Rides and exercise – Page 16 – Frank Kinlan's Blog

Weekending 07 Oct 07

Monday: Spinning class at West Kirby, 675 calories. Picked up a back injury so certain moves were sore. Should have known better. Mixed day received Mapsource Metroguide Europe for the Garmin that I bought off Ebay. Installed it and uploaded the two rides to it. It is good and it also shows up in the TrainingCentre so the basemap is no more. It is a significant upgrade for an Edge user and I paid less than £20 for it. I’ll do a separate post on it as it is a significant upgrade for Edge users. This is all in preparation for the Edge 705.
Back to the spinning, got sandwiched between two women that gave me a good run for my money. These girls are good, got to give credit where credit is due.
Tuesday: Work. Really suffering with back problems, missed a nights sleep no exercise for the foreseable future.
Wednesday: Work. Touch and go wether I turned in. Felt a bit better through the day but the hill climb is 50/50.
Thursday: Work
Friday: Took a day off to do some brickwork for a window. So booked into Europa Pools for a spinning class. They’ve been missing me, had to explain about going to West Kirby as the Europa classes are overbooked. Hanni has challenged me to do a double class on Tuesday. Can’t get on the first class Hanni . Anyway I was getting into a rut at West Kirby, Sheila,s classes are a change.
If your a woman looking at doing a spinning class I’d seriously recommend one of Sheila,s classes. She looks after the beginners and the classes are tailored to suit women. You get to know why you are doing a certain exercise. ie bum, thighs or calfs. None of the girls are looking to bulk up so it,s all about toning.
What was unusual about tonight was after the class Sheila had us on the mats doing abdominal exercises. First time I’ve been shown how to do them properly. Boy were they effective. Thanks Sheila.
Weights upstairs in the gym and spoke to Frances about the rides. Shower, home. br />
Saturday: CTC Hillclimb by the look of things. It’ll be my first. If it’s any thing like the old Nant y Garth it’ll be steep. Putting the Bontrager Race X lites wheels on the Toy might be taking things too seriously. Mind you the Toy is very serious in the CTC, the prefered weapon of choice is British steel prefably handbuilt by one of the few remaining frame builders.

Drove out to the start with the Toy on the Aldi cycle rack. Had a really good day, will write it up as a full post with pictures. As a taster I finished 11th on the freewheel. With the comments I’ve made before carbon is not the way to go for this event. Another good day, not what I was expecting but variety is the spice of life these days.
Sunday: Went to see Jack on the toy with a trip on the ferry. Came back on the Coastal Cylcle Route. 52 miles

CTC Presidents ride.

Ride write up to follow, I’ve posted some of the pictures I took on the ride to get things moving. These are compressed thumbnails for the blog the original are about 2.5Mb each if you want an original copy.

The Presidents Ride starts and finishes at the pond in Christleton and there are a fair few turning up maybe 50 or 60 and comprised of two rides a 15 and 18 mile route to the Jessie Hughes Institute at Eaton. Roy ends up leading us off and it turned out to be a good ride. Met a few new faces from other sections including a chap that had ridden the Discovering Shropshire audax the day before.

On the way out, by the Ice Cream Farm a tractor rally passes on the other side of the road. I hould have stopped then as it is a fairly unique sight but as luck would have it our paths crossed later in the day.

Once youve dropped down to the rail bridge and crossed the canal you know know there is going to be a grinding of gears on the climb up the hill. It never fails to catch a few out. It’s the short sharp shock climbs that have me doing the spinning classes a couple of times a week.

There are tea and cakes laid on at the Jessie Hughes Institute. Institute conjured up something grand when I first heard about it and I’d drove past it before not realising that this was it. It’s a wooden hall that is due to be replaced by a brick building. A bit of a blast from the past.

There is a presentation for the the late Graham Mills whose death has left a big hole in local, Welsh and Audax cycling. He’s going to be a tough act to follow and has been missed by many.

Had to stop to get a couple of pictures of the vintage tractors that were touring the lanes in convoy, missed them the first time near the Ice cream farm but caught them the second time. Makes for an interesting ride coming across stuff like this.

The pictures that are not square were taken on the move on the bike as the rest of the group were still cruising along and I didn’t want to drop off the back and get lost.

