Updated 27 May 2012

Wheel Heroes 2012 - 100 Mile Ride

Somewhat on a whim a few weeks ago I suggested to Noel that we did the Wheel Heroes ride as we has last year. We chose again to to ride the 100 mile route and whilst had ridden 2 weekends prior to the date up to 75-80 miles we still weren't as well prepared as last year, mainly due to the poor weather we had had during April. Last years ride was also very tough as the wind was so strong. The weather forecast for the day was unclear other than it looked line being very hot, the wind was less certain. Whilst I had no "targets" I wanted to finish faster than last year, if possible in less than 6hrs riding time, and be faster on all the climbs.

We drove down and got to Stratford Racecourse before 8am and then signed on, got sorted and went over to the start and set off about 8.20.

The weather was gorgeous - light wind and about 15Deg C. We didn't try to rush but were making good time for the first few hours. There were plenty of groups to tag onto. We passed the first feed station (at 25 miles) as it was very busy and too early to stop. We rode through the Lenches which last year had been a nightmare as the roads for about 10 miles had been freshly re-surfaced with the spray on tar and gravel solution making them very slippery and hard and slow to ride. The first big climb was (on Strava at least) the B4077 climb which is about 1.5 miles and ~470 ft of climb. Last years time was done in 11:38 and this year in 10:13 so a big improvement. After some undulations we got to the 2nd feed stop in about 3 hrs so giving an average speed to that point of about 17mph. This was done without too much effort as well. Replete with sausage rolls, biscuits and refilled water bottle we set of for the next feed station at 75 miles. There was then another not insignificant drag up to Stow On the Wold - ~1.1 miles and 280ft of acscent - not the best place to have a climb straight after a break.

The period after Stow I found pretty tough. There was generally a head wind, plus continuous short sharp inclines. I found it the hardest part of the ride and Noel was clearly struggling more. At about 15 miles (so 65 total) I had pulled a noticeable gap on Noel - mainly because I can nearly always climb better than Noel and can't ride as slowly as him up the hills - I think my Compact chainset helps and I have or need a higher climbing cadence. About 5 miles later I got caught by another rider who seemed happy to tow me to the 3rd feed stop, including a descent of Edge Hill - always exciting. About a mile later was the 3rd stop so I waited for Noel. He appeared after about 5 minutes and having had an off turning off the Edge Hill descent. Fortunately he seemed OK. After about 10 minutes we continued, and fortunately the wind also became generally more favourable as a tail wind. Unfortunately I had also looked at my Garmin and worked out that it was just possible to make the 6hr ride time target. so I kept the pace as high as I could whilst still waiting for Noel. However whilst he was OK on the flat at each ascent he fell off almost straight away. At about 10 miles I kept going with the sub-6 hr target in mind. I was getting hotter and hotter (I'd seen nearly 30 Deg C on the Garmin) and was using one of the water bottles liberally on me and my HR was increasing having been pretty low for the first 50 miles. With 2 miles to go I felt I had about 30 seconds in hand as I was doing ~20mph with the tailwind and really dug deep. I crossed the line as 6:03:06 although had done 101.6 miles so felt that I probably had achieved the target. Much to Noels credit he came in barely 2 minutes behind. He was tired, as was I and I was extremely hot and sweaty.

In summary- a much better ride than last year because of the weather (although too hot really and my cyclist tan has come forward in leaps and bounds)

Data

2011: ride time = 5:55:54 Elapsed time = 6:40:28 Average speed = 16.0mph *

2012: ride time = 6:03:06 Elapsed time = 6:33:49 Average speed = 16.8mph

All climbs were also faster by a non trivial improvement. If I can be bothered I'll list them at a later date

I.e. a clear improvement

* Garmin played silly buggers and lost 5 miles before I realised and reset it

Here's the link to the ride on Strava:

