There comes a time when it has to end (2000 miles ridden)

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Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:56 pm

Scam Patroller wrote:

My, my, that British countryside certainly is beautiful. What a great view!

Ahhh, cycling on lovely small towns roads, surrounded by undisturbed nature. A dream come true. Wink

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

@ KD, that's actually a great old piece of seafront architecture, it was built in the 1930's, it originally had full glazing all the way along for people to enjoy the sea without getting blown away on windy days, none of the glass in the window is left today, so you can step ofer the wall and you ar eon the beach now:

http://www.1066.net/bottlealley

Quote:

This revolutionary double deck promenade was built in the early '30's by Sidney Little, Hastings' "Concrete King" it's half a mile long, stretching from the Pier to Warrior Square. The rear walls of the lower deck are faced with glass from broken bottles and it wasn't long before some wag christened the covered lower promenade "Bottle Alley" It must be noted that Sidney Little was a pioneering recycler, his promenade extension utilised old tramway granite setts to face the walls that take the full force of the sea and the underground car parks were reinforced with old tram rails. Many of the groynes that stabilise the beach were faced with granite setts and lasted over 60 years. Now, incredibly, the council is talking about demolishing this unique feature of Hastings' seafront.

How can they demolish that, assholes Evil or Very Mad

More about it here and the builder, Sidney Little, at the same time, he built Britains first underground car park to keep cars off the promenade:

http://www.seasidehistory.co.uk/Sidney_little_hastings.html

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

I have not been out on the bike for the last 2 days due to feeling ill with my stomach ulcers. I pushed myself a bit harder today to make up for it, it was all on the flat, I was just approaching the 6 mile point when I got to the bottom of the cliff road on the way back home, I tried to climb a bit further up it than I have tried before.

I was on the middle ring and the smallest cog at the back, pedalling like crazy, but suddenly, I was really out on my legs, I went to stop as I couldn't pedal any more, and as I put my foot down after braking, my leg couldn't even hold my weight, I fell sideways, luckily, there is a kerb between the path and road on the bend which is about a foot high, so I stopped myself falling by putting my hands on top of the kerb, unfortunately, the forks clattered against the kerb as I went sideways, scratched right up one side of the forks from top to bottom Evil or Very Mad

, and at the same time, it snapped the 2 cable ties holding my trip computer to the fork Evil or Very Mad

On the good side, I only stopped for 2 short breathers today at each end of the sea wall, and I finally managed to get the average speed over 10mph Very Happy

Feb 8th & 9th

No riding done.

Feb 10th:

Top speed 22.4 mph (steep road from cliff top to beach)
Avg speed = 11.1 mph
Distance = 5.97 miles
Time 32:13:8

Pulse before ride = 70 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 118 bpm's 11:40am
Pulse 10 minutes later = 106 bpm's 11:50am
Pulse 20 minutes later = 102 bpm's 12:00pm
Pulse 65 minutes later = 90 bpm's 12:45pm

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:51 pm

SP Great to see you doing so well Thumbs up

John Poulson is a shinning example to concrete architecture, corruption and greed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Poulson

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:22 pm

I see that your average speed keeps getting a little higher each day. That's great. That's the number that matters most to me now when I ride, especially if it is a route that I have done several times before.

There will be a point in about 6 months or so when you are going to notice that you can't get your heart rate above [???] unless you decide to sprint for long periods of time. That's when you'll know that you are in pretty damn good shape and you'll find that you can go for hours without ever having to take a breather.

I don't know if you have access to a gym or not, but if you do, you might want to consider working your legs hard on the weights... squats, leg press, etc... on the days when you are not riding. This will make climbing a whole lot easier eventually.

