Training and the winter blues...

Sooo,  whilst most have been over eating, over drinking and laying about, I've been over eating, over drinking and riding my bike.  Christmas, notoriously a time for excess has seen me out on my bike in sub zero temperatures wobbling round trying not to crash on the ice.

I'll come out and say it, riding a road bike this time of year is miserable.  I'm in Suffolk at my mum's at the moment where it's VERY flat and as such, brilliant for long gentle road rides.  However, with the mercury never really getting above 3 degrees, a strong wind and sudden freak rain showers I'm needing muchos effort to drag myself out the door.  I did manage a long'ish ride on Christmas day, but the past two days have seen me going to thetford on the MTB.  Boxing day was amazing, super grippy trails, fast singletrack and some swoopy berms kept me entertained and more importantly got me out on the bike.  Yesterday I was hoping for a repeat performance and went with my brother, however the rain gods had other ideas and we rode round in the wet and muck for two hours before calling it a day.  However we got 'some' riding in and that's what counts.

Some riding.  Read any training book and the common theme in all of them is consistency - get out and ride lots.  I'm sure at this stage I should be doing century rides every day but sadly i don't have the minerals for that just yet.  So I'm just trying to get out as much as I can, both road and MTB to get in as much time on the bike as possible.

Coming from a racey background (well, I stood on a podium a few times), I'd like to think I'm fairly switched on about training.  I've had coaches in the past, I've sat on the turbo burying myself until I couldn't see straight and I've done chaingangs until I've been sick out of my nose (yes, really).  But it's not really applicable to a race that spans a number of weeks with huge mileages each day.

My brother bought me the paper version of Joe Friels training bible for Xmas. I've used it quite a few times in the past and its always been pretty insightful.  In fact, I'd go as far as to say it has too much information as its quite overwhelming once you get started in anger.  But the fact is that if I want to succeed with this then I need to put together a training plan.  Just going out for random rides isn't going to do the job, even if it means that I can only fit in an hour or two on a week/work day.

So what have I learnt so far?  I can't go full bore into a 30 hour training week because i simply don't have the fitness.  I also can't spare 5+ hours on a week day because i have to work.  I can ride to work (as I've already mentioned) but to start I can't do that every day and additionally, it's bloody icy at the moment and I don't fancy missing 4 months training while I wait for a collarbone to heal.  But I do need to ride so what to do...

I need to be riding at least 5 times a week.  Weekends are straightforward enough with big rides planned either on the roadie or a big loop that I have from home on the MTB.  During the week it'll either be rides to work once its warmed up, or as is the case at the moment lots of turbo sessions.  I've bought a Garmin dongle (fnarr!) and a subscription to TrainerRoad - hopefully that should be waiting for me when I get home so I can crack on straight away.  The nice bit about this is that I can train on 'Power' using the 'virtual power' tool on TrainerRoad without having to buy an expensive powermeter.  I've had powermeters before and whilst great on the turbo, they always seem to be either broken or on the wrong bike.

I did also think about signing myself up to TrainingPeaks but it does seem a bit expensive for what is essentially a glorified calendar.  I think if I had a coach then it would be useful ( I know DigDeep coaching send out plans in this manner) but for the self-coacher I think its a bit overkill.

So two big sessions on the weekend, then three sessions on alternate days on the turbo.  Or Turbot as it'll be known going forward.  These will be moderate sessions at zone 3 to start, although I'll increase the intensity as I improve.  I also need to do an FTP test when I first get on the turbot, I'll post the numbers up here so you can laugh and point.  On the rest days, I'll head to the gym at lunch and do some work on my feeble core strength.  Or swim.  Because I like swimming.

Anyway, I need to get out for a spin now the ice has melted.  In a bit..

Ain't nothin going on but the Rent....

Work.  A necessary evil or just evil?  The fact is that many of those entered for this years race have little choice but to continue working whilst training.  Percentage wise, there are very few that make a living from riding a push bike, there's even fewer that can ride these type of events and make a living from it.  Which would imply that I think I'm a pro, which I most certainly do not, but its a vicious circle.  You need to work to pay for living, part of which is the ability to a) buy nice bike things b) buy food and provide shelter and c) buy nice bike things (I've listed those in order of importance).  However, working takes up a LOT of time, I do on average 8 hours in the office a day, plus a couple of hours travelling each way.  My job isn't particular strenuous (ok, its mainly done sat at a desk) but the commute is a killer and by the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is strike out on the bike to do 8 million miles, in the dark and cold, to get the miles in.

