Road trippin'

Saw Mad Mackem today at the school gate, made the mistake of boasting I did 110km on Sunday, the conversation went something like:

Mark "110km? I did 147 with Brummie Dave"
Craig "147km, that's a good shout"
Mark "no, miles"
Craig "220km! F*** me!"
Mark "in 8 hours"

Exit Craig left

As Peaches said. Humbled.

Here comes the rain

Friday evening, Beth and I completed the Beausale loop, her first experience of clipped in road riding. And she did remarkably well. I paced her on the fixie and she was understandably nervous of the traffic, it does take some getting used to, but she made the 20km without issue and it looks like many rides will follow.
On Saturday I rose early and stepped out of the house for a quick blast at 07:30. We were due to spend the day at an FSID (http://www.fsid.org.uk) family day at Stratford Butterfly Farm and then I wanted to get back to watch the football, so it was an early start or nothing at all. The sky was clear, but there were dark clouds on the horizon. Keen to get going I resisted going back for any wet weather gear. Five minutes in, through Warwick, the first rain drops landed cold and hard on my top lip and within another 5 minutes I was pretty well soaked. It didn’t seem worth turning round, although the thought of all that wet weather specific gear, overshoes, waterproofs, tights sitting at home in the wardrobe did grate.
I’d planned a 40km loop out through Stratford upon Avon which of course took me through the storm and then returned me back in to it, only clearing as I pulled into the car park at home. I returned thoroughly drenched, but happy, to a house framed by clear blue sky. Which is the way it stayed for the rest of the day. Don’t you just love English weather?

Duration 01:30:47
Calories 1079 kcal
Distance42 km
Average HR 139 bpm
Maximum HR166 bpm

Sunday I hadn’t planned a long ride, but I left the house under a cloud (metaphorical this time) and hoped the space would help to clear my head. I headed out over Burton Dassett and across to Canon’s Ashby (see pic) where I re-filled my water bottles in the café. I then headed on across Helidon, Flecknoe, Grandborough and home. 4 hours and 110km later. The ride did indeed cheer me up with the exception of one other dark cloud. At one point, just past Cropredy, I had to traverse a busy road, my route took me along it for 100m or so, before I turned right onto a lane. As the traffic was heavy I waited at the kerbside for a break before crossing (as I was taught at school). Whilst waiting out of the way of the traffic at the roadside the occupants of a passing car took the opportunity to slow down and call me a “cycling c*nt”. What kind of society makes people think they can be so abusive to innocent strangers?
Two minutes later whilst still mulling this over, a white van (what else?) pulled out of a side road in front of me. Not particularly dangerous but he should have given way. As should the bloke in the Subaru who followed, causing me to brake hard to avoid ploughing into the side of his car. I was too shocked and despondent to react.
In contrast however the weather was perfect for cycling, cool, sunny, a gentle breeze and generally great to be out.

Duration 04:04:04
Calories 2752 kcal
Distance108.6 km
Average HR 134 bpm
Maximum HR 167 bpm

Monday spin class, with Beth, and now a couple of days rest (if only because our washing machine broke so I can’t wash any lycra).
7 weeks to go and I feel fitter (and more experienced) than when I started LEJoG so I’m confident at the moment that I’m well on target. In the next couple of weeks I should clock up my 10 000th km on my trusty Scott S20 which will be something to celebrate.

Spin spin sugar

Being the cool and centred dude that I am I thought I would impress Beth at the spin class with my poise, fitness, strength and tenacity. What I actually did was pour the contents of my water bottle over myself as I went to take a swig and the top popped off, drenching me and the bike. Hmm, not quite the image of unbridled macho manhood I was trying to convey.

Tuesday I took no exercise but today I got up early and time trialled 25km before work. I repeated the route Peaches, Half Mile and I did on Sunday (but without upsetting anyone), a rolling route with some mild climbs but no great descents. I set myself a target of 50 minutes to cover the 25km. I actually managed 53:14minutes, so slightly above target, but I included the warm up in the route and probably didn't push myself as hard as I could, so I'm not too disappointed.

It was however a glorious morning. No cloud, pale blue sky, the sun just rising behind me as I hit the road at 06:10. A hazy mist clung to the ground, yet to be burnt off by the impending heat, which I dipped in and out of as the road rose and fell. A great way to start the day (shame I had to spend the rest of it stuck in an office). Next time...



