Riding around

[Alistar]

Hey this is so cool.

http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/RaceTalk/i ... orneo.html

Ok it's hardly the tdf etc he's racing, but I rode against this guy, the winner, in the Around the Mountain race in Jan. I know he was using it as a training ride, and was just taking it pretty easy but was cool to pass him solo, after he got a flat, and then be passed by him 10mins later riding like a "1man bunch" quickly disapearing into the distance...Was cool to see how strong good riders are at the time, even if he made me feel really quite useless

[bob_summers]

Go Al! How far from home to the foot of the climb? A minute and a bit shouldn't be too big an ask if you're fresh and don't have too far to get home after! Easy for me to say without knowing it though! Turn yaself inside out!

[Mr. Cleetus]

Go for it Al! How'd it go?

[Alistar]

Didn't happen in the end. 30km/h Southerly change rolled through just as I'd finished putting on my cycle gears, so any result would have been meaningless and since above 2m/s TW wouldn't have been countered. Wasn't going to endure 20mins of pain for nothing! Probably not a bad thing as I'd been moving ~50kg boulders(ok stones...) around all morning in a wheelbarrow so was pretty buggered. Arrggh...my poor weak lower back! Man that kind of exercise would be good for core strength though...Made me feel like going out and buying some kettleballs for about 2 minutes

No rides Tues, as had to stay home looking after my daughter. So just went for a quick blat to Lyttelton and back on Thursday. Actually felt pretty good. HR was in the right place(haven't worn my monitor for ages as lost the strap down the back of the couch) Wasn't really pushing it but still did a decent time.

1hr36:58 47km 29.01km/h Av
33 47 18 141A 172M

Sunday got out for a ride but was a bit annoyed it was overcast with heavy cloud and blowing a strong cold Nor' Easterly considering we had this massive High pressure system over us. It should have been calm warm and sunny goddammit!

Did an effort up the Gebbies/Bastard combo. Went hardout up Gebbs and got to the top in 5:18 from the bridge(official starting point). Was a female cyclist lying down at side of the road just after a tricky corner where people usually come a cropper. She had a cycling buddy with her, as well as some stopped cars, so hope she was alright. Then hit the HW as I turned 90^ and was crawling as it funnels down that bottom section, and also I was puffing hard from my effort up Gebbs so eased back a bit. Then thought it'd be good training so went hard again when it started to steepen up. Got to the top in 22:36 which isn't too bad given the wind. Still will do an effort up there when its calm next... Quite cold by the end of the ride as needed some leg warmers.

38:41 Top Bastard (22:36 G/B combo)
57min something SOK
1hr23:15 SOK via Rapaki
1hr30:18 bottom Dyers
2hr23:18 Motukarara
8min30 up Gebbies (nasty headwind, down to 20/22kph on flat)
4min20 last hill

3hr3:28 80.69km 26.39Av 72.4Max
43 33 22 140A 179M

[Alistar]

I didn't think I'd lost that much fitness until Tuesday. It was just so much harder than I thought it should be. Really struggled. Was late like usual so had to hussle, but my legs were heavy, fatigued and couldn't handle backing up after Sundays ride. Wasn't very enjoyable trying as hard as I was to go fast, and being the same speed as a comfortable ride even a few weeks ago. Not sure if it had anything to do with some one-off medication I had to take. As I had experienced a similar drop in performance one time on it before while training. But probably more due to only a 2hr ride the w/e before and only 1 other 1.6hr ride during the preceeding week. Just didn't think the slide would be this fast. Oh well...

15min flat Gov to SOK
18min50 dyers to SOK
last hill 4min22

1hr59:38 51.3km
23 32 43 148A 181M

[bob_summers]

It's crazy how fast that top end disappears, especially compared to how hard it is to get in the first place. For me it seems like even having a week off over easter had an effect which is hard to get over...
Just enjoy it and get out on the bike when you can, you deserve a couple of months of 'just riding along'!

[Alistar]

Good advice Bob. Still need to find the right wind-free day to do my last effort and I can relax for awhile.

Beautiful warm sunny day today. Couldn't believe I was able to wear short sleeves- might be my last chance so I really enjoyed it

Did another effort up Gebb/B combo however was wasting my time really as the Nor Easter the whole way up the B climb would never allow a fast time. One needs to be in the mid to high 20's down the bottom, then around 18 to the halfway point before it steepens up to 9 or so %, then keep it there at 14km/h the rest of the way. Any extra resistance just means you'll be down to 13km/h or so which will mean a 16min split rather than 15flat. Gave it away at the 4/5th mark but it was still a good session. And felt it for most of the rest of the ride. Such a shame we can't continue on to Evans pass like the old days as the views were just superb. Turned at Rapaki like usual then headed to the flat via SOK.

Was txting away on a quiet country rd when a guy jumped on my tail. Soon he went past so I put my cell away and ghosted him about 10 to 20m back to the Blue duck/Black tulip. He was going quite a lot faster than I would have, being one of those more powerfull 80kg guys which just meant I couldn't cruise. Generally b/t 34 and 36km/h but up to 38 occasionally with the Nor Easter at our backs. Heart rate was over 150bpms to keep up! Anyway had a toilet stop and lost just over a minute at Gebb's turnoff. Kept the same distance until Gebbies started proper and started gaining quite fast when it started ramping up. Think he thought I was gone so was relaxing a bit, but turned around when just 30secs ahead and started going for it to beat me to the top. Knew being a bigger guy he would struggle on the last steep section so went for it and was pleasing to hit 17km/h. My main motivation was to get ahead of him before the descent as didn't want to be slowed down around the many sweeping corners. Passed him just before the top and accelerated over the crest. Then flew down Gebbs and went as hard as poss until the wheatsheaf turnoff as knew he'd be turning back towards town. Anyway was nowhere to be seen so hopefully he didn't see me turn off and would have been doubly demoralised thinking I'd been playing with him until inexplicably motoring off like Cancellara

