A night in Scunny

Booked an unplanned night away with my family in a hotel just outside Scunthorpe, Brawton to be exact. Dinner, bed and breakfast to look forward to and I intend to make the most of it!

I'm planning to ride there and back, 84 miles each way. Here's the route I've planned...

Ok, maybe it's not very interesting until you look at that altitude profile at the bottom. On the left is a fraction of what I'm used to, in the middle is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and there's a couple of nasty looking kickers to finish with. No gradient = no standing up therefore all day in the saddle = sore arse I think!

Nutrition is my weakness

Or perhaps I mean gluttony.

Sometimes when I get home from work I raid the cupboard where crisps, biscuits and chocolate are kept. And when I say raid, I mean raid!

For example, last night I ate half an Easter egg, 6 biscuits, a bag of crisps to share (about 800 calories alone) and 2 slices of buttered fruit cake when I got in. This meant I didn't eat much tea! I hadn't ridden my bike yesterday either.

Now I'm as skinny as they come (I've seen mare meat on a butcher's pencil was a memorable quote from a funny Jock!) but I do have a gut and this is probably one of the reasons. I had blamed my parents for years for my pyjama bottoms being too tight as a child however slowly I've had to accept that eating crap is actually to blame! And beer.

Somehow I need to stop myself raiding that cupboard when I get home. If I was to lose the gut it would massively help the climbing.

100 days to go!

Today marks 100 days to go until LEJOG.

100 days, that's only 14 Sunday rides. And that means 14 weekends to go until summer is over which is a shame as it's not really started yet.

Can't wait but I hope the weather is better than it is outside today - it's chucking it down monsoon style. Still managed to make a commute though.

Sunny bank holiday ride to Middleham Castle

Had a free pass today as my Mother-in-law was down and spending time with Lesley and Amy. The weather forecast turned from monsoon rains to spring sunshine in less than 12 hours so I decided to do a hilly 80 miles to Middleham Castle via Pateley Bridge and Lofthouse and returning up Coverdale to Kettlewell, Grassington and then home.


There's some decent climbs en route, starting with the climb out of Askwith, then out of Blubberhouses, then a couple around Dacre before the route goes into the small market town of Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale.

The climb out of Lofthouse is a bit of a beast and the mouldy sign warns as such as you approach it!

I had a cappucino in Middleham (which is on day 1 of the TDF) and met a Scottish couple who were riding the Tour de France day 1 route over two days and had just got over the Grinton climb. They were really enjoying it and seemed to like milkshakes as they ordered 6 between them! I warned them that the A road between Ripon and Harrogate was going to be busy with a slight uphill gradient all the way. Forewarned at least is forearmed.

Middleham Castle, built in 1190 and once home to Richard III was right behind the cafe so I got a quick snap before heading off into Coverdale.

Even this historic site is embracing the TDF with a sprayed bike outside the main gate! Everywhere on the TDF route now you can see old bikes sprayed yellow.

The 10 mile ride up deserted (and beautiful for those in the right mindset) Coverdale will always be a grind for me, even on a lovely day like today. I just can't seem to get my head around it. At the other end was the descent into Kettlewell via the 25% Park Rash.

On the way back home from Kettlewell someone latched onto my back wheel with no introduction so naturally (for me anyway) I stepped up the tempo and we had some cracking blasts up the few remaining hills to home. When we eventually decided enough was enough at Bolton Abbey we had a good chat and it turned out he was an ex-racer and works for the same company as me! Small world.

Great ride through great countryside in great weather and I'm feeling strong on the bike so the training is paying off for sure. Riding in Yorkshire with all its climbs has to be good training for LEJOG. Pleased I don't live somewhere flat. 

Smoked salmon, pasta and plenty of veg for tea followed by a platter of cheese and biscuits. Can't wait!

Gargrave ride dodgy route planning

Had a few issues with a dodgy route to Gargrave today which took us off road on a rough stoney track for a mile that was rideable with care on a road bike...

It's been a more relaxed biking week this week

After the 144 mile Etape, this week has seen

45 mins in a hotel gym on Wednesday
10 miles on the bike yesterday
35 miles coming up today to Gargrave

That's definitely less than I needed to do from a training plan perspective but I needed a recovery week following that big event to allow my body to recover.

The Mark Beaumont book continues to be excellent. He's getting to the end of Pakistan at the moment and about to hit the chaos of Lahore. It's an amazing achievement for a 26 year old, especially when you think the planning started when he was just 23.

I intend to get some commuting done next week to start ramping up the miles again.

