Cotswold hills

I've actually managed to finish my first UK sportive. 165km of very hilly and windy riding in the Circuit of the Cotswolds.

I found it harder than both Paris-Roubaix and Franja, mainly because of the severity of the climbs, the 35km/h wind and because I rode it solo. Nearly 6 hours at 80% of my max heart rate and 2500m of climbing. In comparison Roubaix was 9 hrs (plus nearly two hours of stops) at 65% of max, while Franja was just over four hours at 75%, sitting on a bunch most of the time. I probably shouldn't have done a hard 100km the day before, because my legs are absolutely knackered now.

Despite having a 39x28, I damn well had to get off and walk near the top of one of the climbs, a beast that goes by the name of Bushcombe Lane that leads up to Cleeve Hill. The whole climb averages about 13% for 1.2km, but the steep middle part is 18% for a good 500m, hitting 25% in bits with two cattle grids for fun. That alone is like the bottom bit of Attunga St in Sydney but five times as long. Add in the previous 95km and lots of climbing and I, or rather my arms, decided that as there were still 70km and five climbs to go, it would be advisable to save a bit of fuel.

It was annoying because when I was in the saddle it was manageable, except I couldn't keep my front wheel on the road. I think I destroyed my cleat in the process as well.

It was a humbling experience. But those who rode up it weren't always better off. I'd started it together with another guy at the bottom, and he ground his way past me as I was stumbling up the final section. But I had recovered a bit when I got to the top and passed him, never seeing him again. If I did it again I'd go for a 34 tooth front chainring, or a bit more practice on the really steep hills around Bath.

Alas, Bushcombe Lane pales in comparison to the toughest climb in the UK: Hardknott Pass in Cumbria. It averages 14% for nearly 3km, and includes some 33% bits. It's part of the Fred Whitton Challenge (a 180km sportive) and reduces most riders to walking. Plenty of cars burn out clutches on it too.

The rest of the Circuit of the Cotswolds was fun, especially the last part where we had a roaring tailwind. It was so nice to barrel home at 40-50km/h on quiet, straight roads. A reward for all the head/crosswinds and steep climbs.

For the first time, I used my Garmin 705 as a navigational tool. I copied the GPX of the route onto it and hit 'navigate' and bingo, I didn't even need route arrows. It has an auto-zoom feature so that you can tell exactly what's coming up. Bloody handy, especially when I followed the arrows for a totally different ride and went off course once. Oops. I realised I was heading in a perpendicular direction to the purple line that marked the real course, and turned back. At least that meant I got to say g'day twice to Lucy, Pete and Ben Power, who were part of the Oxford Uni contingent.

The other funny thing was when I was passed by a couple of guys just before the second feed stop (85km). They were motoring and blew by me on one of the climbs and I had no chance of keeping up. But they stopped for a few minutes at the feed whereas I didn't. It took them another 30km to get past me again, but that was only 10km before the last feed station. Although I did stop there for five minutes, I still left before them. They didn't catch me until I hit a set of lights with 5km to go. And once again, they flew past. But they, in turn, got held up just coming into town and we rolled across the timing mats together.

Their final time was 3 minutes slower than mine, which means they must have started before me and I passed them at the first feed. So the tortoise is faster than the hares :-)

Still, although I ended with the eighth fastest time, I was still 25 mins slower than the quickest riders, who must have done it as a two-up time trial. That ain't hangin' around. My colleague and taxi du jour Mark Appleton did it in 7:23 and said he found it a lot tougher than the Dragon Ride that he did the week previously in Wales.

This Sunday, I'm hoping to do the Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge. 224km and 5000m of climbing in North Wales. I reckon I'll take it easy the day before...

June bilge

Matt Brett and I after Paris-Roubaix

It's been a busy few weeks pour moi. The Paris-Roubaix randonee was an amazing experience. We'd been talking about it all year and I'm glad we got our collective arses into gear and over to France for it. The pavé was the real challenge I thought it would be, but it wasn't an insurmountable one. The distance - 255km, which took us nine hours - was relatively straightforward because we stopped and refuelled at every checkpoint. Finishing in the Roubaix velodrome was the highlight of an excellent day out.

Two years until the next one...

Franja revisited

I hopped off to Slovenia last weekend for another crack at Franja, which I did last year. Ellis from Procycling accompanied me this time and we had a great time with Primoz, Braco, Mark from Holland and many many more.

Friday: rocked up, watched the rain and went to a reception in Ljubljana castle. Some wine was consumed.

Saturday: took advantage of the dry morning to drive north, across the Italian border then back into Slovenia to do the Mangart climb. In total it's ~17km and climbs ~1400m via a number of tunnels, some of which are quite long.

We parked halfway up and while I descended to the bottom and started there, the others just did the last 10km. Or they would have had the road not been covered with snow with 2km to go. When I got up there I thought I was trying to tackle the Caradhras Pass out of Fellowship of the Ring. So I could go no further.

The view was amazing and well worth it.

Halfway up. Yep, it's steep.

She'll be right. Yeah.

Possibly...

Maybe not.

Entering the Mines of Moria on a Specialized Tarmac.

Sunday: Franja. 157km total, the last 143km was timed. 1700-odd starters in our event plus another 1500 in the 100km. It's not easy riding in a bunch that size but I managed to avoid all the crashes in the first 25km. And just like last year, by the time we hit the first climb (5km at 4%) I was in about 200th wheel. It didn't matter too much as I got into a good group at the top and we caught everyone in front of us.