So what are the options.  I have a nice car sat outside, I could sell that and live off the proceeds, give up my job and just ride every day.  Or, I could take an easier less stressful job somewhere close to home for less money and ride more.  Or I could go back to university and study something meaningless whilst working part time in a bike shop to fund my less than lavish lifestyle (yes, I've thought about this a lot - I spend a good deal of time on the train staring into space).  

Would it get me in fine fettle for the race - yes.  Would it hinder spending on bikes and kit - most definitely.  Would it force me to turn cycling into my job and in turn make me hate it?  More than likely.  And there's the rub - cycling is what I do to unwind and de-stress from the day to day nonsense that I have to tolerate at work/on the train/life in general.  Once that becomes the only thing in my life that I have to do (apart from cleaning and ironing - both of which I hate), then it becomes my job and I feel pressured into doing it.  The fun goes out the window, I start hating riding and look to spreadsheets and budgets for a bit of light relief.  Boston Matrix Yo!

So I won't be giving up work just yet to focus on being a full time bike rider(I bet Froome is breathing a sigh of relief as I type that) but instead need to man up and get on with the training.

This week so far has comprised a wet, cold and windy ride in the dark and an hour on the turbo watching the Milton Keynes cross race. Total so far this week - 80kms.  Not ideal but its a start.  I could ride to work - my train ticket is £460 a month and fully intend to, buts its something I need to work up to - its not so much the distance (67km each way) as it is the faff at the other end and the 8 hours of work inbetween rides.   But by the end of Feb I want to be able to do a week of commuting in and back without using the train.  Thats a big ask but if I manage it then I know I'll be well on the way to getting the form I need.

Recovery is another important factor that pretty much every cycling website and mag bang on about. I'm terrible for going to sleep at a decent hour - just five more minutes reading the inane comments on Pinkbike or answering a question about gear ratios on SingletrackWorld means that I normally don't get to sleep until 11.30 at the earliest, only to have to get up early the next day for work.  So that needs to change.

I've given up booze (I was always rubbish at drinking anyway) and the diet is slowly coming along.  I'll do another post about weight, weight loss, weight gain and, well anything else another time but I seem to have plateau'd at my current super heavy weight 200lbs.  I'm a tall bugger but even being 6ft3 means I still need to shift a good 20lbs (yes, my unit measurements are all over the place - I'll aim to be more metric in future). So its a matter of looking at calories in vs calories out until I'm at a decent weight.  Joy...

The good news is I've nearly killed the deathkillertyre by using it on the Turbo...

..looking forward to the bang when that lets go...

Rubber soul....

There's no easy way to say this.  Tyres are boring.  Massively boring.  Nobody cares, certainly nobody in my office, or my friends, or....well anyone.  Except me.  I've become obsessed by them, different TPI's, widths, folding or non-folding.  I've always had a bit of a rubber fetish (ahem) but recently its gone nuclear as I find myself tracking down rare brands from overseas, paying a small fortune and waiting for weeks for them to turn up.  I love em.

There used to be a time, many years ago, when narrower was betterer.  I remember being a spotty faced 15 year old looking for extra seconds to take out of my club 10 mile TT time and rather than pinning back my flapping jersey, or maybe saving up for some proper clipless shoes I was convinced that my 20mm tyres were slowing me down and the only way to go were 19mm continentals inflated to about 200psi.  And these were clinchers, not tubs....Needless to say, I didn't go much faster and I became well aquainted with my Turbo replica saddle, more so than I would have liked.  But they looked ace and complimented my Rigida DP33's a treat.  Shiny...

These days it seems wider is better.  Folk used to race on 23mm, nowadays even the Pro's are on 25's. Even EuroMeisters Mavic, well known for ignoring all current trends now spec 25mm tyres on everything but their TT wheels.  Benefits include supposedly more comfort and better grip but I think the real reason is that most importantly, they look cool. 

 

Check out the 28mm's being raced round Canary wharf in the Halfords Tour series..

