Category: Rides and exercise

Monday: Work. Home to watch the end of the Tour de France. Followed by The Science of Lance Armstrong.
Tuesday: Morning spinning class booked at West Kirby followed by the Gym. Watch the Tour. Pulford Time Trial in the evening.
Listened to the obesity debate on Radio 4 on the way to West Kirby, a BMI of over 30 limiting your treatment on the NHS.
Had a decent spinning class seeing as I had ran out of Quaker Oat Granola, had an Aldi isotonic drink after the class and a good 30 minutes in the gym.
Watched the Tour time trial. Swap the wheels over on the toy and try and break 25 minutes on tonights club 10.
Start 13th, could do with the wind dropping.
Added the Aldi Cycling Offers page to the site as they are coming around again.

Quite a few turned up tonight but it was really windy. The number 13 got put on upside down as per Fabian Cancellara. Chicago Dave notices as he has been watching Eurosport  too. Everyone lost time tonight, I lost 30 seconds on last week but have the GPS data to see where it was.

Looking at it, I was quicker in two sections and suffered just about everywhere else. I was trying to turn a big gear tonight which is fine with the wind  behind you  but I did slow down on some sections as I didn’t want to come off the tuck to change gear.
If I’m going to go for bar end shifters it probably means a new bike.
Couldn’t see the 705 data while riding as I played around with the screen views and made a mess of it.
Andy Walsh’s mounting system is the best I have seen with it mounted on a cross piece between the two tri bars.
I could play around with the position a bit before taking the plunge but it might be a bit better and cheaper to improve me. 
Wednesday:  Ride day. Great to see Steve Cummings going to the Olympics.
Rode to the Eureka for breakfast calling in at the cash machine at Gayton. It’s just great watching someone fill up a 4×4 with over £100 worth of petrol or diesel.
Only took the Discovery windshell which is showerproof.
Always talk about Tuesday’s time trial on the Wednesday these days.
The rain held off until the stop at the cafe in Caerwys. Nice Cafe, never been there before. Showers on the way back with wet roads meant I dropped back a bit. No  point in getting soaked on a wheel with no mudguards.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/323833
I’d been playing tail gunner all the ride since it split going up the Halkyns. This was until Woodbank at the end of the ride. A lorry caused me to drop back then it was on to the tri bars to catch up as I’d built up a fair head of speed there was no point of taking prisoners. I flew past the group to a few shouts and Lionel setting off in pursuit. All good fun and plenty of comments back at the Eureka.
Rain finally came in and It was time trial mode back home in it. Average 21 mph but hit all the lights on red.
Margaret’s spinning class at West Kirby when I had dried out.
Thursday: Booked into the morning Spinning class at West Kirby.
A repaired wheel to pick up and a bookcase to return to Argos.
15 minutes in the gym and then Barbara’s spinning class. No HRM so did it on feel.
Got asked twice how many classes I do a week, well it’s as many as I can fit in. I use a class as my 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day.
Went hard for the final spin to Crank That.
Picked up the Times along with Cycling Weekly.
Opened up times2 to be greeted with the headline Thugs of the road. Three pieces from a cyclist a taxi driver and a pedestrian. All following on from the fine for the cyclist on the pavement who killed a girl.
Cycling Weekly this week is probably one of the best I have read.
DVD recorder isn’t recording to or reading disks and I’m running out of HDD space.
Built a flat pack bookcase which was a result as the duff one with damaged chipboard and missing screws was exchanged fairly effortlessly.
Attacked the Panasonic DVD recorder after buying a lens cleaner only to find the DVD motor wasn’t spinning the disk. Not a happy bunny.
Northend monthly meeting which I had intended to ride to but drove to.
Friday: Last day off, had planned on it being a ride day. See what the weather is like in the morning.
Refund from VirginMedia to bank and the DVD recorder to take to Ellesmere Port.
Watched the Tour, took hours to get XP service pack 3 installed. Rain stopped a ride so went to the gym and a spinning class at West Kirby.
Edit a few things on the site. Another Tour drug scandal breaking, never mind that it is a French team, the rider once rode with Lance Armstrong. The whole world is hellbent on linking Armstrong with doping years after he retired. I was sceptical as there was so much bad press about him. That’s the thing with the press there is no mileage in a good news story. If I hadn’t turned things around without drugs, an intestine bypass or stomach stapling I’d still doubt he did it clean.
This latest doping scandal probably won’t be last. Chuck the whole team out, the riders still haven’t learnt. Who on earth wants support a team of dopers. I can’t get to grips with the Simpson Saga, why make a hero out of a guy who died on the Tour because he was on amphetamines and alcohol. 
Enough is enough, work tomorrow.
Saturday: Work, got home to watch Mark Cavendish take another Tour stage. Blog and look at anouther routeing site.
Sunday: Work.

