All Change....

Ask any road cyclist whether they'd be prepared to sacrifice an hour in bed for lighter evenings and nicer weather - you'd get a resounding "yes".

Riding out today on a 50 mile loop north of Warrington, getting up an hour earlier due to the clocks going forward, was an easy sacrifice to make. The weather was lovely.

We'd picked a lovely route north of Warrington, with a constant ascent for the first 15 miles or so, rolling for the next 25, a short sharp climb at around 40 miles and a 10 mile descent home.

Stopping at Rufford Marina, to sit outside with the sun shining, we all had happy grins on our face, helped along by a wide selection of cakes.

I took my Dolan Ares out today (aka "The Unicorn"), it was an absolute dream to ride, just purred along and I'm really looking forward to spend many more miles on it, now the weather is improving.

My fitness has definitely taken a step forward. Without a doubt, I'm the best I've ever been on the bike (relative to my start point) but still have tonnes of capacity for improvement. I think I'm in that middle bit now of not being "new" anymore, but perhaps being "intermediate."

My next challenge is how to move on from here. I still need to lose some weight, bring my body fat percentage down, however I think I may need something more structued to move me on. Plenty to think about. Still with lighter evenings, it gives plenty of opportunity.

First off though, I'll be implementing the advice of Chris Tasker who recently wrote this excellent guest blog about intervals.

Photo courtesy of Rick at CycleSportPhoto's.com.

Changing Weather Conditions

Today's weather forecast. Cloudy/Overcast. Wind 2mph. Conditions Dry. Yesterday - gorgeous, blue skys.

Getting kitted up for today's ride out, forecast looked good, yesterday was gorgeous. Base layer. Thermal vest. Windtex should do it. Overshoes, nah. Oversocks should be OK.

Two miles into the seventy I ended up doing today, the heavens opened. Did I have my waterproof? - nope. Feet were soaking for much of the ride, plus hands and the atmosphere was certainly feeling a bit hostile, particularly with my language. Windtex did a decent job of keeping the cold out, but it did get pretty wet.

It was a stark reminder, that you do need to plan for day's like this. What I should of done, is at least put my waterproof in my back pocket. I generally always do, but tricked by the gorgeous day yesterday, I thought better of it.

Reaching the Lavender Tea Rooms in Dunham Massey, it took three big cups of tea (I don't normally drink tea by the way) and a huge slice of Victoria sponge to get me feeling human again (Lavender Tea Rooms is a splendid cafe stop by the way, tea in china cups and a great selection of home baked cakes).

The other unexpected change was that the wind was actually around 10mph compared to the forecasted 2mph. Leading the group today, I spent a good chunk of time on the front, so arriving home (another 22 miles there and back to where we set off) the legs were certainly feeling it.

I've previously posted about riding in the rain and the wind, worth a quick look if you're new to road cycling, should have taken some of my own advice!!

60 into 11 does go

"Call an ambulance." First club ride of 2011 and we're calling an ambulance to tend to fellow North Cheshire Clarion rider Mark, who has hit a patch of black ice and taken a nasty tumble. It was the only ice we came across on the forty four mile run today, however, Mark - as a ride leader - hit it first and bang, he was down.

Seems he's busted up pretty bad with a broken hip and elbow, minimum three months off work and a load of rehabilitation. We're all gutted for him as he's worked so hard on his training over the winter. From all of us, get well soon mate.

It was my first ride of 2011 and following the drama with Mark, we set off again, split into two groups for the remainder of the ride. I thought I was going to find it tough today (but still opted to ride up and back from the departure point), however felt remarkably good.

Splitting off from the group near Hale to ride home alone (in-laws over for lunch), I pressed on and felt OK until mile 53, when my legs just gave up. "Bugger, I've bonked." I reached for the emergency gel which I'd slipped into my back pocket and - would you believe it - as I ripped the top off, the entire packet split and deposited it's contents over my brand new bar tape. Jesus! Out came the pocket baby wipes, a quick wipe down and I got going again.

There I was, out of steam, with nothing but a bottle of water and some suffering to do. So, pressed on and did the last seven miles with nothing left in the tank, was I glad to get home! It just goes to show that the low mileage in December, really impacted on my overall fitness as I could normally do sixty no problem. Perhaps I should have been a bit less ambitious today, however the excitement of being back on the road again overtook me.

