Results tagged “rides”

We are still snow bound here in Reading, and while the main roads are drivable any smaller roads are treacherous. Rather than risking it on the road bike, I took my mountain bike out for a ride in the snow.

I didn't go far, but the resistance from the snow provided me with a great work out!

I got up early this morning to get a ride in before tackling all the jobs Clare had for me, and opened the curtains to a sunny and very cold morning. Perfect!

Lots of layers was the order of the day, and I started the ride with 4; a Trekmates merino long sleeve baselayer, Endura long sleeve cycling top, Gore Oxygen SO jacket and a Pearl Izumi Gilet. I often start with the gilet and then pack it away once I have warmed up -- while it is thinm the extra wind barrier takes a little edge off. I also had on double gloves, merino socks and overshoes. I was prepared for the elements!

I wanted to try some roads I had not ridden before, so headed out of Reading down the Oxford Road to Pangbourne. From there I turned off left then right towards Upper Basildon. Upper being the word here as the road climbed straight up! I kept a steady pace but was glad when the road flattened. What I wasn't expecting was ungritted roads and I struggled to stay up right at times.

From there I looped under the M4 to Bradfield. Not having done this route before I didn't expect the very steep short climb through Bradfield village. That was really hard going! I need to loose some weight to help my climbing, as hauling my body up those type of steep hills is really hard going...

Then the road dropped down to Theale, and I followed the road back to Pangbourne, and retraced my steps back to Caversham. My pace was not great overall, partly due to the hills taking it out of me and not having done much riding over Christmas.

Great to be out in the cold though!

After a week of no rides (due to a very sick wife and having to mind the children), I managed to find an hour of free time today to have a ride.

Just as I was putting my kit on the heavens opened, with torrential rain. 'Good chance to try out my new jacket' I thought! By the time I got the bike out the rain had stopped which I thought was a good sign.

I head out to around the back of Mapledurham, climbing steadily and avoiding the massive pools of water on the narrow b roads. I could see the big rain clouds ahead of me and realised that my loop was taking me back into them! I turned off by the Oratory Public School, and headed down the hill towards Pangbourne, at which point the rain started. It hammered down. The hill down to Pangbourne is 20% and goes on for long way. According to my GPS I hit 49.5mph coming down, which if even close summed up how scary the descent was in the wet.

At the bottom I turned left and headed back to Reading, over the bridge and up Woodcote Road, where the hill (a mere 12%) almost finished me off.

My new Gore Oxygen SO jacket was amazing, and kept me dry the entire way. What I didn't expect was how cold my feet were. I don't have overshoes, and the water off the road had formed into a pool at the bottom of my shoes. Yuck. That plus the cold temperature had turned my feet into ice.

I'm off to buy some overshoes tomorrow...

After what seemed like days of rain, and high winds, this morning was perfect weather for a ride.

My aim was to try and do a longer ride. In fact, further than I had ridden in years. I wanted to go to Wallingford and back, which I reckoned would be about 25 miles. This would start to show me if my fitness was improving and would be a break from usual shorter routes, which seem to follow the same roads.

I picked out a rough route on google maps before I went, donned my new windstopper (a Gore Oxygen SO) and set off.

As usual I struggled for the first 30 minutes of the ride, but tried to keep in a lower gear and a higher cadence to live with it. The route was a gradual drag up hill past Goring Heath and to Woodcote. Then I kept to B roads across to South Stoke, which featured a monster downhill. I seriously need to get fitter before attempting to climb back up that! Then a few rolling roads across to Wallingford.

I skirted around the outside and headed back on the other side of the river. The route through Cholsey and through to Streatley was a little up and down but the main feature was a terrible head wind. It really knocked the stuffing out of me and my legs were feeling heavy.

I turned left at Streatley and went through Goring. I knew I had a big climb ahead back up to the top of the hills before heading home, but I didn't realise quite how big! About a third of the way I turned a sharp left and the road just rose in front of me. I went to drop into lower gears and I realised I only had one left! I'm not afraid to say I did walk a small bit until the slope levelled a bit. I need to get fitter and loose weight to help my climbing...

The rest of the climb was still steep but easier for me to get into a rythm, followed by a nice blast back into Caversham. All in all a great ride.

I did learn that I need to increase my base fitness a lot and loosing some weight will really help me up some of the hills.

Not much chance of a ride tomorrow (I had decided I was going to be 'away from my desk' tomorrow at meetings!) by the look of the BBC weather forcast.

Even more annoying, I was going to visit Palmer Park Velodrome for the first time tonight and ride in their Thursday night open sessions. Looks like that will have to wait until next week.

I hit the roads this morning on my new bike, finally!

Before I set off I did a quick route plan, as I knew I wanted to go further than I had managed in my brisk 1 hour hacks on the road on my mountain bike. I also wanted to cover part of those routes, to get a feel for the difference the road bike would make.