Monday: First day of my four off had me booked into Barbara\’s spinning class.  Packed class with two first timers getting the shock of their lives about how hard these classes are.
More to the point how fit the regulars are. Only one bike on the back row meant one of them had to go on the front and first timers just hate being at the front.  I think they were convinced to come back by the woman that was in front of me. I mentioned about how many calories I burn in a class and the weightloss because I gave it a good go today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272650 

If you have a look at the chart there is a section at the end where I\’m flat out at 182 BPM.
Gym next for some machine weights and that proverbial mile run. 1.6 Km but at the increased pace of 10 Km/hr up from last weeks 9.5 Km/hr.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272651 A steady pace means the heartrate also plateaus too. More weight machines then shower and stop off at Aldi for some fruit.
Felt good too. Had planned an evening ride or another class but no point going too hard.
As it was B+Q took about two hours out of the afternoon so that was most of the day gone.
Doing the BNECC club 10 tomorrow night missing the TLI Oulton Park race. My carbon Aero bars have got to go as I need to put the Bontager bars back on to fit Tri bars.

Going to be playing around with the look of the website with pages getting updated to reflect the site being 2 years old now.
Tuesday: Spinning class at West Kirby. Took it relativley easy in view of tonights 10 coming up. Swapped bars and took the bike down to Eureka Sports to sort out some Tri bars. Put some new bar tape on and that\’s about it. Can\’t be any worse than last weeks fiasco where I turned up at the wrong start.

Had a good ride taking 41 seconds out of my previous time only 7 seconds outside the magic 25 minute barrier. There was a pretty strong headwind  going up to the bridge. Time trialing is a numbers game, you need to be flat out for the 10 miles. Anything less means you are loosing time. 25 minutes is a benchmark for a 10, I\’m just outside it.

Brad took 2 minutes out of me on  the road which means he is going well. It\’s all relative, you can\’t loose sleep about being passed by younger better riders. Or older better riders. I was beaten by Keith Boardman again and he is 70 riding fixed.

Once on the Tri bars you don\’t want to come off them. The ones I have have no shifters at the end so changing gear is an event.

A full out Tri bike isn\’t going to be much use to me until I get a bit more performance into me. 10 miles at nigh on 24 mph is great. One thing about Tri bars, they require 100% concentration on the road ahead. Even looking down at the Edge 705 takes your eyes off the road and can unsteady you.That and a lorry passing within 3 feet of me at 60 mph.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/280613

Wednesday: Ride day. Stunning day when I set off then it clouded over and I was wondering if it was wise to go out without the windshell. Don\’t know if I\’m due a Lifestyle and Weight Management followup class as I\’ve lost track of dates and lost the contact details for the course.
60 mile ride to the Cabin Cafe via a scenic route. Chester and NorthWales CTC were out early and we bumped into Merseyside CTC at the Cabin Cafe. I had a few moments on the back playing around with the Tri bars.
Lifestyle and Weight Management followup class.
Mainly talked about various gyms and classes.
Thursday: Gym at West Kirby followed by a morning Spinning class. Bumped into Ron from the previous nights Lifestyle and weight management class.
Forgot the HRM strap so did it all on feel.
What has become apparent is two years on some of the links to the course are out of date as it is buried deep within the Wirral PCT.
More fun with VirginMedia Not, how often have you heard the cheque is in the post!
With that I lost all the Wireless Router settings.
Evening spinning class at West Kirby, didn\’t think much of Eurosports Tour de France team presentation after seeing the 2007  one in London last year.
Friday: Work.
Saturday: Work. Just got in time for the Tour de France.
Sunday: Work. Top Gear and Tour de France when I got in made it a reasonable end to a day you\’d want to forget. Did a search on google for various things and quite surprised at the site links. \”GarminConnect\” number 3 in a Google search. Other links on BikeRadar.