So was a good hard session in the end, even though I didn't really plan it to be

22:04 Gebbs/B combo(460m)
57:55 SOK
1hr22:13 SOK via Rapaki
1hr29:01 town
2hr16:22 Black tulip
6min up Gebbs
4:09 last hill

2hrs48:49 80.76km 28.7A 77.1M
25 46 28 147A 187M Gebbs

[bob_summers]

I think that was crushing rather than just demoralising

[Alistar]

Ha! Yeah you have to know when to pick your battles Possible he turned off up the bastard so I might have been racing ghosts. Didn't want to turn around to make it look like I was actually trying

After riding up to watch my youngest race his schools x country( he came 7th even with a bad cold so did well considering. ) decided to ride to Port Levy for a hard hill session. Didn't burst my boiler trying to keep within acceptible time limits when getting ready for races etc so just rode 3/4 pace. Still not easy as they're pretty steep unforgiving climbs with little let-up especially heading home.

Usually whenever I do this course I'm going as hard as possible so good to realise that getting up the whole 420m climb with pitches up to 14% without dropping under 10km/h(only once or twice) is actually pretty good. Today I was between 8.2 and 10.3km/h in the steep bits still riding hard, but not overdoing it.
However my right knee is playing up a bit and has been a bit sore. Uh-oh! Will have to be carefull and get it sorted before it gets worse. Probably Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome caused by all the usual suspects Might force me to look at my whole physical structure so probably a good thing, as long as I can sort it...Good time of year to get a problem anyway.

20mins20 Purau to Port levy saddle from kicker
24:04 Port Levy side

(~ 1000m climbing) 1hr47:38? 37.8km 82.6km/h Max

[Alistar]

Had a nice mtb ride on Sunday with a mate. Hardly felt my knee at all with diff shoe cleat set-up Headed out to the Halswell quarry and went up "Crocodiles" to Summit Rd via "Kennedy's" which it joins near top. Then headed over and down "The flying Nun" which was although quite challenging for me, a lot of fun.

28kms 2hr30 total time

You can see the tracks here on this vid. We went up track number 4, and down track 3 at the 2minute mark. Of course looks scarier in real life.



Usual commute today. Quite frosty but roads were fine. A missing mother and daughter since last Thursday got found in car yesterday that had gone off Dyers a few days before. No tell-tale signs from the road, so took a few days to be found. Didn't survive unfortunately Wonder what caused them to go off the road, as conditions were perfect last week
Knee which has been a bit niggly for about a yr or so but never as sore as last week, was a lot better today after doing some glute strengthing exercises. Now just my glute is sore Anyway think it all stems from my weak G.medius(old injury) and unstable hip. My mate had the same problem(pathetic G.medius strength) and was found to be that that was pulling his knee from tracking properly and he fixed it with some rehab exercises he's now given me. I didn't even have to pay money to a physiologist/physio Will have to see a bike-fit guru down the track sometime as well...
Anyway its not getting any easier and my HR was really high today and so was a bit of a struggle.

13:15/30:14Govs
15:10/19:02 to SOK both sides
59:15 there
1hr00:37 back
4min30 last hill

1hr59:52 51.3 25.68A 69.0M
18 38 39 146A(150A there) 174M

[bob_summers]

That's pretty gnarly stuff (can I use that word if I'm almost 40?) in the vid Al, good to see you getting out and enjoying it. Terrain looks very similar to here.

[Mr. Cleetus]

That's pretty gnarly stuff (can I use that word if I'm almost 40?) in the vid Al, good to see you getting out and enjoying it. Terrain looks very similar to here.

do people under 40 still use it?!

your log is nearly as empty as mine, Al!!

[bob_summers]

I didn't really think that one through!

[Alistar]

Yeah I know Mr C! Had a terrible cold the last week that went into the bronchials. Think I needed a bit of a break with sore knees etc so its been good.

Hmmm...think you can still use "Gnarly" if you're an aging surfer or skater? Unfortunately I've been totally left behind with the kids lingo. I'm still using "cool" and "wicked" which I think went out of use over a decade ago. They seem to use "Oh shame Dad!" a lot though...

Oh well had a good Winter ride today though. My fitness has completely disapeared but I didn't fight it too much. However even riding 4minutes slower up Gebbs/Bastard combo my HR was the same as a couple of weeks ago when I was going pretty much as hard as possible. Decided to cut the ride a bit short as would have had trouble handling the usual distance as legs were struggling a bit. On strava seems that Summit rd tops out at about 496m which is a little higher than I thought. Joined it the other day...now all I need is a GPS Garmin500's are quite cheap atm so I'm a little tempted...But need a decent helmet and a new less flexy wheelset which are probably higher on the priorities list...

12:59 Wheaty
17:27
23:31 Top Gebbies
42:27 Top of bastard(nearly 19mins!)
1hr1:20 SOK
2hrs00:12 Black tulip
7mins something Gebbies

2hrs39:20 70.48km 26.5A 69.6M
26 45 27 145A(even after forgetting to turn it off for 7mins) 179M

[bob_summers]

Look forward to seeing you on Strava Al, let me know your nick. I would say, if you don't need mapping, and you can get away with a basic cycle comp but with GPS, then there's a cheaper Garmin which is often discounted, think it's the 200 or something. I only use the mapping if I'm off road, I could get away with a simple one for the road, maybe a watch. There's the copycat stuff as well, Bryton. looks OK.

edit: It's the edge 200 but it doesn't have HRM which is a bummer.