Ten of us out for a cold, misty and wet recce of next February’s Hell of Ashdown sportive. Two punctures and one snapped gear cable, fortunately none of them mine. Out to Downe from Crystal Palace and up the short, sharp Cudham Test Hill before a long run south to Kidds Hill via Brasted Chart and Dormansland. Greig and Pete broke of for a shorter ride around Edenbridge and the rest of us made good time as we weaved down through the lanes. There was a most welcome cake stop in Groombride before the return leg via Bailey’s and Star hills. Ken, Dyanne, Joe, Michael and one other broke off as we approached Bough Beech Reservoir and opted for the more direct route home via Ide Hill. Harvey, Daniel and I pushed on and finished the full route. I wish I could remember the other rider’s name. He was great at taking turns at the front and excellent to ride with.

Daniel has posted his pictures from the ride here.

Saturday’s forecast was for a cold and wet day so I figured this was probably a good time to put some winter tyres on. First time I’ve used 25mm Continental Four Seasons and at the recommended 95psi, they were so much more comfortable to ride than 23mm GP4000s at 110psi. They also stuck to the road fantastically and dealt with both the road and weather conditions perfectly.

Fortunately I got to do the ride on a new rear wheel but the experience of getting it makes it very difficult to recommend my local bike shop. I have persevered with De Ver because it is almost at the end of my road and stocks a reasonable range of bikes and gear. It is also the only place I know where I could take my broken wheel last Saturday and have a new one built by Friday. What bothers me is that the shop let me down a number of times on service. I asked for a silver rim and got black. I also asked for rim tape but had to fit it myself and only got it because my wife asked for it when picking up the wheel. Paying for it took 20 minutes apparently while another customer looked around and got so bored he walked out. Jason the mechanic then called me after my wife had left to let me know that there had been a “boo boo”. My old cassette and skewer were also supposed to be put on the new wheel but he’d forgotten to fit them and I could drop by any time to pick them up. Great.

Turns out the black rim doesn’t look too mismatched to front’s mottled silver. Fitting the rim tape only took a couple of minutes and luckily I had a new cassette and old skewer that I could use. It dismays me when a local shop lets me down on service. Everything I need can be bought cheaper online and without great customer service there is little reason to go your local bike shop.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/29/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 6:36:00.00
• Distance: 150 km
• Average Speed: 22.73 kmph
• Ascent: 2,000 m

Fortunately I was only on a slight decline, not going too fast and, most importantly, going in a straight line. We were about to turn off for a fast run down a hill and if this had happened then, the results would have been very different. My luck did not end there. As soon as I was off my bike two guys in a car stopped and offered to take me to the nearest station. In the end, an almost ideal outcome to a potentially catastrophic situation.

Jason at De Ver thinks he can build me a new wheel by Friday so I shouldn’t have to pull out of next weekend’s Hell of Ashdown recce.

It frustrates me that the wheel had only done 4,500 km so should have been fine. Our recent run of bad weather must have caused a little too much of the braking surface to be ground away. In fact, my last brake blocks only managed 360 km when I normally get at least 2,000 km out of them.

Hopefully my old rear wheel will get me through next week’s training plan:

Monday: 90 minutes in two recovery paced commutes
Tuesday: 90 minutes in two recovery paced commutes
Wednesday: Two hours with two sub threshold circuits of Richmond Park
Thursday: 90 minutes in two recovery paced commutes
Friday: 90 minutes in two recovery paced commutes
Saturday: Six hours in a steady paced recce of the Hell of Ashdown route

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/22/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 00:47:31.00
• Distance: 18.54 km
• Average Speed: 23.41 kmph
• Ascent: 280 m

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

Six of us out for a wet and windy DPNC Saturday ride. Standard Edenbridge Loop - out via Woldingham and Gangers Hill to Edenbridge and then back via Ide and Sundridge hills.

Greig was on his new winter Ribble and the others out were Pete, Omar, Mike and his kiwi friend Genevieve. Mike broke off for a shorter ride when we turned for Gangers.

I dressed right this time - sleeveless base under a long sleeved jersey and waterproof jacket. New DeFeet Woolie Boolie socks were excellent. After 90 minutes of riding in the rain my feet were still soaked but they stayed reasonably warm for the rest of the ride.

Time to fit the Race Blades too. They keep a lot of my road spray off me even if they’re not too good at keeping it off those immediately behind.

Elevation gain taken from TrackLogs as my GPS only recorded 625m.

Next week is a recovery week so my training plan is very simple:

Mon-Fri: 90 min recovery paced commutes each day
Saturday: 4 hrs in the Surrey Hills, mostly zone 1 & 2 with hard efforts on the hills

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/08/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 4:17:00.00
• Distance: 100 km
• Average Speed: 23.35 kmph
• Ascent: 1,400 m

Very wet, windy and cold day in the North Downs with Michael. Light rain started shortly after we set out and gradually got heavier. After around 100km I was soaked through and cold. Windproof jacket over a long sleeved jersey and base layer wasn’t enough to stay warm. New boots worked ok until the rain got really heavy. The water running down my legs filled them up and I sploshed around in them for the next two hours. One puncture for me just after Seal. Couldn’t find what caused it so just replaced the tube and made it home fine. Tyre may need replacing - done over 4,500 km.

