Group Riding

I went out for a ride with the local cycle club (CCB) on Sunday. They were very friendly and I was encouraged to join the “A” group as opposed to the “B” group. This group has a higher average speed and towards the end they race home so it is possible (read probable) to get dropped. My major concerns with going out with this group were: will my poor group riding skills cause problems for everyone and will I get dropped early. Well, pretty much both happened but I don’t think either were cause for major concern. Group riding requires a
number of skills which just cannot be learned when riding alone: Pacing, riding in a close group and drafting are all skills that take a while to be acquired. Pacing was the biggest issue for me as I foolishly ended up leading the group three times. The first time up front I was paired with a relative novice and we went out way too fast and rapidly tired ourselves out. The second and third occasions I was with an experienced rider and they managed the pacing for me which was very helpful. The third time was towards the end of the ride and it completely wasted me, as we finished our turn, I got dropped on a hill and was helped back to the group. I accepted the inevitable and told the group to leave me behind on the next hill which they duly did. I managed to convince a riding buddy to stay with me as we had 10Km to get back to the finish and then a further 10Km to get home and I was shattered and needed help. A total of 115Km at around 30Kmh which was not too fast by my standards so I think the last few weeks off the bike have taken their toll on my fitness. This gives me a great goal now – to stay with the group and maybe get involved in the sprint to the finish. As I rode home, I realised that there were a good number of riders in the group who never took the front; a lesson learned there!

Getting the balance right

There appears to be a general rule about the amount of training time required to be “successful” at triathlon; I am not quite sure what “successful” means though. Naturally the amount of training time required depends upon the length of the event with Ironman events needing the most training. Last year I trained for l’etape du tour which was a 180Km (or Ironman distance) ride, this entailed a good deal of endurance riding to be in a position to get round the route in a respectable time. The Triathletes Training Bible by Joe Friel suggests the following training hours:



I reviewed may last 12 month’s training diary and I calculated that put in around 350-400 hours training which is below bottom end of the range for half iron-distance events. I believe that I was racing at a relatively “High Performance” in my events if I look at my Age Group finishing positions: 6th at Eton, 8th in the New Forest and 27th in the National Sprint Championships. I was better than a “finisher” although “High Performance” is difficult to evaluate. Certainly I could have gone better with more training and an investment in “gear” would have made a difference. Just looking around during the events, I was top (or close to top) finisher in those events on a normal racing bike as opposed to an expensive Tri-Bike.

When it comes to 2010 I shall not be “going long” so I can reduce my training time and spend more time at home. With that in mind I have been planning my goals for the year! I have an event plan in mind which shall be refined over the next few weeks. The main event for me shall be partially social and partially competitive. The Alpe D’Huez Triathlon is rapidly becoming the triathlon to do in Europe and I have entered for next year. I suspect that it will soon become an event that is so over-subscribed that it will require qualification so it is good to get it done sooner rather than later. The Alpe D’Huez Tri takes place at the end of July and I have discussed with the family and “the men” plan to make a small holiday of it and go for a few days mountain biking in the Alps afterwards so it will be a combined Triathlon/Holiday, Jane may join depending upon how we organise it.

Other events for the summer are looking like the Vitruvian in September and The Cowman in June. I would love to do a Big Cow sprint again next year and also a New Forest event so I need to get my calendar out.

One Last Effort

One week of heavy training to go then I can hang my kit up for a few weeks. I am really looking forward to not training which may sound odd but it means I can spend more time with the family and chill out a bit. By not training I do of course mean dropping down to three or four times a week as opposed to six to eight. I think the key to all this triathlon and cycling lark is getting the balance right. I know I could hit some pretty good times if I put the training in, certainly I think I could get close to 60 minutes for a sprint and 2:10 for an Olympic but I would have to train far too much for mine and my family’s liking. This is also the reason I cannot see myself doing an Iron Distance event. If I entered then I would not be content just “getting round” I would need to target a sub 12 hour and that would take too much training. Unless I come into a million or two of course and can afford to take a year out of work! If I that happened, here is the plan: I would get a coach. Swim every day and get my 1500m down to 25mins. I would join the athletics club and do a lot of track work which would drop my 10Km time down towards 39 minutes. More time on the bike and a structured Time Trial plan would get my 40Km time down to 60minutes quite easily: That makes 2:04 plus transitions would make it sub 2:10 which would be pretty high up in my age group. There you go, I have done it already and it was easy  As it is, I have three hours commuting every day and other priorities. So a rest will be welcome on September 21st.

