Revolution Round Three

Revolution 39 at the Manchester Velodrome sold out before the tickets went public through British Cycling membership showing the increasing popularity of the track. I treated myself to a VIP ticket though I'm not sure why I become a VIP simply by paying an extra £10. What I do get is parking next to the building free saving a cold walk to the nearest public car park, no queueing to get in, a £3 program included, four free drinks, access to the track centre with table seating or go and sit in the stands. In my opinion excellent value for money. Manchester City were playing the other side of the road. I wonder what their top tickets cost out in the cold?

Anyway the event headlined a number of stars including Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh, Russel Downing to name a few. Also present was the German Robert Foestemann who attract attention through the size of his thighs were ever he goes (that won't be M&S for trousers). The look of incredulity says it all in the above picture. Then again it can't be often you meet someone with thigh muscles bigger than your waist.

The events can vary and run over between each series. Tonight's included;

1km Madison time trial
A kilo with a difference. The first rider completes ahlf the distance before slinging his team mate for the second half. A good change over is vital, and not as easy as it sounds.....

Points Race

A sprint is held every 10 laps with points awarded to the first four across the line. The winner is the person amassing the most points at the finish. However, if they gain a lap an extra ten points is awarded and you are in the lead. Harder than it sounds at the speeds on the track for the first time at this level I watched amazed as Peter kennaugh back from the sky training camp took two laps and nearly won the final sprint.

While there are several other races I will save them for the next session which is going to be at the Sir Chris Hoy stadium in Glasgow so I guess I am going on tour

More of the same....

Last week the UK once again ground to a halt with ice, snow and freezing temperatures plunging many into panic. As usual having decided not to ride I would see people ride past oblivious to the conditions. It doesn't take long to convince yourself that they have thicker tyres, their bikes are little more than scrap value and the person astride it is escaping from a secure location. Then of course you hear about the semi-pro riders (you know the sort) dodging black ice and sliding cars while altering their body temperature like a reptile.

I will be honest and say that safety always comes first with me, we take enough risks as cyclists. I also believe that some time on the turbo will improve your road speed. So, having examined the forecast and discussed it with my coach (who buggered off to Spain for the week) I had alternative rides each day of the week for both road and turbo.

In the end I spent six hours and five minutes on an indoor trainer and 90 minutes on the road. I tried to alleviate the boredom watching videos while pedalling away and using twitter on my Ipad but I found it mentally very hard. Monday as usual was my rest day followed by an hours high speed spin on the Tuesday. Wednesday was two hours of intervals keeping the heart rate and cadence high really took it out of me not to mention getting quite sore as you are sitting most of the time. On Thursday I cracked and went for a ride on the road dodging the ice and on occasion flooded roads where the snow was melting. It wasn't fun though and always at the back of my mind was my upcoming trip, the hard work I had put in and what I stood to loose if I crashed. In the end I only did a gentle 90 minutes.

Overnight the snow came back with a vengeance and with 12 of my last fifteen rides being on the turbo I finally cracked and didn't ride. I had had enough even though I was only scheduled to ride for an hour. By late evening the guilt had set in and I wanted to get on it but convinced myself I would make it up after the next days ride. With a hard turbo session the next day though I didn't. I waited and did 128 minutes of intervals the next day. The Sunday session was supposed to be just a gentle 30 minute spin on the turbo but for my penance I opted for a hard one hour slot which I did so hard I finished in 55 minutes. So overall I only missed 30 minutes which will do.

Next week I am off for a bike fitting and the last day of the week I am in Lanzarote though with the forecast looking much better I am hoping to be out and about and upping the mileage

The week I grew to despise a cycling icon...

No not Armstrong, the turbo trainer..

With temperatures plunging to sub zero, snow and ice covering the roads I decided not to risk riding in Lanzarote with a broken collar bone and opted for the tacx machine instead. Unfortunately the weather stayed like that all week which meant that I ended up doing six turbo sessions A total of eight hours, 8 minutes and 35 seconds stuck in a saddle with little relief from the saddle pressure and loosing about 3lbs in weight each session in fluids. I covered 235 miles in the sessions with some high speeds though of course this is often distorted when doing normal turbo sessions rather than the tacx session that tends to replicate the genuine road speed.
While it was hard to motivate myself, often doing the sessions late in the evening after finding something else to do all day I still pushed myself up to a 2 hour 8 minute session. To give you an example this session was 20 minutes in zone 1, 25 minutes zone two then four seven minute sessions in zone three with five minutes recovery in zone 1 between. I finished up with 20 minutes zone 2 and twenty minutes zone 1.

