October 2012
My wife is very ill in hospital and I have been riding in the mornings to take my mind off it before visiting her in the afternoons.
Wednesday 10 October 2012
Garmin Heart Rate Monitor
I have had my Garmin 800 for some time now - just about over 2 years I think. In that time I have had the first heart rate monitor swapped under warranty and now the replacement one has failed in the same way. Its not that it doesn't work, it's just that it doesn't work "properly". The failure seems to occur after about 8 months of use (or at least 8 months of my use which is 4-5 rides per week and 60-100 miles/week). Both straps have failed after this time.
This is the strap and transmitter:
There are 3 main failure modes:
1) it doesn't read anything (although the main unit acknowledges the presence of the HRM)
2) it will sort of read something but only very low values, suggesting that I am an elite athlete cycling 50 miles barely breaking 90bpm, or
3) it reads mega high (>200bpm) suggesting I should be dead!
Here is an example of a typical failure mode:
And here is a "proper" trace over a similar route (approx 29 miles at about 17.0-17.5mph average speed):
This is much more realistic at a typical average of about 150bpm with short excursions to 170bpm maximum).
Now I don't need a HRM and I don't use it for training or anything like that, but I like to look at the data and see how hard I was actually working vs. how hard I felt I was working. And also having got one I'd like it to be working.
So back to the first HRM. Having bought the Garmin 800 from good old Wiggle, I sent it in for a swap, and for whatever faults others think Wiggle have, their returns and warranty policy and support is second to none (PC World take note), and they replaced the HRM - both the strap and transmitter unit without quibble.
Off I rode for another 8 months or so and then the symptoms occur again. Its really irritating as the HRM is about £35-£45 a time. Its the strap that fails not the transmitter unit. I am wondering whether its possible to cobble up some sort of repair by replacing the contact patches with another conductive material and actually wire up a conductor to the poppers for the transmitter unit. That's a dark winter's evening project I think.
A search of the internet reveals that my issue is not uncommon. Some suggestions are to use the Polar WearLink+ strap but I have no other evidence to support this. There is seemingly a maintenance process to follow to wash the strap which I did use for the 2nd unit but did not add anything to the life of the strap
What is worse is that when it works it works really well and is very comfortable to wear. Even worse is that Garmin don't just sell that strap alone, you have to buy the strap and transmitter increasing the cost significantly.
Come on Garmin - either get the strap to last or sell it on its own
This is the strap and transmitter:
There are 3 main failure modes:
1) it doesn't read anything (although the main unit acknowledges the presence of the HRM)
2) it will sort of read something but only very low values, suggesting that I am an elite athlete cycling 50 miles barely breaking 90bpm, or
3) it reads mega high (>200bpm) suggesting I should be dead!
Here is an example of a typical failure mode:
And here is a "proper" trace over a similar route (approx 29 miles at about 17.0-17.5mph average speed):
This is much more realistic at a typical average of about 150bpm with short excursions to 170bpm maximum).
Now I don't need a HRM and I don't use it for training or anything like that, but I like to look at the data and see how hard I was actually working vs. how hard I felt I was working. And also having got one I'd like it to be working.
So back to the first HRM. Having bought the Garmin 800 from good old Wiggle, I sent it in for a swap, and for whatever faults others think Wiggle have, their returns and warranty policy and support is second to none (PC World take note), and they replaced the HRM - both the strap and transmitter unit without quibble.
Off I rode for another 8 months or so and then the symptoms occur again. Its really irritating as the HRM is about £35-£45 a time. Its the strap that fails not the transmitter unit. I am wondering whether its possible to cobble up some sort of repair by replacing the contact patches with another conductive material and actually wire up a conductor to the poppers for the transmitter unit. That's a dark winter's evening project I think.
A search of the internet reveals that my issue is not uncommon. Some suggestions are to use the Polar WearLink+ strap but I have no other evidence to support this. There is seemingly a maintenance process to follow to wash the strap which I did use for the 2nd unit but did not add anything to the life of the strap
What is worse is that when it works it works really well and is very comfortable to wear. Even worse is that Garmin don't just sell that strap alone, you have to buy the strap and transmitter increasing the cost significantly.
Come on Garmin - either get the strap to last or sell it on its own
Sunday 23 September 2012
Squeezed in 100 miles
Over the weekend of 15/16 September we took my sons to University. As they have gone to opposite ends of country the whole weekend was spent on the motorway and whilst I could have had a short ride Sunday evening I was pretty tired. I had been looking fairly confident for the 422 miles per month in September, but a weekend off makes a big difference. I decided to ride to work on Tuesday and again went through Meriden. No special times achieved on the way in though. On the way home however there was a very strong block headwind and then about 5 miles after setting off the rain came down really hard horizontally and I had to stop and put my waterproof jacket on (to stop me getting too cold), my lights back on the bike and actually switch them on and the waterproof over cover on my rucksack. It continued to rain for about 30 minutes and gradually eased up and stopped by the time I got home. I hate wearing the water proof jacket but I would have got too cold without it. With the rain and the block headwind it was the worst cycle commute I think I have done in nearly 3 years.
I have an Altura Pocket Rocket jacket like this one:
The jacket is a bit "Boil in the Bag" but I can't fault how water-proof it is. It is also VERY yellow and packs incredibly small - it fits (in a little bag provided) into the pocket of a jersey.
And my rucksack is a Deuter Cross Air EXP like this one (although I think this is a slightly newer model):
I have been really pleased with this. It's big enough for a laptop, A4 hardback notebook, lunch box and assorted small items - there is a zip to enlarge it further if required and the straps pulls the contents into the bag. Its very comfortable to wear with the "Air" design which has a mesh back to hold the bag off your back and there is a waist and chest strap that holds it firmly in place without being too tight. There is also a yellow water-proof cover that is normally zipped in the bottom of the bag - the bag itself seems reasonably water-proof but with a laptop its better to be safe than sorry.
