justcycling.myfastforum.org

Bartali · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 7730 Location: Hertfordshire

What forks are you running on that MTB? Ridgid or can you lock 'em?

SlowRower · Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 11:26 am Post subject:

Something cheap and permanently rigid. It was a struggle to get permission from the All Powerful One for a day off normal duties on hols to do the race, and I'm definitely not allowed to waste the wine budget on bike components.

She'd make a tough DS would my wife. Smile

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EPO is for wimps. Proper cyclists go faster on beer, curry and porridge.

Bartali · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 7730 Location: Hertfordshire

Cheap and rigid is fine - just don't waste all that energy through 'bouncy' forks!

BTW - I hope your DS will arrange an appropriate 'rub down' and 'massage' after the big day! Wink

SlowRower · Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 8:15 am Post subject:

If haven't discussed post-race recovery procedures with the DS. The expression "don't push your luck" comes all too readily to mind. Smile

_________________
EPO is for wimps. Proper cyclists go faster on beer, curry and porridge.

berck · Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 4:05 pm Post subject:

That would be my DS's respond too. Don't feel to bad Very Happy

SlowRower · Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 10:24 am Post subject:

Short update, as it's apparently bad form to talk about yourself...

Improvements are now hard to come by - not surprising after 5 months and ~1900km of predominantly anaerobic threshold work - and may simply be due to the benefits of the rigid fork, now that I've got used to it's rather lively handling!

Precise measurement is now difficult, due to the recent demise of my Garmin, my rear wheel speedo and my front wheel speedo. Too much sweat, I fear. Measurement is now by traditional means of lamposts, road signs and stopwatch, along with "mapmyrun". (My rides are so short that they fool the on line technology into thinking they are runs. Sad

)

Logical next steps are longer riders (tricky due to other commitments), more hill work (tricky due to local terrain) or intervals (no excuses, but intervals 10 weeks before the main event are not a particularly good idea.)

Therefore, a further month of threshold work beckons, before the intervals challenge is taken up.
_________________
EPO is for wimps. Proper cyclists go faster on beer, curry and porridge.

Bartali · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 7730 Location: Hertfordshire

Terrain? Thought you were in the West Riding? Get on them there moors young man!!

SlowRower · Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 7:29 am Post subject:

Don't get practical, man! I like to delude myself by climbing railway bridges in the big ring. Smile

_________________
EPO is for wimps. Proper cyclists go faster on beer, curry and porridge.

SlowRower · Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:22 pm Post subject:

A lot of training - by my standards - in the last two weeks. Highlights:

40k TT on mountain bike with aero bars. 72:30 - a season's best! Not very good, but did provide useful feedback about how hard I can go early on and what's prudent for tactical bursts. (Not very and nothing respectively!)

Met my Doctor in supermarket carpark shortly afterwards. It's not just the elite who have chance meetings with the docs, I'll have you know. Smile

I was moving with less than my customary grace and speed and she asked if I'd kn*ckered my back again. Sad

8 miles running in 60 minutes and 3 seconds. 6o minutes is the dividing line between being respectable and good in my world, so mightily p*ssed off about the 3 seconds. Fastest since November, though.
_________________
EPO is for wimps. Proper cyclists go faster on beer, curry and porridge.

SlowRower · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:42 pm Post subject:

A training diary is like training itself. It starts off in a rush of enthusiasm before soon degenerating into a steady, repetitious plod. With that in mind, I decided to liven things up in the last couple of weeks with some forays into self-inflicted wounds.

Firstly, I didn't drink enough last weekend, then went to London for the day and drank nothing but coffee and then went out running in 24C and high humidity. By the half way point, my tongue was like carpet and I was talking to the vultures circling overhead. Best avoided as an experience, if truth be told. Can't remember the return journey, but as I'm here, I obviously made it back with body, if not mind intact.

Secondly, last Friday I attempted to counter the heat by wearing my super lightweight running vest. I only wear this in extreme circumstances, because it chafes like buggery. This is OK, if you remmeber your micropore tape, which I didn't. Sad

6 miles of sweaty unpleasantness later, I had the worst case of Joggers' Nipple I can recall since the long hot summer of 2006.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, though. I am much better acclimatised to the heat and humidity now and my nipples are tougher than BG's views on single parents. (Or at least the offspring of one particular single parent.)

I've done a bit of cycling as well but not much. In all honesty, I just want to ride up the fecking hill and be done with it. Either that or buy a Pinarello Prince. Riding a cranky old mountain bike is demeaning for an elite athlete and isn't much fun for me, either. Smile

_________________
EPO is for wimps. Proper cyclists go faster on beer, curry and porridge.

Bartali · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 7730 Location: Hertfordshire

Sounds to me like you have it all sorted .... buy the Pinarello!!

Flying out to said hill on Friday morning with the intention of riding it both Saturday and Sunday (though Sunday is doubtful).

Weight 66kg - check
Bike serviced - check
Bike sufficiently under UCI weight limit - check
Trained in the mountains - check
Weather expected to be around 30 degrees (gulp) -check

SlowRower · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 6:58 pm Post subject:

Sounds like you're well prepared. I think my legs alone weigh 66kg! Good luck.

I'm not much of a traditionalist when it comes to any sport, but when it comes to expensive bikes, only finest Italian will suffice. The problem is that if I bought one, The Good Lady would want one as well!

BTW, what bike have you got?
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EPO is for wimps. Proper cyclists go faster on beer, curry and porridge.

Biosphere · Joined: 08 Oct 2006 Posts: 1787 Location: Midlands, UK

Bartali · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 7730 Location: Hertfordshire

SlowRower · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:47 pm Post subject:

Bio - You must know some strange people, is all I can say. Smile

Bart - MTB as well? I never knew you "batted for both sides" so to speak!
_________________
EPO is for wimps. Proper cyclists go faster on beer, curry and porridge.

Bartali · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 7730 Location: Hertfordshire

Not so much these days, but that mtb has been all over the world with me - Himalaya, Atlas, Andes, Sierra Madre, Sierra Nevada, Picos, Alps. Only use it for warm downs and social rides these days.

Mrs John Murphy · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:16 pm Post subject:

SlowRower · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:17 pm Post subject:

Very jealous of that. Mine has only made it as far as the Alps. Although I did hire a Cannondale in the Rockies a few years ago and crashed in a big way when I used the wrong brake! For some reason, the Americans see fit to put the brake levers on the wrong side. Twisted Evil

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EPO is for wimps. Proper cyclists go faster on beer, curry and porridge.

SlowRower · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:26 pm Post subject:

Mrs John Murphy · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:48 pm Post subject:

All this talk of swinging and backwards swimming sperm explains why Mrs SR isn't very willing to give you a rubdown.

I'm not going to Yorkshire until you learn how to speak English. Afterall, if I've got my blow-torch and pliers out and I can't understand what you're saying then you could end up with worse than sanded nipples.