Cadence, cornering and Classics.

Its been a wet and miserable week with temps back down to single figures. Back on with the overshoes and full length tights! Hill tops have had a dusting of snow and hail showers have not been uncommon down these levels - and its nearly June. Still, have been out (freezing my butt off) on the bike in the name of er.....um.....well, I've been out.

After my solo outing on Sunday of last week and posting on here, N, Jnr and I went out for a tootle along the Deeside Way on the bikes. This was Jnrs first proper outing since gaining confidence and though he is still on stabilisers, he did 6.7km!  I am incredibly proud of him :) & giving him my spare computer for his bike as he showed a definite keen-ness for knowing the figures....

This sunday (today) we went into Aberdeen so I could grab some clothes for my impending holiday-ette to Dorrrrset, grabbed a coffee then came back out this way to the Crathes Classic Car and Motorcycle show. It always, always rains for this event, and true to form we woke to biblical rain this morning, but it had luckily cleared by the time we got there mid afternoon and was hot and sunny. Spent some time drooling over the classics, ate strawberries and cream and went on the old train - equally vintage diesel - part of the Deeside Railway restoration project. N is now one of the volunteers who help rebuild and maintain the engines and will mostly be found on Sunday mornings with a flat cap on & up to his arms in grease. I think I married [a nicer version of] Fred Dibnah :)

 

Sooooo, onto the cycling I guess! Bit more structure this week. It was suggested I apply for my race license so thought was probably time to start training* - been out a few times with local legend Dave who's taken me under his wing and been getting hints and tips which has really improved my form and efficiency. I now almost look like I can be let out alone :)


Monday - mountain bike, 15.35 miles/ 24.74k. Mud fest.
Tuesday - Training session with Dave after work. Two and a bit hours, 39 miles/ 62km / 1500ft ascent in torrential rain - so heavy at one point we had to stop and take shelter as we couldn't see! We worked on my cornering (I love uphill fast tight cornering but hate downhill fast tight cornering as I have an inbuilt, and may I say quite understandable, fear of smacking straight into the bonnet of an oncoming car..) and went a bit more in depth with the whole 'different cadences for different things' thing. Really enjoyable sesh but really hard! He is a machine! Hot shower, shed load of stretching and a plate of lasagne followed and I was asleep before head even hit the pillow.
Weds - rest. Zombied.
Thurs - 20 miles/32km  - rolling over up hills and focusing on keeping steady cadence on flatter bits.

Fri - Day off! Had a lazy morning then rode 26.66 miles / 43km, long climb, 1211ft ascent. Home to Stonehaven and back over Carn mon Earn in morning before popping into work to get sellotaped into a box by Bike Box son and rolled around the floor. Don't ask. I also had first turbo session that evening. The hope is as its got a power meter, it should help build a more rounded picture and training plan for next year and provide some indoor exercise if this weather continues and I can't face yet another soaking. I was recommended a program from www.turbotraining.co.uk. Absolutely amazed how hot and sweaty I got (oooer!) but felt like I'd done ok. I may be weak, but I'm consistent when it comes to me kW output :)

Sat -  Rest. The sodding sun came out though! On a rest day! Typical!

Sun - Ride of the week! Superb, gorgeous evening if a little windy! 16.65 miles / 26.8km circuit up onto the top of the hills that surround this bit of the country, along, round and down, then up again for the other side, along, and down into the village before a final blast down to here -  1070ft ascent with a 7 mile constant climb from near enough sea level - part of the climb is the start of another route I do but this time I turned left to go up the really steep bit to assess my readiness for my attempt on the Cairn O'Mount (local rite of passage and notorious climb). At one point I thought my heart might actually beat itself out of my chest but I got there and by jaysus I'm a happy woman tonight. So not that long a route and as far from climbing the Col de la Colombière as you can get but its got views to make a grown man cry and being able to do it means something is working.

*Training - lets not even pretend I'm any good - but for the sake of clarification training for me means keeping away from vanilla and toffee cheesecake, attempting to keep strict 6am - 9pm hours (failed this evening obviously...) and trying, trying to remember to keep at certain cadence/speed/hr/whatever during specified workout even though its pissing down and I just want to crank it up and get bloody home to a hot shower or to work, a fig roll and 43 gallon mug of tea.

