Monday 28 February 2011 (3 Days Left)

Just a couple of miles on the bike today - and that's it, no more bike until we are off, full relaxation for the next two days - if such a thing can be achieved by getting off a bike and on the underground.

I've also sent the bike off for a quick pre-ride service.  It's only a shade over seven weeks old and needed a new chain!  This either reflects the Chris Hoy style chain chewing power I can now deliver through my newly honed legs or the horrible chain chewing winter weather that I've been training in.  I suspect I know the answer given it also needed its rain worn brake blocks replaced.

Sunday 27 February 2011 (4 Days Left)

Sort of wrecked the tapering today and went and did what I enjoy most on a bike and competed in a navigator race in the village of Chilton, Oxfordshire.

A navigator race is essentially orienteering on a bike.  The idea is simple, visit as many checkpoints (described on a map) as you can in three hours.  Get the most checkpoints in the time and you win.  The use of cunning to devise and navigate the most effective route can compensate for a lack of fitness, but more often than not, it's fitness compensating for a lack of cunning.

Today it was evident that any cunning I may have had had been replaced with stunning stupidity.  I was rather hoping my improved fitness would rescue me from humiliation; but no, the clawing chalky mud of the Ridgeway made it hard and slow.  To see my catalogue of route choice and map reading errors view the Garmin Connect stats here.

I suspect that my recent roadie activities have left me unable to fathom anything more complex than a simple road atlas.

Fortunately I couldn't hang around to see the results as I had to get back to see James Blunt at the Hammersmith Appolo.

Oh dear, admitting to enjoying orienteering and going to a James Blunt concert - I suspect my stock has just crashed.

Saturday 26 February 2011 (5 Days Left)

0 miles on the bike today.  A full day of rest and relaxation with the family.

Not sure where I take the tapering from here, or am I being a bit literal with this tapering business.

Friday 25 February 2011 (6 Days Left)

20 miles in the saddle today, so still tapering.

I've also taken delivery of some last minute supplies to help protect my delicate derriere:  Two new pairs of bib shorts (I now have a fresh pair for every day on the ride) and, what I hope is a diamond investment, the wonderfully named Assos Chamois Creme.  

The roadies seem to swear by this stuff and I do hope it does what it says on the tin - promising to reduce 'frictions' and keep me comfortably cool.

Worried, not me.

Thursday 24 February 2011 (7 Days Left)



Seven days left to get fit!  The hard work has been done?  I'm starting my tapering - the gradual reduction in training effort to ensure I turn up at the start line fresh.  I kicked this off with a tad over 30 miles in the saddle today.  That's less mileage than yesterday so tapering has started well.



Questions and answers at the rider briefing



I also attended the riders briefing at Aedas's offices where I learnt the full horror of what lies ahead.

I was presented with my team jersey (team Bluefin) and a rider booklet that lays out the route over 26 pages!  Each page includes a helpful elevation/distance graph - at a glance these are a little spiky - what have I done?

Wednesday 23 February 2011 (8 Days Left)

I managed to get myself to the final Cycle to Cannes training ride this morning at Regents Park.  Ridiculously early.  Ridiculously wet.

I have summarised my thoughts on training in the rain in a short video.

Garmin Connect stats here.

Tuesday 22 February 2011 (9 Days Left)

I've been reading a book, The Complete Guide to Endurance Training, a wee bit late I accept, but none the less some useful tips.  Apparently rest is 'the forgotten edge' - good news, as my training plan has been pretty 'edgy' at times



It also goes on to say that fluid replacement and nutrition are critical for endurance cycling.  Not really surprising, but once you give it some thought the quantities of water and energy that need replacing are huge.

Mmmm, energy, tasty.



The author recommends 150-200ml of fluids every 15-20 minutes - that's getting on towards a water bottle every hour.  Not as easy as it sounds; drinking from a water bottle is a little nerve racking for a novice peloton rider like me.  I am conscious that a mistake could wreak havoc upon everyone behind me.

That said if I don't get water and energy down me I'm going to run out of go-go after a few hours, regardless of the training I've done.  So with this in mind I've been stocking up on energy bars, tubs of energy drink, recovery drink, and so on.  It all tastes pretty disgusting, but needs must.

Just look out behind if I'm trying to unwrap a tasty Go Bar or sipping from my high energy drink.

Monday 21 February 2011 (10 Days Left)

Twenty miles on the bike today plus another leg buckling circuits session with British Military Fitness.  I suspect that tonight's session will be the last I do before we set off - my thoughts are turning to tapering.  

