Cycling uphill

Kirkstone Pass

September 6, 2016 by tejvan

Kirkstone pass is the highest major road (A592) in the Lake District. It reaches a height of 1,489 feet (454 m) and affords great views of the surrounding lakes. There are three different routes to the top of Kirkstone Pass, each offering there own challenges. The hardest is ‘The Struggle’ which takes the shortest route from Ambleside to Kirkstone Pass. It is the shortest in distance but the steepest and requires over 400 metres of climbing. The other two ways, on the main road (A592) are less steep, but make good long challenging climbs.

kirkstone-pass-top — At the top of Kirkstone Pass. Lake Windermere is to the right. The weather is often ‘moody at the altitude of 454 meters

Ambleside to Kirkstone pass via ‘The Struggle’

Net height Gain 396 metres from Ambleside.
Max gradient 24%
Distance 4.8 km
Avg Grade 8.2%
Max Gradient: 20%
Total Elev Gain 403m (including descent)
100 Climbs #83

bottom of struggle — The bottom of the Struggle in Ambleside, don’t be deceived by this photo.

From Ambleside, the road soon becomes very steep around swooping corners. The road surface here is very smooth (it was recently replaced), but it doesn’t make it an easy ride. For a considerable distance, the gradient is between 18%-20%. It’s a real lung breaker.

Yesterday there was a huge surge in interest for Kirkstone Pass ‘The Struggle’ It was a great joy to see the professional peleton really struggle up the Struggle. In Belgium you may get many 20% climbs, but at 4km long, this really split apart the peleton.

Bradley Wiggins was captured ‘walking’ up the last part of the Struggle, perhaps a slightly mischievous nod to Froome’s running up Mont Ventoux in this years Tour, but Wiggins seemed to be giving the spectators a lot of joy!

When watching cycle races on tv, my mother always asks so where’s Bradley? I always say these days ‘he’ll be at the back having a laugh’ – It’s hard to explain how you can win the Tour de France, win an Olympic gold in world record time, but still be at the back of the peleton in the Tour of Britain.

The Tour de France vs the Vuelta Espagne

September 4, 2016 by tejvan

The Vuelta is the youngest Grand Tour (formed 1935) and has often been in the shadows of its more illustrious rivals – The Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. But, in recent years it has often provided the highest quality racing and also provided a showcase for emerging riders to make a name for themselves.

The Vuelta is squeezed into a difficult slot in the calendar – September, just before the World Championships – but it often provides the most drama for the general classification battle, something that often eludes the Tour de France. The recent editions of the Vuelta have all provided great racing, intrigue and a see-saw battle between the top contenders. The organisers have thrown the rule book for grand tours out of the window and created stages which seem to create more attacking racing. Shorter stages, innumerable mountain tops. The sprinters union may complain and the likes of Cavendish, Greipel have voted with their feet – preferring the Tour of Britain. But, whilst it is good to see the top sprinters in full flight, the excitement lasts perhaps for the final 1km – it’s all over before you can work out where everyone is. What we really want to see is epic battles over mountains.

Question on multiple events in one weekend

August 31, 2016August 31, 2016 by tejvan

It’s the start of the hill climb season, but, in the past few weeks, my main efforts at climbing have involved walking up two flights of stairs to a New York apartment. I’ve had a bad hip for several weeks. It’s one of those mild injuries you think must sort itself out in the morning, but has proved stubbornly persistent. In New York, I saw someone who massaged and gently stretched legs. It created a few reassuring clicks – the physical therapist thought some hip joint was slightly out of alignment. We will shall see if it is the solution.

Time is running out to get back on the bike. I was looking forward to the hill climb season – but without any training, I’m looking forward to the prospect a lot less. I suppose, you can do hill climbs on no training, but it is hard to have the same enthusiasm. On the positive side, I’ve been relatively injury free since 2010 – I’ve had a good run for the past six years riding in 76 opens since the start of 2010. If I had to be injured – there are worse years than 2016.

At this time of the year, I get the odd email from hill climbers asking for advice. A few articles cover most things:

Hill climb articles

Question on multiple events

Question: This year I’m entering as many hill climbs as I can, which means on one weekend I’ve got a race on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. I’ve raced Bec and Catford on the same day for the last couple of years, as well as some local events. These are a bit longer though, around 4 mins each. Do you think that hill climbers are able to put out the same wattage and performance multiple times over a couple of days?

