New Training, Weight Loss, New Wheels and Punctures

Broken Rim Christmas Eve

My last post indicated I had found my EMC had a broken rim on Christmas Eve and so I was riding my son’s, David’s, old Standish school bike and used it to climb Willunga Hill on Dec 26th. Since then I have had several rides on that Standish as well as a SSRC L group ride on Lynn’s XS Apollo Exceed on Dec 29th. That must have been something to see, me on an extra small Apollo with the seat up high, my peddles with cleats on a flat bar road bike! Sorry, I have no pictures of that!

Anyway, I became impatient waiting for my wheels to come from NSW (still struggle to understand why it often takes twice as long to get gear from Sydney compared to the UK!) I finally gave in to offers of a loan back wheel from various people and borrowed one from Patrick O’Kane. On Friday the 4th of January I used Patricks wheel to ride to Willunga and back for my first ride on the EMC in 12 days! It felt much longer than that!

Weight Loss, Progress

With the lack of rides and festive food I did put a little weight back on over Christmas/New Year and then managed to drop to my lowest weight 78.5 kg’s. Maybe I was dehydrate as I didn’t stay there for long. In fact my weigh in this morning I was back to 81 kg’s but that could easily be from the muscle build from recent training.

I have re-assessed my weight goal based on my body fat that still remains when I reached my original goal of 79 kg’s. I have now set a new goal of 75-76 kg’s. I will still have a reasonable amount of body fat to draw on for energy.

Training

I have also outlined my latest training regime adapting to current conditions but things have changed a little. After contracting a gastro bug, knocking me out for several days and a couple of weeks of my normal bike I have not progressed as far as I had hoped and with the BUPA challenge looming need to be as ready as I can.  I have to admit the loss of 8 kg’s or so has improved both my performance climbing hills and speed on the flat. I have also noticed that training produces noticeable improvement in a shorter period of time.

In the last couple of months I have tested my improvement on several local hills. The results say a lot!

Cox Hill to Bains Rd Climb:

• Apr 4, 2012:  21m48s
• Dec 13, 2012:  21m29s

GAIN: 19 seconds, not much but have not tried in the last month

Chandlers Hill Climb:

• Apr 12, 2012:  15:28
• Dec 18, 2012:  13:54
• Jan 8, 2013:  13:04

GAIN: 2 minutes 24 seconds

Bains Road:

• Apr 2, 2012:  15:19
• Dec 20, 2012:  14:21

GAIN: 38 seconds, also need a more recent attempt

Lot 339 Piggott Range Rd Climb(Education Road):

• Apr 4, 2012:  13m20s
• Dec 23, 2012:  11m55s
• Jan 11, 2013:  11m38s

GAIN: 1 minute 42 seconds

The two most recently ridden, Chandlers Hill Road and Education Road have shown big improvements which I hope to show similar improvements for Bains and Cox’s Hill road when I get to do them again this week.

I went on a longer ride yesterday to build up for the BUPA. Where else would I go but a “to Outer Harbour and back” to get close to 100 km’s.  I am not planning on any longer rides than this but should probably do another one of these this week. I was hoping for a 30 kph average ride speed, especially when there was a dead calm at the start of my ride at 4:49am.  Two things happened to thwart this, first of all I copped a visit, from what I am starting to think is my own personal, puncture fairy on the leg from Port Adelaide down to Outer Harbour. I am still waiting on some new tubes, 48mm valves, to suit my new 35mm wheels so I do not have any spare tubes with long valves.  I removed the tube intending to patch it however I found my tube of glue had dried up! Next option, use a new tube with a short valve extender. I have done this before and have found my pump struggles to seal for any more than 75 psi. So, that was all I could do. Riding on the lower pressure was definitely harder and then as I turned to head South I found that a Southerly wind had picked up. This knocked the wind out of my sails so to speak!

It was a tough grind home along the coast. Arriving at the Buffalo, Glenelg, I ran into Paul McGregor who was waiting for the Muddies to arrive.  It wasn’t until I was riding along the coast South of Glenelg that I saw the Muddies bunch heading North prompting a big wave to and from all as I passed by. I had thought I would say hi to these guys at Cafe Remini’s before their ride but the puncture had put me back so this was not to be.

I had originally planned to join the Muddies on their easy spin group ride but had needed to be home much earlier to go for a ride with Lynn before she went to work so had dropped out and gone on my own ride early.

Under the circumstances I can’t complain at an average speed only 2.6 kph below my target but can’t help but be a little disappointed.

DETAILS:

• Distance: 96.6 km
• Riding Time: 3:31:42
• Average Temp: 20C
• Average Speed: 27.4 kph
• Average Cadence: 80 rpm

Southern Suburbs Road Cyclists

The SSRC have added a new group ride to their arsenal that just happens to align with my current training plans. They have called it the “SSRC Tuesday Morning Range Riders” organised around a Tuesday morning 6 am start to incorporate a decent climb and a short ride. Mainly aiming to give those people who have trouble finding time to ride during the week to get a ride in before work.  It seems, at this stage, to be attracting from 5 to 10 riders each week. The three rides I have done with them so far has been to climb Chandlers Hill road and to ride across Piggott Range road, Down Cox’s Hill road and back to the start at the Domino’s car park at the corner of Pimpala road and Main South Road.  So far, most riders participating have improved their PR’s significantly from this ride.

Punctures

It seems a little wrong that punctures gets its own section but its become a major part of my riding lately with some people suggesting that I am the “sweeper”, the person that’s is single handed cleaning up all the bike lanes of Adelaide of all the sharp objects!

Its a little frustrating that lately I have attracted a large number of punctures. Its been down right annoying to say the least.  have even destroyed a one ride old new tyre! The up side to this is that I am almost out of tubes with short valves!

I rode down a quiet road with the SSRC L ride on the Saturday and then on the Sunday rode down the same road that had been swamped by riders the day before and found what must have been the one and only piece, or should I say chunk, of very sharp glass that slashed my new tyre across the tread all the way through!  I was so glad I was carrying a spare tyre in my saddle bag! I was able to get enough air into the short valve tube to ride home.  In a different situation I have had fine wire and various types of glass  penetrate my tyres through the tread and some through the sidewall and some punctures from crush injuries when I have been unable to avoid chunky objects.   Its just a stage I am going through I am sure. After having only 2 punctures during the 1,788 km Strava Every Second Counts Challenge and now getting almost a dozen punctures in the last 1,000 km, how could it not get frustrating!

I am hoping that my next few post will be devoid of this topic.  The most likely next topic will be about the BUPA 2013 challenge and how David and I stayed together to support each other through for the duration. Until next time, I hope you have a safe and puncture free riding. Have a happy 2013!

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