 

And finally....they may be on mega bucks, have women dripping from their arms and have bikes/fitness levels  I'd kill for but we do have one thing in common - we all look shit after a hard ride :) Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the 'before and after's of .......


...Former world champ Alessandro Ballan...

....One time Cofidis rider Florent Brard ...

...and my favourite.... the force that is Fabian ....

Off to Fort William next weekend for the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup so won't be posting on Sunday but speak to you when I get back. Have a great week guys!

None of the below are me...

Total distance this week: 167.86km

Time in saddle: 9hrs 54 mins 
Number of creaking bottom brackets: 1

I just thought I'd get that straight right now :) Summer has arrived in Scotland - temps have been hovering in the mid twenties all week (Celsius)! Woo and indeed, hoo! Unfortunately for the casual observer/tourist/member of non cycling fraternity, this means being treated to thousands upon thousands of lycra clad, pasty white, and in some cases pale blue, thighs. Muscular white thighs, but white all the same. You will note that cyclists start to don dark wrap-arounds at this time of year too. This is to hide their identities until said thighs are tanned (whereupon they will resume the wearing of clear glasses).  OK, ok... its probably got more to do with being able to see in the anomaly that is sunlight in Scotland, and therefore avoiding the white van that's heading straight for you. There is however, no avoiding the inevitable cyclists tan line.....

 I am amongst the White Thigh Brigade. I apologise now. I did put some fake tanning stuff on in an attempt to lessen the shock but it looked so funny I washed it off and put my dark sunglasses on. 

This week has been a recovery week. No, that's not an excuse for being idle, this is a real genuine part of my training program (please see Joe Friel for an explanation). I've been gradually upp'ing the base kilometerage (© Dinkypen) for the last three weeks (166, 176 and 221km respectively) and so I needed to reduce that by a considerable percentage for one week to give my muscles a chance to rest and rebuild - time in saddle not much reduced but RPE on all rides this week moved down to 'chilled'. Recovery is important especially as I am a newbie, keen as hell and in danger of loving my bike a little too much. 

THAT IS NOT ME. 

I would NEVER have a black leather headboard. I just found it on t'internet and thought it quite funny :)

Anyway...

Monday: Rest day after previous days efforts

Tuesday: 60.56km (E2)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 33.5km (E2)

Friday: 31.8km (E2)

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 42km (Hilly)

Its been a good week. I rode home with a bloke from the club on Thursday night and we chatted merrily while cycling uphill. I'm still in shock. The glorious weather has helped put a spring in my er...cadence, as has adopting a strict 6am rise/9pm bedtime routine and having another week sans cake/crap. Yes its boring, yes its unsociable but if it helps make me fitter through being properly rested and fed then so be it. Today (Sunday) I was out the door at 8.30am for a short but hilly sunday ride - summary below (map in miles, not km). It rained non stop this morning but it was absolutely bloody fantastic and I felt strong and fast (compared to 2 months ago) and just rode around with a grin on my face and aimed for hills.....yes aimed for the buggers! I think I've become an endorphin junkie! Noticed the bottom bracket is creaking so tomorrow will take it to bits an investigate. I am hoping its nothing serious - maybe just put in dry -  as have only done circa 800 miles on the thing!

   

If you are around this area and haven't done this route, do it. Its pure joy.

Other things this week -we've been on a tour of a vessel that may be chartered for one of The Company's next jobs, I've been to see The Footballer (middle son) play in Aberdeen and tell me he's now semi professional (motherly pride) and I've spent a lot of time in the garden weeding the raised beds and tending the aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, chilli's and courgettes in the greenhouse. We lost 'Big Red', one of the cockerels, to old age but the others are enjoying this fine weather and we are all missing Molly the Spaniel who was reclaimed by her father (Bike Boss) upon his return from 10 under the Ben (where he and his partner placed well up on the leader-board in the mixed Vets. Go Bike Boss! I also learnt that Bike Boss son won the thing in 2007!) video here of 2010. I am absolutely doing it next year. 

