I'm worried. The season has been going too well. I completed the Etape du Dales in 8hrs 33mins; it was really hard: 110 of the hilliest miles you've ever cycled over. There were 7 major summits, and innumerable intermediate bumps. The hardest had me walking for a small stretch, but after last year's bitter withdrawl I was a very happy camper as I rolled in to Wharfedale Rugby Club at the finish.
Now, last year after every major event where I had "gone deep" I suffered some kind of illness or injury, so despite being slightly paranoid about every sniffle, cough or sneeze, I was delighted to recover quickly from the ride. One thing I've learned is that even a hilly "century" like the Dales doesn't batter your body half as badly as a half-ironman.
My confidence increased a week later as I did the Grendon sprint triathlon near Northampton. It was cold and breezy and a significant portion of the bike leg was into a strong headwind. I was hoping for a sub 1:20 time, but ended up with 1:27 - the bike leg was about 24km, apparently so I would have been comfortably under 1:20 if the bike leg had been the regulation 20km. There wer two aspects of the race that particularly pleased; the first was that I actually ran the run instead of resorting to the usual rasping, wheezing shuffle. Secondly I did the whole event at an average heartrate of 162 bpm, a much higher intensity than I've managed in a sprint before.
The question was, would this new found health, fitness and confidence result in a sub 7hr time at Wimbleball?
I did it! 8 hours 33 minutes and 19 seconds for 110 of the hilliest miles you could possibly imagine. 442nd out of 650 odd finishers. It hurt, a lot. Longer, more considered post soon.
On Sunday I'll be attempting the Etape du Dales for a second time. The regular reader will recall that last year's effort ended in tears. This time around I'm a little more hopeful, if somewhat daunted still. The training has gone reasonably well, and most importantly, I feel healthy. However, something was bound to throw me off in my preparation, and this time it was my saddle. It doesn't take a cycling expert to realise that the human/machine interface system on a bike is crucial to rider comfort and any regular cyclist will have their favoured brand which they stick to with religious fervour. Last week, while out on some hill training my trusty saddle snapped a rail. A few phonecalls around local shops revealed my worst fears - no one had the Selle Itallia SLR t1 in stock. Luckily Royle's of Wilmslow came up trumps and got one in; I fitted my new saddle yesterday.
I'm hoping that this dazzling piece of Italian bling will distract everyone from the frantic zigzagging that is sure to be going on every time the road points upwards on Sunday!
Incidentally, I originally intended to do the Spires and Squires down in Northants last Sunday. My family (i.e. 4 year old) wanted to go to the beach instead so I ended up doing 75 miles around the beautiful Forest of Bowland including some much bigger hills than on the sportive. I gather it was a well organised event, but it'll just have to wait for next year.
The family have just invested in a Wii Fit (to add to the Gamecube, DS and numerous other game related gadgets). I have to say computer gaming is not my natural environment: my 4 year old knows more about the Nintendo DS than I'll ever know, but I felt duty bound to give the thing a go. It starts off with some basic stats and a balance test and the results made pretty grim reading. Apparently, I'm overweight, my Wii age is 57 (a mere 12 years older than my chronological age) and I'm "much weaker" than I should be. Only 5 weeks to UK Ironman 70.3 - I think I need to radically restructure my training, and fast!
Since my last post after the successful completion of the Cheshire Cat, as usual, I went down with a post race bug. This was a particularly nasty affair which kept me off the bike for ten days. Highly frustrating as I recovered particularly well from the event. Apparently I became progressively grumpier over the ten days and ended up going to the doctor's for a course of Amoxycillin. He was clearly having a bad day himself and made it quite plain that dishing out antibiotics for a minor chest infection wasn't something he liked to do, despite my protestations that it was affecting my preparation for the Etape du Dales and Wimbleball. At any rate, after some heavily affected coughing and wheezing from me, he eventually wrote out the scrip and ushered me out of the surgery before I could even get out, "I think I might be developing a chronic hip problem, can we discuss my options?". I'll clearly need to leave that one for a while! Funnily enough, the antibiotics quickly cleared up the problem despite being assured that "it was a virus".
