7th December 2009

My "Tacx Antares Professional Training Rollers" turned up from Wiggle today :-)

I had been told by a fair few people that they are a completely different experience to the Turbo Trainer (mine being an Elite Volare Mag Lite), I was told that I will NOT find them boring and you definitely wont need a TV/music to keep you occupied!

When I got in from work I unpacked the rollers and assembled them (Took about 5 minutes flat), extended the frame and made sure no adjustments were needed, the back wheel sits in between two rollers and the front sits directly on top of a third.

I then got changed into summer cycling gear for my initiation...

The first issue...climbing onto a turbo mounted bike is easy, its fixed in place! Climbing onto a bike on the road is easy, you just lean it towards you and hop on..scoot along a bit and away you go!

The bike on the rollers is not fixed! it is three inches higher than the ground, problem solved hop on bike on ground then shifty it on to the rollers!

Now how to start.....well I grabbed on to the bookcase in my office and started pedalling, problem was I couldn't let go of the bookcase without fear of falling.....

Problem solved! move the rollers into a doorway, lean against wall and start cycling :-)

It is a VERY interesting experience! you really have to focus on your balance and smooth cycling. Any erratic handlebar movement could be disastrous! Stopping pedalling is not an option either!

Normally on the Turbo I just work up a sweat and my legs ache a little, the 40 minutes I spent on the rollers flew by, I worked up the same sweat, my legs ached but my upper body also feels like I had worked out!

After the first 10 minutes I did feel like my cycling was getting smoother, even to a point where I could grab a drink without almost falling of the rollers.

I think it may be a few more hours before I am able to move out of the doorway and back into my office!

And if you are feeling brave here is one final photy wifey took as I was just starting off on the rollers :-)

6th December 2009 (9000 miles!)

Set the alarm last night to make sure I got up in time this morning, the plan was to meet at the Cemetery gates at 8:30. I needn't have worried I was up in plenty of time, I had a nice warm bowl full of porridge.

It had been raining ALL night but the forecast was for a dry morning, with rain in the early afternoon, I wasn't so sure especially as when I opened the back door the heavens opened.

I set of at 8:20 and Richard was already waiting for me, I unfortunately forgot to start the timer on the Garmin :-(

David pitched up a few minutes later and we were off :-)

The pace was reasonable, with me catching them up and staying with them on the flats and them leaving me standing on the hills :-(


As we progressed the sun came out and it actually got quite warm, I wished I had taken my sunglasses!

The ride to Burford was very pleasant, we managed to avoid cycling down any major roads, although there was a fair amount of standing water.

Just as we passed over the A303 David realised he had travelled to far with us! he was supposed to have turned left earlier on, Richard and myself were still on track :-)

We cycled through Amesbury and onto Stonehenge Road...and then on to a road I vowed NEVER to cycle down..the A303 (It was only for less than half a mile but there is NO other way to get to Stonehenge)



From Stonehenge we travelled on 2 major roads (A344,A360) they are both very exposed roads going directly across Salisbury plain.

We appeared to be cycling directly into a headwind and there was no way to get out of it, I really was starting to feel tired....

I enjoyed the ride last week so much that I decided to finish this ride by following some of last Sunday's route...Just short of Potterne we turned left off the A360 and cycled through Keevil and out towards Hilperton.

Then we headed North to Staverton and Great Chalfield

Just before we got to Atworth there was a VERY deep and long flood, with a car stopped in the middle of it, the water was deep enough to go over the wheel hubs on the bike - It must have been wet in the car! my feet were already cold, and now they where soaked to!

As we headed out of Atworth towards Neston- towards the end of the ride, I started to feel a little more with-it and energetic - shame I hadn't felt like that for the past 60 miles :-(

We went through the last major flood at the top of monks lane, there is no longer a boundary where the pond stops and the road begins!

From there it was plain sailing (so to speak) home.

The Garmin had the ride as 67.85 miles in 4 hours 24 minutes with an average speed of 15.4 mph, the actual distance was 72.64 miles (As mentioned earlier I forgot to start the timer) The route can be found here...

According to Lyneham the weather observations for the ride was..

0800		8.1 °C	SW	8 mph		15 km	990 hPa, Rising
0900		8.1 °C	SW	13 mph		25 km	991 hPa, Rising
1000		8.5 °C	SW	17 mph		25 km	993 hPa, Rising
1100		8.4 °C	SW	19 mph	32 mph	45 km	994 hPa, Rising
1200		8.9 °C	SW	18 mph	32 mph	25 km	995 hPa, Rising
1300		9.3 °C	SW	19 mph	30 mph	30 km	996 hPa, Rising

I could have sworn we were cycling into a headwind ALL of the time, but apparently not!