Got my registration in this week for next April’s Tour of Flanders (or Ronde van Vlaanderen) so there’s finally something finite to work towards in 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 pace commute home.
Tuesday: 90 min in two recovery pace 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 pace 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: 11/01/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 6:40:00.00
• Distance: 150 km
• Average Speed: 22.5 kmph
• Ascent: 1,900 m

Six of us out on the DPNC ride. Ken led us out via Beddlestead and Chalk Pit Lane to the Epilepsy Centre at Lingfield and then back via Ide and Star Hills. Worked at staying in zones 1 and 2 (<77%) most of the time and then pushing it up to zone 4 (>85%) and maintaining steady cadence (70+) on the hills. Felt very comfortably riding that way but overshoes or booties would have made the ride a whole lot nicer.

My new winter boots arrived this week but they’re a little too insulated to wear yet. The temperature is forecast to hang around in single figures next week so they may have arrived just in time.

The clocks going back this weekend allow me to get a couple more Richmond Park circuits into next week’s training plan:

Monday: 90 min commute in, mostly zones 1 & 2 with hard efforts on the hills and a few sprints. 45 min recovery pace commute home.
Tuesday: 90 min in two recovery pace commutes.
Wednesday: 2 hrs with two hard paced (85%+) laps of Richmond Park, second in the opposite direction to the first, allowing adequate recovery between them.
Thursday: 90 min in two recovery pace 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: 3 hrs in the North Downs, mostly zone 1 & 2 with hard efforts on the hills

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/25/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 4:18:00.00
• Distance: 103 km
• Average Speed: 23.95 kmph
• Ascent: 1,300 m

A good long ride out into the Surrey Hills with Michael. We were due to meet at 8am at Richmond Park’s Roehampton Gate but Michael was around 20 minutes late so I had time to take a handful of photos of the thinning early morning mist in the park as the sun began to warm things up and the deer began to stir.

Michael knew the route down to the Surrey Hills so we headed out of the Park via Ham Gate. We crossed the Thames at Hampton Court and then again at Walton on Thames. At that point I figured something was wrong as we shouldn’t be heading north. The Surrey Hills are around 20km south west of Richmond Park and we had now been riding for nearly an hour and were still going through quite built up parts of London. Finally as we reached Feltham Michael admitted he was lost and we tried to figure out where we were.

Last night I loaded a handful of Surrey Hills routes on to my GPS so I picked one, zoomed out on the map and we bumbled our way across south west London towards it. An hour later we had crossed the M25 and were close to Westhumble, ready to start our ride. Michael couldn’t remember the route he’d done previously and was planning to do today so we picked the Cheam and Morden CTC Hilly 50 from my GPS and set out for a short spin. The route is described as a “tour of the Surrey Hills without the boring flat bits”. It includes Ranmore, Leith Hill, Friday Street, White Down and ends at the top of Box Hill. We cut out the climb up Pitch Hill from Ewhurst and opted for a coffee in Peaslake instead.

The weather was sunny, not too breezy and perfect for cycling as we enjoyed spinning through the woods and past some stunning houses.

Overall, a very satisfying day after a less than ideal start.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/18/2008
• Time: 07:30:00
• Total Time: 5:30:00.00
• Distance: 125 km
• Average Speed: 22.73 kmph
• Ascent: 1,552 m

Nine of us out on the DPNC Saturday ride. Hassan lead us on a wonderful route along Pilgrims Way out past Kemsing and back via Eynsford. Quite misty at the top of Clarkes Hill but that burned off quickly and the weather was warm and sunny. Michael joined us for the first time.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/11/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 4:11:00.00
• Distance: 98 km
• Average Speed: 23.43 kmph
• Ascent: 1,360 m

Very wet and windy tenth edition of the Ride of the Falling Leaves. Counted thirteen punctures, none mine or Michael’s. Took a slightly longer route and avoided Slurry Lane (Force Green Lane). We were on target for 4:15 until Toys when Michael’s legs gave up. Took it easier from then. Official time 4:43, two minutes slower than last year.

Wore wind proof 3/4’s and jacket over a base layer and short sleeved jersey with full finger gloves and neoprene booties. Got very wet but was mostly warm and comfortable throughout. Put mudguards on last night so together with the booties they kept my feet dry for about 90 minutes. For the remaining three hours it felt like my thick sodden socks were adding a lot of weight. My feet were warm however so perhaps I should try some windproof booties instead and stick to thin socks.

Elevation gain of 1,573 metres taken from TrackLogs as the cloud cover caused havoc with that part of my GPS. Navigation was fine but it registered only 596 metres of climbing.

Results on the Dulwich Paragon site here.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/05/2008
• Time: 08:45:00
• Total Time: 4:29:00.00
• Distance: 105 km
• Average Speed: 23.42 kmph
• Ascent: 1,500 m

Thirteen of us started this weekend’s DPNC ride from Crystal Palace and one joined at Elmers End roundabout. Ken and Hassan needed to get back early and Sam wasn’t feeling 100% after her mid week half marathon so they broke off for a shorter ride. The rest of us headed out into the North Downs over Brasted Chart (back of Toys Hill) and back via Ide and Brasted Hills. Two punctures, neither mine although my rear mech cable broke just as arrived home — lasted 5,300 km.

Only one week until Falling Leaves and everybody was already talking about next year’s goals. Perhaps I’ll be able to find a nice European sportive that fits my schedule. The Amstel Gold on April 18 is my pick at the moment.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 09/27/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 3:46:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 121
• Distance: 86 km
• Average Speed: 22.83 kmph
• Ascent: 1,200 m
• Average Cadence: 70