Day 132 - Sunstroke

The heatwave continued through the weekend and I had the Yeovilton International Air Day on my agenda for Saturday, so any cycling would have to wait until Sunday. The heat on Saturday at the Air Day was incredible, 30+ degrees and no shade, and I feel I had a little too much.

Red Arrows at the Yeovil International Air Day

I had planned for a long cycle ride on Sunday morning but when it came to it, I was only up to a short ride. I did however take in the Hill and a bit of Beer so it was not a total washout .. the mild sunstroke of yesterday having taken its toll.

I am now looking forward to next week when I reach my first 500 miles and the Tour de France comes to its exciting finale.

Stats: 6.43 mi, 34m:33s , Avg 11.2 mph, 383 kcal

Day 129 - Fast & Furious

Thankfully, although still under a beautiful blue sky, the excessive temperatures of earlier in the week had abated slightly for my evening ride out with the AVP (Axe Valley Pedallers).  It was a close run thing that I was going to make it, with a last minute office call delaying my departure but although feeling a little rushed at the starting line, I was feeling in good fitness for what was to come, or so I thought.

We were lacking, today, any female riders. Not that our ladies are any less able, it is just that there is more willingness to take things easy when they join the peloton. Also, there were a number of new, younger faces making up the 12 cyclists which, lowering the average age, tends to increase the speed and it did! We rode out to Colyford along one of my well worn routes and up hill in the direction of Lyme Regis, turning almost immediately off the A3052 towards Uplyme. It is amazing how these guys get to know all these narrow single track roads as I could have been in another country, as we rode I had no way of knowing where we were! After 14 miles of hill after hill cycling, we dropped down into Axminster and took a cycle path out to Kilmington. I may get ribbed for having one of the only hybrids in the group, but for the surfaces we traversed, I can not think of a better machine to have than my Crosstrail Sport. Also for training purposes and for its range of gears, it is the perfect cycle for me. That is not to say that if I'm still into cycling this time next year, that I won't have moved up to a full road bike - the performance some of these guys get out of their machines is very impressive!

After working our way through a field of inquisitive bullocks, with their horns, we made the 4 miles back to Colyford in a quick 15 minutes where I split with the team to return home. On reading my stats, the feeling that it was a fast and furious ride was born out. I achieved another 3 PBs!

Stats: 22.01 mi, 1h:57m:23s , Avg 11.3 mph, Max 33.5, 1301 kcal

PBs:

  One hour: 12.43 mi, 

  10 mi 43m:0s, 

  20 km 59m:59s

Day 128 - Plan Change

Having an 8 am office call this morning put pay to my usual pre work circuit, however, spotting this 'scheduling error' yesterday afternoon resulted in a last minute plan change, a solo evening ride.

When I headed out at 6:30 pm the air was still a high 24 degrees and so it did not take too long for the body's 'water cooling' to come into play. I must say, however, that that new jersey performed admirably, it really does pay to have the right equipment.

I was a day ahead of myself when I stated yesterday that the TDF was running through Ducey, it is today's Stage 11 and 33km individual time-trial which follows the route to and along the french coast to end at Mont-St-Michel.

Yesterday's stage to Saint Malo was eventful one particularly in the closing sprint when Mark Cavendish and Tim Veelers had a coming together with Veelers falling to the ground at some speed. Controversy followed but I saw no malice in Cavendish's act of self preservation when confronted with Veeler's veering into his path!

Back to my evening circuit, I decided against the hill in favour of my three hills. Two reasons for this, first my legs were telling me we'd done enough of the hill for the moment and second, I wanted to ride more of the coast road and get closer to the sea, may be I thought that this would be cooler, but alas, no I think not! 

Stats: 6.75 mi, 32m:06s, Avg 12.6 mph, Max 28.8, 355 kcal

Day 127 - Rest Day

No cycling today, I'm sticking to my plan. Looking out on the sun drenched garden this morning, there is quite a breeze blowing, so I can imagine it would have been hard work out there.

Over breakfast, I caught up on yesterday's Tour de France rest day update. This is the hour show on ITV4 which runs daily from 7:00 pm. Regardless of whether you are interested in cycling or not, this is a great showcase of both this sport and the amazing French countryside. The shots of the Pyrenees, rivers and picturesque villages that the cyclists race through are fantastic. And then there are the presenters, Gary Imlach, with his dry humour, leading the show for the umpteenth year and Chris Boardman providing fascinating insights into biking technology and his knowledgeable punditry. If you've not see one of these then I highly recommend you tune in. After a couple shows of getting to know the characters you may even get hooked .. as I have!