Link to Google Map of ride

Once we had reached the start a Christleton, four of us headed off back to Chester on the canal towpath. It handily links up with the River Dee cyclepath. Our paths diverged at the blue bridge with Janet and moi heading back to the Eureka to meet of with Roy and Joan and a few others. Roy told me about the hillclimb last year so I’ll be giving it a go.

Back home via the missing link with the temperature starting to drop. Nice ride, local enough for many not to need a car assist. 68 enjoyable miles.

I’ve forgoten everybodies names so if you didn’t get a mention you know why.

Garmin Edge Stats

Now I’ve managed to retreive my history I was really surprised by the stats it was showing up for the year.

So far I’ve done 4107 miles at an average speed of 13.3 mph. Now for the oddball data 257080 calories burnt Average heartrate 123 bpm Max 192 and if I didn’t like hills I do now, 173,368 ft of climbing.

This is only the data I’ve managed to recover from Motionbased there are a couple of rides I didn’t upload as they weren’t significant at the time. I’ve posted 75 rides on motionbased most with cadence and heartrate data.

268 miles was my longest week. I’d say they were all quality miles as It’s been such a good year that I don’t remember a bad ride. I’ll delve into them a little deeper when I have time.

Weekending 30 Sep 07

Monday:Work. No Gym, no spinning and no rides. New Edge charger on the go.
Tuesday: Sorted the Cadence sensor out on the Toy at 5:30 in the morning. Read article in Pro-Cycling about Discovery Channel demise. Work.
Wednesday: Work but could fit a session in the gym in.
Managed to get to West Kirby for Barbera,s class. First of the week and missing two days felt like going cold turkey. Anyway it was good to getback into it. Had a good go and the result was 700 calories burnt. Two new women got a round of applause at the end. The first class is always the hardest. Spoke to them after the class, I don’t think they quite know what they had let themselves in for but they made the grade. Gym for me for a few sets of weights. Funny thing was there were lads getting stroppy with each other for resting on the machines. Read the articles lads, 30 seconds to a minute between sets for for what your doing. Five minutes posing between sets is taking the piss.
Thursday: Aldi winter cycle clothing scrum 9:00 Aldi carpark. Work.
Spinning class West Kirby, Loiuse,s Europa Pools class full. Got the entry back for Saturdays Audax.
650 Calories burnt and two sets of weights afterwards. Another three first timers, the two next to me not quite knowing what they had let themselves in for.
Friday: Probably a spinning class. Got to stay in for some double glazing to get delivered. It’s a hard life. Planned the route for the Audax.
Gym then Barbera,s spinning class. I’m not going to do the weights before spinning again as it really took it out of me. 550 cals burnt but it was hard work.
Class was about half full but some of the women were playing musical bikes. Swapping the one in their space for a red flywheeled one. Supposed to give a harder workout. Now I know all about workouts on these bikes, Just put an extra quarter turn in on every routine and you won’t need a bike with a red flywheel.
For those that read the spinning write up I now do all the climbing sections out of the saddle, this is to simulate how I ride my bike. I don’t sit in the saddle pushing a leg breaking resistance , it’s just not natural , so its out the saddle with a level of resistance in that simulates being on my bike. Looks like a wet Audax tomorrow time to give the Aldi gear an outing.
Saturday:Discovering Shropshire Audax 118 Km.
Had a good day proved to be harder than the 73 miles would suggest. Every time I looked at the Edge it was showing a gradient of 10 per cent. Will do aseperate post on the event.
Sunday: CTC Presidents Ride in memory of the late Graham Mills. 18 mile ride to Eaton from Christleton pond. Nice easy ride to the village hall at Eaton. One small sharp shock after crossing the canal but nothing drastic.Spoke with afew that had come across the site but not met me on the rides before. Having only been in the CTC for a year means I haven’t bumped into the members of the DA let alone remember a tenth of the names.
Pace was a bit higher on the way back with a trip along the canal to Chester. Then it was along the Dee to the blue bridge and back on the cycle path to the Eureka. Rode home via the missing link. Another good day, nearly time to don the winter clothing but may have a few fine days left.

Write ups and pictures in separate post.

