Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 30Km
metres climbed : +830
They say you can go around the world in 80days .... so if that's true, it's gotta be long enough to get ready to ride a teeny fraction of that distance.
It was hot today and I knew I was dehydrated when I left the office but a last wee moment of bravado with one of my readers (I've got 2 now, my distribution doubled overnight) had me promising to put in a 1000m climb tonight just because it's another arbitrary number to tick off. The theory was simple, ride up th commute, go straight past the house, stop at the boulangerie and grab a cake before riding on up to the ski station and scoffing said cake in the dying embers of another spectacular spring evening in the Alps.
Did I mention I got a bit delayed leaving the office and I was dehydrated ?
Neither of these things were a problem till I hit the bottom of the climb, 100mtrs later I knew it wasn't going to be hurty :O( .... and was it only yesterday that I said " the fatigue of those first rides is already gone and the dull pain of a lot of effort hasn't arrived yet " NEVER say stuff like that and definately don't write it down.
I slogged and huffed and puffed for 20mins then pulled over to rummage in the bottom of my sack for an energy bar I knew I'd seen. A Trans-Provencian Mule bar was retrieved and scoffed and on we trudged. It hurt a lot all the way but this is a good thing, it's going to hurt a wee bit more on the day, aclimitisation is a necessary evil.
Thankfully the higher I went the cooler the air was and the pain eased - perhaps it was the mule bar, who knows but my mind turned back to the 1000m chat. I'm behind schedule but the boulanger won't be, by the time I get there it's going to be closed and the cake was going to evaporate like a snatched away carrot.
I'll do it anyway, I told Rob I would, stuff that I'm tired and I can make a cake at home, the 1000m can wait for another day ... but it was a baby step it needs to happen - eh WHY we've still got 80days to go and you can go round the world in that time, allegedly .... thinking hard, Lans is in sight. OK new plan instead of riding through the village past the tauntingly closed cake shop I'll ride up the other side of the valley to the Croix Perrin and back down thereby achieving the nominal number.
200m to the top of the climb - I like that plan it works !
150m to the top of the climb - like hell it does, were tired and need to play the long game
100m to the top of the climb - no comon we said we would
90m .... pfffft
85m .... aye but it's important
80m to go to the roundabout and a car draws alongside .... quick glance left, hey it's Wendy of the Chant !
whatyoudoinghere ?
I'm coming to visit you
Hey fantastic, team car with a spare bike on he roof and all thoughts of another 200m climbing are gone.
It was a good decision, the target lives for another day and the legs deserved the break.
Oh and another great thing happened, waaaaay back down there a third of the way up the climb, a car passed me with wee kids I've never seen before hanging out the window.
And they barked at me :O)
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
TdMB minus 81 days
Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 50Km
metres climbed : +430 ish
With a couple of reasons to stay up on the plateau today, I decided to work from home. This has several advantages and one disadvantage - no commute.
The first advantage being that I could wear my cycling gear all day with the bike parked up next to my desk ready to roll as soon as a window of opporchancity presented itself ... surprisingly that didn't actually come until the early afternoon as the morning was full of conf calls and a couple of reports. At 2pm the gap appeared and I was out in the sunshine spinning down the road before the last mail even got out of my outbox.
I had to go to the next village to pay some bills and was soon out on the back road spinning up the first climb. I'm stunned again to find how fast my body has reacted to the demands of exercise again, the fatigue of those first rides is already gone and the dull pain of a lot of effort hasn't arrived yet. Small climbs were being thrashed and the big ring hammered every time it could be engaged. Round trip was a joy, paying the bills wasn't and I was back at the desk with only a small pile of new demands to deal with.
At the end of the afternoon, I shut down the laptop and commuted back to where I'd been sitting before firing up the coffee machine. 50Km's in a working afternoon can't be sniffed at ... long may it last !
Distance : 50Km
metres climbed : +430 ish
With a couple of reasons to stay up on the plateau today, I decided to work from home. This has several advantages and one disadvantage - no commute.
The first advantage being that I could wear my cycling gear all day with the bike parked up next to my desk ready to roll as soon as a window of opporchancity presented itself ... surprisingly that didn't actually come until the early afternoon as the morning was full of conf calls and a couple of reports. At 2pm the gap appeared and I was out in the sunshine spinning down the road before the last mail even got out of my outbox.