So, that's around 1% of the annual total in the bag. First sixty miles of 2011 done, albeit with a couple of big dramas on the way. Only 4940 to go! Ride stats here.

Back in the Saddle

Decembers been a write off for me on the bike. A second bout of chest infection plus the snow put pay to any base mile work. Chutzpah!

Arriving back from my first club run, in I can't remember how long, I took a look back at my miles for the last six months, to get some idea as to the impact of December on my overall miles.

Miles since May look something like this: -

May 260
June 485
July 290
Aug 454
Sept 460
Oct 222
Nov 224
Dec 32

So between June and November, I managed to clock around 2.1k miles. My overall target for 2010 was 3,000 miles, so I've comfortably hit that with my Jan-April numbers, so despite Decembers poor mileage month, 2010 has been pretty good for my first full year on the bike.

Trundling along in the cold today, I could tell my fitness had taken a dive from where it was. Sunday 28th November was the last time I was on the bike, so it's about four weeks out of the saddle for me. My heart rate monitor was certainly letting me know as I spent most of today's ride in HRZ4, far in excess of where I would normally be.

Still, I enjoyed it. It was freezing out, however I had four layers on to combat the cold. A thermal vest, arm warmers, merino top, windtex jacket and an altura windcheater over that, with some very thick gloves. All in all, I didn't feel cold once.

It felt good to be out on the road again, it started with a bit of a bump as the bike went from under me on my street, no damage done other than to my pride. I considered to abandon at that stage and jumped in my car, full club kit on to lick my wounds at Starbucks. Pulling off the estate I spotted our club secretary riding down, so pulling him over and checking the route, I nipped back for the Spesh and got myself up to Stretton. Route here.

So, time to shortly think about objectives for 2011. More distance overall. More speed. More stamina. Faster Sportive times. What are you planning?

The Flying MAMIL

Gorgeous day for riding. Bit cold setting off, but when the sun broke through about half nine this morning, it was one of those days when you could have ridden all day. 23 of us whizzed out from Stretton heading out on a loop, taking in part of the Johnny Helms Memorial Time Trial being ridden over Knutsford way.

It was MAMIL central round Knutsford, with many clubs and riders, riding out to see the event, particularly with famous names like Graeme Obree and Yvonne Mcgregor taking part. I split off from the club cafe stop to peg it home today as it was my sons birthday party and I needed to be back in plenty of time.

On such a lovely day, it made for a terrific ride. I put the hammer down and got some great speeds in heading back to Stretton, hitting 20mph+ average for many of the miles I rode, my best mile time was 2mins 32 secs, averaging 23.6mph, happy with that. The bike felt brilliant today, the pedals just purred round, I caught and flew by many a cyclist on the way back.

It ended a brilliant week for me. If you hadn't heard I won these two amazing awards on Thursday night, Graeme Obree stopped by to visit me at home on his way to the Time Trial and lent me the original manuscript of The Flying Scotsman to read (if you have never read it or seen the DVD, you must), it was my sons birthday and my ride today, just capped it all off. Life is good.

North Cheshire Clarion Club Run 031010

Sunday was wet. Very wet. In fact the rain lashed for about four hours solid on the club run. We were all drenched. According to the met office there was only the risk of slight showers, someone got that one very wrong.

Riding a route that looped back on itself a couple of times, six of us ended up through Delamere Forest to one of our regular cafe stops at Summertrees (load of the club on the Seasons of the Mist Audax on Sunday). There was no one there when we arrived, place was empty and we soon had the place steaming when we started stripping our kit off. I wrung my gloves out the door and it was like squeezing a sponge, water poured out of them.

And then there were the puddles. We hit some big, big puddles. You had no perspective of how deep they were approaching them, we went through two big ones and then we hit the big one, splash, It came up as far as my cranks and my feet got soaked through.

It was one hell of a slog. Average speed was rubbish, we had to slow right down for safety more than anything, Geordie Graeme's brake blocks almost totally disintegrated with all the grit on the road, so that was fun for him on a couple of the descents.

Arriving home, I was wet through. My overshoes had done their best but my feet were soaking, my gloves were wringing wet, my hat soaked through. Still, you have to be able to go out in all conditions if you want the miles bad enough, I did and despite everything, a hot bath soon sorted me out.