Good luck with your workouts.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:57 pm

I know the feeling of not being able to use your legs to hold yourself up. There have been times when I did not have the strength left to twist my leg sideways to slip out of the shoe clips and ended up on my back with the bicycle still stuck to my feet and the wheels up in the air. I now automatically clip out before I think about coming to a stop. If the forks are steel, use a little bit of touchup paint over the scratches. I've found that the fingernail polish selection at the cosmetics counter can help you. If nothing matches, go with a clear to prevent rusting. I had a crash with some idiot last October that blew the wireless transponder off the forks completely. Good thing about that was it sacrificed itself to protect the forks.
On a side note- I just got a text message from a guy that I went riding with last night. He bought a Seven last February. I joke that it's called a Seven because they charge seven thousand. Last Monday we went riding and came up against a locked gate. To get off the path we had to lift our bikes over. His titanium Seven is much heavier than my mass marketed bike. I guess that had to be fixed as today he flew to Portland to meet with a vendor that flew out a frame from Australia.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

I have not been out on the bike since the 10th, due to having to do a lot of decorating to our old flat before we moved out, painted the kitchen, bathroom and other bits and pieces and retiled the bathroom floor, then there was all the packing to do, so I just didn't have the time.

I was back out on the bike today, but I don't know why I bothered, my legs are still sore from carrying all the furniture and heavy boxes up the stairs to our new 3rd floor flat on Friday, it nearly bloody killed me, my ankles are still a bit swollen from it, but I thought I could jump back on the bike today and carry on where I left off last time, but I guess moving the furniture up those bloody stairs took more out of me than I thought.

The wind speed was about 20mph today, so I decided to ride in to the wind first while I was freshest, I was planning to go to the end of St leonards about 1.5 miles away, before riding back to Hastings and then back along to my flat, which I reckoned would have been about 6 miles, but I didn't get very far before my legs were hurting badly and my lungs were near bursting point, I had to stop and rest after about only 3 minutes in to the ride Embarassed

I decided not to ride any further along in to the wind and turned back, with the wind behind me, I flew back down the promenade at over 18mph, got to the end of the promenade and headed back to my flat, only managed to go about a 100 yards in to the wind before I had to stop again, went down bottle alley under the promenade where there was less wind, got to the end and that was my lot for the day, just a bit over 2 miles, highly embarrassing Embarassed

I just can't hack riding in windy weather, it drains me very quickly, I was planning on using bottle alley to ride back and forth along when it's raining, but as I went down it today, there are signs saying no cycling Mad

, so I don't think I will be using that again, too many old bill patrol along the seafront here on foot and I don't fancy getting a fine, so that f***s up that idea, I'm really pissed off about my ride today, it's like I have gone completely backwards, I just hope we get a lot of windless days until I build my strength up and get my lungs working better.

Feb 26th

Top speed 18.6 mph (flat cycle path with wind behind me)
Avg speed = 11.7 mph
Distance = 2.14 miles (pathetic)
Time 10:59:1

Pulse before ride = 72 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 104 bpm's 5:32pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 92 bpm's 5:42pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 86 bpm's 5:52pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 80 bpm's 6:32pm

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:40 pm

Do you own a trainer?

Maybe you might consider one of these and force yourself to ride EVERY day, even if it's only 30 minutes.

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:47 pm

^^I have one of those and use it everyday. I'm going shopping for a bike in the near future and this Spring I'm going to hit the road, I tell you.

It would help, SP! Wink

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

@ YW, no mate, I don't have a turbo trainer, I want one but I just don't have the money to buy something like that at the moment, I was planning on saving up for one, the same on here is �99:

Cyclops Trainer

The thing that is annoying me is, I was planning on doing 6 miles during the day, and then doing the same 6 miles ride in the evening, do that twice a day, 7 days a week, but it's the damn wind that's doing me in, my lungs are knackered, and any resistance like wind stops me in my tracks Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:11 pm

When I am training into strong winds, I don't really care what my speed is. It's my sustained heart rate that I am interested in at that point. Just lower the gear enough to keep a high cadence and you should be fine. You're just training, not racing.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

YeaWhatever wrote:

Just lower the gear enough to keep a high cadence and you should be fine.

@ YW, I know what you mean mate, but I sometimes struggle when I'm going along, especially if there is a strong wind, and I can't keep a high cadence, I'm more likely to come to a complete stop, the crank is on the middle ring all the time and I sometimes have to put it on the largest or 2nd largest ring at the back just to be able to keep pedalling at times, and even then it's an effort, my legs just can't push the pedals round, probably due to my lungs not getting enough oxygen to what's left of my muscles.

