Embracing a key philosophy – ‘make stuff up’

Only its mother could love it. A frankenbike I’d lent to one of my sons in London. A DIY single speed, looking (accurately) like it’s not worth stealing. I’ve ridden it around the village (pre rear puncture) and it’s great fun – but it might not be the bike to ride out to the alps

Situation normal: I have set myself a challenge and have no real idea about how I should train for it, how much training is necessary or whether I can actually do it.

One of my great friends at work was the Marketing Director. His key philosophies were summarised as B&W, D&D and MSU (‘bob and weave’, ‘duck and dive’ and ‘make stuff up’). As Legal Director I didn’t feel those were quite so open to me – but I always admired them in him. Now is another chance for me to embrace the ‘make stuff up’ approach.

The only comfort is that I’ve been here before with the Cinglé du Mont-Ventoux and everesting – and they both worked out OK. I do as much as I feel I can, recognise that it could always be more, decide not to worry about that – and just get on with it. That’s going to have to be the approach this time too.

The most humbling thing is to compare my meagre challenges with those that some folks take on and blog about. Too many to list them all but for cycle touring you might have a look at three by inspirational ladies:

Gobi bike    Capital A Adventures    Sharron Yaxley

So, with about 10 weeks until I take the ferry across the Channel and ride to the alps, what do I do? The key challenges, I guess, will be the distance, the required speed and the multi-day nature of the trip (to say nothing of navigation, drinking, eating, sleeping and recovery). It looks like training will be focused on time in the saddle and putting in the miles.

When I trained for my London marathons (in 1998 and 1999) the longest training run I ever did was 20 miles so based on that I don’t suppose I need to do rides of over 200km (125 miles) but that’s only guesswork on my part. Despite that, setting myself a target of 150km a week would seem totally inadequate in view of the fact that I’ll be aiming to do three days averaging 270km (167 miles) a day – but I’ve got to start somewhere.

I know that the turbo gives rather soft kms as I can record well over 40km an hour on it, but for the first week a 150km target will be OK.

I have sent off for some bags for the bike. I am using my standard approach of attempting to disguise my inherent meanness as the embracing of a challenge to do this cheaply. A 10 litre saddle bag and a frame bag are costing a combined £14.51 (under $20) so it will be interesting to see if they are fit for purpose and big enough.

Everything I read says that comfort on the bike is key. I plan to keep my saddle even though it might not be the most comfortable available. It weighs very little and, after all, I am taking the bike out for a week in the alps, after the 3 days to the alps.

I’d better start thinking about what I need to take. I left some cycling kit and everyday clothes out there when we went skiing so it’s mainly stuff for the journey itself – how little can I get away with – plus padded undershorts to go with the bibs?

I’ll also need to think route finalisation, getting comfortable on the tribars, and starting to pray for a good crossing, good weather, a tail wind, and the finding of suitable accommodation.

Oh yes, I remember that I don’t speak French – I guess it’s too late to start lessons?

 

 

The effect of going up big hills?

Me, climbing on the ‘Cinglés du Mont-Ventoux’ ride in October 2015. My all-time favourite mountain

With apologies for ‘nerdiness’ …

OK – I know the short answers to this question, largely based around ‘slower’, ‘tougher’, ‘exhaustion’ ‘pain’ etc – but what I’m talking about is how much time big hills add to a ride, recognising that the loss of time going up is never fully compensated for by the additional speed going down the other side.

Of course, I also recognise that this is very subjective – it entirely depends on the type of rider, the nature of the slope, bravery on the descent, fitness levels, the weight of the rider and the bike and a dozen more factors but, in general, can it be said what effect going up hill has on a ride?

I’ve wondered if there is a formula for it – ‘x metres of climbing adds y minutes to a ride, compared to a flat ride of the same distance’.