In my own experience, you do start to see a decline in wattage – even for 2 minute events. It depends how much recovery time you get. If I did a 100% effort in training and then repeated 10 minutes later – I might see a 20% fall in power. If there was a recovery of 2-3 hours, it might be more like 2-5%. But, that is a guess. I often do two events in a day and have done 3-4 events in a weekend. It is definitely possible.

It was interesting watching the Olympics and how the team pursuiters could knock out faster times in the final than in the semi-final a few hours earlier. They don’t just train to be fast once a day, but also to be able to repeat the effort a few hours later.

Do you have any tips on how to keep the legs ticking over or specific recovery steps to take between or right after events?

Not really. Some spinning on rollers after event to help warm down. Protein recovery. Stay warm and avoid standing up. Maintain energy levels, but don’t eat too much solid food (one bad experience at an event where I thought gap was three hours, but it turned out to be two hours!)

Peaking for the four year Olympic cycle

August 13, 2016 by tejvan

I’ve had a few injury niggles this week so haven’t been able to do as much cycling in Yorkshire Dales as I hoped. Cycling has mainly involved pottering along to Bolton Abbey, I’m getting a bit restless to do some hill climb intervals – I haven’t really done much this year. But, although it’s frustrating to take it easy and dns for a race today, there is considerable compensation in watching the Olympics.

wiggins-thedcms-500x333 — Bradley Wiggins 2012 Olympic time trial. Photo: The DCMS

Great Britain has made a great start to the velodrome; in fact to an outsider it can appear winning a gold medal is almost taken for granted, but GB men’s sprint team was 15/1 at the start of the games. The last time they won a major championship was in 2012.

Chris Hoy makes a good person to have in velodrome. He is is articulate and passionate, with a certain gravitas – not always present with BBC presenters. Though, last night, he kept looking over his shoulder trying to watch the racing going on behind – rather that answering endless questions on Bradley Wiggins’ frame of mind. I must admit I would have rather watched the racing too.

Still in the end, the 4km pursuit final was a real epic contest. Defying the pundits predictions, Australia ran GB very closely. When the third man of GB got slightly detached on the last lap, it was really touch and go. It was an epic moment of the Olympics, for both Wiggins’ 5th gold medal, but also the closeness of the contest.

Confidence

It was interesting to hear the real confidence many in the GB squad have in themselves. After losing the worlds in March (by very small margin to Australia), Bradley Wiggins seemed utterly confident in saying “But, we will definitely win the Olympics”. If it had been someone else, it may have come across as bravado, but it was said with the real conviction, that they knew more was to come.

In another era, Ed Clancy’s 3rd consecutive gold medal would be headline news. But in the Olympic gold rush, post national lottery funding, he can, like Steven Burke, fly under the radar. But, I get the impression the likes of Ed Clancy, Jason Kenny and others are quite happy with their relative low profile.

Mens Olympic road race review

August 7, 2016August 7, 2016 by tejvan

The mens road race was a spectacular and dramatic event. Over six hours, the intensity gradually increasing to a dramatic final conclusion hour of racing.

Box Hill — 2012 Olympics – Box hill – Sum of Marc

During the Tour de France I tried to limit my viewing time to 30-50 mins a day. I don’t have time to watch a whole stage. But, I made an exception for the Olympic road race, and watched the last 3-4 hours live. It felt like a three hours well spent. The scenery was beautiful, the setting epic and the racing high quality. It was helped by a good performance by the GB team, with a medal a possibility all the way until Thomas crashed out on the final descent. Everyone had a good race – Stannard and Cummings chasing the early powerful breakaway and then Thomas slipping into the first chase group as the race hotted up. Yates latching on to lead group, but not quite having legs. Froome didn’t have the climbing legs of the Tour, but considering his one day history, had a reasonably good race.

Scenic views – more touring than training

August 6, 2016 by tejvan

The road to Burnsall.

I’ve found a new feature on my camera which takes panorama shots (click to enlarge). It’s also that time of the year, where I’m in the mood for being a touring cyclist rather than cycle-racer.

The weather is great, but the Yorkshire Dales roads are much busier now it’s the summer holidays. I remember why I like riding in spring and autumn so much now.

