Went out on Tuesday inbetween the cloudbursts and managed to get soaked and frozen. It was sunny when I left the house but grim and wet by the time I got home.

I headed out to Richmond to try and get three laps in but on the second the weather came in, harsh, grey and cold, flipping my mood from "getting round at a reasonably fast pace" to "just want to get home and put the kettle on". I eventually did, but not without having to shelter under a shop awning to avoid the heaviest of the rain. Such are the joys of the English spring.

I was going to get out today but www.metcheck.com is predicting scattered showers so I am skiving indoors. I might pop out for an evening ride as it's meant to be drier later on. If not tomorrow looks promisingly dry for a longer ride into the Surrey Hills.

I've been reading Geoffrey Wheatcroft's Le Tour (which you can purchase from amazon.co.uk by clicking the image) to start filling in the gaps in my knowledge of the history of the event. It's a recommended read but I find that sometimes the chronology gets a bit lost as he moves from one year to the next.

One thing that has struck me is that for all the talk of how legendary Alpe D'Huez is as a climb and an arrivee, the Col D'Izoard has a much longer pedigree as a climb on Le Tour and is the one on which the quality of my Etape will be decided. I've lost track of the number of legendary names I've read of alongside words to the effect of "escaped over the Izoard" or the number of times I've told people that it is the one climb I am really worried about.

Looking at the profile of it on Kap's site (see link on right) the profile seems more unforgiving that Alpe D'Huez in that it doesn't ease off towards the top and there are some unpleasant looking stretches of 10% average to sting the legs just that little bit more. Hopefully adrenalin and tagging onto a suitable group will carry me through the worst of it.

Posted by Alex on 30 March 2006, 14:03 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks ()

A full four laps in the steady group, without getting dropped. Yes, we got lapped by two groups, although we may have unlapped ourselves from the second on the final stretch, but I made it round without having to do a solitary trudge to the cafe as i usually do.

It's a small achievement but one that feels oh-so-very good. With three months to go, I finally feel like I have a half decent chance of being able to make it round the Etape. Now it starts to get serious as I look to start working on climbing hills faster and generating more sustained power all round.

I'm pretty sure I can manage at least 110km already, or about 4 hours in the saddle at a steady pace. To aim for a decent time round the Etape I'll need to be able to do double that time in the saddle with the added pain of climbing for long stretches and relatively slow speeds.

I might go out tomorrow and take a longish run round the Surrey Hills if the weather holds out. Since Saturday morning I've been out on the bike three times and got soaked to the bone twice as a light shower turned into a heavy downpour with no sign of stopping. I actually don't mind getting wet, it's the wind and cold I can't stand.

Fortunately spring seems to have sprung, judging by last weekend's milder weather which meant that I could ride without my gloves on sunday as I pottered gently into town and back for a Mother's Day lunch. I'd forgotten how slim my handlebars and levers are without gloves on and how nice it feels to have a bit of air on the backs of the hands.

By my reckoning I've done about 110km since Satruday morning which puts me on target for a good week distance-wise as it's only Monday now. A midweek ride and a couple of shorter trips and I'll be ready for another longer session at the weekend.

P.S. You may have noticed a few extra links on the right of the page, I hope you find them useful and interesting.

Posted by Alex on 27 March 2006, 21:03 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks ()

As you can see the site has got a fancy new colour scheme to it, which I have spent the whole of yesterday tinkering with. Which is my excuse for having not written this week so far.

On Sunday, still suffering from Saturday's exertions, I decided to take it easy and head over to my girlfriend's via Highgate Hill West on a gentle 19km or so ride in the first decent sunshine of the spring.

I can only assume that the outbreak of relatively warmer weather - 9 degrees celsius instead of about 4 - persuaded me that the big hill would and could be easy, but go up it I did and was pleasantly surprised to find I only had to put my foot down once.

Now, in theory, I shold be able to scoot up 1km of average 10% in no time and without too much trouble, but it is one of those deceptive hills where I always go a little hard at the bottom and find myself tying up just as I get to the really steep bit.

Once I had got over this and conveniently blamed it on the weight in my rucksack, I settled into a steadier cadence and determinedly chugged my way up the rest of it, refusing to be unsettled by the very uneven surface under my wheels.

More importantly I didn't feel shattered by it and was able to get back into my stride almost as soon as I crested the hill. It did however remind me that I should get round to getting a 12-27 cassette on my other bike before the Etape to ensure I have a gear that I can keep turning over whatever happens.

