That’s what it feels like riding through a hail and sleet storm at 40kph and that’s what today’s ride involved. Hundreds of pins to the face.. while all my Aussie friends complain about the hottest March on record or something.. I know which I’d prefer! :S

I was feeling sorry for myself after not riding yesterday (Good Friday/Bad Hangover) and looking out the window all morning at the disgusting weather. Mal finally motivated me enough to adjust my bike as per my new Cyclefit specs (saddle’s up but the bars need work) and get outside for a ride.

Program said 70k. I ended up doing 56k to Beaconsfield but I figure I’ll go over tomorrow’s 60k anyway which will make up the difference (and then some). It was more a success psychologically rather than a physical break-through. I’ve been lacking motivation since returning from Egypt and it was fcsking tough to drag myself out today. But I’m happy I did and that’s got to count for something.

from: johnnyawill

(Now that I’m back from Egypt I feel I should finish this ride report!)

Taking no chances this morning I decided against taking the “short cut” to Ickenham that messed me up for the Team Quest Reliability Ride. I took the safe option along Uxbridge Rd. and this time actually made it to the start point for the Willesden CC Reliability Ride. I knew I was safe when the 30 or so bikes outside the Guide Hut appeared before my eyes.

Inside, I spotted some familiar faces, including Ed, who was surprised to see me – I’m sure he thought I’d be on my way to Glasgow.

I paid my ?4 and joined the huge list of Group B riders. Not a single name was in the Group A list! I joked that I should enter that list and then just wait for the other riders to come past and pick me up. Common sense got the better of me and I stuck my name on Group B. I’m not even sure what the time limit was supposed to be?

There was a route sheet that listed the turns/directions on it but I knew it was pointless for me trying to decipher it so I just vowed to stick with a group, any group and let them get me home.

We rolled out, maybe 100 riders? Anyone get numbers? Pretty much all at once which must have looked impressive and annoyed the hell out of all the locals. Sod ’em, lazy buzztards should leave their cars at home for one frickin’ day a week. It was a little cloudy and the roads were ever so slick – I know, as I cursed my sliding rear tyre a couple of times. It wasn’t actually the tyre’s fault, it had been dry for ages and a little rain caused all kinds of mess with traction (like the motorbike I saw slide along the road on my commute this morning).

It was awesome rolling along fast with a big group – lots faster than a club run and much bigger.

My plan was basically to stay up the front for as long as possible. Sod conserving energy, I just wanted to see how far I could push it and if I stuck with the front group, when I was dropped there would always be riders behind me who should know where to go.

I found Ed and met Richard for the first time. Richard has been hassling me to race for Willesden as they don’t have much of a road race contingent and he’s competing against clubs that have bunches of 5+ riders working together. I’m still undecided – I like my not too stressful life right now.

I lost Ed at some point – at an intersection or maybe down a hill – my “descending ballast” providing me with some extra pace (68.2kph vs. 56.8kph :P). This may be the only time I ever finish a ride in front of Ed and Richard so I’m going to have to make the most of this.. 😉

I lost Richard further along the road. I went back for a guy in grey jacket who was off the back of the bunch but he just wasn’t taking my wheel so I gave up. Back onto the bunch and he finally joined us – it wasn’t Richard at all. Doh!

We made it onto a long, flat, exposed section (not sure if this was before or after the big climb of Bledlow Ridge?). It was the first time I’d rolled turns for years! The front half of the bunch was rolling through-and-off echelon stylee and I joined in (once I realised what was going on!) to put in a couple of turns. I was a little bit excited so got told to ease it up a bit – must remember not to push harder at the front and just wait for the other line to fall back before moving over – like I said, first time doing this since I left Melbourne and I was pumped.

At the top of a climb (Bledlow?) some of the guys stopped for a leak. I didn’t need to so I continued with some others. We were going quite slow but the bigger bunch took quite a while to get back near us (did some of them stop for a breather I wonder?). There was a descent and then a crazy-steep climb. I was in 39×23 and just barely had enough juice to crank up over the bastard! Smalldean Lane, I think it was called, examining the route sheet.

A further 8k and then we hit Cryers Hill. Appropriate name as this is where I cracked. Not as steep as Smalldean Ln but longer, I just went backwards as the bunch caught me and most of them passed me. Damn! At the top though I recovered reasonably quickly and latched onto some riders. Then worked my way back, passing riders to get nearer the front again.

