November Round Up

A good months riding, I hit my targets, set at the end of October to complete another at least another 300 miles and to maintain an average speed of 16mph

November Roundup
Total Miles	365.3
Total Time	22hrs 42m 36s
Average Speed	16.09

My target for December is going to be more focused on not getting dropped out the back of the club rides,  As soon as a gap forms I need to try and bridge it.. it'll be a challenge especially on the hills.

Changing Position

So I had my Bike fit this weekend, Saturday morning to be precise and every aspect got a tweak or two and so far so good but no doubt a few miles in the new set up will reap rewards. 

I had my bike fit done at Sigma Sports new store in Hampton Wick, a fantastic place to leisurely browse and lust over all the shiny new toys and bike bits...  

I had to chuckle to myself on overhearing a wife say to her husband, 'how long are we going to spend in here, you can't possibly need anything!'   How many times have I or most men said that to their wives on entering the umpteenth shoe/clothes shop!

Onto the fitting, my bike was taken up to the 3rd Floor (yup 3 floors of cyclist heaven) and set up in a consult room on a turbo trainer.  A quick run through my medical/cycling history and where I get my aches and niggles on the bike. I gave the pedals a few spins whilst Jimmy took some initial measurements.  The Seat went up, a few more revolutions, the seat went forwards, then up again, the cleats moved on my shoe, level the saddle a bit.  

A few more measurements either side with a TV aerial like device, checking the angle of knee bend.  Out came the plumb line and the angle of my knee over the pedal resulting in a couple more tweaks of the saddle position.A few more pedal spins all looked good and my back end was set!  A total increase of 18mm in saddle height and not far from that on the saddle direction. 

At the front end my handlebars were raised up with a new angled Stem, thus allowing me to be more comfortable on the drops and more importantly better access to the brakes!The rest of my cycling weekend consisted of gentle riding getting accustomed to the new set up which overall feels more comfortable and a more economical balance of effort to output.

Looking forwards to my physiological testing in a couple of week’s time! 

Bike Before

Bike After

Booked the Flights!

I booked my flights yesterday, La Fuga sent through all the details about the Etape trip so its becoming more real.

Modane is quite close to the Italian Border and part of the 2011 tour will actually venture into Italy.
The Hotel where I will be staying is near Turin and we will be shuttled to the Start and back from the Finish. 
I fly from Heathrow to Milan and then 3 days later Turin to Gatwick.. 4 Airports in 3 days, Euro Jet Set!!

Richmond Park

I was back on the bike today after a week off.  I felt so rough after last Saturdays ride, it was good to have the rest.

This morning I rode to Richmond Park and met up with Jamie (Kingston Wheeler) and we lapped the park clockwise for a couple of hours.  In total I clocked just under 45 mile for the ride, averaging 16mph.

It took a while to warm up the legs but once I got into my stride it felt pretty good.  There is still a long way to go with the training and I hope to start focussing on hill repeats on forthcoming Saturdays.

La Fuga/Sigma Sport Club Run

Today I rode in the Sigma Sport/ La Fuga Club run.  This ride was organised to commemorate the opening of the new Sigma Sport Cycling shop in Hampton Wick and the relocation the La Fuga Tour operators to offices within the shop.  (I will be participating in the Etape through a La Fuga package.)

The New Sigma Sport Store

The new store is fantastic, spread over 3 floors and everything you could possibly need and plenty of stuff you probably don't!  The store is not surprisingly very bike/cyclist friendly with an internal bike racking system where you can securely leave your bike whilst you browse.

The Cube on the rack.

The ride was 'supported'  (more on that later) and started with a briefing outside before the departure.  There were 60 riders in total split into 3 groups and the groups were guided by members of the Sigma Sport Pro Cycling Team.

