Cycle - 4.3 hours - 11/15/2008

Eleven went out on the DPNC Saturday ride, ten came back. We lost Pete on the climb of Bayley’s Hill when he stopped to water the plants and only heard from him once he was home. First time out with us was Chad (?) from the US and Allen. Others were Ken, Greig, Omar, Hassan, Joe, Adam and Harvey.

I led the group on a fairly hilly ride out from Crystal Palace and down to Markbeech via Beddlestead, Pilgrims Way and Brasted Chart. From there we made our way back via Bayley’s and Brasted Hills. I wanted to see what Bayley’s Hill was like ahead of our Hell of Ashdown recce in a couple of weeks and it is quite a good climb — not nearly as steep as York’s nor as long as Ide so perfectly manageable.

My plan was to ride as much as possible at around 75% of max and only push it up to 85% on the hills. That of course went out the window as I tried to keep up with the climbers. Eight of the group were considerably better than me on the hills so I fought to keep up with them as much as possible by pushing up towards my threshold (89%) and holding it. This still wasn’t enough to stay with them but it did minimise the gaps they could open up.

Next week’s training plan:

Monday: 60 min commute in, mostly zones 1 & 2 with hard efforts on the hills and a few sprints. 45 min recovery paced commute home.
Tuesday: 90 min in two recovery paced commutes.
Wednesday: 2 hrs with two hard paced (85%+) laps of Richmond Park, allow adequate recovery between laps, second in the opposite direction to the first.
Thursday: 90 min in two recovery paced commutes.
Friday: 60 min commute in, mostly zones 1 & 2 with hard efforts on the hills and a few sprints. 45 min recovery pace commute home.
Saturday: 4 hr club ride in the North Downs, stay near the front of the group and ride own pace on the hills.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/15/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 4:20:00.00
• Distance: 100 km
• Average Speed: 23.08 kmph
• Ascent: 1,400 m