The weather was forecast to be poor for the rest of the week so no more commuting but a good forecast for Saturday saw Noel and I go for a ride together for the first time since he was knocked off his back back in June. He has got a very nice Ridley Orion with an Shimano Ultegra drivetrain. Despite the forecast and the sunshine it was actually quite cold and windier than forecast. We had a good ride - just over 50 miles, average speed of just under 17.5mph and I got a few improvements: I got a PR on Scarfield Hill with a 20 second improvement, plus a 5 second improvement on Astwood Lane Climb into Astwood Bank.
This ride saw me get to 95 miles for the week so a I nipped out for just over an hour on the Sunday morning (22.4 miles at 17.9mph average) so all in all just about made the 100 mile total.
Commuting in the Autumn and the Lights that I Use
The problem now is that the days are shortening and it is getting less desirable to cycle to work and get the "free miles". Already there have been several cold mornings - its now the time of year for long fingered gloves in the morning and it won't be long until I need to start wearing long bibs rather than shorts. The problem is that its still to hot to wear longs on the way home and I really need to carry a set of kit to ride home in. I don't mind riding in the dark, but would never commute in full darkness - not because of my ability but because I am not confident of being seen by drivers. In addition with the low sun both in the morning and evening this is more dangerous than darkness.
I normally ride with 2 rears lights - they are Smart 5 LED 3 function units similar to these:
I have one on the bike, normally constant and the other on the light hook on my Deuter rucksack in flashing mode. They are pretty good - long battery life, high visibility and so far (> 2 years) good reliability. I run them with 2xAAA re-chargeable batteries and for the level of dark riding I do they only really need charging once. The battery life is so good that I'll often use it during the day as well when visibility is not perfect. They are also really cheap at around £4 each
I have got the same units for front lights but they are basically useless, and no longer use them - they are more green that white and are relatively invisible. I now use a LifeLine 1W LED light like this:
Its a 2 mode light - constant and flashing and made of an aluminium body. This uses 4xAAA batteries and I use re-chargeables in this as well. It's not the most powerful by any means but meets my needs perfectly - highly visible in flashing mode and again excellent battery life. The only weak point is the handlebar mount could be better.
Despite these lights (and the fact that these are 1000x better that the first lights I had I still am nervous about being seen on the dark so from early October until mid-February I am a non-commuter.
Here are some of the lights I have used in the past:
What's wrong with these? Poor battery life, bulb failure, minimal range and visibility, heavy, etc
I have an Altura Pocket Rocket jacket like this one:
And my rucksack is a Deuter Cross Air EXP like this one (although I think this is a slightly newer model):
The weather was forecast to be poor for the rest of the week so no more commuting but a good forecast for Saturday saw Noel and I go for a ride together for the first time since he was knocked off his back back in June. He has got a very nice Ridley Orion with an Shimano Ultegra drivetrain. Despite the forecast and the sunshine it was actually quite cold and windier than forecast. We had a good ride - just over 50 miles, average speed of just under 17.5mph and I got a few improvements: I got a PR on Scarfield Hill with a 20 second improvement, plus a 5 second improvement on Astwood Lane Climb into Astwood Bank.
This ride saw me get to 95 miles for the week so a I nipped out for just over an hour on the Sunday morning (22.4 miles at 17.9mph average) so all in all just about made the 100 mile total.
Commuting in the Autumn and the Lights that I Use
The problem now is that the days are shortening and it is getting less desirable to cycle to work and get the "free miles". Already there have been several cold mornings - its now the time of year for long fingered gloves in the morning and it won't be long until I need to start wearing long bibs rather than shorts. The problem is that its still to hot to wear longs on the way home and I really need to carry a set of kit to ride home in. I don't mind riding in the dark, but would never commute in full darkness - not because of my ability but because I am not confident of being seen by drivers. In addition with the low sun both in the morning and evening this is more dangerous than darkness.
I normally ride with 2 rears lights - they are Smart 5 LED 3 function units similar to these:
I have got the same units for front lights but they are basically useless, and no longer use them - they are more green that white and are relatively invisible. I now use a LifeLine 1W LED light like this:
Despite these lights (and the fact that these are 1000x better that the first lights I had I still am nervous about being seen on the dark so from early October until mid-February I am a non-commuter.
Here are some of the lights I have used in the past:
What's wrong with these? Poor battery life, bulb failure, minimal range and visibility, heavy, etc
Top Week!
After last weeks catch up post I thought that I'd post a bit sooner this week especially as I had a good week Strava wise. However good intentions went out the window and this has sat in the Drafts folder for another week
I only rode 3 times the prior week. The first ride was late morning on the Wednesday. I had taken the day off to get my broadband updated to BT Infinity and fortunately I was the first visit of the day, so it was done and dusted by about 10.30am so I took the opportunity to go out for a ride afterwards. It was a lot windier that I expected. I had gone out looking for about 20 miles or so at a reasonable pace but the strong head winds at the start made me change my mind slightly as to what I wanted to do. I had decided to have another go at Camp Lane so took a relatively steady ride down through Tanworth in Arden down to Camp Hill and then pushed reasonably hard. From here the wind was slightly more favourable so I decided to have a go at both Dyers Drag and Vicarge Hill Downhill as I was sure that there would be a tailwind on both these segments. Fortunately there was, and on Dyers Drag I absolutely made a 100% effort - I got up to and was keeping at 30mph. I tried to up shift for a bit more speed but did not have the power and had to shift down again almost straight away - this can be seen quite clearly in the segment performance plot. Getting home and uploading the data gave a much better result than I had hoped or expected - KOM on Dyers Drag, KOM on Vicarge Hill Downhill, 2nd overall on station run, 3rd on Camp Lane and 4th on Camp Lane and Irelands Lane.
The other rides this week were a commute to work and back on the Friday. Firstly, after the weekend run the previous weekend I decided to cycle in through Meriden - its a mile further and there is the challenge of 4-5 new segments. The total climbing is about the same but it tends to be more on the Meriden Hill climb rather then a gradual climb up Back Lane. On the Friday the wind was very favourable into work and I saved myself a little for the 2 Spencer Avenue segments - success and took both of them back with a time about 3 seconds faster than the previous KOM times. In addition the average speed for the commute was a creditable 19.0mph. I'll admit that the wind was very helpful but I'll take whatever is on offer. Obviously on the way home the wind that was so helpful on the way in was painful and the average was down at a relatively slow 16.2mph - no extended return commute this Friday either as needed to get back in a reasonably timely manner.