Tapering is the apparently tricky business of reducing exercise just before the start of a big event so that you arrive fresh, having made the best of  training. There are, it transpires, as many opinions on this as there are stars in the sky.  So I'm taking the average(ish) of the advice I've heard (so far) and going for about a week.

I'm now looking forward to Thursday.

Of course, I'll blame any poor performance during the ride on this critical period and not any possible short comings in my actual training!

Sunday 20 February 2011 (11 Days Left)

No rain this morning, so out bright eyed and bushy tailed to join the regular Cycle to Cannes training ride in Richmond Park.  This time we ventured out to Box Hill and I got the opportunity to climb the 2012 Olympic road route up it (in contrast to yesterdays off-road route).  I reckon the road route is a little less punchy but that just means you can climb faster, so no, not any easier.

I had turned up to the park expecting laps so a proper ride was a pleasant surprise.  A bit of pressure though as I had promised to be back by 11:00am and was a little sceptical that a trip to Box Hill and back could be done within 3 hours - it can, with time to spare.  So, a big Big thank you to the chap who led the trip - spot on with the estimated timings and a gem of a route out to the Downs - direct and keeping to the quite roads as much as possible.  I'll be using it in the future.

50 miles covered, no one fell off this time.

Route and Garmin Connect stats here

Saturday 19 February 2011 (12 Days Left)

A proper bike, at last

I had planned to get up early this morning and do a long ride but the sound of rain beating against the windows robbed me of all motivation.  I rolled over and turned off the alarm clock for a relative lie in.

When I did get up, I decided that whilst I couldn't face the road bike in this horrible weather I was prepared to take out the mountain bike.  It's not been ridden since Christmas and I could resist no longer - any excuse.

Mud, and more mud 

So I blew off the dust, oiled the chain, and took it on one of my favorite trundles around the North Downs.  The route takes in three particularly beastly ascents of the North Downs ridge - just to make sure the blood gets flowing.  It would also be fair to say that today's trip featured mainly mud, making it a bit challenging (that is to say I fell off twice).  I also got a double puncture that meant I had to start patching inner tubes - not easy to keep the glue dry in the mud and rain.  Despite this I had fun trying to stay on - a bit of light relief to the serious business of the road bike.

The route and Garmin Connect stats are here

Friday 18 February 2011 (13 Days Left)

Have taken it easy on the bike today, a sort of rest day - I'm absolutely shattered and need some sleep.  I'll be in bed as soon as I can.  Another wild Friday night!

Thursday 17 February 2011 (14 Days Left)



Fame and glory in Cycling Weekly

A relatively easy day today; just 20 miles on the bike.  I also popped over to the Estate Gazette HQ for evening drinks to catch up with the host, Sam McClary, and the other Cycle to Cannes riders. Everyone appears very serious about their training and talking of their multi day long rides. Mmmmm, not quite got round to that yet. Still plenty of time, two weeks, plenty.

I also got an opportunity to flick through a back copy of Cycling Weekly to peruse an article on the Evans Cycles Ride It! Sportive that Gary and I did in Chieveley back in mid-January.  I was glad to discover that the author also struggled with the wind too (yep, another brutally windy day).  But what caught my eye was a photo that I think has Gary and myself in it.  I say think because we’re not really in focus.  But none the less, amazing, we’ve been road cycling for only a few months and we are already featured in Cycling Weekly - well almost, maybe.  I think I’m on the left of the picture just behind Gary before we climb the big hill.  I shan’t say who got to the top first (but I didn’t have to wait long).

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Ok, yesterdays post was a little foolish with hindsight and I may have tempted fate too far. 

Why? Well I got another puncture whilst riding around Regents Park at some ridiculous pre-dawn hour with the mid-week Cycle to Cannes training session.  Fortunately it went pop on the last lap so I didn’t miss too much.  Even more fortunately I had had the foresight to swap over my spare inner tube for one without a hole in it last night!

Next week will be the last Regents Park training ride – the 'off' is looming up faster than I care to think about!  Small twinges of panic rise when I do give it some thought.  I’ve realised it’s not like an exam, you can’t just cram the night before – can you?


No Garmin Connect stats for today's training - I forgot to turn on the cycle computer! 

Tuesday 15 February 2011

I got a puncture this morning.  I hadn’t even got on the bike.  A drawing pin stuck fast in the tyre - old school sabotage?  On the plus side I managed to try out my new tyre levers. 

I guess I can’t grumble this is the first puncture I have had since I started training seriously about four months ago.  I would normally consider myself lucky if I managed four hours without a puncture on the mountain bike!

Rushed back this evening to do circuits with British Military Fitness for another leg busting session, spent most of it wishing we were concentrating on abs.

