April 2013

The table below is a summary of the month.  

 Activities8
 Distance (km)515.81
 Duration22:30:45

29th April

Following an unscheduled weekend off caused by being away from home and busy and intermittent hail storms which put me off going out I needed to get some riding in so I took my bike with me when I went away for the week with work.  When I finished work the Sun was shining although it wasn't too warm and when the clouds blocked the sun it what a little chilly.  The wind was quite strong but steady.

Last time I was in Cambridge I went for a little walk and stumbled across the guided bus lane which has a traffic free cycle path alonside so I decided to try it out.  What a wonderful place to ride a bike, flatter even than the levels around Somerset and paced with some of the smoothest tarmac I have ever ridden on it is an ideal place for managed efforts (assuming that you are considerate of other users.

When I reached the path I deliberately turned into the wind and forced myself to drive into the wind along to St Ives, it was hard work pushing into the wind but I was rewarded with a quick visit to a very picturesque town and then with the tailwind on the way back. 

I also pushed on quite hard on the way back and extended the  ride a little by riding past the junction at which I joined and doing a little exploring.  I really enjoyed a ride which was only made difficult by the amount of effort I put in.

Ride Data Here:

http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView/2?id=2916395

24th April

Early morning ride today before work saw me head along the coast.  There was a bit of a fog blown in from the sea but it was not too cold and it added an elelment of isolation to the ride which I quite like.  I deliberately made the ride a little hilly as I rode out to Cheddar Gorge and ascent of which was the main aim of the day.

I was feeling good on the bike today and really enjoyed the ride out to the Gorge and the climb was a bizarre kind of pleasure, I pressed quite hard over the lower slopes which are the steepest part of the climb but made sure that I wasn't expending too much effort and settled into a nice tempo for the more gradual part of the climb.  The higher I went the thicker the fog got which added a surreal but in my opinion very pleasant atmosphere to the ride.

When I reached the top I turned round and headed back down in order to grab a coffee at Costa before heading home.  The descent was more challenging due to the relative lack of visibility and the damp road surface so whilst I wouldn't describe it as tentative I certainly wasn't pushing on.

I got to Costa and discovered that I have broke a spoke on the descent so following my coffee i headed round to Cheddar Cycle Store where they very kindly fitted a new spoke and re-trued the wheel all for the princly sum of £11 and I was quickly back on my way.  the second stop had some kind of impact on my ride as I didn't feel quite so good the rest of the way home but on the whole a good ride.  Average pace was back closer to what I was hoping it would be and my cadence was also more where I was hoping so definitely a good ride.

Ride Data Here:

http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView/2?id=2852809

21st April - Coasting in Cornwall

Today I took part in my first mass participation sportive.  When I orginally sign-up (at the tail end of last year) I was thinking that I would do the long ride (91 miles) and Lucy and I would make a weekend of it in Cornwall but things changed and I re-assessed a few weeks ago following my 100+km ride knowing that the driving on top might cause me problems.  So I got up this morning at 5:30am, loaded up my kit and headed down to the event in Bodmin.  By 8:15 I was on site, I got myself ready, headed down to the start, picked up some safety pins to attach my number better and grabbed a cup of coffee.  I also went to the registration tent and changed my registration to the 60 mile option and joined what was in effect a queue of riders waiting to be cleared to start.

At allegedly 9:09 I got underway and headed down the road in the country house hosting the event.  When the group I was in reached the border of the country house we discovered that the gate was shut (not the best planning on behalf of the organisers who could either have had a marshall there (if the gate had closed accidentally) or at the very least warned us as part of the safety briefing we had received not 3 minutes before). Upon leaving the venue we turned left and immediately started to climb, apparently this is a common trait of the organised sportives as it helps to spread out the riders before they reach busier roads but for me this was something of a nightmare as I would have liked to have got my legs working before I was faced with what was quite a steep dig.  It also introduced me to something that now I think about it must be quite common on mass participation events which is people riding in groups blocking of the road as a crawl up hills, more on that later.

Having put a little more strain on my legs in the first 2km that I would have liked I was hoping for the road to level out a little (it certainly seemed to on the published profile) but it was persistantly up and down.  About 10km in we reached another sharp climb and I was working my way up when a goup of riders spread out across the road in front of me all stopped dead forcing me to stop, not my idea of fun as I had then lost all of my momentum and ended up walking up the rest of the climb :(.