Anyway, I have been out on the bike again for some night riding, did just slightly further than the ride earlier today, just wanted to get a couple more miles on the clock:

Feb 26th (2nd ride of the day)

Top speed 19.4 mph (flat cycle path with wind behind me)
Avg speed = 11.6 mph
Distance = 2.41 miles
Time 12:19:6

Pulse before ride = 62 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 104 bpm's 10:35pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 88 bpm's 10:45pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 80 bpm's 10:55pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 78 bpm's 11:35pm

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:30 am

Your heart rate is lower now at the end of your ride. That means you are stronger. Laughing

Go ahead and drop the front chain onto the smallest ring and spin away if you are in a strong headwind. Try to keep your cadence to just over one crank per second and your head down. Make sure that your tires are pumped up. Your suspension system will mask the signs of flat tires, its a better ride, better cardio, but very discouraging if mile markers are important to you.

I was riding with a girl on Sunday that was having a problem with the chain rubbing on her big chainring. I showed her last week how to adjust her barrel adjustment. For her bike it was on the left side of the steerer tube. This week she had the same noise but could not adjust the noise out. The adj was bottomed out and the reason for the noise was her derailer was dirty. I hit it with three seconds of "dry" lube and she stopped asking how much a tune up would cost.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

Just got back from another ride, the weather forecast says the wind is about 9mph today, riding in to it felt the same as the 20mph wind yesterday, but I persevered with it, rode to the end of St Leonards, took a 30 second break, rode back along the seafront to Hastings and then back to my flat which is about midway between the two, 4.96 miles with only one stop for a breather, I will go out and do the same trip at 9:00pm tonight when the wind should be down to 6mph, allegedly.

Feb 27th

Top speed 16.9 mph (flat cycle path with wind behind me)
Avg speed = 11.8 mph
Distance = 4.96 miles
Time 25:11:3

Pulse before ride = 74 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 128 bpm's 3:32pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 92 bpm's 3:42pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 82 bpm's 3:52pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 80 bpm's 4:32pm

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:35 pm

*sneaks into thread*

See yw...NOW I know why I am so afraid of you. Being the totally unsporty person that I am, I simply HAVE to be freaked out by a guy like you. Triathlons!!! Shocked

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:08 pm

breadcrumb wrote:

... Being the totally unsporty person that I am, ...

Here's silly me thinking all Austrians were mountain climbers. Wink

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

^^^^

Just got back from my second ride today, the wind was virtually nothing tonight and I enjoyed the ride, again, only one 30 second stop when I turned around at the end of the cycle path, apart from that, pedalling non stop, 9.97 miles covered today.

As soon as I get the deposit back from our old flat, I will be investing in some semi slick or slick road tyres, because no matter how much I pump these nobbly tyres up, they always seem to get soft fairly quickly and are causing too much resistence, I'm sure I can go a lot further without getting as breathless with better tyres. Not sure how much riding I'll be doing over the next few days, it's forecast a lot of rain and winds up to 34mph on one day, with winds in the 20+mph other days, so I won't be going out in that unless the weather is better than predicted.

Feb 27th (2nd ride of the day)

Top speed 17.1 mph (flat cycle path)
Avg speed = 11.7 mph
Distance = 5.01 miles
Time 25:36:3

Pulse before ride = 60 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 106 bpm's 10:44pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 88 bpm's 10:54pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 86 bpm's 11:04pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 78 bpm's 11:44pm

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:55 am

Quote:

Here's silly me thinking all Austrians were mountain climbers.