I only rode 3 times the prior week. The first ride was late morning on the Wednesday. I had taken the day off to get my broadband updated to BT Infinity and fortunately I was the first visit of the day, so it was done and dusted by about 10.30am so I took the opportunity to go out for a ride afterwards. It was a lot windier that I expected. I had gone out looking for about 20 miles or so at a reasonable pace but the strong head winds at the start made me change my mind slightly as to what I wanted to do. I had decided to have another go at Camp Lane so took a relatively steady ride down through Tanworth in Arden down to Camp Hill and then pushed reasonably hard. From here the wind was slightly more favourable so I decided to have a go at both Dyers Drag and Vicarge Hill Downhill as I was sure that there would be a tailwind on both these segments. Fortunately there was, and on Dyers Drag I absolutely made a 100% effort - I got up to and was keeping at 30mph. I tried to up shift for a bit more speed but did not have the power and had to shift down again almost straight away - this can be seen quite clearly in the segment performance plot. Getting home and uploading the data gave a much better result than I had hoped or expected - KOM on Dyers Drag, KOM on Vicarge Hill Downhill, 2nd overall on station run, 3rd on Camp Lane and 4th on Camp Lane and Irelands Lane.
The other rides this week were a commute to work and back on the Friday. Firstly, after the weekend run the previous weekend I decided to cycle in through Meriden - its a mile further and there is the challenge of 4-5 new segments. The total climbing is about the same but it tends to be more on the Meriden Hill climb rather then a gradual climb up Back Lane. On the Friday the wind was very favourable into work and I saved myself a little for the 2 Spencer Avenue segments - success and took both of them back with a time about 3 seconds faster than the previous KOM times. In addition the average speed for the commute was a creditable 19.0mph. I'll admit that the wind was very helpful but I'll take whatever is on offer. Obviously on the way home the wind that was so helpful on the way in was painful and the average was down at a relatively slow 16.2mph - no extended return commute this Friday either as needed to get back in a reasonably timely manner.
Sunday 9 September 2012
A Bit of a Belated Update
Updated 9 September 2012
I looked at these pages and realised that actually I haven't added anything since the I rode the Great Shakespeare Ride back on 12th August - I am still enjoying the satisfaction of the high finishing position and average pace. In reality it might also be that I don't have a great deal to write about, but that's not particularly true either.
Since then I have been able to keep the mileage up (trying to get some banker miles in to make sure I meet my 5000 miles target for the year) and I have also been trying to focus slightly less on individual Strava segments but on increasing the average speed over the whole ride. For the latter I still have yet to do a ride at an average of 20mph - this is not a target as such but something I'd like to do before the short days arrive and my distance per week has to be reduced. I have made some progress for this so I'll briefly and boringly summarise the last 4 weeks since the Great Shakespeare Ride
13th-20th August - 115.5 miles total
No commuting miles this week. I went on a short evening ride with one of my sons who has bought himself a new road bike. We got a Boardman Road Race from Halfords. He'd originally proposed spending nearly £1000 but we suggested that a cheaper introduction my be a better bet. We looked at various bikes locally and at the sort of price we suggested you get an all alloy bike with 8 speed 2300 series running gear. The Boardman has a Carbon Fibre fork and 9 speed Sora kit although is a little more expensive. However since Noel got knocked off his bike earlier in the summer I have joined British Cycling, and one of the benefits is 10% discount at Halfords, so taking this into account this brought the price down to a pretty good competitive level. Another reason for selecting a Boardman is that the prices seem to hold well second hand so if he loses interest we should be able to easily sell it - looking on eBay I have seen a lot of Boardman bikes going for almost the new price which is bonkers really! Anyway back to the ride - 15 miles at 15.7mph - very relaxed and made a change from the normal ride where there is the intention to improve on 1 Strava segment or another. I think from my sons point of view - too relaxed and I should have gone faster
I also rode 35 miles on Saturday - 18.1mph average, 2 PR and a 5th place. On Sunday I rode 61.4 miles - 18.2mph average, a 2nd, a 4th and 3PR. The 4th was a descent of Weatheroak Hill. Average 31.mph on the descent and a peak of 43.8mph - I won't be too bothered if I don't improve as getting to 4th was scary. Quite how Dave Brown did it 5 seconds quicker I daren't think.
21st-28th August - 143.0 miles total
Commuted twice on the Tuesday and Thursday and got the 2 KOM on Spencer Avenue in Coventry on Tuesday. On the Thursday I got a 9th on the way in and strengthened the KOM on the Newcomb Road climb segment.
It was was the Bank Holiday weekend and we were going to my parents for a couple of days. I went for a quick ride on the Saturday morning - 22.7 miles at an average of 18.9mph, plus a 2nd and a 4th. I was very pleased with the 18.9 average.
I took my bike down and on the Sunday went out for a ride - partly over a route I have done a few times before but I extended it at the end to head into the outskirts of London to Shooters Hill. The ride is here. Out to Gravesend the wind was helpful and the average was up to 19mph and this was with the climb of Gorse Hill. Up to here I improved everywhere over previous rides picking up 5 PR, a 5th, 8th, 9th and 10th and these are on segments with over a 100 riders. I was again really pleased. When I got to Gravesend it was about 14 miles of "rolling" roads into a headwind to get to Shooters Hill. The average dropped off to about 18mph. I climbed Shooters Hill which was pretty tough after all the miles and returned to my parents. Looking on Strava I could not believe the number of segments for 1 bit of road - there are about 6 or so over less than a mile of road. I picked up 2 more PR on the way back as well. Overall average was 18mph over 46.1 miles, so I was again pleased with my pace.
