Been quiet lately, suffering from a few niggles and an accompanying case of the blahs. Not helped by the weather seemingly bypassing the rest of August and heading straight for October last week. Have a bit of a stiff left shoulder and my old feeble left knee/tight left hip problem is trying to make a reappearance (the latter is actually causing the former).
So not much swimming at all and to be honest St Annes pool is so incredibly busy at the moment that its pretty unsatisfactory anyway (unless you want to do very slow breast stroke). The downside of its location at the seaside and an large elderly population I suppose. Actually thinking of trying out Leyland pool for a bit until the kids go back to school and hoping lunchtime swims become feasible again.
I did sod all this weekend in spite of grand riding plans and eventually had to force myself out the door on Sunday evening for a bit of a run. A promise to myself to do only 3 miles turned into 7 pretty enjoyable miles (apart from the first 2 that is). its probably what I needed as this morning, despite massing black clouds of doom I got up to cycle to work with Jez.
One mile into the commute and I nearly fall off my bike just after pulling away from a junction, my foot had slipped off the left pedal. Try in vain to get it to clip in and pull over thinking my cleat must have fallen off. As soon as I put my foot on the floor I knew that wasn't the case. A quick look at the pedal (Crank Bros Candy) and the spring has jammed open, great. Leave Jez to get on with his commute and I ride back home to get the fast road bike.
Get it down, get air in tyres and change shoes to roadie clogs then head off again. I don't know why I let it enter my head but I hoped I wouldn't get a puncture going through the messy road works on Strand Road as I had fast rather than durable tyres on. Banished the thought. The rain starts in earnest, I was hoping it wouldn't be too long a shower as I have no guards on the fast bike.
Got through the road works ok...just heading to the cinema on the docks and rear tyre start squirming, bloody puncture! Pull over at a handy bus shelter so at least I'm out the rain. Change tube ok after a serious check of the tyre, could feel the air whistling out of the punctured tube but struggled to locate the hole, manage to actually get the tyres on and off the rims with just my thumbs.
Pump a little bit of air in the tube with my mini pump to check all is seated ok before unleashing the CO2, all well. Unscrew the mini pump and the entire valve core comes with it. FFS!!!!! Never had that happen before, now seriously, seriously peed off. Now no spare tube at all.
Get the other one in, go straight for the CO2 and I did think about just going for it but I the way things had gone today I'd just end up puncturing again half way which is 9 miles from home and 9 miles from work and a good few miles either way from civilisation.
I then ride in a fairly angry manner towards home. Thinking that I could just jog if I get another puncture as its only about 4 miles max...then remember I've got roadie clogs on now so start riding a lot more sedately scanning the ground constantly for pointy things. At least the sun had come out.
Get home, try to touch as little as possible in case it breaks, drive very carefully to work. Unfair!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Big Sky Riding
Saturday just past and I was back in the Dales, only about two months after EDD but a completely different weather experience. This is what I love about Dales mountain biking:
Bone dry trails and fantastic views. In fact, I think that was probably the first time I had actually ridden some of those trails in the dry, for some reason we seem always to tackle these grassy, limestone infested trails in the winter wet, complete slogfest then.
I managed to clean the evil climb out of Littondale up to the road skirting PenYGhent for the first time ever, pretty pleased with that, normally I just either don;t have the legs or spin out on some greasy bit of limestone. The lovely cheese and pickle sandwiches I'd just troughed at the pub were the deciding factor I'm sure.
The visibility was just awesome, this was the kind of view I knew I was missing in all the clag of the EDD:
A great ride and just occasionally on the descents I thought my descending mojo was really coming back, ear to ear grins at the bottom of every single one...hopefully I'll get it fully back before our trip to Switzerland in September.
Bone dry trails and fantastic views. In fact, I think that was probably the first time I had actually ridden some of those trails in the dry, for some reason we seem always to tackle these grassy, limestone infested trails in the winter wet, complete slogfest then.
I managed to clean the evil climb out of Littondale up to the road skirting PenYGhent for the first time ever, pretty pleased with that, normally I just either don;t have the legs or spin out on some greasy bit of limestone. The lovely cheese and pickle sandwiches I'd just troughed at the pub were the deciding factor I'm sure.
