Sunday 9 August 2009

Recovery ride...what recovery ride?

Last nights antics had put a massive strain on my leg muscles and read in one of the many expensive magazines I have piled up somewhere that a nice easy recovery ride can help with well errrr recovery. Simples, so I thought. The track bike set up I had seemed very good so I applied a little bit of logic and carried over the seat height from 'Vanquish' over to 'Jamis' and used my mtb lidl shoes as my Shimanos were in bits from last evenings screwing around. I planned to do around 2 hrs of easy riding so set off towards 'Blackstone Edge' I guess you could call that mistake number 2. Number 1 was actually setting off for the ride.

Wow, the seat position felt instantly better and whilst taking it fairly easy I was doing the same speed I would have done if I was trying a bit more. The only real problem with the bike is that for carbon it is extremely stiff, great for climbing and sprinting but comfort is non existant and it doesn't help I have my tires pumped up to 100psi, I had cheapo lidl shorts where they use 1 ply bog roll as the chamois :( ( must invest in MCC ones if they are as good as the jerseys! which by the way I have had on the last 4 rides without it being washed so it stunk a bit.) and the roads are an absolute mess. Anyway since I felt good I decided to up the pace. Sometimes at this point I can feel all sorts of twinges or aches due to bad riding position but it was fine so far.
Had to ride on the pavement, I know, just before Smithy bridge train station as there were gas works all the way down one side of the road and they had closed it so I ignored the diversion signs and followed the slow traffic round Hollingworth lake and then began the climb up our famous peak. Started at a moderate pace, hoping to pick it up later on so took in the atmosphere and looked at the sky to see some black clouds forming making slow progress to cover up the sun. 'Pantani' and I did this 2 months ago from pub to pub just like the MCC hill climb race thing and we seemed to average about 6-7 mph. About a month ago MCC and I did the climb and I averaged about 8mph. I was doing 9mph this time round hitting 10-11 on the flatter sections and taking a little breather. Kept going about 9.3-9.1 making sure I didn't go under 9mph. The top bit is usually the hardest part and If I was racing I would have sprited to the finish bit I knew I was only about 1/3 into my ride so speed dropped just under 9mph to 8.8 for a wee while so average for that climb would have been around 9.3+mph A vast improvement.
Across Cragg Vale and down to Mytholmroyd. This part was where I could really tell the difference. I was averaging 32mph even on the flatter sections, where I really excelled today, all the way to Mytholmroyd going much quicker earlier on as the final descent is very twisty and I lose my nerve so kept touching brakes. Turned towards Hebden, Tod and Walsden and looked at my average 18.3mph!! Could I keep this pace up? My legs were not aching one little bit, neither was my back but I was getting a little tired. Unbelievably for a very nice sunday evening it was towards Walsden where I saw and past the only cyclist of the day. I love overtaking other roadies and that was one big disappointment for me. Where were they all?? Lots of people lining the street by the pubs, maybe they in there? The worst stretch of road in the country is on the road to Walsden too. Little pits all over the road inbetween the little stones they put in the tarmac. Awful to ride over. At least in other roads you can swerve to avoid big chunks or bad patches this is just one continuous pile of crap. On the way home I managed to hit 18.4 mph before being dropped to 18.3 again due to Albert royds street, cursing the traffic lights as I stopped and started a few times. Managed to keep going but knew there was a last final climb home either the long steep hill called wood street or the short extremely steep hill called Hollin lane that has a max gradient of 20%. I chose the latter and average hit 18.2 but it was all down hill from there. It was fitting to see the final average at 18.4mph just as I got home. Job well done. Bike setup was about 95% correct and was sure that amazing 'recovery' ride was due to that. Best ride ever so far.

Distance 42miles
Time 2hrs 15 mins (ish)
Average 18.4mph

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