The Importance of Training

You've got the bike, you've got the kit, but have you got the legs ...
Do these look like the legs of a well-trained cyclist to you?

Alain Prost: "To finish first, you must first finish".

Having said that, two days ago I did the London to Brighton with 35mm Marathon Plus tyres, but inflated about 1/2 bar (7 psi) over the "maximum" pressure.
Hit a couple of pot holes, and my speed topped out at a bit over 40 mph (68kmh) - downhill, obviously,, but they managed fine.

Folks over-emphasise the importance of the bike.
One bike or another will give you a little bit extra.
But it is a little bit.

The bulk of speed and endurance comes from the combination of the three elements of good training
1) cardio-respiratory fitness - heart and lungs
2) muscles
3) energy production (lactate threshold, interleukin-6, and all that)

I passed loads of folks on the London to Brighton who had the right bike and the right kit, but had failed to do enough proper training.
I made it up Ditchling Beacon, and passed lots of "walkers" with all the right kit who didn't. Did the whole event "straight through", with no rest stops, etc. etc.

Me - heavy bike (about 20kg "empty", about 29kg at the start of the L2B, about 26kg at the end, because of the food and water I got through), slightly generous tyres (700x35), but I did quite a bit of time this Spring working on my notoriously low cadence, as well as running to build up my heart and lungs.
Muscles were taken care of by training - I had six half-centuries and two centuries under my belt this year BEFORE the London to Brighton - the last century was just two weeks before.
All 8 rides were "hilly", and both the centuries and about 50% of the "halfs" had as many hills in as the London to Brighton.
Just a week before, I was out doing hill repeats - 5 reps of a 10% 60m climb.
Two weeks ago it was a "no stops" century.
Three weeks before that it was 3 repeats of a 120m climb.
A week before that it was a "century" on training tyres (M+ on the rear, M Winter on the front, both tyres at just 4 bar, 2 bar less that maximum pressure) - with over 900m of total climbing.

The hills build the muscles (and do a bit for the heart and lungs, too), while the "centuries" help to build the Interleukin-6 response, so that after I run short of glycogen, my body becomes more efficient at making more. And, of course, all the mileage just builds up - not forgetting, of course, the "accidental" training I do for a job - I walk with a load for about 7 km a day, 5 days a week.

My lactate threshold is up, too - I sustained a higher heart rate than I expected in the London to Brighton - I sustained an AVERAGE heart rate of 82% for the 65km section between the outskirts of London and the outskirts of Brighton (and I don't think I am using a low heart rate either - I hit a new "max" of 180 bpm on Ditchling Beacon - and for a chap of 50, 180 bpm is a bit on the high-ish side anyway).

So how come I got up Ditchling Beacon on a bike weighing about 26kg (with water, tools, etc.), while quite a lot of folks with bikes that weighed about 11 or 12 kg (with water etc) "walked" it?
Many of them were younger than me too, so they should have an advantage.

Remember that century I mentioned on "soft tyres" - I even had a "snow" tyre on the front!
Training on "slow" tyres is not a technique that  I invented. And when the "fast tyres" go on (in my case, still M+, but at "full" pressure, or just occasionally, overpressure), it feels like there is a bit of a tailwind the whole time. That "soft tyre" century was HARD, but it made me stronger.
Lots of folks ride a winter training bike for part of the year - all I do is ride a "slow set-up" longer than most.

Making things too easy for yourself results in less overload ... It is not about how fast you go, it is about how much "work" you do ...
(While at the same time being aware of the risks of overtraining).

Training should be a "pyramid" - building up mileage and intensity progressively over the training period.
The wide base of the pyramid needs to have lots of slow miles in it.
Intervals and sprints are nearer the top.
But it is important to keep putting the "slow" miles in.
There really is no substitute for putting the hours in, sometimes riding in the drizzle.

Folks tend to think that they can use technology/equipment as a "shortcut".
Heart rate monitors help to make the training program easier to quantify, so that you do the amount of work you aimed for.
But you still got to do the work.
There are no shortcuts.