The road to Langbar. Be careful of sheep.

The Olympic spirit

July 21, 2023August 6, 2016 by tejvan

I remember in the run up to the London Olympics of 2012, there was a strong undercurrent of pessimism and cynicism – “Too expensive”, “we aren’t ready”, “why bother” e.t.c. Yet, when the games started – for three weeks – there was an unusual and highly welcome sense of optimism in promoting an event that did help bring the world together.

If there was pessimism before the 2012 Olympics, the run up to the 2016 Olympics has been an unusually difficult on many different levels. I hope, despite all the outer problems, the Olympics can still work a little magic. Whatever happens on the outer level, the Olympics always has the potential to unite the world and bring out the better qualities of human nature.

One of the best expositions of the Olympic spirit can be seen in a documentary about Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony from 2012 “One Night in 2012“. The success of Boyle was to make ordinary volunteers at the heart of the ceremony. The Opening Ceremony was a success on many levels – and gave many people a real once in a lifetime opportunity. (It is available on iPlayer here, and I wrote some more thoughts on personal blog here)

Time trials at Weston on the Green

August 3, 2016August 3, 2016 by tejvan

Yesterday was a 10 mile TT at Weston on the Green RAF field, organised by Bicester Millenium CC. I finished 2nd in 21.07.

When I got into cycling, back in 2003 / 04 my first races were at Weston on the Green. A 2.4 mile circuit around the perimeter of an airfield. It is an RAF based, sometimes used for practice parachute landings.

weston-on-green-tejvan — A blast from the past circa 2005 – On a Steve Goff Steel frame. Racing at Weston on the Green.

Looking back through my cycling archives, I noticed I won a ‘road race’ in 2003. In those early days of finding Weston on the Green, there were informal road races around the perimeter track. The first time I turned up to race I had mudguards on an old Trek 500, but still managed to break clear from a chasing pack of 5 people to win the unofficial road race. The advantage of it being such a long time ago, is nobody can remember to challenge this ‘famous’ win – mudguards and all. It was an auspicious start to a cycling career, though I did learn to ditch the mudguards and I have never won another road race.

In 2004/05, I went back to concentrate on time trials – 10 miles and occasionally 25 miles. They were excellent introductions to time trialing. Safe, closed roads and a nice relaxed atmosphere for getting into racing. Since 2006, I have rarely been back. But, this year was able to enter the Bicester Millenium 10 mile TT.

It is my first race since National 12 hour back in June. I had a lot of form at the end of June, but for various reasons didn’t do any racing in July. It is hard to remember the last time I did a 10 mile TT.

Looking at my lap splits, I set off a little conservatively. Getting faster on every lap. I made the biggest effort on the back straight into the big block headwind. Going down the fast, slightly downhill section was a little sketchy with a light drizzle on the surface. I was a bit rusty going through the corners because at 30mph, I didn’t fancy skidding off.

I never looked at computer during race. I felt as though I was going really fast. I think it’s the nature of the course, smooth tarmac and fairly flat.

Smaller teams in procycling

August 1, 2016 by tejvan

Yesterday’s Prudential Ride London Classic was another great bicycle race. The course doesn’t look too much, a few short sharp climbs, Box Hill and then 50km of flat to the finish. On paper it looks a boring sprint stage in the Tour de France. If it was the Tour de France with nine men teams – that is exactly what it would be. But, because there are only 6 man teams, it’s much harder to control so it encourages attacking racing. Usually, the key breakaway goes on last or second to last climb. But, this year Team Sky launched an attack about 80km out. Thomas, Stannard and a Cannondale rider managed to link up with the lead breakaway and it seemed a tactical masterpiece.

Then with 50km to go, Thomas stormed away up Box Hill and looked set for an epic lone victory. But, just when it looked a done deal, the peleton finally got its act together and cruelly started reeling in a tiring Thomas.

Wasp Lazer TT helmet – review

January 7, 2017July 29, 2016 by tejvan

Last year, I bought a Wasp Lazer TT helmet (long tail). I only used in a few time trials last year and this year.

It performed relatively well in my aero coach sessions at Newport velodrome. It was about equal second compared to several other helmets. But, I’m not going to keep as it wasn’t the best for me.