Friends without benefits

A 9am start on Sunday provided my first ride with company. After the extremely nasty conditions of Saturday night and early Sunday morning around 9am the tide had turned and glorious sunshine was beaming down on a very mild morning in Hertfordshire. With my new cycle partner (Andrew) just getting back in the saddle after a while away from biking and continuous operations to his lower torso we would look to take things easy but still put in a shift. We started our ride through the picturesque Ashridge Estate seeing an early morning group of deer’s trotting amongst the trees with sunshine casting beautiful shadows, colours and reflections amongst the forest.

Once through the estate we headed towards Tring and Andrew was telling me about a KOM that descended down in to Aldbury on the way to Tring. However, the conditions were still very wet and seemingly unsafe to race and look for segment achievements. I think I provided a very nice continual shower for my cycle partner throughout the ride as having no mud guards on my bike and with him following me closely he would have been advised to have wind screen wipers on his cycle goggles. Down we went in to Aldbury and the downhill decent of the KOM was exciting as you could obviously get up good speed but the road was far too windy to take any chances in these conditions. I managed to open up for the first time at the bottom of the hill and the lead into to Aldbury. It was a really great segment and one I will be repeating in the future when the elements are better.

After hitting Tring it was back down to Northchurch and then the painful climb back home. The overall ride was a clocked at a nice round hour and we achieved over 15 miles which is good going considering the elevation. The most important thing was that it was fantastic to ride with someone else. Good motivation, good teamwork and good competition. I think we both still need to find each other’s pace and style but what a great start as I felt pushed on certain segments trying to achieve more than any of my previous rides. Not sure how he felt after, hence “friends without benefits”

KOM movement

So only a short little ride this morning in horrendous rain and wind. The only purpose of this ride was to collect my car from the train station. However, if I was going out in that weather I thought I would try to increase my time on the KOM segment that was closet to me. My previous best time was 49 seconds on the segment and look what happened.........

Leaderboard // Overall

MY CURRENT PLACE 4th / 134

MY BEST TIME 45s

All-Time

Rank	Name	Date	Speed	Power	Time
1	Oliver Dicker	Jul 7, 2013	49.3km/h	544W	40s
2	Alan Trowbridge	Dec 6, 2013	45.9km/h	323W	43s
3	Joe Gorman	Oct 23, 2013	44.8km/h	354W	44s
4	Chris Lee	Dec 21, 2013	43.8km/h	393W	45s
5	Eugene Rack	May 13, 2012	42.9km/h	234W	46s

Smashed it by 4 seconds taking me up to 4th in the overall leader board.

Wait till I bring out the SPDs. GAME ON, I am after you Mr Dicker!

Winter tyres and the return of confidence

Having acquiring my first racing scars and taking time to reflect on last weeks accident it hasn’t taken long to become enthused once again. I didn’t even want to look at a bike again after the fall last week but some good words from a few people in the biking world, new winter tyres and some retail therapy left me thirsty to get on the bike again this weekend.

Yesterday morning I set out to achieve one thing and that is a KOM on Strava (online biking community). I now know where some of the runs are, to achieve a KOM, after reviewing my route last weekend. A KOM is basically when you hold a record for being the fastest over a stretch of land whilst competing with every other cyclist in the world. The run could be 50 metres or 50 miles. The only reason I wanted to challenge this was last week I came 6^th overall on one run and didn’t realise it was there. So with that in mind I thought I could at least get in the top 3 now if not the KOM (King of the Mountain).

My attempt at the KOM was literally a mile into my ride so I would be fresh to attempt this. Once on the run I had a good go at it and thought I had done enough to move myself up from 6^th place but I would not know if I had beaten my previous time until I got back to the house and uploaded my data from my computer after the ride (this really is how I get my kicks these days).

So KOM run complete and less than 2 miles in I am absolutely panting. On reflection it is not really a good idea to gas yourself at the start of a big ride.

