I've had a really solid week's training with five sessions all told with the aim of getting a solid three week block of sessions in before my first 25 tt in March. These consisted of three sweetspot trainerroad sessions, a chingang ride with KPRC and then a 50 miler today with Simon. The sweetspot sessions were all fine, if a little dull, being long intervals of between 12-20 minutes at 85% of ftp. The chaingang ride was hard with three of us out for the first time and had me well over threshold for a significant proportion and included the an enormous wood screw leaving the most enormous hole in my tyre on the warm down loop. Lee and Gavin were kind enough to wait while I changed it but the temperature dropped rapidly and obviously that meant I completely ballsed- up getting the new tube in.

An early start this morning to meet Simon and the plan was to go out and ride most of the G25/47 route which we will be racing on in two weeks' time. As we headed out to the A 29 and down to Broadbridge Heath, all was good and we were clipping along at a really good tempo effort and I have to say Iwas feeling really strong in the cold and windy conditions.  When we got back on to the A24 for the last five miles of the tt course I just ran out of gas and Simon pulled away effortlessly into the strengthening headwind, so I took the decision to knock it back, rather than going into the red to try to stay with him. It is dawning on me that I am getting older, and whether I like it or not I need to rest more and these relatively big weeks will take their toll. I can't keep burning my matches all the time.

First race of the season

As a way of getting me off the turbo and back into the real world I entered the Kingston Wheelers' Gil Jessop Sporting 14, a 14 mile (obviously) sporting time trial over two laps in Ripley. I find these sporting courses pretty tough; I have never ridden one that has made me think afterwards that I had really nailed it, usually because in the early season I have not laid a decent enough aerobic base during the winter. With my trainerroad sessions I have been hoping to remedy this and this was going to be my first test of this.

I decided on the argon with full deep section wheels as it was not a particularly steep course or climb. The roads were wet from a good soaking the night before but the morning was pretty dry. I just didn't feel on it on the first lap. My legs just felt heavy and The were well alight after just a few minutes' riding. Maybe a lack of a proper warm up or just not enough actual road riding on hills? Whatever it was, it was a rude introduction to the racing season, especially when my minute man caught me after only half a lap. The second lap was slightly better and I was really pushing hard over the last mile on the downhill section. A long 37, which on this course was decidedly average.

Over the next couple of days I started to feel more rough as a cold developed, which meant my week off for half term only saw me ride 3 times and feeling rough each time. The highlight was 40 miles out with Simon which included an ascent of Pebble Hill in Reigate, which left me absolutely in bits. I really hate that hill; I guess I should ride it a lot more.

I think I am now finally over my cold and I am going to attempt to get 3 really good weeks in before the next Sporting TT, focussing on sweetspot and threshold work. My other main focus is weight loss, with me currently at 73kgs I am a good 2kgs overweight and ideally, I should aim to get down below 70 kgs. I'm cutting out the rubbish, reducing my carbs, eating more fruit, drinking more water and upping my protein. Sounds simple, but I like a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar, so I think this is going to be tough.

Suffering

Where can I buy one?

A tough couple of weeks since my last post, with a bit of cold which left me feeling quite lethargic. I did the wise thing and kicked back a bit but last Sunday I went out with Simon and Dale for my first outdoor training ride in quite a while. The good was that I did a solid 60 miles, but I was left trailing in the boys' wake. IO had got up at 5:30am to be on the road by 6, so by the time I met them I already had and hour under my belt, but I just wasn't on it. Dale is super fast and Simon has been getting some solid miles in and I just was not able to keep up for most of it. I felt some relief when I turned off to head back home while they got their heads down and rode off to Worthing.

This week has been a little better. My trainerroad sessions are back on track and yesterday I had a particularly good 2 hour session that saw me hitting some really good numbers again, but this had the consequence of my legs being pretty battered for today's steady ride. I did a slow 40 miles with  lot of time spent in the small ring (I know it shouldn't make any difference, but it does, to my ego at least).

