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Today - August 2012

In preperation to climbing Mt Fuji (+ camera gear) this coming weekend I started doing a bit of Jogging yesterday. 8.4km later I can hardly walk for the rest of the day.

This morning I hobble downstairs and get on the bike, You would swear that I did nothing yesterday. Ride pain free as normal. Get off the bike and get back to hobbling around.

Amazing how you can have 2 sets of legs.:confused:
 
Great weekend, raced the JBCF E2 Miyada Criterium and came 5th in the qualifying round and then 7th in the finals.

Nearly got taken out by a rider who crashed right in front of me and managed to jump his back wheel and then kicked his front wheel out of the way as I landed to avoid it hitting me.

Also congratulations to Pro Race Mechanic great ride to qualify for his finals and had to retire due to a puncture and our very onw Mike for an impressive performance while being ill and also racing his weakest discipline in road racing.

Big thank you to both Pro Race and Mike for the support and hospitality over the weekend!

sprinting.jpg
 
In preperation to climbing Mt Fuji (+ camera gear) this coming weekend I started doing a bit of Jogging yesterday. (.4km later I can hardly walk for the rest of the day.

This morning I hobble downstairs and get on the bike, You would swear that I did nothing yesterday. Ride pain free as normal. Get off the bike and get back to hobbling around.

Amazing how you can have 2 sets of legs.:confused:

I've never been a jogger, but this season I've experienced the two-sets-of-legs thing in spades. I had a trouble-free Baker's cyst for ages, but this past March/April (much improved since then) it started leaking. Walking the dog even for a short 20 minutes, and wow, lots of pain up & down behind the knee, lasting for a day or few. I was consciously trying to minimize the walking I was doing each day.

But I could hop on a bike and ride for 90-150mins, which would not only not aggravate it, but make it feel better, or "right".
 
Thankfully, the temperatures have calmed down a bit since the beginning of August, so managed to get a full 5 days in last week (4 x L4, 1 x L5). Must be a bit of over-enthusiasm after taking it easy for the past few weeks due to the heat. Still need my 2 rest days with getting old... Only problem is, instead of heat, the humidity at night time. Was in the high 80`s last night, so after finishing climb, descend to drinks machine, wring shirt, get drink to replace lost fluid. Back to bottom of hill. Repeat. Was thinking, would be cheaper if I just wrang (or should that be wrung?) the shirt into my water bottle - no need to worry about replacing electrolytes then - but thought better of it ;)

Pisses me off - lazy driver (presumably) chucked his rubbish (in a bag) out of the car and into the middle of the road. Inexcusable given the amount of conbinis around. Enough hazards around at night without worrying about that...
 
Getting back into the swing of things I hope...

Short cobweb ride yesterday of 25km. 35km following the speedsters at Tuesday night training... cops pulled me for running 2 red lights but I gave them the Obi-Wan and they just drove away. They haven't seen my kind in this galaxy before...
The red lights I ran are left hand turns...the safest red lights to run...

3 guys turned up for training tonight with a further 3 having to cancel for work overtime. Thursday night they go again for sprint training... I'll tag along and watch...hopefully take some footage.

Giving myself a year to get to my target weight and fitness... just in time for the big Hawaii 5-0.

Got a Go-Pro for Christmas on the 19th very cheaply on Amazon for 19800 just had to order the cycling attachment. (It was the Motor sports version going cheap and I'll use those attachments as well.). Cycling attachment should arrive tomorrow and I've had enough time to fiddle with all the settings. May need a magnifying glass out in the street to read the tiny LED screen...

Knowing my Garmin Heart rate was not showing up yesterday I replace the battery in the chest strap....still not working.. So, do I get a new chest strap and risk the problem being elsewhere? Where else could the problem be? Have I died and my ghost is riding around and carrying on? That would explain the lack of heart rate???

:eek:uch:
 
Go in to the settings of the Garmin and rescan for the heart rate monitor.
 
Just finishing 4 days / 3 nights in Taiwan with the family (will head to the airport before noon). Amazing experience! Taiwan looks a lot less wealthy than I imagined. Very hot (to be expected south of Okinawa) and air quality in the city was not the best.

One of the most surprising things for one of the world leaders in bicycle manufacturing was the general lack of bicycles in the streets while 125cc motor scooters seem to be the vehicle of the people.

Other than scooters you mostly see yellow cabs (taxis). Virtually all cars are Japanese. Can't even tell what police cars look like here, because the few police I've seen in the streets were on scooters (with red and blue lights added to the rear).

Both bikes and scooters get used as long as possible, lots of old ones about.

Riders and drivers seemed to be quite well behaved, much better than in Japan.
 
Rode the Alpe d' Huez Individual TT today. What can I say? This is the dream ride of any cyclist who loves the hills. Passing all the 22 corners and seeing the famous names. You can almost taste the sweat and blood from more than 50yrs tradition. The people are true cycling fans - even for our non-sanctioned events it's as if you are in Le Tour. Lining the roads, spraying water, etc etc. My ride was good - I targetted for 1hr and was just a little over that giving me a few more places up on the ladder. I had a small nervousness at the start when I saw my rear tire had lost pressure!! OMG. But - I jumped out of line up and then reset the valve and added about 35ml Cafe Latex just to make sure. Then it was fine - WHEW! Luckily the start order was already corrupted due to crowding - so they accepted me back in line. At that point - I was started with the 'Pro Group' of last 75 riders. Nothing helps you to keep pace like this! We lost more riders yesterday as the cutoff was quite tight. Tomorrow is another very tough stage - but we are finally over the hump! So far, I've had no mechanical issues and playing it conservative on descent is saving my tires (and sanity), but I lose some time here. Checkpoints are very fast. Most people just go through, grab a bidon, and carry on. There is no lagging at all. Speed on the flats is well over 40-45kph. You must ride very tight, fast and clean or suffer alone on the hills or dreaded 'zombie zone' with no bunch to support.
 
