Monday 7 February 2011

Three times 30-plus

Having seen the gale force winds forecast last Thursday I thought I'd be lucky to get one ride in this weekend; I actually managed three!

Windy as it was, during work on Friday afternoon Pete and I planned a short, hilly Saturday morning ride. I was doubting whether it was going to be enjoyable but Pete's apparent keenness spurred me on. Saturday morning came round and this time Pete was having second thoughts. Luckily, by this time I was dressed and ready so headed out nonetheless.

Perhaps knowing he'd feel guilty if he didn't ride, Pete changed his mind and we met at midday as planned. I'd already put in 10 miles before meeting, so felt suitably spritely on the hills, even managing some "Pantani-esque" bursts of speed up Belmont and Tickenham hills. (Forgive me for comparing myself to a professional riding, I've just finished The Death Of Marco Pantani by Matt Rendell and am feeling a little inspired.)

The wind made cycling in any vaguely south or westerly direction a real slog so we concentrated on short, hard bursts, taking time to catch up and chat in between. After an hour and a half we called it a day and I rode back to north Bristol, clocking 36 miles for the morning.

Sunday morning's ride followed a Saturday afternoon rugby beers and a Saturday night birthday celebration. With a hazy memory of the evening's events, miraculously I felt well enough the following morning to head out. I took the Severn Road Club 10-mile time trial route, clocking a disappointing 26m 50s. Although it's almost two minutes slower than my PB, I didn't feel too disheartened. It was a battle to race in that wind and to keep my mind on the job in hand. Plus I felt pretty sick when I finished, so either my hangover was kicking in or I'd been working at near maximum effort, or both.

After riding 10-miles to get to the start, plus the 10-mile TT, the returning 12-miles to home were taken at a snail's pace as I pottered around the lanes, barely picking up the pace for the hills. A cramp in my foot, my hangover and the now constant headwind defeated my morale. However, I clocked 32 miles in 1hr 46m, with an average speed of 18.1mph.

On Monday I took the day off work so I could stay up late on Sunday night and watch the Super Bowl. So, with a free day on Monday and nothing planned, I used the opportunity to get in three consecutive days of riding. Pete also had the day off so we took our fixed wheel bikes out and to ride from Bristol to Bath along the railway path. The smooth surface and very gentle uphill gradient on the outward journey made it the perfect route to for steady, sustained speed... but that's a bit boring!

Instead we raced, egged each other on, rode in slip-stream formation and exhausted ourselves over the 34-mile out and back journey. We both felt beat as we came back into the city, struggling up the final climbs to our respective houses.

So a hill climbing workout, a time trial and a fixed wheel training ride made it 100 miles in three days. Great to get more miles under my belt, especially something a bit different, but it's about time to work on stamina and longer rides I think. I'm already looking forward to this coming Saturday.

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