So, getting in an early Sunday ride and, as from this coming week, leaving the Long Ride till my day off midweek means I'm going to be home at lunchtime on a Sunday which is pleasing N much more than being a bike widower. Plus the sun is coming out and I feel a pub lunch calling......man, I gotta stop grinning :D

The reward descent after the looooong climb up. High up above Deeside Sunday 23/5/10

A week without Cake

Total distance this week: 221km 

Time in saddle: 10hrs 2 minutes

Number of cakes eaten: None (woo!) Though did eat an entire Blackcurrant fool on saturday night
This weeks album of choice: Trance Anthems (Dave Pearce 2010) again

 
Monday dawned and I rolled over back to sleep to wake in a panic at 7.45am, waaaay to late to cycle, waaaaay to late to catch the bus and so spent £12 on a taxi to work. This goes against every principle I hold dear but the main principle it forces me to renege on is never get in a taxi driven by a speed freak Slovenian OAP. I got to work, grateful to be alive.

Tuesday dawned and I rolled over back to sleep and woke about 2 hours later not giving two hoots as it was my sanctioned Day Off this week! Woo yeah!!! So I spent it drinking and having sex and drugs and living a rock n' roll lifestyle and going out on my roadie and doing a million km's. Or, closer to reality, I did three loads of washing, watched four episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar with Jnr (who I decided should also have a day off from 'work'), discussed at great length the merits of cucumber in tuna sandwiches with said offspring, caught up with the Giro (d'Italia...not the DHSS kind), paid some bills and did some housework and then played in the greenhouse. I also got a surprise email from a local organisation who want to use one of my photos for a promotional calendar. N came home at 3pm and ran me to hospital for my endoscopy (all clear hurrah!) and then to GP for summat else. We went for coffee at 'La Chocolatière' & it snowed an awful lot! The hills are again white and I dug out all my winter cycling kit again. I should have known it would snow as I ordered a new pair of bib shorts..

Wednesday didn't dawn at all. It just sort of snorted, sat on my bladder at 3.40am and made me wake up and then wouldn't let me go back to sleep. Gave in at 5.30am, got up and rode in to work via my new hill-seeking route (35.27km), fixed a few bikes, had a laugh and ate no cake. I am on a strict, nutritionally complete diet - when I say nutritionally complete, what I mean is I'm avoiding cake :). This is not to lose weight but to make sure I'm eating minimal amount of crap. I don't want to get run down and miss this summer! I rode home in the bitterly cold sunshine feeling happy and alive, especially as my recent hill work seems to have actually worked as not only did I get the The Hill on the way in in one go without rising once AND without having to reinsert my lungs but I managed the other side on way home (steeper, longer). I did however eat my way through three quarters of a tonne of chilli con carne as soon as I walked in the door at home.

Thursday I got very wet cycling in and out of work via the hilly route and was asleep on the living room floor by 7.30pm, woke at 10pm, spoke to N for oooh about 3 mins then went to bed and slept right through. I felt slow though (I was technically too, 1kph slower overall than previous day) but well, better than nowt I guess! Probably should have taken Friday as a rest day but.....

Friday dawned sunny and cold - my favourite biking weather so took the mountain bike in & out and got a good hour and a half off road which was nice for a change. Fitted a longer stem and new handlebars to it as well. Friday is also bacon roll day which is always nice :) Bike Boss left for 10 Under the Ben late afternoon and I admit to a twinge of jealousy as he and his partner (for the race) waved and disappeared in the camper van into the distance leaving Bike Boss Son and I in the shop.

Saturday I was at work. It was largely uneventful though mates popped in for a visit and to buy a bike and we sold about a thousand spare inner tubes to folk heading down to the Etape. Evening was spent with friends round for dinner and I got to bed in the wee small hours after one too many nineties rock ballads.