Firstly, a road bike is going to take some getting used to! I think the position is spot on but it feels very stretched compared to my mountain bike. But then that is to be expected. The campag shifters are quickly becoming second nature, though I think the biggest difference is the harsher ride. Being used to big squashy 2" MTB tyres, I sould noticed the rough surface of the roads!

Saying all that, I did love it. I even attacked a few hills, dancing on the pedals, so I must have been having fun!

I ended up doing a 21.5 mile route according to Runkeeper (tracked using the Runkeeper app on my iPhone). The elapsed time of 1hr 40mins did included a stop for a breather after one big hill and traffic hold ups in Henley. I was expecting a slightly faster average speed, but then I did spend a lot of time playing with the gears and getting used to the brakes.

Annoyingly I'm going to manage a single ride this week. Normally I do a Monday and a Thursday/Friday, which spreads across the week OK. It does leave a bit of a gap in the middle, so I should find something to do Wednesday. Wii Fit
perhaps...

Anyway, this week I couldn't do Monday and knew that my only chance for a ride was going to be today. So I picked the longest route I've done so far.

13.95 miles
1hr 9 mins (includes a stop to let a tractor reverse out of a field!)
12.02mph average
640ft climbed

You can see the route here: http://bit.ly/19zsIX

I didn't feel that great on parts of the ride it must be said. I struggled for the first half, which was odd. It felt at times like the road was sapping my strength -- like the road was sticky and it was an effort to make progress. The second half felt better though.

Doing this type of ride, on the road, on my MTB is making me pine for my new road bike though. Only 6 weeks left to wait...

I gave Runkeeper another test on my ride tonight and I'm offically impressed!

I'm going to do a full review soon, but I will say that (so far) it is the best iPhone GPS cycling app I have used. And I have used a lot I can tell you!

Graphically it looks much nicer than MotionX, though I have my iPhone in my pocket recording so it is not a big deal. It feels polished, even though MotionX has more features (not that I use them all anyway).

So far it has tracked my route just about perfectly. Which you can see below:

I thought I would push myself a little today, and go for a shorter loop but with a couple of hills. I had tackled almost the same route back when I started getting 'on my bike'. I realised how unfit I was as I struggled up the very short but steep hills.

A good measure of my progress then I reckoned. And it was. Yeah I puffed a bit up the steep one at the start (not warmed up enough), but generally I was pleased. I felt fitter and more able to tackle the hills.

I also got to try out Run Keeper on my iPhone. I'll be reviewing that in more detail in another post, but first impressions are good.

8.65 miles
46 mins
11.20mph average speed
311ft climbed
Country lanes / MTB

I did a repeat ride tonight for the first time. Up to now I have been trying to find new routes and build up a small library of my favourites. I have a variety; short & hilly, longer & gradual, longer with a bloody big hill in the middle. That type of thing.

What I need to do is list these routes properly then work out a training diary. But that sounds very organised to me. Must do it though.

So, anyway I did a repeat ride. I wasn't trying to beat my old time. Honest. But I was pleased I went quicker, though not as much as I thought (which might be explained by my slightly inaccurate iPhone GPS route logging). I did feel stronger on the climbs as was able to sprint up a couple, which I couldn't do a couple of months ago.

11.42 miles
55 mins
12.44mph average speed
Country lanes / Mountain Bike

Only a short ride tonight, which was really my fault. Work had pilled up and by the time I started getting my kit on it was 6.45pm. A month ago I would have had a good 1.5hrs of daylight to play with, but not now. I had lights on the bike but some of the country lanes I ride can be a bit of a 'rat run', made worse in the dark. I didn't fancy a James Martin moment!

Instead I decided on a shorter route of only 9 miles. Not a lot but I was on my mountain bike. I took a route which included a couple of hard climbs and tried to keep to a pace of 12miles an hour all the way round. Not super fast, but enough for a work out.

From now on I need to make time to knock off work a bit earlier and give myself more time.

Straight away I made a decision about the 'type' of riding I was going to do.

I did not want to start out with a 3 hour killer ride, end up half dead for the next few days and not get back on my bike for the rest of the week. Instead I decided I wanted to get some base miles in my legs first. Little and often I reckoned. I am also slightly hampered by running my own business and having two small childen. Taking a whole day at the weekend for a ride is a tricky proposition.

Instead I am trying 1-1.5 hrs, after work, a couple of times of week. Not long, but long enough to get the legs spinning and put some base miles in. I'm riding my MTB on the road mostly, so am not going that fast but am managing 12-14 miles. I am hitting the maximum I can do in that time, so am trying to mix up the intensity, do more hills etc. But I know I am going to have to start to schedule in 2hr rides next, and keep it going.