Oh...well....we have three different kinds of mountain climbers here.
a.) The normal ones: Those who get up there by cable car or any other motorized transport
b.) The insane ones: Those who WALK up there.
c.) The totally insane ones: They actually go up hills with a bike. These are the worst ones. Some of them even first swim through lakes, then jump on bikes and then run back. Pure insanity!! *looking to yw* Laughing

(Did I mention that I envy people who are in a physical shape to do something like this??) Laughing

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

I didn't bother going out today, it was a bit wet and miserable, but I had a ride tonight, there was virtually no wind and just a bit of mist, ideal, but I had only done 0.83 miles when my chest was telling me to stop as it felt tight and I was coughing a lot, I felt like going home and got annoyed with myself, so I shouted out a few expletives and started pedalling harder, I soon got in to a good rhythmn and the lungs eased, I did a bit further than I have been doing, could have stayed out a bit longer but there are loads of police about tonight and I have no lights on my bike, really must order some when I get my money.

Feb 28th

Top speed 19.2 mph (flat cycle path)
Avg speed = 12.0 mph
Distance = 6.09 miles
Time 30:27:3

Pulse before ride = 64 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 116 bpm's 10:55pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 92 bpm's 11:05pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 84 bpm's 11:15pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 74 bpm's 11:55pm

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

I didn't go out for the last 2 days because the winds were in the high 20's and 30's mph, the wind lessended today, only about 17mph Rolling Eyes

, so: I went for a ride and ventured past the end of the cycle path to see what was there, as I know that's the proposed site of the cycle path extension to Bexhill that they will be building.

As you turn the corner off the cycle path, it leads to heavily compacted sand and pebbles along the beach front, that goes on for about 1/2 a mile or so before it gets less and less compacted, to a point where you are riding on the pebble beach and the going was getting hard, so I left it there for today, I'll try and go further when it's less windy, I turned around and rode to Hastings, then back along to my flat, coming back was great, shooting along at 21mph, apart from a couple of numpties slowing me down by standing in the cycle lane, they soon move when I shout at them Very Happy

I can definitely feel my legs getting a bit stronger already, same goes for my lungs, only 2 very short 20 second stops again today. The wind is due to be in the 20's again tonight, but I will go out and do a couple more miles.

Feb 29th & Mar 1st: No riding due to very high winds

Mar 2nd

Top speed 21.5 mph (flat cycle path with wind behind me)
Avg speed = 11.2 mph
Distance = 6.22 miles
Time 33:13:6

Pulse before ride = 68 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 112 bpm's 1:12pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 94 bpm's 1:22pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 90 bpm's 1:32pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 78 bpm's 2:12pm

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:25 pm

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:57 pm

How about your weight? Have you noticed a difference yet?

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

@ Frank, I got weighed today, 13 stone, 5lbs, which is 2lbs more I have lost, but I'm not eating very healthily at the moment, because we have not got a cooker in the new flat yet, and won't have one for a couple of weeks yet, so I'm eating crap at the moment, I'll be back on the steamed chicken, veg and healthy stuff as soon as we get a cooker.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

Just got in from another little night ride, the wind has dropped considerably, slightly breezy, but not a lot, enjoyed the ride, getting those wheels turning nicely now, would have stayed our for another couple of miles, but it just started raining.

Mar 2nd (2nd ride of the day)

Top speed 18.7 mph (flat cycle path)
Avg speed = 12.0 mph
Distance = 5.66 miles
Time 28:05:6

Pulse before ride = 72 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 112 bpm's 11:10pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 92 bpm's 11:20pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 88 bpm's 11:30pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 78 bpm's 12:10pm

Total miles today = 11.88
Total miles ridden = 46.57

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

Just in from my nightly ride, I didn't go out today, so I pushed myself a bit harder tonight to make up for it, I will be so much stronger in about a months time that riding in the wind wont bother me so much, and I'll be out all the time piling the miles on each day.

Mar 3rd

Top speed 17.7 mph (flat cycle path)
Avg speed = 12.0 mph
Distance = 6.56 miles
Time 32:39:8

Pulse before ride = 62 bpm's
Pulse after ride = 120 bpm's 11:02pm
Pulse 10 minutes later = 96 bpm's 11:12pm
Pulse 20 minutes later = 86 bpm's 11:22pm
Pulse 60 minutes later = 78 bpm's 12:02pm

Total miles ridden = 53.13

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