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.

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!

I am trying to get more miles in and make the best use of them but I can see it being months away to match the level of fitness I had at the middle of June

Oh - and I got another of these: 

But I have gained another KOM in Coventry on my commute: 

Update 15 June 2012

Circumstances beyond my control (weather and work commitments) meant that there was no opportunity to commute to work this week so I took the opportunity of good weather in the evening on Wednesday for a short run. I did a run that is pretty flat and just under 16 miles as I didn't want to be out for too long. It was a bit of a struggle to get going as it was not that long after dinner but I was pretty pleased with the outcome when I got home. To keep it short I made a number of improvements on some of the Strava segments close to home:

Watery Eyes Warm Up - 3rd  - 1:04 (previous best 1:05)

Box Trees Rd, Four Ashes Road - 2nd - 4:46 (previous best 4:47)

Widney Manor Uphill - 3rd - 0:21 (previous best 0:22)

St Alphege Hill - 3rd - 0:21  (previous best 0:24) 

Overall Stats - 15.7miles, average speed - 18.5mph

Although some of these are quite small time improvements, for these segments 1 second can make a number of places up. I was very pleased with this ride

I then took the opportunity on Friday evening to have another quick ride. Because the weather had been so wet I decided to take the Giant as it has mudguards fitted, and wear my overshoes as well. I rode the same route again, and was hoping that the strong wind would help on some segments.

The results were:

Box Trees Short Leg Blast - 6th - 1:08 (previous best 1:09)

Box Trees Rd, Four Ashes Road - KOM - 4:39 (previous best 4:46)

Widney Manor Uphill - 2nd - 0:19 (previous best 0:21)

St Alphege Hill - 3rd - 0:21  (previous best 0:21, equalled Wednesday's time)

Overall Stats - 15.6miles, average speed - 18.0mph

Again I was pleased with the ride - there was a level of wind assistance for some segments but when it was a head wind I really lost out - hence the 0.5mph drop in average speed. I also do believe that the Focus is worth 0.5-1 mph over the Giant depending on conditions and distance.

It was good to get out and get the miles and good to get some improved segment times in and a KOM as well. In fact for the KOM there were road works about 1/2 way along the road so I almost had to stop. I didn't and jumped the red light, so I know I had a about 2 seconds more that I could have go.

May Holiday Weekend Riding

Update 2 June 2012

The weather for the 4 day holiday weekend looked poor so its a case of taking windows of opportunity as they become available. I went out about 9.30 in the morning with the aim to improve on some of my commute segments - I was on the Focus and without a rucksack so felt there were time gains to be made. Unfortunately the wind was against me and fairly early on realised that these segments were not going to to be improved. Also I was getting a lot of speed drop out on the Garmin so I pulled over after the Cornets End Lane segment and moved the sensor slightly closer to the magnet. It seemed OK after this so I assume that this was the cause. It might have got knocked slightly when it was in Noel's car for the Wheel Heroes ride.

I then set off for the Temple Balsall to Knowle Sesses to try and gain some time and aim for the KOM which I had held for a number of week. Pushed hard but but the earlier wind had sapped a bit of energy. I got a 2nd best time (2 seconds of the PB) so overall was OK.

The next target was the Lowsonford to Lapworth segment. It's one that I created a long time ago and had been near the top. As Strava becomes ever more popular more and more people are uploading times and I had been moving progressively down the rankings, and all attempts recently to improve are doomed to failure as it generally appears near the end of a long ride with noting in the legs. I came down to Lapworth and then turned to Rowington to get to the bottom of Lowsonford. It was a road I've never been on before and was quite pleasant. I attacked the climb as soon as possible and got back onto the big ring after the first short sharp climb and pushed hard. Dropped back into the small ring for the little kick half way and then back on the big ring to then end. The effort was rewarded with moving to 10th position (from ~17th) and a time improvement of 23 secs (to 7:03) which I was very pleased with.  I still didn't get that close to Dave Brown's recent PB - a very good time from Dave I think. A few more seconds might have been available if I hadn't had to slow while some arrogant t****r in a white Audi Q8 (reg BV12 FQV I think) couldn't wait a few 100 meters to pass some other cyclist coming the other way and sat right on my side of the road. There is then another segment staring directly from the end of the Lowsonford to Lapworth all the way to Hockley Heath - I sort of know its there but its really a recovery section for me.

