...but managing to get out and about on the bike every now and then.
Friday 21 December 2012
Monday 5 November 2012
Thursday 1 November 2012
Thursday 25 October 2012
Perpetual Motion back on the scene again!
As an objective scientific /
engineering type, I’ve tried hard…
Wednesday 17 October 2012
Friday 5 October 2012
Tuesday 2 October 2012
Thursday 20 September 2012
Monday 10 September 2012
Still chilling out.....
Still not doing
much cycling really, still feeling a bit like I can’t be bothered to be
honest. I seem to be having a few
anaemia issues again so I need to address that first really. Sort of explains why the performances were
tailing off quite dramatically towards the end of the season.
However, Sue has
been going out on her bike fairly regularly and I’ve been tagging along with
her to keep her company. We’ve got a
nice quiet 14 and-a-bit mile route we do around Lound & Somerleyton and
it’s amazing how much fitter she has got in just a few weeks.
First time out we
got round in about 1hr 20mins and Sue was half dead afterwards. The other day we bombed round in 57 minutes
fairly easily! Amazing how quickly your
fitness comes on when you start from scratch, it’s a great motivator – when
you’ve been at it a while you have to claw at just tiny improvements, it can be
a bit disheartening.
 |
| Sue's faithful steed! |
I’ve had one
‘training’ ride since packing in for 2012.
On Saturday I went out for a few hours fairly briskly (Av HR 135) out
towards Bungay and looped back through Pakefield, Lowestoft ,
Oulton Broad, Lound & Bradwell along the middle part of the 1st
stage of the Tour of Britain. There was a charity ride along the stage that day
too and I expected to meet loads of cyclists but I think I was a bit too early
for them. Still a pleasing number out and about though.
Made me realize how
many bits need replacing on the old Indestructible Training Bike though. It
felt like a right old banger!!
 |
| The bombproof ITB!!! |
On Sunday the Tour
proper came through the town. We made a
short walk up the road to Bradwell and perched ourselves on a sharp right hand
bend near the doctors surgery (We ghoulishly hoped it might be a good spot for
a pile up!!!) An amazing number of
spectators lined the route and it was a tremendous party atmosphere. No crashes
fortunately!
I wanted to catch the spectacle on film but didn't want to miss everything whilst farting about with the video camera so I perched it in a convenient hedge. Unfortunately, 'Hedge Cam' didn't quite go according to plan....
So plan B was to velcro it to my hat. Sort of worked but the aim was slightly off...
We walked home and
watched the stage live on the telly, including an appalling pile-up just
outside the Showground! I really enjoyed
watching the riders on roads I know really well and ride on frequently. Made it
all feel a bit more ‘real’.
I’ve got a bit of a
dilemma – turns out I’ve potentially won a couple of club awards for my 10 and
25 times. They’re the fastest in the
club this year. It entails going to the
club dinner and getting clapped and getting a trophy. Not sure that’s really me
to be honest so I may not bother claiming them. At least that way they should
go to an up-and-coming junior rider who would probably enjoy the occasion far
more than me. We’ll see.
Monday 27 August 2012
Time to hang up the TT bike for this year.....
Right, had enough of time trialling for one year so packing
it in for 2012.
Tuesday 21 August 2012
Yorkshire Velo 10 V718. 21:03, 14th. Winner 20:12
Well, two out of
three will do in the circumstances:
Monday 13 August 2012
VTTA 10 - punctured. Kings Lynn CC 25 1:00:14, 10th
Going slightly better.
Still haven’t really ‘trained’ this week, just been out on a series of
long (3-4 hour) recovery rides averaging a HR of 100-110 ish.
Thursday 9 August 2012
Monday 30 July 2012
Thursday 26 July 2012
Thursday 19 July 2012
Sunday 15 July 2012
Friday 13 July 2012
Monday 2 July 2012
Saturday 30 June 2012
Monday 25 June 2012
Tuesday 19 June 2012
Friday 15 June 2012
East Anglian CC 10 - the lurgy and a pitiful 23:06
Oh
dear! Continuing to feel pretty crap.
After missing most of my half-term week of ‘steady’
cycling, I managed to get out on the mountain bike a couple of times this
week. Still feel under par but slowly
getting better. I just feel so tired all
the time – I never seem to be able to get enough sleep despite lots of early
nights etc.