Etape du Dales 2014 - ride report

On Sunday 19th May I rode the 112 mile Etape du Dales 2014, including riding from Ilkley to the start in Grassington and back which made it a total of 144 miles, the longest day I've done on a bike yet. There was also the small matter of 11,400ft of climbing too which is equivalent to a mountain stage in the Tour de France so a big day out which gave me sore legs and a 36 hour headache afterwards.

Here's the route map

I quite like this 3d graphic that I found which shows the elevation profile of the ride's seven climbs...

And the 2d elevation profile for reference

I got up at 5am on Sunday, applied some suncream, bolted down a bowl of porridge, a pint of water and a strong coffee, filled up my water bottles and took off for Grassington just as the sun was rising at a steady pace. It felt a bit like riding out early morning in Majorca with the sun rising, the smell of suncream and a temperature allowing for t-shirt and shorts riding for the first time this year. Forecast for the day was sunny and 22 degrees C with a 7 mph southerly wind, the best day we've had this year I think.

I had left home that early in order to be back at a reasonable time in the evening. The race started at 6:15am and I think the last time available to set off was 10 ish. I started the event at about 7 after signing in and waiting to be set off (in groups of 20 every five minutes). I think there were about 900 riders for this event so the start was pretty full, even at 6:30 in the morning.

The first climb was Fleet Moss, one I've done many times so I knew what to expect. Steep at the top but no issues. Down in Hawes was the first feed station where I refilled my water bottle and pocketed some energy bars and gels. Then up Buttertubs where the Tour de France goes. There's nothing bad about that hill either, fairly steep in the middle and a sustained climb but it's ok. The views from the top and on the descent are amazing though. At one point there's a steep drop off to the right into a ravine that you wouldn't want to ride off.

There's also a hairpin on the descent and sadly one rider had misjudged it and was being attended to by a paramedic and ambulance.

The next climb, Turf Moor, caught me by surprise, a nasty short and very steep one that rears out of nowhere. Many were pushing but I managed to ride it by just keeping my pace and breathing under control. Shortly after that I met Red Socks who I'd meet again and again throughout the ride. We crossed a ford via the bridge and I picked a stone out of my cleat that was stopping me from clipping in and continued the long long climb up to Britain's highest pub, the Tan Hill Inn. It's bleak up there, even in the blazing sun.

Alistair's pre race pep talk had included getting into a group for the section into the wind, which was basically the entire second half of the ride in this case, so I set off from the Tan Hill feed station and caught two guys up. We rode together and caught another two up to become five and made a good pace uphill towards the Moorcock Inn which would have been hard work alone into the headwind. It's quite a long way but the time passed really quickly, only really made apparent when one guy turned up at the Moorcock feed station having ridden it alone saying how tough going it had been. Because the five of us have worked as a group we had sailed along, overtaking Red Socks on the way.

At the feeding station here one chap went to wash his sticky hands (sticky from the energy gels) under the water barrel tap, only to be told mid scrub that it was sticky energy drink he was washing his hands in!

The climb over to Dent from Garsdale Head was bad, steep and relentless with no time to digest from the feed station and by this time I had 90 miles in my legs. That was followed by another steep climb out of Dent during which I temporarily hit the wall.

I reckon I ate about 14 energy gels/bars during the day and they do not taste good. They are also full of caffeine so that might have contributed to the post ride headache - 14 cups of coffee, you do the math. On that climb out of Dent where I hit the wall and was going really slow and getting overtaken, I was also trying to keep the contents of my stomach at bay, but at the same time I knew that I needed more energy to get me going again. This was when I ate a bar of sawdust covered in crap chocolate that had been melting in my back pocket for eight hours. I couldn't swallow it and if anyone had made me smile (unlikely at that point in all fairness) then they'd have just seen a load of brown teeth. I had to spit the thing out, launch the remainder into the bushes then spend several minutes gradually swilling out with juice before I dared talk to anyone!

I caught another passing train of three which quickly became ten and that got me through Ribblehead and to the last feed station. I stopped here to fill up and grab some food and just as I was about to leave when a bloke from the first train to the Moorcock turned up and said hello. He was saying that he should finish in just under eight hours which would get him the silver time (over eight hours is a bronze). I hadn't been bothered about this as I just wanted to do the 144 miles and not die but it had been in the back of my mind for a bit and I was now up for the chase. We were just about to leave the feed station when he said he needed the toilet so I offered to hold his bike for him - my spontaneous act of selfless generosity cost me silver, I finished in 8hours and 44 seconds!!!

Not realising this at the time, I left him on the last climb and was invited onto the back of Red Sock's train as it flew past ("you may as well finish with us now Ilkley") where I just managed to hold on until a mile from the finish. I got stuck behind an Audi on the finish straight so that could also have been the golden 44 seconds!