To keep myself going I always have an energy drink on the bike and a recovery drink in the fridge. I always have a TV in front of me with some bike racing on it resulting in me sprinting with the racers on the screen. I ride in my conservatory and even in this weather have the window and door open. I always have an extra top on to warm up  and usually put it back on when cooling down. Always worth doing these few things and perhaps a fan as the turbo is a really intensive session that takes a lot out of you. If you are changing from road to turbo then you should half the planned time.

Although I avoid the turbo I sadistically enjoy it once I am on it. It helps with weight loss and my cadence has jumped from 90 something to 102 rpm which could prove useful. So despite my complaints I will carry on with the tacx.

On a more enjoyable note I was followed by a world champion on twitter this week. Colin Lynch @TTworldchamp is the current UCI world champion in time trial and pursuit in the Irish Paralympic team. Amusing, insightful and well worth a follow. he also has an interesting blog on his preparation for Rio. You can find it at  637daystogo.blogspot.com/

Never talk about religion or politics and now Armstrong

And yet here I go. I don't think that any cycling blogger can avoid the issue though, with most people sick of the subject, I will keep it brief.

In the past on this blog I have expressed my disapproval over the Armstrong investigation. Not because he was a particular hero of mine or because I believe his charitable work was more important than justice but simply because I believe that judicial procedure was more important than catching any one guilty person be it a criminal or a cycling cheat. So that investigation and process has passed and as a consequence Armstrong initially buried his head ignored what was happening and eventually admitted to cheating throughout his seven tours. He is now banned for life from all sports a punishment he describes as a death sentence.

How do I feel? Well first of all in the last week I have watched all seven of his winning tours. They were exciting, challenging and, at the time held me captivated to a TV screen.

Now first of all I know he is a cheat, a liar and has lost all credibility. Let me put a different slant on it. Football fans watch their heroes dive, handball, pull at opponents, head butt, punch, stamp, racially abuse other people. There have been accusations of rape, violent assault ,death by reckless driving and always a very rich footballer emerges sneering with contempt for every one outside of their circle even their manager. For the cheating on the pitch it may be a red card and two match suspension or a £100,000 one weeks wages fine. For the worst criminal offences they score two goals and the fans deify the individual and cheer themselves until they are mute. I don't like it some people don't care.

Do I think cheating is ok cause everyone does it? No I don't. What I do think is that Armstrong was not the problem. The system was and especially the director sportives, doctors and coaches who had an almost parental responsibility to their riders. At their age the lines become blurred by youth and they need guidance. Now, is it that cycle fans are less tolerant than football fans (and let's face it many other areas of society, politicians, movie stars, pop stars, American football, basket ball, baseball, golf) all have had their villains that have been forgiven sometimes without an apology. But cycling has had many villains in the past who have been forgiven. Some of the French ones became national heroes, then there was Mercx who claimed he was drugged and didn't take them, Simpson and of course every ones favourite German Jan. one of the most interesting to me is David Miller. He has been very vocal in his condemnation of Lance and yet he never admitted to being a doper until he was caught. He lost everything mainly though because by his own admission he lived day to day partying and spending everything. If doping made such a difference why did Miller the doper come 143rd and Armstrong the doper come 1st? There is more to winning than doping..

Anyway, enough. My point is that like many others Lance Armstrong cheated, lied and deceived. He deserves to be punished proportionate to the crime and certainly not a life time ban. I believe that any civilised society should believe and practice rehabilitation. Lets face it we eventually let murderers out of prison. Armstrong has some more work to do before he is rehabilitated but he must be absolved at some point. Personally I hope he gets to compete again once he has paid back the money he sued for, but not the money to sponsors. They got what they wanted. Increased exposure and as a consequence a massive increase in sales. They won't pay money back to the public so why should Lance. So lets keep things in perspective. It was a bike race, he cheated, he was caught and humbled. It makes no difference to my enjoyment and there are a whole bunch of clean riders out there.

Winter is back again

So another week complete and more complications to riding. My plan, inspired by the slice next to the TV, was to get back to a 250 mile+ week. The elements, children and workmen conspired against me. Keeping things in perspective (I don't earn money from cycling) other things took priority including my safety.

