After images of congestion and congested roads, a few photos of people cycling on quiet roads. This is partly because cars are restricted in these areas or I have waited for the road to be clear.
The cycling idyll.
Congestion and cycling
Congestion is already a major issue in the UK, but with a rising population, lower oil prices and economic growth, congestion is set to increase significantly over the next few years.
- By 2031, Transport for London estimate a 60% increase in congestion in the capital (link)
- UK Gov (2015 report) state they predict road congestion to increase between 19% to 55% growth between 2010 and 2040.
The UK (especially in South) has a high population density. Building new roads is either not possible or undesirable because of the desire to protect remaining green spaces. With limited supply of roads, rising demand for travel – both car and HGV use will see congestion rise significantly.
Costs of congestion
Already, the UK economy experiences high social costs from congestion. These include
- Longer journey times, which has both economic and time cost for business and consumers.
- Air pollution from burning fuel in jams.
- Lost business for city centre shops who see customers put off travelling due to congestion.
Congestion and growth of cycling
- The growth of cycling in London is at least partly driven by gridlock on London roads. For commuters weighing up different options for travel to work, the higher the time lost through traffic jams, the more attractive the alternative cycling is.
- Congestion at peak times in Oxford is a big incentive to cycle into work. This is helped by a a limited and patchy offering of cycle lanes. (I wouldn’t call it a network as that would imply it is fully integrated). But, in some places it is just enough to help cyclists avoid the worst congestion.
Cold, medications and WADA lists
It’s been a real stop-start season. Last week I was busy with other things, such as Peace Run coming to Oxford. This week, it’s another cold/flu. Unfortunately, I’ll probably miss first round of RTTC series 1, which is a shame. The early season hillies are the main target of year for .
Medication and anti-doping
Recently, there’s been a lot of press about the role of (both legal and illegal) medication and its use for performance enhancing properties. As an athlete, I’m fortunate to be quite healthy, and I rarely take any medication or supplements. I would not feel comfortable taking medication where there is a potential performance enhancing effect – even if legal. The main thing is to follow the rules, but I also believe there is such a thing as the spirit of the laws and not doing anything you wouldn’t be happy for other competitors to know about.
Maidenhead 29 mile TT Henley, Marlow
This weekend was a difficult choice between – Banbury Star 23 mile TT – and Maidenhead 29 mile TT. Banbury Star has Sunrising hill, but I chose Maidenhead because it is my local training roads, and I can just about manage to cycle there. Given that it is Mother’s Day, I think a third option might have been to head north and explain my delayed Mother’s Day Card, but it was too late, and I stuck with racing down south.
From Oxford to Frieth ‘as the crow flies’ is 21 miles – given that the weather was -1 degrees on waking up, it was a close decision to cycle rather than drive. But, I’m glad I chose to cycle in the end, it wasn’t quite as cold as I feared and it was a good way to stack up some miles. 90 in total, which is the furthest distance this year.
The Maidenhead and District CC 29 Mile TT goes from Frieth to Stokenchurch, Christmas Common, Henley, Marlow to Frieth. It is not particularly hilly, more a few long drags, 370m of climbing over 29 miles. There was quite a variety of entrants, with a few hardy souls tackling the course on tricycles, there were also a few 2-up teams, including a two teams from Gregarios CC.
How to learn about cycling?
Most cyclists are self-taught. We learn on the job – when the bike stops working, we either read a manual and try and fix or we give up and take to a bike shop. Some people are quick learners, and are adept at learning all the necessary requirements to look after a bike. Others, like me, are a little embarrassed that after 20 years of cycling we’re still not 100% sure where the seat tube is.
How to train – is a whole different learning curve. In the beginning, you can get faster by riding a bike, but then you become aware of a whole world of heart rates, training zones and recovery. So you try and read a few books and absorb the information which you like the sound of.
But, just as you think you’re getting to know all about cycling, there is a scientific revolution, leaving a battery of new training terms related to power and critical threshold power. Just to increase the complexity, usually, these training terminology are abbreviated to three letters like FTP, CTL, and TSS.
If you can wade through that, you are now ready to worry about your CdA (aerodynamics) and Watt / CdA. Which requires several hours of testing, plus the required computer skills to punch in the numbers and get something meaningful out of the other side.
How to learn about cycling
I remember reading Ned Boulting’s ‘How I won the Yellow Jumper‘ – an entertaining look at someone thrown in at the deep end of professional cycling. Boulting was asked to cover the Tour de France with pretty much zero knowledge of cycling, Ned endured a crash course in how to talk about a sport you don’t really know anything about. (Ned was doing pretty well, until he got the Yellow Jersey and the Yellow jumper mixed up)
Cycling is one of those subjects where you have to learn everything by the process of osmosis – slowly picking up on the jargon and knowledge as you go along – without ever really admitting you didn’t know about it in the first place. It’s very rare someone will sit and down and explain the mechanics of adjusting your gear cable or even worse – Never try asking what a peleton is, 1 km from the finish of a Tour de France stage (note to family members! see also: Explaining the Tour de France) The only way to learn about the jargon of the Tour de France is to many hours ever day for three weeks over several summers, like I did. I don’t see why anyone should get any shortcuts.
From: Aaron’s site
It is only fairly recently that I’ve worked out the different parts of a bicycle – and that was thanks to a pretty handily marked diagram.
Fizik WP Winter Overshoe review
I was sent this Fizik overshoe in November, and have been using it almost every ride over winter.
It’s been quite a wet winter, with roads covered in surface water so it has had a lot of testing.
It is designed to be waterproof and windproof, and compared to other overshoes, it has performed very well in terms of keeping feet dry. When the roads are constantly wet – even on long rides, it keeps feet dry.
