Cycling uphill

Cycling through the floods

February 11, 2014February 10, 2014 by tejvan

Usually, after a race, I take it easy on Monday and have a rest day or light training. But, looking at the weather forecast for the next 10 days, I thought I ought to jump at the opportunity to ride the bike, before more battering from the weather comes shortly. – ‘Making hay whilst the sun shines’ and all that. Or at least, riding when only light showers are predicted.

Today wasn’t too bad. It still rained for 20 minutes, leaving my feet cold for the rest of the ride, but with only light winds it’s all relative good for 2014.

After seeing the long run weather forecast, I was tempted to do something crazy and impulsive and buy a Ryanair flight to Tenerife or Majorca. Anything to get away from the sensation of being surrounded by water, – water, water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. ( Coleridge’s line from the Ancient Mariner was my unwarranted mantra for today’s ride. Sometimes you get a song in your head, you don’t really want. But, it gets stuck. Today, I got this line in my head, going round and round. I guess it was appropriate). But, before I get carried away with my poetic side (there is none) the grim reality is that there is no spring training camp for me. Just a relentless plodding through the puddles, and doing my best to improve fitness for the upcoming hardriders, sporting courses and hilly time trials.

The race yesterday at Kingston Wheelers, left me fairly energised and motivated to train. Today I managed 83 miles up and down the Chiltern Hills around Henley and Marlow. It was quite good. But, the only problem with racing on TT bike, is that it does feel a bit of come down to go back to ride my clunking winter hack. My winter training bike seems to be more akin to a 3 spd, 20kg, Boris Bike than a sleek road racing machine.

Kingston Wheelers 14 mile hilly

February 9, 2014February 9, 2014 by tejvan

In a rush of blood I entered my first race of season this weekend. It’s only a few weeks since getting back on bike, but I still felt keen to get out on the race bike and get back in the rhythm of racing. The Gil Jessop memorial – 13.56 mile TT was promoted by the Kingston Wheelers near Ripley, Surrey, and involves two laps around East Clandon and West Horsley. It begins with a steady climb up ‘Hungry hill’ a 200 ft ascent at a gradient of nothing more than 4-5%. Traditionalists in the ‘Hill Climb Union’ may take issue with the title hilly TT – it’s certainly not the most mountainous time trial. But, on the day, with a stiff S.W wind it was plenty hard enough – I certainly didn’t hear anyone complaining there weren’t a few more hills. I did see quite a few riders getting punctures, probably a consequence of all the debris on the road.

A bigger test than the gradient was the pools of water streaming off the Surrey hills. The south of England is currently seeing rain and flooding of Biblical proportions. The organisers had a difficult dilemma about whether to proceed with event, but after pointing out the hazards of the course they said it would be go ahead.

tricycle-puddle — I’ve used this photo a lot recently. But, it sums up the state of British roads quite well.

Unusually, I woke at 4am, rattled by the gusts of wind sweeping around Oxford. At that point, I was pretty tempted to turn off the alarm clock and do some thing more comfortable on this supposed day of rest – like a rollers session in the conservatory. At 4am there seemed many good reasons not to do a cold, wet hilly time trial in early Feb – especially when I’m still trying to get back to form. I could think of very few reasons to go, but fortunately or unfortunately – I wasn’t in the mood for thinking so just got in the car and drove to Ripley.

First impressions of the circuit were wet, cold and windy. Reminded me a bit of my last race up the Stang. I was grateful to be able to warm up on the rollers. At least I didn’t freeze with my back to wind.

I was wearing 2 pairs thermal socks, 4 thermal underlayers, overshoes, legwarmers, and my northern friends would say it wasn't even properly cold! — I was wearing 2 pairs thermal socks, 4 thermal underlayers, overshoes, legwarmers – and my northern friends would say it wasn’t even properly cold!

I didn’t ride to my power meter. But, looking at data later, I seemed to have paced it reasonably well. Average power for the ride said 305 Watts.

On some sections of the course, there was heavy flooding – so on the first lap, I took most bends and corners with considerable circumspection. By the second lap, my legs were tired, but more mentally confident about the course, so wasn’t quite such a tourist going around the bends. Though the second time through the large puddle, I probably arrived a little too fast, and felt the water act as a mini brake on the momentum of the TT bike.

