I won't get the best out of the bike....

But the bike will get the best out of me....

First of all it's been another bad week for me with my Heart rate still high and going beyond what I thought possible. My mileage has doubled from the week before and the good news is that, although I haven't fully recovered next week either, with the benefit of writing this towards the end of next week my mileage starts going back up.
So with this dragging out I am wondering exactly what is wrong.

1. Am I ill? I was but at the moment I feel great other than my HR being high so I want to put this one out of the equation.
2. Have I over trained. Always a huge fear, I have done this before and with it lost all enthusiasm to ride the bike so I did a quick test on this site http://www.thedietdiary.com/diet/healthIndex/OverTraining.html and again the answer is no
3. I'm on a sugar rush. I don't even know if this would do it but out of boredom I have put on 6lbs and eaten all the Christmas goodies. So... i am wondering if all the sugar has pushed my heart rate up. The strange thing is after 90 minutes of riding it drops into the normal zone...

So it is time to take care of my diet, drop the heart rate and try to drop another half stone.

The week, as you may imagine has been easy, keeping the legs spinning, recovery rides in zone 1 and 2. It consisted of the usual rest day, an hours easy turbo, 2 days of 90 minutes on the road, an hours turbo and 2 hours on the road. Weekly mileage 133 up from 61 the week before so looking good. Also, strangely I wasn't out of breath during the rides nor did I feel tired. So back on target.

So why the title, I won't get the best out of the bike but the bike will get the best out of me? Well I went to have a look at the new TT bike at Cheshire Oak cycles. It was still being built and when I went in politely stood behind customers taking photos of it. I think it is stunning. More on it later though.
What did shock me a little was another rider outside telling me I should be doing 21minute time trials over ten miles on a machine like that. He then went on to ridicule people who use time trial equipment. My response isn't important but when did cyclists start to decide what one another can or can't do. I am under no illusion that I will ever be more than about a twenty five minute man given my age and ability I think this is a great time and the bike will help me achieve it. What does it matter if I have bought a great bike to do it on? We don't wait on a marathon line knocking every one that finishes over four hours wearing two hundred pound training shoes or tell someone they can't have a Ferrari as the speed limit is 70. The time trial is a race against yourself and if you want to do a 40 minute ten mile time trial get out there and do it...Anyway rant over, More on the bike when I pick it up and even more when I ride it,.

Mavic GP4's

In 1983 I bought my first custom built bike. A bright yellow machine with 753 tubing put together by a frame builder in the German town of Detmold. The group set was Campagnola, Shimano was only a baby and no one wanting to avoid mechanical problems would touch it. I can't remember the type of wheels that came with it other than they were Mavic. Again, there was no choice if you were serious. I also remember it cost me about six months wages so it was fortunate that it could be straightened out after a crash. All that remains of this dream machine is a few fading photos of me killing myself in various locations including a ride of over 1600 miles around Germany.

What I do remember clearly is, even before I bought it, I was planning to save for a set of race wheels and they had to be mavic GP4's The 80mm Zipps of the day. You see back then you had (at least) two sets of wheels for your bike. One set for training and one set for racing.

That trend is starting to return. There is no point in asking a cyclist if he is planning to upgrade his wheels. We all want to upgrade our wheels. And like my ode to the TDF the best way to do it is buy a good bike with cheaper wheels and upgrade later. You can't build a bike piece by piece for the same price as buying it whole. So for economic reasons buy the race ones later.

Now in a previous blog I mentioned that wheels aren't necessarily the best bang for your buck in the pursuit of speed. That doesn't mean that it isn't worth upgrading your wheels it just means there are other options. So with a pair of wheels costing more than the alloys on your car (as they should) how much should you spend and why? Well the answer is spend what you want but it may not be worth it. The French at the end of the 2012 Olympics famously complained that Britain had cheated. That their wheels were rounder giving them an edge. Amusing considering team GB use mavic wheels, made in France. But seriously, it is hard to get a perfectly round wheel. Even at a basic level of cycling you can feel quality in a wheel. Put simply it takes less watts to push a better wheel conserving your energy for the final sprint. Even I know the difference between my Mavic Elite's and my carbon spinnergy. I believe I have bought close to a 2mph average though I will always claim I am benefiting from the placebo effect.