Things really slowed down on the run into the second climb (6.4km at 6.9%), which wasn't ideal because a whole lot more caught back on. But once we started the climb, it thinned out quite quickly. I managed it in 21 minutes - over 3'30 quicker than last year(!), averaging about 345W. But it wasn't nearly good enough to be with the leaders over the top. I think the fastest guys did it in 18'00; I would have needed 420W to keep up with them. No bloody way. That's lower level pro power.

Speaking of pros, several of the Radenska pro continental team did Franja on the back of the Tour of Slovenia, which finished the day before. They must have been tired because they were all dropped (even those who hadn't raced ToS) on that climb.

Once at the top, I waited for a small group to catch me. Mark K was in this, so I had someone to chat to. We picked up all but 13 riders on the descent and ended with a bunch of 50 or so. There were several teams with riders in the lead, so whenever any of us tried attacking, they would chase. But whenever we weren't attacking, the pace was relatively lethargic. So it was a bit of a boring run home and Mark and I rolled in near the back of the group in 44th and 45th (full results here under 1M).

Final time: 3:35:41, just under 40km/h average. The winner did it in 3:27:09. Last year after putting a large hole in my knee two weeks previously, I was 2km/h slower and 20min down on the winner. So I'm happy with that.

Ellis B came in in just under 4 hours for 389th, which he was happy with too. Training works. And in the 100km event, Primoz and Braco served as gregarios for the Polet Ladies Team, one of whom managed second. I don't think they minded doing that job.

It was a good day out for all concerned.

Alas, we were delayed en route back to Londres by two and a half hours. Which meant I couldn't get back to Bath that night. Which meant kipping at Ellis's luxurious establishment in Knightsbridge (no he can't afford it but he shares). Which meant paying the outrageous sum of £66 to get a train home in the morning.

Like a broken record

As I'd hoped, I managed to beat Andy Cook's nine year-old club 25 mile record in Sunday's Cheltenham fixture.

The previous record was 52'20 and while it would have been nice to go under 52 minutes, I'll take this as I'm definitely off the boil at the moment. Rich Prebble showed us how it's done to win in 50'02, the third quickest 25 time in the UK this season. Gavin P is still going well and his 51'27 didn't surprise me. Nik Gardiner third in 51'37, then Jason Gurney (51'59) then me. And although Simon Snowden did a very useful 54'46, we really needed Andy or Ben there to have a shot at the team prize.

The course was two laps of the Bath 10 course plus a bit extra up to Cirencester. It's all dual carriageway, almost dead flat, but there are some gentle rises that really kill you because you can't see them. So unlike a hilly, there is no respite and I found it quite tough to keep going without relaxing except at the turns. I couldn't ride on these sorts of courses very often. It would do my head in.

I was off early and there wasn't too much traffic, which is (stupidly) a disadvantage. Not much wind either, which was good. It rained for the later guys.

Funnily enough, I clocked 20'46 for the first 10 miles - exactly the same as my Bath 10 time at a slightly lower power. Then it started to get hard and monotonous as I went up to the twin roundabouts at Cirencester. I checked my halfway time: 26'17, so I knew I'd have to work for the record.

But I knew I'd climbed a bit and made it all up on the way back to the start, averaging 48 clicks. I had 31'18 on the clock with 10 miles left, which was better. I didn't get lower than 53x13 except for the last turn, and used the 11 pretty much all the way to the finish. It just felt quicker to push that gear, but my legs are paying for it today.

Interestingly, I did the last 10 miles in 20'44, but my average power was only 304W compared to 330W for the first 10. This is almost certainly due to the increased temperature (+5 degrees is worth about -5W or -5 seconds over that distance) and traffic (worth a lot more). Of course, the pain factor was much greater. No way did I have anything left at the end.

My overall average was 315W. A bit lower than I've been doing in the hilly events but that's to be expected as I've slackened off training in the last few weeks. It'll be interesting to see what I can hit in the second half of the season.

I found an interesting bit of data from the final Giro time trial. It was 28.5km and slightly downhill all the way - a bit like the final Tour de France time trial in 1989 - i.e. very bloody fast.

The winner was Marco Pinotti, the Italian national champ, clocked 32'45 to average just over 52km/h. His average power output (using SRM, not PowerTap, but the two are very close) was 374W and he weighs 68kg. That works out at 'only' 5.5W/kg for half an hour. A sign to me that the grand tours are a lot cleaner than they used to be. And Pinotti has been one of a few pros to be outspoken against doping.

Now, I don't know what Pinotti could do when he's fresh: likely a bit more than 5.5W/kg. But it's nowhere near the 6.4-6.7W/kg quoted for Tour de France contendahs. OK, so the Giro is not the Tour, I know.

So far, my best has been 345W for 22min in our club 10, or just over 4.9W/kg. I still believe I can nudge that over 5W/kg come August with a bit of proper training. It was supposedly 5.1W/kg for 32min at the journo world's last year but I was using Ergomo then which could well have been reading high because of the warm conditions.

Anyway, we shall see!

On a tangential note, I was watching the Isle of Man TT (the motorbike one) the other day. Those guys are nuts. They tend to end up in hospital or worse. They average nearly 210km/h around the circuit, which is on closed public roads with lots of bends, stone walls and bumps. The bike cam footage is amazing but terrifying.

There used to be a cycling time trial and a road race on the same roads, but alas no longer. It would be an incredibly cool event to ride.