The route I took was slightly different to the scheduled route and you can see it here  http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-kingdom/west-molesey/132128966620373130
I seem to have developed an allergy to inclines!  I staid with the group all the way up to Hungry Hill and then started to go backwards.  I was last up Hungry Hill.  As I mentioned earlier this was a supported ride, meaning that there was a support vehicle as well as the ride guides.  The support vehicle came past me on the hill and said they would be waiting at the top.  The Car was the group was long gone!
I rode alone through East Clandon and was then was caught and dropped by the next group!  It was a good job I knew roughly where I was.

I caught up with the group when we got to the T stop at Peaselake.


Another Hill out of Peasleake up the Radnor Road, my pace picked up on this Hill and was more to do with the Sigma Pro riding alongside with his hand on my back.  Oh well it wasn't my day today.  A good thing though was that I made it up White Down Hill un aided, although I was hacking like a 20 Cigar a day man by the time i reached the top and my Heart rate was topping out at 176 bpm....not good.

Unsurprisingly despite a short rest at the top I was quickly dropped again for the 3rd time.  Again a good job I knew where I was as I spent the next 40 or so minutes riding back by myself no surprise I missed the turn everyone else had taken.  I stayed on the route I knew back through Cobham and was caught up by the group again on the Portsmouth Road towards Esher.

When we got to the finish back at the store we were given a goody bag full of energy gels and drinks and lots of other bits and pieces and I also got a Team Sky cycling cap.

In Summary, I finished the ride and didn't need to stop on the White Down hill, so I'm happy about that. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of route guidance, for the moments when I was riding alone.

I feel rough now with a real hacking cough, so I'll be taking a few days off the bike.

A Wheely Good Weekend

I have had a great weekend on the bike, lots of training miles and evidence of progress.  I think those turbo training sessions are starting to pay dividends.

Saturday:

I wanted to ride on Saturday so joined the Kingston Wheelers Saturday group. We had a great ride through the Surrey Hills.  The weather was fantastic a little on the cold side but once we got moving I warmed up.  The scenery was spectacular with all the oranges, yellows and reds of the leaves.  The downside to the leaves was that they were slippy and affected traction on the hills.  Never thought I'd get wheels spin on a bike.

It was a small group, approx 16 of us so we could ride at a gentlemanly pace and have a chat.  I really enjoyed the ride and meeting a few more new faces from the cycling club.
Ride time was 3:59:11 distance 62.40 m av speed 15.6mph

Sunday:
I headed out to the usual meet for the club ride and got there on time as opposed to early.  As always loads of people showed up and routes went in all directions, 3 Hills, Windsor, a 75miler, up and over Box Hill and the fast training group, (we saw them come past us, averaging 18/19mph for their 40 mile route......one day I might ride with that group.

I did my usual Box Hill group and it was a great ride.  My legs felt good and I was holding my own in the group comfortably.  I had mental images of flying up the hills, dreams were all these were.  I still went backwards on the inclines, my one sign of improvement was not resorting to the smallest chainring for Box Hill!!

Ride time - 3:07:12 distance 47.80 miles av speed 15.3mph

The bonus of the Kingston Wheeler club rides is that they start and finish at Laithwaites car park on the Portsmouth Road meaning that I can go and see Mum on the way back after the ride.

November

November training started yesterday with a session on the turbo trainer thats all set up in the shed.  Its not as cramped as it sounds.

I have accepted the inevitable of spending quite a bit of time in the shed over the next few months in order to clock up the miles and build up my legs and endurance.  So I have found some training programmes online at http://www.turbotraining.co.uk/ , various interval programmes and challenges are available.  The site scrolls through the various intervals of the programme... I won't go on it sounds a bit nerdy safe to say it makes it a bit more interesting than staring at the lawnmower and the spade!

steel chariot

The turbotrainer is good for wearing through tyres.  so I shall be taking 'The Cube' off and putting the 'Steel Chariot'

I covered 12.79 miles in just under 41minutes. It felt good (as good as dripping in sweat and burning muscles can)  and I credit taking the weekend off and recharging down in Cornwall and also having a massge.   Apparently I have a lot of knots in every muscle South of my head.

I

work stand