Weekending 23 Sep 07

Monday: Work but booked in for West kirby and Europa Pools. Fifth on the waiting list for Europa pools meant I might have been bumped out of the class.
It’s a close thing trying to make Barbara,s 6 o’clock class and I end up on the front row of three rows, so it’s a full class.
Two weeks ago I did 850 calories in this class but tonight it’s only 650 the heartrate is a lot lower and there is no warmup. It’s still a tough class as like a lot of Barbara,s classes there is very little letup between hills, sprints etc.
Finished with a 7 minute sprint with that extra 1/4 turn to make sure the legs know your not freewheeling.
Then it was in the car to Europa Pools where I made the class with places to spare.
Now West Kirby had taken it out of me and I couldn’t push as hard for the second class and I only ended up taking in half a bottle of water.As the class comes to an end with only the final sprint to do I mention that West Kirby did a 7 minute one. Now the gloves are off, we’ve got to do an eight minute one. I don’t know what the track is but you get to have a YeeHaa half way through. 1180 calories for the two classes.
Tuesday: Work
Wednesday: Lifestyle and Weight Mananagement followup class. Six turned up and and it was a really useful class. Brian had finished his year and had lost 4 stone. Another one that has stuck it out embraced the exercise and done really well. Just to add Brian is diabetic as well. 83.5 Kg This morning.
Thursday : First day off, plenty to do but should do at least one spinning class and some weights to boot. West Kirby tonight. Another tough class 750 calories. Weights in the gym and ran for 5 minutes on the treadmill when I finally figured out how to get the machine started.
Friday: It’s been throwing it down, might get out on the bike later but entered for an Audax in Shropshire. Spinning class at West Kirby no HRM so no calorie count. 7 in the class as its a Friday night. Gym before for weights and a bit of rowing. Not a bad week.
Saturday: Ride day don’t know where yet but the forecast isn’t bad.
Ended up riding out to the Eureka and going out with the NorthEnd to Ruthin for 77 miles. The Cafe by the river was closed and a wasp got trapped in the Giro Atmos and stung me. Ended up going to a pharmacy for some cream. The bad news is on uploading the ride history to the Training Centre I managed to loose all my history. Thats EVERYTHING since last November. I am not a happy bunny at all. Ive managed to reclaim part of it up untill the TLI roadraces but its still a loss of data that I don’t publish on the blog.
Sunday: Rode out to the Eureka for a cup of tea and then rode home at a fastish pace. Cadence not working on the Edge but noticed the wheel magnet missing.

Weekending 16 Sep 07

Monday: Work. Down as a reserve for Europa Pools but might try West Kirby if I can get there in time. A crash on the M53 meant Liverpool centre was snarled up and I arrived late for Barbara,s class and still had to get changed. At least there was a bike for me. the other problem was no water. A short class meant it was ONLY 500 calories!!. With that it was off to Europa Pools for Louise,s class. Made it in time but traffic was slow.
If last weeks broken bike was bad, bike number 16 comes a close second. Slack in the chain meant it had an uneven feel lightly loaded that coupled with a resistance knob that put in a full hillclimb in about half a turn made for a difficult class.
Louise,s sister of mobile phone fame had her feet on the bars at one stage but it wasn’t what it seemed as she had injured herself. Finished with an 8 minute sprint with 20 seconds out the saddle. More banter in this class and 600 calories burnt although the first class felt harder. I’d put it down to the shorter duration and the lack of water. 11 chinups on that convienient bar.
Tuesday: Booked in for Europa Pools late class. Tried to get in the early class but it was that full Louise had to give her bike up. So it was off upstairs to the Gym for an hour. Ran a mile @ 11.4 km/hr . 20 mins crosstrainer in reverse mode had me using leg muscles that I would pay for tommorow. Rowing 500 metres in 2:05 (a steady pace) and weights 1 set.
That done it was back downstairs for the class. Now I’d wondered if Europa Pools had spent some money on the place as there were two shiny new fans in the room.
The class was over booked by the way and Louise had no bike again!