So simply put a bike will accelerate better and climb faster with lighter wheels by reducing a wheels mass. If you think of it this way, climbing and accelerating are the same thing. When you climb you constantly accelerate its gravity fighting you to keep the speed constant. Here is the science bit though. A reduction in weight in the wheels will improve performance more than the same weight loss in the frame; because the wheel rotates you notice it more.  The mass is all at the rim and tyre, the result being it has twice the resistance to acceleration than the rest of the bike. Carbon helps this but you also need the wheel to be stiff to transfer the power and prevent rub. This of course can be difficult with alloy rims on carbon wheels but full carbon changes the braking temperatures requiring different brakes.

So all you need to do is get the lightest wheels, perhaps those shallow rim GP4's still have their place.
Err... not quite, aerodynamics and inertia are also very important. Think of the fly wheel in a car. Almost perfectly balanced so once it's moving it spins faster and faster under its own weight raising speed and improving the MPG.
It's the same with [particularly carbon] wheels. When you are riding on the flat without accelerating weight doesn't matter. This is the key point. At 15mph aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance are the same. Approach 25mph and aerodynamic drag is far higher, rolling resistance is only around 15%. So your wheel choice depends on terrain and your average speed.
The carbon wheel can actually push the bike along supporting my feeling that the spinergy wheels were adding around 2mph.

So do we all dash out and spend 4k on wheels? Well its a law of diminishing returns. In other words wheels between 800 and 1400 will make a significant difference to your speed and make that jump of a couple of MPH. Go from 1400 to 2000 and it may help you improve .25mph or even less. So are you prepared to pay 600 to 2600 more of your pounds for a quarter to a half MPH average? Well if you are a pro rider then without a doubt. If you just want the best possibly. Before you make your mind up it is important to mention that the most expensive wheels will also be more stable in a cross wind with an 80mm feeling like 35 in windy conditions. In other words pay a bit more to stay on your bike.

So before you decide....

1. Think about what you need. Unless you can afford a range of wheels is the best first purchase a rear disk? 30 to 40mm will make a significant difference.
2. Make sure you have the same type of brakes for each wheel set.
3. Check the weight limit for the wheel. Particularly if you are over 90kg.
4. Watch for brake wear particularly on carbon rims.  
5. Carbon rim tyre pressures are often lower than alloys, check for the recommended pressure.
6. Get suitable tyres to match your investment. More on this in the next blog.
7. Check spoke tension before riding.

So it is up to you, do what I did and trawl the net, look at forums to see what people think of the wheel before you buy. Set a budget and stick to it.

The wheels I can comment on are the following,

The mavic Kysirium elite retail around £550 but shop around. They originally came with my orbea. I have to say I love them. Thousands of miles without being straightened for a reasonable price and a reasonable speed and weight. They are great in cross winds with little deflection even in high winds. On the downside they are a bit slower, the water gets in the hubs in heavy rain and that's it. They are an upgrade from most wheels but if you want good carbons they make an excellent training wheel.

 

 

 

The spinergy stealth PBO carbon wheels. Ceramic bearings, 40mm rims, spokes spun from nylon to keep the weight down. Round about £1400 a pair I have these on my orbea and they look fantastic. They are the ones I believe add around 2mph avg. I managed to borrow a pair before buying them and flying down a hill I hit cobbles and a rail track at around 30mph. I snapped two spokes in the rear wheel. I managed to tie them out the way and finished a difficult ride with lots of climbs with no buckle in the wheel. After buying a pair I have thrashed them and had no problem with spokes or buckles though I have lost nearly two stone in weight. So they are at the top end of what I would like to pay but worth every penny. A quick warning, they aren't stable in cross winds, you need to change them to the elites. They do, however, take full advantage of centrifugal force and want to push faster and faster at high speed. They are excellent value for money with the only downside being a creak from the nylon spokes when climbing after about 1000 miles. They have very little flex and maintain their good looks.