North Cheshire Clarion Club Run 220810 Ride Data

North Cheshire Clarion Club Run

"Ahhhh, a bloody wasp has just flown up my base layer sleeve and stung me", seriously you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but it happened to me today out on the club ride. About five minutes after heaving myself a nasty little hill on the route (heart rate hit 186bpm - total RED lining), I felt something just fly up my sleeve and then the sensation of the sting going in. Damn! It was bearable at the time, tonight my wrist is slowly seizing up, not painful though.

It didn't take the shine off a really nice ride out, we did 50 miles in all. Heading North from Warrington rather than South, it made a nice change to see a new route and ride some new roads. Today's cafe stop was at Rufford Marina in Rufford, Lancashire. Arriving, it quickly dawned on us that this was road bike central. All in, there must of been fifty road cyclists already seated with more arriving as the minutes ticked by.

Seems a lot of the Lancashire clubs use this as their regular cafe stop, there was a real collection of kit parked up, plenty of Dolans there with being in Lancashire. Liverpool Mercury and Harry Middleton Cycles clubs both turned up en masse, there were sixteen of us, so a real hotbed of clubs, new and old, which was nice to see.

I took the unicorn out today (nickname the lads in the club have given my Dolan Ares), it was a last minute decision as I spent an hour mounting mudguards on my Specialized Secteur Sport, thinking it was going to hammer down. As it turned out, it was overcast, but dry and the bike returned home unscathed, immediately cleaned and put back into it's display cabinet in our dining room :-)

July hasn't been the best month for miles, I've only got a couple of hundred miles under my belt for a number of reasons, so work to do as the Manchester 100 and Tour of Britain Stoke stage are looming, happy days.

Manchester Velodrome Track Taster Session

After four weeks of I'm going/I'm not going/I've got the date wrong/I've got to be away, I actually made the club track taster session at Manchester Velodrome last Thursday night (much to everyones surprise).

An impressive collection of track bikes were knocking around when we got there, including the Dolan DF3 belonging to track star David Legrys who was training/coaching there on the night (see pic).

I'd not ridden a fixed wheel bike before, it felt quite normal until the point your brain tells you that it wants to freewheel and suddenly you get that "jolt"as the bike nicely explains to you that it's not going to happen! It took me about a dozen or so laps to get a feel for the bike, you soon "get it".

Then came the banking, which feels far steeper when you're riding it than it actually looks from the stands. On the first dozen or so laps, it felt like the bike was going to slip out from underneath me, which made me pretty wary, especially riding a fixed wheel. It's just a matter of confidence and speed. After a while, I started to get it, but didn't venture up to the blue line all session (maybe next time).

The fun point was when they set up a one on one sprint, which as a club we all found fun as it allowed a few scores to be settled. I enjoyed it and it does leave you feeling nothing but respect for riders like Sir Chris Hoy and the sheer power and fitness they must possess.

Overall it was a great experience, albeit over a bit quickly. I'd have liked a couple of hours I think to get my full confidence, however I'm really pleased that I managed to get along in the end. Shoe hire was about four quid and the Dolan track bike came within the price. Highly recommended if you want to experience a different cycling discipline to the road.

North Cheshire Clarion Club Run ...

For the Bianchi lovers out there, here's a picture of fellow North Cheshire Clarion club member - Malcolm's - bike (also to be found on Twitter here). We were laughing today as his back wheel seems to have grown a pink rose at the cafe stop on the club run earlier today.

There was plenty of banter in the peloton today. Malcolm was taking the rib out of my triple chainset (took the Specialized Secteur Sport - today, rather than the Dolan Ares) and I was taking the rib out of the special Italian water in his Bianchi water bottle (Malcolm jokingly claiming that it only accepts San Pelegrino mineral water).

That's one of the benefits of being on a club run, bit of banter, bit of chat and swapping some cycling stories. We were a big bunch out on the road today, sixteen is a reasonably sized group and we made a special effort today to try and stay bunched. It wasn't always easy as todays route was quite hilly and the less strong climbers (i.e., me) didn't race up the hills quite as quickly as the (ahem) younger and fitter - members.

I did OK on the descents, my fifteen stone frame hurling me down at a good rate (I really do enjoy those fast downhills, hit 37mph at one point). One thing I really noticed today was the huge difference in braking capability between the Specialized and the Dolan. My Ares has a full SRAM red groupset and the brakes are really powerful, so I had to take it pretty easy and allow more room for braking on the Secteur.