I had to go to the next village to pay some bills and was soon out on the back road spinning up the first climb. I'm stunned again to find how fast my body has reacted to the demands of exercise again, the fatigue of those first rides is already gone and the dull pain of a lot of effort hasn't arrived yet. Small climbs were being thrashed and the big ring hammered every time it could be engaged. Round trip was a joy, paying the bills wasn't and I was back at the desk with only a small pile of new demands to deal with.
At the end of the afternoon, I shut down the laptop and commuted back to where I'd been sitting before firing up the coffee machine. 50Km's in a working afternoon can't be sniffed at ... long may it last !
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
TdMB minus 82 days
Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 33Km
metres climbed : +830
Commute home - Grenoble, Sassenage, eh-hop-up-we-go, Lans and then a spin on the plateau
If you look at the numbers you might note a slightly gratuitous "10%" theme to this ride ;o)
Plan (a) was to get up early today and go for a big ride before work, plan (b) was to get out at lunchtime instead, plan (c) was in itself nearly scuppered but thankfully salvaged.
A simple commute up the hill from work with a wee lap on the plateau just to hit the 33Km mark although by definition I overcooked the perfect tenth in altitude. It gave me an idea though, will look for a loop that give's me some unimportant percentage of the TdMB with no overall altitude difference to keep my engineering mentality occupied.
I'm not really sure why the muscle memory is there but I'm oh so glad that it is, ride felt easy, I wasn't pushing it at all, left the office tired (in glorious sunshine) and still put in a very respectable 63mins for the climb itself so I'm just a little bit pleased with myself tonight.
The engines are running and it would appear that they didn't sieze up and go rusty during the down-time. Time to start planning some stepping stones to up the game and build some of that stamina stuff (and get a bit more regular with the plan)
Confidence level jumps up from 14 to 17.3% as a result
Distance : 33Km
metres climbed : +830
Commute home - Grenoble, Sassenage, eh-hop-up-we-go, Lans and then a spin on the plateau
If you look at the numbers you might note a slightly gratuitous "10%" theme to this ride ;o)
Plan (a) was to get up early today and go for a big ride before work, plan (b) was to get out at lunchtime instead, plan (c) was in itself nearly scuppered but thankfully salvaged.
A simple commute up the hill from work with a wee lap on the plateau just to hit the 33Km mark although by definition I overcooked the perfect tenth in altitude. It gave me an idea though, will look for a loop that give's me some unimportant percentage of the TdMB with no overall altitude difference to keep my engineering mentality occupied.
I'm not really sure why the muscle memory is there but I'm oh so glad that it is, ride felt easy, I wasn't pushing it at all, left the office tired (in glorious sunshine) and still put in a very respectable 63mins for the climb itself so I'm just a little bit pleased with myself tonight.
The engines are running and it would appear that they didn't sieze up and go rusty during the down-time. Time to start planning some stepping stones to up the game and build some of that stamina stuff (and get a bit more regular with the plan)
Confidence level jumps up from 14 to 17.3% as a result
the bark is back
I was musing today with my reader (hi Rob) and was asked once again why the bark was gone .... stopping the bark seemed like a bad idea at the time but when asked in the cold light of day to justify it I couldn't. We tried to do so for reasons that are thinner than the thinnest of thin things which carry no weight or water.
He probed and poked a little, it didn't take much - several long seconds possibly, and he was of course right. It was never gone I was just trying foolishly to supress something that is me and mine.
So as it says on the tin - the bark is back, long live the bark !
Groof woof yip gruff awoooooooooo
He probed and poked a little, it didn't take much - several long seconds possibly, and he was of course right. It was never gone I was just trying foolishly to supress something that is me and mine.
So as it says on the tin - the bark is back, long live the bark !
Groof woof yip gruff awoooooooooo
Sunday, April 25, 2010
TdMB minus 12wks precisely
Bike of choice : Kap
Distance : 46Km
metres climbed : +790
Plateau ride - Lans, Villard, Cote 2000, Les Cochettes, Villard, Gorge, Meadre, Autrans, Crox-Perrin, Lans
OK is this the official start then ? Let's see what happens as the week goes on.