Planning the route: Part 1

For Sunday's BHF London to Brighton Bike Ride, I need to get myself, and my bike, to Clapham Common (south of Central London) for 6 am.
It is going to involve some driving, with the bike in the car, and then some cycling.

How to get from "The City" to Clapham Common (the "Start" point) for the London to Brighton Bike Ride

Looks like Cycle SuperHighway 7 takes care of a lot of the route.
Now I just have to work out where to park, and how to get to Cycle SuperHighway 7!

Bicycles and the Law

First let me say the this piece is based on the law in the United Kingdom, and other jurisdictions may vary ...

First the basics.

The bike itself.
Brakes:
Although the wording is a bit vague, you must ensure that your brakes are "efficient"
Lights and reflectors: 
At night, lights must be fitted (white front, red rear) AND a red rear reflector must also be used. Handily some rear lights have built in reflectors, and most rack-mounted lights do
(Anna has such a light/reflector combo on her bike - neat, AND legal!)

Anna's bike with the original "generic" rear reflector

Rear, rack-mounted, reflectors can be upgraded with a
combined light/reflector unit

The combined light/reflector unit is a neat, unobtrusive upgrade.
Like many part of a bike, a determined thief (with tools) can steal it, but a rack-mounted light is less prone to casual pilfering than a clip-on/clip-off unit. Note also the "legal" pedal reflectors in the "after-market" pedals,

At night, if the bike was manufactured after 1st October 1985, then pedal reflectors must also be fitted.
So those of you that ride fancy clip-less pedals on a dark evening in the winter may be breaking the law (!)
Remember those doofy pedals that came with the bike - the cheap looking ones?
They ARE "legal", and any replacements should also be "legal".
The "lights and reflectors" part of the Highway Code is rule 60.
The specific law covering bicycles is The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989, Schedule I, Table III, which states that you have no have a front light, a rear light, a rear refelector, and pedal refelectors (and a specified exception is made for cycles manufactured before 1/10/85).
Can't get clearer than that!

The "legal" cheap pedals that come with
many new bikes.

Anna much prefers these metal pedals, but they still have reflectors!
(See the picture above, in the section on lights, for a clearer view
of the reflectors)

What then of the "rules of the road"?
Traffic signs and signals:
You must obey all traffic signs and traffic light signals.
No surprises there, then.

A respectable-looking cyclist hopping on to the pavement,
where there is bike parking. Note the "red" traffic signal.
Did he park? ...

... no, he did not. After passing the "red" traffic signal, he rejoined the road and continued on his way.
A clear violation of the law.
But that is well-dressed, middle-class, middle-aged, thugs for you.

Overtaking:

Cyclists tend to be overtaken more than they overtake other vehicles.

So what is the law on overtaking?

Well, we'll start with "double solid white lines" - one of the places where overtaking is not usually permitted if it causes a driver (or cyclist!) to cross or straddle the "solid" white lines.

There is an exception - a driver (or cyclist, or, for that matter, a "road user" in general) CAN cross or straddle the double "solid" white lines to overtake (providng they have adequate visibilty and it is otherwise safe to do so):

a) a stationary vehicle or obstruction

b) a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle providing they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.

So, in many cases, it WILL be illegal to pass a fit cyclist where there are solid double white lines, as they will bemoving faster than teh 10 mph exception. Indeed, on my recent Tour de Vale ride (a 100km ride), I AVERAGED 19 km per hour (about 12 mph) over the entire 100km. So, given that some of the hills were pretty steep, much of the time I was going faster than the 10 mph (16 kph) limit! And most riders were going faster than me!

General Overtaking:
Other road users should give give "motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car". But note that this rule is a "should", not a "must" - so it is an example of good driving, rather than a strict legal requirement (!)

The "example" picture from the "Highway Code".
If only all drivers behaved like this!
(Crown Copyright!)

