Incredibly, despite a very dire forecast for the past several days, it didn't pour today. In fact, it was quite noice and sunny. It just goes to show that They can be wrong.
Today's contre-le-monte fixture was the Swindon hilly, on the same course as the Chippenham hilly a couple of months ago. But because it wasn't particularly windy, the times were a lot quicker. QED. One must move with the times so one was very satisfied with a 53'52, especially as one had won the one in March with a 55'22.
Erm, best get back to the real-time first person...
I was the only one under 54 minutes today, with Chris Madge putting in a solid ride for second in 54'29 and Mark Wareham third in 54'50. Mr Poupart wasn't there as he was doing the Beacon Little Mountain TT (which I may well do next year), where he finished second.
That's a roundabout way of saying that I won! And scored another team prize, this time with Andy Cook (58'31) and Simon Snowden (59'57). Jolly good!
I compared my splits to the first race, where we had a decent tailwind to start with and an indecent headwind to finish. I conceded about a minute to myself (is that second person?) in the first 10km, then managed to peg that back to 40 seconds by halfway. But coming back I picked up two and a half minutes, only losing a little bit of that in the last bit. Interestingly, I did both the two climbs at exactly the same speed as I'd done in March, as they were more or less wind-neutral.
The power meter was not reading very well today. I finished with an average of 290 watts (cf 303 in March), which was bollocksed because I didn't set the offset before I started. I checked it at the finish and it was reading 20-25 watts too low. Thus a 310-315W average would have been more like it, although I have a suspicion even that's low. I should finally be able to compare it with PowerTap data next weekend.
I've even managed to put on a bit of weight, so maybe the Morrison's checkout girl was right about Lily O'Brien's sticky toffee chocolate. Curses. I may have to cut back to half a kilo a week. Still, it's good for going down hills.
Upcoming fixtures: The Bath CC 10 this Saturday and the Cheltenham hilly on Monday bank holiday.
I wasn't going to enter the Bath 10 because it's too close to the Cheltenham one, which is worth hardriders points. But it's on a 'fast' course so a chance to beat my best time of 21'24. That's an utterly pointless exercise, by the way, because I have no wish to ride the national '10', and even if I did, my current best time would be good enough to get a start anyway. And there will be other events on this course this year, so why??
I still don't know.
I think I'll ride it at tempo pace and see if I can get under 21 minutes. The ultimate goal is a sub-20 minute 10, but that can wait.
Cheltenham, on the other hand, looks tough. Two laps totalling 37.6km and 600m of climbing/descending. Not quite as tough as The Dursley, but still a very honest course. And given that I seem to be climbing well at the mo', I should do OK.
A note on the Dursleys: JK Rowling's first years were spent in Yate and Winterbourne, which are about 20km south of Dursley. Inspiration? Maybe I should call my main character "Swindon".
And for those who haven't nodded off yet, today's song was indeed A Wolf at the Door by Radiohead. Five points for guessing that correctly.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
The Dursley
Another win! Results here and pics here.
I took it as a good sign that I didn't get food poisoning after a curry on Saturday night at the Eastern Eye. I'd warned the birthday party of this, as well as the fact that surliness was part of the service. We weren't disappointed on that front as the booking was for 14 and only seven of us turned up. I don't know how the others fared, but I didn't get the dodgy rice this time. Result!
Thus, my vital functions were more or less intact for the Dursley hardriders event on a chilly, misty Sunday morn. The course was shortened from 45 to 36km because of road works, which means we missed the first climb and descent, but it was still 800m of up/630m of down. Here's the modified course (click on show > elevation for the profile).
The HQ was an old scout hut that may have been used to house cattle at some point in the dark ages. Very rural, reminiscent of a few Belgian changing rooms, and cold. As Mike H, the organiser said, it was a proper HQ for a hardriders event. I was glad to get out of it and on the bike to warm up again, making full use of the embrocation I had obtained at minimal expense the previous day.
I was one of the last off and as I rolled up with 30 seconds to go, Mike explained to me why his estimate of the total climbing of the original course was out. I'd reckoned 1000m (using Bikely and Memory Map), he'd said 750m. But he'd used Mapmyride, which discounts climbs of <60m in calculating the total. Pretty shoddy if you ask me.
I'm glad we sorted that out and I set off with algorithms running through my head.
