Cycling uphill

No training plan

November 24, 2014 by tejvan

At the moment, I’m riding without a plan – and it’s quite an enjoyable experience.

During August, September and October it was all tightly structured intervals. November is the complete opposite, unstructured and no intervals. As mentioned previously, I find myself riding around at 15-16mph wondering how on earth do you manage to come back from a ride with an average of over 17 mph.

Riding around Otmoor, I saw a mini chain gang of four riders hammering it on a late November afternoon. The guy on the front was on a time trial bike, giving it some welly. I felt no desire to latch on the end.

I kept my steady pace. But after three weeks of nothing more than level II, I was curious to remember what it was like to go hard up a hill. On the way up to Brill from Oakley I decided to give it a go. For the first five seconds it was a bit of a buzz as you remember the speed and effort of cycling fast up steep hills. But, after 10 seconds it was also a reminder of the great effort needed; it felt painfully slow. I dragged the winter bike up in a respectable time, but it was nothing to get too excited about. Racing feels along way away.

In a way, winter is a good balance to the preceding months. It’s like slow recovery rides are a good balance to hard intervals. Similarly a couple of months of just accumulating miles is a good balance to the work dedicated on the top end. Usually in January, I might consider different training methods, and more higher end work. But, that is always much easier to do when you have a good solid aerobic base.

Having said that – a good day of weather yesterday encouraged me to give my summer bike – the Trek Madone a final farewell fling before winter retirement in the loft. I’m not sure if it was the bike, weather or I was just bored of plodding. But I kept a very respectable pace all the way to Henley and back, averaging a very commendable November average speed of 18mph for the 55 miles. It still gave me time to think about the National Hill Climb splits. I’m not sure which is most impressive, how slowly I went up first half or how quick I went up the second half. As Jimmy Hill used to say on the BBC Match of the day – It’s a game of two halves, Gary’.

I am in real mile munching mode at the moment. nearly 800 miles for November already and it doesn’t really feel like I’m training. Though I’ve been going very slowly up hills, I still can’t wait for next years hill climb season!

There is a virtual prize for any local rider who can identify the locations of the two roads. I would struggle and I took the photos

A good cycle path

November 21, 2014 by tejvan

Cycle path over Donnington Bridge offers a rare segregated cycle way for people to cycle without having to ride with traffic.

No near misses here.

At rush hour, there is heavy congestion on this road. The cycle path offers a convenient way to beat the traffic jams.

A fair number of cyclists use this path.

Quicker by bike.

The cycle lane is often used by children and people getting to school. It also helps that there are quiet cycle paths by the river and other back roads which connect a local school.

Cycling along.

It’s a good feeling to go past stationary vehicles.

An integrated cycle path – another rarity – when the path ends, there are decent options, you aren’t immediately thrown into fast moving traffic.

I don’t understand the attraction of sitting in a traffic jam.

Quicker with one leg.

Although, it is surprising how many still use the pavement.

There is also a (non-segregated) cycle path on the other side of the road. This is good because of you’re on that side of the road, you don’t want to have to cross the road, just to use the cycle path. Still, it is often too narrow because wide cars spill over into the cycle lane. It’s a shame it’s not a foot wider.

Cars often follow suit, if one person moves into cycle lane, everyone else tends to. This is quite an inviting sight for a cycle commuter.

A frosty scene on Donnington Bridge.

The cycle path by the River Thames, which offers a traffic free way into the centre of Oxford. Just a shame it’s very bumpy and often muddy. But, it offers great views of Christ Church Meadow

Related

Specialized Winter Short Review

November 20, 2014 by tejvan

Leisure Lakes and Bikes offered to send a free product for me to review. I chose the Specialized RBX Expert Winter Bib Short. This choice was inspired by using the Assos T.607 winter bib short. A very good product, but very expensive.

At this time of the year, I prefer to keep riding shorts and legwarmers – rather than winter bib tights which are less manoeuvrable and tight on the shoulders. It is easy to get warm leg warmers, but most of your shorts are thin lycra, which can leave you feeling cold in those parts, you would rather didn’t get too cold. I mentioned in the review of Assos, other companies should offer more insulated shorts for winter because I feel there is a big market for them, especially in the UK.