This evening was my second ride since training recommenced, and I decided that I'd do a wee test to see how much fitness I'd lost. This meant a max effort time trial around my 40km standard circuit (don'tcha just love those sessions). It's got a number of hills on it and my PB was 1hr 27 minutes. I was astonished to knock four minutes off that time and rolled in at 1 hr 23 minutes. What's the lesson? Don't get stressed if you have a period off training if you've had a good winter (as I have), it seems that the break might even do you some good.
My next scheduled event is the Squires and Spires Sportive on May 11th which I'm doing with my new cycling buddy Mark from Glossop. However, I feel suitably encouraged by this evening's ride to attempt the Kirklees Sportive on April 27th. It includes an ascent of the legendary Holme Moss - a hill that I've never ridden...
Yesterday, Sunday 30th March, was the Cheshire Cat cycle Sportive. This was my first event of the season and it consisted of 95 miles around the Cheshire lanes. The route was mostly flat with a few minor hills around the Delamere forest. There was, however, a big sting in the tail: Mow Cop. Mow Cop is an isolated hill on the edge of the Staffordshire Moors and the route ascended it after about 70 miles. For most of the ascent it's just a fairly hard hill but the last 200 metres sees it rear up to a calf-shredding 25%. Apparently at least half the field walked up this section last year.
After horrendous weather on the Saturday, Sunday dawned bright and clear with a fresh breeze from the west. I rolled out from Knutsford Leisure Centre feeling good, but quite apprehensive as I'd never tackled a ride as long as this so early in the season. Luckily the first few miles were very easy and I worked in with a group to share the effort into the wind. Signposting was excellent as we navigated our way west to Delamere Forest where the first hills arrived. These proved to be relatively simple and I rolled into the first feed stop near Beeston Castle well under two hours. Here I met up with Mark, a rider from Glossop who I'd met out near Whaley Bridge on a ride recently, and we rolled at some pace on to the next feed down some quiet and very easy lanes. The sun was shining and as the route swung back east the wind was on our backs.
From the second feed we began to be aware that we had put some serious miles into our legs and we could see Mow Cop in the distance rearing above the Cheshire Plain like Mount Doom. Mark dropped back to help his friend Dave and I pressed on with Mark's other mate, Matt. The organisers had helpfully put in an extra hill before Mount Doom just to soften our legs up and Matt was beginning to get worried about cramps in his calf. I was going well but was really worried about the coming climb. Matt and I had made a tactical decision to take it very easy on the approach, and we crawled like Hobbits towards the steep section at the top. The approach was much harder than I'd been led to believe and was horrified when I saw how steep the top section was. There was no alternative but to zigzag abjectly, and I apologise to the Mitsubishi 4X4 driver whose progress I reduced to a crawl.
At the time, after 70 miles it felt like the hardest hill I'd ever climbed and was mightily relieved as I rolled downhill to the final feed. Matt was suffering cramps quite badly and I helped him stretch out his calves before we set off on the last leg. Almost immediately there were two more hills, the sort that you'd romp up on your 25 mile evening training ride, but after 75 miles and Mow Cop in your legs they felt like a real struggle. We knew, though, that after these it was just a gentle roll back through the lanes to Knutsford. Unfortunately, some kind soul had taken all the signposts down.
I knew vaguely where the route was supposed to go, and because I was now on home territory, I knew the lanes around Withington too. Within a few minutes I'd picked up a train of about 30 riders who were lost. At every junction we came to there seemd to be riders approaching from every direction, and it was apparent that riders were becoming scattered all over Cheshire. The group pressed on, and eventually, as we approached Toft we picked up signs again - cue all the buggers who had been following me for miles while I slogged into a headwind dropping me like a stone as attacks went off the front! Ungrateful b*****ds ;-).
Matt and I rolled into Knutsford Leisure Centre after 6hrs 23 minutes and 477th position out of about 1000 riders. I was really pleased to have finished such a long ride and apart from struggling up Mow Cop (I wasn't alone) I felt pretty strong throughout. Good prep for this year's Etape du Dales!
