Having taken to Twitter as part of our webprint for the LEJOG trip, I came across an interesting article relating to What does your bike say about you? in Bicycling magazine. Now as Lee and I both have a Giant bike that was mentioned in the article this caught my interest. Sadly, the Trek and Boardman bikes (named after the scouse comedian apparently) that Richard and Mike have were not mentioned but this just gave me creative licence to make stuff up :-)
So what insight can I give you into our collective Psyches through our choice of vehicle?
Favourite post ride drinks should be beer for us Giant riders with chocolate milk a close second. Richard however is prone to a couple of pints of Magners after a long ride and Mike is forever after cups of tea before during and after rides.
Giant Riders are supposed to think the best thing about a hard climb is the glorious descent. As Mike is our very own king of the hills he actively appears to enjoy them and frequently flies past me at a rate of knots as I am slowing down on the hill. Richard on the other hand may go to other extreme, and often flies past me on the descent screaming "I love you gravviiitttty...."
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| "King of the Hills" |
So now to a sensitive subject. Shaving. We have had many a debate on this topic with Richard stating that we need to have our legs shaved prior to the ride to reduce the risk of infection. "Infection from what?" I asked. "If you fall off and get gravel and cuts on your legs". In that case I have a far better plan than shaving my legs; don't fall off. As you can tell from this interchange, it would appear the magazine's article is quite accurate when it reports that Giant Riders are "Overwhelmingly against" shaved legs on male cyclists. It would appear Trek riders are wholly supportive. Boardman riders are strangely non committal on the subject and I am not really that keen to press on the matter although our brief survey is 50:50.
Exercise classes
Mike returned to exercise classes this week and was seen at both bootcamp and cardio combat whereas Richard really went for it this week attending spin classes, cardio combat and both evening and morning bootcamp. He even received a special notice in the bootcamp Facebook group with the advice all people on a fitness regime love to hear that he should really make sure he eats a lot during the day if you attend two classes.
Personally, I am struggling with the Bootcamp due to the impact. Whereas my knee appears to be OK in spin classes and on a bike I struggle with the squats and lunges required in Bootcamp. You get funny looks when all around people are trying their hardest to perform Ski Jumps (touch both hands to the floor by your ankles jump three feet to the side and repeat) and you are slowly bending your knees and straightening back up again.
The looks were not aided by the fact that, to most people, I also appeared to be playing on my mobile phone throughout the class. This was not true. I was actually playing with the Garmin 800 that I was advised last week we desperately needed to help us with our route up the country (ahem). Having just taken ownership of it, I was trying to find a way to view my heart rate on the screen. I had at least realised that looking for cadence was not much use, and that the Sat Nav was unlikely to be very informative whilst I was stood still in a gym. I learn quickly.
Spin classes this week were still endurance rides maintaining our heart rates at around 75% of our maximum and pedalling at around 90-105 revolutions per minute for the hour session. What amazes me still is that due to the conditions on the bikes we are able to cover distances of around 20 plus miles in the course of this class as opposed to the 14-15mph we generate on the road. Can we do Lejog just on a spin bike or is that cheating? .....Pants.
Quotes of the week
There is a survey that says alcohol before a sporting even converts into a "super carbohydrate" (May need testing)
My Mascara has run into my eyes... (not one of the team)
Saturday Ride
This weekend we set off with the intent of riding from Wrexham to Llangollen and back. The route back was open to question as we set off as we had two options. One; get to Llan and retrace our steps back up the horseshoe pass and down through Minera into Wrexham or Two; carry on to Ruabon and back via Johnstown.
To put this into context the start of the graph below shows the elevation of the horseshoe pass. Route one would effectively mirrored this route after seventeen miles and repeated the 2,000 feet of climb on the way back.
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| Fold in half and imagine going again! |
Thankfully, due to a variety of reasons including proximity to Nia's Birthday party we opted for route two. At one point, there was also talk of missing the pass altogether and going on a more sedate ride but this was overruled. We had set out to do the pass and we were going to the Ponderosa for a cup of tea come what may.
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| Team debates the options. |
Our route took us into Minera (near to the highest village in Wales) before going along the Llandegla pass and then performing the final climb up to the Ponderosa at the peak of the map. We were actually quite impressed with managing to average around 12mph on this route given the significant climb and Richard took a whole twenty minutes off his previous time.
For the run to Llandegla we had the main road option or to go via an access path to the visitor centre. On the grounds of safety, the visitor path was chosen as whilst the roads are less "a touch gravelly" there is less traffic moving at 60 mph. One of the things I have learnt as part of cycling is some of the etiquette involved such as signalling with your hand if you take a line to avoid a pothole, drain, stick etc so those behind you can follow suit. The only way I could have done that on this route was to take both hands of the handlebar and wave like a demented duck as we dodged holes, puddles, sand traps and stray sheep dogs. All in the name of safety.
Now the more observant of you will notice, that we didn't go the steepest possible way to the peak and you would be right. Had we gone to Llangollen and climbed up the horseshoe pass we would have climbed around 1500 feet in about three miles. For another day.
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| Richard just about to reacquaint himself with Gravity at the peak |
However, we did have the benefit of descending the steeper route. And that is fun! Approaching forty miles an hour and a 90 degree left hand turn does require judicious application of brakes but it is exciting. This excitement is added to on the Horseshoe pass as the Welsh valleys descend away from the road steeply on your left hand side showing that there is a quicker, but far less advisable, way of descending. If you ever get the chance you really should ride this as the views are amazing and it is a real workout whichever way you approach it.
Even on this route or total climb was over 2,000 feet and we averaged around 13.6mph across the entire 31 miles which we are really pleased with. Retracing our path would have been tough!
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| Told you it was high. Horseshoe pass on a different day |
I did get one unusual experience on this ride that I was not expecting. I had often wondered what it must feel like to be Jenson Button when you approach a corner and find Lewis Hamilton thundering up the inside of the track on one of his more aggressive overtaking manoeuvres. One of your first thoughts must be, "how is he going to slow down to make the corner?".
How does this apply to cycling? Well, at the bottom of one particularly steep hill I started to brake as we approached the sharp bend we had been warned of, and I had warned those behind me of, when Barri suddenly appeared in the Lewis Hamilton position. Whereas Lewis has the full might of the Mclaren engineering team behind him which enables him to make the apex of the corner and accelerate away on regular occasions, Barri had just a normal front and back break which were not quite as effective.
Fortunately, he landed on the softest part of his body as the bike skidded away from under him and he continued with the 1,000 foot climb and the remainder of the ride for which we give him respect. However, this was a scary moment for all of us. Obviously once we realised he was safe then, like all good friends, we mocked mercilessly and he did at one point resignedly realise "you going to put this in the blog aren't you?" but we are really grateful. Lets hope he shaved his legs.
There was also one moment of elation felt during the ride as we approached the small village of Trevor. As you ride into Trevor, you go from a national speed limit zone to a 30mph area. As with a lot of rural villages there is a warning sign to inform you that you should have reduced your speed to 30mph. As we approached, this light came on and I felt a thrill that I was approaching 30mph at the late stage in the ride and only on a slight decline. At this point an Audi passed by extremely closely and spoilt my mood. Still on the bright side it was so close I got a mint from the glove box.
Of course, with the Garmin unit when I got home I was able to relive the ride online showing my cadence heart rate and altitude as we progressed around the course which appealed to my inner Geek...I am going to have some fun with all of those statistics. :-)
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