The visibility was just awesome, this was the kind of view I knew I was missing in all the clag of the EDD:
A great ride and just occasionally on the descents I thought my descending mojo was really coming back, ear to ear grins at the bottom of every single one...hopefully I'll get it fully back before our trip to Switzerland in September.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wot MTB Tyre Pressure? (For the girls really)
Can't believe I'm actually asking this question but it was suggested to me last night that perhaps the reason I'm pinging around so much on the hardtail and losing traction really easily on the slightest hint of gravel on a climb is that my rear tyre is perhaps a little too hard at 40psi....it did feel rock hard to squeeze tbh.
So...who runs what psi on the rear of their MTB? For info I use tubed Kenda Nevegal/Blue Groove combo on both geared MTBs all year round/in all conditions and usually have 30psi at the front and 40psi in the rear. Minimum pressure is allegedly 40 psi for both tyres (oops) but I've run the front at 30 for a good few years now with nary a problem (touches all the wood I can find).
I just have this irrational fear that lowering the rear to 35psi or below will result in a sensation of riding through treacle with a squidgy tyre, making everything harder, particularly climbing. Though I have at least realised these days that much more than 100psi in my skinny road tyres only feels faster as I'm pinging off everything on the road as opposed to actually travelling faster.
No point asking Jez as he runs closer to 50psi in his and thinks my front tyre in particular is too soft. No I don't generally let him inflate my tyres unsupervised and yes he has pumped mine up to 50psi before..just before setting off on a ride with lots of wet limestone, hilarious it was not.
So...who runs what psi on the rear of their MTB? For info I use tubed Kenda Nevegal/Blue Groove combo on both geared MTBs all year round/in all conditions and usually have 30psi at the front and 40psi in the rear. Minimum pressure is allegedly 40 psi for both tyres (oops) but I've run the front at 30 for a good few years now with nary a problem (touches all the wood I can find).
I just have this irrational fear that lowering the rear to 35psi or below will result in a sensation of riding through treacle with a squidgy tyre, making everything harder, particularly climbing. Though I have at least realised these days that much more than 100psi in my skinny road tyres only feels faster as I'm pinging off everything on the road as opposed to actually travelling faster.
No point asking Jez as he runs closer to 50psi in his and thinks my front tyre in particular is too soft. No I don't generally let him inflate my tyres unsupervised and yes he has pumped mine up to 50psi before..just before setting off on a ride with lots of wet limestone, hilarious it was not.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Morning Swimming
After last weeks total swimming fail due to not being able to park anywhere near the beach because of the weather I have gotten up twice this week (Tuesday and today) and got an hour in the pool before work....and it wasn't that bad actually. A whole week out of the pool can really set me back.
I did have a couple of wtf am I doing here at this time of the morning but I am managing to get some good swimming in (that is a relative term!). I figured I should try to make it a bit of a routine before the school holidays start as lunchtime swims will be almost impossible.
I did head down at lunchtime yesterday for a short technique style session and it was a faff even then as some of the older kids have obviously finished and were in the pool. To be fair they were actually swimming but I get annoyed with (usually blokes) that thrash up the pool to beat me at crawl then slow breast stroke back because they are knackered and I catch them up.....
I did have a couple of wtf am I doing here at this time of the morning but I am managing to get some good swimming in (that is a relative term!). I figured I should try to make it a bit of a routine before the school holidays start as lunchtime swims will be almost impossible.
I did head down at lunchtime yesterday for a short technique style session and it was a faff even then as some of the older kids have obviously finished and were in the pool. To be fair they were actually swimming but I get annoyed with (usually blokes) that thrash up the pool to beat me at crawl then slow breast stroke back because they are knackered and I catch them up.....
Lazyish June
Feels like I've not done that much since the EDD, though looking at the stats its not quite true. It was no surprise (at least to me or Jez) that riding that far in that weather and taking in the best part of b*gger all calories did leave me somewhat lethargic for at least a week. What was a surprise was the fact that it took over a week for any sort of appetite to come back but hey ho. Enough time has passed that I have at least cycled in a headwind again..and a bit of rain.
June saw my motivation take an upturn when the weather did, though for some reason I have been hit quite badly a couple of times with hayfever. Not continually but has left me with a bunged up nose, streaming eyes a slight wheeze which made any sort of activity difficult.
It didn't occur to me that swimming would be affected but it was as I try to breathe out through my nose continually when my face is in the water. The chlorine actually irritated things even more and my nose unblocked just enough to allow a constant stream of snot out.