Update 26 May 2012

Quick post after the Tour Series. I'd been considering cycling to work on the Friday but work commitments mean this was not practical. So I decided that a quick sprint in the later afternoon when I got home was the order of the day. As I have the Wheel Heroes Cyclists Fighting Cancer 100 miler on the Sunday I was not going to push too hard. Once I was out I realised how windy it was so took it easy. However pushing into the wind towards Hockley Heath I realised that the Strava "Cuthroat Lane" segment might be worth a sniff as it should have a tail wind. A gentle plod delivered me to the start of the segment pretty fresh and (relatively speaking) I went for it. It felt quick but you never know. I then took it easy back towards Cheswick green and decided that the "Watery Eyes Warm up" might have the same wind conditions so rode to that segment as well. It was OK but felt nothing special but on the descent of Vicarage Hill Cheswick Green I realised how strong a headwind was so after Watery Eyes Warm up I back tracked and rode the "Vicarage Hill Cheswick Green" segment as well. Again felt quick but Scott Wharton has put a stunning time on this back in April so was not that hopeful of anything great.

After getting home and uploading the route I saw that I had the "Cuthroat Lane" KOM by 13 seconds and had moved to 3rd place on the "Vicarage Hill Cheswick Green" segment with a 7 second improvement, so a good evenings ride. I know they were wind assisted but I'll take all I can get these days. I didn't fell too tired either but I'll find that out on Sunday!

And my HR monitor played up again on the Garmin - last time I got the strap replace under warranty - I have given it a wash and will hope its OK for tomorrow

Here's the KOM (note - ahead of my nemesis Dave Brown):

And here's the 3rd place on Vicarage Hill (key observation - ahead of Dave Brown):

I am sure when Dave sees these he'll be out like a shot to try to get ahead again!!

Then on Saturday am my wife, who is trying very hard to lose weight end get fitter suggested that we went for a cycle ride. She's been out on her BSO a few times in the week so I was keen to support her. I rode my MTB (an aluminium framed Mongoose, with slick tyres that I acquired from my parent's neighbours a few years ago) so no Strava ride for this although I could have used my phone to log the ride. We ended up doing just over 12 miles which was good for her and a nice slow pootle for me. 

The aim now is for good weather for tomorrow for the 100 miler. Last year although it was warm it was very windy - I and Noel are hoping for better this year

Update 25 May 2012

Went to the Halfords Tour Series last night in Redditch. I normally watch it on the TV but as it was so close and the weather looked very promising decided to go and watch "Live" with my wife. I finished work a little earlier so there was plenty of time to get there (never been before) and off we went. It took about 20-25 minutes and we parked in a multi storey car park just off the ring road. It was then no more than a few minutes walk to the circuit. We had a look at the start/finish straight and then went to the Weatherspoons to get a drink. After that we ambled back to the start/finish straight again and found a spot about 30 meters from the line by a bus shelter. We decided to wait there fore the race to start.

There was plenty of the riders warming up and doing laps before the start, and then about 10-15 minutes before 7pm they started to gather the riders up for a sort of presentation. I got some decent photos of some of the teams and riders. Was rooting for Rapha Condor Sharp so got some of Dean Downing and Kristian House.

Dean Downing

Kristian House

The next 2 photos are of the 1st lap when they were still basically in a single Peleton:

 

What was impressive was the draft of air blown over us as they swept past that I had not expected.

The race developed and some people fell off the back within the first few laps. There was a small break for the 1st sprint and then they grouped back together again, although members of the smaller teams kept getting spat off the back each lap. The 2nd sprint got going and a small break-away started to build a lead. Kristian House was in this group as were a Team UK Youth, Endura, Team Raleigh and Node 4 Giodana. These 5 then shot off and at one point built a lead of over 1/2 a lap. They contested the 3rd sprint and continued to maintain a strong lead. 3 laps from the finish all the lapped riders were pulled in and the remaining riders started to jockey for position. The leading 5 then clearly slowed and were trying not to go too early. On the last lap we saw all 5 go past the line then when they came round for the finish the Node 4 Giodana rider was missing. The UK Youth rider was clearly the strongest and had a clear win. Kristian House came across for 3rd or 4th. As the lead bunch had been playing games the remaining peleton were almost on them at the finish as they were really going for the places. From our vantage point it was impossible to see who won from a team point of view, although Endura looked strong. A few riders then trickled over the line with a big gap. Dean Downing who had been at the head of the bunch on the last lap was one. We saw where the Node 4 Giodana rider wnet on the TV The next night - he just fell off on the penultimate corner before the climb - I bet he was gutted. No reasons for Dean Downing's status though.