Monday 14 February 2011

Valentines Day, I‘ve not forgotten.  An opportunity to thank my wife for supporting me on this and all the other madcap misadventures I get myself in to.  Thank you.

Sunday 13 February 2011

Another windy weekend so another planned SCUBA diving trip has been cancelled.  So, not wanting to waste my pass, I joined the regular Cycle to Cannes training ride at Richmond Park. 

This time we took our wobbly peloton out of the relative safety of the park on a jaunt down to the Surrey Hills and back.  This involved over a dozen of us trying to keep our group together on real roads with proper road junctions and cars and stuff.  We didn’t do too badly, a bit messy at times and we did have one rider take a tumble in the traffic.  He was fine, a few bruises, and lucky really, as apparently he took the main impact to avoid damaging his bike – the dangers of owning an outrageously expensive machine (and I note, not a dedication I have seen from many car drivers).

I find the Sunday training rides very useful.  I have to be honest I have done very little ‘group’ riding roadie style before.  Problem is that group riding for a mountain biker generally means getting together with a bunch of friends, showing off, having a chat and stopping for a pub lunch.  Group riding for a roadie is profoundly different.  Its all about order and discipline, you are expected to ride as one beautifully synchronised unit with particular attention paid to the gap between your front wheel and the rear wheel ahead of you.  There’s a set of rules, a sort of etiquette, that has to be adhered to – you can’t just go and bunny hop that puddle. 

I would go in to more detail about the etiquette; but I don’t really understand it yet – when I do…..

But I have learnt enough to conclude that the first day of the Cycle to Cannes will be a little chaotic as a group of sixty riders attempts to work as this beautifully harmonised formation.

Training wise not a bad day either, with a few extra laps of the park and I managed to get 70 miles in - and still have time to see the dinosaurs at the Natural History museum with the family – roar!  

Garmin Connect stats here 

Saturday 12 February 2010

Chaos, My son’s third birthday party today.  No cycling, but plenty of jelly and ice cream.

Friday 11 February 2011

The 2012 Olympic road race route has been announced.  Now you would have thought they would have pitted the world’s elite cyclists against the UK’s biggest climbs.  Maybe take them up to the Lake District or Yorkshire Dales.  Nope, they are running them from the Mall, through west London and out to the Surrey Hills and back; practically past my front door.

So some of my commute is going to be part of an Olympic road race – you can’t make it up.  Look out for the number 93 bus Cavendish!  I trust they will be resurfacing Putney Bridge.  It has possibly the worst road surface in the whole of London (sorry about the pun).  

I look forward to watching them struggle up Putney Hill. 

Thursday 10 February 2011

Only three weeks before we’re off!

Weather took on a bit of a Welsh flavour this morning; a sort of fine drizzle that gets you wetter than it should.  I can’t really complain though, I’ve managed nearly three weeks without getting a thorough soaking.  That’s long enough for me to forget just how casual the old Raleigh brakes are in the wet.  Not what you need in the melee that is London traffic.

Talking of stopping power, I’ve been slowing down my mountain bikes with some pretty fierce hydraulic discs for about a decade, but I can’t recall ever seeing disk brakes on a road bike?  I guess you aren’t supposed to dip your road rims in the grinding paste they call mud?

Wednesday 09 February 2011

Got up insanely early this morning and hauled myself up to Regents Park for one of the 6:30am Cycle to Cannes training session.  My first one, I can’t think why?  

Given the hour there was a pretty big turn out, probably accounted for by the free bacon rolls and coffee laid on at the German Gymnasium, Kings Cross afterwards.  This was generously offered by The King's Cross Central Partnership as an enticement to get a group photo of the riders with their bikes and lycra.  Normally avoid a camera, particularly if in cycle gear, it’s not flattering.  But I’m a sucker for a bacon roll and it would appear I’m not alone.

Also feeling pretty pleased with myself.  Just shy of 45 miles in the saddle today (and no sign yesterday’s twinges, imagined or otherwise).

Garmin Connect stats here.

Tuesday 08 February 2011

Just when I thought it would never end the wind has been replaced by calm blue skies and pleasant warming sunshine – what a transformation.

A few worrying niggles are haunting me today – my right knee started to twinge a little on the ride home.  This seemed to set me to imagining the return of numerous other little niggles once I got to being brutalised at British Military Fitness circuit training in the evening.  I was convinced I could feel my right hamstring reminding me I tore it whilst trying to show off windsurfing a few years ago and my upper back was chiding me for cycling into an opening car door in the past.  I’m rather hoping that these niggles, that are occasionally very real, are all figments of my imagination this time.  However, the seeds have been sown and I won’t be surprised to see them at some point during the ride. 