I've been riding 25mm for quite a while, my preferred tyre being a Vittoria Open Pave (yeah, like the Roubaix riders use) in a 24mm flavour.  Now, I say 24mm - what I actually mean is MASSIVEmm.  They're huge, they won't fit in the majority of bikes I own but they're so so comfy.  320 tpi, low pressures, cool green band (like the Roubaix riders) - seriously, they're immense.  However, they don't last long at all and I'm wearing a rear out every 500 miles.  Not ideal for a 2500+ mile race. 

So, I've started conducting a bit of research.  I've ridden a standard local route on the Vittoria's, in fairly general conditions.  I've now slapped on a set of whopper monster truck style 32mm Bontragers and I'll do another lap tonight.  The Bontys should last forever because a) they're nearly solid and b) they're muchos cheapness and all cheap tyres last forever.  See rubbish tyres for a similar result.  Hopefully these are just cheap and not rubbish.  Anyway, I've also got another set of racey 25mm Vittoria Open CX's (with tan walls - yah, I have a lot of leather bound books) and some Conti's GT something or others in 28mm. I shall report back my findings...gripping stuff eh...*


*Jesus....

Here it begins....

I took my car for a wash today, having spent the previous weekend driving around trail centres in Wales.  Its probably a pretty lazy thing to do, but once you've factored in the faff of buying a sponge, losing a sponge, buying another sponge and all the other stuff and dragging the hose out the shed, £6 doesn't sound so bad.  So I stood there eating my warm cheese straw purchased from the nearby Tesco's as two lads swarmed over my car cleaning it from top to bottom.  Its sub 3 degrees (or 75F if you're American (I don't understand Fahrenheit)) and its getting pretty dark.  Not great weather to be washing some idiots Land Rover who has gone out of his way to cover it in shit because its fun.  It turns out that the lad doing the majority of the work is my age (35) and travels in from Colchester (a good 80 miles each way) to start work at 8am and finish at 6pm.  Which he does every day.  As in 7 days a week.  He hasn't had a day off for 4 months yet he's cheerful and does a fantastic job of ridding bridleway muck from my car.  Why does he do it?  Because he enjoys his job and he needs to work to pay to live.   Which makes riding from Flanders to Istanbul for fun look a bit frivolous.  Its not, but it does make me feel pretty lucky to be in the position where I can focus on training and eating properly and resting and I don't have to wash some idiots car in the dark in freezing temperatures.  Perspective I suppose. So, Hi - I'm Wil, Scorpio and certified bike geek.  I've ridden bikes for as long as I can remember, I've race a number of disciplines (cycle-speedway anyone) over the years and generally love anything with two wheels.  About three years ago I started to lose the love for racing round in circles, then started to lose the love of just riding.  So I stopped.  And got fat.  At the time my job involved driving huge distances and in turn I ended up buggering my back.  I also ate rubbish food, smoked, drank heavily and all the other stuff you shouldn't do.  I now look like I had a hard paper round as a kid.  A hard paper round that went via the chippy, several times.  I didn't enjoy riding because it just reminded me of how unfit I was.  Rides had become a chore, based around training so I stopped doing them.  The problem with that is that once you lose fitness, getting it back is a miserable experience.  Every now and again I'd go out and ride, maybe 30 miles and end up ruined for a few days afterwards.  All in all, not ideal. About a year ago I changed jobs to one where I didn't have to drive at all. I moved and settled into a routine (I didn't realise how important a routine is for riding bikes well) and started riding again.  A long way off fitness of any sort, just getting miles in.  Riding the MTB, going on longer road rides and eventually riding some of the climbs of the tour in the 'Pair-o-knees' dans la France.  This culminated in me doing my first sort of tour ever (bar a trip round the isle of Harris in Scotland on a 6 inch travel MTB) last year, riding from my mums in Suffolk to my Aunts in Lincoln.  Only 139 miles which I covered in two days but it opened up a whole new type of cycling that I'd never done before.  Touring/Bikepacking/Audax/whatever you want to call it, loading kit up on your bike and just setting off for somewhere is cool.  The route I picked was awful (thanks Garmin!) and it was the hottest two days of the year but I loved it.  Rolling into Wragby where my Aunt lived I felt elated that I'd managed to not only cycle a trip that I'd done hundreds of times in the car with my parents, but that I'd done it in a self sufficient manner.  I'd stopped over night in a travel lodge that had a spare room (handy as I was cooked at the time), carried everything with me that I needed including spare clothes and just felt immensely satisfied with the whole thing.  