(As they would say on Childrens’ BBC – don’t try this at home. You have to be very careful cycling through puddles, when you don’t know the potholes that might exist below.)

The course record was 30.50, set by Wouter Sybrandy (26.4mph) I was pleased with my time of 31.50ish. (25.6mph) But, Robert Sharland of Kingston Wheelers went even faster with a very good time of 31.24 ish. If Rob keeps improving, he will be one to watch in the time trials this year. I haven’t seen the full results yet.

Thanks to all the (many) Kingston Wheelers marshals and timekeepers who stood by all the large puddles on the road to help make event go ahead. It would have been easy to cancel. But, I’m kind of glad to get the first 13 miles racing out of the way.

I have two weeks of training before my next race – North Road Hardriders, which I believe the Hill Climb Union say is compulsory for any hill climber to do at some time in your career.

Thanks to Thomas Jenkins of the Kingston Wheelers for photos

A traffic jam of cyclists

November 13, 2014February 6, 2014 by tejvan

long-line-cyclists-high-st

I’m impressed at the patience of these Oxford cyclists in rush hour. Who says the British can’t still queue?

I have to admit I would have a temptation to sprint along the inside and then sprint away from the lights. But, when everyone is so well behaved it wouldn’t feel right to spoil the good natured patience. I tend to avoid the ‘cycling queue’ by going straight on and turning right later on. Definitely, when you see people acting courteously it influences other people to do the same. Similarly when some start flouting the laws it has a big influence on other people.

many-cyclists

Right hand lane waiting for lights to change. Left hand lane is straight on up the high street.

cyclist-feeder-lane-between2-lanes

The only problem with this feeder lane is that cyclists are coming up the middle between two lanes of traffic. But, at least the traffic is usually slow moving around here. (20mph speed limit, which isn’t exceeded by too much)

bus-wanting-to-squeeze-into-left-lane

This is a dangerous possibility. The huge and very long London Tube bus was wanting to get in the left hand lane, but cyclists were squeezing through on the inside (along the dotted cycle lane). It’s not clear who has right of way or who should give way in this situation. Eventually the bus driver got frustrated with waiting and started beeping his horn, hoping some cyclists would stop allowing him to get in left hand lane. But, if one cyclist goes on the inside, other people often follow suit. (same principle with car drivers overtaking on the wrong side of road)

5 minute max power output

February 5, 2014 by tejvan

I’ve enjoyed writing a few recent posts, – the joys of the turbo, old school cycling e.t.c.. But, I promise this post will be really quite boring. It’s the inevitable post-power-meter-purchase-data-examination-and-speculation. – Something many power meter owners are prone to do, but I’m fairly hopeful I will tire of it all pretty soon. If power meter zones and watt/kg numbers are not quite your thing, I have to warn there may be a more profitable way to spend the next 3 minutes. But, then I guess if you’re already on the internet, you’re not planning on doing anything too productive anyway.

So, if you’ve run out of cuddly cat videos and with suitable apologies in advance, here are some power meter readings, which may be of marginal interest.

In September 2013 (when my power meter was first working) I did a few 5 minute all out tests up a hill near Stokenchurch (A40) On one climb, I averaged 445 watts for 5 minutes, and did the climb in 4.54. (19.2mph) – watt/kg 7.3

In February, four months later, I could only average 345 watts, doing the climb in 5.43 (16mph) watt/kg 5.6

In November, Dec and Jan, I’ve done quite a lot of miles. Despite injury in Jan, I still did more miles in Jan than the peak of the hill climb season in October

So after 3 months of endurance training / rest / bit of sweet spot/ Nov – Jan, my 5 minute peak power has fallen 100 watts.

Because I don’t know much about power meters, that seems an awful lot of top end power to loose. But, on the other hand, I do this test every year, and tend to always take just under 6 minutes for the first test of the season. So compared to previous early season efforts, it’s bang on track.

What does this show?

I guess power outputs in February are fairly unimportant in the bigger scheme of things (unless, of course you plant to tackle track hour records)
If you just do base endurance, you will become good at base endurance – but, no surprise, your top end racing power, will decline.
Stay tuned, who knows when I will next dig in to the power meter archives!

