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.

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 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.