Monday: Turned up for the spinning class at West Kirby and managed to get a bike as someone had cancelled. It proved to be a tough class with me going through 700ml of water and then getting a drink out of the machine as I needed a bit of energy to go the gym.
Ran a mile @ 9.5 km/hr did some weights and a session on the abs machine. 200reps @20kg but it didnt feel like it was doing me any good. I spoke to Margaret about the site and what I write about as it’s only fair they know about it. I was then speaking to Betty  too as she is an instructor for some off the swimming classes. Told her about the weightloss and how I write up the classes as she gets a mention every now and then only to have it confirmed by one of my readers.
Thanks for that it really made my day, especially knowing the Cafe in the hills above Bala.

Margaret knew about the Lifestyle and Weight Management course when it was a council run scheme a good few years ago.
Shower, home. Suns out so it’s time to live the dream and get out on the bike.

Had a good ride, 28 miles around the coast with a cake stop at Vale Park cafe and another frustrating one at Morrisons. Diet coke and an apple streudal under £2 not a big deal if I could pay for it. Everybody in front is now paying with chip and pin, two teas, chip and pin it. Went out the hard way up Grange Road but it no longer has fear attached to it. It’s just another climb, likewise Thurstaton cutting I used to struggle up here too.

Home for 5 with a low battery warning on the Forerunner 50.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/238459

The ride link to GarminConnect is above.

Another class at europa tonight to keep anon happy. Also good training for tommorow.
Tuesday: 14 mile Time Trial, the race of truth.
Looked at Google Analytics for the first time in a while and it really does put things in perspective. 12,794 page views with the 705 page comeing out top. 101 for the Maps page which I haven’t done anything to for ages. I suspect it is for Daves Cafe link.
If I have an off day an awful lot of people know about it.
Spinning class at West Kirby and a trip out to Broxton to check out the time trial course. 
Clean the Iceni too.
Drove the course and was filled with apprehension. Called in at Eureka Sports to get some info on Tri bars as it looks like I’ll be needing a pair. Had a kip in the chair as I needed a bit of a rest fitted the wheels filled the water bottle and headed out to the start.
Don’t know what’s happened but no one turned up. I even drove along to Farndon and found the Fibrax 10 was running.

Thought I had lost the plot, turned up at the wrong venue at the wrong time on the wrong day. One piece of good news I did pick up was that the TLI Oulton park roadraces are on and start next Tuesday. Trouble is there is an event clash.
Wednesday: Ride day. Anything an happen when you turn up at the Eureka. What I haven’t mentioned that on Monday’s ride I bumped into Cannondale Kev on the coastal cycle path at Moreton. He has just joined the Northend  and he is out tommorow. Lost a couple of stone now just going out on his own and riding his bike. 
He has the same problem I had the Disco bibtights being too loose around the leg when you loose some weight and drop a clothes size.
I thought I was loosing it big time only to discover I was wearing XXL bibshorts.
Franks Breakfast at the Eureka is now two years old. Same as a normal breakfast but with no butter on the toast. The beans are a protein portion on the British Heart Foundation Diet ( link at the top of the page).
There was a fair bit of diet chit chat among the women waiting for Margarets class this morning, a fair number of them have been doing spinning for a long time and are looking for a tough class to keep in shape.