It turns out Hanni bought the first fan from Argos for £15 and Dasa had to have one too but felt guilty about it. I’ve posted the link and the cataloge number is 425/0090. Plenty of talk about the equipment breaking down and a lot more besides. Got told how the girls felt guilty turning up in cycling shorts and shoes and the personal fans just add to it. Don’t know what people think of me turning up in full Discovery Channel kit including the socks. I get enough odd looks in the gym.
Louise is wailing that she,s going to ballon up to 25 stone by missing out on her classes. I offer to lend her my scales as I had to buy a pair that measured over 21 stone when I was that weight.
Anyway class went OK and it was 1100 calories burnt including the gym session.
Pushed myself at the start of this week and I get paid back tommorow.
Now for those that follow my weight, it’s 82.6 Kg this week.

Argos Fan link

Wednesday: First day off and I’m due a ride.Turned up at the Eureka for a ride and to sign up for the Eureka Cafe Anniversary Ride but do it on the Saturday. Now it wasn’t going to happen at first but Ann has given me the route to Risk Asess on the Saturday, which is what I’m going to do. Went out with Peter Andy and Dave and a few others with the intention of going to Ruthin and ended doing 87 miles (post above)and then went to Barbara,s spinning class at West Kirby.Barbara,s spinning class at West Kirby, half full and three newcomers made it to the end in one piece. 630 calories.
Thursday: Restday, write up the rides, plan the route for Saturdays ride and give the legs a rest. Its the first time in a while that the legs have suffered the following day.
Spinning class at West Kirby 650 calories.
Friday: Rode down to Woodside to take the famous Ferry across the Mersey only to find it closed and with the race starting at 10 oclock I had to take the train. Turns out the ferry doesn’t open untill 10 for leisure cruises. Shuttle service runs from Seacombe before then.
Now after the millions that lined the route for the Tour de France I was expecting a few more than thwe handfull that turned up for the Liverpool start. It may have been different in Sefton Park but at the official race start there were between 5 and at the most 10 people there. some of those were workers in businesses coming out to see the start. I was the odd one out as I turned up on a bike. With more than one telling me I was going the wrong way when I was riding back into town.Took the train back to Hamilton Square and did a coastal ride around the Wirral to the Eureka Cafe. Twas a bit windy on the seafront but ended up putting 50 miles in.

Spinning class at West Kirby 600 calories.
Saturday: Eureka Café ride started at 9 and had a great day. Spent Thursday programming the Edge with the route and it worked really well. this years route has a few changes and I really like the new bit before Farndon. Made good time and was back at the Eureka for 3:50. The climbs were a bit easier and for a moment I wondered what all the fuss about Nant Mill was and then it hit me. The last bit to the road junction is steep, that steep that last year I was over the bars gasping for breath. I was on beta blockers last year and these do put a block on your performance. It was still a tough climb but when I reached the top it was straight across the road and down the hill.

Nant Mill and the climb out of the river/stream.

Link to Map of Ride

Above link also includes Fridays ride to watch the Tour of Britain Start. It all wants sorting but I’ve limited access to the computer these days. Sometimes I’m editing the page on my PDA phone and errors are creeping in.

Sunday: Work

Weekending 09 Sep 07

Monday: Barbera,s spinning class at West Kirby as there was a waiting list at Europa Pools. I don’t how many the class was to be but, but punters kept coming in and a bike being dragged in for them. What started of as two rows nearly ended up as three.
Now I never spin with zero resistance so I’d burnt 81 calories before the class got up and properly running. Now if Louises sister gets to read this she wants to geta copy of Barbera,s CD as the class was what I would call hard and the music was all new.

Now I set a new maximum calories burnt total tonight of 850 calories. Coupled to a new maximum heartrate of 196 BPM you couldn’t say I was coasting. Now everybody had a good go tonight. I didn’t see anyone coasting and Barbera would make a remark if her regulars were slacking. Even she said we had all done well.

Barbera still hasn’t got around to seeing what I write about the classes even though they come up in a Google search of “Spinning Calories Burnt” as number 2 out of zillions. Only Mens Health Magazine is above me with Slimming World (a mega oranisation) in third.

The reason this class was so hard was that Barbera played the entire CD with no breaks or pauses while a track is changed and we never get asked what we would like!…
The format was four of each seated sprint, hilll, sprint, hilll, chest presses with four each for a full track, sprint for the final track. You get the drift if you’ve done a class or two.

The secret is there is no letup in these classes for you to recover. My average heartrate was 151 BPM for over an hour. A good class Barbera even though you have no inkling of how many people read about your classes.

