Gran Canaria turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. I got some good riding in but my Garmin screwed up and by the time I found out the problem ( no memory left) I was unable to do my long hilly route without fear of getting lost and stranded. Got a good 9 hrs in but the legs weren't too good ( over 300miles the week before) and it was super super windy. I hired a Cannondale Super Six ulegra DI2 with electronic shifters. Wasn't majorly impressed with the new technology and will not be getting it anytime soon. I really need to take my own bike.
Commuting was regular as ever until last week when the snow and ice hit however the incredible air pressure of 1042mb and mega cold temperatures limited my averages to around the 17 mark. Also got side swiped but no major injuries or damage luckily. I even got a ride out on the TT bike and did the local 8 mile TT course and averaged 23mph, my best was 24mph in favourable conditions.
So yesterday saw my return to the Velodrome and the A/B SQT. After a weeks rest I wanted to see how much I had improved. Midweek , however I was training on my TT bike via the turbo and went so hard I got really bad cramp and took a few days to die down. My heart rate hit over 180 which is very difficult for me to achieve.
There was a huge mixture of abilities and was quite surprised to see the warmup lap at 24mph fairly easily. My heart rate was showing 120-140 for nearly an hour showing how easy the session was but the speeds were a lot higher than previously experienced - over 24mph.
After a 25min warmup we did pursuiting in fours changing every half lap however I always had a slow guy in my group and to keep it together and make it fair for him we were unable to get a really high pace going. One of the guys got fed up and charged on alone which was a bit out of order.
Next was a 45 lap scratch race and I was really up for this. The first 10-20 laps done at an easy 25mph then ramped up to 28mph for the next 10. THe last 10 even higher. With 8 to go I was at the front and wanted to up the pace and I hit 35.2mph. There was no one behind me and I had opened up a gap of 50metres. Where was everyone? Even only one would have been a massive help! I didn't have a clue what to do so I carried on wasting my energy for another lap to see if the gap was getting bigger but it wasn't so I eased off. Thinking about it I should just have gone and took the chance but when I saw the 7 lap to go sign I got a bit demoralised. I rejoined the back which had dwindled to only 8 riders and knew my chance of a sprint win had totally gone. I recovered for most of the rest of the time and just made sure I kept out of trouble and wasn't far off the winner, maybe 2 -3 bike lengths.
Hunters followed and then one lap intervals.
We finished off with the 6day points race thingy but instead of 5laps we were doing 4 laps. I was at the back and everyone else had gone and my group of 4 was the3 last to go. I shouted to the coach how many were to go as there was a tandem who had gone off about 5 bike lengths infront. I eased off a little on the corner ( as thats when they are supposed to put more power down) as I took my eye off the wheel infront but everyone else had the same idea, sticking their effing noses in to what I was saying to the coach. I clipped the wheel in front and fell down hard. The guy behind me ran over me and fell. Strangley, I grabbed him so that I cushioned his fall....intentionally. He got up straight away with no injury. I was glad. Another guy infront fell but I don't think it was the one who's wheel I clipped. Eventually we came to a standstill and all the coaches came running over. I felt ok but didn't get up straight away. I was told there was no damage to my bike which put my mind at ease but then someone pointed at my calf which looked like there was a huge golfball under the skin. Ice and Ambulance were requested immediately. I had cuts and burns all over and my hip was really badly bruised. I managed to hobble back to the riders 'D' where I tried to clean myself and apply cold compression simultaneously.
I'd only just had a week off cycling and didn't want another. Could have been worse I suppose. The big lump was just a burst blood vessel which went down but my bruised hip/thigh was excruciating the next day. Grrrr. Garmin Data The 3 spikes at the end are my one lap individual interval sprints when I hit 35.2mph again. The start of the 6days points race didn't record.
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