I have a friend who goes by an extra hour for 1,000 metres (3300 feet) of climbing – but I can’t really validate that from my experience. Also, it seems a bit simplistic as it depends greatly on whether it’s a mountain top finish (like my Etape d’Tour back in 2013 which finished at the top of Mont Semnoz overlooking Annecy) or if the climb comes with a good descent.

Looking at my stats from riding up Mont Ventoux, ‘everesting’ last summer, my Etape, various hilly sportives, and a lot of climbs in the alps, I think the following seems to apply – to me, at least.

If I ride up a mountain, but don’t include coming back down it, I think something like 1,300 metres (about 4,300 feet) of climbing adds an hour to the time it would have taken me to do the same distance on the flat.

If I climb and have a good descent, I think it’s around 1,600 metres (c.5,300 feet) of climbing that adds an hour to my time to cover that distance on the flat. This seems to make some sense as the fast descent balances out the extra climbing.

Does any of this make sense to anyone else?

The purpose of this? It’s linked with route planning for the ride to the alps in the summer:

• first it helps answer the question ‘how much shorter does a hillier route have to be to justify the extra climbing’? It seems to suggest that 1000m (3300 feet) of climbing should be compensated by about 20 km (12.5 miles) of saved distance.
• secondly it helps work out how long it might take me to do each of the first two days which are about 280km (175 miles) with 700m (2300 feet) of climbing – about 11.5 hours in good conditions and on good roads?

Not surprisingly, this might not apply to every 1000 metres of climbing. I think this probably works for ‘sensible’ gradients in the range 3% to 10% (?) but accumulating fatigue on a very long and mountainous ride like the etape is likely to mean that the first 1000 metres of climbing is quicker than the third, or fourth …!

 

Bring on the next madness

The ‘out to the alps’ 2006 Giant TCR2 – a triple with an aero seatpost ……. I’m sure that will make all the difference

So, with the White Horse Challenge behind me (and absolutely no ill-effects beyond a slightly tender backside for a day), thoughts turn to my planned ride out to the Alps in the summer.

I’ve booked a cross Channel ferry from Portsmouth to Caen (on the north coast of France) and will have about 500 miles (800km) to ride from there to Les Carroz d’Araches in the Haute Savoie. The intention is to take just three days but I don’t know if that’s feasible, given that I’ve never tried to do anything like it before – and it’s a very long way.

Although the ride breaks down into an average of 166 miles a day, I guess the third day will have a bit more climbing (hilly things, those Alps) so perhaps it would be better to push on a bit further on the first two days – as if 166 miles wasn’t enough.

On Sunday’s sportive I did a 16.9mph average speed (27.2kph) for 90 miles (144km) so I’d be looking at 10 hours of cycling at that pace but, on the downside:

• I’ll be on my own, so no help with any drafting or motivation
• I’ll be carrying more stuff
• I can’t keep that pace up for that time
• I’ll have to stop and eat and take a few breathers
• I’ll be on the old Giant TCR2, not the Rose.

On the upside:

• I have put the tri bars on
• Days 1 and 2 will each have about half the sportive’s climbing, spread over nearly twice the distance.

Too many downsides, too few upsides.

Reading about long distance cycling, it seems that time in the saddle is the key, even above just raw speed. Of course, sea sickness, bad weather, a headwind, getting lost, illness, joint or muscle issues, or mechanicals will be disastrous, but even without any of them I assume I’ll have to do something like 12 hours of cycling a day.

In turn, that suggests a day starting about 6am and finishing about 8pm to give myself just 2 hours off the bike. The daylight hours should be adequate – but I really don’t do early mornings very well and I don’t even arrive in France that early on day 1!

I can’t pre-book accommodation as I can’t accurately predict where I will be at the end of any day. I was thinking about wild camping but Mrs O isn’t too happy with the idea of me doing that so I have the problem of sorting out places to stay as well.

Oh dear.

Fine, I did 176 miles (282km) in over 18 hours of cycling in a 22.5 hour day (with 8912 metres – 29,238 feet of climbing) last July when ‘everesting‘ – but that was just one day with an unloaded bike.