I resolved to put one last effort in for the summer so as to not let myself down on my debut HIM distance race and had a massive training week last week. The only down side was a lack of real swim practice due to work commitments. I hope to resolve that tomorrow with a long Open Water session. I had two bike rides in the Surrey Hills as well which was great although the last one was done whilst suffering the ill-effects of a dodgy seafood meal on the Friday at a client lunch. Heart palpitations and an inability to hold down any food was slowing me down a little. In hindsight I shouldn’t have gone out but when I left home I felt OK. As it turned out, my HR was 40 bpm higher than normal and I was at the back of the climbing group a few times but I really loved the ride – 7 big hills over 80Km with a final timed ride up Box Hill to finish (5% for 2.4Km on poor tarmac). I made it in 9mins 57secs but I know I can do much better. I shall use that time as a benchmark going forward and measure my improvement with it. Rumour has it there may be a TriTalk Time Trial event up Box Hill which would be great fun although I am unsure whether I would prefer to marshal it than ride it, I do need to put something back.

It look like I need to definitely revise my goals for the New Forest Middle. Apparently it is a hilly ride and a hilly off-road run which will slow everyone down. I will try to hit 5:45 and see where I go from there. A few of the guys I ride with have done it and they were very complementary about the race but said the bike and run were hard. Maybe I should have chosen the Vitruvian instead as the bike is 5Km less and the run is easier. Too late now – I shall enjoy the NF middle as it is. I am still suffering from food poisoning so I shall have a day of and start my final big training week tomorrow.

Back on the gas!

I have been very tardy in updating my blog, I have been busy and travelling too much although that is not a good enough reason as I could write on the plane. We had a great holiday in Egypt; way too hot for me but very relaxing with the family. Eight whole days together and not one argument shows that it must have been relaxing. The snorkelling was good fun and the pool and local beer was refreshing. It was averaging around 39 degrees each day and much too hot for exercise. I set off on a 40 minutes easy run on the first day


and almost expired after 20 minutes and had to stop. All the locals were looking at me as if I was stark raving mad. The hotel gym was poorly equipped with CV gear, the gym bike did not work properly but there was a treadmill. I made sure I went for a swim in the “Olympic” size swimming pool each morning prior to a wet lunch and chill out. My lap times were terrible, as expected after a few weeks off swimming. Even after a couple of sessions I wasn’t even close to the times I have hit before even though I felt I was swimming well. So I paced out the pool: 75 good paces which makes it at least 65m long by my reckoning. No wonder my lap times were so poor! So in the end I had yet another week off cycling and running which makes it around 2-3 weeks of poorly planned training.

Only 3 weeks to go to The New Forest Middle Distance and I am in pretty poor shape. My interval sessions are not as long as they were and I push less power than I did 1 month ago; so I plan to make a concerted effort over the next 3 weeks (2 weeks if I rest on my last week). My plan to enter the New Forest Middle as a way of encouraging me to continue training through the summer has failed completely, I shall learn from next year and plan to have my last “A” event in July. That “A” event looks like being the Alpe D’Huez Long Distance Triathlon: 2.2Km swim, 115Km ride over 2 peaks then a finish up the 21 hairpins of the Alpe’Dhuez followed by a half marathon at altitude!