Review of Specialized RBX Expert Winter Bib Short – £61.99

Firstly, design is as simple as you can get – 100% black, no fuss, no design. When it comes to design, my only preference is – any colour except black. However, with shorts I make an exception because shorts are nearly always black. So they look like 80% of other shorts.

Insulation

There is a thin layer of Lombardia fleece, which gives the same degree of insulation as your typical pair of winter leg warmers. For this time of the year, this short is ideal. You could comfortably ride this shorts in any weather from 4 degrees to 18 degrees – which in the UK is a good percentage of the year. A pair of winter bib shorts should be on anyone’s Christmas list.

Padding

The padding insert is firm. There isn’t much sponginesss, but it is well made and put in the right parts. There are no irritating seams or padding cut off at the wrong point. I went out for a three and half hour ride yesterday, it was fine. Though they are not as comfortable as the Assos; there is a definitely a difference between the two.

Specialized Langster Review

January 7, 2017November 20, 2014 by tejvan

Review: The Specialized Langster steel is a classic track bike frame which might appeal to a commuter wanting a classic style track bike. For a long time, I have toyed with the idea of a single speed for commuting, so was keen to test out different options.

I wasn’t bowled over by the look. Of course, the simplicity and clean-cut of a single speed is good, but the silver aluminium frame left me a little underwhelmed. But, that is just my personal preference. Someone else could equally think it looks cool. BTW: Specialized have also done ‘city’ themed bikes (like bright yellow for NY presumably to make it fit in with NY taxi cabs)

Ride Quality

I did really enjoy riding the bike. I loved the feel and comfort of the steel frame and steel fork, it seemed to absorb a lot of the (innumerable) potholes and rivets in the Oxford roads. It’s a long time since I have ridden a steel frame and it reminded me of why steel is still attractive as a frame material and has advantages over Aluminium. For racing, I’m not really interested in a comfortable ride, but for commuting – when I’m carrying a laptop – an absorb ale steel frame would be a real boon.

With a Reynolds 520 Chro Moly steel frame, the bike is not light. It weighs approx. 23.5lbs (10.7kg) which to some extent defeats one of the attractions of being single speed.Nevertheless for commuting, weight is not such a big problem. Even with single speed it felt fairly easy to accelerate away and didn’t feel much different to my trek Aluminium. With a 42 Chain-ring, 16 rear cassette, I sometimes spun out (needed bigger gear) but only rarely. I don’t tend to race around the city too much.

The other aspect of the bike is that it is a track size and uses track handlebars. For me, this doesn’t work for a commuting bike. It is quite an aggressive racing position, but I don’t want this when commuting. Also the brakes are on the top of the handlebars so it takes a while to move from the drop position to get the brakes on top of the handlebars.

Commuting in the wet

November 17, 2014 by tejvan

Commuting in the wet.

When its raining and wet, the congestion in Oxford always seems to be 10-20% worse. I’m not sure why this is. But, with several serious traffic works, that extra 10% seemed to tip the city into near gridlock.

It does make you feel grateful for being able to cycle into town and avoid a near 30-40 minute journey which can take 15 minutes on the bike.

Though on the other hand, why do people drive when it takes twice as long?

I used to think one reason for the perceived increase in traffic congestion is that when it’s wet, perhaps people use their cars rather than cycle. But it seems just as many people are cycling in the wet. If you have a reasonably waterproof jacket and waterproof trousers you can’t get too wet in a 15 minute commute. Your hands and socks may be a bit damp. (thick socks are as good as anything for keeping your feet dry)

This picture is good for showing the amount of cyclists who were able to squeeze down the narrow cycle lane – still a narrow lane here is probably better than nothing. What the picture doesn’t show is how stationary the traffic is – nor does it show the rising tempers which come from inching along a congested road at 3mph.

It is a little grim cycling in the wet, but I don’t mind. It’s kind of fun in a way, at least undertaking 100 stationary cars does make you glad you aren’t wasting too much time.

The smiling E-On add in the bus stop where I was taking a few photos.

Commuters in the usual mixture of clothes. Wet jeans are a bit of a pain though.

On the high street.

Reflection in the puddle.

The camera exaggerates the effect, but when it is grim and grey, bright jackets do stand out. Look how the third cyclist blends into the road.