Duration 00:53:46
Calories 675 kcal
Distance 25.1 km

I didn't mean to be so late its just that I got riding

Saturday

Duration 03:12:16
Calories 1825 kcal
Distance 76.7 km

Average HR 122 bpm
Maximum HR 169 bpm

Saturday morning I told Beth I was going out for a short ride, 90 minutes, 2 hours maximum. The figures above tell the lie to what actually happened. Glorious sunshine, a small peloton (Mad Mackem, Peaches, Brummie Dave and Ed) and the fact that we got lost somewhere near Helidon Lakes meant I was much longer than planned. This also worked against Ed who joined us on an empty stomach straight from his paper round and struggled to get back. Peaches peeled off to his in laws at 60km, Ed and I soon peeled off home once we'd got our bearings, leaving Mad Mackem and Dave to toil alone.
We headed straight along the main road into Southam and then picked up the Welsh Road to Leamington, Cubbington and home. I love the Welsh Road. I love the way it meanders with the contours of the land. I love its gentle rise and fall. And I love its history. I imagine Welsh drovers taking their livestock to market in London, walking for days along this ancient route. It crosses the Fosse, a more ancient road (or is it?) and my mind wanders at this junction to the millions of feet and wheels which must have passed this way over thousands of years. A Roman road crossed by an ancient drovers trail. What scenes must have been seen here?

Sunday, Peaches, Half Mile and myself did a quick 25km spin before settling down to an afternoon of beer and barbecue with friends and families in attendance. Much fun was had by all.

On the way back down Rouncil lane we spied a group of three riders ahead. Paul and I, being of a similarly childish mindset couldn't resist the catch. We sped past the group with a casual greeting as if our speed signified no more than a superior fitness and ability (the fact that two of the riders were 20 years or more older than us and they had, as a group, clearly completed a long and arduous ride took none of the shine from our achievement). Sadly our arrogance clearly piqued the younger of the riders, who, as we slowed further up the road steamed past us, with a shove in the back for Peaches. I gave chase and caught him but couldn't stay with him (full carbon Cervelo was my excuse). I let him go, but saw that he had himself slowed upon catching a friend up ahead. So despite the climb I gave chase again and caught and passed a clearly startled rider before peeling off on another route home. Oh what fun.

Sadly, whilst I was playing Tour Professionals, Half Mile had narrowly averted catastrophe. A tooth came off his rear cassette causing the pressure to do the same to his crank and forcing the chain off its run to wrap itself around the pedal. One more stroke and he'd have pinged over the bars. So, a new drivetrain, (shiny Italian Campagnolo) but thankful for small mercies.

Anyway, at least I was back on time!
Duration 00:57:09
Calories 641 kcal
Distance 25.2 km

Average HR 134 bpm
Maximum HR 168 bpm

Monday saw Beth and I at spin. Her first real exercise for 12 months. Good for her. She's keen to come out and join the gruppetto. I'm sure she won't be as immature.

You can't always get what you want

But if you try sometime, you get what you need. After Monday’s epic Tuesday was a day of rest slumbering quietly at my desk at work. Wednesday I cycled in which gave me a gentle 10km workout on the fixie and Thursday a big session in the gym.
Interestingly (well, to me anyway) I normally warm up with a 2000m row, with the intention of completing it in under 8:30. Which I normally manage pretty easily. Today my legs were stiff so I thought I’d manage my HR rather than effort. By keeping my HR “in the zone” (129 - 149) I managed 2500m in 10:40, and wasn’t too tired at the end. Which just goes to show that exercising at a more consistent rate for longer gives a better result. I know this isn’t news, but its good to see it in action.
Now, what I don’t know how to do is to translate this to riding the bike.

For example on Monday my HR shot up to 170 which is 95% max, I assume on one of the steeper climbs (I wasn’t watching it) and averaged 134 (74%) which is fine. The question is when presented with a massive climb how do you stay out of the red, or is it more important to maintain a good average and not worry about the peaks and troughs. Conversely I have noticed I can punt along at 40kph on flat terrain with a HR of 120 (with the wind!). I’m sure I’ll work it out.

erratum

Not sure if the photo link below works, it must've cached on my laptop, if you're really bothered search for rider 168 in the Cotswold Classic sportive

every day is a winding road

I’ve decided that entering a challenging sportive on the last day of a long weekend is a daft thing to do. Whilst it was enormously enjoyable and very hard work it did dominate the weekend, meaning I had to watch what I ate and drank (no bad thing I guess) and meaning there was no time to r&r afterwards, just straight back to work.

Good Friday began with Peaches and I taking in 50km around my favourite Aston Cantlow loop. 2 hours nicely paced and we managed to find the only 2 hour window all day when it didn’t rain.