Then on to the ride itself. I headed towards Dagnall on the Leighton Buzzard road without any pre-planning and decide to go wherever the wind would take me and actually that is pretty much what happened. Yesterdays winds were horrifically fierce and made for a very testing ride overall.

Not many “action points” to cover from yesterdays ride but I did however see a lot more road kill than usual. Badgers, foxes and a rabbit topped the list.

On the ride itself I went through Edlesborough (the scene of the crime from last weeks accident) and made sure I went over the exact same piece of road to exercise the demons. I headed towards Milton Keynes and flipped back when I got to the MK Dons stadium. Back down the A5 to Dunstable and swung a right and headed towards Tring crossing over Edlesborough again and that nasty bit of road again just to show it I was back in the game!

I now have intermittent exercising movements for my feet to keep circulation going as the rides are becoming so long and this has really helped with blood flow. It must look a bit weird though for passers by seeing me doing some kind of sat down star jump and rolling my ankles but I hope they enjoy.

On arrival to Tring it was the long hilly stretch back home to Hemel and completing a new circuit that looks like a figure of eight.

Once I got back I was exhausted and needed a while to recover. I think I should take out some energy bars for the rides that last over a few hours as this must help. Anyway, I uploaded my data immediately hoping for an achievement on the KOM but alas I was 2 seconds slower – so back to the drawing board. I blame the winds!

I did achieve some new records though. Over 4 hours cycling, over 60 miles (longest ride to date), fastest 40km and highest climb / elevation on a ride. Here is the ride for those interested:-

http://www.strava.com/activities/100135468

The only last thing to note is how well the new shorts performed from the purchase on Monday. Well I feel good in the areas it was meant to protect on the longest ride to date so I can vouch for them so far and happy with the investment.

New Knickers

So after the disaster of the weekend the bike has had to go into to A&E to be "fixed". After talking to a few people at the cycle club and them sharing their experiences and giving advice I feel a lot better and I am hoping to get out on the bike again this weekend all being well.....

In the meantime to keep my mind focused on all things cycling I had some retail therapy at lunchtime today and bought these sexy new shorts with extra padding for those long rides I need to do.

Boom Chicka Wow Wow!

Blood, oil and bruises

So it is the morning after the night before. All I can say is OUCH. The pain was bad enough yesterday but today it hurts more. I can safely say I will not be out on the bike today.

So, let me begin……

When I started the day yesterday I didn’t have any desire to break any records or achieve something major, which is strange for me. I wanted a new route and to clock up some miles. Simple.

Once I had all my togs on I headed towards Bedmond in search of roads unknown. Not much to note for the first 10 miles other than two speed cameras. The first one I passed at 22mph and then on seeing a second one 200 yards ahead I wondered if I could set it off if I went over 30mph. I achieved 34mph but no flash. After the sparse self-entertainment I passed the Warner Bros studios in Leavesden where they filmed the Harry Potter series (currently doing tours if of interest to anyone).

After circumnavigating Watford I took the A41 all the way to Tring. Having started my ride late today, time and daylight was not on my side as it would get dark at 4.30-ish and I didn’t have lights or reflective gear on so I needed to be home before dark. So at 3pm and about 30 miles in I knew it was a race against daylight to get home.

After Passing Tring I headed on to the beautiful picturesque Ivinghoe. On climbing the gradually hill you get to see an incredible panoramic of countryside that makes you appreciate life. What made things more enjoyable was that the Sun had finally broken through for the day and casted lovely shadows and brought out different colours over the landscape. With the wind at my back I sped down towards Dunstable leaving Invinghoe in the distance. Now this was the only dilemma of the day……straight on towards Dunstable and make this a huge ride and run the risk of cycling in the dark without the appropriate gear or take a right towards Dagnall and take it easy for more exercise tomorrow. VERY unlike me I decided to take a right and glide home gently well in time of the ever looming dark.