The first 3km were undulating uphill before we hit the first climb past Uley. It's always hard to hold back at the start of a TT because it takes about five minutes to properly settle. So if you've got a climb at the end of that period, you need to be extra careful or you'll die in the arse when the gradient hits 12%.
I was aware of this but maybe not to the point of being "extra careful". I'd caught both my one and two minute men before the top and was sucking in lungfuls of misty air to try to keep the oxygen debt at a manageable level. It's all about the credit crunch.
The bonus of riding at 360W is that you put out about 1600W of heat. That was rather more than the small fan heater back at the Scout Hut. The other bonus was that at the summit I got some cheers from our club president Mike Edwards and his wife Sheila, which is always appreciated.
The descent to Frocester followed almost immediately. It averages 9% so I took it steadily on the twisty wet roads, winding it up when I got a free run at the bottom. It was just a few km to the roundabout, then we had to turn around and come back up the bloody hill. Again, it was one where you got no descent leading in, it just gradually steepened until you were properly on it. I passed a couple more riders and could see my three minute man just ahead at the top.
The next bit was quite nice, an undulating road down to Stroud, with another 2km descent (with two cattle grids) at the end. There was another roundabout at the bottom and we had to return the way we came. I was unlucky to be passed by two cars right at the top of the descent and I couldn't get past them on the way down so I did most of it under brakes. It was worth 10-15 seconds, and I hoped this wasn't going to come down to the wire.
I probably made up a bit of that after I did the roundabout at the bottom and hit the climb quite hard. According to my stats I averaged 390W for the climb, no doubt wasting a lot of heat. It was a relief to get to the top, and even though the last 10km were gradually uphill, I appreciated being able to stay on the go-fast aero bars.
With 5km to go, I saw Mike and Sheila again and they were quite excited. I think Mike even jumped, although that could have been me hallucinating. Nevertheless, I took it as a sign that I was doing well, as he would have been keeping track of everyone. I went as hard as I could to the finish and was glad to get there, although I could have handled another climb OK.
I collected my jacket from the time keeper and he seemed to think I'd done the winning time too: 1:02:57. Always a good sign, but you're never sure until you see all the times written on the results board.
Rode back down to the scout hut with an Italian by the name of Flavio from Oxford Uni CC, who said he was a pro 25 years ago and had started riding again to lose weight and get fit. He was my three minute man who I'd caught after halfway and he ended up with a "long" 1:08 (which means just under 1:09). He'd ridden up from Oxford in the morning - somewhat further than me - and was delighted with the whole event. I think he'll improve a bit more.
I wondered how Gavin P had got on and it turned out he hadn't. He had the misfortune to puncture his front wheel after the top of the last climb. You can't really ride on a flat front tubular for 10km so he had to get a lift back. It's a pity that he didn't end up with a time because I'll never know if I beat him fair and square or not. A few seemed to think I'd done a good enough ride anyway, but ... Given that's his second flat of the year (the first was just after he'd crossed the line in the Severn hilly), I suspect he'll try something more robust than Vittoria Chronos.
I refuelled with a bit of ginger cake and some tea and waited for all the times to be confirmed. That's the most nerve wracking bit of a time trial, trust me. The tension builds as more times are written on the results board, with everyone standing around speculating about who's done what. You don't want to look but you do anyway and you get little pangs when a faster time than yours is posted.
Finally it was confirmed and I got the win by 46 seconds over Mark Wareham - who rode a standard road bike(!) - and 2'09 over Derek Smetham from the local club. Chris Madge (1:05:13) and my clubmate Ben Anstie (1:06:22, after doing a 10 miler the previous afternoon) slotted in next, while our sprinter Simon Snowden recorded a painful 1:18 for 22nd, but it was more than enough for us to claim the team prize from Gloucester. That's number four this year!
The ride home was interesting when I discovered I'd lost a chainring bolt. Not only that, all the other four bolts were loose. Oops. That explains the creaking noise I've had for the last few weeks...
Made it home but had to pay another stealth visit to Morrison's to restock on Lily O'Brien's sticky toffee chocolate. Some bugger had eaten it all in my absence.
No song today but Hung Up by Madonna is a good 'un for time trialling. Saw the last episode of Foyles War too. I hope there are more.
I took it as a good sign that I didn't get food poisoning after a curry on Saturday night at the Eastern Eye. I'd warned the birthday party of this, as well as the fact that surliness was part of the service. We weren't disappointed on that front as the booking was for 14 and only seven of us turned up. I don't know how the others fared, but I didn't get the dodgy rice this time. Result!
