Saddles and so on

May 8, 2017 |   |  Comment  |  bicycles, training

A short ride today, trying out a new saddle: enough has hurt over the last week or so that I clearly need some sort of alternative point of contact on the bike for long rides. The Brooks Cambium I’ve been using has been fine for 100+ miles; it was a bit uncomfortable towards the end of the 200k ride a few weeks back, but that could have been the shorts. Somewhere around 300k into LWL, though, it was pretty clear that Things Were Not Fine.

Experiment now is with a Brooks Cambium Carved (C17 version); partly on the “well, it almost worked, see if a tweak changes anything” principle. On the face of 17 miles today (when still sore …) it may well do the job. The principal test will be next weekend, with back to back imperial centuries (more or less; the second day isn’t quite so far).

I’ve also reworked my audax schedule a bit; I don’t think I need to do another 400k – having checked/rechecked the LEL route against my time start and so on, I don’t need to do more than 200 miles a day (on the basis of sleeping at controls). Training to do a harder ride has some basis in sense but I think I would be better served with doing 300k rides instead, as that’s closer to what I will be riding, and to try to do a couple of back to back (I have a 600k – which is effectively that) already booked.

There aren’t any 300k rides within reasonable distance near here, at least not in the time frame I need, so I’m planning to do a permanent from Cambridge out to  Norfolk etc (yes, flat – but the all-ways-round headwind usually makes up for it).

Bonus: that’ll qualify me for the Super Randonneur audax award (200, 300, 400 and 600k rides in one audax season).

After 400k …

May 6, 2017 |   |  Comment  |  Uncategorized

… after 400k comes a week in Majorca, in which I do rather less cycling than anticipated (one 110k ride, and a couple of short spins) plus some swimming. The post-ride soreness continued with something of a vengeance, although the 110k ride wasn’t too bad. 

I suspect that a week of recovery to let the training effect kick in isn’t too nuts, anyway. 

400k test … done

May 3, 2017 |   |  Comment  |  Uncategorized

One milestone down: a 400k ride, to test kit and legs and strategies. It’s further than I plan to ride on LEL on any given day (although that is still being worked out as well). 

The ride was the London-Wales-London audax (used to called Severn Across) from Chalfont St Peter to Chepstow and back again (in a loop, not an out and back), with around 14k ft of climbing in the 407k of riding. 

Points noted on the ride: 

  • I don’t get sleepy if I keep on going (same thing happened with Dunwich Dynamo). I kept control stops short for just this reason. 
  • I need some more hill training
  • Go to the bathroom whenever possible (hunting for a suitable hedge isn’t much fun)
  • The Exposure Strada light doesn’t recharge whilst operating – may need to consider a dynamo for peace of mind
  • The Wahoo Bolt behaved perfectly (and recharged happily on the fly)
  • Saddle position needs to be adjusted (have started to work on this) as there has been some discomfort post ride (writing this three days later) …
  • Saddle pack functioned well (didn’t need anything out of it, though). It doesn’t get in the way, although I think was creaking a little in the last 100k – I need to check the straps etc
  • Handlebar pack also appeared to work out but I noticed afterwards that the add-on pack is wearing a small hole where – I think – it hits the tyre when the bike bounces in rough road. It doesn’t foul on the tyre in normal running, so I think it must be that. This isn’t helpful (it’s not worn through yet, just worn thin, but it will eventually wear through). I plan to get some gel padding to put under the bar tape, so will remove the blips at that time and see about using the Ortleib bag instead (it currently fouls on the blips). I don’t need the capacity of the full pack, just the accessory sized part. 
  • May need to build up palm calluses again: left hand ended up with a substantial blister, possibly from a glove tag. 

Breakfast

April 24, 2017 |   |  Comment  |  food

A useful and tasty mixture:

  • 150g Skyr
  • 100g pumpkin puree
  • 25g granola
  • 10g mixed seeds

Add all to a bowl and eat (swirl together or leave separate as you choose …) It’s a decent slug of protein and vitamins (and gets in a colored veg!)