Stupidly, I decided to turn up and ride the
East Anglian CC 10 last night on the ‘fast’ B10/3 where I PB’d a couple of weeks ago. It was windy as buggery but worse than that I
went like crap!
I should have just gone home after attempting
my warm-up. I sat on the turbo initially
and felt dead – my legs really heavy and stingy. I gave up, had a couple of hobnobs and a
coffee and tried again. Slightly better
but still puny . My HR was stuck really
low despite trying harder. Again, should
have just gone home but persevered.
The ride to the turn into the strong wind was
pitifully slow with my HR stuck at 150 odd.
Every time I tried to put any effort in, my legs just filled up with
lactic and locked up. I clocked the guy
who had started a minute ahead of me after the turn heading home and reckoned
he was already a good two minutes ahead now.
I pretty much sat up.
Had a brief stint at 35mph on the way home in
the screaming tailwind but developed a really sharp pain under my ribs on my right
side (liver??) that meant I couldn’t stay on the bars for long. What the bloody hell was that all about? Crossed the line feeling very strange and
found myself trying to vomit on the sliproad off the A11 but nothing came
up. Dear, oh dear, oh dear....
Didn’t even know what time I’d done until
this morning.
Felt awful on waking up and it felt like a
real ordeal doing the 1/2 mile walk to work.
Stupid idiot. Anyway, I’ve
already DNS’ed all my weekend rides, in fact I may not even bother racing again
until I get back from Le Mans in July.
Friday 8 June 2012
A strange week.....
Oh dear.
The ECCA 10 on the A11 near Newmarket
turned out to be a horrendous experience.
Tuesday 29 May 2012
What a week! A new 10 mile PB and two course PB's!!
A very pleasing week, although racing 4 times in eight days has left me feeling a bit smashed....
Sunday 20 May 2012
ECCA 50
E2/50c 1hr 54 mins 57 secs (Becomes a new PB). Winner A Stapleton 1 hr 43 min 41 secs (WOW!!!)
Saturday 19 May 2012
Friday 11 May 2012
Thursday 10 May 2012
Thursday 3 May 2012
CC Breckland club 10
North Tuddenham. 24:00 3rd, Declan Davis 23:22, 2nd, winner Will Dorset 22:17....
Sunday 29 April 2012
Friday 20 April 2012
Tuesday 17 April 2012
North Norfolk Wheelers 10, B10/5 yet again (but probably the last time for a while)
Sheringham – Holt. 23:53, 4th. Winner
Charlie Nurse 21:49.
Monday 16 April 2012
Monday 9 April 2012
Saturday 7 April 2012
Excessive Larditude - Why it has to go!!
Nice ride out today. 3 hour fat-burning bimble up the coast (Av HR
116).....
Thursday 5 April 2012
The Incredible Shrinking man...
Got on the scales this morning. 80kg dead!! (12st 6 in old money). Blimey that's 5 and a bit kgs off in about 3 weeks! Aren't half hungry all the time though.....
Next stop 75kgs.....
Next stop 75kgs.....
Monday 2 April 2012
Friday 30 March 2012
Right then, racing 2012 here we go!
A bit later than planned because I’ve been a bit under the weather for the last couple of weeks, but....
Haemoglobin-tastic! Cycling like the 'old days' again!
"noun Biochemistry .
the oxygen-carrying pigment of red blood cells that gives them their red color and serves to
convey oxygen to the tissues: occurs in reduced form (deoxyhemoglobin) in venous blood and in combination with oxygen (oxyhemoglobin) in arterial blood. Symbol: Hb"
convey oxygen to the tissues: occurs in reduced form (deoxyhemoglobin) in venous blood and in combination with oxygen (oxyhemoglobin) in arterial blood. Symbol: Hb"
I've
been so fed up with my absolutely dreadful cycle racing performances
since my 'comeback' in 2009. Found out in the autumn that I've got
deformed red blood cells - megaloblastic anaemia. The treatment
consists of mega doses of certain B vitamins (9 &12), the lack of
which causes the red blood cells to form incorrectly. Since having the
full compliment of correct sized / shaped RBC's, I've been able to train
and ride like a maniac! It's great - it's what the pro's must feel
like when they take EPO for the first time. Spend most of my time
churning a 46 x 14 on my MTB - I wouldn't have been physically strong
enough to do that 6 months ago. Here's hoping for a slightly more
successful season in 2012.
(Originally posted on Captain Cosmic 18/1/2012)
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