 

 

Hopefully I will soon be picking up the time trial bike and I have decided to upgrade to the Mavic Carbone SL for around £800. I've heard great things about them but can't comment any more until I try them. If I'm unhappy they will go on the Foil and I will try something else but I have a feeling I am going to love them and don't think the small loss of weight  justifies the £500 extra for the SLR's

 

 

 

 

So I have bored you with the science, talked about value for money and ultimately would suggest you need the resources of team sky to get exactly what you want when you want....There is always-

 



 



 

Testing two weeks

Well after a promising start to my training my body has succumbed to illness. Not through over training I am pleased to say. I have monitored this closely being only to aware of how long too much effort can keep you off the bike for. No, I have picked up a bug that was floating around. It started with a cold and the usual difficulty and finished two days ago with a heart rate of 200 at just 14mph. Not a good sign for someone who thought their maximum heart rate was just over 180.

On a positive side the first of these two weeks was a test week so it was back on the tacx for the Olympic warm up and the 9 mile run through Paris. My watts avg dropped to just 211 with a max of just over 300. Not the increase I had hoped for. Despite being enthusiastic the engine just couldn't deliver the demands of the bridge and I found myself just going through the motions. Even in the warm up my max wattage was down to 650 from nearly 800. All fairly obvious signs something was wrong, that and the usual indicator of an increased resting pulse.

I still forced myself through a 1 1/2 hour ride the next day in temperatures of just 2 degrees in zone 1, nothing too taxing so I began to hope it was a short glitch. Not to be, the next day was another 1 1/2 hour ride (this was a recovery week after the increased miles last week) my HR hit 200 and I knew something was about to hit big time. A heavy cold hit me that night and I struggled to breath. I managed 1 hour 40 mins on the Turbo on the Friday but it was awful and probably a waste of time. I fell of the bike at the end regretting forcing myself onto the machine.  I took a decision to take three days of the bike, missing two planned rides and going into the scheduled rest day on the Monday. My weekly mileage was a miserable 94.67.

Ever the optimist Tuesday was another week. The so called beast from the East failed to appear; A predicted -10 and below weather front skirted our Isles and we basked in 0 to -7 degrees. Well a mixture of being a wimp, being unwilling to risk expensive bikes on icy roads and continuing to be ill saw a change in training again.
On the Tuesday I hit the turbo for just 45 minutes on a downhill training session but after about 20 lost all power again and I realised I hadn't recovered sufficiently yet. I took the Wednesday off and on the Thursday with temperatures at -5 and an inch of ice on the pond hit the turbo again. My average power was still low but up 14w from Tuesday with a max at 660 which looked promising. After the 65min session I felt ill again though and looking at the graph once again saw a drop in power after about 40 mins. I took the next day off again and instead of the scheduled 4 hour ride on the Saturday went for a 90 minute ride with Wirral Mamil Ade who was just back from Germany. It was a good decision, my HR hit 200 again, I felt weak, light headed and unable to concentrate properly on the bike. We ended up riding just 20 miles at 15mph with an average HR of 135. This is a good 20bpm above what I would expect at that speed. Needless to say I took Sunday off and Monday is my scheduled rest day. So a week with just under 90 miles has not thrilled me.
That said on the Friday I did drive out to the Polocini cafe on the Friday for a piece of cake and some delightful company. If ever you are in Romiley near the Peak district its a must. The proprietors are two of the most enthusiastic individuals I know who just love cycling. In the interests of disclosure they do run the Polocini test team for whom I shall be competing but a bonus for me is that it costs me a fraction of what it could cost if I joined another team.

