Nothin' doin'

Not ridden since Tuesday night. Had a day in London on Thursday and felt rough Friday and this morning. Feeling better now so will go out tomorrow for the long ride. See how it goes...

Wet, but no rain

Turned up last night at 7:30pm for the regular Earlybirds Tuesday night ride, expecting a large turn out after last weeks record breaking 12, but I was alone. It was grey but it wasn't raining, so where the hell was everybody? Anyway as I was on my own I decided against the published route and did Norwood Edge instead to get some hills in (as usual). My legs were a little stiff from the previous days epic, but they soon got going. I'm still persevering with the high cadence training, and it seems to be working. I'm pushing quite hard on the flat/rolling terrain, and using a low gear, high cadence on the ascents proper. The tops of Norwood Edge and Askwith Moor were both in the low cloud so I ended up getting a proper soaking without it actually raining - was nice and cooling. No crazy descents though as the roads were pretty greasy.
Stats: 24.5 miles, 1hr 32, so 16mph average, and 2200 feet of ascent.
I'm quite pleased with that.

Scary...

So here is the Memory-Map profile of yesterday's ride


And here is an approximation of the 2008 Etape du Tour route.
The vertical scales are equal! Wow that's some climb.

Windy Bank Holiday

Big ride today - a reprise of the 75 mile amended White Rose medium route I missed out on a week last Saturday. 5 set off - the usual 4 joined by none other than top cyclosport blogger Earthdreamer! The wind was always going to be a factor though, as it was blowing a gale - literally and from the NE too.
The early section taking in Askwith, West End and Greenhow was taken fairly steadily by all, then we were blown at high speed into Grassington. I clocked 52mph on one of the descents. That's the fastest that the current bike computer has ever seen. We then turned up Wharfedale and then off up the northern side of Littondale. The wind was gusting and swirling all around in Littondale. Whilst we headed in a constant north westerly direction the wind was behind us, a headwind and cross wind at various points on the road. Gizzajob turned at Arncliffe to head back down as he was feeling rough from a boozy weekend, so that left 4. The wind assisted climb out of Halton Gill seemed very easy, and was followed by a glorious section beneath the ever dark and gloomy Pen-y-ghent. My spirits were lifted as last time on this road I was suffering greatly.
Unfortunately this was the last of the tailwind. Once we had turned off to head back towards Malham and home we would be heading east pretty much the whole time. There was a brief stop in Malham to fill water bottles then off again.
I usually dislike the section between Malham and Wharfedale, but it didn't seem so bad today, even into that wind. The others were clearly starting to leave me behind at this point, certainly on the climbs, but I still had enough to get back with them after the summits.
Once back into Wharfedale I was starting to ache, but still going. A time check at Appletreewick revealed that it was just after 11am, so I was going to be back home by noon, and that was very pleasing. We skipped Langbar at the end, but I think we had made up for this by battling the wind for the last 30 miles.
When I got home I was greeted by a surprised "I wasn't expecting you back so soon" to which I replied "I wasn't expecting to be back so soon!".
Overall a very pleasing 75 miles in 5 hours. According to the computer, ride time was 4:52, and moving average 15.5 - excellent work.

Speedy Saturday

Earlybirds standard Burnsall this morning. Five riders and a cracking pace. 26 miles in an hour and a half. Got back feeling pretty good. Possibly my good mood was enhanced by the prospect of tonight away from the kids...
No long ride this week, but have done 81 in total and they all felt like good quality miles (whatever that means)

More hills

I was feeling pretty buoyed up by last nights exertions so I decided to go for another hilly ride tonight. Didn't have as much time as yesterday so decided on a 15 miler. Climbed up to Langbar from Ilkley via Carter's Lane. It's a pretty long climb but divided up into stages. Again I was in the mood for pushing hard and still felt pretty good at the top. Descended rapidly (unusual) to Beamsley then to the roundabout and back to Addingham. This stretch has a long straight with a very slight descent and it seemed sensible here to get into the big ring, adopt a tuck position and fly down the road at high speed. Wow that was a blast - adrenalin pumping - I was going at 28-30mph most of the way. Once in the village it was right turn and off up the long drag then Turner Lane to Addingham Moorside. A good climb that I really enjoy. There is a fantastic vista when you reach the top and turn left to head back down to Ilkley. Then I did a fast descent again and pushed hard in the last three quarters of a mile back home. Got round in 57 minutes, so over the 15.9 miles I averaged 16.7mph, which I am really quite proud of. Resting tomorrow, riding Saturday morning, hopefully there will be a few riders out.

