Commutes have been regular, just the odd day I've not bothered. Averages have been between 18.8 and 20.2mph with a rogue 17.2mph due to a very strong South Easterly and my commute to work tends towards the SE. I changed the saddle height on one day so it was higher and I have now decided raising it absolutely screws up my muscles where it can take ages to recover. The saddle now is lower and much much more further back and my speeds are very consistent over 4 days commuting. Positioning is less relaxed but more comfy and can I pull on the bars/shifters for more power. Also riding much quicker on the 'all' uphill commute from Manchester to home than the 'all' downhill to work. 140-200 miles a week. One of my spokes came off one night which had corroded at the nipple and I was very lucky not to get thrown off the bike as it could easily have got caught in the derailleur! That night it happened the wheel was rubbing againt the brake block very badly for 15miles as I was unaware of the incident and I just though I could feel a very bad wind! - the air was still. I went as hard as poss and still managed 19.4mph.
Swimming at least once sometimes twice a week but nice and easy. Running just once, yesterday.
A couple of Sundays ago was the Middleton Cycling Club hill climb champs. I cycled to Blackstone edge for a warmup and went up it to get a feel for the gradient and the terrible head wind. Didn't feel great at the start but once my time had come I was doing 15 mph just like that and thought I had better slow down or my adrenalin would get the better of me. About half way up there is a sheltered section for a couple of hundred yards which I used to my advantage and went a bit harder. The last part was the steepest and the toughest due to the wind but I saw my minute man ahead and sprinted to try and overtake him on the line but just missed out by centimetres. New club record, something like 7mins 40 seconds or was it 6? I dunno.. Cant wait for a favourable wind next time. Last year I did it in nearly 10 mins! After the meal I carried on cycling to do 50miles and was looking forward to the tail wind on the return leg from Walsden. Can you believe it, the wind direction turned 180 degrees within minutes of me reaching it. How do I know? there is a Nissan garage with flags and whilst travelling to the start line was a head wind, on the way back it had switched to a head wind again. Didn't have average speed as I put my front wheel on 'the wrong way round' for the sensor and couldn't be arsed to change it.
Thanks to Lost Sheep and bro' for all the support.
Bargain of the century didn't turn out to be that and the order got cancelled :( Boo at ChainReaction! heh. Had a feeling it would though.
Tonight, just been at the Middleton Arena (gym) to do a sponsored gym bike race against the staff for Children in Need. Now Im not a charity kinda guy and despise all these expensive Sportives 'for Charity' aka lining own pockets ( disclaimer - not all Sportives are run this way) but I had another motive (booo hissss). The missus would let me do this ( not usually as its my day off work) and I could get an hour of pure threshold training in. The night before I booked my slot 5.30pm to 6.30pm and we just had to get as many miles as possible in that hour. Managed just over 27 miles and I was hurting. Heart rate was a constant 166bpm which is probably right on the edge of the zone and speed didn't fluctuate from 27mph too much. Last 5minutes, heartrate was 176 bpm and speed ~48km/hr ( top sp 53km/hr) These are just stats that I cant compare to anything else other than gym bikes so wont translate to 'real world' performance. Apparently, I climbed the equivalent of 4000m too. My bike didn't have a bleedin' power meter on either grrrr. The previous record was 18 miles :P Thoroughly good workout. Here's to the relatively 'good' winter weather continuing but less wind please! ( i h8 the turbo!!!!!)
No comments:
Post a Comment