When I left home this morning, it was overcast, starting to spit and cloudy. You'd think it was a winter morning. On went the overshoes, long tights, full gloves and waterproof. By the time I'd got to our meeting point at Stretton, the sun was out and I was roasting. Soon stripped off, but I felt warm, particularly when going up the hills. Hard to know how to call that one, still, better safe than sorry.

Arriving home, the Garmin read 60 miles and around 3100 feet of ascent, so a decent mornings work. I rode down and back with fellow club member - Anthony - today. He's just got some nice new wheels for his Boardman, they look great. We were joking on the way back that if you'd of passed us, you would have mistaken us for proper road cyclists! Club tops, fancy bikes and a decent turn of pace. What a difference a year makes. Ride stats here.

Double Century

Been a good couple of weeks on the bike. Managed to do over 100 miles in two consecutive weeks. Got loads of rides coming up over the Summer, so it's important to me to keep this sort of mileage up.

The miles ln the saddle just seem to tick by at the minute. Once the crank arms start turning, thirty or forty miles seem to pass quickly. Having done sixty miles on the Friday/Saturday this week, my legs were a little heavy this morning, so I decided to take it easy on the ride up to todays North Cheshire Clarion club ride (route here). The ride from home is about seven miles and I took it slow, only averaging around 14mph and spinning high on the cadence.

Once we got going on the club run, the legs felt warmed up and we spun round the 42 mile route at an average of around 16.6mph. Peeking out of home first this morning, any hope of taking the Dolan out on its maiden club ride were again dashed. It had rained overnight, so I took the Specialized out (my #2 bike is a Specialized Secteur Sport).

Good turnout today. Sixteen of us made a decent chain gang and a couple of new club members to natter to, made the time fly by. Chatting with new member Gary, who'd never ridden in a large group before, he commented on what a difference it made to his effort level and speed. It's one of the benefits of being in a club (meeting new people and improving your fitness).

So, I'm happy with how things are going at the minute. Next major ride for me is London to Dover which I'm doing as the first leg of a London to Paris run that one of my customers is doing on the 2nd of July. It's around ninety miles and I'm feeling well prepared for it. I'm going to be interested to see what my total mileage ends up at for 2010, all being well I'll be able to hit around 4000. If current levels continue, I may well exceed that. Let's hope so.

Weekends Rides..

The maiden voyage. After a week's holiday, I've been itching to get back and take my new Dolan Ares bike out for a spin. Saturday morning was nominated for the inaugral ride, a quick loop out of Altrincham, up to Wilmslow and back again. It's a quick 20 miler. I haven't got any bike computers or anything on it yet, so Saturdays ride was just about getting to know the bike, feeling the handling, familiarising myself with the SRAM gear change.

Summarising the difference between this bike and my current bike. This one is an out and out racer. More aggressive geometry (just look at the forks, straight down). I'll compare the ride to the first time I drove a Porsche 911. The suspension quite hard, the gear change was sweet, the acceleration was awesome, it cornered like it was on rails. I felt the new bike gave me all that in bike terms. It felt phenomenally quick (down to the weight and wheels I guess), the steering is direct and sharp, the brakes are about three times more powerful than my current bike and just riding it - I'm sure - made me just feel quicker. It's a speed machine.

I'm really glad I went for the red hubs on the Ksyrium SL wheels, they really do set the bike off nicely and complement the SRAM Red groupset nicely. I hear that Sir Chris Hoy is about to take delivery of a Dolan Ares too, so I'll be in good company!

I didn't use the bike for the club ride today, opting to take my Specialized with me, primarily as the weather forecast predicted "heavy rain." As usual, they were wrong, no rain today, just some wind. We set off from Stretton with a good pace, pushing between 17mph and 20mph, a group of around ten of us, including a couple of new faces, which was good to see.

I felt good on the ride today, jumping out the saddle and sprinting up the inclines when they appeared. The route was pretty flat, so no major dramas today. The wind picked up towards the end of the ride, as usual, sapping the energy on the back ten miles. Johnathon and Mark had a little go at a sprint towards the end, which made for good viewing, bit of harmless fun.

I've invested in a Garmin 705 this week, so I'm going to be shifting my Garmin 205 and my Polar CS200 bike computer, which have both served me well. Looking round the handlebars on the club ride today, I spotted at least six Garmin on handlebars, so they've done pretty well out of the cycling market, that's for sure!