 I really could have done with one of those hidden motors that now seem to be finding their way into the pro peleton. I have to say, I share most people's incredulity at this. Drug doping to improve one's athletic ability seems almost acceptable. My take on it is that cycling is often about suffering. Even when it's going well, it is still bloody hard work. It's fairly rare that it ever feels easy, therefore I think one can argue that even if you are smacked up to your eyeballs on EPO, it is still going to hurt. This whole motor doping thing seems just, well, lazy! I mean properly bone-idle. I can't be bothered to pedal anymore, I think I'll use the motor.

Without the means, desire or inclination to cheat (in anyway, I might hasten to add) I am just going to have to continue to hurt in the good old fashioned way.

A bump in the (trainer) road

So after being all cock-a-hoop last week about my ftp number rising like a rocket after my last 20 minute test, it should come as no surprise that it would all spectacularly turn to worms this week. Basically, I caught a cold. The rest of family wheezy came down with it and by Monday my throat was sore and eyes were puffy, but to be fair, I was not feeling too bad so thought that I should just man up and get my next session done. This was to be a 90 threshold session with me doing 6 x 10 minutes around my ftp. This is a tough session and with me being under the weather and chasing a new ftp number I simply couldn't keep the cranks turning after the third rep, so I bailed early. The rest of the week I was able to do a couple of easy, low intensity aerobic sessions which didn't stress me too much and this morning I felt good enough to have a crack at a one hour session with 4 x 10 minutes at threshold.

Again, it didn't go to plan. The first rep felt too easy and I was well over the 230 watts required. Second rep was better; still a bit too high, but I felt comfortably extended.

The third rep; Oh. My. Days. I was hanging on, barely, almost from the off. The last 3 minutes felt like 3 years and I was just able to keep it at 230 watts. So it was time to HTFU and get the last one done, but I simply couldn't. By this time my temperature had rising stupidly and even at rest my heart rate was extremely elevated and I simply couldn't get my power up to even 180 watts, let alone 230. I should be disappointed but this is precisely why Trainerroad is proving so useful and this is telling me a few of things. Firstly, I am ill and I need to actually let my body recover a little more before attempting a threshold session. Secondly, this confirms that my muscular endurance needs a lot of work. I can spin a light gear for hours. I can push a relatively high number of watts (for me) for a short period pretty well, but maintaining my watts near ftp for extended periods of time is a real weakness and something I need to focus on when I am back to full fitness. Thirdly, I need to put my ego in check (again) and at least temporarily bring my ftp number down while I build my fitness back up.

Training works

For the last two weeks or so I had felt that the Trainer road sessions were feeling a little easier as I got a little fitter, so it seemed like a good time to do my third functional threshold power test. In November my first test had been 205 watts, with a slight improvement in December at 212 watts, so I was expecting another modest improvement.  So I started the session thinking that I would be looking at a few more watts and maybe I could squeak over 220; imagine my surprise when I was able to bash out 230 watts. In a word; Boom. I suppose I do also have to factor in it being my third go at this session I am obviously becoming more practiced at pacing. but there's no doubt that I am starting to make some really good improvements and with a 25 watt increase in 10 weeks, I have to be pleased.

This now means that my sessions are that little bit harder as I have to adapt to a higher percentage of power across all the sessions and I think the next few weeks are going to be pretty tough. As Greg Lemond once said 'It doesn't get easier, you just get faster.'