I have to accept that this may well be beyond me – but I won’t find out if I don’t try.

Happily, I will have a credit card so I can improvise a bit. If the worst comes to the worst, I can always rent a car or get on a train. I took the opportunity of giving my friend Dave a set of keys to the apartment when he came down for the sportive at the weekend – so everyone else can get in even if I’ve not arrived on time. If it takes me more than three days, so be it.

The cycling challenge might be different – but the solution, as always, seems to be to get stronger and fitter.

So, what do I do about it? Time in the saddle must be key for the next couple of months, with occasional sleep deprivation torture, a lot of route research and locating all the McDonald’s restaurants in France.

I wonder if getting out to do some training on this fine beast would help? Three of Sturmey Archer’s finest gears (quaintly marked L, N and H) and weighing in at a mere 41.2 pounds (18.7kg) of British steel.

 

1955 Elswick – with the ‘patina of age’ (ie, rust)

 

I’m happy that there is one gear that is ‘Normal”

One immediate issue on route setting is the use of cycle paths. Obviously, it would make sense provided the surface is suitable for road bikes. As Google Street View doesn’t cover paths, I can only look at them where a they cross a road that is covered. So far, they don’t look like they are properly surfaced – the bike has Gatorskin tyres but they are only 23mm. Great to get away from the cars and lorries but could I keep up the necessary average on a surface like that?

 

Sadly, no monkey looking for a new home

Uffington White Horse – the last of the four White Horses on the route, after about 80 miles

The White Horse Challenge has been a monkey on my back for a while now. The sportive is about 90 miles (144km) and – according to my Garmin – has 5738 feet (1749m) of climbing.

I first rode it in 2011 and took just over 6 hours. Since then I’ve chipped away at the times and managed 5:05 last year.

I seem to be a year older this year (!) and with some injuries and the rubbish weather the training outside has been poor – just one ride of 100km (62.5 miles). Accordingly, my grand target of beating 5 hours was a very long long-shot for today’s edition held in quite warm weather but with a nasty breeze.

…. and so it proved – I did it in 5:17 which is my third best time but not exactly what I wanted. It started well and I was cycling with some friends from the club for the first 32 km (20 miles) but we were then overtaken by a big group travelling at about 24 mph (nearly 39kph). Three of us managed to latch on – I knew I couldn’t keep up with that for long but I thought I’d at least get a good tow for a while and I might be lucky enough to get into a slower sub-group if the main group split up.

Sadly, the only splintering of the group was me falling off the back – which was bad news as I’d also lost the group I’d been in originally. For some way I cycled alone or in smaller groups before the same thing happened again – latching on to a fast group before being dropped after a few miles.

A sub-five hour ride needs an average of 18mph (29kph). At the 40km mark I was averaging 30.7kph (19mph after 25 miles) and I was still on the 18mph average after 3 hours (87km – 54 miles). Unfortunately it seeped away a bit after that as the groups became fewer and further in between and I had to ride more by myself – by 4 hours I was down to 28kph (17.4mph) and I finished with an average of 16.9mph (27.2kph).

After 80 miles (129km) I never think I need this climb up the Uffington White Horse – about 1km (0.6 mile) at 9% average. The organisers even make it a timed King of the Hill ascent

I think the work in the gym and on the turbo has been very useful but the absence of long rides outside meant that I was lacking the stamina to keep the early speed up. I can’t say it was down to any lack of groups to get into – the problem was simply my inability to stay in the ones that were just going too fast for me. A younger (and better cyclist) friend who managed to stay in the first fast group that passed us went round in 4:51 – chapeau Richard!

I seem to have finished in the top 80 of about 600 entrants and 6th out of about 40 in my age category (60+). My category ‘Gold’ standard was secured by 43 minutes – indeed, I achieved Gold standard for the 40-49 age group.

All in all, lots to be pleased about … but I’m still (a little) disappointed – just not good enough on the day.