29th August -2nd September - 117.7 miles total
Commute in on the Friday which was cold and had a problem with my Garmin 800 on the way home which was irritating as I felt there was some chance of a small improvement in a few places. What it was I think was that I turned it on in the office where it gets no signal and I when it says "No signal, keep trying?" I think I must have knocked "No" by mistake. The end result was no data for the return trip home
I rode on Saturday morning a short (23.8 mile) trip and got an average of 18.5mph with 2 PR and a 4th.
I rode again on Saturday for a longer trip (51.5 miles) but my legs were tired and the average was only 17.5 mph although I did manage a PR and a 2nd. I think that 3 days cycling in a row is probably a day too far and I need to have a break on the 3rd day if I want to do some distance next time I ride
3 September -10th September - 148.1 miles total
This is the time of year when the opportunities for rides start to drop away with the darker evening and autumn weather. The fact the the week started so well weather wise encouraged me to leave work slightly earlier and get out for a ~20 mile ride on Tuesday evening. I did a 18.5 mile loop at a fastest ever average of 19.8mph. I picked up to 4th places and a 7th. These were just seconds faster than previous bests but the segments are so congested that 1 or 2 seconds can move you up many places these days. I'd not gone out for the segments but was trying for a high average, so I was to say the least ecstatic with 19.8mph. I was so close to the magic 20 that is some ways I was disappointed but in reality the speed was (for me) awesome
The weather was still good so I commuted on Thursday and Friday and whilst not trying did pick up an 8th on Friday morning. However the Tuesday sprint and 2 days of commuting in a row meant that when I left work on Friday afternoon I could tell in the first mile that I was pretty much running on empty. I had a heavy rucksack with my laptop in, it was a glorious hot day and I just plodded home. I did do an extended ride and did manage 17mph average but I did not really enjoy it.
As I commented above for the previous week 3 days in a row was going to be too much as I wanted to ride on Sunday, so I dropped out of a ride with Noel (I have not yet seen his new bike) on the Saturday to make Sunday more of a pleasant experience I hoped.
Sunday arrived and the weather looked OK, and although it was sunny it took a few hours to warm up. I wore a SS jersey but also my new arm warmers. I'd put of getting any for a long time but got fed up of wearing a LS Jersey as it was cool at the start of a ride but then being too hot later on. They are quite a good compromise it turns out and I wished I had a pair a few years ago now. I did a bit of a new route as I saw an interesting ride on the Saturday from Mike Harrison which included going through Meriden, so I included that at the start. The main aim again was in the overall average rather than and segments and I did a 49 mile loop. The average was a very pleasing 18.5mph, with a 6th, 10th and 4 PR. I think this vindicated the no ride plan of the day before.
Finally Noel obviously cycled to work and had a go on the way home:
Summary
Whilst this has been a long a boring(?) post what I am really please about is that the average speed has really made an strong upturn over the past month. Consistent mid- 18+mph speeds are something that at the start of the year I did not think possible and after over 2 weeks in the US seemed even further away just a few months ago. Whether I can keep it up remains to be seen!
I have also come across this really useful Strava add-on site - information about your rides than you can shake a stick at:www.veloviewer.com
It allows you to generate this signature graphic which has the advantage of a quick glance at the number of KOMs etc.:
I looked at these pages and realised that actually I haven't added anything since the I rode the Great Shakespeare Ride back on 12th August - I am still enjoying the satisfaction of the high finishing position and average pace. In reality it might also be that I don't have a great deal to write about, but that's not particularly true either.
Since then I have been able to keep the mileage up (trying to get some banker miles in to make sure I meet my 5000 miles target for the year) and I have also been trying to focus slightly less on individual Strava segments but on increasing the average speed over the whole ride. For the latter I still have yet to do a ride at an average of 20mph - this is not a target as such but something I'd like to do before the short days arrive and my distance per week has to be reduced. I have made some progress for this so I'll briefly and boringly summarise the last 4 weeks since the Great Shakespeare Ride
13th-20th August - 115.5 miles total
No commuting miles this week. I went on a short evening ride with one of my sons who has bought himself a new road bike. We got a Boardman Road Race from Halfords. He'd originally proposed spending nearly £1000 but we suggested that a cheaper introduction my be a better bet. We looked at various bikes locally and at the sort of price we suggested you get an all alloy bike with 8 speed 2300 series running gear. The Boardman has a Carbon Fibre fork and 9 speed Sora kit although is a little more expensive. However since Noel got knocked off his bike earlier in the summer I have joined British Cycling, and one of the benefits is 10% discount at Halfords, so taking this into account this brought the price down to a pretty good competitive level. Another reason for selecting a Boardman is that the prices seem to hold well second hand so if he loses interest we should be able to easily sell it - looking on eBay I have seen a lot of Boardman bikes going for almost the new price which is bonkers really! Anyway back to the ride - 15 miles at 15.7mph - very relaxed and made a change from the normal ride where there is the intention to improve on 1 Strava segment or another. I think from my sons point of view - too relaxed and I should have gone faster
I also rode 35 miles on Saturday - 18.1mph average, 2 PR and a 5th place. On Sunday I rode 61.4 miles - 18.2mph average, a 2nd, a 4th and 3PR. The 4th was a descent of Weatheroak Hill. Average 31.mph on the descent and a peak of 43.8mph - I won't be too bothered if I don't improve as getting to 4th was scary. Quite how Dave Brown did it 5 seconds quicker I daren't think.
21st-28th August - 143.0 miles total
Commuted twice on the Tuesday and Thursday and got the 2 KOM on Spencer Avenue in Coventry on Tuesday. On the Thursday I got a 9th on the way in and strengthened the KOM on the Newcomb Road climb segment.
It was was the Bank Holiday weekend and we were going to my parents for a couple of days. I went for a quick ride on the Saturday morning - 22.7 miles at an average of 18.9mph, plus a 2nd and a 4th. I was very pleased with the 18.9 average.
