On the up

Well, I never!  More sun, today, to such an extent that sunglasses were required, although it did mean that it started going dark much more quickly when the sun started setting - I couldn't work out why cars were not putting their lights on when it was quite obviously fast descending into twilight until I realised that it was the sunglasses making everything dark!  Still freezing though, which meant that the now obligatory double layers came out again, which were much appreciated!

Here is the link for today's ride: http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/868298#id=881616. I am trying to make a conscious effort to keep the speed up, which I think you can tell if you look at the graph - the speed invariably stays above the median line rather than going up and down, so maybe this is evidence that I am starting to get fitter, albeit somewhat slower than I might like.

Maybe things are starting to look up.  Tomorrow, we are going to attempt the 40 miles, so I am looking to do that in 3 hours, which will bring us well within the 11 mph minimum.  Fingers crossed...

Improvements in the weather?

Finally, some better weather!  Admittedly, the sun wasn't out all the time and it was still freezing, but it had definitely warmed up.  I doubled up on everything again though - two pairs of overshoes, two pairs of thermal tights, two thermal jackets in an effort to 'sweat out' the cold I have been suffering from since getting soaked last weekend.

I used my new find again - sportypal.com app - and the link to the route we went on is attached:

http://bit.ly/gObeXr

We did 31 miles in about 2 hours 20 minutes, averaging about 13 mph.  D-Day for self certification has now been put back to 25 February 2011, so I am sure we won't have any problems doing the 40 miles at an average speed of at least 11 mph.

You don't realise how much of an effect the snow and ice has on the roads until you have to watch the road closely to avoid any potholes and you find that you end up spending much of your time looking at the ground as opposed to watching where you're going, otherwise you risk ending up with a puncture and buckled wheel - if you think it's bad going down a pot hole in a car, just think how much worse it is if you are on a bike. Worse still, you could fall off, into traffic.

Following the death of an 18 year old cyclist this week when he was knocked off his bike in Lancashire, a campaign has been launched on Facebook - search 'Save a Cyclist Campaign' on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Save-a-cyclist-campaign/187240304636842

 or type in #save a cyclist on Twitter to show your support.

Unfortunately, the general public cannot pass legislation to force local councils to fill in pot holes properly (as opposed to dumping a heap of tarmac in the hole so that it is just as dangerous as it was beforehand), nor can they make laws to force motorists to respect cyclists and give them as much room when overtaking as they would if they were passing another car or van, but by supporting such campaigns as the #save a cyclist campaign it can make those that do the legislating aware that something needs to be done to make the roads a safer place.

Anyway, let's hope that the weather continues to improve so that we can maybe hit the 40 mile mark next week...

The wonders of modern technology

Okay, so I now (finally) have a smartphone (belated Christmas present). I had wanted a Garmin computer for my bike so that I could see where I've been, etc. but I found an app in Android Market called Sportypal which does a similar thing, so hopefully you too can see where I've been today by clicking on the link below (I am doing this blog via Blog Droid i.e. on my phone, so it'll be interesting to see what happens! Oh, how marvellous!

>Heather Bamforth (@heverb) has shared a Tweet with you:

"heverb: SportyPal Cycling 18.39 mi in 01:22:43 - http://bit.ly/fEpPy7"
--http://twitter.com/heverb/status/28822739414417408

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Fantastic British weather

Two rides down this weekend, both of which started in the pouring rain, although it was somewhat milder than it has been of late (that's not difficult though!).  I was actually quite proud of myself that I managed to go out in the rain - usually I would have just gone on the rollers for half an hour, but I've got to get used to going out in all weathers - being a fair weather cyclist isn't going to get me from John O'Groats to Land's End!

I had been tired all week (not helped by having to wait for more than an hour at the hospital on Monday afternoon) and I definitely felt it yesterday - my legs felt really heavy and I did find it a bit difficult.  I punctured on the way out - we'd only been out about 10 minutes and it was still raining heavily - Fred wasn't too impressed!  We had intended to go out for 2 hours, but we were going to watch the National Madison Championships, which started at 1.30pm, so we had to curtail the ride so that we could get there in time.

Although my legs felt like lead, I never really felt tired, but today it was slightly different - I did actually feel really knackered at one point.  Hmm.  Not good. 

Today, Yvonne joined us on our ride - it was her first outing with clipless pedals and it proved to be a bit problematic at first.  She eventually got to grips with it though and we managed to do 24 miles (double what we did last Sunday) at a faster average speed, which was good.  I don't think we'll have any problems with the self-certifying that we have to do at the end of January - a condition of us doing the Ride Across Britain is that we have to be able to do 40 miles at an average speed of 11 mph by the 1 February 2011.  Hopefully, if the weather is good next weekend we'll be able to do the 40 miles then...

I've realised this week that I'm not well enough to get back on the track yet - that's something for the future, I think, which is frustrating because I really do want to ride at the Velodrome again, it's obviously not something I can do just yet.  Ironic then, that the press release announcing the new VC St Raphael women's team appeared on the British Cycling website in the 'Track' section: VC St Raphael Press Release

Patience is a virtue, something which it appears that I am going to have to develop.  Time to concentrate on the future, not the present, maybe?

And then there was three...

One of my RS relay team mates, Yvonne, joined Fred and I on our training ride today.  Not only was it her first time on a road bike, we also took her along main roads where there was plenty of traffic, but you couldn't tell that it was her first time out on the roads - it won't be long until we're doing three hours non-stop!

Today's ride was only an hour however we bumped in to some of the club riders from my old club, so I was chatting to them for a while, which then meant that I had to do some catching up - I wouldn't mind but Fred and Yvonne hadn't waited for me - they were still doing 17mph when I caught them!  What a cheek! ;-)

I recovered pretty quickly after that fast blast too, so I must be getting fitter - finally!  I was starving when we got back mind; note to self - I obviously should have had some beans and sausage as well as the potato waffle butties for lunch! 

Whilst I wait for the next bike ride to come along I shall continue on my epic health kick - sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds on my Shredded Wheat, trying not to eat any biscuits/chocolate, more fruit and less caffeine - but will it have any effect?  Only time will tell...

Back to basics (also known as Cheshire)

Today's ride was the first ride back on the flat after staying in Haworth over New Year.  Funnily enough, the ride seemed pretty easy after last week's attempts - well, there are no 1 in 10 climbs for a start!  However, it must be said that there seemed to be more idiots on the road around here than over the border, mainly people telling us that it was illegal to ride two abreast on a (quiet-ish) road.  Interesting!

I must admit that I am enjoying this bike riding malarkey now - years ago it seemed like a bit of a bane, training more or less every day, but I think the break has been a good thing, as I am looking forward to going out on the bike at the weekends - something that I didn't really do first time around.  Maybe being a bit older gives you the ability to appreciate the finer things in life, who knows?

Anyway, I've now applied for my racing licence, which I'm waiting to receive from my new club's secretary.  I can't wait to start racing again - I'm so excited, especially about doing the crits - there wasn't that many of those when I used to race, it was more long distance road racing, but I loved riding crits because they're so technical!  I can't wait!

In the meantime, I just need to keep on top of this chronic fatigue.  I've only got one more reduction to go before I'm off the Lamotrigine completely, so fingers crossed, everything will be top banana in 2011!