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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Blog moved...

I have moved my blog to http://www.johns-cycling-diary.co.uk/

And I forgot to post to tell everybody!!!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

24th April 2010

I felt better this morning :-)

I got up and changed straight into cycle gear...A long sleeve top today (It was still a bit chill out!)

I headed of for the ChainGang at 9:20 for the 9:30 start, I was surprised to find only a handful of people there...

At 930 we headed of on the familiar route...It was a fair pace again this week (19.9 mph Average), with some people unfortunately taking some risks on corners and junctions :-(

As the ride progressed the weather warmed up and it was a very enjoyable ride...

The Garmin had the ride as 40.69 miles in 2 hours 3 minutes with an average speed of 19.9 mph, route here...

When I got back home, after a shower and change, I spent the afternoon snoozing in the sun..

In-between snoozing I finally got around to reading 'The Cyclists Training Bible'...more geared to training for road racing, but well worth the read anyway!

It explains some common sense things that I hadn't thought of! The main things I am now pondering are....weight training (winter), power training, diet (It appears my 2 a day Banana habit may not be a healthy option), recovery training and diet...

The book makes some sensible statements regarding the human body and the modern diet...

I have also been having some Blogger issues, I am finally going to make the move to Wordpress, I am hacked off with the sometimes flaky comment system and the lack of real customisation options...I have registered a new domain name and am in the process of re-organising my extensive web space :-) Once I am happy with things I shall switch it on...so to speak :-)

---------Edit----------------------------
No blog taking shape at www.johns-cycling-diary.co.uk Please have a look and tell me what you think so far....
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Friday, April 23, 2010

23rd April 2010

Well I was sick.....I went to bed at 6:30 pm and slept right through to 5:30 am.

I felt a little tender and very de-hydrated when I woke up so I thought it was best to work from home today..

After work I cleaned and lubed the Merida in preparation for the weekend.

I still dont feel 100% at the moment so instead of going for a ride I went for a nice walk with wifey and Rosie (dog).

Thursday, April 22, 2010

22nd April 2010

I was supposed to go out for a ride with my son tonight...But I am not feeling very well :-(

I have a stomach ache...I even came home from work early......

Blah I hate feeling unwell.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

21st April 2010

Worked from home today...

Didn't do the club TT tonight, instead I planned to do a country lanes ride with Dave Carr and Andy Wiggins :-)

Andy and Dave pitched up at 5:30 ish and we set of at 6 for a nice 25 miles around the lanes

It was a very pleasant sociable ride...although I did find it difficult to slow my pace down...I normally try and get around this route as fast as possible!!!

The Garmin had the ride as 25.79 miles in 1 hour 28 minutes....route here...

When we got back home we had a lovely BBQ and chatted the evening away :-)

We have agreed to repeat the whole process again next Wednesday...This time I will sort out a route south instead of north...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

20th April 2010

Went to work today....but not to Warwick :-)

Instead I went to Benson in Oxfordshire....Nice to go somewhere familiar but different...

It was really nice to get up at a civilised time and get back home at a civilised time :-)

I stopped on the way home in Halfords and picked up a new cycle helmet..the old one has served 2 years service and has been dropped a few times...

I also picked up a set of pedals and a topeak pump...

When I got back home I fitted the Dawes Hybrid for wifey and swapped the SPD pedals for the new flat pedals..

I am now ready for the new bike :-)....unfortunately its not going to be here for another couple of weeks :-(

I am going to the Lake District on Hols in July and I was intending taking 3 bikes...Wifeys Mountain bike the Dawes and the Merdia Race, I am going to do the Fred Whitton 4 seasons challenge, and go cycling with wifey...Now I am only going to take two bikes, the Dawes set up for wifey and the New Merida Cross....I should be able to do the wifey leisure rides and the Fred Whitton on it...I hope!