Up and down

No Wednesday morning ride, but a very up and down Wednesday evening ride instead.
25 miles and the first 3 quarters either up or down - nothing inbetween.
Route was: Cocking Lane to Addingham Moorside, down to Silsden, then Bradley Road (which doesn't go to Bradley but is a good climb), left at the top onto Heights Lane and then descend to Bradley. Climb out of Bradley over to Farnhill, then climb again back over to Silsden. Then the main road to Addingham - this was to see how a longish 7% climb feels like. It's about 1.5 miles from the bottom to the turn-off, then another mile mostly uphill over Silsden Moor, so I turned left at the top and went over Silsden Moor to Draughton. Down through the village, short section on A59 then Halton East, Bolton Abbey and big ring back to Ilkley the usual way.
A good route for training I think.
Anyway the point was to feel the 7% drag. Went up on 39-21 and 23, fairly high cadence, averaging about 9-9.5 mph. Won't go this fast on the Tourmalet, but on tonights short climb my heart rate didn't go out of control. Pushed fairly hard the rest of the way, and very hard on the final leg. Then went round to Gizzajob's house to help him move a washing machine. Turned out it was down narrow steep stairs to his cellar, so a bit of an upper body and back workout too.

Icy windscreen

Missed the Saturday long ride due to my daughter being sick Friday night, so I was awake at 2:30am then not asleep again at all. Didn't really think this was the best preparation for a 75 mile hilly ride! Gutted about missing it but these things happen.

Went to the school summer ball on Saturday evening and caught up with a couple of the riders. Sounded like they had a good ride despite missing a turn-off and going down a big hill they then had to re-ascend. Certainly seems to have galvanised a couple of long/medium white rose waiverers into the long route.

Didn't ride Sunday due to 2 nights of very little sleep, but finally got out on the new improved bike this morning. Just the usual Cavendish and back, but with a larger than usual Monday turn-out of 4. There was ice on the windscreen of a car on the church turning circle near the meeting point, and quite a lot of frost on the golf course shaded areas. A little unexpected maybe for 19 May. Anyway the bike felt good and smooth, but I still need to adjust my riding position - it's not quite there yet. Felt ok this morning, a bit tired, but I'm sure that's due to the weekend shenanigans.

I'm away working in Liverpool tomorrow so no riding. I'll do Wednesday morning, maybe Wednesday evening, and Thursday morning. Will definitely go long on Thursday if I don't ride Wednesday evening. Plan to ride Saturday morning, before we go away for the weekend. So that should give me a good total for the week.

Lemond makes a comeback

Not Greg, but my bike - hoorah!
Only the frame and fork remain from the original eBay purchase now.



I am very much looking forward to riding it tomorrow. Have made a minor saddle adjustment to attempt to alleviate the aching sit-bones problem I get after 30 miles or so. Will report back on results, though I don't hold out much hope.

Thursday morning quickie

Slotted in a quick ride this morning. Barden Bridge and back. I was reading a blog yesterday discussing the merits of high cadence training, so I gave that a go this morning. I don't have a cadence monitor so I attempted to gauge it manually. Basically I pedalled faster than I normally do in a lower gear and seemed to achieve a similar speed. Results of the experiment are inconclusive, though I could feel a certain amount of tiredness in my legs from the previous evenings exertions I think the lower gears/higher cadence kept this to a minimum. Anyway 19 miles covered, fairly briskly, feeling pretty good. Forgot the cadence thing on the last minor climb and sprinted in a high gear - wheeeeeeeee!
The Lemond is being picked up tomorrow and I'm looking forward to getting it back - I'm fed up of people telling me that "steel is real" - whatever that means. So I'll be able to test out the new gear on Saturday's long ride.
Also final Etape payment made this week, so it's all systems go now.

Wednesday nighter

Slipped in a quickie tonight. The old staple Barden - Embsay. Just 2 riders, myself and Gizzajob. Beautiful sunset over Barden Moor, but a little on the chilly side. At least that's kicked off the cycling week for me. 24 miles so far...
Planning a long ride on Saturday - a modified White Rose Classic medium route. We are going to miss out the Otley - Norwood Edge bit and go up from Askwith instead. Cuts out a bit of distance, but none of the climbing. Then we'll go up the road on the north side of Littondale, much better than the other side. Probably won't do Langbar at the end - see how we feel, eh? Looks to be about 73 miles. I'll ring the bike shop tomorrow to make sure the Lemond will be ready by then.
Will try and do another ride tomorrow to keep the mileage above 100 for the week.

Where in the world is Harry Quinn?

Flippin' heck! It's Tuesday evening and I haven't ridden since Saturday morning. What's going on?
Well I thought I had a good week last week with my 113 miles, but it appears everyone else is doing twice as much. Well I say everyone else, but what I really mean is Gizzajob is doing twice as much.
I've got a pretty heavy workload this week, and a sick wife, so it's going to be hard to reach 100 miles, nevermind 200. Hopefully doing 65ish on Saturday, but only if J is better I guess.

Saturday classic

Today was the "classic" Saturday ride of Appletreewick - Burnsall. Still riding the old bike for that extra training benefit!
4 riders out this morning; me, Richard, Oliver and newbie Jeremy.
Richard was still hurting a bit after crashing the previous Sunday on "that" corner coming down from Nesfield back into Ilkley. He was also very tentative downhill despite gorgeous sunshine and perfectly dry roads. Can't blame him really - I was the same for weeks after my crash.
Anyway the pace was pleasant on the way out, but got quicker on the return leg, with a bit of a gap opening up between the pairings me/Jeremy and Richard/Oliver. Whilst not a regular earlybird rider or a weekender he apparently commutes to work by bike 4 times a week and he works in Dewsbury - crikey!
A good week for me (I think)
Tues: 30 miles
Thurs: 57 miles
Sat: 26 miles
Total: 113 miles
Going to try and do more next week.
Hopefully the Lemond will be back in service.

