Sunday ride with Ravensthorpe Cycling Club

Riding on your own can become a bit boring, if the weather is nice it's ok, but during the winter, which lasts somewhere upto June in the UK, it can be quite demotivating to go out on your own, therefore I've been trying to find a club. I knew there was a club in Ravensthorpe, as I've seen some of their riders last year, so I got in touch and voila, today was my first ride with the Ravensthorpe Cycling Club. Peeking out the window early this morning wasn't too promising but Monica got me into going anyway, it wasn't raining but there were a lot of clouds and it definitely had rain. Let me tell you, I hate leaving for a ride in the rain, I don't mind too much if it starts raining somewhere along and you can go home, but not getting soaked from the beginning. But anyway, it stayed dry for almost the whole ride. We met at 9am in Mirfield and went out for a ride to Bolton Bridge (for a quick stop with a tea and scone) via Keighly, coming back via the other side of Bradford, all in all just under 100km - quite a ride. But it really helps cycling with a bunch of other guys, you talk a bit and without noticing you have 30km under the wheels. The last 20 km went better then expected as this is by far the furthest ride I've done so far this year. Average speed was just under 24km/h with a total ascend of around 11oo mtr. I had a good day and will certainly continue with these Sunday rides, they should prepare me for the 175km Etappe Du Dales! However, I don't advise anyone to go out cycling in Bradford on Sunday noon time, not a good idea - too many cardrivers think passing very close to cyclists is a sport - well it isn't!

I promissed to tell a bit about the Garmin. I've bought the Edge705 a little while ago and i have to say I'm quite pleased with this little toy. It's a GPS combined with all the data you want, like altitude, grade ascend/descend, hart rate, calories used (a bit desceptive I think) etc etc. You can upload all the information to Garmin Training Centre, in which you then can compare the data with other rides. You can even view the ride in Google Earth, that's neat. But....like with all these toys, you have to be a bit nerdish I think to really enjoy it - unless you are a professional rider and actually need all that data to improve, for me it's just fun having access to the data, although I do use the heart rate to ensure I'm not burning out too fast. It's also great for not getting lost, it replaces those little notes on which I sometimes scribble my route - they get sweaty and unreadable after a couple of hours. It's certainly one of my better buys lately, together with my legwarmers.

Saturday morning ride

Went out on a 50k ride this morning. I call it the Clayton West Tour. From our house in Mirfield I ride via the A62 upto Cooper Bridge and then past Mama's and Papa's up the hill towards Upper Heaton, then continue towards Grange Moor, then direction Flockton, go down towards the television tower with a very short and steep climb, past the tower tp Shelley, then to Skelmanthorpe to Clayton West, starting the return with again a short but steep climb towards Emley, continue all the way towards Lepton Edge, and then very nice downhill all the way towards Overton, at the outdoor shop bend left towards Thornhill to Dewsbury and back home. The ride went well as the weather was really beautiful. Did just over 24k average, total ascend of nearly 800 mtr (my Garmin Edge 705 has a lot of information available, more about that later). I wasn't too tired when I got home, so should start to be ready for the Cape Argus in just over a month.

Support me!

Obviously I am lucky to be healthy! However, I've experienced first hand what it means to be less fortunate. Therefore I have choosen to support the Marie Curie Cancer Care in doing my Etappe Du Dales. If you wish to support me, please go to
www.justgiving.com/jackdebokx

Thanks!

Start Again

Since moving from the Netherlands to the US and then around 5 years ago to the UK, I have used my bicyle a bit less. Everyone in the Netherlands rides! Well, most of them do, and not all of them on these superbikes obviously. And though many would like to think so, we haven't had too many good cyclists in the last couple of years, of course there were Michael Boogerd, Eric Dekker and more recently marginal successes with some other riders, but there hasn't been any dominant rider, but there is hope! Geesink, Boom, Thomas Dekker, Mollema - who knows where they will end. Anyway, back to myself - since the last couple of years I've been sporting again, loosing the weight I gained in the US (yes, I admit - the food isn't that good, but you eat a lot anyway). I was lucky to have a gym at work and I got into rowing and running again. I actually became OK in these two things, being able to row a sub7 minutes on 2k and even did a half marathon (Leeds 07) in 1.37. Not too bad. Then the cycle virus hit me again, and boy, did I like it. Obviously the area around Yorkshire is perfect for riding, I like the hills with their steep short climbs, the rough landscape and the tranquility on the small roads (mind you, the A-roads are generally used as one big parking spot, so no use cycling there, unless it's Sunday morning before 10AM). So 2008 saw me on the bike again quite often, I even bought myself a new one. I had a Colnago (alu frame) with Campa stuff, but it was getting a bit old, so I shifted to a full carbon. That's a tough choice, I did a lot of research, looked at Specialized, Cannondale, Scott, Trek but in the end bought a Focus Cayo Expert with Dura Ace/FSA stuff. It was considerably cheaper for similar specs - and boy it's a nice bike! (As one of my favorite riders is the Dutch guy Nikki Terpstra I was glad to see that his team Milram is shifting to Focus!). So obviously having a new bike forced me to use it even more. I then decided to do some sportives again in 2009 - my first choice being the Cape Argus, as I happen to be in South Africa for work purposes anyway the week before. I tried to get into the Fred Whitton, but when I logged in early morning it was already completely full (the registration started at 12 nighttime!). I could register, together with my cycling companian in the making, Ben G. for the Etappe Du Dales. Futher I will do a long weekend in the Alps and the sportive during the Vuelta in the Netherlands with another friend (Eino). That's it - now getting into shape. That's what this blog is about - I will do the Etappe De Dales for charity - Madam Curie Cancer Care, many folks have been donating for this good cause (175 km!) and it's only fair you can read about my progress in preparing for this sportive.
More to follow.