Day 180 - Taunton Stop Line

I had a different riding experience planned for Saturday, a mountain bike ride out on my Crosstrail with Mike, my good neighbour and friend, exploring the Taunton Stop Line. This is the WW2 defensive line separating the south west from the rest of England, designed to stop an enemy's advance from the west. The length of the Taunton Stop Line is impressive, it runs north-south for nearly 50 miles through Somerset, Dorset and Devon, from Axminster to Chard along the River Axe, then along the Great Western Railway to Ilminster (the section we covered today), the railway and Chard Canal to Taunton, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal to Bridgwater, and the River Parrett to the coast near Highbridge. For those of you who know my fascination with this kind of thing, you'll not be surprised of me thinking that I'm going to have to cover it all eventually!

Today, however, we set out in Mike's estate car (I've still not yet sorted out how to transport my bike, let alone two) to Chard. From here we headed along the Route 33 cycle path to Ilminster, following the disused railway line - the sad legacy of Dr Beeching's 1960s demise of our railway network. Luckily, for me, the quality of the concrete defences installed in the early 1940s have stood the test of time and it was like being a child again, out on bikes exploring the countryside seeking out items of military interest!

Donyat Station

Just 3.5 miles along the old railway line we came across Donyat Station, still with its shelter and a model of a young girl sat waiting for the next train which will never come :(. Above the station, along the top of the embankment, are a long line of dragon's teeth fortifications, just visible as pointed concrete blocks in the above photo. Under the bridges, we saw concrete rail blocks which were placed either side of the track, allowing just enough space for the train to pass but which would block the advance of tanks, and slotted concrete blocks either side of the tracks for steel girders to be inserted to block the path of anyone using railway line. 

Concrete rail blocks & dragon's teeth

Then, at strategic sites along the railway, pillboxes and gun emplacements can be seen either hidden alongside bridges or in the hedgerows in the fields beyond. It is amazing what you see when you look. I never knew there was so many of these defensive works installed at the time, let alone having survived the past 70 years.

During our ride, we passed a number of walkers with their dogs and Mike alluded to the fact that he's always been wary of how dogs can sometimes see a moving bike and rider as fair game for a chase. It was amusing, to me, therefore, when exploring a lane containing three hidden gun emplacements, to be chased back down the lane by a very 'playful' collie dog, with Mike bearing the brunt of the dog's gnashing and barking! 

Hidden gun emplacement

Leaving the railway line cycle path, we headed through Ilminster, north towards our next destination, the old WW2 RAF airfield, now RNAS Merryfield, near the village of Ilton. This took quite a bit of time to locate as having spotted the air sock from quite a long way out, high hedges and a network of narrow crisscrossing lanes soon obscured the view and the route we needed to take. We would have made useless wartime spies!

Finally we locate HMS Heron 

Finally homing in on the airfield, access was bared by a friendly security guard as, while there was little evidence of this today, it is still an active naval airfield used primarily for military helicopter pilot training.  

We lunched in Ilton before making the short ride back to Ilminster and via the old railway to Chard. This was perhaps one of the flattest circuits I've done for some time, although we did have quite a climb  back into Ilminster just to keep the heart rate up. A fun ride, great to be back on the Crosstrail and much to see, very different from anything I've done for a very long time. Looking forward to the next one!

Stats: 22.53 mi, 2h:00m, Avg 11.2 mph, Max 29.4 mph, 1004 kcal

Day 178 - Presta Valves

Thursday, AVP night. The day started with another series of early morning business calls and the arrival of the carpet fitters whose cacophony of noises and smells, hammering and gluing, challenged my senses through to lunchtime. My afternoon, while quieter and less fragrant, was no less busy and I feared greatly that I would not make the evening ride. 6:15 pm, a quarter of an hour before bike check in time, I powered down the laptop, slipped into my Lycra and made my way to the bike shed. I've now worked out that I can do the short ride to our club meeting point in around 2 minutes, so was happy I would not miss the off.

Before heading off, I also wanted to ensure I had sufficient air in my tyres. Yesterday, I received delivery of a new set of tyre pumps. Something I had not realised when making my Roubaix purchase, was that it has a totally different tyre valves to those of my Crosstrial. The Roubaix uses the Presta valve, which being much thinner than the Crosstrail's Schrader valves, which are more like those found on a car tyre, did not fit my current set of bike pumps. The differences don't stop there. Inflating the tyre with the Presta valve is far from straight forward for the novice. Luckily a visit to YouTube and terrybyclicles.com got me sorted, you have to fully unscrew the valve stop first! So in the 15 minutes from powering off, not only did I have to slip into my kit, fill my water bottle and power on the Garmin, I also had the challenge of inflating the tyres .. which I'm pleased to report, worked a treat.