We then ambled down past the finish line and watched the presentations. I Was surprised we could get so close.

Podium Girl #1

Podium Girl #2

Overall Sprint Winner at end of Stage 4: Bernie Salzburger

Endura winning their 4th straight win in a row

In summary it was a really good evening. Excellent weather, exciting racing over s short period of time and plenty of cycling action. Met Dave Brown and his wife there, and while Noel was there failed to find him.

What would I do if I go and watch again? I think I'd watch from a few other places - I thought it would be pretty busy all round but in reality only about a 1/3rd of the track was fully dense with people and even that was not too bad. There would have been enough time to walk around the track once I think.

Update 22 May 2012

As Noel and I are doing the Wheel Heroes ride this coming Sunday we went for a longer ride down to Edge Hill. Edge Hill is one one the local climbs and has a huge number of Strava riders on several segments define up and down it. For us its 30 miles down before the climb itself. It's a tough climb and is in 2 parts - a first phase up to about 12% before a 90 degree right turn with a slightly more gentle ascent before kicking up to 15-16% for the final 100m. Despite having ridden it a number of times I have to say that I never look forward to doing it. I was reasonably confidant of improving my time but in reality only made a small improvement (4m20s vs previous best of 4m31s). This is a bit disappointing as some of the climbs were on my Giant in its more heavy configuration and Sunday was on my Focus. More work need there. A personal target is I think 4m00s but I can't see where that's going to come from at the moment unless I drive down a lot nearer.

The whole route was 76 miles and we managed 16.4mph. I was a little disappointed with this, despite Noel & I each doing a good turn at the front to share the load. I also had a tough time in terms of how I felt around the 50 mile mark, so I am a little nervous about being fully prepared for next Sunday. Still we have done it before and its all about getting the pace right. The weather wasn't great on the ride - reasonably cold and a wind most of the time. Hoping for a good day on Sunday - although last year was windy as well.

Finally - excellent weather today - cycled to work in shorts and and only 2 layers and home in shorts and short sleeved jersey only. Long may it continue

Update 15 May 2012

Good ride on Sunday - 68 mile run down to Evesham with Noel. Average of 16.6mph so pretty good. It was quite windy and although we shared the pace setting by about 45 miles I was really feeling it, although I perked up a bit at around 55 miles, so I think some food had kicked in. The drag back from Evesham can be hard work as its "uphill" most of the way - nothing too steep or long but always uphill. Here's the ride:

 

I signed myself and Noel up for the Wheel Heroes 100 miler Sportive from the race course at Stratford on Avon for the 27 May. We did it last year and it was pretty good. Good route down to some of the Cotswolds, 4 good (free) feed stations, and well organised. Last year I cruised it and Noel really struggled - again it was windy although he got his own back later in the year when I struggled on the Shakespeare 100 in September. I'm looking forward to it although have not got any where near 100 miles yet this year. Based on the weekend just gone I need to keep the miles down in the preceding week.

I am also doing the Pedal for Parkinsons (picture of me on the website!) ride again (also from Stratford race course) on 10 June. Last year I cycled down, rode the ride and "won". One of my sons has surprisingly volunteered to do it with me this year although he'll do the 20 mile route vs. me doing the 60 mile route. I'm planning to ride down again this year but depends on the weather I think. Let's hope the weather is OK for that as well. My dad has Parkinsons so its a small way to do something that I'd do anyway.