With more sunny weather i popped out for what is essentially a constitutional ride of 50km on Wednesday. Again I was amazed at my lack of tiredness afterwards, which means one of two things: either I'm riding well within my limits out of laziness, or I am getting there gradually in terms of general fitness.

A couple of trips to town and back using the "hell for leather" training tactic for short journeys means I'm feeling quite strong this week. For those not familiar with the aforementioned technique, it involves taking a short journey of around 10km, such as my ride into central London, and riding it as harder as you can, allowing for traffic, red lights and other hazards.

If nothing else it gets you there quicker and feels fun. I'm another one of those strange types who enjoys cycling in amongst the traffic most of the time and relishes short sprints away from the lights and along fast moving bits of road.

Finally, my membership of London Dynamo came through, so I shall be taking things even more seriously for the next few months until the Etape is done and probably riding with them at least twice a week.

The question is do I chance my arm tomorrow with a medium-paced group and then drop back when I get shot out the back, or do I stick with the steady and try to stay in for the full four laps?

Posted by Alex on 24 March 2006, 18:03 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks ()

In my hurry to get out the door I managed to forget my membership cheque for London Dynamo but did remember to pack enough flapjack and drink to last me through the session and then four laps with my training buddy. Once again I managed to get dropped by the first group I went out with after a lap and a half. It's becoming such a regular occurrence that I've actually stopped worrying about it. It ensures that I am pushing myself harder than I would do on my own or in a group I can just sit in comfortably so that can't be a bad thing, right?

Sat up and tagged on another bunch of riders until the next group came through and I jumped in with them and then hacked my way along in the headwind, determined to get round without coming off the back of the last group. I don't think I was the last one into the cafe, so I have awarded myself a moral victory there.

I'm waiting on my new shorter stem (a 110mm rather than the 130mm the bike came with) which should make life on the Giant a bit more comfortable. I've become used to being low and long on the bike but on the last lap or two the backache really kicked in hard. I probably need to do some core strength work to help with that but a more relaxed position should help as well. I really don't fancy finding myself unable to keep going due to back pain and I'm guessing there's only so many painkillers you can take when on a bike.

My training buddy Rhyddid pointed out that Ron Cutler's excellent www.etape.org.uk/ has an update on the route for the course this year and information on where the possible time control points will be. It looks like there's going to be no slacking off and enjoying the scenery on the Izoard or Lauttaret as the controls are at the bottom of the descents in Briancon and Bourg D'Oisans respectively.

Tactically this means that the emphasis now has to be on getting over Izoard quickly and without stopping. One possible method is to make use of the possibilities offered by stuffing as much food as you can in your pockets, taped to the bike frame and tucking a bottle or two of energy drink into the your bibs, or relatively securely in your jersey. I've seen this recommended on the cycling plus forum I think, or at least the idea of stuffing a couple of bottles of Lucozade sport in the jersey.

Given the 500ml bottles are a nice thin shape i reckon this is quite a practical solution. Two or three of those round the back of the bibs, that can then be shifted round the front to fish them out, would mean not having to tuck into my bottles until the first hills and the approach to Izoard. which would mean not having to fill up both of them at the first control. A few flapjacks, a sandwich jambon beurre or two and I reckon the Lautaret should be one big moving picnique. Who am I kidding? By that stage I'm going to be sore and grouchy and cursing all and sundry while trying not to get swept up.

Posted by Alex on 18 March 2006, 23:03 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks ()

Due to of it's proximity to civilisation, the sodium glow of street lights spills into the park and keeps it from being too dark. With the patchy cloud allowing the moonlight through my little lights were virtually redundant other than to let others know I was there.

Some of the other cyclists I passed had a different view on what constitutes being visible and came tootling down the road lit up like the spaceship from Close Encounters, temporarily blinding me. Luckily this only presented a problem once when I couldn't see the joggers ahead of me. Runners in the park seem to feel no need to let anyone know they are there and seem to relish running down the middle of the road practically invisible until you are on top of them.

As for the deer, they seem to observe The Highway Code and look before they cross the road. It's a bit easier to pick out several hundred kilos of venison in your path that 70-odd of human but their vigilance was much appreciated as I came hurtling though a bunch of them trying to chomp my way through a rather tough flapjack.