Custom cycle clothing alterations (cheap)

February 5, 2014 by tejvan

Recently, I sent a packet of cycle clothing to be altered by Alex Laycock. I had

baggy-arms

3 Impsport skinsuits (with baggy arms)- You spend £180 on an Impsport custom body suit and it comes back with baggy arms like this.
1 winter jacket (missing zip) back pockets getting worn
1 pair of shorts (expensive Assos variety, ripped in Portugal)

The repairs and alternations were done for £40, plus £11 postage. I think that includes the cost of a new zip which was £10.

Alex has done quite a few time trials herself, and is used to mending lycra. Alex Laycock at Yell.com

Make do and mend

A comment by a reader, reminded me to post about this:

I had this problem with my Night Vision jacket and I wrote to Altura – not to complain (as the jacket was just over 12 months old) but to ask if they could repair it or recommend someone who could. Their reply was unhelpful,to say the least, effectively , “well, you need to buy another as we don’t repair them and we don’t know anyone who can”. Great jacket – rubbish after sales service. Can’t recommend them!

I don’t know if waterproof jackets can be mended, but it’s worth finding out. I might even get a new zip for my Altura jacket.

There’s a lot to be said for make do and mend. Especially when tights / legwarmers get ripped falling off.

Difference between road bike and time trial bike

February 5, 2014February 5, 2014 by tejvan

Last Sunday, I was out on my winter training hack. I averaged 16.8 mph for 70 miles and that was by sitting on Baines’ wheel for most of the ride Yesterday I went out on time trial bike (with non-aero helmet and wheels) and averaged 21mph for 50 miles over similar terrain. In an incredibly unscientific method of deduction, that’s about 4mph faster on time trial bike. It’s probably not quite that much. My legs felt better yesterday, and there was a little less climbing. But, as a rule of thumb, if you go from a road bike to good time trial set up, you should be able to go 1-3 mph for the same power effort.

It depends on many variables. My summer road bike stripped down is a good 1-2 mph faster than a winter training bike with mudguards, creaking gears and heavy road tyres. Maybe there is a psychological benefit that when you get on a time trial bike, which makes you want to pedal faster.

How much faster is a TT bike?

One of the great debates in cycling is how much faster would an old school time-triallist like Alf Engers have gone on a full time trial bike with dischwheel e.t.c? It’s impossible to say. Some of the 1970s time triallists had their position down to a fine art. It was only really the arm positions which could have been improved on with tribars. Though discwheels and skinsuits would add quite a bit too. In 1978 Alf Engers did a 49.24 for a 25 mile time trial ( 30.3mph / 48.8g km/h). That was before TT bikes, aerobars, discwheels and aero-helmets – to say nothing of wind tunnels and modern nutrition methods.

The current 25 mile time trial record is 45-46, set by Michael Hutchinson in 2012. (32.5mph / 52.7 km/h) – nearly 4km/h faster

UCI athlete hour record and UCI Ultimate record

One interesting comparison is Chris Boardman’s hour records. Boardman set hour records of 52.270km and later 56.375 km. This 56.3km stands as the ultimate hour record – using an extreme ‘superman’ position – Boardman was literally flying through the air.

Then the UCI changed the rules so basically you had to use 1970s equipment. In 2000, Boardman just beat Merckx to set a new athlete’s hour record of 49.441 km

That suggests a 7km/h difference between the fastest time-trial position and an ordinary road bike.

In practise, the superman position has been banned from most competitions. The average time trial position is somewhere between the Superman and road bike.

Cycling World hour record – combined forces and age 100+

February 5, 2014February 4, 2014 by tejvan

2014 seems to be a big year for the Cycling World Hour Record. The top 3 professional timetriallists – Fabian Cancellara, Tony Martin and Bradley Wiggins have all expressed an interest in the iconic record that has languished since the great battles between Boardman, Indurain, Rominger and Obree in the 1990s. The world hour record is currently held by the relatively unknown Ondřej Sosenka, he did 49.700 km 2005. (He later failed two dope tests, putting into doubt the validity of his record). It will be good to see a top time triallist finally go for the record (which despite UCI meddling, remains by far the most iconic cycling record.)

Away from the professional world, there have been two recent successful attempts at different categories and variations of the hour record.

