A bit of a clothing error from me today. It had bucketed all morning. So we put our ride back the majority actually did their own rides. Our ride was a gravel one so I put on an old jacket that I hadn’t wore for ages. The forecast said there was more rain on the way and the temperature in a strong wind was dropping. Apart from the wind though, the forecast was wrong and the boil in the bag was completely the wrong choice. Even after lunch I had managed to lose 3lbs from this morning
The phone says it’s now 9deg but I probably skimped on the bike cleaning with all that sweat in strong winds despite it still being sunny though it was actually when you were near still.
One good thing about this of road lol, I can get Strava cups when there is only circa 3-400 to compete against
Anywho the Strava segment is 2.2 miles / 3.5km long and 9.7% ‘average’ gradient. Train kept a rolling and I rolled non-stop for almost 28 minutes at a whopping 58rpm in 34x32 gearing:
Local pro Neilson Powless took the KOM 3 weeks ago at 425W The shocking news is that I’m no Powless at 232W / 92kg and more than twice his age!
Nice and steady at 87%, unfortunately I was wearing bib tights, a base layer up top, and thermal long sleeve jersey. Sun was beating down and that canyon was 70F / 21C. Overdressed and drenched in sweat at the top!
(end of ride temp was 52F / 11C)
A few views of the Sierras, this pic was taken near the Rhino:
I went to Tenerife before Christmas and most circa 6% climbs ranging between 7 and 16miles the pros are doing them twice as fast as me. It was my first time up them and I wasn’t sure how long they were so they were paced conservatively so I would have something left for 6days of climbing. It was also at the head of a group so I had to wait a few times. So I could improve but even then For example the 7.6miles @ 6.6% from Vilafour to Teide, I went up in 1h6min, Ritchie Porte went up in 30minutes
The nearby foothills have a lot of shorter climbs, you have to go looking for the longer ones. Although I’m ‘helped’ with longer climbing times due to my pedestrian 3W/kg
@HLaB I saw Powless KOM ride in my Strava feed three weeks ago, and decided to do an old club route that included the climb because its been 5 years since I last did that route (with a group):
Unfortunately on that older group ride I started the route navigation on my 520, but never started recording the ride itself arrrgggghhhh!!! LOL Had to manually add that 2017 ride from someone else’s time/distance/climbing data. My fitness was very high in January 2017, and all my metrics are showing the same fitness right now, so it was satisfying to see essentially the same time doing it solo without the added push of trying to keep up with the group.
Big #1 - National Pizza Day! In my house its the 5th food group, yummy!
Big #2 - weight dropped below 2 bucks, down to $1.99 at this mornings weigh-in. Must have been the slices of cherry pie before AND after intervals yesterday
Went out for a ride on the gravel bike and opted for a different route than normal. I knew where I wanted to go and was generally aware of how to get there, but there was some exploring and re-discovering and some map checking along the way. I did manage to find flat paths to cruise on, so that was nice. In general, it was around -4ºC / 25F but at times it felt a bit colder. Fortunately, at other times it felt warmer, like perhaps 1C! There was a light snow last night in parts and parts haven’t lost their snow, so there was a section of careful navigating across ice and icy-snow. All was good and I got a PR up a short climb that I aimed to do – .37mi at 17% (6:22) – which was nice since I was not expecting a PR. This is a straight-up climb up a trail that has a nice coating of gravel. This was the climb the above-FTP exertion on the final climb. My power dropped off because the segment ends when the trail rejoins a road (which is part of my quick 1hr out-back road ride). I cruised up the pavement before rejoining a wide path, pause for pictures, then continue across ice and icy-snow.
Didn’t get a pic of the lady riding her horse with her dog trotting along side (a common sight) but here are some goats.
Climbing up the last main climb, nearing the top and well after the end of the Strava segment mentioned above is this nice view. In the distance around the end of the Lake is the city of Zurich.
Here’s a panorama shot from the same spot. To the left of center, if you zoom in, is the church tower at the old town center of the village I live in.
Still going up. It’s was far from treacherous but I was good to just cruise along.
Beginning the descent. I paused here because walkers are up ahead (they’re around the bend to the left), so I took a pic. This is area is great for trail running, too.
The usual Saturday ride down to Oundle today, although we done some adhoc route planning to mix it up. One of our group was missing at first but it was good to see him appear at the cafe stop on his mtb and after some strong riding by him we ended up in the pub. Lol, being the lightweight I am the it went straight to my head.
I think I had sobered up after the 10miles home although my Strava map suggests otherwise as I had a major diversion with the route through the park blocked by some police incident.