Arriving at the meeting point, the Roubaix attracted a great deal of attention. The pressure was now on to perform and this the Roubaix did. I had a much better ride out than the previous Sunday, may be because I was able to ride with the peloton and take part in a few of the sprints, while if you recall, while out with the SVCC, I lost the peloton very early on. I also think I'm getting more familiar with the gearing. We cycled out to Wilmington and Honiton and 21 mile circuit, although in my hast to leave the house, I did forget to power on the Garmin, so had covered a mile or so before I realised. Most unusually on an AVP ride, we lost 3 of our number and although two went back to seek them out, fearing a puncture or a crash, they were nowhere to be found. With the delay we cut short the intended circuit and using the power of the peloton, 3-4 of us made rapid progress down the last 9 miles of lanes and main roads, at times we were powering along at just short of 30 mph on the straights, something I would never have been able to do on the Crosstrail. I also achieved a new fastest speed of 41.2 mph and brought my 10 mile time down from 37 to 35 minutes.  I'm loving my Roubaix!

Stats: 21.38 mi, 1h:31m, Avg 14.0 mph, Max 41.2 mph, 1195 kcal

Day 176 - New Average Speed PB

Back on the Roubaix feeling especially good this morning, that was until I hit the first of my 3 hills on my climbing circuit out to Colyford. The Roubaix definitely takes less energy to move forward but I think I've underestimated the gearing quality of the Crosstrail which makes climbing so easy and down hill rides so quick.

The Crosstrail has 3 chain rings to the Roubaix's 2, which means that while there is potentially less gear changing to do on the Roubaix, the Crosstrail is more forgiving if you select the wrong gear .. yes I'm still getting used to the Roubaix's gear ratios as I'm tending to go too far through one chain ring before moving up to the next, leaving me either spinning on the pedals or juddering to a halt!

Setting off in such good spirits, I had expected to beat my Seafront Sprint2 Strava record of 21.8 mph .. this is the one that Andy took from me a month or so ago, putting in an impressive 24.4 mph .. but I could only reach an average of 21.5 mph over the half mile run, a difference of just 1 second over the distance. What is more frustrating, is that my quickest time was on the Crosstrail, I think this may be because as there is a down hill start to this segment, its increased weight adding greater forward momentum to launch me into the level straight .. that's my excuse anyway! 

Seafront Sprint2

What was pleasing on this ride was beating my previous average speed for any circuit (over 5 miles) of 13.5 mph set on Day134 - 16th July, by 0.6 mph. This stat's relevance over such different circuits is probably questionable but when compared to the last time I ran on this exact route, Day 141 - 23rd July, I can see that my average speed is up 2 mph, taking over 4 minutes of the 7 mile circuit. So while a small improvement, it is certainly a move in the right direction!

Stats: 6.95 mi, 29m 29s, Avg 14.1 mph, Max 32.8, 391 kcal

Day 174 - SVCC Morning Ride

Two weeks ago, I spoke of a couple of changes I needed to make in preparation for the Axe Valley Pedaller's 100 mile event in September. The first was to consider moving to a road bike, this I achieved last week, with the purchase of my amazing Specialized Roubaix Sport. The next was to work on getting in a few more miles to test I could get close to the distance, this I made a start on today by joining the Sid Valley Cycle Club (SVCC) on their morning 40 mile ride out to Dunkeswell. My previous best had been a long 25 mile evening ride with the AVP; long, in that we normally complete around 20 miles so as to get back to the pub before closing time!

So it was an early Sunday morning start for me with a short drive out to Sidmouth to meet at the football ground for 9:00 am. I was probably the only one who drove, as a steady procession of cyclists in their colourful lycra and road racing bikes entered the ground. We headed off pretty much bang on 9:00 am as we needed to meet up with others at Tipton Bridge at 9:15. In all, I would say we had at least 20 riders, however, once off Tipton Bridge, I only ever saw a few of our number as the peloton split a number of times to either take high speed or good climbing routes, something I have not been used to with the AVP who stay together from start to finish. As it was, I saw more sheep than cyclists on this ride as on one occasion, riding through Kentisbeare, we had to stop to let a flock pass us by!

The 29 mile ride out to Dunkeswell, the site of a small airfield first created for the US Navy in WW2, had only a few long but gentle climbing hills so I found breaking my 25 mile milestone a relatively easy  achievement. After enjoying a much needed coffee and large slice of carrot cake at the airfield's cafe, I joined the remaining 6 cyclists on the homeward journey, the remainder having long since moved on, their route to the airfield actually being 9 miles shorter. I was not bitter, it was miles I was interested in clocking up, I've had loads of practice climbing my local hills!

Talking of hills, I had thought that the 15 mile return ride would again be light on climbs, indeed the expectation was that as we headed towards the sea, the road would be predominately down hill, I had forgotten, however, about the painful climb out of Honiton to Sidford which after 35 miles in the saddle was a real test of my stamina! 

Overall, this was a great ride with 43 miles covered. I have a mountain bike ride planned for next weekend, but all being well, I can see me joining the SVCC on another morning ride very soon, if not that following weekend. Thankfully, my wife is being very supportive of me and my new found cycling interest as I can see that my time away, spent out on the road is starting to lengthen .. I am very grateful for this!