On turning right there are a series of roundabouts at quite a crucial linking junction. Lucky there was no traffic so I was able to get a good run at the approaching hill by going round the roundabout at 20mph, OR SO I THOUGHT. Cue first serious bike accident. On turning right and leaning in the bike suddenly just came away from me. At the time I didn’t really realise what was going on. The road was wet and I am not even sure if there was some ice but all I knew was that I was on the floor sliding across a busy junction at an alarming pace. I used hands, arms and legs to try and stop the sliding and scrambled to the side of the road as quickly as possible in order not to be hit by anything larger than me. After getting to the side of the road and overcoming the initial shock I was very disorientated and very shook up. A lot of motorists stopped for me and asked how I was and checked on me which was nice but I did not feel good at all. The first thing that I felt was my hands as it had ripped some skin off when I was trying to claw myself to a stop and these were throbbing. I then looked down and to see then chain had come off completely. I didn’t really feel like riding home after this as I was in some pain. However, I regroup dragged the bike in a layby and tried to fix the chain. As I started fixing it I realised that I was actually leaking a lot more blood from other areas of my body (I normally donate blood every Christmas but not in this fashion). I needed to get home so I had to fix the chain and this led to an awful visual mix of Black oil and Red blood dripping on to the road. After putting the chain on with my carved up hands I tried to mount back up but something else was clearly wrong. My hip, knee and elbow had clearly taken a heavy hit as all 3 were not functioning properly. I thought about calling someone to come and help and pick me up or even walking home but I struggled on and limped back to Hollyhock Close.

After washing out all the blood and oil at home and uncomfortably coming to rest last night the shock stayed with me for some time and incident left me feeling docile, tired and very low. This has really smashed my confidence and enthusiasm.

Ironically I broke my record for my fasted 40k on this ride.

I think I have learnt a huge lesson about the control of a road bike and what should and shouldn’t be challenged but more importantly what can happen in terms of injury. I don’t think I was reckless at all with the how the accident happened but this highlights even more that you should not be reckless as far greater things could happen……..and I thought before I started road riding that cycling was dull….it has been pretty adventurous so far……

A couple of pics of the aftermath:- 

Bletchley and back

Only one ride this weekend so I knew I would have to make it a good one. I challenged myself to see a new town I have never been to before, knowing that this would lead to my longest ride to date in terms of miles and time on the saddle

The A5 would be my track as I headed to the town of Bletchley, which is part of Milton Keynes.

The ride was more about endurance than seeing picturesque countryside as with some of my previous rides. The A5 is a very long road that gives you the opportunity to really open up and put some miles in the training bank. The first 15 miles was pretty uneventful until reaching the town Dunstable. Going through the high street would see my first near fatal event occur. Powering through the high street at around 25 mph my shoelace must have loosened on my trainers as it got sucked in to my chain and was starting to get mangled (this felt a bit like final destination). This was a big problem considering the speed I was going and that my trainer was locked in the bike clips. Slight panic came over me when my foot was getting yanked backwards up the chain. The situation got worse. Just as I was trying to rectify my predicament (and save my life) in this very busy high street the deafening sound of the emergency services sirens blared. This meant that the busy traffic in front started swerving over to the side of the road in order to let the ambulance through and on its way to save lives however, the last thing I needed at this point was to see lots of cars pulling over in front of me at strange angles when I did have full control of the bike, my foot getting mangled and balance becoming a real issue………….a brief stop, 10 seconds to compose myself and correcting of the lace and chain thing and I was off again.

More miles down the A5 and still pretty mundane pedalling. I think I counted 4 sets of golden arches before I got to Bletchley. A worrying sign of the modern day fast food culture.

On arrival to Bletchley after about 30 miles I was greeted by the town sign saying welcome to the town of “codebreakers”. I passed Bletchley Park where visitors can explore some of the iconic WW2 Codebreaking Huts and Blocks and marvel at the astonishing achievements of the Codebreakers whose work is said to have helped shorten the war by two years. http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/about/

No dramas on the way back to report but it was very hard work and I really felt the last 10 miles but my mission was complete on returning home to achieve the longest ride to date and longest time on the saddle.

