - 1490h 28m24% 7.04 mi
Zone 2112 - 1300h 06m5% 1.79 mi
Zone 193 - 1120h 05m4% 0.57 mi
(none)out of range0h 00m0% 0.02 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com

Monday 2 April 2007

Training: EF-DancersHill-MaysLane-EF

Easy recovery ride on first day of holiday (well, 3rd if you count the weekend!). Encountered an irate SUV driver today - basically a swearing battle took place between us, ebding with him actually trying to swerve into me. I finally got to him when I told him he had a small prick - giving him the little bent finger sign. He accelerated in front of me and blocked me off against the pavement and got out the car. Not wanting to fight, I sprinted around him and the car and down a side street. I could feel the wind of his meaty hand as he tried grabbing me - pretty scary. The side street came to a dead end and I was basically trapped if he followed me down there...but he didn't. Damn the bastard for making my HR go too high - this was supposed to be a recovery ride...

Distance: 38km
Time: ?
Speed: about 25kph

Sunday 1 April 2007

Training: EF-Dane End-Stevenge-EF

Went on the Potters Bar group ride today. The group was made up of completely different riders from last Sunday except for myself and the tall guy in the Discovery kit. Total number of players: 6.

Started off at a surprisingly brisk pace, with one guy in a black jersey putting in an "attack" on the second hill of the day. I chased him down and looked back - we'd left the pack behind. I sat up and waited for them to catch me. We eventually came back together and continued at a reasonable speed for the next 10-miles or so. Then we got lost a bit and ended up doing a 5-mile loop and back onto the road we were on 15 minutes before - oh well!

I had no idea how far they wanted to go today and didn't ask - I was just enjoying the warm sunshine and taking pulls into the wind - feeling strong again. At one point we turned onto a pretty steep narrow road that twisted through the back of a little village and over a couple of bridges. We realised at the top that we were 3 people short. The leader of the group and I freewheeled back down the hill to look for them - 2 we found but it was the tall Discovery kit clad guy that was missing. The 2 that were found said they'd been waiting for him but they rekoned he must have taken a wrong turn. He knew the way back home apparently, so we climbed back up the nasty hill.

Took off on some nice quiet roads which were new to me and even saw a deer shoot out in front of us - really beautiful as it stood in a field with its white fluffy backside to us - amazing. Eventually the leader of the group guided us onto a road that turned with the wind and suddenly we were flying along at 25-30mph. This didn't last long, though, as we turned onto the main Hitchin-Codicote road that had a nasty cross wind. Dropped the guy in the black jersey, so we waited for him to catch up - he hadn't been eating anything, so I gave him my last gel. He seemed to be OK for the next few miles, but eventually I looked behind and I noticed that the group was down to just 3. The black jersey guy and one guy on a fixed gear bike had both been dropped. The three of us continued.

The pain was starting to creep into my legs as we passed the 60-mile mark and my turns in front stopped - I was hanging on now. The last big hill of the day was hell as I gritted my teeth and stayed on the leader's back wheel. The third guy was slipping back. Eventually he did fall away and it was just the leader and I. We flew through Potter's Bar and I held on all the way back home, with the leader living a few miles just passed where I live. We shook hands and split.

I realised that this was the longest ride I've done since starting cycling again and I'm suffering from it - much pain coming from my legs and feet. In all a painful yet satisfying ride - I got to drop 4 out of 5 guys on a group ride and it feels really good!

View this ride data at Motionbased

Distance: 134.7km / 83.6 mi
Time: 4:51:10
Speed: 27.8kph / 17.2 mph
Pace: 3' 29 min/mile
Calories: 5054
Heart Rate: 141 bpm (Avg)
182 bpm (Peak)