Tag Archives: cycling

cycling

metric challenge 2021: february

Believe or not completing this on the very last day of the month was according to plan. Since last weekend when it was clear that Spring was coming this week and that cycling was back on the cards I’d planned to do my 100K spin yesterday. However, a bit of over exuberance and lack of thought on route choices on Friday left me with a much bigger week than expected. This forced me to rearrange the weekend and make Saturday a recovery day.

As I said yesterday recovery rides are not my forte. I set out with the best of intentions but it usually ends up a normal ride, slightly slower and with my cadence on the higher side. My legs were tired and achy yesterday which forced me to focus on my form and actually resulted in a proper low power and heart rate spin at a higher cadence. As a result today felt great.

In Covid times I’m still not comfortable being very far from home so I chose to ride a similar route to last month. I shortened it slightly to give me 2 full laps of approx 37km plus a final shorter lap of approx 26km. I felt the meal break at 50km was too early last month but 75km turned out to be perfect today. It was nice to get back to the house, eat something proper and stretch out for a bit. Having a short lap to finish was also a nice mental boost to get going again.

The nicest part of the day was just under 5km from home. A little girl, about 7 years old, came along the pavement just as I was pulling away from traffic lights. She called out “I saw you this morning too”. She was absolutely delighted with herself and full of happiness. It put a big smile on my face that took me all the way home.

I’m heading back to work on Saturday and the weather is set to be good again all week. If all goes according to plan I hope to repeat this ride on Thursday 🤞

Header image © Strava. 100KM Gran Fondo February 2021.

a week of cycling

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Just over a week ago I was complaining about the weather and how it had stopped me cycling for 8 days. Well, that changed this week!

To put that in perspective I’ve cycled further in the last seven days than I did for either of the whole months of December (173km) and January (206km). The dramatic change is down to a big improvement in the weather. Spring (or is it “fool’s Spring“) finally arrived on Sunday and somehow managed to hang around all week. Tuesday was the only blip as another storm blew in but it was a price worth paying for the rest of the week.

It’s taken a toll though, going from virtually nothing to this level. Last night I was very tired. My legs were aching and this morning I had an annoying tightness in my calves. My original plan was to get my February Metric Challenge spin done today but yesterday’s spin, with a very tough climb in the middle, was the wrong preparation for that on top of the rest of the week.

I decided to switch my 100km plan to tomorrow and instead went for a 26km recovery spin this morning. My legs are so much happier this evening which should make tomorrow a lot more enjoyable.

I’ve managed to get a decent variety of spins too. Four of them were reasonably hilly varying from 32 to 62km on similar but slightly different routes, one was a cadence interval session on a flatter route and today was an active recovery on the same route.

The last two are something different for me. I’ve never really done a proper interval spin or recovery ride before. The cadence ride was a mix of low/high cadence to build power in my legs and today was a proper high cadence, low power/heart rate ride. Riding slow and easy is more difficult than you would think but I definitely needed it today and focused to make sure I did it properly.

I’ve also managed to keep up the walking. As the evenings are stretching out I’ve been able to get home, get cleaned and changed, eat and relax for at least an hour before going for a decent walk. The last few days though I’ve stopped carrying the additional weight as my legs have tired with the consecutive days of cycling.

photos from the week

The weather is set to continue with no rain forecast until Sunday next week and thankfully a respite from the pretty strong winds I fought for most of last week. I also got news that I’m needed back to work at the end of next week so I plan to make the most of this good spell and get March off to a good start while I have the time.

two in a row

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It’s been a long time since I rode two days back to back. That was August last year when I was doing the 31 Days of Biking challenge. The majority of those were simple 25km 1 hour spins so it’s even longer since I did this kind of mileage over two consecutive days. It’s nothing ground breaking at just under 100km but considering how little I’ve been riding since the New Year I’m happy with that.

The big push to get out today is because we have yet another storm to hit overnight tonight and tomorrow with the whole country on yellow alert and some areas (not us thankfully!) on orange.

Today’s weather was pretty much like yesterday: mild, dry and windy. Again the wind was stronger than I was fully comfortable with but the day was too good to waste. Following a post from tempocyclist I’ve bought a little Bluetooth clicker and took the opportunity to do some posing also.

One of the best things about the last two days has been the ability to drop some of the winter gear. A layer has gone up top, the winter leggings are replaced by leg warmers, the shoe covers are gone and the gloves are now lightweight spring/autumn ones. After the storm the forecast for the rest of the week is looking good again so I’m hoping for a positive cycling finish to the month🤞

has spring sprung?

