Etape Du Dales - completed!

Haven't written too much on the blog lately, I was busy training for the Etape. I've done the Brian Robinson Challenge Ride at the end of April - a 125 km ride through the Pennines with 2500 meters of climbing in 4h49. This went very well. Furthermore found two climbs quite near to home which I can use as practice for climbing, there's a roundabout at the bottom of both climbs and they are connected so I can just start ascend the first climb, descend the other - then turn at the roundabout and ascend that climb, descending again on the first. Together this is around 7 miles, so doing this a couple of times gives me many climbing meters and distance. One climb is for much of the beginning around 12%, then levels out to around 5 to 6%, the other climb stays around 8 to 9% for the whole climb.
Anyway - I've done a couple of times, ready for the first big objective of the year, the Etape Du Dales.
Yesterday was the day - Sunday 17th May we went of for the 175 kilometer, near to 3500 climbing meters from Grassington to the north and back. The weather in the morning was quite pleasant, with a moderate wind in the back and sunny spells. I did just over 75 kilometers within the first three hours, as my target was 7h33, this was well within that objective. But then things turned for the worse, when we made the move south, the wind picked up - it started blowing right in the face (and on top of the Dales that is no fun!) and it started raining, first a drizzle but then really coming down. That slowed me down quite considerably, leading to a much slower speed. However, the climbs went really well - it were the flat sections with the wind against us that I suffered. I guess I am not too much of a headwind rider, I'm getting too skinny for that!
The last bit of the race, I could tie in to a nice group, taking turns at the front, we were able to get into the finish, still around my aim: 7 hours 33 minutes (which without a very slow car in front of us at a small section) would have been closer to 7h30. So objective achieved!

This is my last posting on the blog! It was all about the Etape, thanks for all who supported me with riding this for the Marie Curie Cancer Care, I was able to get donations around £700, far more than I expected!
I am sure my riding and your donations helped the MCC help a lot of people who suffer with cancer.

Last couple of days - Time Trial training

I did my first competitive time trial since the days I used to do triathlon! Our club was in charge of organizing a 10 mile TT last Saturday and a couple of weeks ago I decided to try this one. Bought a couple of clip on bars and started training, there's a small course around Mirfield which I used to built up speed, it's around 10 km long - so twice the round gives me 20 km. I've improved my time for this Mirfield 20km from over 40 minutes to around 38 minutes. It's quite hilly though - the total ascend is around 270 meters.
The TT competition was near Brotherton with much less climbing, it was actually a quite flat course - but it was a bit windy - certainly the days before. The weather was great though - quite sunny and around 12 C. My aim was to finish within 30 minutes and boy, I did beat that time - I did it in 26.40! Average speed just over 36 km/h. It certainly asks for more TT-ing. I was only slightly slower than all these other guys with their special bikes, wheels and other gear.
I did a 50km ride today just to keep the legs moving - that went actually quite well, I did the Clayton West ride, which is moderately hilly (two more or less significant climbs) in 27.3 km/h average. This is 2 km/h faster than earlier in the year (and I was just cruising!).
So....I think I'm getting in shape.
Next week I'll do the Brian Robinson Cyclo Sportive, which is 75 miles in and around the Penines (with Holmes Moss as big climb). Should be able to do in around 4.5 hours....
I will let you know next week!

Hilly Ride

Yesterday we did a very hilly club ride - we went from Mirfield up to Meltham, over the moors - then did the Isle of Skye climb, followed by Holmes Moss (north climb) - and after a short break in Glossop, the Snake Pass with the Strines as a nice desert! Total around 2500 metres of climbing for 150 kilometres. My average was 25 km/h. It's certainly my longest ride since the last 5 years but it went suprisingly well! My climbing went above expectation, I could maintain a 16 to 17 km/h speed on the Snake Pass (which is around 7% average) and my Holmes Moss climb was better then it has ever been (being second on the top just behind one of our fastest club climbers!). I really enjoyed the ride, I think I'm much better suited to do climbs than I am doing TT or doing through-and-overs on the flat. The Etape de Dales is only a bit longer than our ride yesterday, with only a couple of hundred meters more climbing, so I should be OK doing it in around 7 hours. Let's make that my objective!

