Riding around

[Fallen_Horse]

A day of sadness and reflection a yr after a few seconds changed everything. Even got a little emotional about the whole thing which hasn't happened much. Don't want to be too dramatic but we've lost a lot down here. Man I miss my old rides Lots of ceremonies etc today but to me it all just seems a bit premature for public displays. In a few years I'm sure I'll feel a bit different when peoples insurance(personal and business) is sorted and the rebuild etc is well underway. The size of the problem is just mind blowing. Demolition work is still in full swing. The rebuild is still awhile away. Honestly there's fuck all left of the Christchurch I used to know.

Here and VBB are the first times I am even hearing about this!

[bob_summers]

saw this on the news this morning. Thinking of you.

[Alistar]

Thanks for the kind thoughts guys

If (for those outside of NZ) in the unlikely event you ever get a chance to see it, "When a City Falls" is an excellent documentary film by a local freelance film maker about the whole situation. Got some light moments in there too so not all doom and gloom.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/lifest ... city-falls

Nice to feel good for a change, eh?!

Yeah, good to have the body humming along for once

Was going to do a flat fifty k's after work but too tired and dehydrated so had to wait a few hrs to perk up a bit. So after I made tea, just biked until the sun set and the light started to fade. Nor' West for a change which was a bit of a treat as a tail down the Teddington st, and no obligatory headwind home.
Really hot today. 28 degrees and humid. Bit of a shock when you're used to 19 or 20 tops! Felt ok on ride. Kept it reasonably easy/steady.

Wheatsheaf 13:34
Last hill 4:30 (in check)

32.85 km 1hr7:48 29.0 Av 69.4 max

[Alistar]

Damn #$@ing work! Had to go in and meet some guy delivering a couple of loads (80 per load) of Pea straw bales at 1pm which is the worst time for someone like me who needs his sleep in, see the family, do a bit of housework etc. Getting up at 7am for his 120k planned bikeride, even with the best intentions just never happens Annoying thing was had to wait around for 2hrs while he drove into the country re loaded and came back with my bikeride time ticking away.
So stacking that lot was my core work done for the day.

Biked in the long way via the bastard. And home via Gebbies. Was going to go via the bastard and SOK again but decided to go straight home as having the bikeride split up, wasn't going to be as good as a single ride anyway. So thought I could instead put a few more harder efforts in during the week, than perhaps I otherwise would be able to handle.
Good thing was I noticed my recovery is faster than it has been so must be getting a bit fitter.
With backpack. Strong easterly from the mot/ Black tulip on way home.

Bottom o' big B 16:42/16:58
Top 40:48
SOK 59:43
Gebbs 7:32
Last hill 3:58

2hrs58:40 80.6km 27kph Av 68.8kph Max

[Mr. Cleetus]

ahhhhhh stupid work!! Good news about the recovery though

[Alistar]

Cheers Mr C! It's the little things that hopefully? make all the difference

Not time for a long enough ride today but at least made the most time of what I had.

Just did a few sets of seated short intervals first up: 12*10*8*6 of 10sec on 20 off, with few minutes rest in between sets. Not too taxing, although seem to be having a little trouble with my left upper thigh/ITB area the last week or so, which these intervals were bringing out a bit. But apart from that pretty good.

Last hill 3/4 effort 4min flat
Max effort in big ring on last rise at about 20rpms

1hr22:10 40.53km 29.6 Av 71.4 Max

[bob_summers]

good to see some intervals creeping into your training!

What do you think the pain is? Maybe a sprain from hoofing straw bales
Hope it clears up!

[Alistar]

Cheers Bob! To tell you the truth I was starting to struggle after awhile . Was wondering why the back of my shoulders were a bit sore today...

No idea, but repeatedly whacking it mid ride seems to have done the trick, as it had gone by today

Oh oh! Had an extra February day today so was able to beat last months number of rides by one. Thanks leap yr!

Legs a bit tired so was going to do a bit of a cruise today taking it easy. But got a little enthuisiastic and ended up going a bit harder than I should in places. Wind conditions were a little tougher out to Lytt and back than last time so I was trying to limit the damage Probably would have been better to put my effort into tomorrows ride.

HR has definitely improved and no running away on me up the climbs like it has been doing. It is back to how I remember it was, when I was a bit faster. So now my perception of effort and HR are finally correlating. At least on todays ride, which was a good feeling. Is a little concerning when your HR seems suddenly different to how you remember it over a period of yrs.

Nor East rather than Sou West so no tailwind to Govs or direct tail to finish which makes quite a difference I think.

12:40 Wheatsheaf
30:17 Govs
49:12 Lytt
1hr08:40 Govs
Last hill 4min01 @ 155(1st 3min)–160bpm's

1hr37:12 46.46km 28.6Av 72.56 Max
43 47 8 137A 163M

Same ride from Feb 15 (interesting HR data down bottom):
1hr37:15 47km 28.6kph Av 71.9kph Max
30 50 19 143A 179M

[Alistar]

Did some intervals I found in an old book today, so hope they did something. Blowing a SW gale so batten down the hatches Mr C. Had eased off a bit by the time of my ride though. Forgot to read the recovery time b/t intervals so settled on 3mins as light was beginning to fade. Just did 4*5mins @ 85 to 90HRmax. Struggled a bit in the last rep to keep the HR up, and then cruised home. Would have liked to have spun the legs for a bit more, but I still haven't found my rear light(found my bracket) and refuse to get a new one. Know its around somewhere...