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After all the rain and storms of the last couple of weeks today has seen a change. I’ve been watching the forecast all week hoping it wouldn’t change and despite it being a bit windier this morning than expected I finally got back out on the road bike. It’s been 11 days since my last ride and as that was on the MTB it’s 13 since I was on the road bike. Felt great to be back out today.

The sun was shining and despite a strong headwind (35-40km/hr) for most of the ride it was a really great day to be out. After all the rain the air was so clear and visibility was fantastic. On the top of the valley above Castlederg I could see as far as Errigal and Muckish and The Sperrins on the opposite side.

The route was a new one for me that I found using the Strava Routes option and modified very slightly. Some of it was familiar but the last time I rode the climb out of Clady was 2016! This is definitely a route I’ll ride again as it was a good mix of climbs with good road surfaces and as a bonus I didn’t have to climb the last bit to get home.

Tomorrow the Spring weather is to continue with a little less wind so today was only 30km to spin the legs back up for a longer ride tomorrow.

a week of walking

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My last spin on the bike was a MTB recovery spin the day after my half marathon walk. That was Wednesday last week!

Since then there has been a series of nasty weather fronts that have crossed the country. Some of these have involved heavy spells of rain, we had one day of snow and virtually every day has been very windy or even stormy. We’ve had 4 yellow weather warnings and one of those was upgraded to orange for part of the day.

An often quoted phrase states “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes“. While I do agree with this to a certain extent I’m not a fan of cycling in extreme weather. Ice and thick fog are definite show stoppers for me but I tend not to go out in stormy weather either, especially if there is a risk of heavy rain. Stormy weather can be dangerous to ride in but for me it’s just not any fun!

I haven’t been sitting on my arse though. Over the last 8 days I’ve walked every day and twice on a couple of days. I’ve managed to rack up almost 63km over 10 walks. Only one was a short walk (2km) on Tuesday when I had a stomach bug. Despite pretty much hating cycling in wind and rain I somehow don’t mind walking in the same conditions.

photos from the last week

Header image by Pixabay from Pexels

january 2021 review

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started the month and year on the summit of Errigal at dawn
walked 128km over 26 activities
cycled 205km over 4 activities
longest walk 9.1km
longest cycle 105km
contracted and recovered from Covid19
laid off as part of Lockdown Ireland v3.0
4 days of snow towards the end of the month
finished the month with a family walk and a visit to Mackle’s at long last

january in photos

Header image by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels

metric challenge 2021: january

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The way January has developed I was starting to think I’d never get this ride done and that one of my main goals for 2021 was going to fall flat in the first month! I lost a lot of time due to Covid, 10 days isolation plus recovery afterwards ate up about half the month. Then we got snow and I lost at least another week for cycling. I was able to keep walking though so did build and retain some fitness.

For the last few days I’ve been watching the weather forecast pretty closely. The prediction was for it to get a lot milder Wednesday before another band of heavy rain moved in Thursday. I was hoping for a quick thaw to open up the roads again and let me out on the road bike. In the end up the thaw started Tuesday afternoon with most of the snow gone by evening and completely gone by Wednesday morning.

Then the weather gods played the joker! Fog! Clear, mild conditions combined with an almost total lack of wind and high humidity meant that the Finn Valley was shrouded in thick fog all morning and into early afternoon. By the time it cleared I’d lost interest and had become engrossed in my current book. Plus I was going to run out of daylight and I didn’t fancy finishing in the dark.

The forecast held out further hope with a window this morning into the late afternoon between the two bands of heavy rain. It was to be a bit breezier (18-24km/h) so fog was unlikely. All set to go 👍

I’d already planned to do my “easy” route. It’s the 50km loop of the Finn Valley between Strabane and Ballybofey using both sides of the river. I also planned to stop at home at the halfway point, have something proper to eat and adapt my clothing if needed.

The weather turned out very mild. I had on thermal leggings over my shorts but could have gotten away with leg warmers instead. The skull cap went at 25km, I changed to a lighter base layer at lunch and also ditched the liner gloves.

The first half was OK but I really paid for my lack of cycling over the last two months and this month in particular. At 40km everything was hurting, shoulders, neck, lower back and ass. Some of it was lack of flexibility, some due to the effects of walking with a weighted backpack this week but to be honest most of it was due to a lack of saddle time. Up until today I only had 278km across 6 rides for the whole of December and January. My ride today pretty much doubled my January total. I was glad to see home at the halfway point and get some anti inflammatories into me as well as a bowl of soup and wheaten bread.