When I finished all of my tinkering I settled down to play computer games, but my friends obviously got bored waiting for me and they were all gone :-(

Monday, April 19, 2010

19th April 2010

Managed to make it out for the lunchtime walk, just a couple of miles as I didn't have a great deal of time...

When I got back home I changed into summer cycle gear then got straight out on the bike :-)

Redbikes suggested that all of my rides are flat...and thinking about it I have sort of drifted into flatter rides. So tonight I thought I would ride some of the local hills :-)


They are not mountains but they are steep enough...

The ride started out warm enough..
1900 Sunny  intervals 13.7 °C NW 8 mph

25 km 1015 hPa, Falling
2000 Sunny 11.7 °C NNW 5 mph

13 km 1015 hPa, Steady
Put towards the end it was starting to get quite chilly...

The Garmin had the ride as 18.64 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes with an average speed of 16.1 mph and a maximum speed of 46 mph :-) ....route here...

I am confident that Sunday's White Horse Challenge should not present to many difficulties now :-)

Two more pieces of news....

1) I have entered and paid for the O2E Champagne Supernova...16th/17th September 200 mile ride across France :-)
2) I have ordered a Cyclo Cross bike...A Merida Cyclo Cross 3

Plan is to do some more NCR rides and to have a go at Cyclo Cross at the end of the year :-)

And finally...Paul W took a photo of me on the 125k Audax......

Sunday, April 18, 2010

18th April 2010

Today was the day of the club 125k Audax, I had picked up the route sheet on Wednesday but I could not plot it on bikehike/ridewithgps as I kept getting lost :-( so I was either stuck with navigating myself from paper or tagging along with people that did the ride last year :-)

The weather for the day was perfect....REALLY perfect :-)
0900 Sunny 5.7 °C NE 1 mph

11 km 1015 hPa, Falling
1000 Sunny 8.9 °C WNW 1 mph

12 km 1015 hPa, Falling
1100 Sunny 11.7 °C SSW 2 mph

13 km 1015 hPa, Falling
1200 Sunny 13.5 °C ENE 1 mph

17 km 1015 hPa, Falling
1300 Sunny 15.2 °C E 2 mph

30 km 1015 hPa, Falling
1400 Sunny 15.5 °C NNW 5 mph

22 km 1014 hPa, Falling
I started of with shorts and short sleeve top and arm warmers and was a bit chilled, it was only just 5 degrees when I set off from home at 8:30..

I signed in as soon as I got to the Bath road car park then moved into the sun and chatted with Paul.

At 9 am we all set off, as is my constant desire I zoomed off and overtook everybody (Paul stayed on my back wheel)...I sort of knew the first bits of the route :-)

Thankfully as we reached Easton Lane we were overtaken by Andy and David and a nice group of ten or so formed...most of the start of my ride looked like this.....

I'm not complaining it was a cracking pace and they knew the way :-) The whole ride turned into a very social, enjoyable and fairly quick chain gang ride :-)
The first Control was at Sainsburys in Frome, we all self certified our Brevet cards, as I have reached that age I stopped to water the horses..

After Frome we ascended the only major climb of the ride 'Gare Hill' and I was very pleased with myself not to be dropped or lagging behind on the hill, in fact I got to the top reasonably quickly and ahead of the game :-) I even had time to stop and take photies of everybody else in our little group going by :-)

The countryside and weather was perfect, and sitting in a group I was being dragged along nicely :-)

We passed Shear Water and before I knew it we were at Longleat...

We all decided against stopping for a brew and a cake at Longleat instead opting to stop and sit in the sun at Brokerswood.

I have done a few rides through Longleat, but I normally stick to the roads I know, It was great to find that you can cycle next to the Lions enclosure and past the Rhino's, Hippo's and the Gorilla Island...

For some reason I found the climbs out of Longleat quite challenging, but I still managed to keep with the group....once we were out of the climbs I was sailing along again :-)

We passed a rather nice looking pub on the way to Brokerswood and somebody mentioned Cider :-) Now I was all up for stopping for a pint of the lovely cool apple juice...but the rest were not :-(

So I put the Cider thought to the back of my mind....but tea is just NOT the same...