I then intended, having failed to get on my bike Wednesday or Thursday, to take a short spin on Saturday to stretch my legs ahead of the big ride on Monday. This didn’t happen because I was decorating and of course now Beth is back on her feet I need to allow time for her to get down the gym too. She’s determined to get a bike and come training with me and to be honest I’m looking forward to it, but I’m not sure my mentality of set an impossible cycle challenge and complete it, meets with her more whimsical sunny summer pootle in the countryside. We’ll see. She’s pretty competitive so I suspect she’ll step up to the plate. I can’t wait to see her climb Edge Hill.

Anyway, Beth, Imogen and I were booked into a nice B&B ahead of the Monday ride, in the Cotswold Water Park Hotel. Lovely hotel, great location and great facilities but a little impersonal, but for £70 all in, a bargain. I bumped into Scott from Mike’s Bikes in Kenilworth who was also there for the ride (interestingly he’d targeted 6 hours, I targeted 8! I don’t know how he got on).

Monday was the day. A misty start but promising sunshine later. Peaches, the Mad Mackem & Brummie Dave were travelling down to meet me on the day, necessitating an early start for them (registration was 7am thru 8am, start between 8am and 9am – for those that don’t know a Sportive is not a race but it is timed via transponder attached to the bike and the results are published. It’s more of a personal challenge).

Mad Mackem overslept and then proceeded to leave his helmet amongst other things behind. A mistake he was to regret. We set off about 8:20. Dave had a friend with him, Malc (I think) who pretty much left us all behind.

The route was spectacular. Very difficult (lots of short steep climbs interspersed with a few very long climbs) and certainly the most challenging I have ever ridden. It certainly wasn’t a route I would have planned for myself, but then that’s the fun of these things, to put yourself outside of your comfort zone and overcome it.

Dave and Malc headed off and I stayed with Peaches and Mad Mackem to the foot of Birdlip hill, about 50km in. At this point I lost them, this thread will explain why: http://forum.220magazine.com/tm.asp?m=16949 . The route actually took us down the hill into Cheltenham along the valley and up again. On the way down I set off a speed camera, the speed limit was 30mph, I’m not sure how fast I was going at the time, but my computer clocked my max speed for the ride at 72kph (45mph).

I rode on alone, picking up and losing various groups although I was grateful to take a tow behind two women for 15km after the last big climb of the day, who sheltered me from the wind. The rest gave me enough energy to push on for the last 30km, where another helpful rider towed me along for 10km or so, before it became obvious I was slowing him down, so I told him to go on ahead.

I rode 168.5 km and finished in 7:59:13, bang on target. 4966 KCals burnt. My actual ride time was 7:20 with 40 minutes rest. Brummie Dave came in on 7:40 and Malc an incredible 7hrs. Now, Peaches and Mad Mackem were a long way behind but an outstanding achievement for them both. Mad Mackem (who I know is capable of matching me pedal for pedal), for sacrificing his own ride to stay with Peaches and coax him home and Peaches for a) having mad hair (see photo) and b) finishing at all.

The route was much tougher than we’d anticipated and for Peaches, who only threw his leg over a bike in November, a great achievement to finish. Nothing L2P throws up will compare I’m sure, although I hope the weather is as good. Apart from a breeze that kicked up after lunch it was pretty perfect, sunny, still and not too hot.
As I said, Mad Mackem forgot his helmet. Some of the roads were really broken up, steep back lanes with lots of loose tarmac and big potholes, after a severe winter. It was on a particularly steep and sketchy descent that Mackem’s handlebars dropped off, causing a few brown trouser moments and a degree of circumspection for the rest of the ride. Always wear a helmet reader!
For me, Monday has vindicated my training. Whilst I don’t feel that I’ve trained as much as I would have liked I have tried to focus what I do and augment bike work with gym and spin classes. Now I have proved to myself I can ride the distance (again) I need to focus on maintaining fitness for the 9 weeks until we go although I’m planning a very quiet week immediately prior to departure.
nb. For those who like a fright, there are official “action” photos (of me!) from the sportive here: http://sportivephoto.thirdlight.com/search.tlx?gsearchid=1239720615&pictureid=9026499

Bring it on!

The winning tickets for the 2009 FSID Raffle were drawn by Sharon Potter (Global CEO Kantar Operations) today. The winners were:
3rd Prize Framed Photographic print from eyevine.com: Siobhan Jones of York
2nd Prize £200 Currys/Dixons/PCWorld vouchers: Santo Rizzo of Heathcote
1st Prize Panasonic Lumix FX-33 Camera: Sera & Mick Peretta of Oxley


Thank you to everyone who took part and congratulations to the winners. The raffle has raised £1247 for FSID the UK's leading baby charity working to prevent sudden deaths and promote health.