I’d run out of water now and asked a guy how far we had to go. He said “15 miles”. 15 miles! I thought we were about 5k from the finish! Crap!

I can’t really remember the final section of the ride. It was just a case of hanging onto some wheels and swapping turns with some random guys who still had juice in the tank.

I saw a Gerrard’s Cross sign and knew we were getting close to home. Then a sign for Ickenham and I perked up chasing down a guy who attacked our small bunch. In the end there were about three of us left. I think we took a wrong turn – someone mentioned cutting out a mile or two using last year’s course rather than the updated one. The ride was over 100k so I wasn’t at all bothered about this. 2 or 3 of us raced (slowly :)) for the finish.

Guide Hut! I dismounted and, as I had a sore lower back, tried to do my usual hamstring stretch. I almost bloody collapsed!! My lower back was totally fscked! For so long I’d been pushing harder than before, longer than before and I think my brain had been blocking any pain. Now it hit ‘back’ (excuse the pun). In the hut there were only about 10 other riders. I was pretty damn early back and quite happy about it. I think I was back at 1:07 and I stopped my clock at 3:33. Just over 3.5 hours for 110k is pretty damn good for me, even in a bunch!

Refilled my water bottle and then got stuck into a Coke and sticky bun. Chatted to one of the guys who was in our little group. He had a lot further to ride home than me and I certainly didn’t envy him. He was well impressed that I’d done 100k the day before considering my pace for this ride. He said he takes the day before off to rest up for these rides. I waited around for 45min before deciding I’d rather be at home. Ed and Richard hadn’t come in yet and I was to find out later they had a whole host of mechanical excuses failures and in the end rode in with Audax champ Darlene.

Map of the course: Willesden CC Reliability Ride Map

Read Ed’s better report here: Ed’s Willesden CC Reliability Ride Report

Some Powertap stats for Coach & Ed’s benefit..

140k for the day, 110k for the route (I’ve just had a look at the route sheet and it says “with nearly 10% free” haha so that’s where the extra came in.) completed in 3:33, averaging 31kph. I was very, very happy with this ride. It’s really the first proper hit out I’ve had, plus it was on the new bike and everything went well (except for the back pain – I later found my saddle was still 1cm further back than the Ribble!). If I can do this kind of ride for L2P and Wessex I’ll be stoked.

For my birthday Malwina paid for a Cyclefit session. It was quite interesting and after 2 hours with Warrick Spence measuring my legs and flexibility and observing me ride, I’ll be making some slight adjustments to my setup.

Overall I wasn’t too bad, somewhere around 75% efficient in both legs (aim is low 80’s) and of course I had some other quirks..

My legs were the same length but my left foot was 46.5 D/E and my right was 46.5 E, quite wide. My shoes were skinny (although quite stretched) 46 – too small.

More ‘interesting’ than that was that my muscles were tight – that’s not so odd – no, what was odd was that they were tight on opposing sides, ie. my left hamstring was tighter than my right but my left hip flexor was looser than my right! Poor Mr. Spence had to scratch his head over that one.

Also, my ankle/foot angle was high. Basically my ankles collapse inwards over my feet and this means when putting power through the pedals with a straight leg, my feet will be raised on the inside (the ball and arch). While pedaling, this results in a flattening and lifting of the foot within the shoe every down stroke – losing power. To fix this I plumped just under ?200 on new shoes (SIDI Genius 5.5 47 MEGA – the wide ones) with custom footbeds. These were molded on my feet using a funky machine. When trimmed down I jumped back on the SizeCycle and my pedaling was examined again. It felt a little odd my oddly enough more comfy than my well-used Shimano shoes. I kick my left leg out slightly at the top of the pedal stroke which again surprised Warrick because my back was stable while pedaling. He reckons it was some previous injury or compensation that I’d adjusted to. It was minor and my left leg was the more efficient one anyway. Over time, providing there’s no show-stopping issues, the new position and shoes should make for a more efficient and more pleasant ride. I will let you know if there’s any issues..

Living in London has turned me into some kind of fashion whore and so for once I didn’t buy the black version.. behold..

Not a club run, this was straight down the A413, around the round-a-bout in Wendover and back again. Program for Saturday said 90k and I did good for once, only going over by 7k.