A few observations on riding in sportives before I continue, it is a slightly disturbing and somewhat claustraphobic experience, if you stick to the left, as is normal practice you will very quickly come up behind someone who is travelling slower than you, if you try to overtake them the chances are you have nowhere to go as groups of riders from clubs are probably whistling past on the right in tight lines.  When you come to a climb there are riders all over the road weaving about  making it hard to pick a line, on most descents there seem to be people taking lots of risks on blind corners which for someone like me who are somewhat risk averse is quite scary.  I also observed that there are a significant number of "wheel suckers" sitting on the back of people who are travelling fast but never seem to be willing to do a turn on the front.

I pressed on to the first feed station where I stopped and stretched my legs a little, grabbed a cake bar and topped up my liquids, I had heard bad things about the feed stations at sportives before but I have to say that this one seemed to be well stocked and was staffed by friendly members of a local club.  After a short stop I continued on the route and started thinking that it might be better to do the shorter route as the amount of climbing was significantly more than was indicated on the profile provided by the organisers, I settled into a good pace and as the riders had speard out more I was able to get into a rhythm on the climbs.  This was a good thing following the slight issues I had had a couple of weeks ago on the Quantocks as I think this will be crucial to success in September and I found that I was passing may riders on the climbs, often to find the same riders passing me on the decents and short flatish sections as they were mainly in groups and working together.

We  then came across a section of road which can only be described a dangerous for a Sportive, the road surface was terrible, broken up and covered in gravel and it wasn't long before I passed the first casualty.  One of the riders had apparently been going too fast and lost control on the loose surface, they were being treated by the roaming medics so I didn't stop but everyone was taking the descent more cautiously after that.

I was keeping my eye open for the point at which the route split as people at the feed station had said that the signage may not be very clear and not having any details about the shorter route I needed to make sure I didn't miss the turn.  I came across the second feed station and despite the fact I didn't need anything I called in to make certain that I hadn't already missed the split.  This stop was nowhere near as organised as the first and was very busy.  It took me quite a length of time to find out that I had not missed the turn and that is was just a little further on. 

So on I pressed, very shortly reaching the turn, to be fair I did nearly turn off one road too soon as the signage was not ideal.  Once the route split I found myself on what appeared to be the biggest climb of the ride.  I was satisfied to find that I quickly dropped into a good rhythm and actually found the climb a lot easier than a number of the others, mainly because the road was so much quieter and I didn't have to break my pace.  From the summit of the ride the road dove down and knowing I was near the end I pushed on hard (topping out at over 65kph :D ) used my momentum to carry me over the last little rise and before I know it I was back at the entrance to the country house where I started.  I headed down the quiet estate road to the start finish line and finished with an official time of 3 hours and 3 minutes.

So conclusions...

Was I happy with my efforts? - YES

Could I have done my originally planned 91 miles - Probably not today

Could I have done the 60 miles - YES as I wasn't really suffering that much at the end but with a 2 hour drive home better safe than sorry

Would I do the event again - Definitely not on my own, with someone else, maybe

Biggest observation - the altitude gain on the published profile for the 60 mile course was a little over 500m, I actually did 1200+ metres on the 38 mile course - that is a big difference in required effort!

Could I have got a better time - YES, in hindsight I needn't have stopped at the second feed station at all and if I hadn't been forced to stop on the climb and ended up walking I could have shaved quite a chunk off my final time.

Ride Details Here:

http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView/2?id=2822799

18th April

Another ride with Lucy today helping her to increase her stamina and distance.  Today we headed out to Cheddar and then across through Wedmore to Puriton before heading back.  Another really nice ride though the wind was blowing making things a little more challenging.  This was Lucy's longest ride so far and I have to say she is doing really well :).  We had a coffee stop at Rich's Cider Farm on the way back and instead of cake went for the breakfast bap type option which was something different.  I have to say that whilst mine sat well (a good sign being as we are going to ahev to fuel on th go in September) Lucy suffered a bit with her's so we have a challange to find something that will be easy on her stomach moving forward.

Ride Data Here:

http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView/2?id=2787397

15th April

Morning ride with the other half this morning.  Pleasant ride out to Cheddar for a coffee and then headed back home.  Pace is reasonably slow but good to get the boss out training and get in another ride.

Ride Data Here:

http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView/2?id=2759027

14th April


Well this has been a very slow week as far as time on the bike goes.  No rides since last week due to work commitments, better half commitments and a niggly knee injury so despite my best intentions it has been a week since I have been out on my bike which is none to impressive.  I set off this morning at 8am feeling pretty good - the sun was in the sky and compared to the spring so far the weather was practically balmy.  The only prospective issue was the wind, same gale different day, although gale was definitely the appropriate word today.