Today (Sunday) I headed out the door after lunch and meandered my way to Ballater via the South Deeside and then up Queens view, down to Coull, through Kincardine O' Neil, back to Aboyne to visit my mate then straight home via A93. 125km/678m ascent round trip in glorious sunshine! Happy! I was testing out my new bib shorts and summer shoes/Look Keo Sprint combo and I can report (happily, sooo happily) that I do not have an excruciatingly sore arse tonight and the ventilation holes in my shoes do actually make your feet feel nice and no, they're not just a gimmick. Mates husband is a serious roadie (by serious I mean his commute is 70 mile round trip including the Cairn O'Mount both ways but he's refreshingly down to earth and agrees that the effect of saving 100g on a front mech (and £150 from your wallet) can also be achieved by losing 100g of body weight by not eating that pie..) and is a great source of info about training and nutrition and so he's suggested after much discussion that I move from a 7 day training plan to a 10 day plan..makes sense..should relieve some of the panic when the very rigid 7 day plan is disrupted by fate/work/illness/tiredness. I'm going to structure the 10 days a bit more efficiently too and focus on a particular aim instead of trying to improve at everything at once. I'll not bore you with the details though (today...)

Well that's it for this week. Sorry it reads like a diary entry but struggling for time this weekend. Have Molly (the bosses Spaniel) staying with us and she's pleading with me to take her for walk. I shall then mostly be diving body and soul into a syrup sponge pudding.

Happy riding folks, have a great week.

Hills before breakfast

Total distance this week: 176km

Time in saddle: 10hrs 17 minutes

Number of cakes eaten: 2 cream éclairs, one scone, half a small Victoria sponge and countless thousands of fig rolls. 
This weeks album of choice: Trance Anthems (Dave Pearce 2010)

After being dropped on the way up the first real hill on the chaingang run out to Ballater, I decided that from now until I don't get dropped anymore on hills  I am going to practice, practice, practice on the slopey buggers. As the majority of my week day riding is done commuting to and from work, this means facing hills before 8am. 

Now I'm not adverse to cycling early. I find even 6am commuting is lovely and relaxing. I am, to the great annoyance of those unfortunate enough to be awake with me at that time of the morning, a talkative, chirpy  'morning person'. To an extent. That extent however does not cover any hills above 5% but its become horribly obvious that Needs Must and so, with a degree of foreboding and a slice of cake, I have added 'hill work' to my training schedule.

This week has been again mostly road mileage and not much mountain biking time though did go out on Sunday when I took N and Jnr (as spectator) for their first taster.  After I demonstrated the various routes and stuff, N had a go and for about 3/4 of an hour he was grinning and having a ball which made me grin and then, twenty minutes later, crash spectacularly (I forgot I was clipped in..). I removed most of my right shin skin and am sporting a thigh sized bruise on my left where it impacted with a tree. It hurt quite a lot (I did not cry!) and seemed to put N and Jnr off of participating further. They took the truck home but as it was such a beautiful evening I, despite the blood seeping down my leg, decided to take the trail home. And I'm glad because it was a bloody fantastic ride.

N and Jnr surprised me on Monday evening by suggesting we go out again on the bikes. Jnr said he wanted to go in the childseat though and only if I pedalled. Riiight. So you want to go cycling but only if you sit there and let me do all the work? Yup..We had a hilly ride (I chose the route - even family outings can be training/revenge for making me carry heavy toddler) to one of the local villages and back with N pootling along behind me admiring the scenery (my revenge plan obviously failing) and my lungs trying to leave via my nostrils as I hauled 20kg of toddler, 62kg of tired me and 12kg of clunky old bike up hill and down dale. 

Wednesday and Thursday I did 2 x 32.5km commutes on the roadie over the hill at the back of the house to and from work. Its not a hugely high hill but it undulates continually and those ascents are steep and often. Thursday was particularly challenging as it was blowing a hoolie up high and I was being blown sideways and backwards. 
 