I decided that swimming through chlorinated snot wasn't a great idea (though at least it was my own I suppose), grim. Swimming was further kiboshed later in the month due to the world heading to the beach on the scorching days..I couldn't get parked within a mile of the pool in any direction those days.
I did manage a little bit of running, but hayfever and the heat meant I CBAd with it a lot. The totals don't look too bad though for the month:
24.5 miles/3:44 hours of running
5.41 miles/5:00 hours of swimming
325 miles/22:33 hours of cycling
31:18 hours overall which isn't too bad. I've had a rough goal since the beginning of the year to try to average out at an hour a day of exercise to help shed the lard jacket and I've managed it every month so far.
I should update on how that all went really, I think I've just about come to terms with my starting weight on the 1st of January this year...or maybe not but I've taken my eye off the ball slightly since the EDD and I don't want to head back to being that lardy again.
So scores on the door:
Weigh in 1st Jan.....66.7 kg (FFS, I'm only 5ft 4)
Weigh in 14th May....60.4 kg much more like it, glad I didn't have to haul those 6 kilos round the EDD.
I'm not flying up hills on the bike at all but they definitely require less effort than they did, I've got a good bit of free speed in running (what I noticed the most actually) and all clothes fit really well again.
On the slight downside, headwinds got a lot harder on the bike as I lost some power, I don't roll as fast downhill and I get pinged around a lot more on offroad descents than I did, especially on the hardtail but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I started being sensible again last week and as usual I felt really sluggish once I cut out the extra crap (I'll get used to it again) and was starving for my whole 50 mile road ride on Saturday and ended up with:
In my defence I didn't put all that cream on and I had to scrape most of it off to eat the scone (then ate the cream, oops). Incidentally I still seem to be struggling to get out of the training for EDD mindset as every road ride still has me seeking out as many chevrons as possible. This didn't amuse Jez on our recent ride around Pendle Hill, that and I'd forgotten how lumpy it actually was.
June saw my motivation take an upturn when the weather did, though for some reason I have been hit quite badly a couple of times with hayfever. Not continually but has left me with a bunged up nose, streaming eyes a slight wheeze which made any sort of activity difficult.
It didn't occur to me that swimming would be affected but it was as I try to breathe out through my nose continually when my face is in the water. The chlorine actually irritated things even more and my nose unblocked just enough to allow a constant stream of snot out.
I decided that swimming through chlorinated snot wasn't a great idea (though at least it was my own I suppose), grim. Swimming was further kiboshed later in the month due to the world heading to the beach on the scorching days..I couldn't get parked within a mile of the pool in any direction those days.
I did manage a little bit of running, but hayfever and the heat meant I CBAd with it a lot. The totals don't look too bad though for the month:
24.5 miles/3:44 hours of running
5.41 miles/5:00 hours of swimming
325 miles/22:33 hours of cycling
31:18 hours overall which isn't too bad. I've had a rough goal since the beginning of the year to try to average out at an hour a day of exercise to help shed the lard jacket and I've managed it every month so far.
I should update on how that all went really, I think I've just about come to terms with my starting weight on the 1st of January this year...or maybe not but I've taken my eye off the ball slightly since the EDD and I don't want to head back to being that lardy again.
So scores on the door:
Weigh in 1st Jan.....66.7 kg (FFS, I'm only 5ft 4)
Weigh in 14th May....60.4 kg much more like it, glad I didn't have to haul those 6 kilos round the EDD.
I'm not flying up hills on the bike at all but they definitely require less effort than they did, I've got a good bit of free speed in running (what I noticed the most actually) and all clothes fit really well again.
On the slight downside, headwinds got a lot harder on the bike as I lost some power, I don't roll as fast downhill and I get pinged around a lot more on offroad descents than I did, especially on the hardtail but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I started being sensible again last week and as usual I felt really sluggish once I cut out the extra crap (I'll get used to it again) and was starving for my whole 50 mile road ride on Saturday and ended up with:
In my defence I didn't put all that cream on and I had to scrape most of it off to eat the scone (then ate the cream, oops). Incidentally I still seem to be struggling to get out of the training for EDD mindset as every road ride still has me seeking out as many chevrons as possible. This didn't amuse Jez on our recent ride around Pendle Hill, that and I'd forgotten how lumpy it actually was.
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