So, it's now seven weeks to my first race (not that I'm counting) and I thought that it would be a good idea to give my new cycling shoes a spin seeing as it wasn't raining and I want to get used to them before I start racing in them. I also seem to remember Fred spending about two hours one evening fixing the cleats to the shoes as the space is at a premium on the bottom of the shoe and they were quite tight to put on.
Anyway, they seemed okay as we set out, so I put my overshoes on and we set out along the main road. I then heard a "ping" sound, which I thought seemed to come off Fred's mudguard in front. As we rode along, I began to think, "hmm, there seems to be a LOT of float in the left pedal", but put it down to the cleat being brand new and not worn (although thinking about it later, that would probably make it stiffer). We got to the traffic lights at the bottom of Church Road, Urmston and I had to practically twist my left foot 180 degrees to get it out of the pedal! Hmm, interesting...
As we continued along, everything was going okay, apart from it being a headwind (never very good, unless you're given advice by a certain somebody who insists that "the wind's your friend") until I stood up on the pedals to sprint for the Warburton sign on the hill coming out of Partington and my left foot moved underneath me - not at all pleasant! And yes, as a result, Fred beat me in that sprint. I made sure I won all the others though!
I wanted to try and keep the pace a bit higher, bearing in mind my first race is now seven weeks' away, and from Partington all the way through to Flixton we kept up an average speed of around 18 mph at least - the fact that there was a couple trying (in vain) to catch us did spur me on somewhat (oh! what am I like?). I was extremely proud of myself for keeping the speed up and for keeping up with Fred; that definitely deserved a pat on the back!
It wasn't until we were home and I had taken my shoes off that Fred noticed that I was missing a screw from my left shoe and that the cleat wasn't on properly - no wonder there seemed to be a lot of float!!!
For everybody who is interested, here is the link to the route (although I managed to stop the clock three miles from home - serves me right for putting the hammer down and making life difficult for that poor unsuspecting couple!):
http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/937555
I've now entered a 10 mile time trial too - the events are starting to add up...
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Getting ready again
We went to watch the Track World Cup at Manchester Velodrome on Friday 18 February 2011, and yes, I have caught the track bug again. What with the team training session last week and watching Team GB motor home to a new world record at sea level, I couldn't wait to get out on my bike today. Here is the link to the route we did:
http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/925647
I am conscious that it is only eight weeks until the first race of the season, so I tried to ensure that I kept the pace up, which even included sprinting for signs, which is surely a good sign! Admittedly, it didn't quite come off, but I felt as if progress was made today, even though I did get completely knackered at two points! Now all I need to do is include some standing start training and there'll be no stopping me - although I might wait for the weather to warm up a bit first.
And, as for the Dress Down Day, well, we raised £930, which is probably some kind of record, which can't be bad!
http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/925647
I am conscious that it is only eight weeks until the first race of the season, so I tried to ensure that I kept the pace up, which even included sprinting for signs, which is surely a good sign! Admittedly, it didn't quite come off, but I felt as if progress was made today, even though I did get completely knackered at two points! Now all I need to do is include some standing start training and there'll be no stopping me - although I might wait for the weather to warm up a bit first.
And, as for the Dress Down Day, well, we raised £930, which is probably some kind of record, which can't be bad!
Sunday, 13 February 2011
VC St Raphael Team Weekend
Okay, so I knew before we even started out on the Saturday ride of the team weekend that I wouldn't be doing the Sunday ride - I have taken the decision that it is too much for me at the moment to do a ride on Saturday AND a ride on Sunday as by Wednesday I am totally cream crackered! Indeed, I now have some Vitamin D supplements from the doctor's (only took them 10 days to get them for me - what's that all about?) so once I have been on the loading dose for 12 weeks at a rate of 4 times the recommended daily amount, I may, just may, be getting somewhere!
Unfortunately, that doesn't help me now, which is somewhat frustrating. I went along yesterday to the team training session, but managed a mere 12 miles at about 16 mph - I would've managed a few more miles probably apart from the fact that we stopped, and then everyone took off and I couldn't get back on again, as I still had my gloves off. One thing did come out of it though - a broken mudguard.