The wrong side of 3w/kg

#StormFrank on the Isle of Wight

It's been a bit of a rest week due to a small family break over the New Year. The great thing about making the conscious decision to not do any running for the foreseable future is that I had no compunction about leaving my trainers at home and not worrying about trying to fit a session in. Just lots of very windy (courtesy of Storm Frank) and wet pub walks, fish and chips and quite a few beers. All good. We came back late Friday night so I was able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and fit in another three hours on the turbo, including my longest ever turbo session at 2hrs 15 minutes. I think that's the really good thing about Trainerroad as it breaks it all up into manageable chunks, so that and with the aid of a couple of Kermode and Mayo film podcasts made the time while away quite quickly. I must be getting soft in my old age as I so glad not to be out in the horrible grey and turbulent weather that we have had recently. It could have been even worse; I could be on the water DW training. (Very pleased that I am not)

Not that I have tested it recently, but my ftp seems to still be gradually creeping up, as some of the sessions from earlier in the plan have been repeated and my normalised power for the sessions is a few watts higher every time and some of the threshold sessions which left me a dribbling mess a couple of weeks ago are not quite as intense now. A sign, I guess, that it is time to test my ftp again soon.

The big thing I need to get under control is my diet, as like most people I have hit the calories a bit hard over the last two weeks and my weight has crept up somewhat, but thankfully, nowhere near as bad as it could be. Anyway, there's little point working on improving my power output if my weight is going up too so it is time to 'reset' and get some good eating habits going again. My current power/weight ratio is 2.92 w/kg (in his heyday, if you can call it that, Lance was over 7!). So a first aim is to get that number over 3w/kg. A modest but achievable target.

Small wins and all that.

Last (outdoor) ride of the year

A very grey and windy 50 miles this morning with Simon and Suzie, heading out to Dorking then turning onto the A29 with a detour around the Sporting 10 course. After a pretty hard trainer road session yesterday morning it took a little while for my legs to get loose and fluid, but once they were I was feeling very strong. Not fast, but like a lumpy V twin rather than a single cylinder two stroke.

It ended up being a bit of a mixed ride with rolling lumps rather than out right hills and Simon and I taking it in turns on the front, pushing on over the second half of the G10/42 course as we came back to Dorking. Despite eating my own body weight in meat, potatoes and bread, I have never felt fitter at this time of year, ever. Consistent training works, even when eating boxfuls of mince pies. January 1st will be when I hit the reset switch as far as my eating and diet goes. Until then, one more piece of pie please!

I thought that I would really suffer by not doing  any running at all but it has been a really good release and despite the inordinate amount of food I have consumed over the holidays, my weight has pretty much stayed in check. I think I have always felt that I have needed to run to keep my weight down but the consistent turbo sessions seem to be burning off enough calories, which is good.

So a couple more turbo sessions to see out the year and that's me done for another year. Pretty certain that cycling wise, 2016 is going to be a hell of a lot better than 2015.

Moving on

This year has been, well, meh.

The good has been completing some new events. My first 100 mile tt, my first 12 hour tt, my first go on a track. All that was good fun and has to some extent, made this season worth while. Other than that however, it has all been decidedly average. My speed on a bike has not actually moved forward at all this year with a paltry 4 second improvement over 10 miles and no improvement at all over 25 and 50.  As usual, not enough consistency with a smattering of bad preparation and bad luck has meant that what I have done has kept the status quo.

But, I now feel really good about next year. My recent switch to using Trainerroad with a KK road machine turbo has completely transformed my approach. I have spent the last 7 weeks following the Trainerroad medium volume  sweetspot base plan, hitting most sessions and enjoying them. I do most of my sessions quite late in the evening, after kids have gone to bed and I've watched The Apprentice or Bake-off with Mrs Wheezy, but with most of the Monday to Friday sessions only being an hour long (90 minutes max) I am usually done and dusted by 11pm.

 I have already started to see some improvement, with a small increase in my ftp after 6 weeks (205 up to 212watts), but a big improvement in my pedaling efficiency. When I started on TR I was 'mashing' the pedals at 65-70rpm, whereas now, spinning over at 85-90rpm feels much more normal and comfortable, working all the quadrants of the pedal stroke rather than just the downstroke.