Weather looked a bit mixed when I set off for the Eureka with the nagging question of what happened to the 14 mile TT. Within a minute of entering the cafe I got asked where I was last night. Broxton, but nobody turned up. I should have been at Aldford instead.
Club rides don’t have to stick to CTT courses, DOH!!!

Ride went out to Delamere Forest, missed the Yeld on the way back and ended up just being short of 59 miles.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248425

Rode home from the Eureka with Kev who has just joined the Northend.
Booked a spinning class for 6:15 and it was empty with Margaret taking it. Another new stretch at the end, shower and home.
Pity about the time trial but it hasn’t been a bad week so far. Work for the next four days means no big rides.
Thursday:  Work, flat battery on the Scenic and checking out the Iceni I found a spoke in the rear wheel had cracked a section of the rim out. New rim time but they don’t do Mavic MA3 rims anymore. This was the number one bike for a while. The wheel off the Colnago Carbitubo will fit until it is sorted but the Conti has to come off it as it will only last 5 minutes on it and it cost me £30.
Friday:Work. Spinning class at West Kirby which I just made only to find two free bikes. It is not usually this busy on a Friday.  Louises Thursday morning stand in for Barbara went down very well. Likewise Margarets class went down well, you can ditch the gel seatcovers as you’ll spend half of it out the saddle. Lost the fan halfway through the class an sweat was pouring out of me.
I’m going to have to ditch the Costa Coffee latte,s at work.
Saturday: Work. Might try to get out on the bike when I get home. The weather hasn’t been too helpful lately.
Sunday: Small event on, Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge. Set to be a classic in the making. Top club riders worried about making the cut off on the mega route. I’m in work  so will miss it.  Just about every major climb in North Wales in it.
The scales read 84.4 Kg again which is a result. Weather looked a bit grim in the morning but fine in the after noon and I’m stuck in work wishing I was riding. Will make up for it next week. I hope.
Home, blog and watch Top Gear which is one of the few things I watch these days.
 

Monday: Work followed by a spinning class a the West Kirby. Class overbooked but sorted in the end. Barbara’s birthday so the class sang happy birthday to her.
Took the heartrate up to 180 BPM on the final sprint. Shower, home and upload the ride pictures to the laptop.
Tuesday: Woke up to a techy nightmare, no internet access as the router has lost it’s settings. Website down. Morning Spinning class at West Kirby then a session in the Gym.
Spent the rest of the day trying to get back online and when I did there was another downer. I’ve missed all three of the TLI Oulton Park roadraces, the last one being last night.
It was something Janet said on the ride on Sunday about the evening been light that got me thinking.
Spinning class at West Kirby, second of the day as work tommorow
Wednesday: Work, home, blog. Still need to update Sunday’s ride post before I forget it all. Good news on 705 multiple Routes though.
Thursday: Work. Blog when I got home. A Lifestyle decision dropped through the letterbox today. Take a potential 6k paydrop and get put on Monday to Friday or take the cash and have a potential year off.  This is only my second job in 48 years pity to see it go.
Friday: Work. Fully booked Spinning class at West Kirby started with 7 empty bikes. Would have been 8 if I hadn’t phoned up for one. Quite hot too. Got my start number for the Tuesday 14 TT, number 2 with Andy 3 minutes behind me. Got to check out the start as I’m new to all this. Things need to go without complications at the last minute.
Saturday: Work. Last day, the longest day. I’ve gone with my decision that I’ve had enough. Next Thursday is a make or break day.
Sunday: Ride day, woke up in time to get the Eureka but had a change of plan.
Went to Liverpool 1 and thought about doing a BananaLamb ride, there are 250 to do and they seem to have captured the imagination. Kids are climbing all over them and they are in the middle of roundabouts to boot. This should be a picture based ride, maybe not get all of them but the locations.
Spinning at West Kirby blew the cobwebs out of me. Had a go of the Nike bibshorts, the Elite ones are really good. Looks like Nike have lost the plot with the cycling gear. Got to grab it while I can as it’s not going to be around for much longer.
Managed to get the wireless router working again which saved me £40 so not a bad day. Wind as up and saw a few trees down so perhaps it was wise not to go out.