Today I passed up on an invite to join the chaingang again on their run out to Ballater and did a solo Sunday ride of 93.17km out to Donside - from here to Echt, Midmar, Sauchen, Monymusk, The Lords Throat, Keig, Alford, Muggartshaugh, Kintocher, Tornaveen, Echt and home again via Cullerlie and Drumoak. 575m of ascent, some killer hills [gasp] and strong headwind all the way (how does that happen? - surely if one rides into a headwind for half the distance, you'd have it behind you coming back?!?) Stopped at Alford for a coffee and scone. I felt strong except for a 3 mile stretch about three-quarters of the way round but a last scoof of SiS gel prevented a complete bonk. Am just home and shoving toast and milk down me before jumping into the shower. Am tired but not so nervous of hills anymore. Its true what they say, what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger :)

Top: The route
Above: Bennachie (thats the pointy jobbie in the far distance just right of centre) from near Midmar after the first of a few  nasty climbs - here about 1/5 of the way round. 
Below: The Lords Throat is a really gorgeous but very hilly glen which the River Don flows through this near side of Bennachie.

And a very happy birthday to my gorgeous husband who was 35 yesterday. Welcome to middle age boyo...let the fun commence ;)

Plastiki

I'm sat here watching Nick Jnr with er...Jnr and waiting for our water supply to be re-connected (its a burst pipe again at the bridge) before I can go to work.

This just popped up and I thought you guys might be interested too. Olav Heyerdahl (grandson of Thor...remember the Kon-tiki from school?) is among the crew sailing from USA to Oz.

They're about midway now. Follow them here.

Right, off to resume my position on the sofa. Weeks report later.. 

Good Times

Total distance this week: 179km (166km on the roadie, 13km singletrack and a teeny bit of wussy downhill on MTB)

Time in saddle: 9.5 hrs (7hrs 10 min on roadie, rest on MTB)

Number of cakes eaten: Half a slice of walnut and date forced on me by Bike Boss and one of Bunty's tiffin eaten willingly.

Jobs resigned from: 1

This past week has been a really, really good one.

I decided 3.5 jobs was far too much for one person and I didn't have time for anything so I resigned from the one that involved cheese. That freed up 9 hours a week. I'm now taking two days off a week - Friday and Sunday. I also didn't have to do Jury Duty in the end AND my new Fi'si:k saddle arrived. I went out for dinner with Mate on Wednesday night, the veg is growing well, I've also had some lovely rides and my sore throat has gone. Completely. Near 8 months of worry and within a month of stopping running, its gone. I have an appointment for ENT which I shall attend just to make sure nothing is lurking but god, I am so relieved. Existing contracts going well [touches wood] we have another job for Little Geek & the new bigger one is on its way. The Bike Shop has been mentally busy too but we're still laughing. In fact Thursday was a great day. Bike Boss got a new race bike - a Cube Litening Super HPC Pro (my, how I hate him sometimes) - and took it out for a test run with a mate. 30 miles in he blew a tyre, then again, then again (crappy thin tyres). I drove the 30 miles out to Donside to rescue them in the works van, on the way back we stopped for an ice cream and I walked the dog round the park in the sunshine. At 4pm I actually got round to fixing a bike. Sometimes work really is rather relaxing.

There's also been a lot of thinking going on in my head. Not the lonely contemplative 4am type of thinking which reduces you to a gibbering, snivelling wreck but the positive, eureka!, grinning like an idiot kind. The kind that brings a warm, groovy kind of glow to your whole being and makes you a Much Nicer Person to be around.

I'm happy. I'm 91% content with my life and I know I'm lucky to be able to say that. The past few years...since 1997 really...have been a whirlwind of divorce, passion and romance and heartbreak and chainsaws and death and Big Fuck Off Boats and V8's and bikes and climbing and running and mountains and childbirth and motherhood and sticks and even some cheese. And many, many Good Times.