It is thinner than many of the other overshoes that I have, so a little less heat insulation. However, for me that is not a problem because I put hotpads down my socks anyway! Also, the thinner overshoe is beneficial because on my time trial bike, I have speedplay X1 which is quite a short spindle it means your foot is very close to the crank and other overshoes get stuck between pedal and crank.
Fast – steady and flapping numbers
I enjoyed the first race of the season. I would have liked a bit more form. But, then who wouldn’t? The course for North Road Hardriders is a real roadman’s course, partly for the technical aspects, but mainly for the power profile, which is lots of short surges to get up the short climbs. In a very general sense, it is more akin to Belgian classics with 2 minute climbs, rather than the Ardennes or Alps with longer climbs. I’m not equating a 25 mile time trial to the 245 km Tour of Flanders, but you get the idea.
With that kind of course, it suits those with a bit of explosive power – fast twitch muscles to get up the short climbs and accelerate out of corners. In the hill climb season, I try to train this aspect of fitness, short intense efforts to improve the fast twitch muscles. It’s hard work, because genetically, I have a higher percentage of slow twitch – good for long distance, but not so good for the short distance, explosive efforts.
At this time of the season, I’m concentrating on an endurance base, and have done quite a few rides at a level just below threshold. It makes for enjoyable training rides with high average speeds. It also feels like you are just holding back. Not training at 100%, but with more in the tank for when you really want to peak.
The day after the race, I had some muscular tiredness and was in two minds whether to train or rest. I looked at the weather forecast for the week and decided to train Monday – I can always rest when its raining in the rest of the week.
North Road Hardriders TT
The North Road Hardriders TT is a well established early season classic. It has been promoted by local clubs since 1939, with the North Road CC taking responsibility for promoting since 1955. Out of interest, the North Road CC were established in founded in 1885 to ‘promote fast and long distance cycling on the Great North and other Roads’. 1885 is a long time ago, though the Hardriders TT is far removed from fast racing up the flat and traffic laden A1…
The Course
The course is a series of twists and turns, running on small roads north of Potters Bar, passing through villages like Essenden. The terrain is best described as ‘lumpy’ with several short sharp climbs. It is course best suited to a ‘puncheur’ – there are no smooth long climbs, but a series of ups and downs. The first 15 miles, feels like a very slow rollercoaster, there are quite a few 90 degree turns and frequent dips and climbs. On the downhill you try to pick up as much speed as you dare – to carry you up the other side of the hill. It is the kind of course, where you can go from 45mph to 10mph on a regular basis.
Hidden sugars in food
Occasionally I read labels on food to see what is in there. I’m not particularly strict about diet, but I try to limit the amount of processed sugar added to food. Too much sugar can have bad effects.
- Weight gain / obesity (not an issue for myself)
- Blood sugar spikes affecting mood and energy levels
- Diabetes and a whole host of health problem.
For me the main issue with processed sugar is the spikes in blood sugar which can disrupt metabolism and give you both surges of energy and then crashes afterwards. Even though I don’t put on weight from eating sugar, I don’t think too much is healthy.
I quite like eating a bit of cake, and the odd biscuit, but the thing that seems strange to me is the huge quantities of sugar put in savoury items. For breakfast, I always dig out the no-added sugar muesli and no-added sugar soya milk. Some dried fruit is enough to make the muesli sweat and tasty, adding even more processed sugar seems unnecessary.
Yesterday, I bought a black bean source from Tesco – ‘All the finest ingredients’. This is a bit of a joke because the biggest ingredient (after water) was sugar. In one serving (half a jar) there is 30 grams of carbohydrate which sugars. This is 33% of your recommended daily intake in just a sauce!
To put that into context, it is like making your evening meal and then adding 8 teaspoons of sugar on to the sauce. Or, it’s the equivalent of three kit-kats (6 fingers).You can get a better taste from Vegetarian gravy and onion frying a few vegetables.
If I’m going to take 8 teaspoons of sugar, I’d rather stick to the three kit-kats than get a sugar hit from a Chinese sauce.
This black bean sauce is not a one off, I looked at other sauces like Tomato and Basil, and there is a very high level of sugar (20-25 grams) per serving.
Sugar is even added to granary bread. But at relatively low levels of 1-2grams it doesn’t seem such an issue. But, when you are putting 30grams in a pot of ‘low-fat yoghurt’ or cooking sauces, it seems something has gone wrong.
Getting used to the taste of sugar
Another element is that you can get used to certain tastes. If all your food is heavily sugar laden, this is what you begin to crave, and if the sugar is missing, you don’t think it tastes so good. But, if you avoid sugar in savoury items, you can learn to enjoy the taste of food as it is supposed to be. There was a time when I didn’t like vegetables, and would want Heinz Baked beans (with lots of added sugar). But, now the baked beans taste too sweet and sickly; there is great flavour in savoury foods and well-cooked vegetables. It’s sad if the only taste we can enjoy is sugar.
Clee Hill
Clee Hill is the highest A road in Shropshire. A long climb, offering (weather permitted) great views of the surrounding Shropshire countryside and beyond. If you take a left turn off the main road, you can also go all the way to Clee Hill summit proper which, at over 500m, makes a pretty decent climb of nearly 4 miles, averaging 5%. In fact, the quiet single track road heading towards a golf ball on the summit, reminded me somewhat of Great Dun Fell. The climb is quite similar to Great Dun Fell – just half the distance and half the average gradient.
I was staying in Bromyard for the weekend, so I looked at surrounding maps for the highest point to aim for. Clee Hill stands out, though there is quite a choice of hills around this part. I recognised some of the surrounding roads from previous time trials starting in Great Whitley.
I have been doing quite a big block of endurance training, not really doing too many hills, so it was nice to do a few hills for a change. Still a long way from hill climb season though.