Talking of the characters, back at the end of 2011, I was building a model scene which required a group of 1:36 scale cyclists. The reason for this is another story, however, when looking at the designs on these, I've spotted the now familiar team jerseys of: Sky, Movistar, BMC, Europcar and Omega Pharma and not only that, when checking out my original invoices, I find I have a model of Mark Cavendish riding for the Sky team and the 2011 winner, Cadel Evans!

Closing with the Tour, I see that today, the riders finish at Mont St Michel on the west coast. I was there a few years ago and it's going to be great to see it up close again in tonight highlights. As too will be the little town of Ducey which I saw highlighted on the route map and which I stopped at for lunch on my return from my holiday in France earlier in June. Roll on the Tour(s)!

Posted with Blogsy

Day 126 - Heatwave

I heard on the radio today, returning from my early morning ride, that we're having a heatwave. Now that's not a word I've heard spoken in connection with the UK weather since 1976! Even though I attempted to dress more appropriately, in a short sleeved running top, I still returned at 7:30 looking as though I'd been caught in a heavy rain shower; it was hot out there. Lacking a proper summer cycling jersey - as I've talked of too much already - I had to leave my wallet, camera (which I've now located) and emergency jelly baby stash behind, and my smartphone with Endomondo app and audio book had to be carefully stuffed down my shorts, not ideal at all. You'll be pleased and hopefully as amazed as I to hear that my Funkier summer jersey, ordered on Saturday from Chain Reaction, arrived later this morning. They are such a good company.

Back to this morning's circuit. Having decided yesterday that the time was right to bring my mile climb, that is Seaton Down Hill, into the training mix, I set off through the warming early morning sun up hill, this time with helmet on and fully inflated tyres. I took over a minute off yesterday's climb and completed my circuit along the Axe Estuary excluding, on this occasion, the detour into Colyton, it was a work day after all. My down hill speed was an impressive 35 mph and would have been another PB had yesterday's not been so blistering quick. I was, however, riding into a strong headwind which was not there on Sunday morning; it is amazing what info you can get from Endo.

So, will I, as the Tour de France riders were today, be resting tomorrow or will I be unable to resist taking my new jersey out for a ride? ... check back tomorrow to find out.

Stats: 6.11 mi, 31m:39s , Avg 11.6 mph, Max 35.2, 351 kcal

Day 125 - King of the Mountains

A little later than planned, after an evening wining and dining with a couple of birthday girls, I stepped out this morning in my cycling gear to be greeted by something I've yet to feel prior to one of my morning circuits .. the heat of the sun! Oh how I need a short sleeved jersey before this mini heat wave passes me by. I've written recently about my mission to acquire an AVP team jersey and to answer The Book Munchkin's question of yesterday, here is where I am with this. Two potential sources were identified on Thursday evening while out with the AVP peloton. Soanes, the local cycle shop, was reconfirmed as a source of last year's top, should they still have stock. The club secretary, having secured a new supplier, has the only other stock .. an XL 2013 design, a little too large for my new svelt figure, but agreed to place an order for more. With a 4-6 week lead time on the 2013 jersey, I called Sloanes. The earlier top, unlike the new version, has a full zip front which I quite like, but they had to disappoint, they had no stock and no more was expected. Oh well, 4-6 weeks will be OK for the Tour of Britain trip that I'm planning but this sun is looking likely to be here at least until the end of the week, so I turned to one of my favorite on-line suppliers, Chain Reaction. They have a Tour de France mega sale on, perfect timing for my immediate jersey needs. In honour of the Tour and the AVP, I procured a yellow short sleeved Funkier top, a proven design with me already having 2 long sleeved versions. Chain Reaction are one of the best suppliers of cycle equipment I've come across, so am confident it will be with me on Tuesday.