Next ride day at this rate is Wednesday.

Monday: Sorted the car out finally. Didn’t feel too good in the afternoon so no ride despite the good weather. Doing a time trial Tuesday night after work so drove the route and Waypointed the start and the OLD finnish. The CTT site doesn’t have the new finish on Roughlyn Crescent. Still feeling the effects of Friday too so no Gym.
Tuesday: Work. Time Trial from Pulford. Put some air in the tubs as you can never have enough and fitted the carbonfibre wheels to the Trek and loaded it up.

Well I’ll cut to the chase 25 minutes 48 seconds, so room for some improvement. Barry took over 2 1/2 minutes out of me and was flying. Looks like I need to invest in a pair of aero bars and spend more time on the bike.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/177838
Wednesday: Work. Gym after work, ran for 1 km, rowing, crosstrainer, weight machines. Shower and home for 9pm it’s a long day. Still playing around with multiple route on the 705.
Thursday: Work. Northend clubnight reverted to Seven Stars as barmaid at rugby club was on holiday.
Friday: Work. Blog, bed.
Saturday: Off. Something cropped up so no ride despite the weather. Watched Dauphine Libre on Eurosport and sorted the route out for tommorows ride.
Just got it under 100 waypoints. Good job I found last years route sheet in time. Had a look at last years post and it was a great day, all the pictures coming out really well.
Went to Tesco as they have SIS energy drinks down to £6, bike got the once over, rear tyre starting to square off but it’s a dual compound tyre so the centre tread should be harder wearing.
Sunday: Bob Clift Memorial Ride. 100 miles of the Cheshire Cycleway. Nice ride includes The Wizard of Edge and a climb around Macclesfield that looks worse than it is.

Monday: Work.
Tuesday: Work followed by a trip past the new Liverpool One centre. It resembled a scene from the Italian Job. Total gridlock with every traffic light on red. Did a bit more on the Audax post and installed Tracklogs back on the IBM. No support for the 705 yet but the map looked good.
Wednesday: Work. More on the blog, think I’ve finished the Aqueduct post. Think I missed a Lifestyle and Weight Management followup class.
Thursday: Work. Home, blog.
Friday: First day off, must get the gym.Turned up thinking I was going to the gym then a spinning class for the cardio only to find no morning class. Weightmachines, side stepper stepper, crosstrainer and a run later I was done. Thought I had really lost the plot as the bib tights were loose around the leg. I’d either lost leg muscle because I hadn’t been doing anything for a few days or the Nike kit was stretching in the wash. It gets washed a lot.

As it turned out it was neither. I’d picked up a pair of XXL Discovery bibshorts that I’d bought when I bought the Toy. What a relief.

Went out and bought Cycling Plus for the Edge 705 review. I eventually found it in the Road Tested section. They give it 9 out of 10 but what a dissapointment the article was. Just over half a page they haven’t done their homework as they would like to see OS maps on the thing.

Spinning class. Good weather meant a few didn’t turnup so I  got a bike.
Saturday: Ride day I hope. Late to the Eureka meant there were only three of us in the cafe and in walks Keith Boardman from the Northend Club weekend. Found himself out of breath going up the Green past Northop. I’m panting away on this climb but Keith reckons it is not normal for him. Saw the route and it covers sections of last Saturdays Audax. Set out on a ride only to find Northenders coming back the other way and others I knew.
Now I’m starting to reflect from where I’ve come in the last 2 years. Looking back at the weightloss diary I was 104.7 Kg Eu or 230 pounds American or 16.5 stone British 2 years ago and as a treat I bought myself the Toy. This morning I was 85 Kg, 3 kg above my best which was last year. So today,s ride was about going back two years to when I set the site up and started writing about easy rides for the overweight.