I am just finding it really motivating having structured sessions, with a good mix of steady Z1-2, sweetspot and threshold work and I don't mind it being turbo based at all. It gives me a good excuse to catch up on a few podcasts or a new album or two, while generating the most enormous puddle of sweat. While my face is hardly rising like a rocket, it is moving in the right direction and bearing in mind that this phase is mainly about achieving an aerobic base and not focussing on ftp, I'm a happy man.

So next year, is all about the bike. No running, swimming or triathlon. I would rather be average at one sport than truly mediocre at three. The big goal next year is a sub 60 25 mile to, but I intend to be well under it rather than a 59:59. I'm going to target some fast courses in a bid to get this done rather than the relatively slow ones I have been riding the last couple of years. My other main goal is to move up in the British Best All Round table (BBAR). It takes your average speed and distance over 25, 50, 100 and 12 hr tts. I was 90th this year with a 21.2 mph average, despite an awful 50 mile time posted just after my op, so I should be able to move up and get a 22mph average which will also get me a certificate. (We all like certificates) 😄

So there it is. Just need to keep spinning those pedals this winter.

Who'd have thought a turbo session would be enjoyable?

Certainly, not me. I've been using a turbo for the last 8 years or so, but as I stated in my last post, it's only now that I realise just how pants my old one was. The Trainerroad website has been a revelation.    I have been following their Sweetspot Base phase plan and it's been so easy to follow, with very structured sessions and easy to follow power graphs and numbers to hit. It will only be in four months when the tt season starts up again that I will find out how much training effect this will have, but one thing's for sure; it will have considerably more training effect than doing nothing at all.

Last week I rode a lumpy fifty with Simon and Dale and I did struggle a little on the hills towards the end but I felt pretty good for most of the rest of the ride. On Thursday I have been trying to organise a chaingang ride with the Phoenix, although it's only been myself and one other, so it's effectively been one hour's worth of tempo two up riding and I can feel that I am fitter at this time of year than I have ever been before. Hopefully, I am laying the foundations for a good season next year.

Next week will be another base week, but I will include another FTP test, as the last one is a month Los now.  It will be very interesting to see what difference has been made so far.

Predictions on a postcard please....

The Program....

or my version of it, minus the use of EPO of course.

Last weekend, I atoned, slightly, for my complete and utter failure at the Bec Hill Climb by taking part in the Redmon CC 'Grand Prix des Gentlemen' 2 up TT. Simon and I rode it a couple of years ago but this time I was paced by David. It was a bit of a shootout between David and I, and Dale who was pacing Simon. The event works as a 2 up, but the oldest rider, a vet over 40 has to stay behind the younger rider for the entire event except for the last 200 metres. This meant Dave turned himself inside out for 15 miles while I just had to sit on his wheel barely breaking a sweat. Dave did really well, but made the easy mistake of going off a bit too hard and then suffering for it over the last couple of miles. There's quite a bit of psychological pressure on the front man knowing that the guy behind you is inches away and spinning happily while you are having to work insanely hard. Its not a good feeling.

Anyway, that all but sees out the close of the season. There's one last hill climb on Ditchling Beacon at the weekend, but then after that, it's time to get down to some winter training. This has always been the point where I have ended up letting myself go too much and not getting the base miles in that are needed for the next season. In terms of looking at this season it has been a full-on time trialling one and therefore next year will be more of the same. It's been an odd year for me really. A pb over 10 miles (not by much, but a pb nonetheless) and my first time trials over 100 miles and 12 hours, which went very well considering a fairly patchy season training wise. So some good stuff, but to be honest I'm still a little bit 'meh' about the whole season. Not wasted as such, but not exactly satisfying either.

So I've had a good think about how I am going to train over the next four months and part of the answer is that I have invested in a brand new turbo, a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Smart. I have spent the last three weeks or so investigating different turbos and it came down to the Road Machine and the Tacx Vortex. The thing that I most wanted was power, or at least the ability to be able to measure it. I want a way to be able to record and log power as this is arguably the most important metric for a cyclist to know in order that power based training can then be targeted using different power zones, rather than just guessing or in my case, not knowing at all. There are now dozens of different types of power meters available, and most of them are out of my price league by a long way. This seemed to be the most cost effective way for me to do power based sessions. It will also mean that I can do more training at home without having to go off for a ride which should be more conducive to family harmony and aloew me to make more use of the limited training time that I have available.