Another year before I can get that monkey off my back and leave it looking for a new home.

Failing to prepare …

Now that’s what I call a sandcastle. Short on refinement and detail – but admirable in terms of quantity.

The misery of the wind and the puncture on Monday rather put out of my mind the fact that I’d had no top gear – but lots of grinding and jumping half gears to make up for it. To get over the trauma, I took the bike in to the local LBS and went down to Bournemouth in the sun.

Suddenly, after a winter that has gone into late April, the weather has decided to skip spring and go straight into summer. Apparently it got into the 80s℉ (late 20s℃). A national newspaper I saw the following day had a picture of a very attractive young lady sunbathing on Bournemouth beach. I’d not seen her when I went for a short walk on the promenade – clearly I’d been at the wrong part of the bay.

With the sportive on Sunday I’d decided to take it easy this week – but it did occur to me that I should give the bike a short spin to see if I could remember what it feels like to expose legs and arms to the elements, and to make sure the gear adjustments had worked.

As it turns out, that was a good idea as everything was working nicely, other than the fact that I still couldn’t get into top. I’ve  never fully understood why gears that work properly on a stand don’t always do the same on the road but it brought to mind the old ‘failure to prepare means preparing to fail’ adage.

A minor adjustment on the appropriate rear derailleur limit screw has sorted the gears.  If only my abject lack of adequate training could be remedied as easily.

Another thing I’ve struggled to understand (among many) is how, on a little spin to test the bike before a bigger ride, my legs always feel like jelly and something starts to hurt.  This time it was a niggle in my left knee but I’m going to treat it with the respect it deserves – and ignore it completely.

Tomorrow I am leading the club’s blue ride – probably not a great idea the day before the sportive. I was going to complain to the idiot who compiled the rota – but I’ve remembered that was me. Still, it’s only a bit over a pretty flat 22 miles (36km) and will be taken at a leisurely pace so it might not be a terrible idea – but I’ll not tempt fate and so won’t be taking my sportive bike.

Throw those curtains wide, two days like this a year would drive me wild

One of the saddest sights – preparing to fix the puncture

A (very) small joke for those who do know their a**e from their Elbow.

There are just some days when it doesn’t go for you. Today was one of them.

Monday was fine with an hour (42.7km – 26.5 miles) on the turbo as a recovery ride from the 100km on Sunday. It was improved immeasurably by a re-run of competition 17 of the original Japanese ‘Ninja Warrior’ series where Makoto Nagano becomes only the second ultimate champion. That’s rather pathetic, I know, but anything to take my mind off the monotony of the turbo.

This morning dawned fairly mild and bright and I decided to go for a ride – bib shorts for the first time this year (but with leg warmers). The downside was that there was a 20 mph (32kph) wind blowing – but, hey, after the weather we’ve been having how much of a problem could that be?

I didn’t have a fixed idea about how far I’d go but I planned a loop heading south into the wind which gave me options to add more loops if it was going well – and which brought me home with the wind at my back. The bad news was that the route out took me over the very open Ridgeway.

I don’t know if the wind had strengthened, or I have weakened, but almost immediately I was working hard to maintain 15mph (24kph) on the flat. At one point going down a decent hill towards Lambourn – where I’d expect to be hitting 40mph (64kph) – I was actually pedalling and failing to reach 15mph (24kph).

Lambourn was the end of my first loop. With the noise of the wind I was struggling to hear cars behind me and, after one big twitch too many from the occasional sidewind, I decided to bail out.

I usually love my cycling but there are days when you have to remind yourself that it is ‘only’ cycling.

The return trip was better but I was pretty tired by then and to cap it all, I punctured less than 2.5 miles from home.

In all just 34 miles (54.8km) at only 15mph (24kph) with 1980 feet of climbing (604m) … and it felt so much harder,

 

Outside (without George Michael)

One of the joys of rural England – some weird place names. Challow station closed in 1965 – no doubt the road sign will catch up one day.