I’m glad Chris Boardman did his BBC piece wearing normal clothes. But, there are times when you need to be seen.

The middle cyclist really stands out compared to the black clad cyclists.

Patiently edging forwards

I went shopping at Lidl and all I got was this pair of wellingtons.

Not sure about that duffle coat it does seem to block sideways view, which you ant need. A good old fashioned cycling cap can keep the worst of the rain off and fits under a helmet.

Related

Oxford cycling photos

The universal appeal of cycling

March 1, 2019November 13, 2014 by tejvan

I remember vaguely a few months ago, something about a local politician from Birmingham (1) who said that cycling was the preserve of young adult men and therefore we shouldn’t spend money on cycling infrastructure because it only benefits a small percentage of the population. At the time I was too busy racing, but I made a mental note to write something about this later.

It can be hard work cycling on British roads

I’m probably three months late to state the obvious, but if the roads of a city are sparsely populated with cyclists – and predominantly middle age men – then it’s a very good sign that the opposite case needs to be made – It is a very good sign that a complete rethink is needed to encourage the broad section of society back into cycling.

You only get a skewed demographic of cycling – if the roads are perceived as too dangerous – making cycling appeal only to those who have different tolerations or risk, danger and dealing with intimidating situations.

The thing with cycling is that it is universal and democratic form of transport. It is cheap, accessible and at some point in time, most people have experienced some joy from learning to ride a bike. It is a shame, when this ceases to be the case.

In the US, this report states that the typical cyclists is a 39-year-old male professional with a household income in excess of $45,000 per year who rides 10.6 months per year.

In Europe, statistics for rates of female cycling as a % of cycling population are 45% Denmark, 55% in Netherlands, and 49% Germany, in the US it is 25%.

Age differences

Another big difference is the age profile of people cycling:

Source: Cycling for Everyone at Rutger.edu

In the US for people over 40, only 0.4% of trips are made by bicycle. In the Netherlands this rises to 23-24%

The only question is why do people stop cycling?

Statistically, you can make a good case cycling is still relatively safe. But if you have to fight traffic and heavy goods lorries, no amount of statistics can change the real perception that it’s a tough job cycling on many cities. Too many near misses, too much stress. Perhaps some people don’t want to cycle because of the way they drive.

A very simple comparison is to look at countries which have built suitable cycling infrastructure – Germany, Holland, Denmark. In these countries, the demographic of cycling is spread across all ages and gender. Cycling is seen as safe; when there are good cycle paths, cycling is an extension of a pedestrian mode of transport. Pedestrians simply going a little bit faster.

Photos of old Winter training bike

November 12, 2015November 12, 2014 by tejvan

See new: Winter training bike

Winter road tyres

November 22, 2015November 12, 2014 by tejvan

Winter involves a lot of long cold miles on slippery roads. My main priorities for a winter tyre are:

Strong puncture resistance
Reasonable rolling resistance
Grippy in the wet.
Long lasting
Not too difficult to take off rim with cold hands.

Over the years, I’ve ridden several different tyres during winter. Primarily Continental Gatorskin and Continental 4 Seasons. Sometimes, I’ve gone into winter with lighter summer tyres still on, like the Gatorskin, Continental Grand Prix 4000. Sometimes I’ve gone to the other extreme and ridden really hard, heavy puncture resistance tyres like Specialized All Condition, but find these are just a bit too ‘heavy’ and slow – even though I never picked up a puncture with these tyres. Generally, it becomes a toss up between spending time mending punctures and being slowed down by heavier tyres. The good news is that even reasonably light and decent rolling resistance tyres are now fairly puncture resistant. There seems to have been improvement in tyre technology since I started cycling 20 years ago.

Best size tyre for winter?

For myself. 25″ is the new 23″ I’d strongly recommend 25″ in winter, especially for the rear tyre. I used to have this idea that the smaller the tyres the faster you go, but it’s more complicated than that. There is no discernible difference in speed between using 23 and 25, but you get a bit better grip. I’ve visited quite a few bike shops this week, and many road tyres seem to be 23″. But, for training, I prefer riding 25″ – especially in winter. 25″ will be perfectly fine for summer riding too.