The longest Tri I will have attempted and probably the hardest one around. I think now is the time to do this event as it looks like it will soon be the “Kona” of Europe with everyone trying to get to enter. I fancy mixing this event up with a family holiday to the Alps back where we used to live which would be great. Just need to convince my family :-) Then I may have a year off Tri completely, after retiring from rugby this year and cricket last year, it looks like being a chilled year after Summer 2010.

We have my niece and nephew staying for a few days at the moment, I have forgotten how tiring a 5 and 10 year old can be, they demand so much attention all the time. I am every so appreciative of Jane and the kids who are doing a great job of looking after them. I have no idea how anyone can train for an endurance event and have small children at the same time. Saying that, I have been grateful for the solitude of the open road after a few hours with the kids. I am really too old and too impatient for young kids nowadays.

I have been travelling far too much recently: Japan, Germany, Egypt, Portugal all in the last 4 weeks with a trip to Amsterdam planned the week before the New Forest Middle: Not ideal timing – would be great to chill in Amsterdam after the New Forest Middle... The travelling in itself is not too bad but if it is a day trip then there is no training possible due to early starts and late finishes and if it is an overnighter it is in the lap of the gods if there is a decent gym available which usually means I plan an endurance run on the street and hope they are clear enough to get decent session.

Training done since coming home from Egypt: Bike: 90Km Z2, Run: 40 Minute Z2, Run: 60 Minute Z2, Bike 3x8 Interval; Run: 3x8 interval; Weights; Bike: 60Km in the Surrey Hills.

Goals

I had originally set 8 hours as a goal for the etape but I am not sure that is achievable now. If I break down the event into 2: The first 150km with 1900m of climbing and the last 22Km with 1600m of climbing then I can work out my goals. After my previous rides, I think it should be relatively easy to average 24Kmh for the 1st 150Km (I can add 2kmh if I can get with a group and benefit from the occasional draft). 24Kmh = 6:15 ride time (add 30 mins for food stops = 6:45); That only leaves 1:15 for the Ventoux which is not possible (the TdF record is 55mins). I think 2 hours is reasonable at an average of 11Kmh. I can average 14Kmh in 1st gear spinning at 95/100 rpm so if I drop this to 11Kmh then it may be achievable. This gives me a new target time of 8:45 or sub 9hrs. If I get a draft then I can get the first 150Km done in 5:30/6:00 which is closer to my target.

Here is the profile again - to remind me!

The Dave LLoyd Mega Challenge

The Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge takes place on Sunday and I planned a 130Km hilly ride on Saturday as a final warm up for that. We gathered at 8am in Dorking and planned to hit all the major Surrey Hills with climbs going up to 21%. Riding with a bunch of mates who are better cyclists than me would help motivate me to get up the tougher ones, most of which are detailed on the rather good Jibbering web site (I can also recommend the home made sports drink and gel recipes). All went well until around 20Km in and I was chatting to Bob on a descent when we came across what appeared to be a scene from “Casualty” with a car stopped right in the middle of the road and a body slumped across the bonnet with his legs up the windscreen towards the sunroof. My first instinct was that this was some sort of photo-shoot but as is the way with these things I immediately realised it was for real and that the rider was one of our bunch, Phil who organises the rides. I quickly dismounted and rushed over to him where he was also being attended by Scott. He was still unconscious and it looked bad, my big concern at the time was him waking up and then falling off the bonnet. Sure enough he woke with a start and we supported him and eventually got him to stop moving whist we assessed the physical damage. He was remarkably sober and apparently, superficially at least only suffering minor injuries. His bike was a mess and he was more worried about how he was going to race in Ironman Switzerland in 4 weeks with nothing to ride on. We called an ambulance and the “comportement” (a French word without exact translation but roughly meaning behaviour) of the driver and the locals gave us a strong indication that the police needed to be called to ensure accurate statements and scene records. The paramedics took Phil off to Guilford hospital and he was subsequently released after a series of detailed scans. It looks like he will be OK and will still be fit enough to ride and swim this week in prep for his IM. A blessing really considering what had happened. The upshot of this is that we decided to cut short the ride and did a few of the hills on the way back to Dorking, a ride totalling 50Km. Strangely I was riding the hills well at the beginning of the ride but after the hour or so break my legs stopped working properly and riding was a real struggle.
We finished off up Box Hill which in the end was quite an easy climb; I put the machine in first gear and spinned my way up to the top expecting it to get steeper which it didn’t. I averaged 14Kmh up the hill and could have dropped a gear or two so that means I think I am OK for the early hills on l’etape which are of a similar gradient, if not a little less. I managed a 2 hour MTB ride on Sunday morning which compensated for not getting the full 130Km in on Saturday and I subsequently found out that Phil managed to get 100Km in on his old winter bike as well, so he really is strong.