I took my bike down and on the Sunday went out for a ride - partly over a route I have done a few times before but I extended it at the end to head into the outskirts of London to Shooters Hill. The ride is here. Out to Gravesend the wind was helpful and the average was up to 19mph and this was with the climb of Gorse Hill. Up to here I improved everywhere over previous rides picking up 5 PR, a 5th, 8th, 9th and 10th and these are on segments with over a 100 riders. I was again really pleased. When I got to Gravesend it was about 14 miles of "rolling" roads into a headwind to get to Shooters Hill. The average dropped off to about 18mph. I climbed Shooters Hill which was pretty tough after all the miles and returned to my parents. Looking on Strava I could not believe the number of segments for 1 bit of road - there are about 6 or so over less than a mile of road. I picked up 2 more PR on the way back as well. Overall average was 18mph over 46.1 miles, so I was again pleased with my pace.
29th August -2nd September - 117.7 miles total
Commute in on the Friday which was cold and had a problem with my Garmin 800 on the way home which was irritating as I felt there was some chance of a small improvement in a few places. What it was I think was that I turned it on in the office where it gets no signal and I when it says "No signal, keep trying?" I think I must have knocked "No" by mistake. The end result was no data for the return trip home
I rode on Saturday morning a short (23.8 mile) trip and got an average of 18.5mph with 2 PR and a 4th.
I rode again on Saturday for a longer trip (51.5 miles) but my legs were tired and the average was only 17.5 mph although I did manage a PR and a 2nd. I think that 3 days cycling in a row is probably a day too far and I need to have a break on the 3rd day if I want to do some distance next time I ride
3 September -10th September - 148.1 miles total
This is the time of year when the opportunities for rides start to drop away with the darker evening and autumn weather. The fact the the week started so well weather wise encouraged me to leave work slightly earlier and get out for a ~20 mile ride on Tuesday evening. I did a 18.5 mile loop at a fastest ever average of 19.8mph. I picked up to 4th places and a 7th. These were just seconds faster than previous bests but the segments are so congested that 1 or 2 seconds can move you up many places these days. I'd not gone out for the segments but was trying for a high average, so I was to say the least ecstatic with 19.8mph. I was so close to the magic 20 that is some ways I was disappointed but in reality the speed was (for me) awesome
The weather was still good so I commuted on Thursday and Friday and whilst not trying did pick up an 8th on Friday morning. However the Tuesday sprint and 2 days of commuting in a row meant that when I left work on Friday afternoon I could tell in the first mile that I was pretty much running on empty. I had a heavy rucksack with my laptop in, it was a glorious hot day and I just plodded home. I did do an extended ride and did manage 17mph average but I did not really enjoy it.
As I commented above for the previous week 3 days in a row was going to be too much as I wanted to ride on Sunday, so I dropped out of a ride with Noel (I have not yet seen his new bike) on the Saturday to make Sunday more of a pleasant experience I hoped.
Sunday arrived and the weather looked OK, and although it was sunny it took a few hours to warm up. I wore a SS jersey but also my new arm warmers. I'd put of getting any for a long time but got fed up of wearing a LS Jersey as it was cool at the start of a ride but then being too hot later on. They are quite a good compromise it turns out and I wished I had a pair a few years ago now. I did a bit of a new route as I saw an interesting ride on the Saturday from Mike Harrison which included going through Meriden, so I included that at the start. The main aim again was in the overall average rather than and segments and I did a 49 mile loop. The average was a very pleasing 18.5mph, with a 6th, 10th and 4 PR. I think this vindicated the no ride plan of the day before.
Finally Noel obviously cycled to work and had a go on the way home:
Summary
Whilst this has been a long a boring(?) post what I am really please about is that the average speed has really made an strong upturn over the past month. Consistent mid- 18+mph speeds are something that at the start of the year I did not think possible and after over 2 weeks in the US seemed even further away just a few months ago. Whether I can keep it up remains to be seen!
I have also come across this really useful Strava add-on site - information about your rides than you can shake a stick at:www.veloviewer.com
It allows you to generate this signature graphic which has the advantage of a quick glance at the number of KOMs etc.:
Sunday 12 August 2012
The Great Shakespeare Run 2012
Up until about 2 weeks ago I was finding cycling hard work. I think this was mostly because I had been putting a lot of miles in up to going away and then 2½ weeks away in hotels had just destroyed my fitness. However suddenly I seemed to regain both pace and stamina and it became easier again. The weather had also improved and during the week commencing 23 July I rode every day except the Wednesday and did just over 200 miles. The following week (commencing 30 July) I managed another commute and rode on the Saturday and Sunday and got a reasonable number of Strava achievements and did 127 miles with a 55 mile ride on the Sunday at an average just below 17mph so was feeling back to where I would hope and expect to be.
During the week I had idly looked at what Sportives were around and saw the The Great Shakespeare Ride advertised. A colleague did this last year and recommended it, so I thought I might ride it. There was a 100mile and 100km ride available and although I felt better I still was not sure that if I rode the 100mile route I'd enjoy it. The route looked fairly rolling (for Warwickshire) and I did not want to get to 60-70 miles and then struggle for another 2 hours just to get back, so I decided that if I rode it I'd only do the 100km route. Also as it was a 9am start 100miles would not have seen me back at the start until 3.30pm or so and that was the whole day blown time wise. Over the 100km distance I was hoping for a ride time of between 3:30 (very optimistic) and 4:00 (very disappointed) and this was my nominal target.
I also decided that I'd leave it until as late as possible and look at the weather which if was OK meant I'd do an EOD. By the Saturday I had decided to ride so sorted myself out the night before, not that that took long. A quick trip down the M40, 1 wrong turn and I got to the start location. It was based in a Hotel near Stratford Upon Avon with overflow parking about 1.5 miles down the road. I parked up at the overflow (sad to see a load of losers parking on the side of the road to avoid the ride - if you can't cycle 1.5 miles then what are you doing entering a sportive??) and rode to the start, paid my fee and rolled round to the start line. A few minutes later we were off so beautifully timed.
It was a mass start event (the first I have done) and was off at 9am almost on the dot. With so many riders together it was quite slow for the first 5-6 miles when it started to open up - there was a gentle "climb" that did make a bit of a split this was "Frizz Hill" on Strava, approaching Compton Verney to cross the Fosse Way. There were plenty of groups and it was easy after this to get on the back of a group to match the speed I wanted to do. There were a few hills in the first 20 miles and this split the "peleton" up quite a bit further. The first "big" climb was Tysoe Hill/Sugarswell Ln Climb - 100m or of 14% in the middle that certainly split the riders.