Gorgeous spring day and the sun was already hot enough to burn peely-wally Scottish skin. Got out for a 2hr (ish) ride that just happened to have a 2hr lunch break in the middle, how civilised is that ! Put in the standard plateau loop but with the climb up to Cote 2000 ski station in honour of those TdF chaps who rode up the same climb in 2004. It was a bit windy but that's good for the training I guess.
Baggy shorts and MTB jersey just to mess with heads, I'm liking the Kapu a LOT !!!!!
Distance : 46Km
metres climbed : +790
Plateau ride - Lans, Villard, Cote 2000, Les Cochettes, Villard, Gorge, Meadre, Autrans, Crox-Perrin, Lans
OK is this the official start then ? Let's see what happens as the week goes on.
Gorgeous spring day and the sun was already hot enough to burn peely-wally Scottish skin. Got out for a 2hr (ish) ride that just happened to have a 2hr lunch break in the middle, how civilised is that ! Put in the standard plateau loop but with the climb up to Cote 2000 ski station in honour of those TdF chaps who rode up the same climb in 2004. It was a bit windy but that's good for the training I guess.
Baggy shorts and MTB jersey just to mess with heads, I'm liking the Kapu a LOT !!!!!
hurdles
Of course as soon as you sign up for something stupid like this, something's gonna happen that slows you down. I've got some tooth problems ... 3 root canals all being worked on simultaneously. That's causing a certain level of pain and getting in the way of going out riding a bit.
2 days lost where it was absolutely impossible !
2 days lost where it was absolutely impossible !
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Just one final mouse-click and ..... I've ENTERED !
Yup I just hit the button that says "inscrire" .... rider number will be with me soon
Oh and another thing .... the entry form wanted to know what club I ride for and I'm not entirely comfortable with putting down the old team so I just invented "le Velo Club Bruichladdich" in honour of those of you who know why ;o)
I'm thinking molteni orange jersey with Laddie blue panel or somefink .... plenty time to fine tune that idea
Oh and another thing .... the entry form wanted to know what club I ride for and I'm not entirely comfortable with putting down the old team so I just invented "le Velo Club Bruichladdich" in honour of those of you who know why ;o)
I'm thinking molteni orange jersey with Laddie blue panel or somefink .... plenty time to fine tune that idea
Polishing the blog ain't going to help on the day ...
well that's what I've done tonight rather than getting out on the bike and getting some kilometers in ... I've had toothache though (inflamed root canal to be precise) and it's important to invest a bit of time in the whole idea to make it more real innit ?
That's my excuse and I'm gonna stick to it.
After fooling around to create that banner up there I'm obliged to enter ;o)
That's my excuse and I'm gonna stick to it.
After fooling around to create that banner up there I'm obliged to enter ;o)
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
I've not quite signed up yet but ...
OK so after a bit too much stress and not enough exercise for just a tad too long, it's time to enter a stupidly hard cyclosportif in France to err motivate myself to get back out on the bike.
La Marmotte @ 176Km and +5000m climbing in a day was the obvious choice as I've done it before and it's pretty much the hardest ride on the normal circuit ... but it's already full, keep looking.
Oh oh .... there's THIS : Le Tour du Mont Blanc
Now that's just plain stupid !!!
It's like a double lap of La Marmotte without the Alpe de Huez climbs ... or thinking more locally it's equivalent to riding up and down the hill to my work 10 times in a day, I've done that 5 times in a week once (albeit at a fastish pace) and that was tiring.
I think I need to do this .....
La Marmotte @ 176Km and +5000m climbing in a day was the obvious choice as I've done it before and it's pretty much the hardest ride on the normal circuit ... but it's already full, keep looking.
Oh oh .... there's THIS : Le Tour du Mont Blanc
Now that's just plain stupid !!!
It's like a double lap of La Marmotte without the Alpe de Huez climbs ... or thinking more locally it's equivalent to riding up and down the hill to my work 10 times in a day, I've done that 5 times in a week once (albeit at a fastish pace) and that was tiring.
I think I need to do this .....
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