Last ride of 2011

In the spirit of Hogmanay (or New Year for those of you not in Scotland) I met up with a pal this morning for my last ride of the year. As you know I usually ride solo so the prospect of a long planned ride with someone else made me slightly nervous. I shouldn't have worried. Vic's company is good at work and also on the hills. The bike is no exception.
He usually commutes 10 miles each way to work every day, but one of my training runs is another thing. However I suspect that he was kind today and went slower for the fatty cycling with him. He wasn't so kind in the amount of of mud spraying off his back wheel but I think I got my revenge in that department. And we survived the wind; encouraging each other along.
We met in Pitscottie and we split on arrival in Cupar. Well done Vic on your longer than usual ride. My ride home on my own was much less interesting without the company.
We had great views of buzzards and a lovely sight of a heron flying over us. A good morning out and a great way to finish the cycling year.
Happy New Year to you all!

The ride

No light

One of my pet peeves is cyclists who go out in the dark or poor visibility with no lights. So imagine my embarrassment when I found myself to be one of those self-same people. I'm now going to excuse my behaviour.
It happened last night on the way home from work. I left for home with functioning front and rear lights. My route home includes a short steep descent down a ramp onto a cycle path. With the recent wind there's lots of twigs and other rubbish at the bottom of the ramp and, as expected, I didn't manage to avoid it all. Cue lots of twangs and other unpleasant noises from the rear wheel. No trouble though and the bike and I just kept riding on. At the end of the cycle path I re-joined the road and about 400 yards further on I suddenly became aware that my front light was missing! I could visualise my emergency flasher sitting at home. Doh!
Here's where I should apologise to all the other road users. I'm sorry. I did not dismount and walk the short distance home. I just decided to keep going. My only justification was that it was ludicrously quiet out, but I'm not sure I would live with that if someone else gave it as an excuse. I could add that my rear light was still working, and I had on a fair amount of luminous yellow and hi-vis strips. No, you're right, I probably wouldn't accept that either.
Having got home I put on my spare front light and retraced my path. Thank goodness it isn't a long trip, although I did have a good idea where it might be. And, yes, there it was at the bottom of the ramp on the cycle path. It was still on, although the battery cover had come off (that was harder to find). My guess is that I probably didn't clip it on correctly at work, and then it came off when I hit the cycle path (the join is not smooth). I also suspect that it was one of the things I ran over!
What surprised me most was the length of time it took me to notice that it wasn't there. Or on, for that matter. It does go to show that cycling without lights is easy to do in a built up area. It doesn't make it any safer, or less stupid, though. And that's an opinion I'm keeping.

Turbo torture

Winter may have kept me from playing in the traffic this last weekend but I still did some training. I'm beginning to understand the psychological pain of working out on a turbo trainer. For those not in the know a turbo trainer is a device that accepts your normal bike and lets you ride as if you were on the road. Some really sophisticated devices have connections to computers that lets you watch your own virtual performance on mock climbs in France and the like. The one I'm using doesn't have that but you can change the resistance on the wheel to make it more like an actual ride up and down hills. And, except for the fact you can't freewheel for any great length of time (less than 10 seconds), it's pretty good.
What isn't good is the boredom factor. I have set it up in my porch with a view down the street. I can now categorically say that my street must be the quietest in the world. Nothing happens! At least when I pedal around the countryside there are ever changing views, inquisitive cows, drivers to shout at and of course the occasional human being to talk to. Not so in the porch.
I was warned about the dullness by other people and through internet searches. But there doesn't seem to be any alternative. You want to ride your own bike as it is best for your body to get used to that position and that machine. It helps keep the bike ticking over as well. Playing music helps but somehow it isn't right. Music shouldn't be available as I ride and somehow it is slightly intrusive, not natural.
The training is governed by time and pain. In the absence of anything to look at, I find myself at the mercy of the training pattern. Believe me riding on a turbo trainer for any length of time at a steady pace is the worst thing you can do. So we break down the time into intervals of different riding, large resistance with a slow cadence to simulate hills, lower resistances with a spinning cadence to simulate the flat or downhill sections. All this and all you can really do is wait for the current interval to be over. Because you aren't going anywhere the easiest pattern is determined by time. Now this might be a mistake, because on a real bike it doesn't work like that. Generally speaking you can try to go faster to get it over with, or you can slow down and accept it will go on a little longer but the with a little less effort. Not so with time-based interval training. Not only have you set a time goal but I usually set a cadence goal as well. And that hurts.
On the plus side it is nice to ride your own bike and the turbo trainer gives a slightly better ride than either the exercise bikes or the spin bikes at the gym but at least at there something will be happening.
And we won't talk (this time) about the condensation and the sweat. I think I need a fan.
We will touch on the fact that on Sunday I managed to climb, spin and sprint my way along for an hour or so, and if you include the 20 minutes I warmed up for by spinning the cranks in a similar way to what I do on a longer road ride, then I managed 25 miles without going anywhere. And without wind resistance which is a benefit I must admit. Honours even I think.
I will come back to the topic of turbo training. Hopefully with some constructive programs and tips gleaned from my own experience. But probably more tales of pain, suffering and boredom.

Cycling on Ice

Today I learned that I can't ride a bike down an icy slope. At least I learned that if I try to I fall off. Luckily I wasn't going very fast and it didn't hurt. The slide down the slope having achieved a more-or-less horizontal position just added to the fun. And lastly I wasn't on the road bike either so I haven't damaged the precious thing; my town bike is made of much sturdier stuff I'm glad to say.

Cold and windy but gorgeous

Yesterday's ride was one of those where you feel the gods have smiled on you. After last week's no-ride weekend I was desperate to get out at the weekend. The weather was not great on Saturday so I decided that bike maintenance took precedence and so that left Sunday.
It was still windy, but less so than Saturday, but it was definitely colder. Once I had changed the turbo tyre to the road tyre I was ready to go, albeit with one fewer inner tubes. I hate changing tyres; it appears that I'm not talented at it. Hopefully skill will appear as I do it more often.
On the road the first few miles were tough as it was straight into the wind but I consoled myself with the thought that I'd end up coming home with it on my back. I was more correct in that than I knew. I got to Cupar alright and headed up the hill towards Craigrothie. I stopped just short of the top to take this picture of the snow dusting the Lomond Hills.

Lomond Hills

On the way into Ceres by the back road I was a little disturbed to see some frost and ice, so a change of plan was required. I decided to stay on the main roads, do a little loop of roads I'd already seen and then head for home from Cupar.
Once I'd done the loop to come back to Craigrothie I stopped for some more photos.

The road to Ceres - lovely downhill

Fife farmland

Hill of Tarvit

After photos a lovely downhill section into Ceres, the small climb followed by a lovely descent into Cupar and then the long road home. But as I predicted I got the breeze on my back from the hill above Blebo, and I enjoyed putting the hammer down and racing for home. 2 miles in less than 4 minutes is fast enough for me!

The Ride

Road User of the Day

This week's winner is definitely the lorry that took its time overtaking me on the hill from Cupar to Craigrothie. He made sure it was safe, gave me plenty of room and passed safely. All I want really. Thank you.

Idiot Road User of the Day

This award is shared this week by the two drivers who decided to pass me just before a bend on the way up the hill from Pitscottie. No thanks to these two.

Hoping for a nice weekend

After last week's very windy weather I am hoping for a better weekend this week. Sadly it doesn't look like we are going to get it. Apart from snow and ice (they will definitely keep me off the roads) wind is my least favourite weather component. It is both physically and mentally sapping and downright dangerous if it is really strong. It takes the pleasure away from the ambling around the countryside on the bicycle.
Turbo
Last Sunday I was desperate enough to pop the bike on a turbo trainer. What this blog hasn't touched on, so far, is the amount of non-road cycling training I do. Four times a week you will find me in the gym, mostly cardio work with a couple of sessions of weights as well. So I thought I'd be ok with the bike on a turbo in the front porch. I made sure I had drinks, eats, and music because I suspected it might be quite dull. I was right. Despite my best efforts, in changing resistances, cadences etc, to try and make it like a real ride it came down to 2 hours of pedalling in one place. I'm glad I did it thought and, if need be, that's where you'll find me again this weekend. I need to keep the legs turning over, and a bit of Status Quo never goes amiss.
Maintenance
The one downside of not going out on Saturday was that I decided to give the bike a thorough check over. I've now changed the chain and after examining the wheels I reckon I'm going to have to service the hubs. So, if it is really horrible this weekend, you'll also find me up to my elbows in tools and ball bearings. I hope there's nothing nasty going on in there. Just another thing to thank all that mud for....
Let's hope that next week brings another report of nice road miles, but I'm not holding my breath.

New roads

The rides over the weekend were nice for the amount of new road in them. On Saturday I also had to change my plans because of some low-lying mist that I didn't fancy cycling through with no lights. Making my route up on the spot and following my nose for once was a welcome change. If you look at the route you will see that at one point I ended up on a road I didn't mean to be on and I did a quick double back. I also had company for a couple of miles near New Gilston which was great as I wasn't feeling that good then but by the time we parted I was moving along much better.

I'd had trouble getting going on Saturday altogether and went out really because I needed to for training purposes. I guess the moral of story is; don't have a big curry the night before if you want to be quick the next day! But the meal was good.... If you're interested we had the aforementioned curry at the Chatni in Methven.

The rest of Saturday was lovely. I dropped down towards the south coast of Fife and then came back over an easy hill to rejoin well known roads just south of Dunino. By this time the sun was out and I was having a great time. Sadly time constraints meant getting off the bike and waiting for the next day.

Sunday's ride contained a self inflicted challenge. Strava indicates that there are two 3rd category climbs in Fife and having examined them I decided to tackle the easier looking of them. I wanted to see what was harder about it compared to the little climbs I had done already. My first challenge was to cycle to it. 25 miles saw me passed Strathmiglo, well warmed up, and onto the climb to Abernethy. I needn't have worried about the climb. At the bottom I put the bike into the granny gear and then spun the cranks all the way to the top. No discernible problems to speak of and the way down on the other side was great fun. More new road took me to Newburgh and then from Lindores to Collesie. Then a lovely back road from from there towards Cupar. Back onto known roads for the last bit home via Piscottie. I had enough in the legs to sprint for home over the last few (downhill) miles. I paid for that in the afternoon when my legs felt leaden. Great fun at the time though.

I'm rapidly running out of new road opportunities round here and I don't particularly want to put the bike on the car to go somewhere to start riding. That seems to be defeating the point somewhat. The only solution I can see it to ride for longer. Excellent!

The rides

Saturday

Sunday

Road User Awards

Having had a run of very good driving recently, this weekend saw quite a lot of bad driving. One in particular who decided to jam their van in between me and another cyclist on a mini-roundabout. The manoeuvre helped no-one. And when they turned into a car park just a few hundred yards on it felt even more ridiculous. Oh well, such is life. The best traffic related moment of the weekend came on the hill up from Strathmiglo when a pick up truck went by with two dogs in the back, both barking like mad at the cyclist. I was just glad neither of them decided to jump out. But it did give me a big smile.

Dry roads

The forecast for this morning was too good to ignore and, as I am taking a break from weights in the gym to help my back, I decided to go out. Despite the dark and thus dressing myself and the bike up like a Christmas tree it was great. The last few rides have all been on damp roads leaving me and my lovely steed rather dirty at the end of them. Not so much today. At the end of it all my overshoes were still black!

Speed

With it being a short run I decided to try and make it fast. I also needed to get to work so speed was of the essence for that reason as well. And, amazingly, I managed it. For me 23 miles at about 16 mph is good pace. One loss of concentration at the bottom of the hill from Dura Den to Strathkinness was not good and I gave myself a good talking to. I'm not sure I could have been much quicker in the flat and downhill sections, so I'll need to work even harder on the hills.

The Ride

Road User Awards

Almost all the drivers were great today and none were bad enough to get a mention. They all even dipped their headlights although one needed a little encouragement. Maybe they all wondered what the light show was coming towards them.

Same weekend - different days

The two days this weekend couldn't have been more different. First there was the weather. Saturday was sunny and bright; a delight to ride in especially in November. Sunday, on the other hand, was grey, dank and cold. There was a nasty south east breeze that made the second half of my ride very uncomfortable. Then there were the rides themselves. Saturday, because of time constraints, was on the short side although I lengthened my usual short training run and rode it in reverse. This avoided the steep hill at the end that I was none too keen on having tweaked my back earlier in the week (fixing a puncture on my town bike - typical). Then on Sunday I resolved to ride a long loop round north east Fife. So despite the weather out I went. You can see the results below. The good news is that my back survived both rides and feels much better for having been out. Sacrificing a couple of gym sessions did the trick.

Riding with company

I had a new experience during my ride today. Company. For a little while at least. A fellow cyclist caught up with me at the beginning of the climb to Gauldry. I assumed he would exchange pleasantries and ride on; he was clearly faster than me. But no, and the climb went by without me really noticing it as we chatted. Still assuming he would ride on I was surprised when he appeared to be happy to ride on with me. We were both heading towards Newburgh where our paths would diverge. It was with great pleasure that I rode with him for 11 or so miles. He extracted his revenge for my slowness for, despite his mudguards, I was well splattered with mud by the time we reached Newburgh. I need to get quicker and be in front.
So, whoever you were, thanks for adding to my enjoyment of training today.
For those who have never cycled with company I would highly recommend it. Especially, I suspect, if your companion(s) are slightly better than you. As long as they are willing to encourage then it is a chance to learn and test yourself. I also found myself pay less attention to the bike computer. With the result that I rode more freely, and a bit quicker than I might have done on my own. It also makes hills go more quickly, even if you are chasing someone else's wheel.

The Rides

The data from both rides this weekend shares an oddity. The Garmin GPS doesn't seem to have an accurate height for my starting position resulting in some odd height values. I think the differences are correct, so I'll have to live with that. Either that or some of Fife is below sea level. I think not!

Saturday

The shorter training run from the weekend. A slightly longer than normal route, and I tried to keep the speed up. I wish I could have ridden for longer, but that's life.

Sunday

After dinner out with friends on Saturday night it was hard to get up and go out for this ride. But go out I did and managed my longest ride to date.

Road User Awards

Not much to say here; no really bad driving to report. I would like to ask why it seems to be mostly BMWs that give as little room as possible? On the other side of the coin no great driving to report either. Lots of very considerate driving, which is always nice.
My own road user of the weekend has to be my Sunday companion as he was obviously cycling well within his own abilities in order to share the experience. Thanks again.

Such a nice day

Given that it was November it couldn't have been much nicer yesterday. A little warmer maybe but then the sunshine probably wouldn't have been there so I'll take what we were given.

Falling Off

Falling off shouldn't be funny (and isn't at any speed as I know to my cost) but an incident yesterday proved to be an exception to the rule. I was heading towards Hazelton Walls when I misjudged a small hill only realising about halfway up that I was going to need the small chainring. Never change down under load! I did, and the chain promptly missed the inner ring leaving me upright on a rapidly slowing down bike. I had enough time to get my right foot out of the clip but not enough time to stop me falling over to the left. Straight onto the wet, muddy and gloriously soft verge. Luckily, apart from some mud on me and the bike and my wounded pride, everything was ok. I put the chain back on and off I went, chuckling.
That's the first time I've not managed to get one of my feet free of the pedals in time to stop myself falling over. I'm sure it won't be the last but at least this time there were no injuries.

Scenery and a chat

I stopped above Chance Inn to give myself a minute of two off the bike, change my gloves and take my jacket off. I took the picture below of Chance Inn to show how nice it was out there and how nice Fife is to cycle round.

Chance Inn

While I was getting organised a cyclist appeared at the junction a hundred yards or so away. He looked around and then cycled up the hill towards me. All just to say hello as he was actually going the other way. A nice chat and then we were both on our respective ways. It is always nice to be greeted by other cyclists (and anybody else) but even nicer that someone went out of their way to say hi. Whoever you are, thanks, it brightened up an already good day.

A note about staying warm

As I said above, one of the reasons for stopping was to remove my jacket as I felt I was getting a little warm. That was a big mistake. As I set off again I became cold and I'm sure my performance suffered over the next few miles. Neither sun or hills made me warm again so above Largoward I stopped and put it back on. I felt warmer almost immediately and I think the cycling improved as I carried on. The observation is not at all scientific but I felt much better with the jacket on than without it even if I did feel a little warm at times. My recommendation is to stay warm. I did go from full gloves to fingerless mitts and appreciated the less sweaty hand experience. Maybe the change of gloves was enough.

The Ride

The ride itself was highly enjoyable. The climbs into Gauldry and out of Cupar turned out to be easier than expected and on the whole the legs felt good. The roads weren't too bad either although I tried to avoid the really small ones I thought would be covered in mud. As a note to myself the road down from Hazelton Walls to Rathillet should be avoided at this time of year. A true mud fest!

Fast...

... for me. Two bits of todays short run were notable for speed. On the climb up from Dura Den to Strathkinness I managed to beat my best time by 5 seconds! But for that time I did have a lower heart rate than my previous best. I'm hoping this might be a sign of better hill climbing.
Then on the run in from Strahkinness to St. Andrews I managed to keep the bike moving along at just under 25mph for a mile. On not too steep a downslope (i.e. I can get up it easily enough). You might think that's quite good until you look at this
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/bikeradar-editor-smashes-12-hour-time-trial-record-31324/

With an average of 25.46mph over 12 hours I think I can fairly say I have a long, long way to go.
Still, it was a nice morning and apart from the cold (2 degrees Celsius in Cupar) it was very pleasant. Not much mud either so I had a good time.

The ride

Road User of the Day

The car driver who took one look at me from about 1/2 a mile away and decided that it would be sensible for him to have lights on too. I must look like a Christmas tree from any distance. As long as I keep safe I'm not complaining.

Idiot Road User of the Day

The car that overtook me in Ceres with parked cars on the other side of the road and then held me up at the junction. Thanks go to the driver behind me at this point who politely waited even after we had both turned off up a side road.

Ride, clean, ride, clean....

Last weekend's training consisted of one ride only unfortunately. Despite that I still had to spend a disproportionate amount of time cleaning the bike afterwards. I guess it is the time of year and the fact I live in a rural landscape but the amount of mud on the roads quite astounding. And potentially very dangerous. As a novice roadie I find it very difficult to have any great confidence in staying upright when my wheels are slipping through the brown stuff and I end up cycling very carefully when there is the slightest trace of it on the road.
On Saturday I didn't help myself as I decided to go down a little loop I hadn't done before. Bad move. Muddy roads and a whole pile of dog walkers' cars meant I had a slow and frustrating mile or so. The hill that came after (the reason for the new loop) was steep and long but thankfully free of traffic and mud so it wasn't too bad. Maybe I'm just getting better at hills.
Sadly it all added up to a bike that looked like this at the end.

The picture above was the aftermath of a ride from a couple of weeks ago after which I fitted mudguards. And while they keep me relatively free of mud and water I can't say the same for the bike. It still looked like this on Saturday. But at least it is clean now.

The ride

Road User of the Day

This entry wouldn't be complete without mention of some of the most considerate driving I've been lucky enough to witness. I was coming down into Ceres from Cupar and the white van behind me followed me all the way through the village, only overtaking me on the way out when it was really safe to do so. So many thanks to the driver of the van for A G Thaw, joiner.

Idiot Road User of the Day

I could easily give the reciprocal award to the two drivers overtaking me on the way from Pitscottie to Blebo Craigs but instead I'll give it to the real idiot. Me! Coming up to a junction I completely missed the second car coming from my right. Luckily I was going slowly and had unclipped one foot in preparation to stop. So a quick use of the brakes and all was ok. I guess I probably still gave the driver a fright though. I am truly sorry.

Cycling in the dark

The title of the post is meant literally in this case. I wanted to try out my new lights (upgrades from my about-town lights), so the bike and I went for a wee spin this morning. I'll admit to being nervous because so far all my real road riding has been done in daylight hours with the occasional flashing rear light being employed for peace of mind. My anxiety led me to load up me and my road bike with

• the new front light,
• my about-town front light in flashing mode,
• my new rear light,
• head torch on the helmet,
• about-town rear light in flashing mode on the rear of the helmet,
• high-viz jacket,
• high-viz detailing on my leggings and overshoes.

Over the top? I don't think so, and hopefully I could be seen for miles. Certainly the majority of cars dipped their headlights for me, and whether that was out of courtesy or because I was beaming back loads of light at them I don't know. I'll need to get a pal to drive past me and then give me a report.

From a riding point of view I found the combination of front light and head torch very useful although I could probably do with a little longer beam of light for the downhill sections. The strange thing was that I felt safer when it was pitch black than I did when it started to brighten up. Certainly it is easier for me to see vehicles when it's very dark; the headlamps and their light gives them away.

The ride itself was nothing special, but it has given me the confidence to go out and do it again. The temperature will need to be right though. I'm not at all sure about popping out onto country roads with the possibility of frost or, worse, ice.

The Ride

Technical Details

For those of you who are interested the new lights are

• Front - Hope Vision 1
• Rear - Cateye TL-LD1100

Cycling, a challenge and a blog

Welcome. Whether you've come here by mistake or have picked up the link and decided to have a look, thanks for dropping by. Let me start by introducing the reason for this blog.
A little while I ago I started cycling again. With a little experience under my belt I decided that I needed a challenge to keep my interest up. And, as an experiment in blogging, I have decided to write about my training for it. I'm not saying that everything here will be cycling and challenge related but that will be the major thrust.

My personal challenge is to cycle across mainland Scotland, from the west-most point to the east-most in 2 days. That works out as cycling from the Point of Ardnamuchan to Boddam, south of Peterhead, approximately 240 miles. An approximate route is shown below.

View Scotland C2C in a larger map

The absolute details have not been finalised yet. Now all I have to do is get fit for it. I'm looking forward to the experience, both getting fitter and the blogging. I hope you will too.