Next year

As I write, I am 8 miles from having ridden 6000 miles this year; by some distance the most I have ever ridden. To the purists, the fact that a big chunk of this has been done on the turbo may be a problem, but I'm pretty chuffed with having done this. I just need to tick off those 8 miles, or a few more within the next six days.  Also as I write, I have a streaming head cold, which is my first for quite a while. Just in time for Christmas; magic! So maybe a bit more miles next year would be good. 7000 miles would mean 135 miles per week. Which just means one slightly extended commute each week. I reckon I can do that.

Next season is starting to take a bit of shape.  My aim is to mix it up a little bit more. The Kingston Wheelers Audax series will give me some long distance events to focus on as a practice for qualifying for Paris-Brest-Paris in 2019, but I'm going to have a little dabble with some closed circuit road racing.  To be honest, I feel like I will be far too long in the tooth for it but there are some training days next month which I have booked up for which are compulsory for novices and 4th cat. riders to race in the local cycle league. If nothing else, it will give me some VO2 max workouts which will be useful sessions for the shorter time trials. I am either going to really enjoy it or really hate it. We shall see.  The other target that would be awesome is a sub 4 hour 100. I'm not sure that I've got it in me but maybe on a good course on a good day I might be able to get close.

Kingston Phoenix stuff has kept me very busy lately. Trying to ensure that we have a club run out every Sunday has been hard work. I have always been used to meeting Simon and getting a ride done by 10am, but the needs of the club has meant a later start.  It's been good to ride in a group and we are putting together a great little training group, which we hope will help to encourage new riders and develop the club.  That said, I do miss the solitude of riding sometimes, just being on my own or with one or two close friends, chewing the cudd, talking arse and taking in the scenery.


I'm also promoting my first Open time trial at the end of the season which is quite a large responsibility as we are using it to raise money for charity in light of the deaths of three of my club mates. I want to make sure that I do it right.

Winter.

I'm trying to get some serious turbo action at the moment. I spent a bit of time looking back at my TrainerRoad history and the obvious thing is that if I maintain 250/300 TSS consistently, then my ftp takes a nice lurch upwards. With the weather being cold and icy it's making it easier to focus on my turbo work.  I want to try to get my ftp up and over 260 watts by the time we get to May, as that should set me up for some good performances. The Kingston Wheelers have their Audax series which will be my aerobic events to focus on next season. At the moment, it's turbo and coffee drinking at the weekend.

I've also treated my self to a Garmin 800 to help me plan and discover some new routes in the Surrey Hills and beyond. Looking forward to it.