Thus, my vital functions were more or less intact for the Dursley hardriders event on a chilly, misty Sunday morn. The course was shortened from 45 to 36km because of road works, which means we missed the first climb and descent, but it was still 800m of up/630m of down. Here's the modified course (click on show > elevation for the profile).
The HQ was an old scout hut that may have been used to house cattle at some point in the dark ages. Very rural, reminiscent of a few Belgian changing rooms, and cold. As Mike H, the organiser said, it was a proper HQ for a hardriders event. I was glad to get out of it and on the bike to warm up again, making full use of the embrocation I had obtained at minimal expense the previous day.
I was one of the last off and as I rolled up with 30 seconds to go, Mike explained to me why his estimate of the total climbing of the original course was out. I'd reckoned 1000m (using Bikely and Memory Map), he'd said 750m. But he'd used Mapmyride, which discounts climbs of <60m in calculating the total. Pretty shoddy if you ask me.
I'm glad we sorted that out and I set off with algorithms running through my head.
The first 3km were undulating uphill before we hit the first climb past Uley. It's always hard to hold back at the start of a TT because it takes about five minutes to properly settle. So if you've got a climb at the end of that period, you need to be extra careful or you'll die in the arse when the gradient hits 12%.
I was aware of this but maybe not to the point of being "extra careful". I'd caught both my one and two minute men before the top and was sucking in lungfuls of misty air to try to keep the oxygen debt at a manageable level. It's all about the credit crunch.
The bonus of riding at 360W is that you put out about 1600W of heat. That was rather more than the small fan heater back at the Scout Hut. The other bonus was that at the summit I got some cheers from our club president Mike Edwards and his wife Sheila, which is always appreciated.
The descent to Frocester followed almost immediately. It averages 9% so I took it steadily on the twisty wet roads, winding it up when I got a free run at the bottom. It was just a few km to the roundabout, then we had to turn around and come back up the bloody hill. Again, it was one where you got no descent leading in, it just gradually steepened until you were properly on it. I passed a couple more riders and could see my three minute man just ahead at the top.
The next bit was quite nice, an undulating road down to Stroud, with another 2km descent (with two cattle grids) at the end. There was another roundabout at the bottom and we had to return the way we came. I was unlucky to be passed by two cars right at the top of the descent and I couldn't get past them on the way down so I did most of it under brakes. It was worth 10-15 seconds, and I hoped this wasn't going to come down to the wire.
I probably made up a bit of that after I did the roundabout at the bottom and hit the climb quite hard. According to my stats I averaged 390W for the climb, no doubt wasting a lot of heat. It was a relief to get to the top, and even though the last 10km were gradually uphill, I appreciated being able to stay on the go-fast aero bars.
With 5km to go, I saw Mike and Sheila again and they were quite excited. I think Mike even jumped, although that could have been me hallucinating. Nevertheless, I took it as a sign that I was doing well, as he would have been keeping track of everyone. I went as hard as I could to the finish and was glad to get there, although I could have handled another climb OK.
I collected my jacket from the time keeper and he seemed to think I'd done the winning time too: 1:02:57. Always a good sign, but you're never sure until you see all the times written on the results board.
Rode back down to the scout hut with an Italian by the name of Flavio from Oxford Uni CC, who said he was a pro 25 years ago and had started riding again to lose weight and get fit. He was my three minute man who I'd caught after halfway and he ended up with a "long" 1:08 (which means just under 1:09). He'd ridden up from Oxford in the morning - somewhat further than me - and was delighted with the whole event. I think he'll improve a bit more.
I wondered how Gavin P had got on and it turned out he hadn't. He had the misfortune to puncture his front wheel after the top of the last climb. You can't really ride on a flat front tubular for 10km so he had to get a lift back. It's a pity that he didn't end up with a time because I'll never know if I beat him fair and square or not. A few seemed to think I'd done a good enough ride anyway, but ... Given that's his second flat of the year (the first was just after he'd crossed the line in the Severn hilly), I suspect he'll try something more robust than Vittoria Chronos.
I refuelled with a bit of ginger cake and some tea and waited for all the times to be confirmed. That's the most nerve wracking bit of a time trial, trust me. The tension builds as more times are written on the results board, with everyone standing around speculating about who's done what. You don't want to look but you do anyway and you get little pangs when a faster time than yours is posted.