Firstly, up is local time triallist, RAF engineer Justyn Cannon. Cannon successfully rode 47.220km on a track in Newport, 3rd Feb 2013. A very good distance for early February and for a rider who has done very little work on the track. It’s particularly interesting for me, because I often race against Justyn Cannon and we are often pretty close in local time trials.

But, there is something special about the Hour record. It is (by all accounts) a particularly testing event. Eddy Merckx couldn’t walk after his effort in 1974, and said it was hardest ride of his career. Cannon said

“That was horrible, absolutely horrible. It just messes with your mind.”

“Lap number one is horrible, as you’re stressed about getting on schedule. Then each lap after that is horrible.”

It must be a great feeling to actually put the kms on the board and beat the old Combined forces record of 46.5. It seems Justyn was training very hard over Christmas. “I train three times a day, including doing two hours on Christmas Day.” !

Good article at BBC here

All or nothing

One thing about the World Hour record is that it must feel an all or nothing achievement. You either break the record or you don’t. You can prepare for months, but it all comes down to whether you can break it. Even attempting the record takes courage.

World hour record for 100+ age category

Recently Robert Marchand, a 102-year old rider from France, beat his own hour record on the newly opened cycling track in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on Friday. Marchand set a new hour record for the UCI 100-plus category which was created especially for Marchand. The record now stands at 26 kilometers and 927 metres.

Not bad for a 102 year old!

Review of leg warmers

February 4, 2014 by tejvan

I’ve accumulated quite a few leg warmers over the past 10 years. This is a review of the different models I’ve been using.

From left to right

Specialized
Altura ergofit
DHB Vaeon Roubaix
Castelli nanoflex
Blue ‘prorace’ – discontinued.

Not featured here, I’ve also tried on some Impsport custom legwarmers.

Features I look for in leg warmers:

Not too tight so when cycling you don’t feel they are restricting your movement.
Stay in position, don’t roll down your leg
Warm. – different degrees of warmth depending on conditions. I like to have a thin pair, and a warmer pair.
Zip is useful for taking off over cycling shoes

To a large degree, some of these features need picking the right size as much as the individual brand.

Specialized

I like the Specialized leg warmer because it has a soft and flexible fabric. When you put it on, it doesn’t appear too tight. They are also quite thin, which makes it good for those times when it’s warming up, but not quite ready for shorts.

I have size L. It is prone to slip down, but if you put it underneath a pair of shorts, then it stays fine. Because it is thin, it dries pretty quick.

I’ve had it for over 5 years and has lasted well. Simple, but effective. They seem to have discontinued this model, which is a shame because it has been a very good product. The new Specialized leg warmer is called the Specialized EZ, I haven’t tried it, and unfortunately, it’s a bit more expensive (up from £32 to £40). Specialized EZ at Evans

Altura Ergofit

This was one of the most expensive leg warmer. The idea is that it comes pre-cut in the shape of a leg. It doesn’t lie flat, but has the bend built into the knee. The idea is that anatomically designed for your leg, it stays in place whilst offering greater freedom of movement.

Initially I ordered a size L, but this proved too big for me. It wouldn’t stay up and was very long. I sent it back and got a size M. This definitely stayed up, but it was a real struggle to get the leg on. The end of the leg warmer is stiff and small, to get it over your foot you have to take off your socks and really give it a good yank. Also, after a few weeks, I developed a hole in the stitching. The leg warmer felt quite tight when riding.

This has been the most disappointing leg warmer, because it isn’t comfortable and is difficult to get on, causing the stitching to come loose. It may just be unlucky with the sizing, but large felt too big, and medium felt too small. It seems a good idea to have an anatomical fit for the shape of the leg, but somehow it didn’t work for me. If you look at other reviews, other people are more positive, so you might have a different experience.

Altura Ergofit at Wiggle
Read more

Old School Cycling

February 3, 2014 by tejvan

Last week I was singing the praises of cycling indoors on the rollers. ‘Falling in love with the turbo‘ and all that kind of nonsense. My old man would give me a clip round the ear hole and tell me stop being a big southern softie – ‘stop dodging the showers and go outside for some proper cycling.‘ Roger De Vlaeminck didn’t win Paris Roubaix three times by listening to his iPod shuffle whilst doing level III on his indoor rollers.

So this weekend, it was time to ditch the conservatory and heated saddle for a bit of proper ‘old school’ cycling – cycling through the mud, wind and sleet and snow. It was time for a bit of winter grit, and getting in the miles without complaining.