The ride was incredibly cold as well. One of the coldest I have had so far. These long rides in the cold are also causing a serious circulation problem in my feet. When I returned home and took my shoes and socks off there were huge white patches on my feet that looked like huge blisters but this was just where the blood had drained out. I think I need to do more feet exercises whilst on the bike for that long or at least find some form of enhanced protection to cover or insulate my feet.

Here is the full detail of ride for those to view - http://www.strava.com/activities/97854466 but top line stats are here:-

Distance – 57.5 miles

Time – 3 hours 32 mins

CONTENT!

Back with a bang, PB’s, very jelly legs and walking like John Wayne

Having had more than two weeks on the side-lines with international work travel preventing me from saddling up I knew I had to try and make up for lost ground this weekend. Arriving home late Thursday evening from Germany and about to settle down I had a gentle reminder from a friend about 8pm that night as he knocked on my door in the dark fully booted in all the night riding attire (if only he was as tall as the Hoff!) to let me know he was still committed to the cause and the eventual 1000 mile ride in the near future. This was great motivation for me as I knew I could not let my great start to road biking slip even in the gloomy months ahead…

So Saturday morning arrived and that demon in my head started making rumblings of whether I should actually go today or save it for tomorrow. Once I beat him up I kitted up, filled the camelback to the limit and set off to try and get to Leighton Buzzard as I had never been there before on the bike. It was a pretty cold first 20 miles, with average temperatures of 3oc, and took a while to warm up and keep the circulation going in the hands and feet. I started my route sun glasses on to protect from the rays but ended the route with them still on helping to prevent the rain going in my eyes so truly multipurpose. As I got to Leighton Buzzard my first thought was to turn around and come back as the legs were tired and this was my first outing for some time. However, the competitive spirit that burns inside me won and I was off to Chalk Hill. On the way through to Dunstable over some very bobbly roads and just when I was flagging the most……….I lost my bottle. No, I literally lost my bottle. At the 30 mile stage said bottle decided it had had enough and off it popped on to the road spinning aggressively. It took me a few moments to actually take in what had happened as I only caught this out of my periphery vision. I had also been doing close to 30mph at the time as well. Then the glance down and seeing the bottle holder bare was I very annoying feeling especially when you are going that speed and your near to completion for ride. I did have the thought for at least 5 seconds to leave it as it meant I would get home quicker and it is a long turnaround to get it. I did the right thing though and like a pilot never leaves his wing man I wasn’t, as a cyclist, prepared to leave my trusted bottle. I turned around like a very slow pantomime horse and trundled back to collect. Once mounted up again I proceeded to try and get to magical land of 40 miles banked, which is a place I hadn’t been before for consistent cycling. With this 40 mile target set in my mind I needed to take a diversion on the way home to be able to achieve the target as the normal route would not see me get to 40. This again had its consequences. On the diverted route I knew I would encounter a set of laborious traffic lights that would bring me to a standstill and no cyclist likes any potential stoppages but a set of traffic lights that is set on a 3 to 4 minute loop is the worst of all! Anyway, once I got to the lights I thought I would be clever and dismount and run the bike around the lights before crossing a few roads and then jumping back on and setting off on my merry way. The problem always occurs when I try to be “clever”. So when I came to a complete standstill at the lights 36 miles in I just couldn’t get me foot out of the pedal clips and hey, timber. A massive thud, cut on the arm to break the fall, a big bruise and most importantly completely shattered pride with ultimate embarrassment. I tried to style it out and bounce straight back up and run across the road with my bike pretending like there was nothing to see but all the cars parked at every side of the junction at the lights were surely entertained by this epic fail. I made my 40 miles in the end once I returned home and felt an enormous sense of achievement especially after so long without a ride.