At about 20 miles the routes split - for once it seemed as if the bulk of the riders were doing the 100mile route - normally it seems to the the other way round.
Because of this the number of groups dropped and my pace slowed a bit. I pulled out a 7th place on the "A429 to B4479" segment (good result).
At about 30miles a small group of about 5-6 people formed and the pace rose again until we got to a monster hill at about 40 miles or so which I think was "Larkstoke" - 1.5miles long, 426ft ascent at an average gradient of 5.4%, although another 14-15% gradient in many places, and this hill broke the group immediately. One person slowed right at the start even before the hill, another dropped away in the first 100m or so, and a couple slowed between about 1/3 - ½ way up - the man (in a Cavendish World Champion kit who was very strong on the flat) dropped first and then his wife/girlfriend (on a really nice Focus) a bit later. I think this was Mark & Sue Oakes as these 2 people finished about 6 minutes behind me overall. I was left following the person who'd gone off very fast and almost caught him by the top. The two of us then rode all the way back to the finish together.
The weather had been OK to this point but just after this hill is rained on and off quite heavily and I got soaked, although it was not cold rain and the pace was high enough to keep warm. Not pleasant following someone's wheel though with a face full of spray!
Although I'd not done this route before quite a lot of it was on previous Sportives I have done in the area such as The Pedal for Parkinson's, Cyclists Fighting Cancer and Shakespeare 100 for example, and this helped because I could pace myself reasonably well knowing where a number of the climbs were going to come. Because of this I got a PR on the "Park Hill" and "Hampton Lucy Drag to A439" segments as well. The "Hampton Lucy Drag to A439" is exactly that a real drag, and its a segment that I created so I have only myself to blame!
As I said I went out on this ride with the intention of completing between 3:30-4:00 hours, and rode hard. The speed from the groups helped enormously and I finished according to my Garmin in 3:39:56 an average speed of 17.5mph. I was really pleased with this. When I uploaded to Strava I was 2nd fastest on the route. I have moved down since and at the time of writing am 7th of 60. Two of those times are from previous years so I am actually 5th for the 2012 ride. For me this is a stunning achievement and I am really pleased. I also got a few "PR" on some of the segments I have ridden before as well, thanks to working with or chasing the person I rode to the end with.
The official timing placed me at 20th position (out of ~478 riders) with a time of 3:40:04 which was even better that I could have hoped for.
Here's my moment of Strava glory:
And here is a link to the ride in Strava proper:
It was a good job I got my back brake sorted out as only have a front brake in the wet would not have been a great experience.
It was a good job I got my back brake sorted out as only have a front brake in the wet would not have been a great experience.
And the event? Well organised. Well marshalled. Could have done without crossing as many of the busy roads to Stratford but this is a problem for all routes in this area. A good route, and glad I did not do the 100 mile route.
Tuesday 31 July 2012
Signs of Progress
As I have noted previously since being in the States for 2½ weeks I have struggled to get back to the level of fitness I was at before going. However over the past 2 weeks or so there have been some reasonably positive signs: higher average speeds again over a range of distances, HR not being over 160 for the entire ride, some Strava achievements (and a few easy KOM!) and actually using the good weather to get some serious mileage in - from Monday 23 July to Sunday 29 July I clocked up 9 rides (7 as 2 were commutes) and 202 miles. I was tired on Monday (30 July) but very pleased with the weeks riding.
My back brake is working a lot better (see previous post) so the money and time were worth the effort, and more importantly I can stop safely.
The weather has turned a bit for this week so it'll be nearer the end of the week before I am back on the bike - good brakes or not
I watched the men's and women's Olympic Road races on the TV at the weekend. The men's result was disappointing but perhaps not unexpected, whilst the women's was good with a good result as well. However the coverage from the BBC was dreadful - ignoring the lack of data on the riders (gap, speed, location etc.) the commentary was amateur, ill prepared and downright dreadful. It goes to show how good the ITV commentary team are. They recognise the riders, the team strip and are fully briefed on the route, background information and a wide variety of other sometimes trivial information. In comparison Hugh Porter was a complete disaster. No preparation, no knowledge, missed the information, did not recognise the riders or their strip or nationality, and if I heard "injection of pace" once I heard it a million times. BBC - you were rubbish.
Saturday 21 July 2012
Shimano 105 5700 Mechanicals
On a more positive note I had been having some issues with the rear braking performance of my Focus since I upgraded the Shifters to Shimano 105 5700 series (from 5600 series) over the winter which I have almost resolved.
Basically I wanted to upgrade the Focus from the 8 speed 2300 components to 10 speed of some type and hence commonise more components between my Giant and Focus such as chains, cassettes etc. The key components that I needed were the 10 speed shifters for the Giant as the dérailleurs would be OK. After a lot of dithering, the route I took was to buy new shifters for the Focus and move the original Focus parts to the Giant. I also chose to buy the newer 105 5700 series parts rather than the previous 5600 series parts already on the Focus. The 5700 shifters are basically a newer version (11MY) of the original parts but with the key difference that all the cables are run under the handle bar tape compared to the 5600 series parts where the gear shifters exit the side of the shifters.
I had all the parts by October/November 2011 and did the swap over a series of days whilst I was on holiday over Christmas. The jobs were quite time consuming as I had to do the job twice (2 bikes) and there were a number of thing that I had not done before (swap Shimano STI shifters, re-tape handle bars etc). I did the Focus first, using the new components and was happy with the results - both seemingly in function and appearance, and then replicated on the Giant using the Focus parts. Again function and appearance were satisfactory. The thing I was most concerned about was doing a good job on the handlebar tape which would have a high aesthetic effect if not done right - fortunately there are lots of good guides on You-Tube and I was pleased with the outcome.