We stopped at the Cafe at Brokerswood...David had remembered that it was his shout..I had bought the last teas and cake a few weeks ago...

I did the decent thing and reserved some prime sun soaked real estate (Chair and Tables)..he delivered my Bacon Roll and Cake to me :-)

Apparently he did not have enough hands to bring my tea as well, but as I was settled in the sun he did the decent thing and fetched it for me :-)

I do somehow think I AM going to pay big time for this charitable act....

After a rather pleasant sit in the sun it was a short (17 mile) ride to the Chippenham Sainsburys and the end of the Audax..

Andy picked up all of the Brevet cards from our little group to take to the club evening on Wednesday..

It was a nice short cycle home...then I cut the grass and finished filling in the pond in the garden...

Finally I had a shower and then sat in the garden with a nice cool glass of cider :-)


The Garmin had today's ride as 79.08 miles in 4 hours 25 minutes with an average speed of 18 mph, route here...

Saturday, April 17, 2010

17th April 2010

Got up and the sun was shining, I dressed in summer gear...the weather forecast was for 16 degrees...unfortunately it was only 5 degrees at present...

I finally got around to un-boxing the new cycle shoes as the old ones were looking a bit shabby

The new ones looked very shiny :-)

My only real concern was setting up the cleats in the right position...

I set fof for the Chippenham Cemetery at 9:15 for the 9:30 start and it was a tadge chilly, but I had high hopes for it to warm up :-)

There were a lot of people turned up for the chain gang so we split into two groups, a fast and a slow...I was of course in the fast group :-)

As the ride progressed it started to warm up nicely :-) I actually started to feel sorry for everybody else with their leg and arm warmers.

It was the fastest chain gang of the year so far...40.73 miles in 2 hours with an average speed of 20.3 mph, route here...

When I got back home I had a bacon sandwich and basked in the sun for a while...

At 1:50 I went out for a short slow ride with son, 16.11 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes with an average speed of 13.9 mph, route here...

The weather was absolutely perfect....



When we got back home I set about making a gate to replace the second garden gate...

Friday, April 16, 2010

16th April 2010

Had Friday pub lunch, (Sausage,Eggs,Chips and Beans) I normally have something a little lighter but I was supposed to be going to a play in the Theatre Royal in Bath tonight...

I had worked through a couple of lunchtimes mid week and was intending to set of from work in good time....it didn't happen :-( I left work late..

Now I can't really remember agreeing to go to the Theatre, but wifey insists I was asked and I said yes. When I phoned home after setting of from work, wifey asked me if I would be OK going as I had had a long day n all.....Ohhh I looked at the warm sunshine outside of the car window and thought of a cycle ride....

I think wifey had realised I wasn't that keen on going and had offered my ticket to one of her friends :-)

When I got home I changed into summer cycle gear and I was off....I didn't fancy fighting with cars so I headed off down the country lanes.

I ended up doing the same ride I did with Dave Carr a month or so ago....and I flew....It was so fast and so nice, the bike was purring along, the gears set up just right...the only thing that would have made it absolutely perfect was a few more degrees in temperature and a little less wind.
1900 Sunny 11.4 °C ENE 11 mph

30 km 1026 hPa, Falling
2000 Sunny 9.8 °C ENE 8 mph

30 km 1027 hPa, Falling
I ended up doing the 25.8 miles with an average speed of 20.4 mph in 1 hour 16 minutes, route here...

It is certainly a nicer route than following the main road around Lyneham, it is a good TT speed training route but it has NO hills, so my benchmark speed course has to be my normal 20...

When I got back home, I gave the bottom bracket a look over to make sure all was well and I noticed a small amount of play, so I nipped up the crank adjuster a little...and the play was gone :-)

I was going to cook a bacon sarnie but I couldn't be arsed , so I ordered a small Donino's Pizza and Wedges instead...