Finally it was confirmed and I got the win by 46 seconds over Mark Wareham - who rode a standard road bike(!) - and 2'09 over Derek Smetham from the local club. Chris Madge (1:05:13) and my clubmate Ben Anstie (1:06:22, after doing a 10 miler the previous afternoon) slotted in next, while our sprinter Simon Snowden recorded a painful 1:18 for 22nd, but it was more than enough for us to claim the team prize from Gloucester. That's number four this year!
The ride home was interesting when I discovered I'd lost a chainring bolt. Not only that, all the other four bolts were loose. Oops. That explains the creaking noise I've had for the last few weeks...
Made it home but had to pay another stealth visit to Morrison's to restock on Lily O'Brien's sticky toffee chocolate. Some bugger had eaten it all in my absence.
No song today but Hung Up by Madonna is a good 'un for time trialling. Saw the last episode of Foyles War too. I hope there are more.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Two things
First: I've been on a quest to buy some warming embrocation today, and am surprised at how hard it is to get here. In Belgium you can buy it at any bike shop in various grades of warmness, and it's very popular, forming part of the pre-kermis ritual.
My supply of Sportsbalm Pre Sports Hot Balm (basically vaseline with wintergreen, cayenne, cajeput, capsicum and nutmeg oil - nice and hot) ran out last week and I was in dire need of some more, as it's still freezing and wet here. It substitutes for wearing leg warmers, which seem to be the popular choice for racing in the early UK season.
After trying the bike shops and a big sports store, I eventually wound up at Boots where I found some Raglex cream. It's got capsicum oil in it, which is better than nothing, so I'll combine it with vaseline for rain protection.
It's been raining all day today with a bitingly cold easterly wind, but it should clear up overnight for tomorrow's Dursley hilly. But the roads will probably still be wet at 9am and it ain't going to be very warm. So the skinsuit will be supplemented with the usual long sleeved base layer plus arm warmers and maybe gloves.
Given that it's got nearly 1000m of climbing, I stand a reasonable chance of winning, depending on how I, Gavin P and a few of the others handle the course. After that, I've got three more Hardriders events and one open 10 before I'll take a break. It's a bit stupid doing the season like this, because my 'break' will be in June and July, when it's warm! But I'll resume in August/September, hopefully getting some late summer form.
Second: At the Morrison's checkout this morning, there was a guy in front of me in running shorts who I'd seen riding to the supermarket. Bloody lunatic (unless he had proper embrocation) - it's not exactly the weather to ride in shorts. He had a very healthy looking shopping basket (not even any instant liver and onions) and the chatty Chinese checkout girl was asking him how much he rode, etc. "Most days, about five hours a week" was the response. She did 30 minutes at the gym from time to time, not that there's anything wrong with that.
When it came to my turn, she looked rather disapprovingly at my chocolate mountain. She picked up the first one, an 80g block of Lily O'Brien's Sticky Toffee chocolate, and gave me the third degree. "Wow, I've never seen this before. Do you know how many calories there are in this block? 400!!" she said, obviously not noticing my lean and hungry look.
I said "I know, that's why I bought it. I need the energy."
"And it's got 62 grams of sugar!" She really didn't want to give it to me.
"Yes. I ride more than that bloke there. I do about 15 hours a week." (trying to take it but she had a firm grasp on it)
"I sometimes ride for 30 minutes at the gym."
I finally prised the chocolate from her fingers, hoped that the rest of my comestibles would pass muster and the transaction was completed without further comment.
There's not much of that Lily O'Brien's chocolate left now, for some strange reason.
My supply of Sportsbalm Pre Sports Hot Balm (basically vaseline with wintergreen, cayenne, cajeput, capsicum and nutmeg oil - nice and hot) ran out last week and I was in dire need of some more, as it's still freezing and wet here. It substitutes for wearing leg warmers, which seem to be the popular choice for racing in the early UK season.
After trying the bike shops and a big sports store, I eventually wound up at Boots where I found some Raglex cream. It's got capsicum oil in it, which is better than nothing, so I'll combine it with vaseline for rain protection.
It's been raining all day today with a bitingly cold easterly wind, but it should clear up overnight for tomorrow's Dursley hilly. But the roads will probably still be wet at 9am and it ain't going to be very warm. So the skinsuit will be supplemented with the usual long sleeved base layer plus arm warmers and maybe gloves.
