Post Century Reflections

I think I have finally managed to add a photo to my post. This is ma bike and the picture was taken on Saturday by the river Nar in Norfolk.
After the 100 miles on Sunday I expected some stiffness monday and especially today but I have been surprised how good my legs felt. I was planning a 2 hour ride this evening but the wind was blowing from a bad direction and blowing fairly hard so I just did an hour on the exercise bike in the house.
So, with just under 8 weeks to go before the 'ride of attrition' I am fairly pleased with my fitness level. I hope to still continue to make progress and be able to do back to back century rides in 4 weeks time. Resting heart rate is 42bpm so the cycling is doing wonders for my cardio fitness. Weight is sitting at 225lbs (sorry for the lbs only but after living 10 years in Canada it is more natural to say it in lbs and not stones, or kilos) and target is to be 215lbs (15st 5lbs) by the start. I am 6'5 so my weight is not so bad!!
The pub training side is coming along nicely and though there is a risk of overtraining I think I am willing to take that risk!

'The rack'

My bike is in the shop, but the weather was looking so nice I was determined to get a ride in. I managed to scrounge a road bike off a friend so I could do a few miles at the weekend. Many thanks to Tim for the loan, however he is a bit taller than me and as a result his bike is rather large. It had also been stuck in his shed for the best part of a year so it needed a bit of TLC to get it moving. 3 hours on Saturday and the same on Sunday was all I could manage. By lower back and my a*se was killing me, felt like I'd been stretched out on a rack. Memories of when I was 10 years old again and getting my new Raliegh Grifter for Christmas... I could sit on the saddle but my little legs couldn't touch the ground. Looking forward to getting by bike back for next weekend Well done to Rob and Dave for breaking the 100.

1st century ride

The weekend presented a good opportunity for training. The big ride was scheduled for Sunday and Saturday was the warm up ride. I had about a 35 mile loop in mind for Saturday and I was determined to take it easy. I ended up doing 50 miles and racing round so no easy ride. My plan therefore was to have a 70 or 80 mile ride on Sunday. Robin came up from Kent intent on doing a 100 miles. The weather was perfect for cycling and we had a good route around the lanes of Norfolk so anything was possible. The obligatory pub stop came at 55 miles and whilst it was most welcome it was about 10 miles too soon so the second leg was going to be a long one. Rob 'the blob' had a full plate of fish and chips while I was a little more frugal with my duck egg omelette. As we set out from the pub I was still thinking we would only be doing around 80 but I felt a surge of leg strength from a combination of the beer and the duck egg omelette so a new route was decided upon on the hoof and the end result was a 100.1 mile ride. Now, one 100 mile ride is all fine and well, but, we are going to have to do it 10 times in a row!
With reference to Simon's previous post about his freewheel mechanism sticking I had a similar event on my mountain bike in Cape Breton. Stuck out in the wilds I had no luxury of 'phone a friend' so I had to strip the mechanism down using the tools in my bag. I managed to get it to engage as long as I kept tension on the chain and had a difficult ride home but made it.
So, my plan this week is a couple of 40 mile rides in the evening then a 100 miler on Saturday with a 60 miler on Sunday.

My Brooks saddle has come into its own. It gave me a lot of pain breaking the leather in but now it is working really well. The 100 mile ride over nearly 6 hours left no discomfort so whilst it looks like an old boot sat on top of a stick I don't really care.

I have some pictures to download but the iPad does not allow so I will need to wait until I am on the laptop.

Thanks to Blobby Robby for providing the motivation to break my first century ride.

D'oh!!

25 miles into my Friday ride and I am happily zipping a long at a decent pace. I stop at some traffic lights and then put my foot down to get a quick start from the junction. After 3 or 4 revolutions of the pedals it all goes a bit wrong. I am still trying to speed up but it feels like my chain has come off, que a quick few gear changes to try and re-engage the chain. No luck. Eyes down and I see the chain is exactly where it is meant to be but I still have no 'drive'. I'm no bike expert but it appears that the rear hub has lost connection to the cassette. Simply put, the pedals turn but the wheels dont go. So technically I am now the owner of a very expensive scooter! Its Manchester weather again (cold and wet) and I wait 40 minutes to get found and picked up - cold, wet and grumpy. No more cycling for the rest of the weekend. The race is on to get my bike fixed before next weekend. My usual weekend cycling is always tough going, but missing a weekend through technical issues is almost as painful.

Getting back to riding, 79 miles on Saturday so things looking better. Not so long to go now so need to get more miles in this week. It's time to finish off booking the pubs from Kendal onwards. Also time to give my bike a birthday and get a new bottom bracket, chain and cassette, plus a pair of wheels after hitting a Kent pothole at 25 mph whilst riding on someones wheel.