Cycling uphill

Marlow and West Wycombe

January 30, 2016 by tejvan

I only got a working power meter in 2014. Traditionally, the way I test fitness is to race up the A40 climb towards Stokenchurch. 1.5 miles at 5%. It is a rough guide to 5 minute power and form. I have times from this climb going back to 2005. In pre-Strava days, (2011) I did a best of 4.45 from the vague-ish points I measured.

Last year, I did a best of 4.55 in April (390 watts / Quark) This was the first test of the year. I did 5.25 (384 watts / Stages) which is pretty good for late January. After those five minutes of excitement, it was a more sedate ride for the rest of the day. Still I tried to keep up a good pace until about 60 miles, when I knocked it off a little.

It was pretty cold – 37 degrees, but I saw a lot of cyclists going in the other direction, and overtook a few riders from Aylesbury CC out on a club ride. After Stokenchurch I headed towards Marlow, around a few roads, I haven’t been on before. One new road was pretty waterlogged, but I kept going as it wasn’t as bad as it looks in this picture.

Muddy lane

Lambourne and Vale of White Horse

January 29, 2016 by tejvan

From Oxford, I don’t often cycle south towards Wantage and Lambourne. The countryside is relatively flat and featureless. At this time of the year, it’s a long slog through empty fields, dotted with the odd tree. When you have the Chilterns and Cotswolds on your doorstep, you are spoilt for choice and hills. Also, cycling around north of Wantage, there are many stop and starts as you turn left, right, left e.t.c. When training, I like as much possible to have a quiet road, which is uninterrupted for as long as possible. I don’t like having to slow down at give way signs. Maybe its the psychology of being a timetriallist, where you always looking for an uninterrupted way to cycle 50 miles, with as fast turns as possible.

The most interesting thing about this part of the world, is the old English place names, Goosey, Charney Bassett, Uffington, Sparsholt Firs. There are even place names around here that J.R.R. Tolkien used in his Lord of the Rings, e.g. Buckland.

The one exception to the flat, featureless plans is the White Horse, which offers a steep climb (Dragon Hill Road), offering a great view over the Vale of White Horse plain.

Bourton on the Water

January 26, 2016 by tejvan

Time flies by and a rough plan to cover 1,000 a miles per month over winter have fallen by the wayside, but it was good to get back in the saddle yesterday and be able to spend four and half hours on the bike. In the end, it was 75 miles and I enjoyed the ride. The last time I rode 75 miles must have been back in September 2015. There was a bit of wind, a foretaste of the forecast storm set to hit the UK today and tomorrow. The weather forecast for the next few days looks very much like a few days of getting the rollers out.

Bourton on the Water.

Astute readers may notice the autumn tinge to the trees. It is an old photo, because it was a bit grey and dull yesterday, and mid-winter, you always feel a little time pressure before it starts to get dark. Still Bourton on the Water has often been voted the prettiest village in England, and with good reason – even in winter, you can see why. The village idyll is slightly spoiled by large packs of tourists taking photos e.t.c. but it makes quite a good destination for an Oxford cyclist. After a winding 35 miles to get there, I did a u-turn in Bourton – over the river and back. There is a pretty good climb on the way out of Bourton on the Water – towards Little Rissington. It is one of those climbs, where you can go pretty quick because it’s not too steep, there are a few corners to accelerate out of in the village. But, in the middle of winter, you settle for getting up in any shape at all. Traffic lights half way up, gave an excuse for a breather.

DHB Aeron Roubaix Long Sleeve Jersey – Review

January 26, 2016 by tejvan

Review by Garga Chamberlain

With this jersey priced at £60 I was expecting something functional but basic – in fact it’s a really versatile and well-designed piece of kit that I am already wearing day in and day out.

The thermal, moisture-wicking fabric is tightly woven with a brushed texture on the inside for warmth on the front, sides and front-of-sleeves but the underarm panels and middle of the back are a lighter and more porous mesh that lets your body breathe without allowing the chill to penetrate where it shouldn’t. I’ve found this top just right in cool to cold conditions, but the stretchy fit allows you to slip a thermal or windproof baselayer underneath for days when the temperature is right down around freezing point.

The stretchy fabric and sleek cut are what makes this jersey so comfortable to ride in – close fitting and flexible with long sleeves that leave no chance of a gap between cuff and glove, the Aeron also has an excellent gripper around the tail of the jersey to prevent it riding up when you lean down on to your drop bars or tri bars – it’s equally good whether you’re in that aero position or sitting up to recover after a

hard effort.

First interval session of the year

January 24, 2016January 22, 2016 by tejvan

With the mercury rising to a heady 38 F 4 C, I went out for the first ‘interval’ session of the year. The curious thing is that 4 degrees felt relatively warm, compared to the previous days of 2 degrees. Usually 4 degrees would be unbearably cold, but its all about expectations. Low expectations is the secret.

I went to Watlington, and was going to do some of the hills heading into Chilterns. However, there seemed to be a headwind, so I went over the top and tried to find some climbs from the south direction with the wind behind. If you’re going to do the first intervals of the year, you want to make it as easy as possible.

The first interval was eight minutes into the wind up Howe Hill. It was OK, but on the lower slopes into the wind, I was struggling to keep the power ticking over 300 watts, which is the kind of a power I’m supposed to be able to maintain for close to two hours.