Bad news - down to only 4 KOM - a couple of people have uploaded rides from last year and stolen 3 or 4 off me. Bah!

Update 12 May 2012

Weather has been better this week so got out for a short blast on Tuesday after work - was sunny and warm although with a strong wind - however the choice of route meant that most Strava segments had a tail wind. As a result I managed to move up a place on the Poolhead Lane segment to 3rd and get a PR on the B4108 Hockley Heath which was 1 place. I then tried really hard on Box Trees Short Leg Blast and only managed 5th - almost no change, and sat up for the Box Trees Rd, Four Ashes Road stretch as I wanted to push on Widney Manor Downhill. However I found that on this longer segment I had gained a massive 20 seconds and moved in 2nd Place - stunning!! It just goes to show that you can't always tell what sort of time you are going to get until its done. On this ride I cycled 6 segments and improved position, time or both on all of them. However the best outcome of this ride was the overall average speed of 19.7mph (according to Strava, 19.8 according to Garmin) which is my fastest ever - over any distance. This I think is what I was most pleased about.

Weather and work commitments coincided on Friday so I was able to cycle to work for the first time since Good Friday. It was still windy as I got a what I think is the fastest ever time and average speed (58:54 and 18.7mph), plus 3 segment improvements. Someone has created a similar segment to my Cornets End Lane segment and extended it over the crossroads by about another 0.5mile to the "highest" point on that route - improved on my segment to 3rd and got the KOM on the new one. Top Ride! However the ride home was punishing into the headwind and it was probably the slowest ever.

Good weather still today (Saturday) so went for a quick trip again - main aim was to try to push a bit harder on Vicarage Hill in Tanworth in Arden, go up Camp Lane again for the first time for about a month and also try the Dyers Drag segment. On the former I did make a small time increase but still behind Noel. Camp Lane was as bad as I remembered, and I lost a few seconds because a tree was down across the road - but I did pull out  a 30 second improvement. I also wanted to push on the Bushwood Lane Segment and again improved (and pulled back ahead of Noel by a few seconds as well) - a problem with this segment is that it crosses the busy A34 so there is an element of pot-luck in getting a good time as you might have to wait to cross the road. On the Dyers Drag segment I moved into 3rd place which was good as I had never ridden it before - although where Dave got the KOM time from I don't know.

Over the week I made a lot of improvements to previous times and positions so feel there is evidence of an improvement in my performance. Unfortunately someone new has joined Strava an uploaded a lot of thier historical routes and taken several KOM away - this includes St Alphege Hill which I was very annoyed about and am back down to 5 KOM as of today

Update 7 May 2012

The weather was actually acceptable on and off over the last week. I went out on the Wednesday 2 May after work for a short spin on the Focus (16 miles) to take in a number of segments. Got KOM for "St Alphege Hill" (by ~2 secs), "Widney Lane Blast" which was a dead heat with Scott Wharton, second on "Widney Manor Uphill" and second on "Watery Eyes Warm Up" which I had to go back for after Dave Brown stole the segment off me. For the latter I made another improvement of 5 seconds but was still 2 seconds behind Dave (who'd gone out specifically to get that segment!). I was very pleased with the ride which is here:

 

The weather was Ok for both the Saturday and Sunday. On the Saturday I did a 46 mile loop taking in some more segments and made a number of reasonable times - got a big improvement on the "Forde Hall Lane South" segment (now that I know it's there!) of over  seconds and moved into 2nd place out of 35 or so,  so that was a good improvement. Average speed for the ride was 17.6 which was none to shabby.

Went out again on Sunday and very quickly realised how tired my legs were so tried to be sensible. I  rode down to Stratford which is always fast as its generally downhill and I think a following wind and then worked back. On the way back my legs were very tired but was pleased with an average speed of 17.7, plus some unexpected improvements on some segments.