The link to the route I did is below:
http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/908978
The only thing keeping me going at this point is that I was managing to keep up until we stopped, so hopefully in a couple of months when my deficiency isn't so deficient I might be okay.
Anyway, not to be put off, I have now entered two races - one is a road race on 17 April (50 miles - 11 times up a steep hill) and the other is a criterium/circuit race on 30 April. Should be interesting! I had a look at the RTTC website too, so I have noted a couple of 10 mile time trials in May, as well as the Track Masters in July.
And finally, to prove that I did attend the team training session yesterday, here's some photo evidence:
We have our Dress Down Day on Friday to raise money for the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, so fingers crossed that that goes well...
Unfortunately, that doesn't help me now, which is somewhat frustrating. I went along yesterday to the team training session, but managed a mere 12 miles at about 16 mph - I would've managed a few more miles probably apart from the fact that we stopped, and then everyone took off and I couldn't get back on again, as I still had my gloves off. One thing did come out of it though - a broken mudguard.
The link to the route I did is below:
http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/908978
The only thing keeping me going at this point is that I was managing to keep up until we stopped, so hopefully in a couple of months when my deficiency isn't so deficient I might be okay.
Anyway, not to be put off, I have now entered two races - one is a road race on 17 April (50 miles - 11 times up a steep hill) and the other is a criterium/circuit race on 30 April. Should be interesting! I had a look at the RTTC website too, so I have noted a couple of 10 mile time trials in May, as well as the Track Masters in July.
And finally, to prove that I did attend the team training session yesterday, here's some photo evidence:
We have our Dress Down Day on Friday to raise money for the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, so fingers crossed that that goes well...
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Floods ahoy!
Well, we seem to have said goodbye to the snow for the time being, and instead of snow we have had rain. Admittedly, not as much as they have done in Brisbane, Australia, but quite a bit nonetheless - sufficient for the River Bollin and the River Mersey to have burst their banks in Heatley and Carrington respectively. Here's some evidence of the Half Mile Road, Carrington for you:
The water was so deep that you couldn't see the floor - it came up to the hubs on my wheels - so it was well over a foot deep in the middle. Unfortunately, Yvonne decided to try and keep to the side of the road rather than the middle, which meant she went in even deeper than me! At one point, we wondered where she was going as she was drifting to the side - there was quite a strong current in the middle of it. I have a bit of a dodgy track record where crossing water is concerned and I was fully expecting to fall over and get soaking wet. As it turned out, we all ended up with saturated feet and wheels full of water - good job it was at the end of the ride and not the beginning otherwise we would have frozen to death!
We went out via Manchester Motorhome Hire (AKA Robin Hood Beds in Stretford) to show Yvonne where we're going to be hiring our motorhome from when we do the RAB in June (I put the deposit down yesterday - very exciting!) and from thence we went out to Altrincham, Ashley, Tatton Wall and Bucklow Hill. The link to our ride is below:
The water was so deep that you couldn't see the floor - it came up to the hubs on my wheels - so it was well over a foot deep in the middle. Unfortunately, Yvonne decided to try and keep to the side of the road rather than the middle, which meant she went in even deeper than me! At one point, we wondered where she was going as she was drifting to the side - there was quite a strong current in the middle of it. I have a bit of a dodgy track record where crossing water is concerned and I was fully expecting to fall over and get soaking wet. As it turned out, we all ended up with saturated feet and wheels full of water - good job it was at the end of the ride and not the beginning otherwise we would have frozen to death!
We went out via Manchester Motorhome Hire (AKA Robin Hood Beds in Stretford) to show Yvonne where we're going to be hiring our motorhome from when we do the RAB in June (I put the deposit down yesterday - very exciting!) and from thence we went out to Altrincham, Ashley, Tatton Wall and Bucklow Hill. The link to our ride is below:
You can see on the map where the flood was near the end of the ride as our speed goes to more or less 0 mph!
We now have a full complement of Manchester Reorganisation Services riders for the RAB relay, as Rob Howells has joined Yvonne and I and Jonathan Amor. I think there's about 125 days to go now - no doubt that will fly by!
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