Ride summary. Distance 42.4 miles, time 2hrs 40 mins, Avg. Speed 15.9mph, Avg. Cadence 83, calories burned (estimate) 2204.

North Cheshire Clarion Club Ride

"Fancy adding an extra 20 on to tomorrow's ride?" came the text message from our club secretary yesterday evening. Why not, I thought, not been in the saddle for two weeks, Cheshire Cat is looming, need some miles, just get up a bit earlier and extend the planned ride.

Glad I did, managed to clock up 72 miles today (115km), 30 or so on the ride up and ride home, 42 on the club ride. Everything didn't go quite so swimmingly, fitness wise, you could tell that I'd not been on the bike for a bit. I found the ride up to the club meeting point harder than it actually was, was OK on the first stint up to the cafe stop at Knutsford and soon after, however I did find the final 20 miles harder work than usual. I thought that might be the case.

Thirteen of us rode out today, the route was pretty flat, which suited me and weather was cold and foggy first thing, however it warmed up as the day moved on. It was great to welcome some new riders and see the North Cheshire Clarion continue to grow.

Club member Mark rode his self-built Scott CR1 out today. It looked magnificent and he's done a brilliant job of it, have a look at his blog, where he's captured some of the build. Good job Mark!

Total Ride 72.2 miles, Calories estimate 4455, Average speed 14.8mph, Avg. Cadence 85, Ride Time 4hrs 50mins.

The Cheshire Cat Sportive

It's only about 10 days until The Cheshire Cat. This will be my first 100 miler of the season, I'm looking forward to it, however my workload/social life requirements mean - yet again - I've not been out on the bike for about a week. Not good. Saying that, last ride out, the rest had done me good.

I've planned my food out. Got a profile of the ride, where the stops are, when the big hills come, to be fully sure that I've got all the right food and the right levels of energy when needed. I'm going to buy one of the topbar bags to carry all the extra gels and bits that I plan to carry on the day, might not be the lightest bike on the course, however, I'm more concerned about keeping the carbs going in over the whole distance.

Chatting with a couple of the lads at work who are also doing the ride and winding them up about Mow Cop, one of them found this short Youtube video, which says it all. I've frightened them both to death with the "stop and you fall off" concept. Thankfully, the big hills come in the first third of the ride, so providing I've had a decent breakfast, energy levels should be good.

It should be a great season, with the spring like weather over the past few days, spirits are high and I'm really up for the challenge of knocking down some big miles, so, bring on the Cat!

Mow Cop - The Cheshire Cat

Spills & thrills, highs and lows, speeds and feeds, today's North Cheshire Clarion club ride had it all. For the sake of not writing a two thousand word post, here's the stuff of note: -

• Twelve riders turning out, looking resplendent in the new Club Kit.
• Great average speed over the ride. We were comfortably hitting 20mph on the rolling stuff.
  
• Amazing to see how everyone in the clubs fitness is improving.
• Andy and Sarah falling off up Mow Cop (more on Mow Cop below).
• Paul dusting off the cobwebs on his Planet X supersonic bike.
• 3 separate puncture incidents.
• We did three of the Cheshire Cat climbs.
• My riding position felt much better, faster and more comfortable following my recent fit.

Mow Cop

This hill has a bit of a reputation, and I can see why. Out of our twelve riders, only one got up to the top without stopping. It's a hill of a few parts, plenty of surprises there. The bottom run up is relatively steep, got through that OK. It then opens out into a much steeper bit. I got three quarters of the way up that and then held onto a gate, whilst I took 30 seconds to catch my breath, my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my body.

Deep breath, off to finish off the first bit, which I did. Then comes the 1/4 - 25% gradient. Jesus, that was tough. Halfway up, I heard a crash behind me as Andy M hit the deck, it's so steep, that unless you keep the pedals turning, you just stop dead. I stopped when I heard the fall - just a reaction - to see if he was OK, then Sarah hit the deck too, bodies everywhere (see photo which one of the club members managed to snap of Sarah going over) . So, I'm halfway up, static, out of my cleats and thinking what next. Nothing for it, I pushed off, clipped back in in about two nanoseconds (how I'll never know) and put the hammer down up to the top, breathing so hard that I was gasping for air. So, in theory, I rode to the top of Mow Cop, didn't walk any of it, but I did have two mini-breaks in between. I was on the granny gear all the way. Even so, I was very close to my heart rate maximum.

