Thursday 10 December 2009

A long-ish ride at last!! and a toast....to the weather. YAY!

Quick Catch up.... Wed 2nd Dec was running at the track 1600m warmup then drills. The idea of the main set was to keep 10mile pace for the whole excercise bar the sprint, something about lactate threshold.1600m then 800m, then 400, then 200m and a 200m sprint. This was done 3 times. I timed my laps (400m) For the first 2 mile set I kept a constant 1 min 45secs (7 min mile ish) a lap, next set 1 min 49 ( 7 min 16 mile) and last set 1min 53 (7min 32). After the 200m sprint we only had 30 secs rest before we set off again for the mile. Needless to say I was miles behind the others. One guy did a 5min timed mile!!!!

I was knackered so missed swimming and circuit on Thursday and did nowt on Fri/Sat except cycle to work and play footie. I thought some cunt had crippled me at footie because I couldn't walk to the car or around Asda that same night. The day after I felt no pain whatsoever!!! Unbelievable. I swam with Tri club at Rochdale on Sunday which consisted of 10 x 100yds which I consistantly did on 1min 13 secs bar 1 @ 1 min 18 each on 2 mins. Then 10 x 50yds doing 33secs on a minute. Spent the rest of the day looking for a 5 door car as we have a little girl on the way. Didn't really find much as I am really specific with what I want but CarCraft is the biggest rip off in history.

Mon/Tues 7th and 8th Dec were just cycle to work days.

WED 9th December

Mr Pantani and I went on a nice hilly ride. Originally he said a quick 30 miles but the weather was good and was going to stay that way. Didn't think he would chose a fairly hilly route as we haven't done a ride like this for a while and it definitely showed. I took Jamis and her shiny new wheels to see what effect the hills would have on her new sleek and slender image.

The first main drag was Huddersfield rd and I was determined to keep a high cadence instead of power up, which apparently saves energy. The road on the other side was absolutley jam packed with cars and lorries for 3-4 miles and we had no idea why. I kept an excellent average of 10mph ( last time was about 7mph) but wasn't sure how the cadence was affecting me. My next cycle computer needs a cadence monitor (hint hint). A quick descent and another climb past ' the little house on the prarie' ( the one in the middle of the M62 motorway) followed. I used this hill as a recovery phase as I was going to hit Cragg Vale hard. We could see the M62 at a stand still for miles and miles no wonder traffic was bad. Pete loved the next long drop into Sowerby Bridge, its the only time he actually tries. I have to be very careful with the wet roads and carbon rims as they aint as good at stopping as regular pads and rims.

In Sowerby, which is a bigger town than I had thought, I found a nice greasy spoon for a quick spam buttie and coffee. 65p for a brew and a quid for the spam. They do a full breakie for £2.50! It's located just after Tuel Ln which we climbed up after the short break. I was soaking due to sweat. I had my bib longs on, s/s shirt and wind jacket. The temp must have been in double figures as I didn't need my gloves.

Cragg Vale was looming, the longest continuous gradient in the country? Correct me if I'm wrong. Wind was kind to us so far but once we hit the climb there was a fairly gentle head wind. I made the decision to climb this monster standing up all the way a la Contador. I have been using the spin classes to test my standing up climbing to the limit and this would be a good tester to see my progress. So I think its just over 5 miles of ascent, nothing compared to some of the climbs in France but nevermind. My cadence was relatively slow but I was churning quite a high gear a good 3 or 4 higher than if I was seated. Sometimes I could feel the lower thigh ache so upped a gear to slow my spin down. The ache would disappear quickly and the gear was dropped to increase cadence again. Well I managed it all the way standing up and felt really great doing it. I would love to see my cadence up another 10-15 a min but because my legs are sooo huge and the muscles need massive amounts of oxygen its going to be tough. I won't say how long I was waiting for Pete at the top...... alright it was 7 mins :) but he said he was bonking as he had nowt to eat all day. Surprise surprise, when it came to the big drop to Littleborough Pete hit the reserve supply and powered to the bottom whilst I coasted so I didn't have to brake. Note to Peter; there are no big hills to get a run up at the track. HAHAHAHa. hmmm.

I pootled behind Pete for most of the way back home as my 2 new friends, which I shall name saddle & sores, were hurting me. I was leaning to one side at one point. I think they were caused by not using padded cycling bottoms as my saddles are very comfortable so must have rubbed more.


I treated my self to a big fat carvery afterwards and tried to go running at the track a few hrs later but kept getting a stitch which wouldn't go away so returned home early after 4 laps.

THURSDAY 10th Dec

For part of Petes chrimbo present we treated him to a taster session (+ shoe hire!) at the Velodrome. We were hoping to get the pink(or is it blue) slip to go up to the 'next level' but there were an unusual amount of newbies so it wasn't possible due to time and chain length. It's so much different to the road due to the bigger gear and it really takes it out of you especially when I built sprints (250m and 1km) into the session. We timed each other on a 1km TT, not quite a standing start but a very slow rolling one. Pete got just over 1min 29secs and I got 1 min 24. Last times track meet saw me get 1 min 31 and a beating from Pete. We had another 15mins left so did some 250m interval sprints which killed me. After the session Pete was caught talking to the instructor, who was drawing diagrams for him on the whiteboard, concerning the best and fastest line for the flying 200m.
Whilst this was going on Chris Hoy, Vicky Pendleton and crew were whizzing round and it was difficult to take my eyes away...She's hot! and fast! My missus says my thighs are about the same size as Hoys, Jeez that's saying something. Surprised she was only looking at his thighs with that skin tight suit he had on.

Very happy with my carbon wheels, the new bearings seem to be loosening up and are spinning better with every revolution, just unsure if the road grit and brake pads are having any detrimental effects on the rim. The wear on the brake pads has stabilized after they wore half way down on a quick 30 mile ride but I ordered some more just in case. I love the Adidas shoes at the Velodrome and more so after trying the new ones they got in last month with carbon bottoms. Only problem is I'm sure they dont make them anymore or have a limited supply and are very difficult to source. I am booked in the Velodrome next Thursday for a last practise before the Club Championships and hope to go on a ride with Steve F (MCC) and Paul G (MCC) on FRI.


3 comments:

  1. Which track do you go running at? Often fancy running round a track but don't know where any are around here.

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  2. Springhill School, just off junction 21 M62 the milnrow junction, not M60. Might be a little far for you? its £2.50 but I dont thihnk anyone pays :) Its just a public session but nobody really goes so nice and quiet. Theres a track in Ashton somewhere because I pass it right next to the train tracks about 2 miles before Ashton Moss from Manchester direction.

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  3. I might come with you one night then if you don't mind - always better to run with someone you know than a bunch of paedo's

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