A different type of satisfaction to racing and getting a decent result, just a very fulfilling thing to do.   You don't need flash kit to do it, you're not judged on your aero wheels or helmet and it doesn't cost a fortune (it'd have cost a shit ton less if I'd manned up and done the whole lot in one go).  I took my cheapest bike (with wonky rear hub and rubbing brakes) and loved it.  Properly loved it.  If you haven't done it, do - its massively liberating. Anyway, being a geek that sits at a desk I have a lot of time to a) drink coffee and b) surf the inter web.  Which I do, in equal parts.  About two years ago I started reading about a bloke called Mike Hall.  At the time he'd not long completed a race around the globe self supported (carrying all his own kit, no pre booked stuff) and was doing crazy daily milages that resulted in setting a new record of 92 days.  Thats 92 days to ride around the world, via certain checkpoints.  18,000+ miles on a bike carrying all his gear, around 200 miles a day on average.  Crikey.  His bike was basically a cycle-cross bike with soft bike bags attached to carry his gear (shown below).  Legend. Inspired by this, I started following various blogs and reading about other ultra distance type events.  I've ridden Dusk til Dawn in Thetford forest multiple times and even taken part in a 24 hour race so these type of mileages seemed crazy - I know what it does to my body when I ask it to ride what I call consider big rides so to cover that distance, day after day seemed almost super-human. This all culminated in me driving to Brighton one night to listen to Mike and a young chap called Ed Pickup talk about their recent race of the TransAm - a 4000+ mile race across American.  Similar to the RAAM (race across america) but for those without the spare 20k to spend on support, Mike and Ed recounted their immense rides, telling of Bears, sleeping in public toilets and fighting tiredness and fatigued to finish 1st and 3rd respectively.  Nuts.   I wanted to do this.  I've not done these distances but I know what it feels like to do what I considered a 'big ride' and do it on my own, self supported.  I'm at that age where all blokes look at their ever expanding waistlines and think 'What have I actually achieved'?  I'm in the best possible position to prepare for something 'big' and hammer the training until I'm confident I can pitch up at the start and feel comfortable of not only finishing but also doing a decent ride to boot.   So, Mike Hall (I'm not a fanboi, honest) organised his own race - the TransContinental.  Starting somewhere in Belgium, there are four checkpoints that have to be visited and a card stamped.  Once done, you head for Istanbul. There's no set route but you have a 15 day cut off, and even if you ride on Motorways, you'll not do less than 2000 odd miles.  And you can't ride on motorways because its dangerous, obviously.  So its a fair bit more than 2000 miles.   I wanted in.  The entry was due to open at 8pm on friday 9th November, 7 days after my 35 birthday (not sure why thats relevant but go with it).  7.59pm and I'm hitting refresh on the web page like a mad man.  8pm and the website crashed.  Bugger.  Eventually it comes back up and I register my entry.  Following this you then have to complete another form including a few questions around what you think it involves.  This is then submitted and you wait.  I'm not sure of the total number of entries, but there's only around 160 places and there were way more entries than that.  So I wasn't hopeful... Last weekend sat in a cottage with my brother and several mates, drinking homebrew gin after a big day riding MTB's round trail centres I got the email below...

Phew! You made it. Getting to the starting line they say is half the battle. Thanks for entering the Transcontinental 2015. This year's race as you may know was well over subscribed but I'm pleased to be able to offer you a place. Just the last bit to do - please follow the link below and complete the last few entry details and payment before Saturday 6th December, to claim your place. I'm in.  I'm fucking in!  Total elation, I realise that for the next 8 months this will totally control my life.  A seismic shift in lifestyle will be required, eating properly, recovering properly, planning, planning some more and above all, riding my bike lots.  Then riding it some more.  To say I'm excited (and a bit scared) is an understatement.   So the purpose of this blog is to convey to you, the masses what a fat under achiever is doing to get himself in the position to be able to race this event.  I'm notoriously good at starting blogs then never posting on them so I'll try to make more of an effort with this.  I want to race it too, not just turn up and make the cut off.  I'll try to not make it a 'Rode 59 miles, it was wet' type affair, but I'm from the north so don't expect any amazing works of non-fiction. Anyway, I've rambled enough.  There a pizza with my name on it and the first season of House of Cards to watch.  Back in a bit..