This weekends weather looks gorgeous...I have a couple of rides planned for tomorrow and a 125k Audax on Sunday, its going to be greeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttt :-)

Thursday, April 15, 2010

15th April 2010

Busy day at work, didn't manage to go for lunch time walk :-(

Didn't actually leave my desk all day :-(

When I got in from work, I ate tea, then went for a walk with wifey and Rosie (dog)

When I got back I put the Merida on the bike stand.

I gave it a clean and then set about changing the bottom bracket.

The job was not as difficult as I had imagined, although the caps were tighter than expected, it was a good job I had a BB socket as well as the BB spanner :-)

I cleaned up the chain rings, spider and cranks off the bike and re-assembled the lot.

I put the bike on the turbo and set the gears up, It all seemed a lot more positive...

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

14th April 2010

Worked from home today :-)

I was intending to go out for a ride at lunchtime, but it was far to cold, so I gave it a miss :-)

At 5:30 I headed off to the Queens Field for the 6:15 sign in for the club 10 mile TT...

I got there early and signed in first, I got my number (1) and pinned it on my shirt...We were supposed to do the normal 10 route, but news of traffic lights was mentioned so the course was changed to the 'P' course, unfortunately nobody knew where it started or where it went :-)

The route was explained to us and I sort of grabbed where it went, as I was first up I had nobody else to follow...I pedalled to the start and waited...and waited...and waited, I started to get a bit worried that I was in the wrong place, a few more guy's turned up thankfully...and eventually the time keepers turned up and we were ready to go :-)

I set off straight into a headwind...downhill...
1800 Low-level Cloud 11.1 °C NE 14 mph

30 km 1020 hPa, Falling
At Great Somerford the course turned right to Dauntsey, at Dauntsey the course turned left back on to the normal 10 mile course which at Great Somerford went back up the hill to the start point, it was much easier being blown up the hill.

It was quite interesting as I was finishing to see people starting, they all looked so serious!

My official finish time was 27:31, the Garmin had the ride as 10.13 miles in 27:55 with an average speed of 21.8 mph, route here...

I cycled back from the TT via the cycle club to pick up the route sheet for Sunday's club 125k Audax.

The total ride today was 25.7 miles in 1 hour 27 minutes with an average speed of 17.6 mph

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

13th April 2010

Night Off, Played computer games :-)

Monday, April 12, 2010

12th April 2010

Went to work today, didn't see the point in loosing a days pay...

Went out for my lunchtime walk, 3 miles...RunGPS decided to record absolutely nothing :-(

When I got back home I changed straight into long sleeve cycle top and trousers and went out for my 'Normal 20'...I had visions of going straight at the evens (20mph average) but the strong northerly put paid to that :-(
1800 Medium-level Cloud 11.0 °C NNE 14 mph

15 km 1026 hPa, Falling
1900 Sunny  intervals 10.2 °C NNE 15 mph

15 km 1026 hPa, Falling
I was 5 minutes off the evens pace at the 10 mile point, I did push hard on the home straight but I was never going to make the time up :-(

The Garmin had the ride as 21.28 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes with an average speed of 18.5 mph, route here...

When I got back home I showered and changed then had salad for tea....interestingly my legs are aching now....but they didn't ache at all yesterday!

I noticed on the ride that the chain-rings appeared to be oscillating in and out as I was pushing the pedals down....The bottom bracket has gone again :-( Surely it should last longer than 3ooo miles? This one was a Dura Ace, the 105 one lasted 5ooo miles, I have just ordered another set of 105 cups.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

11th April 2010

Its amazing how rejuvenating a nights sleep is...I woke up this morning with NO ill effects from yesterdays ride, if it wasn't for the pain that wifey would inflict on me I would have considered going out on the club leisure ride...but I thought it would be safer to do NO bike things today :-)

We went out for a shortish walkies with Rosie (dog) then I set about tidying up the garden...all of this cycling has left it rather neglected :-(

Once the grass was cut and the garden tidied I spent the afternoon making and hanging a new garden gate (4 ft by 6 ft).