Monday's ride went from a planned road ride in sunny weather to an indoor turbo session with a sickly daughter off school in the next room. Still an hour (27 miles done). Tuesday I got out for a four hour ride. The problem today was my Scott with the light brackets was in the shop so I was out on the orbea with no lights. Should be no problem in the middle of the day, however, two hours in a thick fog came down and I was still just over the Welsh border. Luckily I found a group of riders heading to the Eureka cafe with plenty of lights. I jumped into the middle and had some coffee and my luck held out when I was provided with a rear light by Ann at the cafe on credit. The fog thickened again during the last ten miles home with cars still coming up fast and seeing me at the last minute. I didn't like that. So with fog the next two days I hit the tacx again. An hour and ten on Thursday and 2 hours Friday. The sun came back on Saturday but so did my sickly daughter so it was still indoors for another hour.

Sunday was planned to be four hours, With ice on the road and the temperatures plunging to -3 I dropped it down to two hours and taking it easy leaving out the zone three work. Overall I made 202 miles for the week, 48 less than I planned but considering turbo work should be half the road work it was still a good week.

With snow forecast from tonight my week in Lanzarote can't come soon enough but there are still three weeks to wait. The other news is I have decided to do a dream ride from Paris to Nice and onto Monte Carlo in September, more on that later but a challenge for the coach mixing the ride with the TT training.

Time Trial Warming Up

An essential part of any race, but particularly the Time trial is the warm up. Designed to kick start the heart to race pace it prevents the competitor losing time over the first fifteen to twenty minutes. A race loser over short distances. I haven't read Bradley Wiggins book yet but he takes 30 minutes to warm up including listening to music and then a twenty minute warm up on the turbo before taking five minutes to reach the start line. I don't know if this is his specific warm up but it is the team sky and Olympic team warm up so there is a good chance that it is.

 

Warm up-(Warm up used by Olympic Pursuit Team)

1. 5 minutes easy gear – 80rpm
2. 8 minutes progressive build up, by the end of this time you will be very warm (up towards top of Zone 3)
3. 2 minutes Easy
4. 3 x 6 second accelerations to activate heart (evenly spaced out within next 2 minutes) Usually start with 6 secs effort then 51 sec easy, 6 sec effort then 51 sec easy and finish 6 sec effort.
5. 3 minutes Easy
6. Finish of getting ready/walk to Start.

So there it is, try it before committing to a race day. Try a turbo session with and without it and try your ten mile road course with and without. My guess it will make a huge difference...

Here it is....

So after a few technical difficulties getting the photos onto the blog here is the new time trial bike...

 

 

It's a cannondale slice RS ultegra with upgraded wheels to Mavic Cosmic RS rather than the standard Kysirium equip. It was lovingly put together by the team at Cheshire Oak cycles not the easiest of jobs as it's the first of six in the country and has a few unique attributes.

 

When I got to the store it was already being admired and photographed so I politely waited while the spotters took their pictures.

 

 

It's everything I had hoped it would be and looks much better in real life than the pictures that frankly don't do it justice. With it's racing slick tyres and the weather in the UK at the moment it is staying in my lounge next to the TV until I finish admiring it.

 

So here is the technical side:

 

It has narrow cross sections to reduce drag and increase speed with the highest level of stiffness and power transfer, The fork steerer is outside the headtube to make it narrower and reduce the frontal area while helping to increase stiffness and improve handling.

 

 

 

All the cables run through the top of the stem and into the downtube increasing the aero profile and improving steering through the carbon bars.

 

 

The brakes are hidden behind the fork and under the bottom bracket in a v shape to improve stopping power and again, increase the aero dynamics.

 

 

It has the thinnest UCI legal seat post preventing air from the legs interfering with the aerodynamics of the bike frame as well as reducing vibration on the road.

 

I opted for the ultegra group set though I would love the electronic version on it (maybe later). The crank is a BB30 with vision 31.8 carbon bars and cannondale brakes. A fizik arione Tri 2 with magnesium rails in blue completes my favourite patriotic colour scheme of red, white and blue. While connecting the machine to the road are schwalbe durano s tyres.

 

So this is it in all its glory, In short its designed to be fast and it sure looks it.  I can't wait to get out on it and, of course, knock four minutes off my 10 mile time, easy... Updates as I try it

 

Final picture was taken by my daughter Katie.... The Cannondale RS slice in its full glory,, I'm going to enjoy this. (if you want one get in touch with Cheshire Oak cycles http://www.cheshireoakscycles.co.uk/ 0151 355 9991 and ask for Phil [tell him he looks like a smurf and you get a discount])

 











Sometimes it just doesn't happen

 

Another week done finishing off the difficulties of the Christmas season and into the New Year so how did it go? As usual Monday was my rest day and despite wanting to go out I stuck to it. Tuesday was planned to be a two hour ride in zone one just spinning the legs and keeping to my build up following illness. I rode with Ade again today and found it hard to stick to the zone simply because it was so cold leaving me needing to go faster to keep warm and the wind pushing my Heart rate up when heading into the blustery weather.