Justin and Ash were unexpectedly there at the finish and I think I spoiled their afternoon in the sun by arriving a minute after they had laid out their rug, half an hour before I'd said I'd be there! We sat in the Rugby Club watching other riders drink pints and eat pie and chips while I faced the driest egg mayo sandwich ever and fought off severe stomach cramps.

I left them and rode the last 15 miles back home feeling relatively good. I was thinking that if I had to I could have done another 60 miles given a rest and some decent food.

I'm not sure exactly where in the ride it started but it was in the first half, one of the muscles in my left leg started giving me grief and I had to keep massaging it throughout the day to keep the pain at bay. I hope it sorts itself out.

What's the chances of getting a race number that matches the colour scheme of my bike by the way?!

Pretty chuffed with my achievement anyway. 144 miles, 11,400 feet of climbing, 11.5 hours out of the house!

Dealing with the mental challenge of cycling 1000 miles in 9 days

Alongside the physical training I'm doing for LEJOG, I also need to consider the mental side of things too.

I've currently got three plans for tackling that.

The first is to ride through all weathers in the hope that I become mentally tougher by riding through the hard times as well as the good. I tend not to be a fair weather cyclist anyhow but there are occasions where I make preference based on the forecast. I'm doing my best to use the forecast as a heads up on what I'm about to ride in rather than a tool for planning rides, although this only really applies to riding solo. I don't want to ruin someone else's day intentionally!

The second is to get into the head of a long distance cyclist to get a feel for how they prepare and deal with it. To do this I have just bought MarkBeaumont's book The Man Who Cycled the World (ok I'm not cycling the world unsupported but everyone has to start somewhere!).

So far so good, I've got to Poland and it's an engaging read and an incredible challenge. It's useful to read about the emphasis he put on sports massages, something I've not really considered yet other than knowing they have massage tents on Ride Across Britain. Might need to look into this during my training too.

The third is to stretch myself to find out what I'm capable of. This means back to back rides and long days in the saddle. I did my first major, and by major I mean over 30 miles per day for 2 days, back to back last month with this 2 day 187 mile ride to Scotland. I've also done a couple of 100 milers in the last two months, ridden 270 miles in one week last week (a HUGE achievement for me) and am planning to do my longest ride ever on Sunday at 140 miles which includes cycling to and from the start.

I'm no expert on this by any means and the ultimate test will always be LEJOG in September but so far this feels about right.

Langbar

Very lucky to have this 10 minutes ride from my house. Langbar.

I've got an unexpected entry to the Etape du Dales this weekend

I saw a post from Andrew Whiteside on Ilkley Cycling Club's Facebook page last night. He had hit a cat and broken his collar bone (that's hit a cat whilst riding his bike, not punched one in a bar fight). Poor fella had entered the Etape du Dales Sportive this coming Sunday and could obviously no longer do it so was offering his entry up.

After checking the weather for Sunday and seeing light SE winds and dry I decided to go for it and fortunately the ticket was still available, so in exchange for a donation to the Dave Rayner fund he has given me his entry. Andrew if you are reading this then thank you very much indeed and I hope you are able to get back on the bike soon.

The Etape is 112 miles of hard Dales riding with 9000 ft of climbing over 7 major climbs.

The climbs are:

1. Fleet Moss (from Wharfedale to Hawes)

2. Buttertubs (from Hawes to Swaledale and it's on the TDF route)

3. Turf Moor (from Feetham in Swaledale into Arkengarthdale which is new territory for me)

4. Tan Hill (to the highest pub in Britain)

5. The Coal Road (linking Garsdale station to Dent station)

6. Over Dent Fell to Newby Head (taking the route back into more familiar territory)

7. Stainforth to Halton Gill and home)

I'm looking forward to it for the riding and the scenery, especially up above Swaledale. It's supposed to be a beast and one of the top 10 rides to do in the country. It's certainly great training for LEJOG!

First Chain Gang Experience!

Just been out for a ride on the ICC Chain Gang, my first experience of a CG. I set out from my house a bit nervous and returned a couple of minutes later to get my helmet which I'd forgotten! Good start.

There were about 14 riders that met up at 8:30 at the Old Bridge for it. Thankfully Jonathan who I was talking to gave me the low down on how it worked, but started off by saying there's a lot of fast guys here and not many slow ones! Well I made up the numbers in the latter camp.