After reading dozens of articles and reviews, most notably on the excellent website of DCRainmaker (if you are buying anything tech for swim/bike/run, look here first; his reviews are extremely in-depth and informative) I opted for the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine - Smart, which comes pre-installed with a Bluetooth speed sensor. My reason for this choice over the Vortex was that the KKRM has a calibration feature which allows very accurate power readings to be taken; DCRainmaker had them within +- 1% of a powertap, which is more than accurate enough for my needs. The KK InRide app is used to record the workouts and it comes with a few pre-installed sessions, most notably a Fuctional Threshold Power (FTP) session (more on this later).

I am also going to invest in a Trainerroad subscription. This is a website with over 800 different turbo sessions as well as access to various other videos and media which should make turbo sessions more fun and interactive. I have had a few problems with this because although my laptop has Bluetooth it is not able to record the output from the Kinetic Smart unit without another Bluetooth dongle, purchased seperately. It had me really confused last night before I found out the answer. The guys at Trainerroad were great, with very prompt help and even refunding my subscription until I got it sorted out. Hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to access all the trainerroad sessions and training plans and start getting some serious training under my belt.

So this morning I had my first proper session on the KKRM and it was a million miles from my old trainer, bought for £30, eight years ago off ebay. It's important to understand that it's still not riding on the road and never will be, but if has a lot more 'road feel' with the flywheel giving the unit more inertia. It's a fluid trainer and it's very quiet with the only real noise coming from my chain and sprockets. Another plus feature. My first session was a FTP test. Your FTP is the average power output you can maintain for 1 hour. Basically, anything over FTP is anaerobic and anything below it is aerobic. Knowing this means that the rider can then adapt their sessions and training as a function of FTP by using various zones. Thankfully, one doesn't have to ride hard for an hour to calculate this, instead a 20 minute effort can be ridden instead and then multiplied by 0.95 so that you find an equivalent FTP for a whole hour. That said, the 20 minute test is very hard too.

This image shows the InRide app during the session. The blue line is duration of each effort and the app gives you a percentage of FTP for each one. The default is 200W, so for this first session, while I was determining FTP, it was pretty accurate. The yellow line is my power trace during each effort. It is a handy visual guide to ensure I am in the ballpark for each one. This is nearing the end of the warm up before I am about to start the 20 minute maximum effort which determines my ftp (the longer blue line).

 So the results are in. My FTP currently stands at 205 watts. I don't think that's great but the good news is, I can mow actually do something about it and start to work on increasing it. To what, I don't know. I don't think it's about attaining a particular number that will get me a 58 minute 25TT, but training the various systems to increase it to its optimum level. A couple of years ago I took part in #Turbovember and it seems opportune to do this again and basically cycle/turbo everyday in order to start laying a solid foundation for the rest of the winter. I will test my FTP on December 1st and see where I have got myself to.

Ultimately, all this tells me where I am. It's up to me to figure out what I need to do in order to get to the performance level that I want to achieve next season. Devising the program; now that's going to be the hard part.

Too much ego

Top Gun; Best. Film. Ever. One of the classic lines from the film is 'Son, your ego's writing cheques your body can't cash.' It took me years to understand what that actually meant, but now I know. On my bike I have definitely been letting my ego get the better of me when out and about. Too often a steady ride has ended with me going too fast with someone on my back wheel or me chasing someone down when there's really no need. All ego on my part and completely uneccesary when I need to start just putting in long, slow steady miles.