Not content with a personal best Spinning it was up to the gym for some weights (nothing above 50 Kg just to remind of what I was. Still scary now.) Rowing:500 mtrs in 1.55. 10 minutes on crosstrainer felt relaxed compared to a spinning class. Still sweating though. Shower, home. Took about 3 hours to write this post on the PDA as I don’t have broadband yet.
Tuesday: Booked in for ONE class at Europa Pools, the woman on the phone asked if I was rested and upon asking why I was told someone had left the class lastnight early. They assumed it was me. Can’t be in two places at once, no doubt someone will fill me in with the details.

Not a bad class but I didn’t feel like breaking any records tonight. 660 calories and a max heartrate of 170 BPM. Got asked if I was going to do two classes to which the answer was an emphatic NO, see above. Busy day, got the Triumph running after a two year break. All I need now is some gear that will fit me.

Wednesday: Ride day. Good choice of rides these days. Wednesday section or Merseyside from the CTC or going out with the North End going out with the fast group means I’m in for a battering. I need two bottles to go out with the fast group as they stop for nothing.

A miserable start to the day had everyone calling upon the weather forcasters credentials. Spoke to Ray about the new Garmin coming out and ended up giving him a belt on the arm as a wasp landed on him. Unfortunatley for Ray the wasp moved as did Ray so he got a whack for nothing, sorry Ray. As it was the Northend headed out and I was struggling to pack the over trousers away.

I ended up tagging on to four who turned of down Capernhurst Lane and were heading out to Rose Farm Cafe. I’d missed the other group heading off to Woodbank. I didn’t know it as Rose Farm Cafe but Utkinton Garden Centre which is why I get people doing searches for the garden centre visiting the site. Jack and Tony are on the front with tony,s wife whose name I have forgotten twice already (Muriel)and Sandra behind with moi playing tail end Charlie.
Jack took on a scenic route adding a few loops in where I wasn’t expecting them. Muddy roads had us avoiding each others wheels. It was more slurry from the dairy farms in that neck of the woods than mud.
On arrival at the Cafe it was packed with cyclists, a large group of the Chester road club and another group from somewhere in Cheshire.

I’d spoken to Sandra about the site and what I’ve been up to on the ride and give her a guilt trip when the baked potato with side salad arrives. This was lessened when I went up for a slice of cake. We all ended up having except Muriel (I’ve finally remembered). The sun is out on the way back to the Eureka and it’s turned out to be a fine day. Did a loop down to Parkgate and up to the Chester High Road. Ended up doing 62 Miles and turned the Garmin off at the Clegg Arms.
No spinning class as there was furniture to move. Which is another story.
Thursday: Booked a spinning class at Europa Pools last week. As it was such a nice day I ended up riding home to pick up the comic. Wrote up yesterdays ride. Did a 10 mile ride around Heswall and rode up School Hill for the fun of it. Bumped into Dave at Tesco traffic lights and had a chat.

Spinning at Europa Pools was a bit of a disaster. Missed the class I was booked in on and did the second class on a dodgy bike. The crank was loose and finger tight wasn’t good enough. It just got worse so I had to stop. Louise got one of the staff to fix it but it needed the right size socket. In the mean time Kerry gave up her bike to me. Thanks Kerry it was apprecieated. Then Louise and Kerry entertained us by doing a step class. Sheila,s fusion class was next up. 400 calories reflects the shortened class. Showers out of order still.Grrrr.
Friday: Ride day, last one this week. Steve Cummings training ride, early start on this one hitting Benty Heath lane for 9 oclock, a bad day out took some more pictures that I will post later. The road to Cotebrook is closed and dispite ignoring the signs as you do I had to retrace and head down the road to rejoinat Oulton Park. Loop down to front at Denhall added. spent longer chatting at the Eureka than I planned. 70 miles.
Spinning class at West Kirby preceded by a set of weights in the gym. 700 Calories. Saturday: Work. No Riding
Sunday: Work. Another rest day. Not a bad week all in all.Toying with the idea of doing a half hour loop after work, but the nights are closing in fast so it’s time to start thinking about lights for the bike.

Garmin Edge 205/305 Maps

This is the first post in the newly added Garmin Edge category. There are a lot of people out there that are of the mistaken belief that the Garmin Edge 205/305 supports maps, it doesn’t. It doesn’t support auto routing or postcode navigation either.