When I got back home I showered and changed, had baked beans on toast for lunch, put the mince-meat I prepared yesterday into the oven for 3 hours. Spent a few hours cleaning and lubing the bike.

I am now in the process of making chilli for tea....

Ohhh I just updated the stats and I have done OVER 9000 miles this year!!!!!

5th December 2009

I was exhausted last night! I woke up quite late (for me) this morning at 8:30.

I got up changed straight into cycle gear, had cereal for breakfast and sauntered over to the Cemetery for the Chain Gang.

There were a fair few of us and we split in to two groups, I was in the fast group (What else would you expect!)

It was a nice fast ride and I got back home feeling I had accomplished something.

The Garmin had the ride as 40.86 miles in 2 hours 15 minutes with an average speed of 18 mph.

When I got back home I was minging...not everybody had mudguards fitted!!!

After my nice warm shower and change, I had a couple of bacon sarnies for lunch.

I spent a few hours making some mincemeat (Gonna make some mince pies tomorrow :-), I prefer home made mincemeat as you know exactly what you are eating, and I always reduce the amount of sugar and increase the amount of brandy :-) - I have used a variation of the Delia recipe for a number of years now and it is really easy and tastes great :-)

After the mincemeat was settled into the front porch I cleaned up the Peugeot, Tomorrows ride is going to be a bit longer and more interesting so I shall be taking the Merdia out (The first time in quite some time)

4th December 2009

What a long day...Up at normal time, finished work at 5, long journey back home (What the hell are caravan's doing out at this time of the year?), ate food (Quickly) then walked down to the Chippenham Neeld Hall to watch the Chippenham Light Operatic group (CLOGS) (A musical theatre group that wifey and daughter belong to) rendition of Carousel.

My daughter played the part of the dancing bear (As well as some other parts)

It was a very well presented show, but not really my cup of tea....(I was very tired and have a short attention span when it comes to just watching things) I decided that falling asleep whilst watching a show wasn't a good idea so I walked on home at the mid show break.

So no cycling today, but I have a reasonably interesting weekend planned :-)

3rd December 2009

I think they may be right, I may be mad!

I was contemplating this as I was riding around my 'Normal 20' in the dark, dressed up like the Michelin man with freezing cold feet...

How sane is it for somebody to get up 4 days a week at 5:20 am drive 70 ish miles north (Yes my northern readers I consider Warwick to be in the north!) walk 2 miles for a bit of lunchtime exercise and at the end of the working day drive 70 ish miles to the beautiful south..then get changed and go out for a 20 mile cycle ride in the freezing cold???

Lyneham had the weather as..

1900		2.2 °C	W	10 mph		30 km	1002 hPa, Rising
2000		2.2 °C	W	13 mph		35 km	1003 hPa, Rising

Interestingly I did feel quite warm for the first 10 miles, when I got to Lyneham it felt like the temperature suddenly plummeted, by the time I has done 17 miles it felt like somebody was prizing my toe nails of with tooth picks :-(

As I was out I had a reminder why we should all have a hard wearing winter bikes...I was passed by a gritting lorry chucking instant corrosion on the road (and all over the bike).

The Garmin had tonight's ride as 21.27 miles in 1 hour 14 minutes with an average speed of 17.2 mph, route here...

So my final comment...when you have had a tough day and cant be arsed to get out on the bike, think about me...I have probably been up longer, travelled further and still get out! and the mad thing is I seem to have more energy and am in a better mood because of it!

2nd December 2009

Worked from home today :-)

Managed to get out for a nice 20 miles at lunch time :-)

I am certain it was dry when I left my desk to get changed, as I headed out of the door the heavens opened, and it continued raining for the whole hour :-(

Although the bike got wet it did appear to stay clean :-)

The Garmin had the ride as 21.67 miles in 1 hour 13 minutes, the route can be found here...

When I eventually finished work I spent a quality evening hanging a new bedroom door for my son.

1st December 2009

Got in...Got changed and did a 30 minute session on the Turbo Trainer.

The idea was to hold as high a cadence as I could manage for the 30 minutes, not having a cadence computer is a bit of a pain so I resorted to counting the revolutions over a minute period...

Early on when I thought I was doing well...I was disappointed to find I was only doing 97 rpm so I put a bit more effort in!

At one point I counted 117 rpm, it just didn't feel natural, I am told that the more I practice at high cadence the easier it will become.....let's see!

The statistics for November are...

Distance:	591.67 mi
Max Distance:	68.30 mi
Time:	37:15:56 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	6,598 m
Max Elevation Gain:	1,775 m
Avg Speed:	15.9 mph
Max Speed:	42.1 mph
Calories:	43,548 C

Damn I hate the winter!

After the Turbo I showered changed, ate tea then spent a quality evening shooting zombies on L4D 2 :-)