Wednesday was planned to be a four hour ride with three six minute intervals. The gods had other ideas and the weather was horrendous. The roads were flooded the rain torrential and the gales harsh. After three near misses I cut the ride short at just over two hours and one six minute session and after warming up and drying out I was going to do an hour on the turbo to make up for the shortfall. Luckily I convinced myself it was better to go and pick up the time trial bike from Cheshire Oak cycles. Right choice the bike is magnificent. And if I may sing my own praises it wasn't a day to ride anyway.

What a difference a day makes, although it was windy it was warmer and dry. Stupidly I dressed similar to the day before and overheated a bit but instead of my planned two hour ride I did an extra 30 minutes and had a great spin around the Wirral. I also managed to wear out the brakes on my Scott. SO it now needs new brakes and wheels.

So to Friday and a three hour zone one and two session with three six minute zone three sessions. With the scott in disgrace it was back onto the orbea and SRAM groupset. Although I love the Ui2 on the scott it was great to go out on this machine again for a while. After ten miles in Willaston Village I punctured and rapidly lost all the air in the rear tyre. A quick repair, a check of the tyre, rapid Co2 inflation and bang off it went again. I had missed whatever caused the puncture and only had one inner tube. So it was back to a patch and a hand pump to inflate the tyre.
A big shout out to one of the residents of Willaston who offered me coffee and the use of a phone. Always good to meet nice people even if I didn't need the phone i enjoyed a coffee. So having inflated the tyre I could hear air escaping again and decided to dart the five miles home and accept that someone didn't want me to ride that day. Sometimes it just happens.

Saturday was planned to be just thirty minutes easy turbo to fit with my child care arrangements. However after spending most of night looking after my daughter with a high temperature I was shattered and just binned the session. Some things are more important.

That afternoon though it was off to Polocini cycling cafe and over coffee and cake agreeing to ride from Paris to Monte Carlo via Mont Ventoux in September, before zooming into Manchester for the third revolution of the series. More on that later.

Sunday was my day to reconnect with the bike. After a good nights sleep and a late start/ puncture repair it was back out for a four hour spin in zones one and two with three six minute spins in zone three., It was a windy day but still one of those great days. My heart rate stayed at the top of each zone and I was loving it. Instead of zone three for the six minutes I was in 4 or 5 and during the ten minute zone 2 session between each sprint kept it in three. I know this isn't the plan but I couldn't help it. I enjoyed the orbea again and as I headed home was planning on raising it to a five hour non-stop ride. My problem was the lights were on the scott in the workshop and the light was failing. I value my life so it was back home after 4 hours 15 minutes of pure pleasure. With a rest day tomorrow I can't wait for Tuesday.

Less Horse Power - more Watts

Another week gone and the big adventure was my encounter with a very frightened horse. I had just finished a three hour ride and as I approached my home decided to ride on for another 30 minutes. I looked down to reset the garmin and moved out to pass a parked car. As I looked up I saw a horse charging at full speed towards me. Its eyes were wild and it still wore its saddle and had reins around its neck.With its feet slipping all over the road it seemed to fill the entire width of my proposed route. I managed to slam on behind the parked car as it shot past and skidded its way into the road on my right. It shot straight across the next road somehow avoiding any traffic. Being aware it could injure someone and of course its own rider was probably lying in the road somewhere further back I phoned 999 and let the police know what was happening. The problem was the road it ran into was called the Paddock and the operator for valid reason thought it was a crank call. I did manage to convince them otherwise and left them looking for the poor animal.

So, the worst case of road rage aside the week was good. My heart rate is back down to 44 when at rest and my weight is just 2lb higher than pre Christmas. My mileage has jumped back from a illness restricted 61 (last week 132) to to a solid 212 miles. The first two sessions were on the turbo due to child care commitments of just over an hour each. And to be honest, it let me check I was working ok as well. I then enjoyed two three hour road rides and felt the pure joy of cycling the lanes of Wirral, Cheshire and Wales again. The roads were quiet and the weather kind. The 5th day of the week was 70 minutes on the turbo again and some X box kinnect track and field training while the last day was another 3 hour windy session.

Most of the rides remain in zone 1 & 2 though the wind and weather often force me into 3 and 4. I am also starting to build some protracted times in higher zones which feels easy and I find myself looking forward to them, So despite the weather i am back on target. I have picked up my time trial bike (more on that this week) and have five weeks until I head of to Lanzarote for a weeks training.
So all is going well#