The funds are in support of my bike ride from London to Paris in June to mark 10 years since the death of Tom Barker aged 20 months.

If you want to offer further support to FSID please sponsor me (tax free) here: http://www.justgiving.com/craigmorrisfsid

Every penny is gratefully received.

Dance yourself dizzy

Just to prove it wasn't my parental bias, Amelia won the award for best upcoming dancer in the show. A star in the making.

On the back of yesterday's ride I made it to spin today, stats to follow.

Now I plan a couple of days rest (maybe ride to work but nothing more) then a short ride Thursday, a longer one Friday and then two days off before the big one on Easter Monday, 105 mile sportive through the Cotswolds http://www.cotswoldspringclassic.co.uk/ If I get through that, I know I'm well on target, but I suspect the weather will be the deciding factor. The three L2Ps will be out for it, Peaches, Mackem Mark and myself.

Duration 00:49:56
Calories 527 kcal
Average HR 130 bpm
Maximum HR 160 bpm

Smile a 60 mile smile

Its amazing the difference the sunshine makes. Today was a perfect Spring day. Today was everything that makes living in England (or anywhere in the British Isles) so enjoyable. The contrasting weather makes for every day to be different and today was one of the best.

Peaches, Mackem Mark and myself set off at 8:00am on a route of Peaches' choosing. Although it was bright and clear there were signs of a light frost on the ground, but I chose to show off my new shorts again although the others went down the Robin Hood men in tights route. I made the right choice; it soon warmed up to a glorious day. Fresh, clear air, sunshine, lambs frolicking in fields, pheasants squawking in hedges and badgers dead in the gutter. Oh well, not so perfect for Brock I guess.

Our route took us along Harbury lane to Burton Dassett hills. Mackem Mark passed me on Harbury hill so I attacked in a fit of foolishness, which damn near killed me. My heart rate shot up to 168. I hate that hill. Over Burton Dassett, I took the King of the Mountains jersey, Peaches took the big girl's blouse. Mackem Mark left us at this point and Peaches and I pressed on to Wormleighton, Priors Hardwick and Marston up another great climb to Hellidon. At the top I admired the view and waved to a young girl also admiring it from her bedroom window. She (rightly) looked at me aghast, a mad old man in pink merino and lycra Form your own mental image.

Anyway, the ride was magnificent, Peaches headed on to the future in-laws at Barby and I headed home through Leamington Hastings, Offchurch and Cubbington at an average just over 30kph, which given the distance I was pretty pleased with.

The afternoon was spent watching Amelia in her dance show. Unashamedly biased, she was clearly the best, most naturally gifted dancer in the show and it was a very proud Dad (and family) who shed a small tear watching (one of) his angel(s) on stage. I love my family and its this love which drives me on to complete the task I set out to do. I've raised over £5 per kilometre so far and hope to raise more. Thank you all. Tomorrow is our fifth wedding anniversary and Thursday Tom's birthday. A mixed emotional week.

Duration 03:05:11
Calories 2076 kcal
Distance 93.8 km
Average HR 134 bpm
Maximum HR 168 bpm (showing off up bloody Harbury hill!

So much things to say right now

Lots to say for a change since Saturday. Sunday Half Mile, Ed and I went over to Solihull for a cup of tea with my mom and dad. Just over 30km each way and because we went out into the wind it really brings it home what a difference it makes. I think we did 75 minutes there and 65 back or somesuch with a nice cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit in the middle. Thanks mom.

63.5km 1619 KCals Avg HR 133.

Monday I went to spin and really went for it 421 KCals and 133 avg HR

Tuesday more pain at the gym, 2km on the rower (8 minutes) 30minute spin on the bike and some weights. 496 Kcals 130bpm.

Wednesday. rest. ahh.

Today (Thursday) snuck out at lunchtime and rode over to Mike's Bikes in Kenilworth to have them adjust the cleats on my new shoes ;-). From there I couldn't resist testing my new Rapha bib shorts (see pic) and was chuffed to post 30km in 58:49 747 KCals 144bpm.

who hoo a busy week at last. Hopefully cycle to work tomorrow, but not sure what the weekend holds as we're busy with a party for Mo on Saturday and then the whole family is off to watch Amelia's dance show on Sunday. Looking forward to that. Bless.

Only downside this week was that Wednesday, my day of rest, was a glorious warm spring day. Which i missed.