It doesn't end there, it kicks back up again at the top, you turn left, another kick up, turn right, another kick up. Evil. I guess we all know what's coming on the Cheshire Cat now, I imagine on the day it's going to be carnage with so many riders on the course. The other climbs - Bridestones and Blacky Bank - seemed easy by comparison. So, I've done it now, know what to expect and am raring for another go. Top day with the club! Total distance 60.5 miles. Route here. 1994ft of climbing. 3800 calories (estimate), max speed 32mph, avg. speed 14.1 mph, avg cadence 79.

North Cheshire Clarion Club Ride

It's four weeks until the Cheshire Cat. It's two weeks since I was last in the saddle. Combination of workload and weather plus other commitments. I took last Friday off - for example - to get some miles in the legs, but was scuppered by the relentless rain which lasted all day.

So, I was pretty pleased to get out today on the club ride. A cautious peek out of the bedroom window at half seven indicated a green light, no rain, no snow, it's a go! Todays club route can be seen here including a visit to the Ice Cream Farm. A 50 miler, not too hilly. Overall I did 64 miles with the ride up there and back, I'm behind on my 1,000 mile target between January and March, so thought I'd put them in the bank.

Ride pace felt faster today, I felt pretty good on the bike so was happy with how things went. I ate and drunk regularly, right from the off and I think that contributed to my general feeling on the bike. I got through 3 x 500ml of PSP, 2 x Gels, 1 x Banana and 1 x Slice of Victoria Sponge Cake, still had food to spare in the back pocket.

Weather conditions were nice, not too cold, no rain and road conditions were alright (although the bike took a fair clean when I got home). What was notable about today is how everyone's fitness is improving, there's nothing like the looming deadline of a hilly 100 mile Sportive to get everyone in the mood for getting fitter, the turbo trainers have been busy.

Had my usual moment with the bike computers, this time it was user error, so ride stats not 100% complete. Enjoyed an exhilarating 34mph downhill at one point, cadence came in at 86 average, 3600 calories (estimated) and distance around 64miles (102KM).

North Cheshire Clarion Club Run 14/2/2010

No long rides for us today, those that had managed to get a pass out were under strict orders to be back at a decent time due to Valentines day, so I drove, rather than rode up to our departure point today.

We'd planned a 40 mile (64km) loop which you can view here, no major dramas, few inclines to go up, but nothing sharp. I'm quietly pleased, as I wasn't 100% today, I'm still on the back end of a cold but was determined to get out. I'm still full of catarrah which made breathing hard at times, my heart rate monitor was letting me know that I was pushing myself, however I felt OK most of the time.

What is making a difference is how I fuel when I'm on the bike. Within 30 mins of setting off I'd popped an SiS Go gel, then took regular sips of PSP22 energy drink. By the time we got to the cafe stop, I'd done 500ml and made up a new bottle from the powder which I took with me in a plastic bag (aswell as working my way through a coffee, a banana and a freshly baked scone with jam).

Cycling back was fun, we hit about 36mph on one of the hills. I popped another SiS Go gel about half an hour in and worked my way through the remaining bottle of PSP22 I'd made up. I also had my Bontrager wheels and "go faster" red tyres on today, surprisingly, I felt more confident with these tyres, they are more expensive and puncture proof (following last weeks fiasco) and the rims rolled nicely, so good stuff there.

Topping it all off, I managed to re-set the Garmin half way round, so I'm a bit short of ride stats, but according to the route map, there was around 1422 feet of climbing and total distance was 40 miles, if you check out Marks blog, he normally posts the full stats from his Garmin Edge data. I'll be glad when I've shaken this cold off, am behind on my monthly training plan as a result, so got some catching up to do.

Tripletastic...

I did the triple today. Three punctures whilst out on the North Cheshire Clarion club ride, quite incredible, all within about an hour of each other. No one else got any, I was just having one of those days and copped for a load of ribbing and banter from the other riders claiming I just wanted multiple breaks (think this might be a longstanding club record in the making too). Let me unreservedly apologise to all the partners of the club members who got back a little later than expected, it was down to me and you're welcome to post your complaints in the comments box!