Tough Week

Last week has been tough! I did a 70km ride on Friday with 1250 climbing meters. What made it hard was not so much the climbing but the weather, fearce winds and hail - not funny. Anyway, made the crossing from Oxenhope to Hebden Bridge over the moors - with these winds there was no chance of recovery during the descend. Did a clubride the Sunday after, 120 km on the flats towards Castleford - but quite speedy. I had 2 punctures during this ride, just as they were increasing the speed I felt my front tyre getting softer - sh*t! Anyway, made it home - but I didn't feel too comfortable, which resulted in having quite a heavy cold for the rest of the week. Still did around 110 km during that week, the Monday and Tuesday were not too bad. I actually managed to do a TT try-out on Tuesday 2 minutes faster than my PB (38 minutes over 21 kilometers with 230 meters ascend). My cold got worse over the week, so no cycling on Friday and Saturday.
Changed my tires - I was using Schwalbe Ultremo's - and I quite liked them, they were smooth and I could put a lot of pressure on them. But I didn't like my new set too much and certainly after my two punctures on Sunday I was far less than happy with them. Now changed to Continental Grand Prix 4000S - they look good and the feel is quite good. They have a bit more grip, but I guess that's OK in the UK.
If I feel better, I'm doing the club run tomorrow, which is a 100miles hilly ride. Good to do as a try-out for the Etappe de Dales - which is within 6 weeks!

Hard Ride!

Yesterday was a tough day! The wind was blowing quite forceful out of the west, exactly the direction we were heading with some of the guys of RCC. Within the club we changed our regime and now split up in a more social ride versus a tough ride (but shorter - because faster..). Four of us went from Mirfield toward Hebden Bridge, over the Moors towards Wycoller, than back again over the Moors towards Oxenthorpe and Queensbury. The part from Hebden Bridge towards Wycoller was tough - there must have been a wind full in our face of over 30 miles/hour - letting us struggle to go even downhill - this was full exposure to nature's elements. Anyway, these experiences make us tough, like real Flandriens.....
Ride statistics: 95 km, 1600 meters ascend, 24 km/h speed - maximum speed 70 km/h on the descend towards Oxenthorpe with the wind in my back.
My climbing is improving quite a bit - I can keep up my speed for quite some time and don't explode until I overdo myself. Just get in the right cadence, and things go well. Maybe I'm doing better because I've lost some weight, now 79 kilo's so I've lost 6 kilo's (a stone) since January. I'd like to loose another 5 kilo's or so, I think my ideal weight is somewhere around 75 - it will certainly help me with climbing.
This week again some travel, but it's reasonable quiet for the next month, so enough time to do some spinning and riding.

Longest ride so far

Today I did my longest ride so far - 140 kilometers through the Yorkshire Dales (Mirfield - Leeds - Poole - Grassington - Skipton - Keighley - Queensburry - Bailiff Bridge - Mirfield). It went quite well, certainly considering the week after my Cape Argus race. But then the weather was absolutely fantastic, the occasional cloud, a bit of wind but mostly quite sunny and around 12C. Perfect weather to ride.
Statistics were 1700 mtr total ascend, 25.8 k/h. There were some interesting climbs in the ride and I feel I'm improving quite a bit with my climbing. It's necessary as well as the Etappe De Dales has around 3000 meters ascend. If I continue however as I'm doing now, I should be able to do the EdD 110 miles in around 8 hours. Otherwise I didn't do too much this week, some turbotraining with the club and a ride to work. Had a check up at the gym at work on Friday, we did a 6 minute increased powerride on the stationairy bike - went up to 250 Watt with 85% MHR without any problems.
The Cape Argus folks added the adjustment table to their site, due to everyone complaining about their finishing times, my 4h18 should be adjusted to around 3h30 under normal circumstances, quite good actually. Maybe I can try again next year and hope for nice weather.