We (Stephen and I) met at the usual place and sketched out a route to make sure we would be following in was as much head wind out and tail wind home as we could manage.  We headed out across the levels and worked hard into the wind.  We reached Sweets Tea Room around 9:15 with a plan for a quick brew as the plan for the day called for a short one but when we got there it was closed and did not open until 10am (not something I think is great for somewhere that professes to be cycling friendly but then I guess that is just my opinion.  Instead we pushed on and I don't mind admitting there were a few sketchy moments with crosswind gusts that made me glad I was on quiet back roads.  We included the climb up to Ashcott from Shapwick before spinning round and heading back.  Once we turned the corner at Woolavington we had a tailwind and the fun started.  Half way down the hill someone pulled out in front of us which lead to us having to take the decent easy but we pushed on along the flat section which felt really good.

We stopped for a brew at Rich's Cider Farm which was up to the usual high standard and reasonably quiet as we were there before the lunch rush and then headed on home.  Another enjoyable ride in the bank :D

Ride data here:

http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView/2?id=2753109 

7th April

I woke up this morning feeling stiff and achy from yesterdays efforts.  Sunday ride planned with Stephen so I fuelled up on porridge and toast, kitted up for the cold and headed out.  When I reached the pub to meet Stephen my legs really weren't feeling it and as you can see there was still frost on the side of the road.



We had planned to ride out to Portishead and I had left it in Stephen's capable hands to plan a route.  I guess I should have looked into the distance before making the plans but it is what it is.  We agreed to ride a steady one before we set off and headed out on what turned out to be a great and challenging route.  Unlike a lot of the rides around this part of the country the route was pretty much all up and down and punished my legs which I think was exactly what they needed and was certainly more of an effort that I would have made had I headed out by myself today.  There were a number of periods where I was suffering with pain in my leg but as has been said by a number of people in history "pain is only weakness leaving the body".

We made it into Portishead for our planned coffee break and dropped on to a fantastic place I will certainly have to visit again.  Coffee and cake (both excellent) at the Impero Lounge lead to a slightly longer break than we would normally have taken before we turned tail and followed the same route home.  Whilst I felt the kilometres I can happily report that I still had the power to make it up all of the climbs and not be useless for the rest of the day which is a top result.

Ride details here:

http://www.brytonsport.com/mapTrackView/2?id=2675157

6th April

Having checked the forecast the wind was forecast to be much reduced and the chance of rain was practically zero so I decided that I was going for a long one to see how I was going in preparation for Coasting in Cornwall on the 21st.  I planned the route out on the computer on Friday night and uploaded it to my bike computer in order that I would be able to follow it as I wasn't familiar with the area I would be riding.

I had planned a route I knew would be challenging and I should have looked in a bit more detail as the climbs on the computer plan are very deceptive compared to how they appear on the road and they didn't really start until the halfway stage of the ride.

So how did it go?  At 107km it was further than I have ridden for a very long time but in all honesty despite the fact I could feel it in my legs I still felt reasonably good when I got home - not that I would have wanted to have had to go any further. 

The problem was the hills, and I think more mental that physical, they were significantly bigger and steeper than I had imagined, or estimated and therefore I didn't pace myself into them as well as I should.  This resulted in me having to step off at one point and walk up a stretch onto the very top of the Quantocks.  I think I should also have investigated stops a bit better  I went to the Pines and had a cream tea which was great but was the only place I spotted to stop on the entire ride which probably wasn't ideal.

It is certainly a ride I will do again, if only to defeat the hills but for now I am a bit concerned about the 21st, whilst I am unlikely to be riding by myself in a sportive of this size like I was today I would also have to get in the car at the end and drive home and I am not certain I would have been able to do that today.  I guess I will have to re-benchmark next week and maybe look to drop down to the medium size ride as much as anything to get some enjoyment out of it.

The views were wonderful although a) the camera on my phone doesn't do the sight justice and b) I wasn't keen to keep stopping to take snaps.  None the less below is a snap from one of the many lanes on the edge of the Quantocks.


Data for the ride is here:


2nd April

Lunchtime ride with Lucy.  Not much to say other than it was pleasant to be out with the other half and we are definitely a work in progress.  Lucy is doing well as it is still within her first half dozen rides and this was the first one with any kind of hills more than bridges over motor ways.  It was also the furthest she has been on her road bike.

Ride data here: