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

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

2007-04-15 ride

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Elevation (ft.) Speed (mph) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 167 - 186 0h 56m 21% 11.47 mi Zone 4 149 - 167 1h 51m 43% 31.85 mi Zone 3 130 - 149 1h 28m 34% 23.59 mi Zone 2 112 - 130 0h 58m 22% 11.15 mi Zone 1 93 - 112 0h 27m 10% 3.29 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0% 0.07 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com

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 Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 167 - 186 0h 19m 20% 4.98 mi Zone 4 149 - 167 1h 10m 76% 17.51 mi Zone 3 130 - 149 0h 21m 23% 6.26 mi Zone 2 112 - 130 0h 06m 7% 1.60 mi Zone 1 93 - 112 0h 15m 16% 0.24 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0% 0.00 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com

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 Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 167 - 186 0h 38m 23% 10.52 mi Zone 4 149 - 167 1h 53m 68% 35.09 mi Zone 3 130 - 149 0h 23m 14% 7.29 mi Zone 2 112 - 130 0h 10m 6% 2.07 mi Zone 1 93 - 112 0h 01m 0% 0.45 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0% 0.19 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com

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 Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 167 - 186 0h 39m 28% 10.97 mi Zone 4 149 - 167 1h 27m 62% 27.47 mi Zone 3 130 - 149 0h 21m 15% 6.61 mi Zone 2 112 - 130 0h 06m 4% 1.19 mi Zone 1 93 - 112 0h 02m 1% 0.28 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0% 0.01 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com

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

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 Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 167 - 186 0h 24m 21% 6.28 mi Zone 4 149 - 167 1h 05m 56% 19.83 mi Zone 3 130 - 149 0h 28m 24% 7.04 mi Zone 2 112 - 130 0h 06m 5% 1.79 mi Zone 1 93 - 112 0h 05m 4% 0.57 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0% 0.02 mi

Posted from www.bimactive.com