The week started with the turbo – 180km (112.5 miles) over the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at over 44kph average (27.9mph).

Wednesday was a great example of the importance of pacing. I managed 50km in 1:02:07 @ 48.3kph (31 miles @ 30mph) but had intended to do 65km. I started too fast and was pretty well cooked by 40 km. I revised the target to 45km but then tricked myself into doing 50 – important things those mind games!

Saturday was back to London to finish helping our older son move. Sunday morning I was not feeling great from carrying stuff up to his new flat but I went out for a ride – just my fourth since early November. The weather looked OK and the plan was to clock up 100km (62.5 miles) at a fairly gentle pace.

It was a really good route – made up as I went along – through some lovely villages, including Goosey, Goosey Wick, Bampton, Charney Bassett, East and West Hanney, Kingston Bagpuize and Filkins. It rather felt like living in a GK Chesterton book or an Agatha Christie ‘Miss Marple’ novel.

It was one of those breezy days when the wind is always in your face. I understand the physics – if you have a 10mph wind at your back, once you go over 10mph you meet air resistance which feels like a headwind – but it still feels really unfair.

Although it was reasonably bright, I didn’t think it was very warm so I was wearing a compression top, a merino base layer and my thermal jersey and long trousers. On the way round I passed a young woman wearing a sleeveless vest – I really am every bit the wimp that I’ve been thinking I am!

Foolishly, I went out faster than I’d planned – I was still at a 28.5kph average at the 70km point (17.85mph at nearly 44 miles). Sadly it had just started to rain by then and the breeze got up strongly (actually) in my face so I lost a bit over the remaining ride and finished (a rather broken man) with 100.7km @ 27.8kph (63 miles @ 17.4mph).

I’d set off late morning, with just a couple of cups of coffee in me. The theory is that training on an empty stomach helps teach the body to burn fat. I don’t know if that works but it certainly seems to harm the ride itself as there is a clear nutritional deficit. I took just one gel (for emergency purposes) and a bottle with squash in it – and was very pleased to have the gel at about 40 miles as I felt like I was running out of energy in a big way.

For the White Horse sportive, I’m hoping that a more sensible fuelling strategy will help enormously.

So, 280km (175 miles) in a 6 day week (to get back in sync after the Bank Holiday). Strangely, that’s just a mile less than I rode in an elapsed 22.5 hours when ‘everesting’ in July – I must have been a bit fitter then.

I started the week at 69.5kg (nearly 154 pounds) and finished at 66.8 kg (a loss of 6 pounds). On balance, a pretty good week – but very hard.

Putting it into perspective

The tragic death of Michael Goolaerts and the broken jaw of Stefan Küng in this year’s Paris-Roubaix put my training, weight and foolish wittering into proper perspective.

RIP, Michael and swift recovery, Stefan.

Congratulations to Peter Sagan for winning the race. Although that was rather overshadowed by the other sad events, what a rider that man is.

Returning to the mundane, more swings and roundabouts last week, with a great trip to the seaside for a long weekend with friends. It’s a tough schedule but someone has to do it.

I’d lost about 5lbs in the first three days last week, and then most of it went back on courtesy of the very good weekend in Bournemouth. Monday was more positive as driving up to (and around) London helping our older son move kept me away from food – so an overall loss of just over 2.5lbs for the week.

A very sociable ride on Saturday along the seafront ticked off the week’s 200km target. We cycled from Hengistbury Head (where a beach hut sold for £275,000 [about $390,000] a couple of years ago) to Sandbanks (once said to be the 4th most expensive place to buy property in the world) but avoided buying anything other than lunch.

At 33km (20.5 miles) in just over 3 hours it was not exactly a white knuckle ride – in fact it rivals a ride in March last year as my slowest ever (and that was accompanying our younger son on a long training run as part of his marathon preparation).

In my defence, if it were needed, the speed limit along the promenade is 10mph and pedestrians have priority. To be honest, it was just great to get out on a bike in a lovely setting, with good friends.