Do not be under the illusion that you can download the digital mapping products into your Edge, you can’t. Garmins high end devices store their maps using a vector format while the digital mapping software uses raster scanning. The two are not compatible.

All is not what it seems with the Digital Mapping Software producers either.They are great for uploading your tracks to view on your PC but they have difficulty with the Edge as they don’t support Garmin Edge Courses. The only software that supports courses for the UK Ordnance Survey Maps is Tracklogs.

The problem with uploading your ride onto Digital Ordnance Survey maps is that they save your track or breadcrumb trail as Waypoints. a Garmin Edge 205/305 has 13,000 trackpoints but only 100 Waypoints. A ride of 5000 trackpoints that you want to save to your Edge as a Course gets converted to waypoints and 5,000 into 100 just doesn’t go.

Just to clarify the differences between a Route and a Course that a lot of first time Garmin Edge users struggle with.

Route. 100 Waypoint limit. You Navigate a Route, Edge bleeps when coming up to a waypoint and gives a 10 second countdown. A Route is a collection of Waypoints. Compass points to the next waypoint. Naming your Waypoints as turn directions gives you a clear concise direction at a junction.
Course A track or breadcrumb trail of up to 13,000 points. You Do a Course. Turn direction Waypoints can be added to a Course in Garmin TrainingCentre but it is crude. Otherwise no turn direction. You are warned when you go off Course and when you rejoin the Course. You can race against yourself or someone else on a Course as this is where the training partner resides.

It is important to know the differences between the two methods as it has a bearing on your pre ride route planing. I tend to use Routes for special events where I just want the turns indicated as I come up to them. If you get lost because you deviated from your route you will have the compass pointing to your next waypoint.

Riding a Course means you have to be within about 25 metres of the entire course otherwise the Garmin Edge is going to be continually warning you that you are off it.

For most of the time I just use the Edge 305 as a logging device. It’s nice to go out do a ride and then upload it onto whatever package you decide to use. I’m using TraningCentre, Motion Based and exporting ride to Google Maps as well asusing Digital Mapping Software such as Tracklogs. Tracklogs supports Garmin Edge Courses and that is the reason I have purchased it.

With the new Edge 605/705 with maps hitting the streets soon it looks like I am going to have to get aquainted with the Garmin Mapsource products as your not going to get very far with Garmins Basemap.

More posts on other Edge features to come, I’m still wondering if there is a need for a Course planning tutorial possibly using the Google map based sites.

Weekending 02 Sep 07

Monday: Rode out to the Eureka for breakfast. Spoke to the Northenders about the Wild Wales. Dave crashed on a descent and broke his saddle so bailed out at the halfway mark. Peter went out and did 60 miles sussing out the Mel Vasey memorial ride. I went home via Denhall Lane through Neston and on to route 56. 20 miles.
Tuesday: Nothing, restday. Wrote up the Wild Wales post and what seemed like 100 other things.
Wednesday: Northend ride to Holt (Belisses Garden Centre) Was going out on a faster ride to Wales but Peter had had enough and joined Clives group on the towpath. I’d figured he knew we were going to get a right battering off the other group and was looking for an easier ride. If he’s hurting, I’d be hurting too.
Nice ride, saw Andy and Dave at the Eureka and discussed Garmin Edges. Dave informed me that a new Garmin is coming out, just when I’ve finally got the hang of the Edge.
Sheila,s spinning class at Europa Pools, first one for nearly a week! One of the two new girls in the class had the chain of the bike break and the flywheel just didn’t want to stop. Easyish class 560 calories, not many hills which is probably just as well after Sunday.
Thurday: Booked in at Europa Pools,early class as there was a waiting list for the late class. Class was half full, with plenty of banter about putting the tension in when I turn up so you dont get a mention in despatch,s. Which leads us on to Louise,s sister is doing a study on effort and music and is looking for volunteers. The HRM I use only logs totals so wouldn’t be suitable unless you took readings manually. I did sugest one of the gym machines that can measure power in watts as then it is a straight power reading and not based on heartrate. I’ve now got a fair bit of data on calories burnt spinning but always put more into it if the final sprint is to Sandstorm by Darude.
Eight sets of eight out the saddle is 64 seconds that a lot of people don’t want to do at the end of a class and always meets with groans when suggested.