Back in Amsterdam for a while. Rode with the Sunday morning ride my mates do every week, went for a nice loop along the river Amstel on Tuesday, and did a pseudorace of 70km on a 2.5km track with about 100 riders yesterday. It sure is nice to ride in a proper echelon from time to time.
 
Out early for some loops of the palace. Not too many bikers around, and those that I saw were all pretty fast. A few chancers were blowing through all the red lights (not me though; I was a good boy and I still caught them) and there seemed to be far fewer police than recently.

AW.
 
In an act of insanity I signed up for a 400 km brevet today, the BRM916八ヶ岳一周400 (route on RWGPS). The course runs from Matsuda/Kanagawa (near Odawara) via Yamanakako and Minami-Alps, Yamanashi (南アルプス市) to near Chino/Nagano, then around Mt Yatsugatake and back the same way.

The overall time limit for completion will be 27 hours, from 07:00 to 10:00 the following day. The route goes from a minimum elevation of 50 m to a maximum of about 2100 m and includes a total of 5979 m of climbing (and descending). Either is almost twice as bad as the 300 km I did in May, but in terms of sleep deprivation it may actually easier than the 300, because there the whole ride started off with a night ride.

Given the amount of climbing and the effect that will have on my average speed I think completion within the limit is a bit of a long shot, but I want to give it my best try.
 
Just had a waddle around with the harder Thursday night sprint training mob. 30 minutes early...testing my new Go=pro.
Did about 30+km with some bursts of energy...

Had no intention of sticking with these guys and just jumped on the back a few times to get used to riding in a bunch at speed again. And didn't that feel good.
Like a drug I hadn't taken in a long time. This could get addictive...

Leg muscles are feeling a bit firmer...still too much weight on my gut and embarrassing weight as well.

The Go-Pro has got my interest up and a new excuse to ride. (not that I should need an excuse).

Ordered a juicer today on Amazon...so going to go on a flush out the system binge for a few weeks... Inspired by Mr. Ikeda's FB video I watched the other night.

Going to fire up the blog as well...

All this I'm gonna stuff... sounds like a broken record that never skips to the end of the song... Also had a read of a motivational book. I actually ordered two books and the main one I want to read hasn't arrived yet. (It was book recommended by Padraig Harrington the golfer). I ordered this as a special two for one...
"Being Happy!: A Handbook to Greater Confidence and Security"
The book I wanted to read and am still awaiting is:
Follow Your Heart: Finding a Purpose in Your Life and Work.
Anything to break the cycle ( :cool: ) of my last 2.5 years... Psyching myself up with anything... :D

Tuesday & Thursday night trainings are back on the agenda but will take me about 6 months I think before I can handle the current speed they train at.
Too fast in my opinion for training. ie 42kph on warm up laps??? That's not warming up...that's just showing off. Will try and go earlier and earlier and do my own warming up routine.

I've ridden only about 550km this year with 100 of those this week... :eek:
Feel like I should be on a tricycle.

:eek:uch:
 
Finished the Haute Route! As in 'I AM A FINISHER' within the time allowance. Not sure my placing yet - haven't checked but probably in the middle somewhere. I rode very conservatively - especially on the descents. Quite a few riders crashed out and one died flipping over a stone railing then landing into a river gorge some 50m below. The riding partner I had started with ended up in the hospital with multiple fractures after missing a corner on the 2nd day. This is how it is, Mega hard climbs (Cme du Bonnet comes to mind, followed by insane, unguarded , descents) The overall winner, BTW, was Peter Pouly (men) and Emma Pooley (women) Had a chance to ride with both of them. The comparison is very interesting, How fast does a pro go? Well, on the ascents - about 1-3kph faster and on the descents - about 15-25kph faster. (I rode with both). This really adds up over the course of 3000+m climbing and descending.

Very satisfied with my results and especially in our fund raising for The Tyler Foundation. The riders were insanely strong - so many pros, ex-pros and current champions in all discliplines (Olympics, Worlds, etc - you get what I mean). The cut-off times were very strict and difficult. Even though the race (sportif) was on open, semi-controlled roads, the pace was at full blown nose down regardless. No dallying in the check / refreshment points, Just grab new bidons, down some sludge and GO!

Observations -

1) Many riders - especially from non-road racing are very hard to 'work with'.
2) Belgium, Dutch and German riders are the best to form a solid bunch.
3) Other than High5 and SIS, the other gels, powders, etc really sucked. (at least for me)
4) I had ZERO mechanicals (including no flats) except losing my rain gilet into the rear derailler - I ripped it out , buried it and continued.
5) However much training you think you have for this type event, it's not enough. Triple it
6) If you think your '28' is fine - then go for at least a '32'.
7) When they say 'sleeping bag' , they mean it! I spent the last nite wrapped in a table cloth in sub 20 weather outside - freezing, no sleep, a near disaster for the last stage.


That's it!

I may do a post-event event... depends on my sanity after returning home.
 
Tim,
Impressive and inspiring. Looking forward to have you back to tell the tale. Maybe you can have an informal event at the new store?
 
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