The Best Winter road tyres

Schwalbe Durano Plus Performance

These are an excellent tyre. They last a long time, have one of the best puncture resistance and have reasonably rolling resistance. It’s everything that you want and need from a winter road bike tyre. I’ve only used one. But, it lasted a good 3,000 miles and I don’t remember getting a puncture. I’ve ordered another one for the rear wheel. It was 33% off which helped. The downside is that it is a bit on the heavy side, the smartguard puncture protection is fairly thick. It means the 25″ tyre weighs 380g (23″ weighs 340g) Compared to the Specialized All Condition it feels it has a little more spongyness, and a little better grip. Though heavy, they are not completely ‘dead’ and offer decent rolling resistance. Keep them well inflated, and you should get few punctures. The other downside is that, especially the first time, they are hard work putting on; they are very tight to the rim. But, once on you can almost forget about them for quite a while.

Schwalbe Durano Plus at Wiggle (RRP £37.99 – currently reduced to £24.99)

Continental Gatorskin / Gatorskin Hardshell

I’ve used Gatoskin for the past couple of winters. They are relatively light for a winter training tyre, and good enough for summer training too. (23″ only 230 gram and 25″ 250gram) I’ve left the last pair on almost all year. They are quite flexible and a quite easy to fit. They are quite fast. However, I want to change them now winter is really setting in.

They have been a bit slippy on recent rides. I got bad wheel spin on a climb to Brill (16%) and nearly skidded out on a damp corner. I might have been better off with a 25″ and it’s always slippy in winter. But, I’m going back to Durano Plus for my real mid winter tyre.

Continental have also brought out a Gatorksin Hardshell. This adds an extra 48 gram to the tyre and adds an extra layer of puncture protection. I’ve had one hardshell variety, and I couldn’t notice much difference in terms of rolling resistance, so the better puncture protection is good for winter. For winter, the Hardshell is definitely a good option. The Gatorskin are more of an all season tyre.

I find the Gatorksins are very long lasting. I’ve been riding on the same pair for the past 12 months, which is perhaps close to 5,000 miles on that wheelset. Continental have made progress in making the tyre more resistant to scratches and sidewall splits.

Winter miles

November 10, 2014 by tejvan

At the end of the hill climb season, you finish with great top end form, but the less exciting, base aerobic fitness has been given a bit of a back seat. Late October is not the time to be getting 5 hour slow, steady rides under the belt.

After a couple of quiet weeks, the top end form soon dissipates; or perhaps it’s just that you don’t have any motivation to see if you can still sprint up hills. Instead, my thoughts turn to all those miles I’ve been missing out on, and all the miles I need to be getting in.

I was born in a frankly pre-historic, last millennium type analogue era. It was a time before heart rate monitors, power meters, Strava and all these notions of efficient training. I was brought into cycling on the traditional Sunday Club run. At the end of the 12 hour, 110 mile ride, you would just put your feet up and stuffed your face with food – there was no logging on to see how you were digitally comparing.

The greatest excitement for measuring performance was the annual Cycling Weekly mileage double spreadsheet. I used to cut it out and put it on my wall. There was a simple target to fill in as many miles as you could. The more miles the better. This is what is now called ‘Old School Cycling‘ – but we were real men in those days, no indoor virtual races from the comfort of an internet connected roller ride. And I would rather Cycling Weekly kept publishing a paper mileage chart rather than these adverts for Ritmo – which, on principle I have no intention of ever trying to understand.

***

Anyway, grumpy old man ‘things were better in my day’ complaint over.

For no particular reason, I get to winter and generate a target to try and do 1,000 miles in each of the winter months – November, December, January and February. There is no good reason for this; no scientific basis that the key to a 4 minute hill climb in October is doing 4,000 miles in the preceding winter. But, it’s good to have a target, especially one where it doesn’t matter so much if you miss out a bit.

To be honest, 1,000 miles a month does requires quite a lot of discipline – especially as the nights draw in and the weather turns remorselessly colder and wetter. I don’t think I’ve ever managed 4,000 miles for the four winter months, but I’m sure if I can do it this year, the 2015 hill climb season will be my best ever….

***

80 miles down – 3,920 to go

After two weeks of testing the waters – nothing more than the odd 32 mile ride (even if they did take 2 and half hours). Yesterday was chance to go out for a proper winter training ride. Five hours of plodding a lonely furrow through the Cotswolds.