For once I turned left and headed to Cutthroat Lane in order to try Dyers Drag again. Made a really fast start and was holding 25mph. Its a short segment and I was flat out and only just managed to get to the end - I didn't think I was going to make it at one point - eyes on stalks. I had to back down an little at the canal bridge as I was blown, and it took me about 1/2 a mile to recover. The effort was worth it though as I gained 9 seconds and moved to joint 2nd with Scott Wharton and 1 second behind Dave Brown with the KOM - the nagging doubt was that I might have had the extra second and did I ease up too early?

Most of the ride was in drizzle or rain so I felt that I followed Rule 9 properly

End of May Summary and Mega EXO Moans

Update 1 June 2012

After the Wheel Heroes ride last Sunday I continued to take advantage of the good weather and rode to work on both Tuesday and Thursday.

I was initially tired starting out on Tuesday morning and made it in just over an hour. On the way home managed some reasonably good times and got a PR on the Hampton in Arden Hill Climb. Each ride I seem to be able to edge a second or so.

On the Thursday ride I had a target of a new segment that I'd spotted on one of Mike Harrison's rides - Hampton Hill which runs up past Solihull Grammar School. It is just a short segment - KOM was held by Scott Wharton at 0:56 and my previous best was 1:06. The segment is about 3 miles from home and I was warmed up by the start and really went for it. The outcome was the KOM at 0:53 so a good result. I also got 2nd best time on cornets end/back lane. There are now 9 segments on the commute in.

This KOM got me back up to 5 segments - better than nothing!

For May got almost 600 miles and an above target which is good, but the weather for the long Bank Holiday weekend looks uninspiring though.

An activity over the next week is to assess the state of the BB on my Focus. I've returned the unit to Wiggle as its less than a year old (and only about 3000 miles). Hopefully I'll get a replacement although as this is the 2nd failed unit it appears that this is about how long they last. It's a FSA BB-6000 Gossamer Mega EXO Bottom Bracket - and gets mixed reviews regarding durability from the Wiggle customers that have bought one on the past.

I think when the rest of the chain set needs replacement I'd be unwilling to replace it with another FAS (or even renew the chain rings if the BB itself lasts about a year and costs £40 a time to replace

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. 

Update 28-April-2012

A week without riding!!! Bad weather and various work commitments completely blew any chance of cycling to work last week (and for the week before) so the mileage has really dropped off. Added to which the weather for this Sunday looks dire. I slipped out Saturday afternoon for a quick ride to get some miles in, between the rain showers, but even then chose to take the Giant as it has mudguards. I chose a route to be good for some Strava segments with a tail wind but basically there seemed to be a headwind nearly all the way! It also felt pretty hard work as well, which I put down to the string wind and the Giant, which I haven't ridden for a number of weeks and is heavier than the Focus. I did try but did not really expect great things.

On getting home and uploading the route I got another KOM (completely unexpected) on the "Watery Eyes Warm Up" segment which was great - especially as it is Noel's segment and improved my times on the "Liveridge Hill XRoads to Tanworth Church" and "Cut Throat Ln" segments by a few seconds. This gets me up to 7 KOMs at present - here's the screen shot to prove it:

Another ride on Sunday. Did the Fiery Hill / Twatling Rd Climb again to prove I could. Held on to the KOM and improved time by 2 seconds.

The link below will show the current Segment status so when someone beats me it'll show them. DOn't want that so here's a screen shot of my KOM status as of 22 April 2012