Return to Cove Road

With very little possibility of long weekend rides this month I thought I'd better do something about it, so went this morning instead. Earlybird set off at 06:30 - 2 others in attendence for a Thursday morning Langbar. I carried on after the Cavendish up the back road to Appletreewick - Hebden - Arncliffe - Malham - Hetton - Paps of Thorpe - Burnsall - home. 57 miles and 5700 feet of climb which is not bad for a Thursday morning!
Climbing out of Arncliffe was quite a challenge as I am still riding the old bike, but it'll do me good I'm sure.
I love the section from Arncliffe to Malham. The countryside is stunning and it feels very remote. It was especially beautiful this morning in the sunshine with clear blue skies.
Then I came to the end of that section and had the descent of Cove Road into Malham to face, the site of my spectacular crash early last September when the rim of my front wheel snapped. Today was the first time I've been down there since, and I have to admit to feeling pretty nervous about it. Even though I've been down much steeper descents since (Hardknott for example) this one felt scarier. Got down ok, glad I was on my own though, as I took it very gingerly especially at crash corner.
After that there was a strengthening easterly wind which made that unpleasant up and down section between Airton and Hetton just that little bit worse.

Anyway here are some photos:
Burnsall bridge

Lower Littondale

Upper Littondale

Climb out of Arncliffe

Limestone causeway above Malham Cove

Overshoes off - finally

Had a very pleasant ride last night. First time this year in shorts and no overshoes, about time!
6 riders out - we did Barden-Skyreholme-Hebden-Burnsall at a fairly brisk pace. Once we got onto the Pateley-Grassington road there was a beautiful sunset over the Paps of Thorpe. Couldn't stop to get a photo though due to high speed chase of Dr Yikes once again displaying his legendary route finding abilities...
I'm riding my old bike at the moment as the Lemond is completely worn out. It's an interesting ride - last night's 30 miles is the longest I've ever done on it (I think) and it felt really comfortable. I think I may have to invest some time in adjusting my position on the Lemond when it has recovered. Only problem with the old bike is it's really heavy, oh and is geared for flat riding, oh and has shifters on the down tube, oh and a mouse trapped inside the cassette (sounds like it anyway).
I also rode on Saturday, a straight forward Burnsall but with Langbar thrown in at the end (for a laugh). An interesting climb on that 38-21 ratio.

There was much discussion last night of the White Rose. Some of the guys seem to be waivering over distances. Most did the medium route last year, so I think they need to get on and do the real thing this year. Even if it turns out to be really hard and they suffer at least they can say they did it. I am of course speaking from experience here...

What happened to April?

Hmmm, 4 weeks to the day since my last entry - blogging seems to have taken a bit of a back seat during April - and it all started so well...
Anyway there has been plenty of cycling in the last 4 weeks.

13/4: Lakeland loop sportive, 69 miles - 5:23 when I was aiming for 6 - decent weather, stunning scenery, and the ascent of Hardknott which I managed without stopping - yay!

20/4: Had a terrible ride over to Settle and back via Halton Gill - 68 miles. Felt dreadful

Had to buy a new back wheel to replace the 8 month old Fulcrum 7. It was completely worn out - hub and rim. It has been a tough winter, so I guess I shouldn't really complain. It had done about 2500 miles in some awful conditions. Got a shiny Shimano replacement at the same price point as the Fulcrum 7. Black with red flashes so matches nicely with the Fulcrum front wheel!

27/4: Very wet ride up Wharfedale and back, almost, but not quite, taking in Fleet Moss - 62 miles. Felt much better than the previous Sunday, which was quite a relief.

Have had a cold this week, but managed a solo ride on Tuesday morning in the sunshine with Storiths and Hazelwood climbs, short but steep (>20%). Missed Wednesday as I felt pretty rough. Out again this morning - woke early and saw the clear blue sky through the bedroom blinds so got up and went straight out at 6am. Rode up to Barden on the main road then over the river and back via Storiths again. Was going to do Hazelwood but another broken chain link scuppered that plan and I limped home trying not to put too much pressure on the pedals.

Todays broken chain link has now forced me into the (long) planned/overdue drivetrain upgrade. I have Ultegra levers and mechs from another bike so will match them with chainset, bb, cassette, chain, brake callipers. It's not going to be cheap...

Got new shorts recently as my old ones were completely knackered, padding worn out and ripped etc. Comfort-wise though I have been disappointed. Didn't seem to make any difference last Sunday with a great deal of discomfort from the 35 mile mark onwards. New saddle maybe required.

So 5 weeks to go before the White Rose Classic and 9 weeks until the Etape.
I feel ok about it, but I think I need to turn up the intensity now. I've been getting in about 100 miles a week for the past month, but the vast majority of this has been in one ride on a Sunday.
I will aim to get out more in the week in May. Actually Sundays are going to be harder this month due to family/social arrangements so I will definitely need more weekday riding. I cannot afford to let the cycling slip at this stage.