Yesterday my friend Dave and I spent the day at the velodrome in Manchester watching the World Track Championships. There were three finals, and incredibly Great Britain won all three.
Men's Team Pursuit
GB were the hottest of hot favourites for this event, yet surprisingly only qualified second fastest for the final. However, in front of a wildly partisan crowd Wiggins and the boys dominated the Danes and set a new world record: cue delirium.
Women's Individual Pursuit
Here we had Rebecca Romero going for gold, and although she was really tested in qualifying, she clearly had plenty in the tank and won easily.
Women's Team Sprint
Again, Shanaze Reade and Victoria Pendleton were the hottest of favourites against the Chinese. However, the velodrome crowd collectively held their breath as the Brits were fractionally down on the first lap. No danger. Pendleton's awesome leg speed brought home a third gold for GB.
Perhaps the greatest drama of the day was Chris Hoy's progress in the sprints. His early times meant that he matched up with World and Olympic champion, Theo Bos, in the quarter finals. In the first of the best of three races Bos totally outfoxed Hoy with a brilliant feint to move up and then dived down to gap Hoy who sat up and didn't contest. This meant that Hoy had to win the second sprint to have any chance of progressing. Second time Hoy led from the front and won by a scant tyre's width as Bos screamed around the outside leaving the crowd on tenterhooks awaiting the judge's call. That left a decider. This time it was Bos that led out the sprint and looked to have a 5 or 6 metre gap coming in to the back straight - plenty for a man of his calibre. Not so, Hoy blasted into the last bend at incredible speed and came around the outside to take it by half a wheel. Hoy now faces a semi final against Roberto Chiappa and no-one would bet against him on getting to the final.
I took along my digital camera and tried some photos. However the lights and speed meant that most of the shots were too grainy and blurred to use. The remainder hopefully give you a flavour of the action.
The Cheshire Cat is only a week away. 95 miles around the Cheshire lanes awaits. The training was going fairly well: I've gone on a bit of a diet and shed 3kg; I've been religiously using my Powerbreather; and I've not been shying away from the hills. Incidentally, dieting and hill climb training, I can report, are incompatible. There are obvious benefits to climbers for being lighter, but woe betide anyone who sets out on their major hill circuit with insufficient breakfast.
This is the profile of Pym Chair (SJ 99452 76881) (click to enlarge) as approached from Bollington. Normally I go on to descend into the Goyt Valley and out again by the notorious Errwood incline, however the Special K breakfast really didn't cut the mustard and my legs collapsed dramatically as they approached the steepest ramp near the top. Result: wimp out to Whaley Bridge and return home down the A6.
As a result of these travails I was beginning to feel superstrong and even came within a whisker of my pb on my 40 km circuit - unheard of for this time of year. But, as ever, trouble lay just around the corner as I pulled a hamstring on a run last week. Rest, ice and stretching seemed to have done the trick, but it went again on Tuesday. As I write this, it's Good Friday, the weather forecast is horrble and I have a pressing need to do about 4 hours on the bike. Not sure if I dare risk the leg, though. It leaves me with a dilemma. The Cat was the first plank in my build-up to the Etape du Dales and I saw the 95 miles as a real break through session to confirm my early season form. Should I exercise restraint and do the short route instead?
Here's the latest reason for not going out training. Luke Anthony was born on Wednesday 9th Jan at 15:24. He weighed 7lb 11oz and is already showing signs of being a world-class athlete, principally through his ability to rest. Click on the photo for a full size image. Mother and son doing well, father hitting the whisky.
Just succumbed to the January sales and bought a pair of Ksyrium SL Premium wheels for my bike. Will report on their performance when the roads dry out a bit! They certainly look the business! Photo to follow.
Entry to Etape du Dales in, as well as the Cheshire Cat - both cycle sportives.
Training: put on quite a bit of weight in the autumn and over Christmas, but I'm getting some good base mileage in and am feeling healthy - that seems to be the key.