Given that it's got nearly 1000m of climbing, I stand a reasonable chance of winning, depending on how I, Gavin P and a few of the others handle the course. After that, I've got three more Hardriders events and one open 10 before I'll take a break. It's a bit stupid doing the season like this, because my 'break' will be in June and July, when it's warm! But I'll resume in August/September, hopefully getting some late summer form.
Second: At the Morrison's checkout this morning, there was a guy in front of me in running shorts who I'd seen riding to the supermarket. Bloody lunatic (unless he had proper embrocation) - it's not exactly the weather to ride in shorts. He had a very healthy looking shopping basket (not even any instant liver and onions) and the chatty Chinese checkout girl was asking him how much he rode, etc. "Most days, about five hours a week" was the response. She did 30 minutes at the gym from time to time, not that there's anything wrong with that.
When it came to my turn, she looked rather disapprovingly at my chocolate mountain. She picked up the first one, an 80g block of Lily O'Brien's Sticky Toffee chocolate, and gave me the third degree. "Wow, I've never seen this before. Do you know how many calories there are in this block? 400!!" she said, obviously not noticing my lean and hungry look.
I said "I know, that's why I bought it. I need the energy."
"And it's got 62 grams of sugar!" She really didn't want to give it to me.
"Yes. I ride more than that bloke there. I do about 15 hours a week." (trying to take it but she had a firm grasp on it)
"I sometimes ride for 30 minutes at the gym."
I finally prised the chocolate from her fingers, hoped that the rest of my comestibles would pass muster and the transaction was completed without further comment.
There's not much of that Lily O'Brien's chocolate left now, for some strange reason.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Lateralus
First of all, to be consistent I must mention the weather: 10°Ré and sunny today, but with a 30km/h WSW wind blowing. Rejoice!
The event: Bristol South 25 miler, wot I have been looking forward to for several months 'cos I wanted to see how fast a TT bike can go on this course.
It's got a fantastic start: 1km of downhill on the A38, followed by another 11km of rolling gradual downhill, then a 9km up and down loop to rejoin the A38, then another 5km to the turn, then back 14km along the same road to somewhere near the start. But without having to climb the last hill! British time trialling course rules are weird like this.
The A38 has a pretty crappy road surface with lots of potholes, so it's not considered a 'fast' course. But it's fun to ride. Especially to Tool's Lateralus (I owe that tip to Josh).
There was a tailwind for the first part, which made it a lot of fun. I hit 73km/h on the starting slope, and did the first 12km in just over 14 minutes. After doing the middle loop I got to the turnaround (26.4km) in 33'35 - still over 47km/h average. But the way back was somewhat tougher: the last 14km at 36km/h. Caught 10 people though.
Final time: 56'50. Supposedly 295W average, but again the offset was two blips out so it would have been closer to 305W. I'll compare the Ergomo readings when I start testing a Powertap disc wheel.
Although I missed the win by 11 seconds, I was quite happy with my ride. I think on a calm day, a sub-56 minute ride is possible. One of these days I'll beat my long standing 40km record of 55'47. I must have been quicker in 1990...
We won the team prize again (that's three this year) with Andy Cook (1:00:51) and Paul Coles (1:02:46). Allez and forza Chippenham.
I did the first club 10 of the year last Wednesday. It was cold but calm and I got around in 22'36 @ 320W, which is 45 seconds better than I did on my road bike at this time last year. Ben did 22'13, so he's on track for a decent ride in the national 10 championship.
Book launch of the week: Uncle Alex Jones's Morris in the Antarctic (apologies if I got the title wrong). I'm looking forward to reading it though.
Gadget of the week: A Garmin 705. Once I get the road map chip, I'll never get lost again. Plus it has all the cycling data that you could ever want. I'm lovin' it.
Brownie of the week: an almond one from the Epicurean Deli. A really rich, gooey chocolatey slab of goodness. I need these in order to maintain weight, which pleases me. A lot. And I won't mention the 300g of chocolate that has mysteriously disappeared in the last 24 hours.
The event: Bristol South 25 miler, wot I have been looking forward to for several months 'cos I wanted to see how fast a TT bike can go on this course.
It's got a fantastic start: 1km of downhill on the A38, followed by another 11km of rolling gradual downhill, then a 9km up and down loop to rejoin the A38, then another 5km to the turn, then back 14km along the same road to somewhere near the start. But without having to climb the last hill! British time trialling course rules are weird like this.
The A38 has a pretty crappy road surface with lots of potholes, so it's not considered a 'fast' course. But it's fun to ride. Especially to Tool's Lateralus (I owe that tip to Josh).