Features of the first interval session of the year.

You spend most of the session trying to work out how much top end speed you’ve managed to lose over the past three months
It can be an effort to keep your power above your FTP (300 watts) unless the hill gets really steep.
You remember how much more relaxing it is to ride without a power meter for the past three months.
Half way through, you start to think maybe it’s too early in the year for intervals.
Tentative plans to race in February are put back to March.
Despite a degree of complaining, you also enjoy it. Rather than complaining about the weather, it makes a nice change to be complaining about the bodies response to high efforts.
Rather than do five minute efforts, I choose eight minutes effort. There’s no particular logic to this, except the hills I chose took me eight minutes to cycle up. The fourth hill took five minutes, which was fine because the interval was already petering out into an effort better described as “a little bit more effort than usual”
Now a week to recover from them.

Related

Interval training

Warmest socks – heat holders

November 1, 2016January 20, 2016 by tejvan

Cycling at this time of the year is dominated by how to keep warm, especially fingers and toes. The warmest socks I’ve found are these heat holders – a thick pair of tubular type socks.

They have a thick layer of fibres to keep wthe armth in.
The length of sock means heat rises up the foot and ankle, keeping whole foot area warm.
There is no elastic to constrict the blood supply.

They are pretty chunky and in terms of aerodynamics, pretty useless, but for keeping feet warm, they are as good as they get.

Left sock (outside of sock) Right sock (inside turned inside out)

Heat Holders pair (6-11) at Amazon £6.99

Overall Review of Heat Holders

They are the warmest sock I’ve found.

Don’t worry about sizing they are very elastic.

If you wear them around the house, they don’t last forever, and bits of fibre do start to come off. I have worn holes in the heels of some socks I’ve had for two years. But, I bought a new pair recently because they are still excellent value. If you want to keep feet warm, these are very good. As the weather warms up, they can become too hot, but they don’t get too sweaty, there is room to breath too.

As mentioned in recent post on hotpads, I get very cold feet, so I use an inner pair of socks, a pair of hotpads and then these heatholders on top. Cold feet will never be an excuse to stop cycling.

Cycling in the 2 degrees

Yesterday, the mercury was edging just above freezing. It was just about tolerable to cycle for a couple of hours. I had several thermal layers, 3 pairs of gloves and the hot pad / heat holder combination on the feet. The feet were amongst the warmest part of the body.

Vic Clark

January 21, 2016January 18, 2016 by tejvan

Vic Clark, three times former national hill climb champion (1946 to 1948) sadly passed away recently. He was aged 96.

Paul Jones interviewed Vic Clark for “A Corinthian Endeavour“, in which Vic has a starring role in the first chapter.

I’d like to post this interview with Vic because it is a great story and evocative of a very different post-war era where you could commute from Coventry to Kendal and be as quick as a van.

I particularly like the story at the end. The time when Vic was cycling a tandem on his own. He stopped to pick up a soldier trying to hitch-hike home. Vic offered him a lift but said ‘you’ll have to work for it!’ The solider accepted and cycled on the back.

Vic Clark was the third person to win the national hill climb championship in 1946. Well into his nineties, he would still ride his bike on indoor rollers. He continued to take an interest in the hill climb championship in the evening of his life.

Assos LS. Skinfoil baselayer review

January 18, 2016 by tejvan

The Assos LS Skinfoil longsleeve base layer is a top of the range base layer, designed to offer comfort and temperature control. In summary – expensive, but very good.

I bought the Climarange 4/7 Fall version, as that seemed to offer the biggest range of temperatures for the base layer to be useful. I have used it over the winter (mostly wet and mild). But, also used it this weekend, cycling in pretty chilly temperatures of 2 degrees.

Fit

I took size L, (waist 30-32) which was a good fit, allowing for my lanky body shape. I would have liked arms to be a little longer, but it felt close to the skin without being tight in any particular parts. Assos say that it is manufactured like a tubular design (rather than flat bed). This seems to mean it has better contours to the shape of the body.

They say it is important to get the right fit because if it doesn’t fit close to skin it doesn’t work as it should.

Dealing with the cold (photos)

January 16, 2016 by tejvan

My never-ending cold has come to an end. Rather appropriately the weather is now really cold (by UK standards) so another potential excuse to give training a miss. Still, I’ve been cycling into town quite a bit. Ten miles is better than nothing.

Wrapping up against the cold

When it’s minus two degrees and everyone is wrapped up in innumerable layers, you always get one person who rocks up in shorts, t-shirts, and no gloves. It really messes with my mind. I didn’t get a photo this morning, but, it was even colder and I overtook a bloke in shorts (0 degrees) You also often see people cycling along trying to put on gloves whilst on the move, but really struggling.

Standing out from grey morning.

Before the start of a race

January 14, 2016 by tejvan

I found this video on youtube. Live coverage of the British Time Trial Championship June 2015.

I was joking with race official before the start and the commentator (Rob Hayles) picked up on this.

The funny thing I never usually do this before the start of the race.

I was talking because the clock in front was confusing. There was a count-down, but it seemed to be a minute out and I thought I might have to start a minute before the official time.

Usually before a race I’m quite quiet and don’t feel like talking. Sometimes people will ask questions, but I’m not in the mood for talking. Just trying to keep my mind quiet and focused on the upcoming effort.