Nothing hilly but I did do Rest Hill to see if I’ve lost that much form as I think I have. Then on to Woodside to see the U Boat that they have moved there. They have cut it in two and it gives you a good level of detail as to what it’s like inside from the outside.
There is an aircraft carrier docked at Liverpool but it a fraction of the size of the old Arc Royal. Seacombe has been refurbed but at least 4 people carriers went past me despite the new signs. The tunnel vent shaft is not for parking on now being completley flat.

Pity that part of the ride was missing as someone had pinched part of the block pavement out of sight of the video cameras.

The ride from Seacombe was easy enough as it is totally flat but once you reach the prom and Harrison drive the kites were in abundance. I’d had a stop at the Cafe in the park and thought I saw Sasha with her new baby as I was leaving.
Liquid stop at Lidl on Leasowe Road and onto the sea defences by the lighthouse.
Caught up and passed a chap who grabbed the wheel until we hit the road at Hoylake.
Then onto West Kirby for a stop at the seating by the bowling green by the lake.
A drink and flapjack later it is the final leg to Caldy opting to take the route up Thurstaton cutting.
I remember stopping on this before but now it is not a problem and past the Cottage Loaf I opt for cycle path.

I’ve had agro from idiot car driver for not using the path and seen it dished out to others too. There is central reservation painted on the road  that gives them miles of room to pass unhindered. Stay off the path when there is hedge cutting as you will get punctures.
Sunday: Jack day at the Kite festival. Caught the Sun and came home a little after 1 as streams of cars were heading out that way.

Spinning class at West Kirby still has me hurting from Fridays Gym session so that is me done for the week.

Site is coming up to 2 years old, looked back at the first month and boy it seems like eons ago. Another birthday party coming up by the look of things. 

Monday: Work. Home but spend too long on net searching for the Polo suspension knock problem. Should have done some exercise of any sort but blew it, didn’t even put the pedals back on the bike.
Tuesday: Work. Put the pedals back on the Trek. Blog.
Wednesday: Work. Spinning class at West Kirby to blow the cobwebs off. Haven’t done much for nearly a week and I thought it was beginning to show. Solid class with 29.30 minutes firmly in zone 4 on the HRM and 8.26 minutes in zone 5.
Uploaded the class to GarminConnect and TrainingCentre just by plugging in the USB ANT stick no problem.

 Snapshot of last weeks rides.
Thursday: Booked in for a Morning Spinning class and will go the gym. Buy the Comic. Route to sort out for the Audax, plus a load of other stuff. Giro live to catch up on.Wishfull thinking about the 10 in view of Saturdays ride.
Early session in the gym followed by a decent spinning session. Feel good and I’m going to take it easy now as there are a few climbs that I haven’t done on Saturday like the Horseshoe Pass for one.
Car next to me was getting a ticket when I came out, an expensive 30p.
Aldi on the way home for some fruit and berries, it does appear to be a lot cheaper than Tesco,s as I seem to spend a fortune on fresh berries for my breakfast. Quaker Oat Granola was 2 for 1 at Tesco last week so I stocked up.

Couldn’t get to grips with the Aqueduct route so drove to the start and tried following it to Ruthin. Went wrong twice and Methodist Hill is going to be hard even in the granny ring. It has all the making of a Killer Climb. It’s REALLY steep and narrow.
Friday: Work. Home early to sort out the route. The first part is tricky as you can’t see the roadsigns from a satellite. Sort the Trek out and add a few more points later.
There is a hell of a lot of climbing in this ride and is going to be a real test.
The toy has had a once over and the bag packed. Route is as good as its going to get.
Only 30 riders according to Stan so the CTC points comp could be interesting.
Definitely a 2 bottle ride. Steve Cummings 4th on todays Giro stage.
Saturday: Aqueduct 175 Audax. Signed up online following Janets email about the event. CTC points comp qualifier. 2540 metres of climbing for 1.25 AAA points. 
Nice day, car all loaded up, all the makings of a great ride.
A really great day, perfect weather a challenging route and stunning scenery made it a day to remember. Settled down to write it up only to have Anon loose the plot and post two comments on the Colnago post above.
Sunday: Jack day. Had a go of Paul’s Wii-Fit and although the initial thought was sceptical I was turned around after having ago. It is no wonder they have sold out.
I was holding imaginary poles on the skiing game, worked a sweat up on 6 minutes of the hula hoop and the whole thing just opened my eyes as to they way home exercising is going to take off.
Basically wireless load sensors for each foot or arm it relies on you using your own body weight. About twice the size of a set of scales, worthy of a post of its own.
Watched Alberto Contador win the Giro on Eurosport, a fitting end to a hectic week.
Still getting over yesterdays ride but I could have gone out before breakfast but as it was rain stopped play later on, only highlighting what such a good day yesterday was.