Here is a profile of the Dave Lloyd Mega – those hills look quite steep but it is hard to say. I know the one at the end finishes at 25% so if I can do this ride in sub 8 hours then I think l’etape will be achievable as well.

Arrghh! It's real now

The official route for the Tour de France and hence l’etape du tour 2009 has just been published. More importantly, the elimination times have also been published. Here is the official route from their website:

First thing to do is check out the elimination times. There are two cut off points:

In Sault after 115Km @ 1pm (which is 5:20 - 6 hours after the start at an average speed of 19-21Kmh depending upon my start time)
In Bedoin (the bottom of the Mt Ventoux climb) at 150.1Km @ 2:55pm (after 7:15-7:55hrs which equates to 19-21Kmh) then you have 3 hours to get to the top. The Final Cut off is at 172.1Km @ 5:55pm (10:15 at 15.8-16.7Kmh). Here is a link to the official route and cut off times.

So I possibly need to average 21Kmh to the bottom of the Mt Ventoux. To put it another way, I have to ride 150Km over 3 “Category 3” Climbs and 1 “Category 4” climb at an average speed of 21Kmh. Then I have to average 7.5Kmh up a “Hors Category” climb for 22Km. Easy Peasy. Maybe not. I have just reviewed my previous blog on this topic and realised I am not in good shape at all. Last years’ l’etape cut off was set to 17.5Kmh, this year (if I ignore the final climb) it is set to 21Kmh. A massive difference. I managed 24Kmh in the Hampshire Hilly Hundred. Ok I was not going full speed and could have gone faster but all the same that is pretty close to the cut off time. I hope I can get in with a group and up my speed. I must check out the etiquette of doing just that. I can see myself avidly watching the first few stages of The Tour to see how steep those Category 3 climbs are.

They have also published the “ravitaillement” or refuelling stops which are at 78Km and 150Km which sounds good. The good news is that there is a liquid refill available after 14Km of the final climb.

Not Unhappy ;-|

The Hampshire Hilly Hundred is now completed with a silver award in my back pocket, a cyclist sun tan on arms and legs and a very sore “saddle” to show for it. This Sportive is a beautiful ride in the Hampshire countryside with only around 1 mile on what you would call a major road. The rest is on country lanes and minor roads showing off wonderfully what England can be like on a sunny day. I was pretty happy with the ride even if I was saving a little for the coming birthday weekend which will be celebrated with a Triathlon and a 10Km road race. We departed in a group of eight with me promising my wife I would look after her boss as he had not ridden more than 60 miles before. It became clear that he would have struggled to maintain our starting pace for the whole hundred so I dropped back to ride with him. We subsequently rode together up hill and down dale for just over 6 hours at an average speed of 26Kmh which is good considering I held the front for just under 6 hours. My original plan was to smack the hills as training for l’etape but clearly my definition of “smack” needs reviewing as I was often passed by faster climbers whilst struggling to turn the pedals in 1st gear, a gear I now know well.
I know it sounds naive but they really don’t call it the Hilly Hundred for nothing. I have the impression that every bend disguised another climb and the number of hills with false brows was getting tiresome towards the end. A total of 2400m climbing in 160Km is actually comparable to the first 160Km of l’etape which I think is 1900m followed by the 1600m climb up “the Giant of Provence”. There was one 15% climb which started at mile 68, that was the only real “grin and bear it” climb and it wasn’t too long but the thought of doing something close to that for 22km fills me with dread.