I was expecting the second half to be slower but it turned out slightly faster. Coming back from Castlefinn to Killygordon I felt great. There were impressive figures (for me!) showing on the Garmin and I was starting to think there was something in the soup! At the very least the wind had dropped. Turning in Ballybofey to come home on the final 10km I realised that the wind had changed direction slightly, I’d had a bit of a tailwind for the last 20km and I was now finishing into a headwind. The last 10km was tough. Mentally I’d had enough and I was physically tired. The big effort from Castlefinn was now biting back. For the first time ever I thought I wasn’t going to make it up the final hill to home!

The roads have been very dirty since October but they were really bad today and I was glad I made the last minute decision to stick on the rear mudguard. The surface has also deteriorated a lot over the winter and especially with the recent ice and snow. There were random patches of grit on the hillier bits as households had dealt with the snow and lots of gravel washed off side roads in the heavy overnight rain. It didn’t make things any easier.

a front mudguard might have helped too 🙈

Header image © Strava. 100KM Gran Fondo January 2021.

back at it

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Thursday was the last day of isolation and I’ve been trying to get some kind of fitness back again. Starting with a simple 2km on Friday I’ve walked every day gradually working back up to 6km. Today was my first day back on the bike.

Initially I’d planned a simple 26km loop down as far as Clady and back up to Killygordon. However, coming back into Killygordon I felt pretty good and decided to push on to Stranorlar. It was a really nice day, not much breeze, just the right side of cold and some nice sunny spells.

the roads are filthy!

In the end I finished with just under 40km and feeling way better than I expected. In fact I felt so good I also went for a 4.5km walk later in the afternoon.

tip: how to backup your strava account

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One of my favourite blogs is Tempo Cyclist. He writes about lots of things, mostly cycling related. This morning he shared a great tip that I was unaware of and think is worth sharing.

Rather than try to rehash what TC has already eloquently described head over to his blog and read what he has to say. While there I’d recommend having a look at his older posts and giving him a follow if you don’t already 👍

metric challenge: december

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The day started with an unexpected trip to Donegal Town. The weather was snowy and icy and Catriona was worried about driving to work and what the conditions would be like afterwards. I agreed to drive her instead. On the way back I stopped to admire the fantastic view of Barnes Gap from the shores of Lough Mourne.

Getting home around 1130am it was clear that a 100km cycle was going to have to involve the implementation of Plan C. I’d decided the night before to abandon Plan A which was a repeat of the Club Lap The Finn route from earlier in the year. The western section around Fintown is too mountainous and pretty much guaranteed to be snowy and/or icy based on the weather forecast that included a Yellow Warning for ice and snow.

Plan B was a repeat of my February spin doing two repeats of the Ballybofey to Strabane loop taking in both sides of the river. However, the back road was still icy and slippery at 1130am and the shady areas were likely to stay that way all day.

Plan C was to avoid the back road entirely, drive down to Killygordon and just do two repeats of the main road between Stranorlar and Lifford. Stranorlar to Lifford and back is 40km so riding from Killygordon to Stranorlar first and back to the car at the end gave me 50km. Not the most exciting or inspiring of routes but mostly flat at least.

Using the car as my base camp also gave me a warm dry location for lunch. A packed lunch and flask of tea got over the problem of the restaurants and coffee shops closed under the latest Covid19 restrictions.

To relieve the boredom of the route I put on my Bluetooth earphones and listened to the radio. I’m one of the few that don’t have an issue with earphones on the bike. At any speed the wind means I usually can’t hear approaching traffic anyway and I don’t think not wearing them would save me from a rear end crash. I don’t wear them in town as they’re too much of a distraction when full concentration is needed. Yesterday it was left ear only as with both earphones in I could hardly hear anything at all under my skull cap! It did make it difficult to distinguish between traffic approaching from the front or rear though.

Apart from the ice and snow it was a perfect day for cycling. Bright and sunny, hardly a breath of wind and almost completely rain free. The downside is that in December that equals bitterly cold. It took a long time to warm up at the start and just after lunch with hands and feet getting the worst of it. Starting later than planned meant darkness was falling close to the end. The last 30min were close to 0°C with windchill well below that and the last 10min were far too close to darkness to feel comfortable or safe without good lights and hi viz. Thankfully quieter roads and blinkies saw me finish safely.