There was a tailwind for the first part, which made it a lot of fun. I hit 73km/h on the starting slope, and did the first 12km in just over 14 minutes. After doing the middle loop I got to the turnaround (26.4km) in 33'35 - still over 47km/h average. But the way back was somewhat tougher: the last 14km at 36km/h. Caught 10 people though.
Final time: 56'50. Supposedly 295W average, but again the offset was two blips out so it would have been closer to 305W. I'll compare the Ergomo readings when I start testing a Powertap disc wheel.
Although I missed the win by 11 seconds, I was quite happy with my ride. I think on a calm day, a sub-56 minute ride is possible. One of these days I'll beat my long standing 40km record of 55'47. I must have been quicker in 1990...
We won the team prize again (that's three this year) with Andy Cook (1:00:51) and Paul Coles (1:02:46). Allez and forza Chippenham.
I did the first club 10 of the year last Wednesday. It was cold but calm and I got around in 22'36 @ 320W, which is 45 seconds better than I did on my road bike at this time last year. Ben did 22'13, so he's on track for a decent ride in the national 10 championship.
Book launch of the week: Uncle Alex Jones's Morris in the Antarctic (apologies if I got the title wrong). I'm looking forward to reading it though.
Gadget of the week: A Garmin 705. Once I get the road map chip, I'll never get lost again. Plus it has all the cycling data that you could ever want. I'm lovin' it.
Brownie of the week: an almond one from the Epicurean Deli. A really rich, gooey chocolatey slab of goodness. I need these in order to maintain weight, which pleases me. A lot. And I won't mention the 300g of chocolate that has mysteriously disappeared in the last 24 hours.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
I may be some time
It's April but spring hasn't decided to sprung on us yet. We're getting tantalisingly close with a 17 degree sunny day here last Thursday, but the weekend's snow was another thing altogether.
I did my first race in zero degrees (it's the same in Réaumur, for those wondering) today and it wasn't fun. It was another shortened-due-to-road-works-TT, the WTTA hilly: 32km from Malmesbury to Wootton Bassett and back with no real hills and only 210m of climbing.
It was snowing when I left Bath, Captain Oates style, in the morning, but had stopped by the time I got to the start just outside Chippenham. Half of the 45 rider field had taken the sane option and stayed in bed, but I figured they don't call it the Hardriders series for nothing and started anyway. I wore a few extra layers, including arm and leg warmers, a long sleeved base layer and disposable gloves under normal racing mitts so I didn't get too frozen. I also hoped I'd recovered from a brief but fairly explosive dose of food poisoning on Friday. I more or less had, I think, not that it mattered.
There weren't many riders to chase as my minute and two minute men weren't there, and my three minute man ended up putting time into me. So I caught about three riders instead of my usual seven. I wasn't going to push it too hard in the cold either, so was pleasantly surprised to average 298W with a lowish heart rate. All of my races this year have been between 293 and 303W average. But my speed was only 40.5km/h, which is not quick for a course with not a lot of climbing in it. I felt a lot faster than I was, because I seemed to be in 53x14 a lot. But as my cadence was only 85rpm, this wasn't particularly fast. It's not the first time I've fooled myself doing that.
In the end my 47'14 was good enough for another 4th place, with Gavin Poupart doing another solid ride to win in 45'25, followed by Chris Madge in 46'03 and David Kiddell, who seems to do well in miserable conditions, in 46'34. Ben Anstie, who'd won an open '10' the previous evening, did 48'03 for fifth, but we weren't quite good enough to beat Severn RC for the team prize this week.
What I did like was the bit near Wootton Bassett, as there was snow all around us and it looked quite pretty. And the roads weren't icy, just wet, so it wasn't dangerous.
Next week, I've got a standard 25 miler out near the Severn. It was the same course that I did 1:02 on last year after losing three minutes to a busted spoke. I'm hoping for something around 57'00, depending on the conditions. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to crank out some more power if it decides to warm up.
Or I could do some lactate tolerance training, which will improve it. I've just realised that my 5min power is over 6W/kg at the moment, whereas my 45min-1hr power (called Functional Threshold) is closer to 4.3W/kg. According to this graph, it should be around 5W/kg to be at the same level as 5min power. I know I can do this, it's just a matter of training it. Sigh, how tiresome.