There is plenty of food for thought prior to l’etape, not least a need to do more hills and build up the leg strength. I shall also be reviewing my gear ratios this week, I spent far too long in 1st gear for my liking and am too proud to get a Triple which leaves me with the option of changing the rear cassette to give me some room. I will struggle to ride at this pace for 150Km and then climb Ventoux so I will need to review that as well. I noticed that I was comfortable riding at a heart rate of 145bpm for the first half of the ride but then the legs got tired and I struggled to raise my HR above 135bpm for the remainder, I actually averaged 137bpm (10bpm lower than when I did the Gorrick Enduro). I guess that is down to either a lack of fitness or poor nutrition on the ride. I shall do some desk based research and find out.

Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde in one easy step

How do you go from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde in a thrice? The answer I think is to cycle in London. I cycled into work for the first time on Wednesday; around 70Km door to door from rural Hampshire to Central London. I paired up with Michael who works in outer London and was planning on riding with me up to his office. We left at around 6:15am, travelled at a good pace up the A30 and averaged over 35Kmh until we passed the M25 and got into Hounslow. Here it clogged up significantly and we had to dodge a lot of traffic; the main concerns were cars turning left without looking. Michael would have been knocked off if he had not been alert, a swift bang on the side of the car elicited no response from the driver so we are still unsure if he is aware how close he was to causing an accident. We separated in outer London and I was left to the perils of the London Rush Hour; busses and taxis were the main concerns, the former for their size and inability of the driver to see nearby cyclists and Taxis because they are so unpredictable: stopping, pulling out suddenly and doing all the things they need to do to on a normal day. Actually it was fine and the ride quickly became a series of short sprints from traffic light to traffic light, it is surprisingly easy to out accelerate a car in London and beat them to the lights. I turned into Mr Hyde as I watched the clock get nearer to 9am and started to “anticipate” the lights, the number of cyclists on the road started to increase as I got to Chiswick and they generally kept me honest, I was surprised at how well behaved they all were with very little rule bending. Anyway, I got to work in good time and even had the luxury of a shower before 9:00. I really didn’t fancy the cycle home in the dark as I want to be clearly seen by the cars in Central London so I shall wait till the clocks go back next weekend before cycling home, at least if I can get out of Central London in the light I will be pretty happy.

Bah Humbug

Injured again! I have a sore leg after playing rugby on Saturday. It just appeared near to the end of the game, I think it may be a fatigue problem caused by going for a 60Km ride immediately before the game and playing on a very heavy mud sodden pitch. I do not recall getting a knock on it and it just appeared whilst I was trying to run. The back of my knee has cramped up which makes it hard to walk. No running for a couple of days I think which means the focus will again be on Swimming and Riding.

We had a great group ride on Saturday morning but it was cold and it turned out that there was some black ice lingering on the road which took out 4 members of our group. One poor girl has fractured her elbow and will require surgery on it to ensure it heals well. I feel very sorry for her, she did look in pain and went a bit white to boot. We managed to get a good speed up and kept the group together on a few of the long drags which was great to see. We decided that we shall try and get closer to each other riding next time out and rotate the head which will be good practice and will help me for next time I am out with the cycle club!

My first "Double Salto" of the year

I joined the local cycling club group ride this Sunday, a rugby team mate rides with them and he has been encouraging me to go along for a while. The club have an A group ride and a B group ride; I was confident I could hold my own on the B ride with a goal to moving on up to the A ride as I improve. I have done a number of group rides recently around the Surrey Hills and was pretty sure I could handle the ride rules and etiquette OK. The benefits I hope to gain from this ride are: A longer ride, they are at 60miles right now as opposed to my lowly 60Km (35miles) and improved group riding skills prior to L’Etape.

