Winter Training and the Exercise Test - 24th Feb 2011

Winter Training and the Exercise Test - 24^th Feb 2011

Saturday training with the ‘big boys’:

Last Saturday’s training (19^th Feb), was the toughest yet.

It was mild for the time of year, dry, with a moderate westerly wind. Only four of us turned up. The first road race of the season, an inter-club Criterion, was taking place the next day and many of the regular Saturday trainers were taking part.

As it happens, my English mate Ian Cushway entered the ‘Crit’, after much prevarication and actually finished with the main bunch. He had been worried about his form but wanted to test his fitness. I am here to tell you that apart from one ride before Christmas when he really struggled, he’s been going like a train. He’s much stronger (and younger) than me and I was sure he was up to the event. He completed the course, staying with the main group all the way to the finish and averaging around 38kph for the 60-odd kilometre road race. I was very impressed, and not a little jealous.

But I digress, as usual - back to the training ride:

So, the four of us: me; Yves (big strong fellow – 35); Loic (ex-footballer, mid-30s); and Daniel (lightweight, good climber, 58); set off for points West.

We made our way to Malsetroit, a beautiful medieval town some 35kms from my house, riding at at a steady pace. Yves, the self-appointed route leader, explained his plans for the ride to me along the way. After a few false starts (my French still isn’t what one might call ‘fluent’), I gathered we were going to ride in a ‘chain’ along a circuit the other side of Malestroit. Yves explained that we were going to do three laps around part of the Malestroit Sportif course (see my blog for 4^th July 2010) and include some ‘chain’ work.

Those of you nice people who have been reading my blogs religiously will remember that I explained the concept of riding in a chain last year, so I won’t go through it all again.

Suffice to say that working in a chain of only four means that you are on the front, and therefore exposed to the headwind, for a relatively much longer time than if you are in a big group. I looked forward to it with some trepidation.

The Chain Session:

We reached Malestroit relatively fresh having done little more than a warm-up along the way (averaging about 24kph), and began to wind up the speed a little. We took it fairly easy through the town and then got down into the chain along a straight, flat stretch of smooth road between Malestroit and the little village of Saint Congard, a run of about 5 kms.

We reached an average speed of 38 kms, driving hard into a modest headwind before turning left towards the pretty village of Saint Laurent. We slowed a little to recover our strength and returned to Malestroit. Our average speed dropped to around 31kph during the return to Malestroit, but this leg was peppered with the occasional sprint to village signs; just to keep us honest as it were.

One thing to mention here is that Daniel really struggled to maintain his place in the chain and had to pull back and just draft at the back of the group. It meant that with only three of us in the chain (two strong relative ‘youngsters’ and an old fart), it was even tougher.

The lap was about 17kms long.

On the second lap the average speed of the chain fell to 36.5kph; not bad considering Daniel was unable to help. I actually found the technical side of this work to be really interesting, if tough. Very tough! I did manage to stay with the ‘big boys’ though, much to my surprise and delight. I even won the sprint into St Cognard at the end of the chain leg. I spotted the village sign, put my head down and blasted the 500m to the sign. I can’t tell you how gobsmacked I was win and to find that none of the others had even attempted to stay with me for the sprint. Am I stronger than I think?

Unsurprisingly, the average speed during chain of the third lap fell again (to 35kph), and this time I failed to win the St Cognard sprint. Apparently Yves and Loic had saved themselves for the end and really left me for dead. I kidded myself that I had let them have the final sprint as a goodwill gesture, but truth be told....

I did win one of the sprints on the return leg to Malestroit, but I don’t think the others were really trying – hey ho!

The full training ride was 128kms at an average speed of 27.5kph, (that’s over 17 mph) and that average includes a load of stop/start stuff when we met at the start point and during ride itself. So, although it’s nothing to write home about (ha, ha), we worked really hard at times and it was such good training.

The exercise test – Ploermel Hospital - 22^nd Feb:

In my last blog I promised to tell you about the cardiologist-enforced exercise test at the hospital. Well I turned up expecting to be ‘beasted’; my GP had told to prepare for the worst and that I would have to work far harder than I would ever do during a Sportif – yeah!

It turned out to be a simple incremental ( ‘step’) test. I was hooked up to an electrocardiogram (ECG) and a sphygmomanometer (blood-pressure cuff), sat on an ergo-cycle (static exercise bike) and told to spin at between 60-70 rpm. It was easy enough for a warm-up.