However, my ego took a massive dent last weekend. As TT Secretary for the mighty Kingston Phoenix, I came up with the idea of including the Bec Hill Climb as the last event in our Club Championships. This classic event has been on the calendar for 60 years and while various KPRC members have ridden it (and won it) in the past, it seemed like a good idea to hget a few of us over for the end of season blowout. The climb is short, only about 700 metres long and compared to hills like Whitedown and Winterfold, it's not particularly steep, but it is steep enough. The top riders are climbing it in well under 2 minutes, while mortals like me are looking around 2:30-45. I should caveat the rest of this post with the fact that I spent the preceeding day giving the Van Nic a thorough service and tune up so that it would be all good for the climb.

So I drove over with Wheezy Junior and we went for a gentle 5 mile ride to warm up before I left him at the top and went to the start. It was there I found out that my 'minute man' was in fact a 'minute boy'. A 10 year old who had also taken part in the Catford HC in the morning. My ego was twitching. Please Dear Lord, don't let him beat me. Don't let me be beaten by a 10 year old. So I clipped in and got pushed off and within  a few seconds I could hear something rubbing. That's odd, I thought. I had deliberately opened up the brake calipers for the climb to make sure that that wouldn't happen, so how are my brakes rubbing? Nay bother, just keep pedalling away, it'll be fine. Within another 50 metres my quads were literally about to explode and my heart rate was through the roof, but even though the rubbing had seemed to stop it seemed harder than ever. So a quick look down and I could see that my wheel was rubbing on the rear stay which meant only one thing, dismount. I assumed that I hadn't put the wheel in the dropout correctly so pulled it back and locked up the quick release. I had lost about 20 seconds but thought that was not the end of the world. I got going again and within 30 metres the rubbing came back! By now I was seriously hacked off and pretty confused, but this also meant I had to dismount on one of the steeper sections. I spent a lot longer trying to sort it, but with my heart rate through the roof and with adrenalin filling my bloodstream I just wasn't thinking straight at all. A spectator gave me a hand and pushed me back on my way but it happened AGAIN. It was actually very simple in that my QR skewer was not tight enough. It was ok for riding on the flat but when putting the power down to get going on a steep hill it was pulling my wheel out of line. The coup de gras came when I eventually got going for the third time when I couldn't get my bottom 3 gears. The movement of the wheel coming out of line had unbeknown to me, caused one of my outer gear cables to come unseated, truly stuffing up my shifting. If Id have had the energy I would have cried.

As you can imagine, the 10 year old had passed me, warmed down, had coke and cake and was on his way home by the time I ground my way over the line at approximately 25 rpm. Along with, it has to be said, another 4 other riders. Not bad going for a 2 minute event. And yes, I came last. Dead, stone cold, last. While I'm used to MOP, sometimes BOP in events, I've never actually come last. I almost get a mention in Cycling weekly, with this quote, '...as the riders tackle the steep ascent in times ranging from under two minutes to upwards of six.' I am the 'upwards of six.'  In fact, I think I might have the slowest ever time on this course in its 60 year history. Now if that's not an ego-denting fact, then I don't know what is.

Wanting a Cycling Utopia

My riding and racing has been on a steady decline since my 12 hour TT. that usual end of season lethargy, coupled with going back to work and now, a really healthy cold which has knocked me flat all week. I rode two 25 mile tts in the last few weeks, but in neither did I really get anywhere near going under an hour as I just didn't have the training volume in my legs. The second one was a 1:02:xx on a lumpy course, which at least felt well paced and comfortable but really it was a long way off where I was hoping to be. I thought that the hard miles I had done in the run up to the 12 hour would see me right, but no; it turns out you do have to keep training.

