Training Ride Number 4
16th and 17th June
This weekend was meant to bring about our next big training ride, however family life has to come first meaning Dazza and myself were not able to meet up for a ride as planned. Despite this we have both managed to get out separately for a few miles, here is a quick account of our adventures...
"Dangerous" Dazza Klat:
Distance: 30 miles
Top Speed: 36 mph
Average Speed: 16 mph
Altitude Gain: 5ft
Avg Gain Per Mile: 0.01ft
Avg Gain Per Mile: 0.01ft
Weather conditions: Sunny spells
A circular tour of the local area was in order today, hitting as many big hills as possible. Porton, Gomeldon, East Grimstead and West Dean were all duly dispatched.
My legs felt sluggish on the flat as I had done loads of leg exercises and weights at the gym on Friday, however I still found as many big hills as possible. My legs felt powerful going uphill and I nailed two long 12% hills, one that went on for well over a mile (but felt much longer). After those hills I even managed to tackle a couple of steeper hills of about 15% with no problems at all.
I could have gone further but didn't feel great before hand, so decided to call it a day and head for base where Mrs Dazza was cooking me a slap up lunch.
My legs felt sluggish on the flat as I had done loads of leg exercises and weights at the gym on Friday, however I still found as many big hills as possible. My legs felt powerful going uphill and I nailed two long 12% hills, one that went on for well over a mile (but felt much longer). After those hills I even managed to tackle a couple of steeper hills of about 15% with no problems at all.
I could have gone further but didn't feel great before hand, so decided to call it a day and head for base where Mrs Dazza was cooking me a slap up lunch.
The ride today was really positive, at the bottom of the long 12% hill I did think to myself that I was never going to make it, however in reality I climbed the hill with ease.
Next stop - increasing the mileage.
Next stop - increasing the mileage.
Mark Underwood:
Distance: 95 miles
Weather conditions: Cloudy, Windy (But the wind was mostly kind)
Top Speed: 44 mph
Average Speed: 19.5 mph
Altitude Gain: 4000ft
Avg Gain Per Mile: 42ft
Avg Gain Per Mile: 42ft
Weather conditions: Cloudy, Windy (But the wind was mostly kind)
Saturday brought about a trip to Aylesbury for a kiddies party, instead of driving I thought it would be a good idea to cycle and meet Alexis and the kids there...
It was one of those days today where everything that could
go wrong, did.
I woke up tired after not much sleep, then stumbled about
the house half asleep taking ages to make breakfast and setting off later than
I had originally planned.
At precisely one mile into my 90 mile journey I was less
than amused to get a puncture in the front wheel… plus I was travelling
downhill at 30mph at the time! Luckily I managed to not stack it onto the terra
firma but my main priority was stopping as quickly as I could so as to not
damage the rim of my now flat wheel! Not a great start to the day.
Tube quickly changed, back on the road I was travelling
through the less than glamorous locations such as Larkhill and Netheravon.
Second setback of the day – road closed at Netheravon for resurfacing, 5 mile
detour (after a couple of u turns), dammit! Now pressed for time it meant I had
to average more than 20mph for the next 3 hours to get to the party in time.
And no time for food breaks either.
Luckily the strong wind was pretty kind, often I found
myself on a slight uphill travelling at 20mph+ and around 25mph on the flat,
this is where the tri bars came in handy to make up for lost time. For some stupid
reason I planned a couple of miles of my route onto the busy A34 dual carriageway
heading to Oxford, not a great place to
be on a bike so I sped up to 30mph+ for this bit! At these speeds the miles
seemed to tick by pretty quickly and the small villages soon passed by one by
one.
Next negative, I discovered my bottle behind the seatpost had
got a hole in it (second week running) and was rapidly emptying of energy drink.
I had noticed earlier it had slipped down onto the wheel, obviously I hadn’t
noticed soon enough…! Fortunately I still had enough drink in another bottle to
last the journey.
I needed to eat (cnp chocolate flapjack in case you were
wondering), but without time to stop this brought about its own challenges.
Cycling uphill meant breathing heavier and struggling to swallow food at the
same. Cycling downhill one handed meant it was hard work to stay upright in the
wind and very wobbly when travelling fast! Either way I managed it and sped on
to my destination.
After cycling at speed for 4:45 hrs without a break I had
made it to the party on time (well, near enough which is good for me) as
planned. Very good to know I can knock out nearly 100 miles without even
stopping, plus doing so at speed, bodes well for our LEJOG based activities.
I left Aylesbury (driving) feeling very positive. However, I
would be feeling even more positive if I had remembered to put my cycling shoes
in the car before we left…! Doh!
Very glad to put this day to bed!
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