After about 5 minutes my blood-pressure was taken, the resistance on the trainer increased and I was instructed to increase the cadence to between 70-80rpm. The test continued in increments (80-85; 85-90; and finally 90-95). By the final level I have to admit I was blowing a bit but the intensity was still sub-maximal. My heart rate peaked at 158 bpm, about 90% of my max.

Then, to my surprise, the medic said to relax and the resistance came off the bike – the warm-down had started. There was another blood-pressure test before the Dr Genati pronounced my heart fit enough to receive my race licence.

He charged me 75€ for the privilege!

I popped in to my GP yesterday to get my race license signed. At least he didn’t charge me for that particular piece of French bureaucracy but what the hell, I’m in France and I need to do as the French do!

Club Dinner (25^th Feb):

Tonight is the pre-season club dinner. I’ll be handing in my race license application (plus the 50€ license fee!), to the club secretary and we will discuss the upcoming season. I’ll try to do most of the same races this year as last. I’ll then be able to compare times and will soon discover whether I’ve really improved or I’m just kidding myself.

I’ll be in touch.

First Blog of the Year

Winter Training and Yvonne - 10^th Feb 2011

Subtitle: She’s a beauty!

Hello there:

It’s been a while but how the devil are you all? Well, over the past few days I’ve been literally inundated with a request to start blogging again ... and here it is!

So, what’s been happening on this side of the Chanel? Not a lot actually, just mile after mile of training and little else apart from work, three (count them - three!) family weddings and a delightful new grandson - Elliott.

By the time the New Year came along I had cycled a total of 7,200 miles; that’s over 11,500kms in foreign.

Now, the last thing I posted was a description of the Wessex 100, a great ride in wonderful sunny English, autumn weather. Lordy, Lordy, how things change! The weather has closed in and the rides have been getting tougher, colder and wetter since then!

I have managed to keep the training up despite the end of the racing season and I hope to cover more miles this year than 2010. I’m certainly fitter now than I was at the start of last year, more miles in the legs, and a lower body weight.

The real news is that I’ve managed to save up enough money to buy myself another bike. It’s a carbon-fibre framed Raleigh - the exciting Yvonne; but more of her later.

It’s all about the weight:

In April 2010, I weighted 89kgs; as I type this blog, my weight stands at close to 82kgs. Not bad, but I hope to drop to 80kgs by the start of the season. I know it is really boring talking about bodyweight, but the extra kilograms count for so much in bike riding.

Medical Issues:

I don’t know if you recall, but in Feb 2010 I joined my first proper cycle club, ‘Taupont Cyclisme’, and I needed a medical certificate in order to get race licence.

I wanted to race and, no race licence = no racing, and no medical certificate = no race licence! It was as simple as that.

So I f visited my GP, who told me that my blood pressure was a little high (145/95). A blood test indicated that my cholesterol was high for a man of my age and high blood-pressure. He wanted to put me straight onto Beta-blockers or Statins, or some other such poison, but I declined. I don’t do drugs; I’m not keen on potential side-effects and in any event I'm a bit too mean to pay through the nose for drugs I may not actually need! But that’s me - Hey ho.

So, I made a deal with him. I’d improve my diet for 6 months, lose weight, and keep on training. Then we’d take another look at the blood dynamics before resorting to any medications. Reluctantly, he agreed – he is a French doctor after all and they are rarely questioned by their patients.

So I cut right back on the cheese, butter and charcouterie (sausages, pate etc.) and true, enough, not only did the weight fall off me, but also my blood pressure and other blood factors improved by the follow-up test. So no medications needed – who’s a clever boy then?

Next thing - I had to be assessed by a cardiologist to make sure that it was safe for me to race. So off I toddled to the next medic – you’d think I was preparing to do the bloody Tour de France! To be honest, I think the whole medical issue was a bit of a stitch-up (they are private practitioners over here and need to get their money from somewhere I suppose), but I wanted a race licence, so I had to jump through the French hoops. In fact, I am fully registered over here so most of the medical expenses can be claimed back.

Anyway, in the 4 weeks it took me to get to the appointment with the cardiologist, the new diet must have been really effective because my blood-pressure had fallen to normal for my age (135/85), and weight (89kgs)! The cardiologist then ran some tests on my heart and said it was OK but I still had one more assessment to do – a static bike test in the hospital gym – the following September! When I mentioned that I wanted to race that summer he said fine and wrote a note to Dr Menier allowing me to complete. My heart can't be too bad then can it?

So – to cut a long story short (a bit), I actually missed the damn September hospital appointment as it coincided with the week I was in England for the Wessex 100! Oooo errr!

Suffice it to say that the cardiologist was not amused; I had forgotten to cancel the appointment and he wrote me a ‘snotoletter’ which stated very clearly that if I didn’t turn up to the next appointment he wouldn’t let me race in 2011. The revised appointment was made for 25^th Feb 2011 – next week.