With less than two weeks to go before the WHC sportive, I’m just aiming to get in whatever miles I can this week – and lose whatever weight will come off. Over 200km (125 miles) and over 2kg (4.5lbs) are the rough targets.

The sportive is about 144km with 1862m of climbing, (as I recorded it last year – 89.5 miles and 6,100 feet) so the weight loss is not absolutely crucial, but every little helps.

Today on the turbo – 65km in 1:28:38 at 44kph (40.4 miles at 27.3 mph).

Tyres to the tarmac

To the rear, the Tithe Barn in Great Coxwell. Built in the 1290s – quite magnificent. To the fore, Rose X-Lite CRS 3000, build 2015 – I love it but doubt it will last over 700 years.

It finally stopped raining on Thursday and the sun came out – but it was still cold (for those of a wimpish tendency like me) at about 7℃ (45℉).

I girded my loins and got into the cycling kit and headed off for only my third ride outside since early November.

It was surprisingly tough (if I had any dreams that the turbo had turned me into a finely tuned cycling beast they were quickly dispelled) but very enjoyable. As before, I tended to run out of a bit of steam towards the end but managed a solo 71.49km @27.1kph (44.4 miles @16.84mph).

A random route looking for at least 65km but through some very pretty villages – I went past Kate Moss’ house but she didn’t ask me in to help model cycling kit – can’t think why.

No, not Kate Moss’ place but the tithe barn again – owned by the National Trust and said to be the oldest working tithe barn in the UK

I must try to remember how that sky looks in case we don’t see anything like again for some time

Before that, on Tuesday I’d done 65km (40 miles) in 1:28 (44.3kph – 27.5mph) on the turbo and on Wednesday – 50km in 1:05:10. I was going to go for 65km again but the bike computer stopped just after the 50km mark when my sweat shorted it out – classy!

Weight loss on Tuesday 1.5kg (3.3lbs) and on Wednesday another 0.5kg (1.1lbs).

Just the 14km left to complete the week’s 200km target – but, on the evidence so far, the sub 5 hour White Horse Challenge is completely beyond me.

 

… and still it rains

 

Ah yes, I remember why that’s a good place for the willow. It feels like we’ve had solid rain for days – and more to come. At least the new laurel hedge has been well watered.

I’ve certainly mentioned the usual ‘three steps forward, two steps back’ problem before – sadly, this week has seen the ‘two steps forward, three steps back’ version.

On the plus side, I completed the week’s target 200km (125 mile) with a gentle 25 km on Sunday (all on the turbo) but the Easter weekend took it’s toll on the weight.

Our younger son came home on Friday, so that was a larger meal in the evening. We picked up our older son from Oxford on Saturday morning on the way north to Lancashire to take my father out for lunch. He’s on very good form at 94 (I’m hoping the genes are strong) and proceeded to eat us all under the table, being the only one to finish 3 courses, while us four lightweights baled out at the puddings.

For me the damage had already been done – and was compounded with a meal on our return in the evening. With Easter eggs and then a full roast lunch for Sunday, followed by an evening meal, the 3 pounds I’d lost between Monday and Friday were fully reversed into a 3 pound gain.

Even the long walk on Sunday couldn’t really compensate for all the food eaten but it was great to get outside during an all too infrequent break from the rain.

Either someone has shown me a thing or two about pruning trees – or this is dead.

Experience suggests that the quicker the weight goes on, the quicker it comes off – I’m hoping that’s true this time but there’s still more chocolate to be eaten.

Of course, nobody to blame but myself. I don’t remember anyone forcing food into my mouth – but it is hard (for me, almost impossible) to resist when it’s on the table and others are eating.

So, an excellent weekend and one that reminds me that, much as I love it, cycling comes well behind family and real life in the priority stakes.

For this week it’s a minimum 2kg loss (4.4 pounds) and another 200km on the bike. According to the forecast, the only day that might be dry is Thursday so it looks like more turbo.