I'm hoping the awful weather we have been experiencing over the past couple of months has finally gone away. That means I can get out on the MTB more often without having to clean it after every ride!
The one positive that has come out of the weather is the amount of road miles I have been putting in and the way it has helped my MTBing The past four weekends have seen rides of between 30 and 50 miles, which is a huge improvement on the 20 milers I used to put out when I first got the road bike. Since then I've adopted a more relaxed 'spinning' pedalling technique which at first was odd, but has now allowed me to conserve energy on hard climbs. Climbing speed has increased as well using this technique, and I'm capable of sitting at 12-13 mph on hard inclines now without pushing punishing gears.
A measure of my success is the couple of official and unofficial time trials I have done. The Charlotteville TT bought an unexpected time of 30mins 04 and I've managed to get my Box Hill climbing time down from 9 minutes to 8 minutes in a matter of weeks. All positive stuff.
Hopefully all this focus on the cycling will help my overall fitness in the long term. I just need to do some races!
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Thursday, 19 July 2007
More results...
The last couple of weeks since the Tour rolled through Southern England have seen some hard effort on the road and MTB bikes.
Monday 16th July saw the return of the bleep test and I manage to push beyond my previous score of 12.3 and achieve 13.2. I felt more comfortable at my limits this time around, I think the hard cycling has pushed back my lactic threshold.
Wednesday 18th July as Club Time Trial day. This was run by Charlotteville Cycle Club and featured an 11 mile rolling course. I managed 30mins 4secs, an average speed of 22mph. My average heart rate was 178bpm and my max 203. Again, the lactics came into play late in the circuit and slowed me down, so I've got some work to do!
Monday, 9 July 2007
Vive Le Tour!
Saturday saw the Tour de France come to London for the first time and I was in Hyde Park to witness it first hand. It ended up being quite a wonderful day, with an indescribable atmosphere. It was very encouraging to see so many people coming to watch what is really a minority sport here in the UK.
On the back of the excellent time had in London, myself and a couple of club-mates headed down to Tunbridge Wells to watch the peloton pile through the old spa town. We had to cycle, of course, so drove to Lingfield and jumped on the bikes for a nicely paced 20 miler. We ended up in a park with a huge screen, so we were able to sit in the sun and watch the race and then head up to the road to watch the riders as they passed through. It's great because you get this incredible wave of anticipation as you hear the team cars and police vehicles approaching, as well as the helicopters in the sky. Once the peloton appeared it was gone in a wave of brilliant colour. Lots of cheering for the british contingent, of course. I really cannot wait to take part in the Etape du Tour next year, it should be amazing.
We then headed back to the car positively inspired by what we had just seen. I made a point of hitting any hills hard and fast and putting my new spinning technique into practice, which saves my muscles and works my CV instead. This allows for greater endurance over a long period of time. I felt great on the bike this weekend, the hill work on the MTB has paid off big time. All I need is some lighter wheels!
On the back of the excellent time had in London, myself and a couple of club-mates headed down to Tunbridge Wells to watch the peloton pile through the old spa town. We had to cycle, of course, so drove to Lingfield and jumped on the bikes for a nicely paced 20 miler. We ended up in a park with a huge screen, so we were able to sit in the sun and watch the race and then head up to the road to watch the riders as they passed through. It's great because you get this incredible wave of anticipation as you hear the team cars and police vehicles approaching, as well as the helicopters in the sky. Once the peloton appeared it was gone in a wave of brilliant colour. Lots of cheering for the british contingent, of course. I really cannot wait to take part in the Etape du Tour next year, it should be amazing.
We then headed back to the car positively inspired by what we had just seen. I made a point of hitting any hills hard and fast and putting my new spinning technique into practice, which saves my muscles and works my CV instead. This allows for greater endurance over a long period of time. I felt great on the bike this weekend, the hill work on the MTB has paid off big time. All I need is some lighter wheels!
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Rain, rain, rain
Anyone else getting slightly bored of the wet weather? Even though I was away last week, I've had enough of it already!
Rode the MTB last night and this evening and it was pretty messy. My investment in Gore Tex shorts seems to have paid off, they really are fantastic and having a dry bum on a 2 hour ride is a godsend! The Epic continues to inspire and I'm loving the tubeless system that I've had fitted - hopefully no more punctures.
The ride tonight was in aid of the Tour of the Black Mountains, an 114 sportive in the Welsh mountains on the 28 July. Purposely did 2 hours at 60-65% heart rate to boost my endurance. Going to do a hilly 50 miler on Sunday.
I'm off to the Tour de France Prologue on Saturday with club mates, should be an amazing afternoon.
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Sea swimming success
Back from holidays in Spain, which is a shame! Had a relaxing time, stayed away from bikes and running shoes but plowed on with the swimming.
Managed to clock up some distance in the sea for the first time ever, I think I may have conquered my fear of open water swimming.
Back on the MTB tonight.
Managed to clock up some distance in the sea for the first time ever, I think I may have conquered my fear of open water swimming.
Back on the MTB tonight.
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