The problem arise in that the advice to give cyclists "at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car" sounds good in principle, and looks even better in the picture, BUT it can also be interpreted as leaving a gap of 6 inches to three feet between the cyclist and car, because that is the sort of gap that a driver might leave when passing another car (!).
Further more, in the picture shown (the "official example", the passing vehicle IS NOT actually passing the cyclist "as they would a car", because the driver is straddling the lane line, rather than properly using the other lane.
You may also have observed that the gap shown between the driver and the cyclist is MUCH wider than the gap that would be left if the driver shown WAS ACTUALLY passing another car.

And that's it for now, Just a short summary of some of the issues in the United Kingdom.
By all means suggest anything you want clarifying (and in some cases, e.g. overtaking, the laws have a certain "looseness" about them, while in other cases, e.g. pedal reflectors at night, they are VERY clear!),

Comments are also VERY welcome.
Thanks for reading.

5 days to the London to Brighton - training review

It is Tuesday evening.
Sunday is the 2015 BHF London to Brighton Bike Ride.
Am I ready?

Time to review the training I have done earlier in the year.

I'm only going to count the rides that are 50 km and above, although, of course, all the shorter ones add up too!

8th February, 52.1 km, with 584m of climbing
4th March, 51.1 km, with 294m of climbing
5th April, 61.2 km, with 606m of climbing
26th April, 64.5 km, with 447m of climbing
10th May, 112.8 km, with 929m of climbing
17th May, 61.2 km, with 646m of climbing
7th June, 115.5 km, with 949m of climbing
14th June, 61.2 km, with 772m of climbing

The London to Brighton ride is only about 86 or 87 km long,
It only has two climbs worth of note:
Turners Hill and Ditchling Beacon.
9% average grade for Ditchling Beacon, with a 133m rise.
That's why its nickname is "Heartbreak Hill".

But, hey, I rode the London to Brighton last year on a 3-speed, so I have something of an advantage this year!
I actually got up Turner's Hill on the 3-speed last year (but only just!), and the fittest member of our team got up Ditchling Beacon on his 3-speed, too. I walked up most of it :-)
This year I have 24 speeds, with a lowest gear of just 21 inches, compared with a low of about twice that last year!

So, I've done the training (2 "centuries" and 6 "half-centuries" this year), I've got the bike set up right, and now I just have to do the ride!

But notice how I built up to the ride for a good few months beforehand.
Folks who start training a monthbefore an event are leaving it all rather too late!

My "training" for this week is to eat a balanced diet, with quite a lot of "carbs" in it, and get plenty of sleep. It is important to start an event in the best possible condition, not exhausted from last-minute training attempts.

I'm hoping to complete the course in less that 5 hours.
I completed the 100km course of the Tour de Vale in 5 hrs 22 mins and 55 seconds, 9 days ago, and the London to Brighton is about 13 or 14% shorter, although the route can be VERY congested, so I think 5 hours is about right.
Let's see how I get on!
If you want to sponsor me, then you can do so here.

As for my weight:

My weight has gone up just a touch recently.
That is probably down to my taking a rest week before big events, to make sure my body is fully rested.
I certainly don't diet the week before an event, and I am deliberately trying to eat a variety of "carb" types to make sure that my muscle glycogen is in tip-top condition "on the day".
I did the same for the week before the Tour de Vale (marked on the graphic), and it worked well - I managed to cycle all the hills, with no pushing!
I will pick up the running again a week or so after the London to Brighton ride.

Hilly Sixty Between Two Centuries.

You can see the 5 climbs up Toms Hill Road very clearly in the altitude graphic (top).
The other highlight is that I recorded a maximum heart rate of 178 bpm - my highest while cycling.
(I have recorded 184 bpm while running up hill, though!)

Century (100km) last weekend - the Tour de Vale charity "sportive".
Century due next weekend - the London to Brighton (and by the time all the bits and bobs are added in it will be just over a "century").

So what to due with this weekend -the one in the "middle"?
A "fifty" (50 km ride) should do it, with some hills, thought I.