If we didn't have Good Times then We wouldn't bother. We are Beings spurred on by reward (unless you are truly altruistic and I don't believe that for a second) and Good Times are that reward. Its finally clicked with me that when its all A Pile of Crap, no this is not the norm. This is part of the same cycle of Crap versus Good that every single human being is going through - yes, in varying degrees and no, I can't imagine how shit the life of a Mexico City street orphan is. I can only speak from my western european experience . And yes its taken me nearly forty years to grasp this seemingly simple concept but hey, I've been busy :)

We work, to get paid. To fund Good Times. If you're lucky you'll even find a job that you love doing and then even work is a Good Time. I've been (chronologically) a petrol pump attendant, a timber stacker, worked in a army surplus store, a commercial woodcutter, a forester, a nursery teacher, a Oil & Gas industry logistics bod, a Oil & Gas industry manager, a delicatessen worker, had my own business and now, now I am both bike mechanic and working within the Oil & Gas industry (again). With the exception of the whole nursery teaching thing, which I fell into out of necessity to fund my single parent family of Me and Three Kids under 10, all of those jobs have been great in one way or another. Even though one of them caused me to have a breakdown, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Why? Because of Good Times. When I think of that job, I don't think of the breakdown, I think of the first time I felt the earth literally move as *insert name of large project vessel I was working with* berthed in Aberdeen. Her thrusters booming through the quayside, the hairs of the back of my neck stood on end. I remember the waffles with the Norwegians, the craic with the crew and driving back into town at 3.30am to watch her leave, lit up like a Christmas tree against a dark velvet sky. When I think of my time as a commercial woodcutter or forester, I don't think of the time I was so tired I went to grab a branch from in front of me with the saw still going and came within a second of cutting my hand off. I don't think of falling on steep slopes and breaking ankles, or slumping to the floor in the middle of some wintry, middle-of-fucking-nowhere forest and sobbing because I was so bloody tired and I missed my kids or even the permanent damage I've caused my body. No, I remember the cheese sandwiches shared with my cutting partner and boss in a sun dappled clearing and falling about laughing at R's latest joke. I remember us hiding and giggling in the works van from the Estate Factor as we all tried to get out of working in torrential rain. I remember the Friday night pub crawls still in our stinking gear and falling asleep happily at the table with a pint in our hands (or in M's case, still standing up with a pint in his hand..). I don't think of the fights with the Directors in my O&G manager time. Or the nights being kept awake by the phone or fear I'd forgotten something or the screaming abuse from clients. I remember wandering along the Bryggen at 11pm one still-light summers evening, the scent of the sea hanging in the air and the sound of laughter echoing off the buildings, after a day visiting old friends and new clients. Or being sat by the harbour in Kristiansand on my own, the sun beating down, the yacht masts clinking quietly in the breeze or knowing, from the first moment I stepped off the plane, that I'll end my days in Ålesund.

When I think of past relationships I don't think of being dumped for a ski season in the USA by the man who I thought was The One. I think of Bagels, Boursin and Pastrami picnics on Dartmoor after climbing, Cornish surf (even though it tried to kill us...) or our World Tour of Scotland in my beaten up old Volvo and nearly dying of hypothermia under the Ben (Nevis) in November. I don't think of the tears and lies with another One, I think of snogging like teenagers in secluded forests. I don't think of crying at the airport as N left for another long trip to offshore Angola, I think of the day he proposed to me on top of a mountain on the West Coast of Scotland and the wide-eyed look of something between terror, awe and pure rapturous delight on his face as his first born (Jnr) made an appearance. I think of watching N sleeping (even if he snores like a frikkin' train) and looking forward to (hopefully) a long life together. I don't think of the Single Parent times when I've sat up at night crying because the bills outweighed the income, I had 3 kids to feed and a week to go to pay day. I think of the time my middle son, then aged five, introduced me to the stick he'd named Steven..

I don't think of seeing my friend's body laying at the foot of the coire, I think of the time we bivvied up high  in the far North West - huddled together in our sleeping bags drinking cocoa under the Aurora Borealis and feeling very, very small but very, very special. I don't think of the excruciating pain in my elbows as I ripped off the 45 deg board at the bouldering wall after pushing myself and my body too far by training 5 or 6 days a week and the months of not even being able to lift a mug of tea without pain. I think of the hysterical laughter shared with A, my gorgeous doe eyed bouldering partner. I don't think of the mind numbing pain in my knees after running my fastest 15 miles cross country one time. Or the fact my ankles now don't work. I think 'wow, I could run 15 miles'. 

Good Times makes the World go round...