I had all the parts by October/November 2011 and did the swap over a series of days whilst I was on holiday over Christmas. The jobs were quite time consuming as I had to do the job twice (2 bikes) and there were a number of thing that I had not done before (swap Shimano STI shifters, re-tape handle bars etc). I did the Focus first, using the new components and was happy with the results - both seemingly in function and appearance, and then replicated on the Giant using the Focus parts. Again function and appearance were satisfactory. The thing I was most concerned about was doing a good job on the handlebar tape which would have a high aesthetic effect if not done right - fortunately there are lots of good guides on You-Tube and I was pleased with the outcome.
Given the bad and winter weather the Giant was the only bike I rode until about March. The first rides highlighted that the right shifter functions were not as good as I had hoped - poor rear braking and a stiff level to shift from the small to large front ring. The left shifter had no issues and the shifting and indexing were much improved over the previous parts. The stiff shifting I could live with as the small-big front ring shift is not a frequent operation, but the poor breaking was much more of a concern. There was some braking but it was poor and did very little to slow the bike. Initially I put it down to new pads and new wheels needing to bed in but the after more miles no improvement was seen. I also though that I had perhaps not fitted the outer brake cable properly under the bar tape so I removed the tape and checked and all seemed OK.
I had also read conflicting information that the pull ratios on the 5700 series were different the 5600 pull ratios and therefore you needed 5700 series brakes as well, whilst other people reported using the new shifters with no issues with the older brakes. What caused some confusion was that I could not really tell any difference with the front braking performance. I carried on as was but was nervous. What really made me investigate properly was that Noel had an accident before I went on holiday when a car pulled out of a drive on Fiery Hill (Barnt Green) and he hit it - luckily there seems to be nothing more than a lot of bruising/soft tissue damage but there was a lot of damage to the bike which is written off. This brought it home that the state of my bike was not suitable and I decided that I had to fix it. I decided that I would buy some 5700 105 brakes (good price and offers from Evans Cycles) and when I got them not only fit them but investigate fully to get the performance back to where it needed to be.
The brakes arrived and I fitted them, and basically rear braking was better but not by much. I then pulled out the brake cable completely and saw some trace of rust on the surface. This was a huge surprise - the cable was new when I replaced the shifters at Christmas and the bike does not get ridden in the wet very often. I pulled the cable out and replaced it with another new cable, but for the new cable I oiled it thoroughly as I pulled it through the outer. As a result of the new brakes with matching pull ratios and a smoothly operating cable the performance is now where it should be.
I am not sure how big a contribution the slightly rusty cable made but it seemed to be significantly better braking after the lubricated cable was fitted - I was personally surprised by how much. I am not sure if I then needed the new brakes as well but I have a optimised system and the bike stops much more quickly that it did and possibly a tiny bit better than before (but this may be psychosomatic rather than reality). The pads need a little more bedding in so there is more to come.
The lesson I have taken is that I need to check the cables more often and that cables at around £1.50are a cheap and simple potential performance upgrade rather than changing what they operate! I have no idea what caused the cable to rust - I have not seen it on any of the other bikes. The rear brake is internally routed so the only exposed cable is at the caliper, so it is a bit of a puzzle.
I also made a mistake in swapping the cable. I have removed the internally routed cable before and carefully taped some string to it so that I could pull the new cable back through with the string but for some reason despite fixing the string I then pulled the string fully through as well! It was then a very fiddly job to put the cable through. So the second lesson is - pay attention all the time.
Struggling to get back to fitness
Been riding some more since getting back from holiday. I have managed to cycle Saturday and Sunday on both weekends since we got back and got a commute in this last week but still finding it incredibly hard work. After 40 miles Sunday last week (15 July) I was pretty well blown. Over the last 2-3 miles I was riding it home on the 34 inner ring which is desperate in reality!
Oh - and I got another of these:
But I have gained another KOM in Coventry on my commute:
Saturday 7 July 2012
7 July 2012 Back from Holiday
For the first time ever I spent some serious money on a holiday and we went to the USA - New York and Washington DC to be precise. We had a great time - the weather was absolutely fantastic - in fact it never dropped below 95Deg F for the whole time we were there, and was over 105Deg F on several occasions. We were affected by the huge power cut that affected many of the Eastern States but fortunately for us the Hotel got power back within 24hrs.
Here is a picture of me on Liberty Island.
The only downside was no time on a bike! Plenty of opportunities to hire - I wanted to set some Strava segments in Central Park, and they were for hire in Washington DC as well, but they were expensive to hire - so I had not ridden a bike for almost 3 weeks until today.
We went to the Shenandoah National Park in Northern Virginia - a highlight of this park is Skyline Drive, a 105mile drive along the ridge. This was a beautiful road with a 35mph speed limit and would be a fantastic ride, although I'd rate it as "difficult" given the distance and the amount of climbing - some of which up pretty demanding gradients. I'll put this on my to-do list.
Back at home I went out for a short ride today to get back into it. It was fair to say that the first 5 miles really hurt! However something seemed to get back and I did 29.3 miles at 18.2 mph average so was happy enough overall.
We went to the Shenandoah National Park in Northern Virginia - a highlight of this park is Skyline Drive, a 105mile drive along the ridge. This was a beautiful road with a 35mph speed limit and would be a fantastic ride, although I'd rate it as "difficult" given the distance and the amount of climbing - some of which up pretty demanding gradients. I'll put this on my to-do list.
Back at home I went out for a short ride today to get back into it. It was fair to say that the first 5 miles really hurt! However something seemed to get back and I did 29.3 miles at 18.2 mph average so was happy enough overall.
Sunday 17 June 2012
Update 17-June-2012
I went out for a ride this morning expecting sunny weather but was disappointed. It was a case for the first hour or so for "Rule 9". I went off towards Rose Hill, then Alvechurch, Tardebigge, Astwood Bank and then Redditch to have another go at some of the segments there. I was feeling OK and (for me) pressing on OK. I felt reasonably strong at Rose Hill (actually the Fiery Hill/Twatling Rd Climb) and also up Scarfield Hill and carried on up to Astwood Bank.