It snowed, off and on, for the rest of the day. But in between it was sunny so all the snow melted. Stupid bloody weather (repeat, ad infinitum). At least I could watch the Tour of Flanders. Bloody good race that. Nice to see the Belgian champ win too.
Top book: The Hour, by Michael Hutchinson, one of the UK's top time trialists who failed to break Boardman's hour record in 2003. If things had gone perfectly for him, he might have done it, so he's no slouch. It's a great read because he puts you inside a cyclist's head very well (I definitely don't do that) and it's often hilarious.
Interestingly, Hutchinson's 'numbers' are a threshold of 400W at a weight of 75kg, which is about 5.3W/kg. It's been claimed Tour de France winners have thresholds of 6.7W/kg, although the guy who did the power profile above reckons it's closer to 6.4W/kg. Still, it's a hell of a lot of power and explains why they go so fast.
I note that the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow hasn't been sorted out yet. Maybe another 40 years? And they built Terminal 5 with a car access ramp so steep that cars couldn't get up it in the ice. Geniuses!
I did my first race in zero degrees (it's the same in Réaumur, for those wondering) today and it wasn't fun. It was another shortened-due-to-road-works-TT, the WTTA hilly: 32km from Malmesbury to Wootton Bassett and back with no real hills and only 210m of climbing.
It was snowing when I left Bath, Captain Oates style, in the morning, but had stopped by the time I got to the start just outside Chippenham. Half of the 45 rider field had taken the sane option and stayed in bed, but I figured they don't call it the Hardriders series for nothing and started anyway. I wore a few extra layers, including arm and leg warmers, a long sleeved base layer and disposable gloves under normal racing mitts so I didn't get too frozen. I also hoped I'd recovered from a brief but fairly explosive dose of food poisoning on Friday. I more or less had, I think, not that it mattered.
There weren't many riders to chase as my minute and two minute men weren't there, and my three minute man ended up putting time into me. So I caught about three riders instead of my usual seven. I wasn't going to push it too hard in the cold either, so was pleasantly surprised to average 298W with a lowish heart rate. All of my races this year have been between 293 and 303W average. But my speed was only 40.5km/h, which is not quick for a course with not a lot of climbing in it. I felt a lot faster than I was, because I seemed to be in 53x14 a lot. But as my cadence was only 85rpm, this wasn't particularly fast. It's not the first time I've fooled myself doing that.
In the end my 47'14 was good enough for another 4th place, with Gavin Poupart doing another solid ride to win in 45'25, followed by Chris Madge in 46'03 and David Kiddell, who seems to do well in miserable conditions, in 46'34. Ben Anstie, who'd won an open '10' the previous evening, did 48'03 for fifth, but we weren't quite good enough to beat Severn RC for the team prize this week.
What I did like was the bit near Wootton Bassett, as there was snow all around us and it looked quite pretty. And the roads weren't icy, just wet, so it wasn't dangerous.
Next week, I've got a standard 25 miler out near the Severn. It was the same course that I did 1:02 on last year after losing three minutes to a busted spoke. I'm hoping for something around 57'00, depending on the conditions. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to crank out some more power if it decides to warm up.
Or I could do some lactate tolerance training, which will improve it. I've just realised that my 5min power is over 6W/kg at the moment, whereas my 45min-1hr power (called Functional Threshold) is closer to 4.3W/kg. According to this graph, it should be around 5W/kg to be at the same level as 5min power. I know I can do this, it's just a matter of training it. Sigh, how tiresome.
It snowed, off and on, for the rest of the day. But in between it was sunny so all the snow melted. Stupid bloody weather (repeat, ad infinitum). At least I could watch the Tour of Flanders. Bloody good race that. Nice to see the Belgian champ win too.
Top book: The Hour, by Michael Hutchinson, one of the UK's top time trialists who failed to break Boardman's hour record in 2003. If things had gone perfectly for him, he might have done it, so he's no slouch. It's a great read because he puts you inside a cyclist's head very well (I definitely don't do that) and it's often hilarious.
Interestingly, Hutchinson's 'numbers' are a threshold of 400W at a weight of 75kg, which is about 5.3W/kg. It's been claimed Tour de France winners have thresholds of 6.7W/kg, although the guy who did the power profile above reckons it's closer to 6.4W/kg. Still, it's a hell of a lot of power and explains why they go so fast.
I note that the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow hasn't been sorted out yet. Maybe another 40 years? And they built Terminal 5 with a car access ramp so steep that cars couldn't get up it in the ice. Geniuses!
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