Here is the route for anyone interested http://www.strava.com/activities/96621130 but top line stats are:-

Distance – 64.6km

Time – 2.31.23

Having completed my longest ride so far on Saturday I thought it might be an idea to continue playing catch up training and go for a second ride this morning. However, once I finally shook the Sunday morning cobwebs out and came to my sense I realised that one part of my body felt like it had been hit by a sledgehammer multiple times for many hours. This feeling also coincided with a slightly funny walk I was doing. So when I was done doing my best Jayne Wayne walk I bullied myself into going out for second ride.

Different direction to ever before this time and I thought I would visit Aylesbury today. It takes some time now just preparing for a ride with all the stuff I have to do. It is actually pretty hard work getting going before you have even done one revolution. I told myself today it would be about training and not seeing the sights so I headed for the massively long, monotonous, undulating and large vehicle plagued A41. This would take me all the way to Aylesbury without much scenery so I took Mr Marshall Mathers second with me to keep me company (never thought I would hear him yodel but I love it!). The only notable thing of interest after 15 miles was the huge manufacturing plant of Arla who have been a client of mine. 5 miles later and wait for it another big revelation. I had been wondering for a long time what ever happened to the well-respected Pratts bananas company who used to have a headquarters in Hemel Hempstead at pretty much the exact location where I fell off the bike yesterday. Well mystery solved. A huge lorry whooshed past me with the lots of bananas, a big Pratts logo and a new address in Luton for the company. What a thrilling day this was turning out to be.

On arrival to Aylesbury I noted how nice the new recently built theatre looked. I think that could be used in the future. Now the plan was to get to Aylesbury and turn back but as always the little lets “push it harder button” emerged and I wanted to at least beat yesterday’s mileage so button pushed. I headed on towards Waddesdon, which took about another 30 minutes. Now I am not sure how to describe Waddesdon it seemed a funny little place. I think I had the film Hot Fuzz running through my head as this place absolutely screamed of that setup. A very small community where everyone knew each other but also could be a potential alien race, zombies, crazy possessed locals etc so the mpg were raised through here to keep myself breathing (oh the little things that go through your head when it is only you and the road). After coming to sign that said 60 miles to Birmingham I thought it was best to turn around and head for home. The overall ride was pretty gargantuan for me and I broke the next 2 records that I set myself. Being on a bike for more than 3 hours and breaking 50 miles continuously pedalling.

Here is the route for any interested http://www.strava.com/activities/96820124 but top line stats are:-

Distance – 80.8km

Time – 3.14.24

Total weekend combined stats are as follows:-

Distance – 145.4km

Time – 5.45.47

Also, a MAJOR stat – 7000 calories burned for the combination of both rides!

Lastly, I finished 3^rd in my cycling group this week (love the fact that it calls me an “athlete” below)

Rank	Athlete	Distance	Goal	Rides	Longest	Avg. Speed	Elev. Gain
1	Ben Munden	207.9 km	--	9	49.4 km	22.3 kph	1,331 m
2	Rik Stevens	172.1 km	--	6	61.0 km	20.9 kph	1,375 m
3	Chris Lee	145.4 km	--	2	80.8 km	25.2 kph	876 m
4	marco 839	143.5 km	--	2	91.9 km	21.8 kph	599 m
5	Darren Rockett (Rocky)	79.7 km	--	6	13.7 km	25.7 kph	275 m
6	Jade Williams	75.2 km	--	1	75.2 km	14.4 kph	355 m
7	Shane Moores	53.8 km	--	2	37.5 km	21.1 kph	297 m
8	David McTeague	38.5 km	--	4	10.5 km	19.7 kph	162 m
9	Joe Charleson	24.7 km	--	1	24.7 km	21.8 kph	134 m

I well-earned rest now for the next few days awaits. Cant bare to think about what tomorrow morning may feel like…….