Note to self; pack plenty of ibuprofen.

Monday 07 February 2011

Still blowing – it can’t keep on doing this, can it? 

Have had a few answers on the roadie storage issue.  Apparently luggage is the wrong way to think about it.  Think essentials, think small and it will all go in your jersey pocket?

My list is:

Pump

Inner tube

Tyre levers

Multi tool

Mobile phone

Cash

Energy bar

Small bit of gaffer tape

Zip ties

His list is:

Credit card

Funny, but not very helpful.

Sunday 06 February 2011

Out the door before sunrise for my sneaky training ride this morning - Yeovil to West Bay and back.

Gaffer tape - a solution waiting for a problem

Before setting off I had to pack a load of stuff.  Now roadies don’t seem to use map boards or camelbacks (a sort of rucksack that carries all your water and includes a bit of handy storage), favouring water bottles and a pocket on the back of their jersey instead (and who am I to question why).  Upshot of this is there isn’t much space for luggage.  The solution - I gaffer taped the majority of my spares to the frame and jury rigged my maps to the handle bars.  Wrecked the beautiful lines of the bike, but needs must.  I’ll ask a proper roadie how you get round this problem another day.   

Hills, lots of hills - not all went down. 

As it was still blowing dogs off chains I marked up my maps with a route that I hoped would bring me home with the wind behind me.  I’m also not particularly familiar with this part of the world so my route avoided the busy main roads.  The problem with this strategy, I discovered, is that the main roads tend to follow river valleys.  The back roads don’t.  They tend to go via the hill tops and the river valleys.  They also build the hills a tad steeper here than in London.  I was slightly shocked when I realised I had run out of low gears and all I could see was hill in front of me, getting steeper.  I have learnt that, when presented with this situation, the next step is to get out the saddle shortly followed by having a near stroke.  

West Bay and Wind

My plan with the wind worked beautifully, it was merciless on my way out (and I mean merciless), but gave me a much appreciated push on the way home.  Managed just shy of sixty miles, would like to have done a few more (but I had promised to be back in good time for lunch). 

My only disappointment of the day – the Harbour Cafe in West Bay was shut.  My protracted deliberations as to whether I should try and get an egg and may be even black pudding in my bacon sarnie had sustained me an awfully long way.  A bit of flapjack from the newsagents was not what I had in mind.

Garmin Connect stats are here.

Saturday 05 February 2011

My rest day and I was supposed to be pursing my greatest passion – SCUBA diving.  All set to immerse myself in the cool, clear waters of the English Channel, but alas the wind has given nothing up; a force 7 is blowing from the south west, that’s just a tad too sporty. So, off to Somerset to visit the in-laws instead – I’ve packed the bike for a sneaky bit of training on Sunday morning.

Friday 04 February 2011

Blowing an absolute hooligan today and I’m on my wife’s bike again as I’m running my son to and from his nursery.  I sort of fixed the seized gears. I say sort of as they quickly got stuck in the large ring rather than the small one, so between the wind and the bike I got a proper bit of resistance training to pile on top of last nights pain.  Joy.  There is a happy medium somewhere – I just have to find it.  Maybe if I just fix the bike properly?

Thursday 03 February 2011

Positively spring like this morning, although this was very short lived.  The clouds had darkened and quickened by the afternoon.  The forecast looks a bit blowy which means headwinds.

Circuits again this evening – I’m sure the instructor could sense the pain in my legs and was thus keen to improve our leg strength -  I felt all of my years and some – I just hope it makes some difference; just four weeks until we set off – gulp.

Wednesday 02 February 2011

Got my beater back this morning – the cranks don’t wobble, at last – but careful what you wish for, the shop had neglected to adjust the front derailleur so no big ring and I got another enforced high cadence journey to work.  Quick to fix - I can only guess that when I told the bike shop to leave all the other worn out stuff alone they took me at my word – thanks.

Tuesday 01 February

Finally admitted defeat; I am time poor.  I put my beater into the bike shop to get the bottom bracket fixed.  An hour later I got a call pointing out that the chain, rear cassette, brakes and all the cables could all do with replacing and would they like them to do this for me? – nope.  As this bike is in the bike shop I cycled in my wife’s mountain bike again – if I was worried about my low cadence this machine will fix it – the gears are (still) seized so I had to pedal like a lunatic to go forward at any speed.

Monday 31 January 2011

My belt has returned to a notch that hasn’t been used for a decade – This commuting is great, my body is getting younger.  Fantastic.