 

Things learnt in a 200k ride

April 9, 2017 |   |  Comment  |  food, gadgets, training

  • Lucozade diluted 1:2 with water tastes like Portuguese Tang (the original orange version, not the updated sweetener version)
  • The Wahoo Bolt probably does 14+ hours per charge (23% left after 12 hours, so that may be conservative) – but it chews through phone battery if you leave it talking to the phone (so, turn off bluetooth on the phone, or switch to flight mode)
  • The settings on the Bolt can be adjusted directly, not just in the app – the power button, when tapped, allows (I should really RTFM one day)
  • The Bolt also doesn’t plot the route more than 5k or so on advance – not great when trying to find your way back on a diversion, as the route doesn’t show on the map when you zoom out. However, it picks up the route just fine when you locate it again
  • Turn by turn navigation isn’t great at staggered crossroads and other fast multiple turns – not sure if this is an issue with the Bolt, with ridewithgps, or whether it’s just a feature of turn-by-turn
  • Even so, the turn-by-turn is relatively useful at reminding of changes: with a couple of caveats – the key word is “turn” and not “junction”. It doesn’t notify when the route is straight on over a junction. It also doesn’t notify when the route stays on the same road but turns off at a junction (e.g.: where following the A1000 south of Hatfield requires you to take a left hand turn to come off the road you’re riding on – if you stay straight on, the road immediately becomes the A1001. The navigation doesn’t recognise this as a turn …). With all those caveats in mind, I’m still going to keep using it as the beeping is a useful reminder to look at the map function.
  • The Apidura food pod works – as in, I‘m feeling a lot more chipper than I was after an 80 mile ride recently. Some of that is additional training but I think a fair bit was also that I ate/drank more steadily this time – liquid every 5k (or more often if thirsty), food every 5k or 10k, depending on how I was feeling (but every 10k even if I didn’t want to).
  • Food that works: ‘claws’ blackcurrant & beetroot fruit sweets; mini Babybel light; nakd bars.
  • Drink that works: nuun lemon & lime (2 per bottle); Lucozade Sport Orange (diluted 1:2 with water)

… back outdoors 

March 17, 2017 |   |  Comment  |  Uncategorized

Still on the turbo during the week (only practical way to do intervals around here) but cycling outdoors is back under way. 

78 miles last weekend, not flat (not really hilly either) and it felt fine – the turbo clears pays off. I was tired in the evening, but no DOMS/exhaustion the next day, which bodes well. 

Still having hip/back issues off the bike – off for another MRI soon – but it doesn’t affect the cycling much, and the doc (surgeon) has continued with an all-clear to ride. During the 78 miler there were a couple of times that my thigh in particular twinged, with some glute pulling, but it was manageable and passed with a few miles each time. 

Turbo is the way to go …

February 19, 2017 |   |  Comment  |  training

Still here, still riding – on the turbo, still, as the sessions need to count. I’m a bit time-crunched for the moment, and I want to built power and speed – so I’m following a TrainerRoad training plan, whilst hooked into Zwift for visuals. Although, of course, I then end up spending quite a bit of time just reading on the iPad as I ride.

The TrainerRoad plans seem better structured than the Zwift ones (more in the way of under/overs and similar), and offer better choices for long distance training, which is why I’m mixing them that way. Sufferfest seems more fast-road oriented, for example – I know it has a couple of endurance rides, but that’s  maintenance and not training as such. At least, to my mind.

Thunderbirds are go

January 29, 2017 |   |  Comment  |  training

… or something like that. 56 miles yesterday, not particularly flat (not massively hilly either). Tiring, unsurprisingly – it was always going to be something of a stretch to go from a few turbo sessions to 90 km or so. Plodded up the hills mostly – ran out of energy when I ran out of momentum on one particular hill, but so be it.

Part of that is, I think, that I need to practice eating while I ride: I ran out of easy-access energy. Plan for the next few rides is to chop up nakd bars into bites & set a timer to eat and drink every 20 minutes. Also plan to be a bit less ambitious on distance, but ride twice each weekend.

In the plus side, some of the worst of the hip issue seems to have been subdued. Possibly just from being worked … who knows. No particular issues riding, although quads & hamstrings had unsurprising moments of unhappiness.

… still here …

January 7, 2017 |   |  Comment  |  Just riding, training

Lack of posts basically due to back/hip issues which have been restricting me to the turbo (am disinclined to go out when my back randomly seizes up and then takes a while to sort itself out). Posts about Strava … yeah, not so interesting.

That said, yesterday’s SST session was useful – and somewhat tiring (duh). Will put that on the rinse & repeat cycle.

Signed up for Sufferfest’s app also, partly for variety but also to access the yoga sessions as that may help with back etc.

And …  have signed up for LEL. It’s all official. So I’ve also signed up for a series of audaxes to add to the indoor training.