I manged to get in about 40 miles in total and made use of the dark to get used to finding my bottle cage without looking and to try some eating on the bike. I'm not quite up to the level of hurtling along at pace eating but I have managed to find a suitable technique for unwrapping stuff without having to sit up too much.

I rest my forearms on the flat of the bar so I retain some control over the bike rather than trying to take my hands off and fiddle with wrappers. That way I find I can keep an eye on the road ahead and don't get so nervous as I'm fiddling with tin foil and trying to leave a trail of it along the road behind me.

Sunday is a trip to the Surrey Hills with Nick and Rhyddid and tomorrow is the usual training laps with London Dynamo. I'm getting a bit conscious of trying not to overdo it, which is a ridiculously quick change from a couple of week's ago. I guess fitting in the miles at one end of the week could be seen as block training.

Posted by Alex on 10 March 2006, 17:03 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks ()

This is how it always seems to go when I have time for training and a desire to get out there for the sheer pleasure of it. I might get out for an hour or two in the failing light now though.

Posted by Alex on 9 March 2006, 16:03 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks ()

Went out with the slow/steady group which got a little too fast on the third lap but that's longer than I usually last. I feel so much better for having put in that longer ride today as now I'm not fretting so much about where I am up to in my training and know that I can get a good long ride in before the afternoon on a Saturday.

I got a few twinges of cramp on my way round, mostly in my right calf and quad. I suppose I might have been a little low on electrolytes so might have to ensure I remember to pack something in future that's a bit salty to deal with it or I could just give myself a lick - when I got home and wiped my brow it felt like I'd been attacked with a salt shaker.

I was quite pleasantly surprised that getting round that sort of distance on the relative flat of Richmond Park only took about 4 hours. I'm not feeling too sore despite ending up in a chain gang of sorts trying to stick with the "rather quick bloke with one leg", who is one of the cult figures among Park cyclists. As one of the more experienced riders who had been out with the steady group said "If he had two legs we'd all be fucked."

About five of us got round at about 30kph for a lap or so, even into the headwind down the Roehampton side, and the other three laps were of an equally steady pace. I'm definitely feeling more comfortable with riding in group now although I still fret a bit about moving onto the front of a group for fear of clipping a wheel. As I understood it, it's up to the person behind to worry about what's in front in general but I do glance under my arm before I move in again.

Similarly I'm still nervous about reaching down for my water bottle in a group. We discussed this on our second lot of laps and it seems like the best thing to do is to grab a swig whenever you can, thirsty or not. So whenever the group is sorting itself out, eases up or is coasting. I live in fear of dropping it and taking down everyone behind me.

Rhyddid, who I've been riding with since January, reckons I'm doing stronger than I was at the beginning of the year but if he decides to attack he still leaves me for dead on Spankers Hill. I'm tryng to figure out whether I need to put in more leg strength work or whether I'm riding too hard on the flat and just don't have anything to spring out of the saddle with. But that can keep until April or when the longs come off. Next weekend it's probably the Surrey Hills on the Sunday after the regular Saturday morning.

And this week I might buy some bib shorts and a vest to complete my kit list. A pair of Lusso Coolmax bibs seems reasonable and Rapha may see more of my money for a sleeveless base layer.

Posted by Alex on 5 March 2006, 11:03 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks ()

In my mind I've already thought out my strategy. So long as I can average 30kph for the first couple of hours and then keep it steady up Izoard at around 10-12kph, then I should be OK for avoiding the broom wagon and getting a reasonable time. Lauttaret is just sitting tight and finding a wheel to keep me around 16kph - I'm not scared by 4% for an hour plus but I suppose that climb will be all about keeping it together and fuelled. Then Alpe D'Huez is everything and the kitchen sink in a death or glory attempt at finishing.

Does that sound like I've cracked already and am dreaming or a realistic strategy? I'll be trying to increase my mileage and intensity once this bitingly cold patch has passed but have I left myself with too much to do?

I'm also still having problems with blogger which aren't looking likely to resolve themselves so I am looking at switching to Movable Type at some point soon as well as switching my hosting ISP. At the moment I'm publishing to blogspot's hosting and keeping the site in a frame, which is not ideal really.

Finally, I'm unemployed as of Friday due to redundancy so I may have a week or two during which I can get back on top of the training with a couple of long rides and maybe a trip north to the Peak District. I wonder if I'll bump into David Millar if I do: he's meant to be using it as his patch for training.

Posted by Alex on 2 March 2006, 01:03 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks ()