4 Rides, another 158 miles

Tues 22nd - Croft, good average
Continuing in the spirit of easing off a little this week i did another relatively short ride but upped the pace since i will be resting for 4 days after today. Cheshire Cat sportive on Sunday

Stats - 23.3 miles, 1h 17 mins, 18.06 average, max 30.35mph, Heart rate max/average 177/151bpm
1239.50 miles for this year


Mon 21st - Partington and Lymm with my buddy
The final week of training before i ride a century in the Wiggle Cheshire Cat on Sunday. My intention is to take it easy so i will be recovered and fresh to ride at weekend. I put my bike in the car and drove to Sale to have a brew, a ride and a chat with my mate. We rode up Carrington spur to Partington, through Lymm and on up to Lymm Dam, left along the A56 Higher Lane, left onto Burford lane B5159 then right on Paddock Lane A6144 back to Sale. A lovely bright and dry day with no wind.

Stats - 24.9 miles, 1h 34 mins, 15.85 average, max 29.68mph, Heart rate max/average 180/124bpm


Thurs 17th - Rivington, solo
I felt the call of the hills today and wanted to do a good workout on my legs so headed fom home to go around the old lags ride at Rivington. The old lags had already left a couple of hours previously so i had to go on my own. It was a tough ride probably because the weather brought my mood down, windy, wet roads spots of rain. I pushed whenever i could bet never really felt strong although considering the amount of climbing involved on this route my average wasn't too bad at all.
Overcast, wet and breezy, hard work today

Stats - 51.05 miles, 2h 58 mins, 17.18 average, max 35.3mph, Heart rate max/average 171/148bpm


Tues 15th - LRC club ride to Knutsford
Lancashire Road Club 'recovery' ride today. Wow, some recovery ride. 8 of us rode 26miles to Booths at Knutsford for a food stop averaging about 17mph. Then the group picked the pace up a lot coming through Hollins Green and Culcheth, belting through the villages at 24 mph my heart racing in zone 4.5 or about 170bpm. We got to Leigh and 2 racing lads started to break away from the rest of us. I didnt want to miss the opportuninty to stay with them so i sprinted hard from the main pack, 32 mph and caught them up. Just 3 of us now as the rest of the club disapeared behind us, unable to keep up. A very tough and fast final 4 miles home keeping up with these two. A great workout though and am very pleased again that they never managed to drop me.

Stats - 59.43 miles, 3h 20 mins, 17.81 average, max 36.6mph, Heart rate max/average 185/144bpm

Croft speed run - A new personal best

3 strong coffees, 3 rounds of toast and an energy gel is what my power breakfast consisted of today. I've also fitted my TT bars as the time trial season begins in April and i want to give my body some time to adapt to the head down position. The advantage to the TT bars is that they make your position more streamlined and your speed will increase by an extra 1-2mph for the same effort. Mine are a low end aluminium one piece bar called Profile Century and cost around £40.

Profile Century TT bars

My run today was my relatively short route around Croft of 23.3 miles. I fancied a short run today as i am going out with the Lancs Road Club tomorrow for athe STRAW ride which will be a much longer 65-100 mile ride. I thought best to take advantage of those coffees and my TT bars and see what i can do today.

A beautiful clear day, bright blue skies, temperature 8 deg with a gentle notherly breeze of 6kph.

I sprinted out of the estate, down through Astley to the East Lancs A580 cycle path and rode East towards Lowton. After only 2 miles and powering along the flat at 24mph i reach the incline of the bridge that crosses the Bridgewater Canal and spot another cyclist halfway up. I see the chance to show off and put more effort in to try to keep the speed going up the hill. With my heart rate showing 178bpm i fly up the hill and past the other rider at 22.5mph feeling fine apart from a now recurring pain in my left knee whenever i have a tough climb. The pain feels like a knitting needle being passed through my kneecap, is quite intense, usually lasts for the duration of the effort and for about 5 mins afterwards. It causes me to ease off the power with the left leg and compensate with the right. I will have to get it looked at. I sped on down the other side of the bridge, bunny hopping the kerbs and traffic island at Morley's Lane at 22.5 mph only slowing down for the traffic at Greyhound Roundabout. 3 miles later i turn left at the lights at Kenyon Lane showing an average of 20.5mph and speed off into the quite country roads around Croft and Culcheth.

     There was little wind around the circuit and i realised i could now quite easily work at a rate right in the middle of zone 4 or 172  bpm without a conscious effort where previously i struggled to stay in Zone 3. I emerged from the country road section and back onto the East Lancs showing a distance of 16.5mles and an average of 19.1mph. Powering back down the cycle path for the 7 mile run towards home now keeping on the TT bars as much as possible and slowing occasionally to allow my body to flush the lactic acid thats starting to build up in my quads. Im pleased watching the heart rate monitor to see that im working constantly and efficiently at a rate of 170 bpm or around 82-89% of my maximum heart rate without feeling totally wasted, i still have reserve if i need it. Turning off the cycle path at Higher Green Lane i then turn right at the Bulls head pub and join Church Road, an incline of around 4% initially and about 3/4 of  mile long. 15.5 mph up here and around the bend to join Henfold Road and Hough Lane where the roads incline increases dramatically to around 9%. I always like to push hard up this final portion as it only lasts about 30 seconds. 20mph up this final portion with my heart rate showing 184bpm.
   A really good speed run today which showed me how much stronger my legs have got since January when they weren't strong enough to get my lungs working hard.
Stats - 23.3 miles, 1h 14 mins, 18.9 average, max 29.17mph, Heart rate max/average 184/165bpm
1080.85 miles for this year

32 miles hilly route

I should have gone out training yesterday but the wind was so strong it was blowing wagons over on the flyovers. It was still a little windy today but not dangerous like yesterday so decided to go for a hilly route. I rode through Atherton - Westleigh - Hindley - Wigan - Uphill for a couple of miles into Standish then i turned right to go down the hill towards Red Rock (a steep uphill). This hill starts out at 10% then evens off to 3 or 4% and is also about 2 miles long.  At the top of Red Rock i carried straight over the give way to Blackrod then joined the A6 to Over Hulton and home. All the time trying to keep my heart rate at the high end of zone 3 and above 150bpm. A good ride with a good average speed and my quads are starting to get sore too now.

Stats - 31.7 miles, 1h 47 mins, 17.66 average, max 34.7mph, Heart rate max/average 175/153bpm
1057.48 miles for this year

Lancs Road Club - Straw Ride to Lytham and back

Tues. 8th March
I last rode out with the STRAW lads (Steady Training Ride All Welcome) on August 31st 2010. Thats when i discovered too late that i wasnt as fit as i thought i was, i bonked and had to get the train home. I still covered 75 miles that day though. Back in August i really struggled to keep up with this group. They tend to ride 60 - 100 miles at an average of 17 -18 mph which is quite quick especially for this distance. I remember the outward portion of the ride was a real lung buster for me and on the way back i was completely wasted, couldnt keep up and got the train home for the final 25miles.
That ride was one of my motivating factors for getting fit again this year. I knew i could ride with them if i kept my training up. So since January 1st i have been getting 100 miles a week in training, gradually increasing the intensity and today it paid off.

Stats - 65.7 miles, 3h 42 mins, 17.7 average, max 33.7mph, Heart rate max/average 184/142bpm
1025.78 miles for this year

Thats me, far right with the black arms

This is a summary from the LRC message boardBrian Little, John Carey, Dave Dewhurst, Graham Townshend (who last came out with us in September – he is going a lot stronger now!), Pete Walkington and myself set off for Lytham via Adlington – Yarrow Valley Way – A49 and to the Avant Garden Centre to meet Brian Gore, John Higham and Ben Simons (Dee Hall to meet Linda Gore for the Ladies STRAW run also to Lytham) – Fowler Lane (where we stopped for a group photo and where the girls came past us) – Preston Marina – Inskip – Kirkham – Wrea Green and to the Upstairs Downstairs café for lunch. After about 20 minutes the girls arrived.

(I had beans on toast and a large coffee -£ 5.40)

Home straight down the main road to Preston (with a great tail-wind) - Strand Rd – Broadgate and over the Old Bridge – Penwortham – A49 (where Brian Gore and Ben Simons and John Higham left us for Parbold, Ormskirk and Skemersdale, respectively) – Brockhall Village – Yarrow Valley Way – Adlington and back to the Beehive (John Carey home to Astley).

A lovely early Spring day, blue sky with light cloud and sunshine but with a strong and blustery West wind and still a bit cool in the morning.

Dee and Linda did 63 miles at an Avg Speed = 12.6 mph



At the cafe Stop in Lytham



Week begining Mon 28th Feb

Feb 28th  Wandering roung Wigan and Warrington. I needed 36 miles to reach my monthly target of 433 miles so being the last day of February i decided thats at least what i had to go and do. I took it easy really just concentrating on getting the miles in.  Stats - 36.92 miles, 2hr 19 mins, 15.89 average, max 27.65mph, Heart rate max/average 164/139bpm  

Mar 1st  Rivington Hills. I rode out to the Beehive at Horwich intending to meet up with the faster STRAW riders of Lancashire Road Club (of which i am now a member). I thought they met at 9.30am, so when nobody turned up after 10 mins i set off for a little ride arond the hills of Rivington. When i checked the club website the next day it turned out they didn't meet until 10am, so I left before they arrived. Stats - 16.51 miles, 1h 03 mins, 15.59 average, max 33.72mph, Heart rate max/average 178/146bpm  

Mar 3rd  Old Lags Rivi ride.  I took my mate along to introduce him to a club ride and thought the old lags ride would be fine. My fault for not realising that my mate hadnt really done any hill training and the many steep hills on this route quickly wore him out. We lost the club after only 2 miles when my mates chain came off. It took us a further 6 miles to catch them up and we managed to stay with them for a further 7 until little by little they edged away and disapeared. Luckily i had the route saved in my Garmin 705 so we could follow their exact track. We met the crew again at Rivi barn for a brew and some well earned scran. My mate did well to complete the run, he even volunteered the steepest route back to the car which was over Sheephouse lane at Rivington, 15% and he never got off once. Stats - 33.64 miles, 2h 38 mins, 12.71 average, max 34.64mph, Heart rate max/average 170/132bpm  

Mar 5th  Croft speed run. Decided i needed a fast run today and set out to test myself on my usual training run around Croft. The wind was directly behind me for the first 7 miles along the lancs to Lowton and I was averaging 22.5mph. As i turned into the country roads around Croft the wind direction was a bit 50/50 because of the twists and turns of the roads but after a further 7 miles emerging back on the lancs I was still averaging 20.5mph. Directly into the wind now for the 7 miles back home and i really struggled to keep my speed up above 16.5mph although my heart rate was still in the high end of zone 3 or 150-166bpm. I pushed myself  all the way home against the wind and beat my record for this year on this route. Stats - 23.35 miles, 1h 16 mins, 18.38 average, max 30.48mph, Heart rate max/average 175/155bpm  

110.42 miles for this week and 960.08 miles so far this year.

3 more rides

Mon. Feb. 21st   Rivington 30.17 miles, 1h.51 mins, 16.2 average, max 40.15mph, Heart rate max/average 175/154bpm   Total 849.66

Tues. Feb. 22nd   Croft. 23.3 miles, 1h.21 mins, 17.1 average, max 25.30mph, Heart rate max/average 170/146bpm

Thurs. Feb 24th   Lymm 35.03 miles, 2h.01 mins, 17.2 average, max 27.96mph, Heart rate max/average 178/141bpm

Southport and back 66 miles

Well i didnt manage the 30 mile run yesterday as i felt i had pulled a hamstring and decided to rest it for a day. So today meant i had to double up on mileage to make up for it. I set off for Southport at 09.30 staying on the A577 through Atherton, Hindley, Ince and into Wigan then the A49 uphill for 3 miles into Standish. On this route there is about 13 miles of main road cycling before turning onto country roads for 20 miles into Southport. While whizzing down these country lanes feeling very fit and fast 'cos my average speed said 18.7mph i realised with a sinking feeling that the wind always blows towards Southport giving a great average then destroys me on the way home. I thought then it would be best to pace myself on my heart rate rather than average speed. So on the way there i was flying along on the flat at 23mph and my heart rate at 160 bpm with the wind behind me. On the return my speed dropped to 12 -15mph with the same 160bpm heart rate but with the wind against me. I was happy knowing that i was working hard rather than disapointed that i was travelling slowly. I got to Southport after an hour and 47 minutes and took a couple of pics of something i have never seen there in my life before. . . . . the tide was in, Southport actually has sea. I pressed the lap button on my Garmin 705 so i could record details of the out and back journeys separately and set off for home again.

On the way back after 46 miles i stopped at the Marina Cafe at Rufford for some energy in the form of a large strong coffee and some jam on toast for £3.05. A very popular cafe for cyclists on Station Road B5246. I stayed only 15 mins, just long enough to finish my treat then on my way again arriving home 20 miles and an hour and half later.

Total Stats 66.40 miles, 4h.03 mins, 16.3 average, max 32.49mph, Heart rate max/average 179/157bpm
Outward  33.03 miles, 1h 47 mins, 18.42 average, max 32.49mph, Heart rate max/average 179/158bpm
Return    33.37 miles, 2h 16 mins, 14.68 average, max 30.53mph, Heart rate max/average 179/157bpm

Training Tuesday 15th, Wednesday 16th

I made Tuesday my hilly/power training ride and went 34 miles around the hills of wigan and bolton. Staying on the large front ring up the hills giving a slow cadence (pedal revolution) to develop muscle and power. It was quite a windy day with some strong crosswinds almost blowing me into the bushes and against me on the return home brought my average speed right down. It was a tough ride making my quads and hamstrings start to ache only an hour later and on through the next day.

Stats. 34.11 miles, 2h 10 mins, 15.70 average, max 35.1mph, Heart rate max/average 175/146bpm

In my quest to complete at least 100 miles per week I realised i need to do another 190 miles before next Friday 25th. That would be the end of the month for me as i fly to Amsterdam with my Fiancee to celebrate our 2 year anniversary. So to leave me 100 miles for next week i still have to do 90 miles by this Friday, since i dont usually cycle at weekends. I figured 30 miles each on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday would give me the 90 i need.
      Anyway 31 miles done today around my usual training run at Croft. At a relatively easy pace since my legs were still sore from yesterdays hills. I was quite suprised that i kept my heart rate in zone 2 (averaging 135bpm) not racing and not out of breath at all and still managed 16.5 average. 6 weeks ago that pace would have been hard work. 1 down, lets see if i can repeat that on Thursday and Friday and maybe step it up a bit if my legs are ok.

Stats.  31.02 miles, 1h 52 mins, 16.5 average, max 27.7mph, Heart rate max/average 167/135bpm

Racing mini me around Croft again

I set my Garmin 705 to follow my 23.5 mile Croft route that i last completed 10 days ago at 18.03mph average. I warmed up for 10 mins by stretching and stair climbing at home before i left. I knew the places on the route that i had to work hard where i might be able to make up time, such as sprinting away from home instead of meandering out of the close, pushing hard up every gradient and getting up to speed quickly after a stop at lights. I worked hard and was still over half a mile in front of mini me with only 5 miles left to do. My legs started to feel heavy as i crossed the Greyhound roundabout towards home and i could see the lead i had was slowly diminshing. Getting to the final hill at Sale Lane with only a 250 yard lead i gave everything i had and powered up the hill at 22mph increasing my lead to 1200 yards. I just beat mini me by a small margin but i also noticed that my max and average heart rates have improved over last time too.

Stats 23.35 miles, 1:17:36 Time, 18.05 average, Max speed 30.80mph, Max/ave heart rate 176/160

Thursday 3rd and Monday 7th training

Thursday was a nice bright mild day although a little breezy. I needed to put some miles in because i knew i would be having the weekend off from cycling. I decided to head for Jodrell bank which i guessed to be about 30 miles away. I headed out towards Culcheth, Hollins Green, Warburton bridge and heading towards High Legh i caught another cyclist. Dave was an ex racer who's new years resoluton was to get fit again this year. He was heading to pickmere but stuck around and showed me the route all the way to Jodrell Bank. Nice fella, i was glad of the company and the chat. Dave  headed off from there towards home in Didsbury going through Wilmslow. So 35 miles back home on my own through some beautiful countryside but occasionally against the wind which had picked up quite a bit. A good ride of 67.8 miles fuelled by a strong coffee, a banana, an energy gel and some Go Electrolytes sports fuel in my bottle.

Stats 67.84 miles, 4hrs 19mins, Average 15.66, max 29.78, Max/average heart rate 174/149bpm

Monday 7th was very windy and too dangerous to head out on the bike so i tried some indoor turbo training. I managed only 30 minutes of intervals including 5 mins warm up and 5 mins cool down. I would push hard for 2 mins increasing my heart rate until for the final 45 seconds it reached zone 4 or 172bpm. Then i would ease off until my heart rate dropped to zone 2 or 133bpm which happened to take around 2 mins, then repeat. Only a short workout but i found my first indoor interval session quite hard.

45 miles around Rivington

Yesterday was a lovely mild, dry and sunny day. Too good to waste by not riding my bike. I headed out for the hills about 11am intending to give my legs a good workout.
For the first 25 miles i could work hard keeping my heart rate in the top end of zone 3 or 80% or 160bpm and my average speed was just over 18mph. Thats when i hit the hills of Belmont and although i was working just as hard my average speed by the end of the ride had dropped to 15.8mph. I had a good ride even passing a couple of other riders on the way home and paused to take some pictures too.

Ride stats 45.19 miles, 2h 51 mins, 15.84 average, max 39.1mph, Heart rate max/average 181/149bpm

Croft again - Speeding it up

Im up to around 500 miles of base training so far this year and so i feel the need to start pushing a bit harder. A motivation for me to push harder and ride faster is a saying i heard . . .  'Train slow and you ride slow'. An example could be a guy that rides his bike to work everyday at the same 14mph average never stressing his systems will never be a fast rider although he rides everyday. 

Garmin 705 Virtual Partner

I have a usual training route i use around Croft, Warrington of about 23 miles. The route and statistics have been saved as a course in my Garmin Edge 705 bike computer/sat nav. I can call this course up or any other that i have ridden such as the 'Old Lags Rivington ride' and race against a virtual partner that rides at the stored rides previous pace.
Yesterday, Sunday i went out for my usual training route around croft and loaded the course i had saved with an average speed of 16.1mph. So i knew to beat the virtual partner i had to go faster than that for the 23 miles. Most of that previous rides heart rate was in the low end of zone 3 (144-164bpm) and averaged 147 bpm and so it was hard work this time out with my heart rate spending an hour in zone 4 (164-185bpm) and averaging 165bpm. As a result i could fly along at 25mph until lactic acid built up which made me slow down again to about 16-17mph then after a minute or so i was off again. I guess it resembled an interval training ride rather than a constant pace higher 'Tempo' ride. I beat the virtual partner (mini me) by almost 3 miles and knocked 10 minutes off the previous rides time. It was a good training ride and i feel that i worked hard and achieved something since my quads are still aching today.
Stats  were -     miles 23.34, time 1hr 17s, Average 18mph, max 32mph, Hr av/max 165/177 bpm.

Base Training - My Understanding

My understanding of base training is that you train at a relatively easy pace in order to improve particular body systems. Keeping your heart rate within a certain range typically of around 65% to 75% of maximum for 90 mins or more each time is said to improve aerobic capacity, endurance capability, promotes fat burning for fuel instead of glycogen/carbs and provides a firm foundation from which to launch harder and faster efforts later in the year. Base training stimulates slow twitch muscle fibres (endurance) and enables them to work using less oxygen from the blood. This type of training is also said to build the heart muscle enabling more oxygen rich blood to be pumped to the muscles with every beat. Other claimed advantages are that you will extend your time to glycogen depletion by as much as 75% meaning you can eventually train harder and faster for longer before you 'bonk' or 'hit the wall'. 'Bonking' happens when your body has used all its stores of fuel that it can convert quickly to energy, namely glycogen. Your body then switches to burning fat which takes longer to convert to energy so as a result your body makes you slow right down while it does this - the 'bonk'.
There are numerous schools of thought on how long to perform base training before ramping up the effort to improve your speed. CyclingInform.com states that 2 months is about right, which is probably around 1000 miles. Cptips.com quotes a 500 mile base training period http://www.cptips.com/preseas.htm.
 All of them say to revert to base training again at the end of the season, typically winter months in order to see continual improvement over the coming months and years. This is because our bodies have an amazing capacity to adapt to the training stresses we impose, and so if we train the same way all the time, our bodies adapt and we don’t see continued improvement.

Further reading on base training is an excellent book by Thomas Chapple, available from Amazon for £13.50.

Lancs Road Club - Old Lags Ride

Old Lags Ride 33 miles

Out today for a 33 mile ride over the hills around Rivington with Lancashire Road Club. The weather was terrible, it rained the whole time. It was raining before i set off to meet them and in the past cloudy skies would have been enough to put me off training but we have so much crappy weather that last year i hardly trained because it was just so easy to blame the weather.
    I had a good ride and can really tell i'm getting fitter as i climbed the big hill (sheep houses) all the way up on my 50 tooth large sprocket. The hill is about 16-18% gradient i think. Coming down the other side was a bit hairy at 40mph freewheeling with misted up glasses and salt water running into one eye, great fun.
    My max and average heart rate have been coming down too on this same ride over the past 3 weeks. First week was 183/142 second week 178/140 and today was 174/131. My hard work is paying off. I'm not out with the club for a couple of weeks now due to my days off from work not aligning with their ride outs but i will still go out on my own at least 4 times a week so i dont lose any fitness.

51 miles wandering

Just got back from a 51 mile ride up towards High Legh and back. From Tyldesley straight down the Lancs to Lowton and a left towards Croft. I started out with very heavy legs, feeling very sluggish like i was dragging a manhole cover behind me. I rode through Fearnhead and Padgate then eventually stopped to check my bike over. I hadn't centred the rear wheel properly and it had been binding on the brake for the last 15 miles. Once i sorted that out it was a lot easier going. From Padgate up along the A50 Knutsford road through Latchford to Lymm Dam. I did a right here onto a lovely country road called Crouchley Lane. Its probably about 4 or 5 miles long with barely any traffic and led me back out onto the B5159 High Legh road where i turned left to go back toward home. This led me through Warburton, over Warburton toll bridge which is free to cyclists to Hollins Green where i did a left onto Glazebrook Lane leading me back towards Culcheth. At the mini roundabout at Culcheth i was showing 32 miles and i wanted to make it 50 so i had to do a couple of circuits of my route around Croft before heading back down the East Lancs cycle path to home.
I took it easy all the way round my route today to try to keep within the heart rate levels for base training and to ensure that i didn't 'bonk' by training at such a pace that my body would prefer to burn fat for fuel instead of precious carbohydrates in the form of muscle glycogen.
50.29 miles, average speed 14.6, calories burned 2281, Time 3hrs 27 mins

Miles done thus far

My 23 mile Croft run

Mon 3rd and Weds 5th was 2 rides out to Croft, about 25 miles each. Thursday was a 35 mile hilly ride around Rivington with Lancashire Road Club. A nice easy pace averaging only 14 mph but about right considering the steepness of most of the hills. I came away from this ride feeling pumped rather than wasted. Saturday was a nice 10 mile ride up to Lowton on the mountain bikes with my fiancee. Total miles for the first week 92.69
The next week beginining Monday 10th had me doing 3 runs to Croft and the Rivi ride with the club again on Thursday. Total miles for the second week 104.03
Third week was 3 rides out to Croft and Rivington on Tuesday which this time was 55 miles. Total for the third week 124.91.
All my rides up to now have been what is termed as base training. Which basically involves me working out at an easy/moderate pace in order to build a solid fitness base from which to launch my later harder and faster efforts. For me with a maximum heart rate of 205bpm that involves keeping my heart rate between 60% and 65% of that which is 123 to 133bpm.
 Total to now for January is 321.63 miles.

History Up To Now

I started  off cycling in Jan 2008 on an old mountain bike, a Carrera Vulcan (Halfords special). I'd go for a 12 mile ride 3 times a week down the East Lancs cycle path.
They say the hardest part of any workout is getting out the front door but i found the first month or so really difficult. I'd come back from riding those 12 miles with spaghetti legs, light headed, soaked with sweat and ready for bed. What kept me going though was that i could feel myself getting fitter and faster week by week.
2 Months later and i had bought a shiny new Trek 1.9 road bike, joined a cycling club and was regularly riding over 150 miles per week. I had also lost around 21lbs in weight and was feeling very fit.
2008 saw me covering 4500 miles. I rode the Manchester to Blackpool 60 miles in just over 3 hours with an average speed of 18.6 mph. I rode the Rainford 10 mile Time Trial in 26.08 mins, an average speed of 22.9 mph. The next year 2009 was a turbulent year in my home life and saw my free time schedule shaken up and cycling was not ranking high on my list of important things to do. As a result I only covered 2500 miles and in 2010 that figure dropped again to 1200 miles.
At the begining of September 2010 I got a shock as to how much of my fitness I had lost. I rode out with a cycling club to Knott End, about 50 miles away. Our average speed on arriving at the cafe was 18.5 and I knew I was going to be in trouble on the way back. My legs were weak and I had no energy. We headed off for home again at the same breakneck pace and I couldn't keep up at all. I kept falling further and further behind. Riders from the main group kept dropping back to see if I was ok. I kept telling them to go on without me as i would get myself to Preston then catch a train home. Eventually thats what they did. That was on the Tuesday. On the following Saturday I managed the Manchester 100 ride but at a much slower pace averaging 15.5 mph. My short rides up the East lancs cycle path were feeling like hard work again also. So 2011 became my year of getting fit again.
I have an app on my android phone called CardioTrainer that tracks my speed, route, caories burned etc then posts the workout to my Facebook profile. My profile was getting a bit single themed and cycling stats became my status, so i created this blog to post my cycling year to instead.