Back to this morning's circuit. I've been thinking about where next to take my hill training, now that I've more than conquered my three hills and performed (in my view as King of the Mountains) so well on the last AVP ride. Near me, the single hill of note is our Seaton Down Hill, a mile steep climb which just seems to go on and on. I've been thinking that some time soon this has to be brought into my training plan. So, with the view that there's no time like the present, I headed out up hill, but after a 'thank you' wave to a car who stopped to allow me past, I realised I'd set off without my helmet! The unusually warm morning sun had really thrown me off balance. After a u-turn back to the garage, I thought I'd also check the tyres, I'd meant to give them some more air before my Thursday ride but ran out of time and with a steep drop down into Colyford in plan for this morning, I wanted to make sure that I had the perfect tyre setup to generate a good speed. I did not want any unnecessary rubber in contact with the road to slow me down. Talking of rubber, one thing I noticed on the Thursday evening ride was that I was the only one with a hybrid or, as my fellow pedallers incorrectly categorise my steed, a mountain bike. The big difference between this and their road bikes, apart from the obvious 'ram horn' handlebars, is the wheel size or more specifically, the width of their tyres. They seem to run over the asphalt with nothing more than a layer of dental floss, which against my chubby doughnut rings made me feel like a shire horse against their thoroughbreds! However, as one pointed out, I'm having to work twice as hard as they to cover the same distance which is really what my tour is all about .. a tour de fitness, not speed :)

Helmet in place and floating on air .. my tyres needed quite a bit of air to move them from 50 to the correct 90 psi! .. I returned to the hill. Pleased to make the climb in one go, my fitness is really building, I stopped at the summit to secure my jersey which had been almost removed on the assent, my core temperature having reach meltdown levels. Launching myself, zipped to the chin in Lycra, I pushed over the summit to descend at speed into Colyford. I thought I may have come close to my Lyme Regis down hill PB speed of 33 mph, but could not believe, on my return, to see I'd smashed this reaching 36 mph! I think this PB will take some beating.

Feeling exhilarated, I decided that I was not yet ready to start my return via Axmouth so headed off the main road to bring Colyton into my circuit. Through Colyton, back to Colyford and Axmouth, I returned to Seaton, first checking out that the fisherman's cafe was open on a Sunday morning, more on that next week, and then to take in the glorious view of the marina full of all types of craft. I've misplaced my camera this week, hence the lack of pictures, so you'll have to let your imagination do the rest. Just as everywhere in the world, the Devon coast looks its best on a beautiful sunny day. Leaving the marina, I was flagged down by Handbag, a good new friend from the AVP. At first, to my embarrassment I had him confused with a neighbour of mine. You know those times when your watching a movie where the sound has gone out of sync and the words being spoken don't match the person saying them? Well, that was the moment here when I realised that the person before me was my cycling buddie and not my neighbour! Sorry, Handbag, I'll explain all on Thursday. Once home, I felt I'd done more than the 9 miles actually covered. It certainly makes a difference riding in temperatures above the single digit degrees centigrade that I've become accustomed to, role on Tuesday and my new yellow summer jersey. And finally, talking of Yellow jerseys .. congratulations to Chris Froome who has now started his attack on the Tour de France for real, winning his first leader's jersey of the Tour during yesterday's stage through the Pyrenees.

The route art today is one of my favourites, a seated bunny!

Stats: 9.13 mi, 48m:00s , Avg 11.4 mph, Max 36.3, 532 kcal

PB:

  Max Speed: 36.3 mph

Day 124 - Scorcher

The week has been building nicely to a scorcher, both in terms of weather and cycling performance! Unfortunately, I've not had opportunity this week for my daily update and so this again will be the weekly round up, although technically speaking, there is still tomorrow to come.

My 6.5 mile circuit, which I first paced out last week, remained my training routine for my Monday and Wednesday morning rides. My introduction of rest days has so far worked well in keeping the aches at bay while still building my fitness and stamina for the Devon hills. This was definitely proven on my first ride out in 4 weeks with the AVP this Thursday evening. The 19 mile circuit out through Beer and Branscombe under glorious cloudless sky was amazing and I even felt I should be wearing the 'king of the mountains' spotted jersey the way I was climbing the hills! This ride out also saw me achieve 3 new PBs, for distance travelled in 1 hour (increased by 1 mile), and my times for the 10 mile (3 mins less) and 20 km (8 mins less) distances, very good going considering I felt this was my easiest ride out with the club.

This week's stats:
Mon: 6.76 mi, 31m 14s, Avg 13.0 mph, Max 29.8, 346 kcal
Wed: 6.96 mi, 31m:14s, Avg 12.8 mph, Max 29.8, 346 kcal
Thu: 19.08 mi, 1hr:47m:57s , Avg 10.6 mph, Max 27.5, 1197 kcal

Out with the Axe Valley Pedallers

PB:
   One hour 12.28 mi, 10 mi 44m 28s, 20 km 1hr:01m:39s