This is why I don’t currently have a licence to race in France, which is a pity because I was considering riding in an inter-club challenge next week-end! Hey ho! I’ll let you know the outcome of the exercise test in the next blog.

Just a thought though. If I fail the test and am refused a race licence, this could be a very short blogging season!

A new bike!

So, not being a rich man and not owning a bike shop, I had to save up over the past 6 months to buy myself a better bike. It’s not new, but has only had 6 months use last season by a guy who was sponsored (by my mate Andy Shaw), and who actually won a couple of cycle races on it!

Now that I have it though, it won’t be winning any more!

So, the details.

The bike and, by Jingo, I’ve finally taken receipt of the beautiful thing – see details below. In brief it has a full carbon-fibre frame, Shimano bits and wheels and she’s a real beauty (see the picture)!

For the techies!

The Raleigh Avanti Race:

Ccarbon frame and forkset combined with the new Ultegra 6700series equipment from Shimano and their proven RS20 wheel-set:

· Frame: 12K Full Carbon road frame with FSA Orbit IS-2 headset

· Forks: 12K carbon fork with carbon crown and steering stem

· Gearset: Full Ultegra 6700 series gear set. 53 x 39T chain-rings and 12-25T cassette

· (Crank length 52/54/56cm - 172.5mm, 58cm - 175mm) with Ultegra Sti levers

· Brakeset: Full Ultegra 6700 series brake-set with Ultegra Sti levers

· Wheelset: Shimano RS30 wheel-set and Michelin Lithion tyres

· Controls: FSA RD255 compact handle-bar on an FSA OS 150XT stem

· Finishing Kit: San Marco Ponza Power saddle on FSA SL-250 alloy seat-post

· Frame Size: 60cm

Weight Difference:

Using a very rough and ready measurement method - standing on bathroom scales and weighing myself alone and with each bike in turn - Yvonne is 8.6kgs, something like 1.7kgs lighter than Yvette. Now I know this doesn't sound a lot, but Yvonne has a larger frame - much better for my poor old back. It remains to be seen how much difference it makes in reality. As I said earlier, "it's all about the weight" - actually it's really about the power-to-weight ratio, and I'm quite weak on the power front. But that's getting far too technical for this here blog.

First ride 16/02/2011:

I received a phone call from Andy this afternoon who invited me out for a ride with him and Sylvan; the two best riders in the club. He promised it wouldn’t be too fast or too long (yeah!), and like a fool I agreed. I decided I needed to take the new bike ('Yvonne' – an upgrade on 'Yvette' – get it?) or I’d be in real trouble. I needed all the help I could get to live with those two, even for a short while.

I had originally planned for my first ride on Yvonne to be a solo shakedown trial to get used to the new lightweight frame, the slightly different setup and the new group-set – so much for those plans.

Slight mods: To protect them from the mucky roads I swapped the new Shimano wheels with the Mavics from my Bianchi which are good but not brilliant and are fitted with heavy-duty winter tyres. I then toddled along the 5 miles to out meeting place.

Wow! What a difference! She was significantly lighter, responsive steering and the group-set was very slick. This was a real relief, considering I had bought the bike the recommendation of Andy Shaw. For those of you who don’t remember, Andy owns a bike shop in the UK (Wheels of Gillingham) and I knew he wouldn't give me any bad skinny.

In the end Sylvan, Andy and I completed 70 kms on a very windy, but mild, February afternoon.

Suffice to say that despite the new machine I am still crap at climbing hills! However, I have to say that following an extra year’s training and with the new bike I am significantly less crap that I was this time last year, though still crap all the same. True to form they dropped me on every significant hill (I told you how good they are didn’t I?), but I was able to cling to their coattails for a little longer on the climbs than I would have done on Yvettte.

I was knackered by the end of the ride, but happy enough with Yvonne and my overall progress.

The verdict:

I’m not naive enough to have thought that a new, lighter bike would turn me into a competitive racer overnight. However, the Raleigh is an excellent machine and my race performance is bound to improve as a result of the better bike. How much of an improvement there will be remains to be seen.

So, was Yvonne worth the money? Too bloody true! She gorgeous!

First race of the season:

Dunno yet, I’m still waiting to see if I pass the physical. How ironic would it be if I failed the cardio test after buying a super-dooper new bike?

The first race is likely to be in April, the Guilliers Pass’ Cyclisme – you remember, it’s the one that passes right outside our front door – 8 times!

I'll keep you posted, as it were.