Averaged 30kph before the turn around and probably a little more on the return leg thanks to a tail wind. Need to veer off course next time, get lost in the hills somewhere.. I know they’re out there..

I did 400k today. Okay, ~200k was sitting on a train to/from Manningtree but over 200k was human powered. 🙂

My ride in to Liverpool Street was a bit nippy (-1degC forecast) and I’m blaming the cold on the Powertap not working for most of it. Very annoying! Give me power data!

I met Ed at Manningtree station (which I keep calling Manningham for some reason), after spending an hour and a half with the Raindance ravers.. a bunch of chicks clad in fluoro shorts, fishnets, high-viz jackets. I can’t really comment on people’s dress sense when I’m clad head to toe in lycra though can I? 😛

Ed has already detailed much of the ride in Suffolk in Hell so I’m going to let Ed do most of the typing and instead present a tonne of pointless graphs and stuff.. I’m a walking talking data logger!

Route: [Ealing-Liverpool Street] – Manningtree – Bentley – East End – Tattingstone – Holbrook – Freston – Wherstead – Ipswich – Trimley – Martlesham – Woodbridge – Chillesford – Sudbourne – Snape – Thorpeness – Aldeburgh – Tunstall – Campsey Ashe – Otley – Helmingham – Westerfield – Ipswich – Wherstead – A137 – Manningtree – [Liverpool Street-Ealing]

Download the Google Earth KMZ for the route here: Ed’s Suffolk in Hell Google Earth KMZ file

Basically, I got my legs ripped off. I knew Ed was faster than me based on the 10mi TTs we’d done last year, but it has now become clearer why he’s the club TT champion. I was quite enjoying my spotless big chainring but Ed saw fit to end that. We started out easily enough, mindful of ice and animal, visiting a nice little thatched house which backed onto a bridge over a river/creek (which poet’s house was it Ed?). (Update: Flatford Bridge Cottage, Painter “John Constable” not poet). We’d probably traveled just far enough for me to become lost, ie. around one corner. After that Ed upped the pace and it was a case of me gritting my teeth and hanging on. I did some feeble turns at the front but that was mostly out of feeling sorry for Ed who was doing all the driving. It’s a bit embarrassing when someone’s pulling 15 minute turns and you hit the front and fade within 2 minutes. Nevermind, this is what training is for!

We had a cake stop somewhere (hehe my sense of direction and local awareness is great ain’t it?!) where I think I should have eaten another 14 cakes and coffees to match. I threw in a quick hamstring stretch as my back was giving me grief. There was no more risk of ice now and I really wished I didn’t have my jacket on as the sun was out and I could get some more tan action. 😉 Off again and we rode past the sea! Lots of bird spotters were out.

I mentioned that Suffolk reminded me of Belgium – or perhaps Northern France, given the title of this post – rolling quiet roads, open flat fields, drivers friendly towards cyclists. It was meant as a compliment Ed, as I happen to really like Belgium! 🙂

With 150k on the clock, a million kilometres still left to ride on Ed’s map and me getting delirious I was hardly going to argue when he suggested taking the quick way back to Manningtree. More hamstring stretching to try and sort out my aching back. After a bottle of Lucozade though I was feeling quite good and when we passed under the huge bridge again I knew we were close to home.

The train trip home was a bit quicker, dozing off probably helped. The Tarmac came out of the guard carriage intact and I rode to a nearby service station to get some new AAA batts for some lightage, then made it home alive through the Sunday night carnage.

About 206k on the clock for the day. I even managed to set a new peak power of 1205W sprinting for home. 🙂

In the morning, one thing I noticed, aside from the pain behind my knees, was my saddle. I’d swapped the Toupe for a new SLR and noticed it had moved almost all the way back on the rails! No bloody wonder the stretching wasn’t helping my back. So, I’ve got to sort out this single-bolt Specialized seatpost so this doesn’t happen again. What the hell are these two arrows for anyway? Can’t believe I need to look at a manual for a seatpost with one bolt.

As promised Ed, here’s some funky new graphs from CyclingPeaks WKO+. Please big clicking to show bigguns!

Cadence Distribution:

Heart Rate Distribution:

Mean Maximal Power Distribution:

Power Distribution:

Speed Distribution:

Now I’ll see if I can get an elevation profile out of the Garmin.. here we go..

