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.:
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