I had provisionally booked Monday off work as I thought I may be completely knackered, but as it stands I don't quite know what the fuss was about and I will go to work in the morning.

And on a final note...I was tidying my drawers up at work on Friday and I decided to bring my spare clothes home (I used to ride a motorbike back and forth and kept a dry set of clothes at work just in case I got soaked through). I think the jeans were about 3 years old...They are a tadge big for me now :-)

Saturday, April 10, 2010

10th April 2010

Got up at 4:30 am....put on short sleeve top with arm warmers and my light wind proof top and cycling trousers over shorts...It was only 4 degrees but the forecast was for it to be a scorcher mid afternoon :-)

We made it to the Watermoor Hall in Cirencester for 5:45 for the 6 am start, thankfully my leg was feeling 'normal' :-)

I picked up my Brevet card and at 6 am I was off....and as is normal for me I was off at the front :-)
It was Dark...I didn't want to put the back-light on the Garmin as power was going to be an issue as it was so I pedalled along with John he was doing the 300k on a fixie!

The sun started to rise pretty darn quickly and soon enough we were in some fantastic Gloucestershire countryside :-)

There were a lot of deer in the fields and it was a wonderful morning, if not a little chilly! I was really quite pleased I had the trousers and sleeves on..there were some people in shorts and short sleeve tops....

The first control was at the Tudor Rose tea rooms at Alcester (41 miles)...It was just about starting to get warm, but was far to soon for me to need nourishment so I got my card stamped and set straight on...

The next stage from Alcester to Atherstone was really interesting for me.....I did a training ride with Nathan and Joy in 2008, and this stage revisited some of the same roads. The control was at Winnie's Cafe (78 miles) I had a lovely cuppa and a round of Beans on Toast, I also took the opportunity to take off the wind-proof top, arm warmers and cycling trousers....I was in summer gear :-)

It seemed no time at all and the first 100 miles had been and gone :-) now the work began! The terrain was pretty flat on stage 3 Atherstone to Daventry...it was also pretty damn boring....As quick as the 100 was the 21 to the control seemed to drag....I also took a wrong turn and got lost in a Daventry housing estate :-(

Finally I made it to the control ...Roso Cafe (121 miles) and I had another cuppa and another round of Beans on toast...

I was warned that the next stage Daventry to Tackley had a killer climb as you leave Daventry.....well it was steep but it certainly wasn't a killer....This time the control was a pub....so I promised myself a cider and a pudding....it was also a reasonably short stage (34 miles).

It didn't seem to take too long to get to the control, but I welcomed the rest from the bike!

After the refreshing stop it was back on the road for the final leg..Tackley to Cirencester (36 miles), in many ways this was the toughest leg...1) it was new distance territory for me, 2) The place names were familiar to me but were dauntingly still a long way from home and I could place how far away they are from Cirencester! 3) My leg was starting to hurt :-( -But I wasn't going to give up in the last 30 miles!

Funny thing is that the last 35 miles was my fastest of the day! (16.6 mph average speed). It was a great success, the Garmin lasted the whole ride without issue, I made it around the 300K (191 miles) without collapsing in a heap, it was still daylight when I got back!

The Garmin had the ride as 189.68 miles (I kept on forgetting to restart the timer after the stops!) in 12 hours 9 minutes with an average speed of 15.6 mph, route here...

Friday, April 9, 2010

9th April 2010

Did short walk to pub lunch :-) It was beautiful warm sunshine...

When I got home I changed into summer cycle gear and went out for a short ride with son..(10 miles)...we met wifey and daughter at pub and had food, son was knackered so loaded his bike in the car and he went home with wifey...I cycled home, arriving shortly after them :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 11.83 miles in 45 mins 46 sec with an average speed of 15.5 mph, route here...

