Today was a change from the hilly sportive in Yorkshire as previously planned, a lot of circumstances made it not the right option for me this weekend, so I opted for a hilly ride out from home.
A super strong headwind for 26miles accompanied the hard climb up to the the top of the days route, along with a super slow average speed! which although hard, was at least better at the start of the day rather than at the end.
The next 45 miles was very rolling with climbs up to 21% but these tended to be short in length, but there was some nice longer climbs at 8-10% where I could sit in and think I was in France for a short while?
This part of the route was in Rutland and followed the route of the recent cicle sportive and had some cracking views over Abbeys, reservoirs and a 82 span viaduct, which made the riding very rewarding.
The last 14 miles was a decent/flat run all the way back home, with the benefit of a cracking tailwind pushing me, and the pace never really dropped below 20mph with the minimum of effort from my now tired body.
So after last weeks 100 miler this was good to get a good climbing route done without wrecking my body before next weekends 100 mile sportive in hilly Norfolk?
Sunday 30 May 2010
Sunday 23 May 2010
the first 100 miler in the bag.
Well I now have done my first ever one hundred mile bike ride, rode out early on Saturday morning, to do our local cycling clubs autumn sportive route, and added in another 25 miles to get up to the ton.
I rode with a friend for 65 miles until he had to head off for other commitments and then I carried on to the finish at home, the morning was misty which cleared after an hour, then it was glorious sunshine all the way.
The route was not flat and had just over 4000ft of climbing up to 18% on the biggest climb, and the cafe we planned to stop at 45 miles was closed when we got there,so had to ride another 15 miles, until I could find a shop and fill up my water bottles again, not so good.
I did tire over the last 20 miles in places that I did not expect, to like my core, so I ended up putting lots of weight onto my wrists.
So at the end a finishing time of 6 hours and 19 minutes was very pleasing although I have been starving all day today.
So onwards and upwards to the next long ride.
I rode with a friend for 65 miles until he had to head off for other commitments and then I carried on to the finish at home, the morning was misty which cleared after an hour, then it was glorious sunshine all the way.
The route was not flat and had just over 4000ft of climbing up to 18% on the biggest climb, and the cafe we planned to stop at 45 miles was closed when we got there,so had to ride another 15 miles, until I could find a shop and fill up my water bottles again, not so good.
I did tire over the last 20 miles in places that I did not expect, to like my core, so I ended up putting lots of weight onto my wrists.
So at the end a finishing time of 6 hours and 19 minutes was very pleasing although I have been starving all day today.
So onwards and upwards to the next long ride.
Monday 17 May 2010
A spanner in the works?
Well the planned week off after the marathon, was then taken out of my hands by a very nasty cold, which because I was determined to train in the second week? turned into something nasty on my chest, which as I write is still being treated with medication!
But I have tried to do the best I can, and still got in a good 84 mile ride to watch the pro`s race at the Lincoln grand prix, which was awesome seeing how hard those guys worked and the shear effort and determination , was inspiring.
My weekly climbing training session on the turbo was still done, as was my running club speedwork day, and a few recovery rides thrown in where i could.
Derbyshire was postponed until this weekend, and I had a cracking ride there Saturday, doing 6500ft of climbing, over 56 miles, including the winnats pass 28% max gradient(not nice at all), and finishing off on the classic, cat and fiddle climb, which was a fantastic experience, and which I felt more comfortable on, albeit slowly, but riding it well within my abilities and this was right at the end of the ride, so pleased with that.
Sunday was a nice ride out with the local club riders and we covered 43 miles which was a nice way to unwind the legs from the hilly ride on Saturday.
So what have I learnt from Saturday session? a quadruple chain set would suit me just fine, a new rear end with more padding would be advisable, get rid of my fear of heights and speed and have all my cycling routes re-tarmaced with a smoother surface,
no it really did show up just what a massive challenge the etape really is, can I do it? I don`t know yet, but I will continue to train as hard as I can, and hopefully with some bigger sportives, coming up in the near future, then I can learn more and improve my chances of getting up to the top of the tourmalet in July.
But I have tried to do the best I can, and still got in a good 84 mile ride to watch the pro`s race at the Lincoln grand prix, which was awesome seeing how hard those guys worked and the shear effort and determination , was inspiring.
My weekly climbing training session on the turbo was still done, as was my running club speedwork day, and a few recovery rides thrown in where i could.
Derbyshire was postponed until this weekend, and I had a cracking ride there Saturday, doing 6500ft of climbing, over 56 miles, including the winnats pass 28% max gradient(not nice at all), and finishing off on the classic, cat and fiddle climb, which was a fantastic experience, and which I felt more comfortable on, albeit slowly, but riding it well within my abilities and this was right at the end of the ride, so pleased with that.
Sunday was a nice ride out with the local club riders and we covered 43 miles which was a nice way to unwind the legs from the hilly ride on Saturday.
So what have I learnt from Saturday session? a quadruple chain set would suit me just fine, a new rear end with more padding would be advisable, get rid of my fear of heights and speed and have all my cycling routes re-tarmaced with a smoother surface,
no it really did show up just what a massive challenge the etape really is, can I do it? I don`t know yet, but I will continue to train as hard as I can, and hopefully with some bigger sportives, coming up in the near future, then I can learn more and improve my chances of getting up to the top of the tourmalet in July.
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