As there is still interest in what I burn in a class I’ll probably end up doing a full post on it. Certain classes do burn more calories if you put the effort in. There is no need to get paranoid about not doing enough in a class. The very fact that you are doing one means your not slumped on the settee watching TV.
Friday: Work. No chance of a class today.
Saturday: Work. Two sets of of chinups, 10 on first set, 8 on second. Missing out on a good ride this weekend and it hurts.
Sunday: Work again, I should be out with the CTC but it’s not to be. Got to do something today, 3 rest days on the trot just doesn’t feel right.

Northend ride to Llangollen

I felt good riding out to the Eureka for breakfast and it had the making of a fine day. It was a toss up between going out with the CTC or go out with the Northend. Most are agreed that I need to be going out with a faster group.

I talked to Dave who was on a borrowed bike. He had a coming together with his wife and his Colnago is broken with a snapped seatstay. Expensive.

I also bumped into Graham who has commented on here before I went out with the Northend.

It was a bit stung out at the start with two groups going down Woodbank. With two rides to choose from I opt to go with Peter on what turns out to be the hilly ride. It’s a bit quicker pace than the other group and there are 6 of us in it.

What Peter doesn’t know about rides in Wales isn’t worth knowing. It was a decent run into Wales through Ewloe and Buckley. Once past Pen-y-Stryt things start to get rather scenic and steep. One of the group leaves for Llandegla. There has been a fair bit of climbing so far but once you reach the top the views are stunning.

The scenery is a feature of this ride. If you like Welsh hills and countryside this is a good ride within reach of the NorthWest.

Double click on the thumbnails to enlarge.

The views are stunning around here, from here it drops down to the River Dee. Part of this descent was down a dark lane of overhanging trees. It was here the sunglasses meant slowing down as I couldn’t see the road surface properly. We follow the road down into Llangollen where we find the Cafe we are scheduled to stop at closed on Wednesday. We relocate to a Cafe opposite the toilet block by the carpark. It wasn’t too bad a stop, beans on toast for me and the we get our water bottles filled. Not a bad little place, it can’t take big numbers mind you but we’ve been to worse.

Once we had left we stopped at a shop we a name about 80 letters long in Welsh.
Dave, who is American by the way gets a transalation by a Welshman whose name I have forgoten. It was an amusing translation. Ok we’ve rested but the next stretch is hard with a capital H. First off is the climb after the bridge. This is steep right from the off but worse is to come. It’s all in the route profile but there are sections of this climb that are between 20-34% and that is steep. I’m sure I saw 37% flash up and that is a new high for me. This is granny ring stuff and you must have a fit granny.

One of a pair of large walkers asks me for lift up a steep bit, not a chance. Once past the farm Queen Victoria stayed at it is the up to the ford.

We stop for a blow at the ford, a few cars go past along with a few 4X4’s full of kids. Everyone tells me how steep the next section is so I take my sunglasses off. I want to see this for real. Not wanting to get the Carbon Fibre Nike’s wet I opt to ride across the ford. Well I was second across and nearly ended up on my arse. The rear wheel was spinning out on the algae or moss. this was scary stuff as the others looked on. And then it was on to the climb, not too bad at first but then it steepens up. Through the trees it gets steep and a half, the two Daves pass me on this stretch.

The next bit is a bit surreal. This is nearly as steep as it gets and we are going up it. Then Victor Meldrew comes up behind us in his poxy Ford Fiesta tooting his horn. This chap gives pensioners a bad name and should have his license taken away, whats more he shakes his fist at us as he drives past Dave. An absolute moron. Only to get baulked by young David. Hope his wife is deaf as he got from two of us.

If your a ride write up reader lots goes on in these rides that doesn’t get written up. We are after all spending many hours with each other. Just getting to the Ford was steep enough and the section after that was really steep. It’s a rolling section to Minera with a steep downhill section.

We stop to regroup at the Minera junction, chat about the climb and chill out. A mountain biker comes down the slope at 30 plus and piles straight through the junction with five of us looking on. No Fear. Either that or he sussed out the road was clear from up above.

The next section is to Cefn-y-bedd and it eventually crosses the A55 at Dobshill with the eventual climb up to Harwarden. The next section see,s the group split, traffic is a bit a busy and various riders loose sight of each other.