Interesting two day block. Nail in the tire yesterday, had to put a tube in, and then a few minutes later was chased by a dog. A big dog. The type of dog that guards livestock. Thankfully he couldn’t run that fast.
Today was better. A pic from where the dog chased me yesterday:
Was suppose to take the car home, but my wife couldn’t get a ride so I hung out with my brother-in-laws and talked smack. Guy at the table next to us overheard me, he knows the couple at the Fantasy Football house and was talking smack to his buddy. Turns out the biggest loser was the lady of the house. No wonder the flag was pink!
Another notly contested segment - only 95 on the leaderboard, and I’m 3 W/kg, but at the end I went straight to the top of the hill, instead of talking a left just before the end. Going to climb up the leaderboard next time!
Completely insane icy roads up here in Sweden make it very difficult to do any proper gravel biking. I don’t feel like putting studded tyres back on so I opted for tarmac roads later on. Looking forward to spring so much! (Which usually comes in late April)
Leg day. Targeted climbs for less than 19mi but more than 3300’ of climbing. I suspect at times my power meter was reading low. Yes, we all want to think that, but I’m serious I looked down on one climb and thought whoa… I stopped for a quick recalibration and after my restart and at seemingly the same RPE I was 30w higher. I don’t know. The watts might be low, but the burn was good. The climbs were generally gravely, a couple were trail with single track, another was pavement leading to freshly laid gravel. All were (and remain, in fact) steep.
A lot of people – and horses – on the trails under a clear sky, warm sun, and -1ºC air temp.
And yes, in the second picture below you are looking at a vending machine for bike tubes. From MTB 29"-ers on the far left, to 700c road bikes (Rennvelo), to 650b tubes, and junior and kids tubes. Plus an air hose of course.
I rode a fatbike race this evening. 10.5 miles, 53 minutes, all out. Beats an indoor threshold workout!
The track was 3 inches of fresh snow on top of groomed cross country skiing trails. With some wind blown drifts here and there. A lot of people had spills in the slippery conditions, but I managed to stay upright the whole time.
I had a few close calls however - passing people on the downhills, where I was relatively stronger, so had to take some risks to regain some positions I lost on the uphills. Twice I was passed by three guys going uphill, and twice I passed the three guys going down. Ended up 6th out of 23, 2 mins behind a friend of mine who’s an 8:30 at Leadville. So was pretty happy with my evening.
The pics below were taken at dusk after the sun has set, 10 mins before race start. The full race was in the dark with lights.
Finished with a burger and a beer. A good Wednesday evening.
The snow is melting here. I did get out for a 52min ride Tuesday morning before dawn for 8.5 miles and 1500+’ of climbing. My HR meter is acting up and reported 117 avg and a high of 138 on the main vo2max climb of 18-25% on gravel. I did hear then see a family of 3-5 foxes right (or rather left) off the trail. I couldn’t get a great picture of them in the moderate rain but they were noisy.
Similar again for me the group ride down to Oundle by a spurious route. My mate who is really strong had intervals again. I felt really strong too and was sitting besides him (rather than in his draft all the time). I am not sure if that was because of raising my slipped seat post by a cm (doh it had slipped by over 3cm) or the Tungsten Lube I put on or lol, he was on semi knobbly tyres (lol I told you he was strong ). We made an executive decision at the cafe stop and forgoed the pub stop this week. It had just started to rain and it was forecast to pour. The forecasters were right but thankfully we git home before the heavy stuff and it was a good call!
First outside ride of ‘22. I also got to test my new long sleeve jersey and jacket. My torso, arms, and hands stayed warm enough, though maybe I should have put on leg warmers.
all morning. So we put our ride back the majority actually did their own rides. Our ride was a gravel one so I put on an old jacket that I hadn’t wore for ages. The forecast said there was more rain on the way and the temperature in a strong wind was dropping. Apart from the wind though, the forecast was wrong and the boil in the bag was completely the wrong choice. Even after lunch I had managed to lose 3lbs from this morning 
when you were near still.
for the 2.99W/kg crowd 
The shocking news is that I’m no Powless at 232W / 92kg and more than twice his age! 
For example the 7.6miles @ 6.6% from Vilafour to Teide, I went up in 1h6min, Ritchie Porte went up in 30minutes 
I looked down on one climb and thought whoa… I stopped for a quick recalibration and after my restart and at seemingly the same RPE I was 30w higher. I don’t know. The watts might be low, but the burn was good. The climbs were generally gravely, a couple were trail with single track, another was pavement leading to freshly laid gravel. All were (and remain, in fact) steep.