Monday: Rain stopped play but it was a chance to update the blog and answer a few Garmin questions. A 5AM start for Valencia Airport meant it was going to be a long day. Looked for an English newspaper for an hour or so as I´ve been cut off from the outside world for a week. Toured a few ghost towns, sorry Spanish beach resorts, heavens opened, returned to Barx and it was sunny and light til past 9. Should have gone down to Simat for the climb.
Tuesday: Thought I would do Geddes´s loop to Simat. Had to get off on the bend at Puig Mola as the chain jumped sprocket at the Restaurant. Tightened the lever and it was OK for the rest of the climb. Managed to hit the pothole that Geddes showed me the other day and puncture.
 

Thought I would patch it only to find I had brought all my 10 speed chain spares but no glue for the patches.
So a tube went in and ultimately alters the course of the day. I´m down to 1 spare tube so take things easier. Stop for a few pictures to update the site next week.
Nice ride down to Simat after climbing up from Pla de Corralls. Ride isn´t finished yet but it looks like a trip to Tavernes for a puncture outfit. Went to Tavernes and picked up some patches. Rode down to Xeraco Beach, stopped at a supermarket for a drink and should have took a picture of the street as it was deserted.
Garmin locked up and didn’t notice until I was in the backstreets of Tavernes. Rode up to Simat.
 This was the highlight of the week, looks a bit worse than it is. Double click to enlarge then enlarge again.

Took a picture of the climb from the bottom of the mountain and settled on the start line and turn on the Forerunner 50 and the 705 for a time.
As luck would have it two guys from Gandia cycling club are tackling the climb and as this is their backyard I thought I would see how long I could stick with them.
We all know it’s undeclared war out there on climbs like this and I held on dropping off 20 yards or so in places to get it back when they eased up on the straights.
I’m maxed out at a steady 170 BPM which then goes up to 185 BPM on a decent push.
Near the summit I haven’t been dropped and this is where I make my move, out the saddle and drop a gear with a sprint to the finish. Not sure if it went down too well with the guys from the Gandia cycling club especially when you see the bike I’m on. Six speed with 42 on the inner ring but 32 on the back. I’ll have to work it out in inches but the gaps are large.

The time 18:49.91
Wednesday: Ride day, out with Geddes from 9 AM with 70-80 km pencilled in. Geddes managed to hit the pothole that I punctured on at Puig Mola and then we got stuck behind a line of lorries going to a chicken farm. after that it was all down hill to Barxetta with Frederico leading the was picking up a Spanish Champion along the way. Destination is a Col out of Xativa which has a Medieval Castle overlooking it.
Geddes wins the points competition on the climb narrowly from Frederico and then it was a fast descent to Belus. It would have been quicker but the chain had come off the front chainwheel and I had to stop. More to follow. Including the route of the ride.
Lost the Edge 705 off the handlebars on what proved to be a worrying 20 minutes or so until it was found. It fell of the bars at about 25 mph and marked the case but other than that it was fine. A rider stopped to help find it and was amazed to see it getting put on a 15 year old bike. It being worth more than the bike.

Stopped for a Coke at Simat before climbing the mountain to Barx for the last time.
Another great days riding.