It did not exactly go to plan but I was happy to have go out all the same, I hope I will be welcomed back and was not too much of a hindrance. The club was very friendly and after checking out how often I rode etc. they were happy for me to join them. Unfortunately no-one from the B group turned up – I assume due to the overnight smattering of snow which meant I was with the A group, before we left we agreed that I would be OK to get dropped at any point if I was off the pace.

We started out well and after a few Km we hit the first hill, to say it was a hill would be a bit of an overstatement, a piddly 4% climb for around 1Km, I rapidly fell off the back as the peloton disappeared into the distance, it took me over 5Km to catch up again and they had slowed to wait for me. My heart rate was up at 160bpm as I worked hard and when I finally grabbed the tail it was a relief to have the relative rest within the slipstream. The group was riding a lot closer and a lot faster than I was used to and it took a while to get confident enough to stay the 20 odd cm behind the wheel in front at speeds over 20mph whilst chatting to the person next to me. A peloton is quite graceful in the way the front riders alternate fluidly in a natural flowing movement. I had agreed with the ride leader that I would not take the front at any point; this was the cause of my first undoing . As the guy behind me pushed through the middle of the column to take his place at the head I was forced to the left and onto the verge: slush, rocks and grass awaited and all of a sudden I was bouncing around on and off the saddle and struggling to keep the bike under control. I opted to hit the verge and only damage myself and not my newly found teammates and ended up flying over the handlebars, doing what David Coleman would probably call a Double Salto and landed on my feet legs spinning in a successful attempt to stay upright. The group waited for me to mend my resulting puncture and check out the bike which took a couple of minutes. Suitably humbled I set off again and picked up the pace. On the next hill I was adamant I was not going to get dropped and had at least two riders behind me when my chain slipped and became jammed, I was done for; I was not going to get this fixed quickly. Again, I watched the peloton disappear into the distance and that was the last time I saw them. Chastened but still confident enough to think I can hold my own in the B group next time out, I only hope they welcome me back!

Training done: Bike: 65Km LSD; Run: LSD 16Km.
Next week: Recovery Week

Speeeeed

How much gain is there in speed/effort when riding in a group as opposed to on your own? That is the question I have been asking myself this week, a quick trawl through the inter-web wasn’t very informative. Why is this important? My primary objective when completing L’Etape is avoiding the Broom Wagon; the minibus that rides behind the pack during the race and picks up riders going too slowly. The speed the Broom Wagon drives at is published just prior to the event and this year during a mountainous L’Etape it was set at 17.5Km/h. So if I assume that next year the Broom Wagon will be set at a similar speed then I need to work out my target minimum speed. There are several unknowns for me here: How does 17.5Km/h over the profile of the stage compare to a typical ride around Hampshire and how much speed will I gain by riding in a pack? A colleague of mine rides on the track regularly and is confident that track cyclists gain between 6-8Km/h when riding in a line vs. riding on their own. I quick check on the Beijing Olympic Track Cycling results shows that the team pursuit winners rode their 4Km at 61.7Km/h whereas the individual winner rode his 4Km at 56Km/h that equates to a gain of around 10% which is not bad at all. I would assume that Track Cyclist get a better draft gain than road cyclists as they are much closer to the wheel in front so maybe a road cyclist could gain 7.5%? It is not very scientific but good enough for me.

If I now look at Mountain stages vs. Flat stages that may give an indication of what speed I should be riding on my training rides. If I take a couple of stages on this year’s Tour de France to compare:

Flat Stage 13: Nimes, 182Km won by Cavendish in @ 40.5Kmh
Mountain Stage 17: Alpe D’huez, 210Km won by Sastre @ 34Kmh

That equates to a loss in speed of around 20% on a mountain stage vs. a flat stage; much lower than I would have expected to be honest.

We could combine these to estimate the net gain/loss which means you would expect to ride approximately 12.5% slower on L’Etape compared to riding on your own around the Home Counties, so to beat 17.5Km/h on L’etape then I need to be targeting around 20Kmh. A much slower speed than I am currently training at. I feel great today!

I wonder how accurate that is...