Lunchtime riding

I am extremely lucky that I work for a great company that tolerates a quick lunchtime ride. I can regularly get a quick 45 minute loop in and be back , showered and munching a sandwich at my desk within the hour. :-)
45 mins is a reasonable amount of time to do some training.. whether its a gentle pootle "ice cream ride" or something a bit more sinister like road intervals or fartlek)
I have a couple of regular loops, some pan flat, some with a few hills in them, ideal for mixing it up depending on mood and keeping up riding consistency.
I usually have a quick mid-morning explore on Strava, check the wind direction, see if there are any local segments worth having a dig for...

Course design

Having been messing around down my local woods ( read scrubby bit of shit wasteland near the motorway), I have been tinkering with my own training circuit. I am lucky enough that my circuit includes.
Steep run ups
scarey drop in
corners you can drift around.
4 pump bumps,
Steep descent into a boggy bit x 2
Long run up ( it comes just after a boggy bit so you cant remount)
Long fast section
running barrier ( well log)
BMX table tops ( okay i wuss out down the side of them)
long drag.
Slimey grassy field perimeter
Cool fast berm.



If I ever design a course I want to include one of these in it:

It does look like one of those scrotum pictures mind you
Moto Format ( cheers Oli)
Le Mans start ( like Brompton?)

Cross Thrash

Name for a new website maybe?. Ok its maybe a rip off the now defunct Ride trash site that I used to enjoy... ( died a few years ago).
So a Bank Holiday Monday evening Thrash session down the woods.
Its been a few days since I had been out for a ride, with only a run in the legs, it was time for a hammer round the loop.
With all the rain and recent sun all the vegetation has gone nuts, seriously narrowing most of the trails. Cue stinging nettles and bramble scratches. my ankles and shins are still tingling 12 hours later. I managed to stay in the big ring for all four laps.  the trail was nice and dry , with some of the riuts starting to level out I knocked about 30 seconds off my fastest lap time. pretty cool evening .

Spin up in a Brewery

Spin up in a Brewery .....Biggest gig of the year maybe even ever.. Van is packed and ready to go. but I know we will have forgotten something though. Set up this afternoon, big day is tomorrow. Hope the weather is good for the ride outs and everyone has a great day. .

Windy rides

I dont mean  after a broccli, cabbage and swede lunch, washed down with High Five. I meant a Hooley,  blustery, windy, Mork and Mindy, invisible hill, bit blowy.. Bloody great going out .. flying along as if the chain has fallen off. staring at a stupidly high average ....turning around to come back... and then grovelling like a twat trying to retain as much of the average that you have managed so far. The horrible feeling of watching the tenths dropping off as you gnaw on the bars bars..until you arrive home and end up with the usual average speed anyway. King for a little while...
Headwinds.........fuckers....Now go find some friendly KOMs that match the wind.

It goes Pop....

There I was happily enjoying a morning cuppa and I hear a pretty loud bang from outside. Nipped down to have a look and seems that my rear tyre has blown... Not just the tube, but shredded the tyre as well.. tore along tyre  wall separating the wire bead...

 Time for a new one.. :-(  ....Luckily the rim is OK.
Not as bad as this one though : ( this happened trying to corner on a soft tyre...Hey.. I thought Cross was all about cornering and tyre pressure.)

Obviously the wrong pressure

Illness

So the sore throat failed to manifest or shift itself , so I thought a five mile run may help it either fuck off or take hold and get on with making me feel shit.....It didnt... nor did a 14 mile track bike scoot at lunchtime. 17.9 mph average wasn't too bad either. This cold still cant make its mind up...
Last minute preps for Spin up in a Brewery are ongoing... crapping myself a bit...there seems so much to do.

Illness on its way? :-(

I have been very lucky this winter. I have religiously used First Defence nose squirty stuff after mixing with any gathering of people. This stuff, as well as the hand gel cleaner stuff, means that I have been Cold/cough/flue,snotty free, despite everyone in the house, and my colleague in work, having stinking colds for the last few weeks. Alas, this run of luck may have come to an end, it feels like I may have succumbed , sore throat has started...shit... extra rest day to see if I can head it off...

Brakes ( or lack of therein...)

when I built my Surly up I bought a set of Planet X Frog Bollox canti brakes. stopping was crap, but I persevered. new KoolStop pads helped, but braking was still way beneath par. The rear brake on the Hiver was even worse..new pads (Again) and they were still crap. I overtightened a pinch bolt on the straddlle cable barrel clamp and sheared the bolt. PX were useless , Paul Milnes and most local shops, even ebay couldnt find me a replacement. so it was time for a new brakes. I looked into a set of TRP cx9s, but apparently they have to run really close to the rim.. not ideal for some of the crap i ride in .. so in the end I got a set of CR720s ( rear only) Easier to set up ( though I dont like the straddle pinch bolt arrangement) and a massive difference riding , I can now actually stop and did a few test drifts on the fast berm in the woods..I did notice my heel clipping the right arm occasionally though. I will leave the front as it is until it is time to replace pads, and maybe keep my eye out for a set of CX9s for summer riding.

Strava Twat....

I have discovered Strava,., ( well Aiden put me onto it).. its ace.. the 45 mins I get at lunchtimes is ideal for hunting local KOMs out :-) I know its all about Ego, but it definitly has been helping drive me in training. 24 KOMS... rather chuffed for an has been like me, including Hundred Acres and Newhams hill. ( so they are not all chippers) seems that these short sharp punchy hills suit me.

New Bike

well ok ... I bought it a few weeks ago, but fuelled by the Hellifux CityCross shenangigans I decided that life is too short to ride shit bikes. So I bought this wee beasty off Ebay.. 150 quid for a new Forme Hiver. All of the old Ultegra9 stuff came off my Surly, but I got caught out by the usual, seat post, seatpost, front mech sizes and had to buy a few bits. not too bad as I had only recently replaced most of the worn out bits, chainrings, cassette, headset, BB etc. It feels a huge amount faster than the heavy old surly.. My woodland loop time has come down by over 4 mins a lap since having it.,Maybe the 2.3 kilos weight difference has something to do with it? On the first outing I noticed that the left crank arm was loose, and no amount of tigtening could keep it on .. so I replaced it with a spanking new black FSA Omega. While I was at it the 50T dinner plate was swapped in favour of a 46.. its ace.. you can go everywhere in the big ring :-).( which has proved pretty good for Strava bagging with road wheels).

Out of retirement.....

So i came out of retirement( 5029 days since my last race) to race the Morvelo City Cross... and did alright..really enjoyed the event...and totally hooked on the idea of racing this autumn.

Cracking weekend in Hellifux. 5 pints the night before didnt really help but hey ho.

Getting going

New blog ... tracking the crap that i want to post here..

SO how about some objectives:

1) Top 50% in a  cross race. 
 Like it says., finish in the top 50% of a cross race..        


2) Learn to cook
 I can cook; but not one of those poncy foody types. Food is functional fuel in my book. I never bother cooking because I have a great wife who insists on doing all of it... I would like try doing a bit more..

3) Learn to Code
looking into CodeAcademy.. I would like to complete a course in Programming,. Hopefully so that i can put my Raspberry Pi to good use.

4) Sew a Cap or Musette
  I love cycling caps. ( I have about ten); So making my own would be pretty cool. How hard can a  musette be?

5) Ride a Century
Its been a  few years since i have been out and ridden 100miles.  While its not part of the whole Cyclocross training scheme, it should be part of every riders repertoire