It was a great route today, you can view it here, pretty flat really compared to this ride we did a couple of weeks ago. We decided we'd do a little longer than usual to get a few more miles in the legs, with my ride there and back I did around 64 miles (102km) in total. I felt good on the bike today and put more thought into my nutrition. Prior to going I had porridge plus a banana, with some blueberries, washed down with a bottle of Gatorade. After the first hour I popped a gel, thirty minutes after that a flapjack (whilst Paul inspected my tyre on puncture number two, what a top chap), with regular gulps of PSP22 from Science in Sport. At our cafe break I had a Go bar and a cornflake chocolate cake (as a treat). I made up another half litre of drink with some of the product I got from Zipvit (which didn't taste as good as the PSP22). As you can see, I was eating pretty regularly in order to keep my carbohydrate levels topped up. As a result, I felt good all ride today and didn't feel tired, so I'll be continuing to test, learn and refine ready for the Cheshire Cat.

As for ride stats, I don't really have any today. With getting so many punctures, I managed to mount my wheel and forget about lining the magnet for my speedo up, so lost all the distance. My Garmin was mucking around too, so I managed to press a wrong button whilst I was fiddling with it en route and clear all the stored ride data. As you can see, it wasn't the best of day for bike technology! So, summary is ride distance of 62 miles today.

North Cheshire Clarion Club Run

The intensity button was cranked up a notch or two on todays club run. With The Cheshire Cat sportive looming, it was time to throw a few more hills into our ride out. Looking at the ride profile for the Cheshire Cat, there are a few nasty hills with Mow Cop being the most infamous of them all and first to appear on the route at the eighteen mile mark. Concensus was to start building the intensity of the club ride to get us ready for some climbing. You can see from the profile that we achieved that.

At the 21mile mark we did a sharp climb of 770 feet straight up and followed that up with another four or so climbs on a rolling route. I felt pretty good today and a few of the guys noted that my fitness had improved climbing up the hills. I basically spun at about 85 cadence up the hills, in a low gear at around 9.5mph. Whilst I wasn't the quickest, I was getting up the inclines without any major dramas and my confidence for the Cheshire Cat sportive is improving (given that I plan to continue to do around 100 miles per week training between now and then).

Whilst the route was hilly today, I really enjoyed it, primarily because I felt physically fitter and mentally I attacked all the hills, deciding that I would get up everything, no matter what. I'm really learning that you have to accept that at some point you have to suffer and it's how you mentally deal with it that can dictate where you get up it or not. One of the benefits of going up, is coming down. We did a couple of fast descents, hitting 36mph at one point, it was a bit hairy with so many potholes and the roads still being a bit slippery but great fun (talking of which, I figured out why I fell off last week. Big oil patch on the roundabout which todays rain exposed). Whilst todays ride was challening in many aspects, I really enjoyed it and came home to a steaming hot bath. Legs are certainly letting me know that I've been up a few hills today!

Ride Stats; Total distance 56.55 miles (90km). Ride time 4hrs 19mins. Avg. speed 13.1mph. Total climbing 1993ft. Calories burnt (estimate) 3966. Avg. cadence 85.

North Cheshire Clarion Club Ride

We made it out for our first club ride of 2010 today. Everyone has been keenly watching conditions to get out and stick some outdoor miles in the legs. We had ten on the ride today. Things didn't start brilliantly as the bike slipped from underneath me only about 50m from my door and I hit the deck, I wasn't hurt, I put it down to my new tyres and some black ice. On the ride up to our meeting point, I had another couple of scary moments with the bike feeling decidely slippery underneath me, so I slowed it down a bit. One of the more experienced riders advised me to take the pressure down on the tyres a bit and give ten or so miles for the tyre seam to wear off, that did the trick. On some of the B roads, it was still pretty slippery. We turned back on one B road and Andy then hit the deck, after that, we were sorted. It was great to be out, it didn't feel too cold (although I had four layers on so no surprise there) and there were loads of other cyclists out, all looking happy to be out and about again and off the turbo trainers. Today's route wasn't too hilly, we did around 2000 feet of ascent in total, with a nice little 2.5 mile ascent at the end, just to wake the legs up. If you're on mycycling log, you can see my rides under my username "roadphil." I'm aiming to try and get 1,000 miles in before the Cheshire Cat sportive at the end of March, so today's ride has helped me get back on track with my montly target. Total Ride distance 52.8Miles in 3hrs 37 mins. Avg. speed 14.5mph. Avg. Cadence = 89. Total Calories 3584.