Basically the CG works like this. There are two lines of riders, left and right - right is constantly overtaking left so that when you arrive at the front of the right line having overtaken everyone on the left you pull to the left in front of the lead left rider. As more riders from the right overtake and pull in to the left one by one, it has the effect of spitting you to the end of the left line - at this point you pull to the right line behind the last guy (put a bit of power down to catch up) and start working your way up on the right past the left line again until you reach the front and pull in to the left. So the effect looks like a chain going round basically - when one rider from the front of the right pulls over to the front of the slower left line, another rider pulls from the back of the left to join the back of the faster right and it just goes on like that.

The idea is that you just keep going like this as the pace quickens and the fast guys put the hammer down! While you're drafting it's not too bad but when you come off the back it's a struggle to get back on the faster right hand line if the pace is hot.

I was very grateful for this crash course in CG'ing as I thought it worked the opposite way round (L faster than R).

The route was A65 to Otley, past Stephen Smiths garden centre to Pool bank, straight on to Harewood then left onto the road to Harrogate, left at the next roundabout to Pool Bank, right to Otley and home on the A65. A fast relatively flat route although I really noticed the slight change in gradients.

Out to Otley was quick with a tailwind but not stupid and we all kept together, but once we passed Stephen Smith's garden centre in Otley the pace heated up. I managed to stay with it for a short while along that road until my legs just couldn't keep up then four of us were spat off the back and formed our own mini CG to Pool. I was pleased that it was my legs that seemed to give way before my lungs, ex-smoker and all that. I can work on the legs.

I could still see the faster group ahead at this point. We continued to the Harewood junction in our four and turned left by which time the faster group were out of sight. I didn't know there was a hill there but I do now - it's just gradual but it's tough after the outward pace and it split the four of us up, me and a guy working together for a bit with two further behind. The whole group regrouped in the lay-by just after the left hand turn at the Harrogate Road roundabout and we set off again.

I stayed with the group to Otley, doing some turns in the chain and stealing a few breathers at the back, and out of Otley back to Ilkley on the A65. The pace heated up again and I was dropped just before the Burley bypass. I made my way back to Ilkley and picked up other dropees Jonathan, Sebastian and another chap with powerful looking legs en route.

One of the things I was warned about was when pulling in to the left at the front make sure you've cleared the front wheel of the rider you're overtaking. I was being really careful about this but between Harrogate and Pool Bank someone cut in too quick in front of me and buzzed my front wheel making me wobble to the left but I kept control thankfully. At 30mph on an A road with 12 people behind me the consequences of a crash don't bear thinking about.

A few of us went to the Stazione for a coffee at the end and it was at this point I noticed that I was in the minority with my hairy legs, indicating that I was amongst racers. I don't think it's time to shave mine just yet!

Strava shows an average of 19.9 mph for the 32 miles (shame I didn't get the round 20) which is a circular route average I could only dream of if I was out on my own in this windy weather.

That was a good introduction to a new type of riding and I will try and give it another go soon. It's got to be a good way to quickly improve speed.

What could a typical day on LEJOG look like?

Here’s the lowdown:

• 9.7 times the distance of Ride London 100
• 4.3 times the ascent of the average Etape Du Tour
• 3.0 times the duration of London to Paris
• 969 Miles
• 9 days
• 23 counties
• 3 countries
• 17,068 meters ascent
• 750 riders

What will a typical day look like?

As I understand it, each day I'll be waking up at 5am, packing my kit up into my bag and (hopefully in the dry...) going for breakfast, picking up clean laundry en route. I'll then be collecting my bike from the storage area where it's marked with my rider number and going to the start for about 7am.

The tent and sleeping mat which are provided at the event get packed away and loaded onto a van with my overnight bag and driven to the next overnight destination where they get set up for my arrival. 

There's then the small matter of 110 miles a day to cover, 130 on day seven. I might do 15 mph on a one off event such as a Sportive so with some brief food breaks I'd be looking at about 8.5 hours for 110 miles. This is different though. I need to pace myself here as it's the same for 9 days on the trot. Probably 11 or 12 mph is more realistic, so something more like 10 or 11 hours a day. That means if I leave at 7am I'll be getting in at 5 or 6pm. Bedtime is at 9pm. On a bad day it could even be 12 hours.

On each day stage there are two feeding stations and I've heard there are pork pies on them so that will do me if it's true.

On arrival in camp at the end of the day there seems like a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it! There are snacks to eat straight away, followed by booking a massage slot, storing the bike or handing it to Halfords to fix, putting the phone on charge and then heading off for a shower via the tent. The 'rule' is 4 minutes for a shower - try it, it's not long!

