The morning of the first training ride

It's 7am. John & Tim stayed over last night, and we managed to go to bed before midnight and without drinking any alcohol. This may not sound shocking to you reading this, but to me the idea of either of these two staying over and the ideas of an early night & no alcohol are somewhat incongruous.

At 8:30 we'll be setting off on our first team training ride. Simon has planned the route, but I think it involves cycling to Chichester. Take a look on the map....Guildford to Chichester & back....it's going to be great!!

I've had a bad week as far as training is concerned (hence the lack of posts). Monday was a rest day. I intended to Turbo train on Tuesday, but I spent too much time trying to readjust my saddle (it had been moved during the service) and fit my new cadence sensor (which works, but seems to stop the speed sensor from working). Wednesday I'd arranged to meet up with a friend who I haven't seen one on one for ages. Thursday Jules and I went out for a meal for valentines night, which was lovely. We went to Vivat Bacchus; fine wine, lovely food, great service - recommended!

Friday was spent preparing for the training ride today. Jules had been trying to get some tee-shirts done for the team photo, and we ended up buying blanks & printing our own transfers. It took ages!!!

Anyhow - wish us luck!

Here's to the other halves...

I was back on the turbo on Tuesday night, and felt fine. I was pleased about this given the miles I'd done over the weekend. I did a full hour, and approx 15 'turbo miles'. Note: I've set the resistance on my turbo such that my average speed, and normal gear & cadence mean that my heart rate is similar to what it would be on the road. This is not an exact science, but I reckon my 'turbo mile' is about as near to a real mile as I'm likely to get. Having said all that, 15 miles is the furthest I've gone in an hour so far; hence I was pleased.

The plan was to Turbo train tonight too, as I have a work function on Thursday. However, I managed to get home before Jules did for the first time this year. She has been so great about letting me train, and ensuring I have something to eat when I've finished, that I decided it would be nice to treat her to a meal and have an unplanned relaxing evening.

So....another one of those days of rest

Lonely ride to Beyond Mountain Bikes

Today I set out for a short 30 mile route via Beyond Mountain Bikes. I remember when I bought my bike from them back in December, I joked about cycling home on it (thinking it was a long way). Now I cycle there, and do a further 22 miles afterwards...

I was hoping to pick up my new cadence sensor, but it had not come in yet. Bought some new shorts, a new light (my old one packed up), some energy bars and some Zym electrolytic drink. Oh yeah, and bought a bum bag to put it all in so I could get it home!

Bumped into Paul just after Milford. We were both looking for the Shackleford road, but neither of us thought we had passed it. Paul had been out for a while, and needed to get home (he'd already almost got to Farnham after a wrong turn at Elstead). Hope he's not too late!

I managed 30 miles in 2 hours. Felt much stronger today, and am looking forward to another long ride tomorrow. Planning to meet up with Rich near Windsor. The scary bit is Rich has organized the ride, so you never know what will happen....

Lost cadence sensor

I set out for another ride this morning. Only 27 miles (when did the words "only" and "27 miles" get permission to sit next to each other in my vocabulary?!). My bum was a bit sore to start with after the ride on Saturday, but soon warmed up.

As we set off, I noticed my cadence sensor had fallen off - have to order a new one I guess. The ride was good; except my knee was aching a bit on the up-hills. We adjusted the saddle a bit & that seemed to help. We finished the ride in under 2 hours.

On arriving home, I realised I could figure out where I lost my cadence sensor by looking at the route from the Garmin - there would be a point from the ride yesterday where the cadence would go from "something" to "nothing". I found the point on the ride & went to have a look, but it just happened to be near the junction between the Hogs Back and the Farnham road into Guildford - not an ideal place to find a small piece of plastic with a magnet in it.

The 2nd week

Although I was back at work on 2-Jan, last week was my first full week back since Fraser died. I'm realising that the trick to this challenge is going to be finding the time to get the miles in. Sunday morning was easy enough. Simon joined Paul and I on our 35 mile route via Dorking. I felt great after that ride - much stronger than on New Years day. Could it possibly be that this training is paying off already?

I had a work function on Thursday night, and planned to keep Friday clear, so I turbo-trained on Monday and Wednesday with a break on Tuesday. Because I had a shortened turbo-training session on Wednesday due to working late, I also went out for a short 15 mile ride on Saturday morning.

This brought my weekly total to 72 miles (including the turbo). Thats 4 miles further than the first week which is good, but not as good as I had hoped. Having said that, my average speed is up 1/2 mph and my average cadence is up 5.

I now have a turbo...

I was planning to go to the gym tonight to do a few more miles. On my way to the gym, I passed a bike shop, and popped in and bought a turbo trainer so I could do my training at home.

Great idea, except it took me a little while to put it together, so I ended up training til 21:30, and eating after that. Still, I managed to do the equivalent of 13 miles bringing my total to 68 miles for my first week of training. Not bad.

I had treated myself to a Garmin Edge 305 GPS thingy, which you attach to your bike so it can monitor a whole bunch of stuff you might be interested in (including cadence which I've discussed in previous postings). It makes tracking your progress really easy, with the added benefit of showing you where you went on a map in case you want to do a route again (or avoid one...).

35 miler - Happy New Year!!

I can't quite believe I'm out on my bike again, but what a great way to start the New Year!!

Paul & I decide to go out on a slightly longer ride, but less hilly, so we can a) get some more miles under our belt and b) focus on getting our cadence up.

We're aiming to do 25 miles, but we miss a turn and end up doing 35. This is another difference with the road bike compared to the mountain bike - you can really cover some distance. We cycled from Guildford to Dorking (via Cranleigh) - it felt great! It would have been a significant drive, and we did it by pedal power!!

It was a miserable day however, and I have to confess I felt like giving up, getting a hot drink & booking a taxi when we unexpectantly ended up in Dorking. Fraser popped into my head to keep me going though, and when I arrived home I felt fantastic.

My first ride alone

New Years Eve, and I figure I should get out on my bike. I decide to try the same route as we did for the kickoff meeting. 22 miles later, and I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. My average speed is up, my average heart rate is much the same and my cadence is up.

Over the past few weeks I've had to learn a lot about cycling (I'm a complete novice at road riding; my only experience being on a heavy, but comfortable mountain bike). Here are a couple I had never previously heard of

1. Cadence - this is the speed the pedals are turning. Apparently at the moment I need to stay in a low gear and keep my cadence high
2. Turbo trainers - this is a machine you mount your bike on such that you can ride all evening in the comfort of your own home....must get one
3. Zertz inserts - these are inserts to the frame of your bike which apparently absorb some of the vibrations and make the ride more comfortable. I bought these. Compared to my mountain bike, my new road bike is not as comfortable!