Route to follow when I sort the TrainingCentre out, GarminConnect doesn’t like 5 Mb of ride data loading into it.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/113316

Thursday: Last full day. Had a quiet day ,had thought about a quick lap up from Simat but it was just a feverish imagination.
Friday: Return home. Garmin Nuvi 250W sorted us out at Alicante  airport by finding the filling station to sort out the hire car. This was not easy as the station is on the wrong side of a dual carriage way. You can see it but not reach it. Spanish road signs are not lit at night and I’ve missed a turn as I couldn’t make the turn in time.
SatNav in a foreign country does work just have the most recent maps as countries like Spain are changing all the time.
Saturday: Nothing planned but you never know. Had one of those days where I’m glad it was sorted once it was over.
I’m going to write a guide on how not to change a stoplight on a Polo, it was that bad and had to be done today no matter what. No ride but there there is so much to catch up on. Caught up on the Giro de Italia so all was not lost.
Sunday: Work.

Monday: Work, pack bags including cycling kit and Edge 705 for Spain. I’ve loaded the 705 with Valencia Provence so I should be alright. There aren’t that many road to get lost on from what I can tell. Every day out is going to mean a Mountain top finish. Should be a good break. Factor 50 in the bag.
Tuesday: Early departure……

                    Normal service suspended for the next couple of days.

Wednesday: Geddes has been kind enough to lend me his old bike and take me out for a ride of his local loop. Last time I tackled the first part to Puig Mola I ended up stopping but I´m a good 5 stone lighter now so it it was dooable. From then on it´s narrow and downhill with the occasion pothole. It emerges on the Simat to Barxetta road which means a bit of climbing to get a great run into Simat.

It´s all logged on the 705 and I even managed to get a few pictures on the way down before it got too fast.
Once in Simat we stop at the pedestrian crossing at the foot of the climb to Barx.
This climb has been one of my goals for a few years now, so this is it.
Geddes warns me about it being a drag up to the bridge and he is right, from then on there are 8 alpine turns along the 8 Km to the summit.
It´s hard work and I am maxing out as the gradient is around the 8% mark in places with you needing to use the outer of the bends to make it easier for yourself.

I ended up with a time of 19 minutes plus which was just over a minute up on Geddes.
Geddes by the way is 62/63 and goes really well.

Did an afternoon trip to Gandia and a loop to Tavernes up to Simat and the climb again.
Stopped for a few pictures but you are looking at 25+ minutes.
Thursday: Rode down to Gandia and along the coast to Cullera back via Sueca dreaded N332 and the Simat to Barx climb. Still harder after about 50 miles.

Friday: La Font breakfast, already legendary and organised by Mike. The legend had a whole new chapter added today.
Saturday: Rest and recovery day.
Sunday: Great day out with Geddes and a few of the Barx cycling club. A 15 Km 2000ft climb out of Pego.

Denia cycling club passed us on the way up and we all grabed a wheel but all got shelled off the back including me with a Km to go. Actually they had turned around at about 1500 ft in the village and went back down to a Cafe.

When we were descending back to Pego we picked them up as they were leaving and boy was it fast, I fell off the back as I lost the tow. Geddes was still in there for a good while. The boys with the deep section carbon wheels had moved to the front and were dragging everybody along. I was loosing up to 10 mph on them solo.
Then on to the highlight of the ride for me Gandia to La Drova. A steady climb out of Gandia until about 2.5 km from the summit. This is my first go at it and I´ve been wanting to tackle it for at least 2 years.
I´ve already had a good ride in the legs and at the bottom of the twisty bits I´m already in 44/ 32  (32 tooth dinner plate on the back) then it´s 1.5 km of 10/11% straight up. The night before there were two cars in the ditch when it rained.
This ranks in the top ten of the hardest things I have done. I´m trying to take it easy but there is no such thing, the heartrate is gradually creeping up from 141 BPM to 171 BPM and there it stays. Not quite in the same league as the Bylch Y Groes but who could ride the Bylch everyday.

 A moody picture of Geddes reaching the summit of the Gandia to La Drova climb. It is tough but do-able.
Glad to have done it a fitting end to a great day.