All Day Spin and other stuff...

The All Day Spin at Unipart will take place on 26th March, I have just asked an old school friend if he would mind lending me his turbo trainer (again) for this as it will be tricky to get a spin bike down the stairs in the gym's reception.

Work have agreed that I can put flyers up and generally circulate the event as much as I want. I have also asked a couple of Unipart friends if they will circulate to their contacts - should get the word about nicely.

The second All Day Spin will be on 26th April at TFD gym in Grove. This time I will use a spin bike but put my own saddle on it. The gym are due to get a newsletter out to their members early in March with this advertised; I'm hopeful that people will start to recognise who I am and I can then talk the ride up a bit more.

I got a half decent ride in on Saturday: 20 flat miles and then spent the next 17 miles going up and down Chain Hill (3 times)followed by a flat ride home. I had planned four climbs but my knee started to feel a bit odd - no pain just a bit warm. I could have ground through it but it's not worth getting injured for at this stage. I commuted in today and did spin at lunchtime, my knee was ok, it just warmed up a bit - rather odd so I iced it when I got home.

I seem to be very fatigued; struggling to keep my eyes open. I'm cycling in tomorrow but will have a rest from classes, might do the gym in the evening will see how I feel. At the moment I just want to have some decent food and get some kip.

I have a low mood at the moment, things seem to be dragging and not getting organised. I know it only takes one or two people to get back to me and all gets sorted but it's frustrating. One thing I have to do is enquire about booking my bike onto the train to Cornwall, given my previous experiance of talking to train 'customer service lines' I am not looking forward to it....

Spring is almost Sprung!

Spring is definitely trying to make an appearance which makes riding to work so much more pleasant. I still need lights but it's not dark leaving in the morning or getting home at night. Big tail wind this morning so it will be interesting on the way home.

I did a weight training class yesterday which has left things a bit sore this morning. I am getting stronger mainly down to the work I have been doing at TFD gym in Grove - I can squat more weight on the bar and get lower in the squat. Although I don't really enjoy this type of exercise it is a key link in the fitness chain. I have spin at lunchtime and am looking forward to getting back in the saddle again; meetings have meant I have missed my favourite Monday lunchtime spin for the last two occasions.

Spence's new road bike looks awesome; I have yet to have a go but definitely getting gear envy. He's working on his hill climbing and I suspect will soon be able to leave me behind on Chain Hill. The point here is that as he becomes stronger and fitter he will be faster than me which means I have to work harder - good stuff all round.

Whilst I know a reasonable amount about mountain bike maintenance I haven't a clue when it comes to road bikes - they look like delicate satellite technology compared to my bike.

I have started to organise the all-day spin at Unipart on 26th March, just waiting for a few people to get back to me about publicity etc. Still need to organise a turbo trainer; guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and ask!

CTC Champions Sportive - Swindon

Another busy weekend but managed to squeeze in a 48 mile sportive near Swindon with Spence and Nobby. It was billed as hilly but wasn't really that hilly. There was one very steep hill but it was short, the rest of the ride was flattish and very enjoyable; pork pie and cake stop was awesome! The only casualty of the day was Nobby's bike, the bottom bracket seized leaving metal shavings visible - it looked an expensive repair but then the bike was still under warranty.

On Saturday morning, I posed for pictures on King Alfred's statue in Wantage Market place to promote a friends fund raiser for the town in July. Several people made a point of chatting to me about my ride in May so it seems that word has got around. I am due to appear in the local gym's newsletter in March, this should reach a good number of people who probably see me in the gym but haven't made the connection yet.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/109520829167552/

I have managed to set up a meeting with another mate who cycled LEJOG last year to talk about the hilly bits. Once I know where these areas are I can tweak the daily mileages and then scope out camps sites/Youth Hostels accordingly.

Another milestone passed today, I have finally booked the 11 days of leave that will be required to do the ride and spend a couple of days at the end with my family - suppose I had better do it now instead of just talking about it!

Hills and more hills

Hills are good for training and for seeing a long way away; hills provide a mental challenge as well as a physical one and require concentration to master them. This Sunday I hope that we will be up to some of the steepest hills in Wiltshire and complete the CTC ride with some remaining dignity (and the memories of some nice views).

I've done a quick pre-clean and lube prior to the main clean up and lube on Saturday after my commute of Friday. Although it is dry outside the bike still acts like a shit magnet; the chain is wearing quickly and the only thing that will slow this process is regular de-greasing and re-lubing. I'm trying out Muk-Off's C3 ceramic lube, yet to ride with it but it seems...erm, slippery. The chain has to last until mid April when I will replace it and the cassette in time for May's ride.

