Little blogging - riding a plenty

Right back to blogging - Not sure why I stopped the blogging for a month, work has been really manic, which despite my complaints I am glad of. There are plenty of people in my line of work how would be glad to be as busy as me at present. However, the work hasnt meant that my training has suffered, if anything the constant stress has meant that I have been going out training more just to have a bit of a release.

The last month has seen much the same training as previous months but with a little more quality. Lots of long rides up and over the mountains of South Wales (see pic). Although the majority of this type of riding has been social and not really pushing my limits, I have made sure to go to the front and also push hard on the climbs. I have also found myself a TT route to practice on over the next few weeks - the carbon time trial bars which I have just bought off Ebay should help as well! It would appear that I am trying to single handedly buck the recession! Another Duathlon in a couple of weeks so watch this space!

Yellow Peril

I am officially trying to single handedly refinance the whole of the economy. As of last week I became the very proud owner of a very yellow Pinarello SL circa 2004/5 with deep set carbon rims.

It is as new with the owner simply having locked it away in a garage and polishing it a lot! The majority of races which I take part in involve quite a few steep hills. I wanted a bike which i could train and race on and I think I have found it. We are off out for our first ride together tomorrow morning... watch this space

Chilly Duathlon

It has been a while since I posted anything. Training has been going really well and I have managed to beat previous race times in both the Tough Ten 10m X country race and Chilly duathlon. What was more impressive was that I trained right up to the event without any rest.

The Chilly was really good, although the conditions were much better than before, it was still really windy which made it difficult out on the bike - finish time was 54mins compared with 59mins in November.

Puncture(rama)

Why do punctures always come in threes - no punctures for months and then three on one ride!

Still enjoyed dodging the ice and snow though in Leeds

Blue Suede Shoes

Well they are not made out of suede nor are they blue but they are a brand new pair of running shoes. I would normally try and go down the route of buying the same shoes as I had been fitted for before by a pro shop on the internet. However, as I have not been to a pro shop for a couple of years I thought it would be wise (NB for wise use the word "fun" and expensive) to go to Easy Runner in Britol and buy myself a nice shiny new pair which can be shown on the above pic. On a rest week at the mo but cant wait to try them out on Monday,potentially in the snow!

Gym(tastic)

Almost forgot to metion... came back home from work on Friday evening to discover that my wonderful fiance had decided to turn one of the spare bedrooms into a gym for me with turbo trainer and drawers for all my kit.

Little Dipper

What a week, managed about 11 hours of training this week. Mostly thanks to the wander of series 1 of 24 which has made the hours on the turbo fly by!

As always though Sod's law means that something will always go wrong if it hasnt by the end of the week. So started the Sunday ride in the hail which was nice and was made even nicer when the front mech snapped meaning I had to limp home in the hardest gear. For some stupid reason I decided that I should make up for only half a ride by taking the dog out on the Dunes. Did both the big dipper and little dipper dunes, attached is a pic of little dipper, doesnt look too bad but it goes up another 50% and big dipper is even worst, not that Poppy seemed to mind!

Nemisis

I bet Chris Hoy or Lance Armstrong never missed a training session as a result of a broke radiator. Woke up on Fri to water spilling out onto the carpet of the spare room, not a problem as it was a rest day but as, again unlike the aforementioned pros I also had to go to work so replacing the thing was put off until Sat. This means that despite a great week so far I have only managed one hour today which falls far short of what I should have done

Dogging

It is official I am going to experiment with running on all fours - how is it after an hour of running up and down a bloomin mountain (or probably more like a big big hill in Wales!) my dog looks like she is really Pi""ed off with getting being forced into the car and taken home. I should have taken a picture of myself which would have shown a hobbling knackered person who was dying for a warm shower and a cup of tea!

Burrrrrr

Not posted anything for a while, this has been as much to do with the increase in training as well as Crimbo and New Year. Father Christmas has been kind enough to issue me with two brand new wheels which are now adorning my winter bike. This meant that I spent Crimbo tinkering with the bike putting an new cassette and gear cables on which should mean that it will go up the north face of the eiger without any problems!

The only thing hindering training at the mo is the weather which is cold enough to freeze anything which is not covered by ten layers. I am still to find gloves which keep the ends of my fingers warm! As you will see from the Pics even the ducks found it cold, still makes for some good photos though. I will try and take the camera out with me on more rides.