After the shower it's back to the 'gormet' food tent for tea via the drying room for wet gear then off for a massage (one every two days), drop off the laundry, attend the rider briefing for the next day then go to bed. Hopefully I won't have to join the queue for the first aid tent as apparently a small number of riders with nasty sores had to last year. Seems like a lot to get through before 9pm.

I like this from the Ride Across Britain site describing sleeping at John O'Groats from day 1 in 2013:

"With the sky remaining light throughout the night, a brisk breeze ruffling the tents and the inevitable nerves it is usually a pretty sleepless night, but by Day 3 it is amazing how they all seem to sleep through the nocturnal orchestra that accompanies 700 tired, well fed riders."

While we are on the topic of tyre patch jobs...

Here's one I made earlier (photo courtesy of +Dave Douglas-Jones) !

That's some bits of plastic between tyre and tube, some gaffer tape and the remains of the burst inner tube tying the parcel neatly together. Can't do that with rim brakes but in this instance it got us a couple of miles to the nearest bike shop (also in Settle coincidentally).

A grim ride but I was lucky

Just got back from a 70 mile round trip to Settle. After battling over to Settle in the headwind I thought the wind assisted run home would have been great...

...The reality was that there was a nasty gusty headwind for about 80% of the way back. It was wet too and I got lost a couple of times in the Barnoldswick area which was annoying and ended up on a couple of A roads for a bit. Cycling into strong wind is not fun at all.

It could have been so much worse though. Look at the state of my tyre! I think I was lucky today.

By the way, why do I never get lost in nice places either? It was a pretty rough housing estate in Barlick today where I finally admitted defeat and reached for Google Maps.

Tyre update

A few layers of gaffer tape inside should help it hold up today

1st mechanical since starting this blog

(punctures don't count)

I've got an egg in my rear tyre which is annoying as I only bought it a few months ago. Moved the tyre around and reversed the tube but it's still eggy and it's definitely got worse during today's ride which means it's got a limited lifespan left before it goes pop and I get stranded.

New tyre time but that won't be in til Thursday and I'm going to chance it on a ride tomorrow (I tried to post a video here but failed. Will try again another time and with any luck the video will be more interesting than a tyre spinning round, although it might not be). Either way, it doesn't take a genius to look at this picture below and say that ain't right!

By the way, 4 months today and I'll have finished my first day's riding on LEJOG!

Getting some good riding in at the moment

Just got back from an 88 mile tour of Spofforth and York castles today led by tour guide Nigel who doesn't just know his way around the county but also knows a thing or two about the region's castles and their occupants.

After the Helmsley ride last week I managed to get another couple of rides in bringing that week in as my record week for mileage to date, something like 234 miles. For comparison, a chap I met in Majorca who was an amateur racer with shaved legs put in 400+ miles every week. That's a LOT of riding and not a lot of family time. I don't plan on being a racer so don't need to do that much and I don't think it would go down too well anyway!

Helmsley Castle ride (missing out two more castles in error)

On Friday I rode 118 miles out to Helmsley castle with Phil from ICC, using a route downloaded from ICC's route library and loaded onto my new Garmin Edge Touring.

We chose the route since the light wind would blow us home and we hit on a cracking day, sunny with scattered cloud and warm. Can't ask for more really.

The route through to Helmsley was very scenic and after Fewston/Swinsty reservoirs was flat for a couple of hours until we reached Sutton Bank which rears up steeply towards Helmsley. This is where we stopped to take these photos of the Kilburn White Horse

From the top of there we rode past Riveleux Abbey and stupidly didn't stop to take any pics as it's a stunner. I think we were just in the groove and looking forward to lunch!

Lunch arrived exactly at the halfway point (after we zoomed past Helmsley castle without stopping to appreciate it's history) and Phil charmed the paninis off an Eastern European woman working in the posh Italian coffee shop when he asked for chips in his broadest Wharfedale accent. They don't do chips as it turns out but they do do very good coffee and pretty much everything else. As we departed she called out "I've pulled" and we promptly rode off in the wrong direction by accident!

So much for Garmins then, that wrong turn cost us our visits to Gilling and Creyke castles as we only realised we were (badly) off track when we reached Ripon for the second time that day. Never mind, Phil knows every nook and cranny of Yorkshire, he'll get us back. But he's evil and he led me into Nidderdale like a lamb to the slaughter for a serious stinger of a climb out of Glasshouse which was tough with 100 miles in the legs!

That completed a fantastic 118 mile ride and that last climb was quite good really (once it was done :-) ).

The best thing about riding lots is you can also eat lots. This was me on the verge of getting stretch marks after a big lunch in Helmsley! Great at the time but took a bit of concentration to ensure I didn't leave it by the side of the road shortly afterwards.

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