My training mind set is to seek out the steepest hills and hardest rides, I have control over where and when I ride during training but this will not be the case in May. I have to take the terrain as it comes and I might get a nasty hill right at the end of the day. No good missing hills in training because I feel tired, let's face it, if feeling tired was a reason to sit down no one would ever exercise past the 10 minute mark.

Last Saturday's ride was no exception, I admit that I was ready to stop when I got back to Hanney; it was cold and even with the cake and tea at Steve's house the tank was empty. I followed my own rules and ploughed on to achieve Chain Hill and, to be fair, it wasn't as bad as I though it was going to be after 50 miles of riding.

I suppose my badly made point here is that mental weakness in training will equal mental weakness on the day. Mindset can be trained in the same way that muscles can. I'll have enough to worry about on the ride itself so trying to make hills second nature now can only be a positive thing.

Roll on the weekend and the CTC ride at Swindon - apparently the hills are.....interesting!

Good ride today.

Left home at 8:15 this morning with the temperature at -9, I was worried about icy surfaces but the roads were fine. There were some dodgy patches but we walked through these. I met Spence at Drayton and we cycled on to meet Simon at the Radley Roundabout - being a bit late meant he had frozen solid but we soon got going.

It was bitterly cold, I soon felt the wind chill in my left thumb, it had been broken by a cricket ball over 10 years ago and always suffers when it gets cold. My feet began to get cold too but, as the sun rose higher things became more comfortable. I think we all felt the cold for the first hour.

We did the usual loops between Abingdon and Oxford dropping Simon back at Kennington and then stopping for tea and cake at Steve's place in Drayton. I cycled back to Hanney, then to Wantage with a quick 'up and down' Chain Hill (well, a quick down...) for good measure. I was pleased with the 60 miles given how cold it was. In truth, the morning was stunning with bright sunshine and snowy fields - well worth getting up for.

My chain is just about at end of life but I will leave it and the cassette on as long as I can. I want to start in May with a new chain and cassette that has had a few miles to wear in - aproximately £55 but very necessary.

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Still cold.

Good couple of days, spent yesterday evening in the gym despite the tail end of this chesty cough and a decent headache. It was a relief to put away some codeine and go to bed.

Working in the centre of Oxford today so cycled in, bit rusty but not too bad. I am looking forward to cycling again on Friday, once again meetings and stuff have dictated the use of the car. My knee feels great.

All good!

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Training all wrong..

This week has been a busy one with plenty of training at the start, followed by a cold followed by a bit more training today at the gym. Good luck to anyone that managed a ride this afternoon given the temperature and impending snow.

Monday was maybe a mistake: I cycled to work, did spin at lunchtime, cycled home and then went to the gym. Managed a weight training class on Tuesday but was weak as a sparrows fist bump having not done this class for a while. Another solid spin session on Wednesday but struggled with a chesty cold. Felt sorry for myself on Thursday, worked a whole day (yes a whole day) with out training on Friday and then spent a couple of hours at TFD this afternoon.

www.tfd-grove.co.uk/

The stepper was hard work, still have the vestiges of a cold. I decided to split the rest of the time between legs and arms and forget the core/warmdown/stretch. Legs are not bad in terms of strength but then I would be disappointed if they were rubbish given the amount of cycling and circuit training I do. I managed a round of leg pressing, dumb bell squats and deadlifts whilst an 18 stone beef cake walked around the machines checking his baseball cap that was on backwards, filling his water bottle and adjusting his wrist straps. I moved onto arms and he deadlifted 6 tons twice followed by a lot of looking in the mirror.

Now arms are an issue, I make Mr Bean look like Mr Guns. I have come to the decision with Matt at TFD that a few chin ups and dips would be in order to strengthen the top half up - hopefully this will delay fatigue and stiffness setting in at the neck/shoulders. After doing this, I switched to the bicep bar until I genuinely could not lift it anymore (sets of 5). Mr Beef Cake had progressed through his programme to the point where he was cracking walnuts with his arse cheeks and then checking his baseball cap was correctly oriented in a backwards facing direction. He did one more deadlift and then drank a milkshake; the sauna beckoned.

I did notice in the mirror (hey, I was in the free weight area) that I favour my good knee which puts uneven pressure on my lower back. Not much I can do about this except lift lighter weight but that would be pointless - I just have to think before I lift to avoid any issues.

All in all, not a bad week but I have missed a long ride. Spence popped in and we decided to enter the CTC ride from Swindon on 18th Feb - 75km and hilly, good Devon and Cornwall preparation. Hopefully Nobby can join us so we can lower the tone with our Mountain Bikes...

www.ctcchallengerides.co.uk/CTC2012_Swindon_Champions_Family_Sportive.php

Happy days!

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