In many ways, my riding is changing and I find myself becoming an increasingly social (socialist?) cyclist. I'm still riding to work everyday so I consider myself a thoroughbred commuter and whereas a few years ago riding was really only about racing, triathlons and staying fit, I find that it's become more important to me as a genuine method of transport and an alternative to the car. Coupled to this, Wheezy junior has got himself a lovely little Boardman road bike which he has been really enjoying riding to school and we've done a couple of rides together which has been a lot of fun, with his first ascent of Boxhill last weekend. We were going to go out for an hour but the sun was shining and we found some quiet roads and a cycle path or two, and three hours later we had done a very solid 34 miles. What I found amazing was how courteous drivers where when they saw a young cyclist on the road. They were patient when the road was narrow, gave us both plenty of room, making sure that they were nowhere near us when they did an overtake. Exactly what should happen all the time, no matter how old the rider. But the best thing? A solid three hours' quality time with my son with him seeing some very familiar places and sights from a completely different perspective. The power of the bicycle!

Living in the borough of Kingston I am looking forward to seeing the mini-Holland cycling scheme come to fruition but it's going to be a slow process. There's a cycle path proposed between New Malden and Raynes Park and the local opposition to it, A CYCLE PATH, has been vociferous and deep. One of the reasons given by a local resident for not having the cycle path was because of the likelihood of discovering unexploded World War Two bombs while laying the path. I sh*t you not. It didn't seem to stop the Dutch creating the best cycling infrastructure in the world, despite having the crap bombed out of them during the war. There are thousands of cyclists in and around Kingston at the moment, but they're all the wrong sort. My sort. MAMILS. There's nothing wrong with us but it's everyone else we need to get on bikes. When I'm commuting I see maybe 3 or 4 people on bikes and most of them are in full Etixx-Quickstep lycra. At the weekend, it's literally hundreds. The difference between the working week and the weekend is marked and maybe if more of these cyclists rode during the week that would see us taking the roads back somewhat?

The more I ride as a method of transport the more I want some proper segregated cycle paths that I know my children and I can cycle on without coming into conflict with cars.  We have tried. A couple of weeks ago the four of us went out and rode 10 miles. At times, we were literally taking our life in our hands. I think we ended up riding two miles of cycle paths with the rest on relatively quiet roads but often we were trying to get out of the heavy weekend traffic and find a quiet road. It ended up being quite energy sapping and not anywhere near enjoyable as the care-free cycling we were able to enjoy on the Dutch cycle paths last month. Sue took the kids out again last weekend on an organised ride starting from Surbiton, which was lovely. Lots of  very un-mamil type people, ringing bells, enjoying the freedom of a bike and having a blast. I guess there seemed to be safety in numbers.

The fact is, if we had some really good cycle paths then that would be infinitely better for all road users and pedestrians. A utopian ideal that we can have if we want it.

ECCA 12 Hour TT

on the finishing circuit; cant keep my head up.

Myself, David W and Simon T made the start line and it turned out to be a perfect day for a 12. Light cloud cover, barely any wind and mild temperatures were the order of the day. At around 11.30am the cloud started to break up and the temperature climbed, which could have made the afternoon more interesting, but after an hour or so the cloud came back and the temperature dropped back to around 18-19 degrees. It looked like the weather Gods were on our side.

David and I were attempting our first 12 while Simon was on his fourth start in a 12 hour TT. I had the pleasure of being the first Phoenix man off and it was a bit lonely to start with as I headed up the DC, as of the 10 starters in front of me, 5 were dns. My personal plan was to just take it really steady for the first 4 hours or so and see how things panned out. I didn't even have a cycle computer with me to tell me my average speed as all I was concerned about was to still be turning the cranks at 17:58 in the evening on the finishing circuit. I took the opportunity to freewheel where possible and try to save something for later on although the first circuit required fairly continuous pedalling.  The first bottle drop was at about 50 miles or so and then it was time to head back up the DC for the second lap of circuit A. I had bagged up some sweet and savoury snacks which my Dad handed up and I ate on the go and seemed to stay down ok. I perfected a technique of gripping the bag at the end of my aerobars while hunting around in there for a haribo sweet or mini-cheddar. At the end of circuit A my breakfast coffee decided to need emptying so after trying to ignore it for half an hour I decided I would be a lot more comfortable if I just got rid, so a quick stop in a layby was needed. I didn't need to go again for the rest of the day.