Time for a bit of winter grit — Winter grit

It was also time to invoke the spirit of Sean Kelly and Bernard Hinault and other legendary figures from the past. One thing everyone agrees on, the modern generation is soft. Just look at the early editions of the Tour de France 400km stages over unmade roads on fixed gear bikes; and if you’re bike breaks down, no mechanic to give you a spare wheel. As for riding in the rain Sean Kelly would just say ‘I would go out whatever the weather, and only when I got back would I decide if the weather was too bad.’ Old school cycling has no time for marginal gains, power zones or heart rate monitors – Just pedalare…

Saturday was a lonesome 2 hours around the flat bleak farmland, north of Wantage. Dodging the A420, and sticking to small lanes, it was a matter of getting some slow miles in. 2 hours 20, for 38 miles. It felt handwork, especially the long relentless plod into the wind. There is an old school training theory of keeping it on the little ring until April. I’m not devoted to old school training methods. But, I was on the little ring all the way – more by necessity rather than choice.

Sunday, was another kettle of fish. This time I was joined by rising Buxton CC star, Chris Baines. A national junior hill climb champion (2012), and a northern cyclist raised in the hills of the Peak District.

bledlow-ridge-snow

Chris is new to the area so I was able to take him around some hills of the Chilterns towards Watlington and Henley. Hughenden Valley towards High Wycombe was looking beautiful. Don’t tell the old school guys, but there was no sleet or hail, just glorious February sunshine. If you had to pick a day to do a four hour ride in February, it would be hard to choose a better one. Though I feel compelled to add a random old school cycling quote:

“A Paris–Roubaix without rain is not a true Paris–Roubaix. Throw in a little snow as well, it’s not serious.”

– Sean Kelly

The muddy roads were flooded, and I got a good splattering from hanging on to Chris’s back wheel. He had a nice pair of mudguards on, but it wasn’t enough to stop getting splattered with mud from the incessant puddles. But, if you’re trying to emulate the old school warriors – a bit of splattered mud, is infinitely preferable to actually cycling five hours through the snow. [1]

tricycle-puddle

In a rush of blood, I’ve already entered my first race of the season, a 14 mile time trial by Kingston Wheelers next Sun. A few hours of sweet spot on the rollers and I felt like I was flying already. But, rollers can be deceptive, get on the real roads with a fierce wind, and you soon notice those 3 weeks off the bike.

Falling in love with the turbo

January 31, 2014January 31, 2014 by tejvan

When I began my season of proper racing back in 2005, I bought a turbo trainer. It was a bit like a rite of passage, akin to shaving the legs. Only proper cyclists would buy a turbo trainer, you have to be pretty serious to spend a lot of money on something which involves getting very sweaty cycling to nowhere – driving you as crazy as the proverbial hamster on a hamster wheel.

I felt like I’d done the right thing to spend £100 on a turbo trainer. The only problem is I could never bring myself to ride it. Of course, after buying, I did try 30 minutes on the turbo, but I then did one of those turbo interval sessions, where the interval of rest is about 12 months. If the weather was bad, I simply didn’t ride or I’d prefer to go out and get wet. The great Emil Zatopek said training in the rain is good character building. I took this as a noble excuse to avoid the turbo. It’s probably character building to spend 2 hours on a turbo, but I didn’t particularly want that character.

Even when warming up for races, I never bothered taking a turbo. I’d rather risk puncturing before a start of a race rather than get ridiculously sweaty and bored 5 minutes before the race started.

The thing with a turbo is that as soon as you get on it, time seems to exist in a different dimension. 5 minutes becomes an hour, and one hour becomes a life sentence. You start clock watching as the seconds tick interminably slowly. Over the years, I did make the odd perfunctory attempt to master the art of the turbo. I’d make bold intentions of a good one hour session, but invariably, after 20 minutes, I’d reduce it to just half an hour, and that would be my turbo session done for the month.

Last year I threw away my turbo session. Not because it had worn away from overuse. I threw it away because it was hopelessly rusty. It was an embarrassment and a reminder of how little my £100 had been used. In fact when I calculate the cost per hour of that turbo – it wasn’t just incredibly boring, but also very expensive for those minutes of torture.