Kept it easy up last hill as legs a bit cooked 4:49

1hr15:42 36.63km 29Av 73.3Max
137A 171M

[Mr. Cleetus]

...Blowing a SW gale so batten down the hatches Mr C. ....

It's lovely out there right now but thank @&** I decided not to do Karapoti - it is gonnaa be HORRIBLE.

Well done on the ints!

[Alistar]

Good skills Mr C! Yeah bad luck for all those who entered Karapoti. Bummer the Ironman got cancelled as would have been interesting to see how the Belgian guy would have gone on the NZ "coarse chip" over the full distance

Poohs! got sick again on Thursday night so only did a flat 15k's on the mtb with my son on Sunday. No long rides for me! Haven't been this sick since last Le race. Not sure if it's the virus, but my lower back is playing up too, so I feel a bit of a wreck. Bad timing but at least I've still got a few weeks to recover.

My ride today totally sucked. Legs were like leaden weights full of lactic acid. Installed my new ultegra crankset in the WE and have saved 150g over my old set. So thats 3secs/100k's saved right there. Due to my inseam went up to the 175mm's, and didn't get around to lowering my seat so was a bit of a stretch there but didn't have time to stop and adjust it. Took a few attempts to get the right seat height on the way home, but managed it in the end. People say they can't notice the difference(172.5 to 175) but I certainly could. Probably not a great idea to change it so close to my next race, but too late now.
Anyway always really nice to ride a totally new drivetrain

Struggled up Dyers and surprised at my time, as felt a lot slower than I was.
On way home had nothing, and felt like I hadn't trained in a month.

1hr there
1hr1:40 home

14:54 Govs SOK
20:02 Col to SOK

51.3km 2hr1:39 25.3Av 73.5Max
36 36 24 136A 169M

[bob_summers]

Agh, more illness! I'm necking a couple of raw garlic cloves every day to keep the lurgi (and everything/body else) at bay. Worth a try?

Those g's saved in the cranks are the psychological advantage you need to kill 'em in the race Al

[Alistar]

Ha ha! If only I could do the race on positive vibes alone.

Oh well feeling better but still not a hundred. As my cold gets better so does my back Sucks when you can't get to sleep.
Didn't really feel like a ride but made myself. Not up to intervals so just having an easy week. Felt like a flat ride but did Lytt instead. Lot of regular lumps so kind of intervals in a way. Was going to do recovery but then decided to just go at normal HR. Legs didn't feel great at start but seemed to come right after awhile. Didn't push it too much, but still rode pretty steady. Haven't lost any real speed so thats good, and HR is behaving itself. Probably pushed a little hard at the end to get under 1hr37 into the HW.

30:07 Govs
49:22 Lytt
1hr8:21 Govs
Last hill @160 to 165HR 3:50

1hr36:50 46.48km 28.8Av 70Max
35 47 17 140A 168M

[Alistar]

Definitely didn't make much progress last week. Probably need a tougher more intense hit out in preparation but didn't feel up to it, so just went for a longer reasonably hard ride. HR was through the roof today and back to how it was a month ago. Doesn't fill me with much confidence if going a pretty av climbing speed, and HR is that high.

Just did the same ride as I have been doing but added in the hilly ride to Purau and back, to start off.
Heading up Gebbies was a line of rec riders which I caught up to and passed about halfway up. Must have been a club race as suddenly a big group of team guys, and guys struggling to catch up, d.dish rims humming flew past close to 80kph. Heaps of cars, spectators at the top. Few team guys at the top watching so ended up going a bit harder than I should(pretending I wasn't) seated in a big gear. Must have been where I got my maxHR. Got up in a reasonably fast time due to speeding up past the rec riders at about halfway, and then extending it at the top.
HR was about 10bpms faster than a couple of weeks ago going up the bastard and I wasn't going any faster.

Legs started packing up around Gebbs for the 2nd time and pretty well shot by time I got to Summit Rd so any ideas I had to get to five hrs were shelved. Tried out this no Cal "High5" stuff in my 2nd bottle which was ok. Made it easy to get the liquids down anyway. Didn't seem to do much apart from that but think I may have recovered faster after the ride perhaps?

28min Purau to home
45:00 Gebbs
50:50 Top
1hr9:18 Top bastard 18:28
1hr28:18 SOK
2hrs:00:14 bottom of Dyers
2hrs33:30 Tai tapu
3hrs11:10 top Gebbs
3hrs30:53 Top bastard 19:43
3hrs53:45 SOK
Last hill 4min36

115.31km 4hr25:28 26.06Av 71.0Max
34 37 26 142A 182M

[Mr. Cleetus]

nothing like one's ego to ensure you get a good effort in, eh?! Which High-5 did you try?