I went through 100 miles in 4:36 (I had done the SCCU 100 a few weeks before in 4:37 but that was a considerably slower course on a considerably slower day, so no panic) and it had really flown by, but as I started to orbit the second circuit, that's when it started to get a bit tougher. A few aches in my neck but I was staying on the aerobars for most of the ride and more solid food was staying down (mini Cornish pasties and scotch eggs; food of champions!). It was here that the three of us found ourselves together. While I was feeding Dave pulled up behind me for a quick pitstop from James while I had a slightly longer stop. Dave headed off and about a mile up the road I saw Simon. I was just about to catch him and see how he was getting on when my chain came off the front ring, so I had to stop while sorting that out. Simon got to Lisa and dismounted, I assumed for a feed, but it turned out that the gastric issues he has been suffering from on these longer events had returned, so he had decided to call it a day, which was a real shame. Thankfully, he stayed around with Lisa and provided some great support for the rest of the day.

I have to say I really enjoyed most of circuit C. I'm a bit of a plane spotter, so the sight of a Supermarine Spitfire doing circuits and bumps on the first lap, followed by a B17 Flying Fortress landing on the next one was a very pleasant surprise. I suppose I should have been more focussed on my ride, but to be honest, by that stage, I was glad of anything that was taking my mind off the pain in my neck and my right knee which had started to let me know it was there. The neck pain made steering and watching the road particularly difficult, with my nose about 2 inches from my water bottle between my bars, just staring at my bottom bracket. I resembled a nodding dog, continually flicking my head up to try to see the road ahead. I have since looked at some photos and my aero-helmet is acting like an enormous wind-break in that position. Slightly sub-optimal!  Then cramp started to set in, with both my quad muscles cramping simultaneously (why do both sides always go at the same time?) I got back round to Brian, Jake, and Dad, and Brian proceeded to get out some form of embrocation which he started to massage into my legs. There are apparently places in Soho where you would pay good money for that, but all I had to do was to ride for 12 hours. I also took the opportunity to get some salty peanuts and crisps eaten to hopefully stave off another attack. It seemed to work as I had no further cramp issues during the ride.

So after a few loops of C it was off to the finishing circuit. It was great to see Simon and Lisa there at the TK0 position, Lisa informing me that I had finished my first 12 hour TT, but adding that I should enjoy the next 2.5 hours anyway! I did actually quite enjoyed this circuit. Yes, it was a bit more lumpy than the others but this meant I was able to get out the saddle more often and change my body position and the regular time keepers posts around it made it quite easy to mentally chunk it down. I really hated the A505 section, which by this time was very busy with traffic and with me almost unable to lift my head, I was steering by keeping my left thumb, which was on the end of the bars, running over the white lines at the side of the road. It didn't stop me clattering the odd cats-eye though.

To be honest, by this stage I was just glad to be getting near the end and while Brian had been telling me that I was on for 240 miles, I was perfectly happy with 230-something, so the stops were getting slightly longer and more frequent. At my last stop, I had more cola and melon which had been keeping me going for the past 4 hours, and eventually Jake got me going again, spinning out for my final lap.  Knowing it was my last 45 minutes on the bike was a big relief and I really enjoyed it, soaking up the support out on the circuit, including complete strangers handing up bottles and sponges and congratulating the other riders like me, who only had a few minutes' riding left.

I finally finished just before the timekeeper where Dad and Brian were,  so it was a slow roll up to them before being helped off my bike. Physically. I didn't feel too bad as I had not really buried myself at any stage but I was suffering from general fatigue and a lot of neck ache. It took me ages to get to sleep later that night as I had so much coca cola in my veins, but it was worth it. I really enjoyed this event and I'm pretty sure that I will give another one a go at some point next year.