Benchmark ride
[ posted by Iain Saturday, November 04, 2006 ]
Fantastic November weather today, bright clear skies, not too windy, and clean crisp air. It has actually been like this for a few days but I had been praying it would hold out for the weekend.
Today's ride was over 100 km through the Surrey Hills and into Hampshire over the Downs. A perfect opportunity to put in a benchmark ride against which I can compare my progress through the winter. I'm not going to be too scientific about it.
General Feeling
Distinctly average this morning. I didn't feel too sprightly at all and thought that I might turn back early, thankfully this didn't happen.
Climbing
Poor today, lots of spinning and not a lot of speed. I didn't expect much given the time off the bike. Must do better!
Distance/endurance
Unexpectedly decent. I really thought that I would suffer much more than I did today, by the mid-ride break I was crying out for a coffee and stuffed down two bananas. Back out on the road I felt surprisingly good on the return run. I think the running may have helped here recently, even when I'm tired I can still turn the gears over and keep things ticking along rather than getting that feeling of turning squares.
Speed
Around fifteen minutes slower than the summer time for this ride. No pushing big gears at any point today, partly because of the ride profile but mostly the fear of blowing up on the return leg. Still, consistent leg speed and comfortable position throughout the ride.
All in all, a just satisfactory start to the winter, let's hope the weather stays like this.
Mixing it up
[ posted by Iain Sunday, October 29, 2006 ]
Anything but cycling! That's what I've been up to over the past few weeks. Running, badminton, even skiing. To be honest I'm glad, I needed to ignore the bike for a bit. Not because I was doing too much, but because I was doing too little. I was getting really frustrated with not finding the time to get out. So I hid the bike out of sight and decided to take a break and concentrate on other pursuits.
There was a great response on the post about running and core strength (thanks for all the comments). The running has been going good and I was quite happy with my perfomance in the event I had been roped into by a friend, despite not managing to match the time of a pregnant Paula Radcliffe. I am not a good runnner but I do enjoy it as an alternative excercise to the bike.
Other than running, the badminton has been a new challenge for me and after each of the first few sessions I was feeling aches in places I didn't know I could ache. It's definitely something I want to keep up, I think the more mixed my exercise the more likely I am to avoid going through a patch like I did a few weeks ago.
The break off the bike has certainly done the trick and I returned to the saddle this weekend, feeling much better for the break, if a little slower. As I pulled up at my front door at the end of today's ride one of the neighbour's kids asked me how many gears my bike had. I said "20", he said "My dad has 21!". I could have done with the extra sprocket today.