If winter miles can feel a bit like a chore at times, yesterday was one of those great days for cycling, where you are just grateful to be out in the perfect autumn weather. If winter training could always be like this…

november-flowers — November 10th. I’ve never seen so my flowers still out.

At 10 degrees, it was as good as it gets in mid-November. I took a meandering route to Bourton on the Water and Lower Slaughter; these have been voted the prettiest villages in England, and for good reason. It does make a refreshing change to be spending Sunday cycling through the late Autumn fall – rather than stopping off at a motorway station on the M6 after a brief 4 minutes of torture up some hill climb. I like the off-season – a reminder there’s more to cycling than racing.

101 Damnations – dispatches from 101st Tour de France | Review

November 10, 2014November 9, 2014 by tejvan

Ned Boulting’s 101 Damnations ‘Dispatches from the 101st Tour de France‘ is an entertaining account of his perspective on the last edition of the Tour de France.

If you’re expecting a blow by blow account and evaluation of Nibali’s average power outputs on the final climb, you will be dissappointed. The actual race is very much in the background, a canvas to tell amusing tales – from the Tour de France’s very own public urinals to ruminations on the Anglicisation of the Tour de France.

Ned makes little effort to hide his disappointment as the major contenders slip and slide out of the tour. I actually remember many exciting stages of the tour – even if they were won by no-hopers in the overall standings. But, this is a minor quibble – this is not a book for aficionados of detailed race analysis – it is a book which will appeal to those who like amusing stories about the the characters and idiosyncrasies which make up the Tour de France caravan.

If we have forgotten already, the Tour de France really did start in Yorkshire. As Boulting says – ‘Leeds to Paris’ – how often do you get to say that? Still, six months later I’m trying to digest the scenes of actually seeing the Tour de France go 2 miles from my home town. There is still an element of surreality to these memories of baking sunshine – as the Tour de France in Yorkshire passed by 3 million spectators, but more than anything the surreal aspect of cycling being so enthusiastically welcomed by nearly everyone.

Ned Boulting comments on the Tour in Yorkshire with a similar degree of astonishment, bewilderment and genuine excitement. This is a rather random excerpt from the chapter about the Tour starting in Leeds.

“…The sign age was in French, most of the languages being spoken were not English, and even the rays of sunshine that beat down on the makeshift courtyards between marquees felt unusually strong for Yorkshire.

It was curiously unsettling and not altogether mediated by the presence of a truly terrible burger van knocking out gristly sausages in stale baguettes to a bewildered clientèle, more used to being served foie gras and gazpacho. I queued up behind a German, who asked for a ‘beef pattie’ The man looked at him as if he were simple. “We can do you a burger, pal.’

– This is not necessarily the most memorable excerpt from the book – it is a rather random choice – perhaps I choose it because of my strong recollections of cheap burger vans outside Headingley, Leeds which I would go past every weekend on the way to watch the rugby. Nevertheless it gives a flavour of the book. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but I enjoy the humour and random recollections which give an unexpected insight into very small aspects of the race – be it the challenges of interviewing Mark Cavendish or working with the systematically efficient and methodical Chris Boardman.

As well as snippets from the current tour, the book is also an excuse to bring up lesser known stories which make up the great history of the Tour de France. Some excerpts from the past, like the legendary Roger Rivière’s, tragic drug induced high speed crash are reminders of the chequered history of the tour. But, no matter what happens, the stories give the over-riding impression that the Tour is an unmoveable force which not even getting stuck in Pyrenean mud can hold back.

But, although there are plenty of whimsical moments and analysis of disappointing aspects, you can’t hide Boulting’s genuine almost innocent enthusiasm for the sport and the Tour de France – this is quite refreshing.

I read the book all the way to the end, which is praise indeed. I would recommend it if you would enjoy a light-hearted look at the Tour de France. The final word is that the humour is quite British; I’m not sure how quickly it will be translated into German or French, I fear something may get lost in translation.

Buy the book online

101 Damnations – by Ned Boulting at Waterstones
101 Damnations – by Ned Boulting at Amazon.co.uk

Related pages

Photos of Tour de France in Yorkshire