Stats: 43.47 mi, 3h:16m, Avg 13.2 mph, Max 40.0, 2,341 kcal

Day 172 - VAM

While out with Jason last night, we did much talking on the technology of cycling and I'm sure we touched on the subject of VAM. This is the Italian abbreviation of Velocità Ascensionale Media the cycling parameter of Average Ascent Speed. I mention this now as I've been looking at my Strava stats and was impressed to see me at the top of my local leader board for the category 4 Northern Lane  climb we completed through Brancsombe, the one up past the beautiful church.

VAM is apparently calculated using the formula, metres ascended x 60 / minutes taken to ascend. I achieved a credible 617, however when compared to 1650 of the top 10 Tour de France GC or mountain stage winners, you can see what athletes they really are!

This is another stat I'll be looking out for in climbs going forward .. just pleased now to be back at the top of one of the leader boards, Just don't tell Andy!

Day 171 - Evening Ride with Jason

Monday, legs too sore to ride, Tuesday and Wednesday away with work, Thursday fit again for my AVP evening ride. But no, I did not ride out with the AVP, Jason, a good friend of mine called to suggest he drive over with his bike for a ride out. Perfect, I thought, an opportunity to get a few more miles under my belt on the new bike without the risk of embarrassing myself in front of the AVP, perhaps selecting the wrong gear or falling off!

I loaded one of my previous AVP circuits into the Garmin to follow. the one I selected was a good coastal ride out to Branscombe and back through Colyton. All was going well until 4 miles out, Jason hit a patch of gravel and punctured his rear tyre! Luckily, Jason having all the spare parts and equipment to hand he made quick work of the change and were back on the road, climbing the hills out of Branscombe with only a minor delay.

Following a route on the Garmin 500 is not that easy, as you have a line on a screen as an indication of route but no reference points such as road junctions and therefore, it was no surprise that we veered off the correct path. Although noticing this very quickly, we thought we'd continue on; no one likes to have to turn around! While this did give us a few more hills to climb, it also gave us the opportunity to join the main road and the high speed decent into Colyford from tower hill. I thought I must have surpassed my earlier 40.4 mph speed record, but alas, I was just 0.3 mph short. Next time!

Stats: 18.1 mi, 1h:33m, Avg 11.6 mph, Max 40.1, 1,006 kcal

Day 167 - Moving to the Next Level

It had to happen. I've been thinking long and hard recently about moving to the next level in my cycling and perhaps next year buying a road bike to both achieve the speeds of my fellow pedallers on the Thursday evening rides and to increase my distances. I have also been mulling over the AVP 100 Mile Ride scheduled for Sunday 15 September and whether I wouldn't be better acquiring a new set of wheels now rather than waiting for next year ..  as a) I'm already at the stage of needing to make the move and b) I'm not getting any younger so why delay! So, yes, it had to happen, a trip to the Bike Shed saw me striking a great deal on a 2013 Specialized Roubiux Sport Compact model 90E3-6152 in carbon, charcoal and white. I'm still pinching myself!

A new stable mate for my steed, the new Roubiux

The weekend started, however, with a quick 9.5 mile ride over my three hils and a circuit of Colyton. I've remarked before on how this is a perfect mix of flat and hills and all this can be done in less than an hour.  I need to record it on my Garmin as a lap so that I can track my performance from one day to the next while actually on my ride, I am sure I can do this, I'll have to dig out the manual again. Having completed this Saturday circuit on my hybrid in a reasonable 45 minutes, I had wondered what the same would be on my new road bike, so a re-run was on the cards for Sunday afternoon.

My steed, my trusted hybrid Crosstrail

Two things were however against me on the Sunday, not even counting the unfamiliarity of my new racer - yes you can see I'm managing your expectations here - an afternoon in a seaside town in holiday season meant the roads were crowded with lost tourists and my legs were still killing me after my over ambitious attack on the Thursday hills. So, first impressions. I was very impressed with its initial pickup, carrying considerably less weight that the hybrid and it made the first rise up Seaton Down Hill with ease. I found that in the high speed down hill sections, I had less confidence than on my steed, the racer being lighter and more skittish, than my seemingly invincible hybrid, is going to take time getting used to. I was, however, amazed with how it soaked up the bumps in the road. I guess this is a combination of the flexing built into the frame, its lightness and the extra padding in the handle bars; it is really designed for our Devon roads!

Overall, the racer covered the same distance in 42 minutes, a 3 minute improvement. Many of my split times were not as good and the top speed was slightly down, but the average speed was an extra mph quicker overall. So I can see great potential, I just need clear roads and a return to fitness.

Stats:
Sat:  9.5 mi, 45m :24s, Avg 12.6 mph, Max 36.9, 503 kcalSun: 9.5 mi, 42m :01s, Avg 13.6 mph, Max 32.7, 504 kcal