Well I’m on my own again this time for at least the third time. The route back is much the same. Once back at the cafe I bump into Andrew who has downloaded the Wild Wales Route. There are a few out there that have already downloaded the Wild Wales Route. I may be adding a few points in the next few days but I think they will only be confirmation points. Just to confirm your on the right route on some of the tricky sections.By all accounts there are a lot of people out there that haven’t got entries that will be riding anyway.

At the end of the ride in the run into the Eureka Ray comes up to my back wheel and says “Carbon Shoes?” and scares the shit out of me as I didn’t know he was there. First time I have seen his new toy, a Trek Madone 5.9 SL. It looks the part in black. I’ve picked up a lot from Ray over the last year and I would class him as a mentor in my recent cycling life. The route planning I owe to him. The understanding about Basal Metabolic Rate and a whole host of other Lifestyle enhancing techniques and functions I owe to Ray.

Pacing yourself on a ride such as an Audax, I’m still learning this off Ray. I’m sorry but you can’t pick up the gems that I have learn’t over the last year by riding with a group or club such as the North End. The pace of the racing based clubs is just too fast for newcomers to pick up in a few rides. It has been a great experience riding with the CTC for the last year and the rides have been the best I’ve done or likely to do.

For God,s sake don’t get some perceived perceptions about the CTC from reading the likes of this site. It is an organisation full of helpfull, selfless people. Some you could call quirky but a jolly good bunch in all. If your wondering where you are in the scheme of things the CTC ride at about 13 mph average on the flat. Club riders are about 17 mph plus. You’ll get a lot more help should you encounter a problem from the CTC than you would from any club, this particually goes for women. Should you be able to keep up with the pace.

Racing biased clubs are not female friendly at all, it’s quite a step for first timers to do a CTC ride when they don’t realise quite what they have let themselves in for. There is a social/networking side to the CTC that the racing clubs just can’t capture.

Back home to a session on the scales which has me at 81.6 Kg a new low. I’ve a Lifestyle and Weight Management Followup class to attend.

Throughout the ride the two Daves are sprinting for village signs with old Dave getting beaten on all but one I gather. He is hampered !!! on a loaned Carbon Fibre bike with full Dura-ace. Every time he gets beaten on a climb its because he has 39 x 21 on the cassette. If it’s not the cassette it’s young Davids weight. Wild claims of 60 Kg including the bike get bandied about. All in good fun. Age might have something to do with it too. David is waiting for GCSE results.

Link to Google Map of Ride

Link to MotionBased Player of Ride

MotionBased gives you my data for the rides. If you download the course (crs) you will be competing against me. The elevation metrics are real. On the climb up to the ford I can see my heartrate as 101% and anything more than 80% is in the hilly territory. Don’t forget my metrics are for a 48 year old bloke who is relatively new to all this. A couple of time trials and the TLI events dosn’t make me a racer.
For me to see 101% effort means it was a tough climb.

I’m now trying to make these ride write ups as appealing as I can to a broad cross section of internet browsers. Given that I started from such a low level, I’m really pleased how things have come on. I’m under no illussions that I have reached the top of the tree because although it might be a personal best for me it might be someone elses off day.

With around a 100 people a day visiting the site through various Google searches I do feel motivated to keep up what I am doing. That’s 3,000 a month, 36,000 a year that have come across my recent story. It is powerfull life changing stuff.

I’ve been called Mr Motivator by two separate individuals in the last week and I did wonder what it was all about. The first was from one of the girls a the spinning classes about the calories I had burnt and the site, the second was at the Lifestyle and weight management followup class. Basically I keep going back to the followup classes once a month even though my programme has finished to keep me on track.
If I don’t go back once a month I’d be a medical statistic rather than someone who has turned his life around.

Covered a fair bit in this post which started out as a North End ride. I’ve been doing this for a year and 99.9 % has been positive. For me it is a form of online diary, if your name makes the pages I’m not going to forget it. One of the most enlightening things is how much this has increased the circle of people I know and more so people that know me but I haven’t met yet.

Ok, enough rambling, it’s the Wild Wales on Sunday. Guaranteed to give me a challenge. Haven’t got anyone to ride with yet but sure to hook up with someone.

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