At Astwood Bank instead of going straight on I turned left and headed to Redditch. I have ridden this way before about 18 months ago (actually on 2 Jan 2011). I knew that I'd get near the Icknield Street turn but if I carried on I'd get to the "Paper Mill Rip" segment and from there I was hoping to find the way onto the road that would take me along to Easemore Road and into Redditch town centre to have a go at the Unicorn Hill and Prospect Hill segments again. In addition on Easemore Road there are 2 segments - 1 up and 1 down so plenty of options there.
I almost got round to the Paper Mill Rip section without error - just a couple of mistakes. I also spotted the way up to Easemore Road from Paper Mill Road (well hidden and getting a bit agricultural) so was able to approach from the right place. Easemore Road was a bit of a drag after the miles already under my belt and I knew it wasn't a great time. I rode down Unicorn Hill to where I felt the longer segment started (BUOTC Unicorn Hill) and returned and rode the segment (2 for the price of 1!). I felt reasonably strong and knew the time would be better than previously. I stopped for a quick bit of food before descending Prospect Hill, rode down to the Volvo Garage (the start), U-turned and within ~15 seconds had almost blown. The rest of the ascent was a painful slog back to the top. I pushed for the Easemore Road descent but knew that basically from then on it would be a gentle ride back home. I rode back over a few more segments but there was almost nothing left in my legs. The only positive was I managed to drive the average speed up from 16.7mph in Redditch up to 16.9mph by the time I got home.
Over the whole route I managed to get 16 Achievements (some new of course) but some others were outright improvements.
Rides stats:
Distance =59.9 miles,
Average speed = 16.9mph,
Maximum speed = 36.2mph,
Height gain = 2924ft.
I have used my Excel tool to extract the segment data for this ride and present in this table (with a little bit of additional work). There is some more work to do to get the position in the segment rankings, this is the next job to do. I can read all a riders Ride Data (the rides they have ridden) with the overall stats (average speed etc) and the details of each of the segments ridden during that ride and the times etc. for the segment.
Segment ID
|
Effort Moving Time (s)
|
Effort Distance (mile)
|
Effort Average Speed (mph)
|
Effort Name
|
Climb Category
|
Average Grade (%)
|
Elevation Difference (meters)
|
824883
|
371
|
1.24
|
12.1
|
Scarfield Hill, Alvechurch
|
Cat 4
|
4.16
|
82.6
|
876084
|
552
|
2.35
|
15.3
|
Icknield St Climb
|
No Cat
|
1.52
|
68.6
|
882563
|
83
|
0.23
|
9.9
|
Prospect Hill
|
No Cat
|
5.25
|
20
|
891731
|
407
|
2.45
|
21.7
|
B4101 Hockey Heath
|
No Cat
|
-0.56
|
26.4
|
891753
|
337
|
1.78
|
19.0
|
Poolhead Lane
|
No Cat
|
-0.32
|
19.8
|
937392
|
164
|
0.52
|
11.3
|
Astwood Lane Climb into Astwood
Bank
|
No Cat
|
5.34
|
44.4
|
982643
|
82
|
0.32
|
14.2
|
Vicarage Hill Cheswick Green
|
No Cat
|
2.02
|
10.6
|
1007821
|
79
|
0.47
|
21.4
|
Dyers Drag
|
No Cat
|
-1.11
|
8.609
|
1068596
|
190
|
0.67
|
12.7
|
Easmore Rd Climb
|
No Cat
|
3.73
|
40.6
|
1069174
|
502
|
1.85
|
13.3
|
Fiery Hill / Twatling Rd Climb
|
Cat 4
|
3.67
|
108.935
|
1080918
|
43
|
0.20
|
16.7
|
BUOTC Unicorn Hill
|
No Cat
|
3.37
|
14
|
1265825
|
81
|
0.64
|
28.3
|
Easmore Downhill
|
No Cat
|
-3.50
|
36.4
|
1328072
|
182
|
1.08
|
21.3
|
Paper Mill Rip
|
No Cat
|
-1.34
|
23.4
|
1328098
|
63
|
0.29
|
16.8
|
Ravens Bank Rise
|
No Cat
|
1.54
|
7.4
|
1403219
|
289
|
1.12
|
13.9
|
Brookhouse Road Climb
|
No Cat
|
3.59
|
64.878
|
1409586
|
102
|
0.57
|
20.3
|
Clayfields
|
No Cat
|
-2.08
|
23.2999
|
1417426
|
117
|
0.76
|
23.3
|
fiery hill descent
|
No Cat
|
-3.64
|
44.8
|
1456696
|
292
|
1.48
|
18.3
|
Sheltwood Decent
|
No Cat
|
-1.19
|
38.4
|
1458872
|
116
|
0.56
|
17.5
|
Croft Lane
|
No Cat
|
0.47
|
5.586
|
1458941
|
22
|
0.10
|
16.7
|
Unicorn Hill
|
No Cat
|
5.90
|
9.8
|
1472706
|
106
|
0.39
|
13.4
|
Cruise Hill Climb
|
No Cat
|
2.73
|
17.827
|
1483394
|
189
|
1.14
|
21.7
|
Umberslade Road to Cut Throat
Lane
|
No Cat
|
-0.52
|
23.287
|
1516358
|
46
|
0.39
|
30.7
|
Rough Hill Drive Decent
|
No Cat
|
-5.61
|
35.2
|
1516367
|
394
|
2.38
|
21.8
|
Island Challenge
|
No Cat
|
-2.41
|
72.8
|
The other thing that is really easy now is to generate a graphic showing e.g. performance vs. date. He is my improvement over Scarfield Hill in Alvechurch:
Certainly an improvement this year!
And the roads were wet and dirty:
Certainly an improvement this year!
And the roads were wet and dirty:
 |
| See where my overshoes were! |
Also when I got home (and later in the day I got two of the "Uh Oh.." you've lost your KOM emails from Strava. The first was Hampton Hill (Solihull) taken by Steve Large by 3 secs and the second was Dyers Drag taken by another 7 secs by Dave Brown, so I am now 8 secs behind on this segment (although still 2nd overall). Steve is quick and does pretty long rides whereas Dave is nothing by a segment whore!
Here are these emails:
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