So I am writing this on the Monday rest day and feel a touch better. My enthusiasm hasn't wavered despite the cold. I wouldn't presume to tell anyone how to train. This blog is just about a bloke pushing 50 who wants to compete in time trials, but I think cancelling the training was the best idea. Riding alone when ill and it is so cold is just too risky. Anyway the choice will always be yours..for me lets see what this week brings......

I hate winter

Well it's been three weeks since I put anything on the blog. Usually, it would be time for excuses such as the weather is freezing, I don't ride in the rain or dark or my wheels are too round. Well, I do have an excuse, I have had workmen in every day taking up a lot of my time...So I am proud and a little amazed to say I only missed one days training despite the mayhem in the house. I also missed a day last week but for a totally different reason...

Three weeks ago I was in the middle of the preparation phase still building the miles and looking to drop some more weight. I wasn't feeling great on day one the Tuesday and managed to puncture but despite this I enjoyed a three hour spin around Cheshire. My cadence and Heart rate are holding in the required zones. One good point was trying my new ultegra electronic gears. I managed to get a half price upgrade and have to say the autotrim, rapid, smooth and accurate change make it worth every penny. I also failed to recognise Steve Cummings at the Eureka cafe when I was talking to him. Not clever for a cycling fan.

Wednesday was a four hour day so two long spins in the saddle. Both days were cold and windy but everything, again stayed on target and i felt as though I could of ridden much further. The following day was still cool and windy but with only 1 1/2 hours riding I was happy to push it a bit higher. The rest of the week was more of the same with another 4 hour ride on Friday and a two hour ride on the Saturday, (I swapped these two round due to the workmen) not ideal as it meant I didn't recover as I should of. Sunday was the usual hour on the turbo spinning the legs at a high cadence and flushing the weeks lactate out.
So it ended a good week with 235 miles completed in 15 hours 32mins.

The following week was time to start building intensity. Interestingly only very slightly with extended periods in zone three planned for the Friday session. The rest of the week was more of the same with a 3 hour ride on the Tuesday, 4 hours on the Wednesday, 1 hour on the Thursday in zone 1 and this was where it went a bit wrong. Having prepared myself for a hard ride I couldn't get out due to the workmen. I needed to stay in the house. Saturday was the turbo again which was ok but Sunday was planned for four hours. It was the coldest, wettest day of the week and it ended up going dark earlier than i thought so I cut the ride short by thirty minutes.
Although the weather was foul, could, wet and very windy I managed most of the sessions. The worst thing about the week was being hit by a car on the Wednesday. I rode past a car waiting at a junction who immediately pulled out and shunted me down the road. I spent the rest of the week angry and a little twitchy yet still determined. The week ended a little lower than expected at 202 miles and just under 13hours in the saddle.

The last missing week was another high mileage in cold windy weather. I have now moved to the start of the build up to go from preparation to per comp phase. Put quickly a 3 hour ride at 3 degrees, a 4 hour ride slightly warmer at 5 degrees, 2 hours in a force 5 wind, 3 hours 10 at 3 degrees putting in three six minute efforts with at least a ten minute break between each one. This was great fun. During one session I averaged over 25mph for the six minutes so things are looking good. The problem was that night I woke covered in sweat despite being cold. Like a true cyclist I ignored it and rode the next day. A planned 4 hour ride was cut to 2-47 as it was clear I wasn't well. I struggled round and found my speed dropping off. I wanted to keep going but decided if it wasn't happening it was best to back off and fight another day.

That night I treated  myself to VIP seats at the revolution series in Manchester meeting up with Chris White from Palefish and Tim ( have a read of the palefish blog for more details).
Although I also took the Sunday off it was still a good week with 231 miles though it should really of been about 260 and 15 hours 20 in the saddle.

Overall I felt a little tired but more down to being a bit ill than the mileage. I'm also extremely impressed that I have kept riding despite the cold and windy weather.

Finally just 16 days til the TT bike arrives