My leg feels much better now, so I am going to give the 300k a try tomorrow...

The bike is all sorted..(It feels sooooo light and responsive after dragging the Dawes around last week :-)

I have cleaned out my camel back and loaded up the Torq gels and Fruit n Fibre bars....my only real worries now are a) will my leg be ok? and b) will the Garmin batteries last for the 200 miles?

Thursday, April 8, 2010

8th April 2010

Made it out for my lunchtime walk..It was wonderfully warm sunshine...3.04 miles...route here...

Another night off the bike :-( Leg is still twinging a little...

I went for a longish walk with Rosie (Dog), then spent a few hours cleaning and lubing the Merida in preparation for Saturdays ride...

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

7th April 2010

First day back at work :-(

It would have been a perfect day for a cycle ride.....but I am being careful with my leg....

I desperately want to do the Heart of England 300k on Saturday...

I have been eyeing up a Cyclocross bike for the next NCR ride, I may or may not do....(NCR 8 Cardiff to Holyhead)

Whilst I still remember the NCR5 ride I thought I would summarise the ride and my thoughts...

I don't know how typical NCR5 is from any other cycleways but I do not think it is intended to be treated as a usable route....In the same way as the A1 or A5 roads.

The first 10 feet of NCR 5 gives an indication of how usable some of the National Cycle Route is...

It does however take on some very picturesque and quiet roads

It extensively uses pre-existing footpaths (that have not been adapted for the use of bicycles)

Quite lanes (Although there are less cars there are still cars and impatient drivers)

Canal tow paths...

And even muddy fields and byways


Every so often there is a shining example of how it could all be (Stratford-upon-Avon Greenway and Chester-Connaughs Quay)

But all with the exception of the footpaths, roads and fields are marred by the obstacles that are placed in the way to stop bicycles from traversing the cycleways....



I do understand the need to slow the bicycles down in the area of pedestrians and also to make it impossible for motorbikes/mopeds to use the paths, but some of the obstacles make it VERY difficult to get a bike through, I would suggest that children/elderly would NOT be able to in some cases.

I was very disappointed when the cycle paths were closed to find NO assistance on how to rejoin it, as a minimum all that was required was a few directions on a notice or even a map...


The NCR signs can be almost impossible to see, without a GPS and a pre-plotted route it would have been impossible to follow it! Even WITH the GPS it was bloody difficult!

I sometimes found it difficult to fathom why the cycle way followed some of the routes it did...The Canals were sensible, the Greenway and Chester cycle ways were a joy but doing a loop up hill around Bangor was strange and hard work...If it was to get a view of the mountains there were much better on the other side of the Menai

I found the 4 days 377.74 miles and 11,531 ft of climb of NCR 5 considerably harder than the 11 days 950.11 miles and 61402 ft of climb of JOGLE, and I am considerably fitter and more experienced now! The main reason it was harder was the terrain, the road bike rolls and can maintain 17 mph easily, the Hybrid on the rough tracks was difficult to maintain 12 mph, we could always argue that the weather conditions of Sunday and Monday didn't help and I would agree, but I am factoring in that on Fridy and Saturday I had a full on tail wind and it was still bloody hard work!

I did enjoy doing the ride and I do think that the National Cycle Routes are a good idea...but for it to work it needs better support, in some cases it was clear that the cycleway was a jewel in the crown, but in other cases it was equally clear that they were just to get the bicycles of the road...

And some of the cycle lanes were just down right comical and add to the scepticism of their true benefit.

It was sometimes very difficult to know where I was, if I was in a car I would get a welcome to Oxford or Birmingham sign, on the cycle path it was as if they didn't want me to know where I was!

It would be good to see a real end to end cycle infrastructure but I do not believe there is the political will or the money to actually make it work....