The coolest round of the Chiltern Classics takes place in just under 10 days time. This is an event to be ridden in style. All Willesden riders are to ride in Squadra Verde colours (choose your own edition). For that authentic Italian look wear your sunnies and talk constantly on your mobile phone. Contact WCC organiser, Giovanni Le Brummi, on Squadra.Verde@gmail.com for any additional information.

fixmawheel.blogspot.com – playing with wko

With 2 “recovery” and 1 turbo session power file to go on, I am in the lowest bracket within TrainingPeaks/CyclingPeaks WKO+ demo that I’m testing out – “Non Racer”. Not bad.. because I am a non-racer.

I obviously have quite a bit to learn about all this – for example, why did my “Training Stress” value drop moving from a recovery weekend to a turbo session? Surely “Training Stress” would increase when going from easy to hard sessions? Also, what is TSB, ATL and CTL? These questions will be answered! Stay tuned!

If I had my parking spot at work (any safe lock up) I could use the Powertap for commutes and have a wealth of crazy data to ponder. Nevermind.

Turbo Session HR distribution:

Turbo Session Power distribution:

Buying an expensive carbon race machine wasn’t enough of a dent to the bank account so I decided to buy a Powertap power meter as well. Got a reasonable price for a low-mileage (2500k) Powertap SL laced to Open Pro 32h wheelset and fitted them to the S-Works.

I’ve been out for two easy rides with it since fitting and I’ve grabbed a demo version of TrainingPeaks WKO+ after reading about this package on Liz Randall’s cycling blog. I’ve ordered yet another cycling book (I’m addicted to amazon.co.uk!) that covers training with power but at the moment I know basically nothing! Good timing then that my coach has also recently acquired a Powertap! 🙂

I’ve started making pretty (meaningless) graphs..

If anyone can tell me how to use this kit I’d appreciate it 😉

I have tan lines! In England! In Feb!

Mind you, I had to almost freeze to death this morning and I’ve been riding with only a t-shirt and shorts on for the last week while others roll along in jackets, hoods, beanies.. I even spotted one guy with a balaclava! This week was a recovery week. Basically I only did my commuting and rode laps of RP. At the very least it means I didn’t get lost riding anywhere.. 🙂

I give up! I had something like three turns to make and I still got lost! I went mental, yelled, rode around trying to find the way to Ickenham, phoned Mal for directions but it was too late. While I was on the phone a bunch went past so I put the phone away and turned around to chase. They’d gone over a rise and bam, they were gone. Arrrgh! I rode some more and eventually stumbled on to the start point in Ickenham. Four other guys had arrived late too so I set off with them on a short cut to catch up. One guy was dropped straight away, then the two leaders who seemed to know what they were doing just pulled away, leaving my-angry-self and the guy with the funny Belgian cap that I see doing the fast club rides. He went one way and I gave up and went to head home. I needed to leak quite badly so turned around, emptied bladder and then decided to chance the club run (which I was also running late for, but they often leave late). Surprise, surprise there were still guys there! Ray, Martin, Dennis and they were heading to Fairoaks Airfield rather than the marked ride.

It was quite a way to Fairoaks, down near Woking (SW London). I think I had 90k on the clock by the time I’d made the cafe. With the quick start chasing bunches, I was stuffed! Spent Mal’s ?10 on food and coffee and finished the lot! I was glad to be off the bike, stretching, eating, etc. Apparently it was a quick ride back home – suits me. We rolled through some really nice areas, Ray explaining that Surrey Road League race around here and it’s quiet due to Motorways surrounding the area, ie. drivers use the motorways and not the smaller back roads we were on. Of course some numpty in a Merc, on his mobile, beeping and then passing with fsck all room had to spoil it. I chased but didn’t quite get to him before he escaped the lights. He knew I was coming for him though. I hate drivers some times. We had a chat about the racing scene and how the Cats work – things like Elite, Cat1, Cat2 and Cat3 all riding together at Hillingdon and there only being one set of prizes! Err.. when are the Cat 3’s ever gonna see any money? Sounds a bit daft to me. Almost as daft as the Cat 4’s racing with flat bars! No wonder I’m not too keen on racing these days – I do have a sense of self (or bike) preservation! 🙂

The ride ended at Denham, me a lot calmer and happy that I’d done a full ride even though I missed the Team Quest ride. It worked out to be 144k for the day, making 415k for the week! So much for easing up.