Category: Rides and exercise

It’s been a bleak two weeks with Val loosing her father Fred the other Wednesday in Spain. I’d taken the three sisters to the airport on the Monday, for Val it was to be a surprise visit it to them but events overtook them.
In my case I was supposed to be decorating the flat which slowed to a crawl as things developed.
Around about the same time my dad, another Frank was hospitalised. He had been weak with an infection for a while but I didn’t think too much of it  having been through so much more in the past.
I must explain 10 years ago he had a kidney transplant, prior to that he had a very difficult time on dialysis.

Friday:  Val and Jean are due back having rearranged flights with Easyjet.

At this end things seemed OK with dad on a normal ward. Had a good chat about the past and things were looking up. Next thing he is in HDU ( high dependency unit) or intensive care. Wasn’t too concerned at this point as I’ve seen him in a lot lot worse shape.
As it wasn’t my visiting turn I ended riding the Wild Wales. It turned out be an event and a half.  Plenty happened on a really tough event which got recited on the Monday visit.

Tuesday: Fred was coming back  only to be subjected to a post mortem.
Things were looking good for Frank, I was upbeat thinking he was going to make it .

Wednesday: Ride to the Eureka. Not looking for a ride, more like avoiding one. On the way home I got a call from my mum wanting to go and see the consultant at 2pm. It wasn’t my turn for a visit but from what we heard things were not good.
With no improvement they were running out of options for his treatment.
The decision was taken to put him on a ventilator, he was in a bad way at this time and this was the last time we spoke.
This wasn’t good and things didn’t look good with Frank being put on a ventilator within 2 hours.

Thursday:  A bleak day, what seemed to be a promising start with the consultants saying they could tell us when it would be the end game leaded to a family lunch in Irby thinking things wern’t too bad.
Val had took me over to Liverpool to look at some statues on the Mersey tunnel vent . Looked at the new canal but didn’t hang around as it was blowing a gale.
On entering the flat the phone was ringing with the hospital telling us to come back in. He passed away just before 8.
Glad to have been there when he went as it should make coming to terms with bereavement easier.
Friday: Phoned work who have been good about it. The hard part is about to come, Dave and Inge are flying back from Australia over the next 24 hours and we haven’t been able to get in touch with them and you can’t text your brother with news like this.
Saturday: Pick Dave and Inge up from Manchester, Andy made it in time so I didn’t have to break the news alone.
Sunday: I’d a late entry for the Eureka 80 km ride the intention being to ride on my own and sort my head out.
Big queues at the sign on meant I didn’t get on the road till 10.
Things went OK just chugging along when carolynn’s brother went past with Chester Tri club and offered a wheel. Stayed with them and even had a turn on the front. Bumped in to Ray at the stop and told him the news. Back to the  Eureka  where Barry regaled us about his last ride with the Dog.
Another one who made the mistake of passing the Dog.
Rode home before the rain came.

Monday: Spinning class at West Kirby then the gym.  143 Km with the Northend on Saturday had me dropping off the back when the pace varied.
Started to get cramp if I came out the saddle near the end.
Ride was to Ellesmere and averaged about 18 mph.
Tuesday: Work
Wednesday: Course all day. Went to the Oval for a session in the gym before trying on of the Spinning sessions they now run. I’ll be looking at doing the late one after work as I haven’t been doing enough. First time I’ve done one of Sara’s classes and had to get used to a different routine and pace.
You can teach an old dog new tricks as she added a new twist to the inner thigh stretch all the classes do at the end.
667 Calories.
Thursday: Work
Friday: Work
Saturday: No ride, faffed around. Off for 12 days with the Wild Wales coming  next Sunday.
Sunday: Jack day, walked along the river Dee at Chester.

First a link to the Facebook pictures of the group.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94411&id=525349613&l=4e47daaf7c

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31260886@N02/sets/72157621877444585

Along with the Maindru Thumbnails I’ll put other trip pictures up once I’ve upgraded my Flickr account as I’ve run out of free space.

If I’ve missed someone let me know. These were the numbers off the riders bikes in the basement of the hotel. Thanks to Maindru for the great pictures they took, most should be pleased. I only had one number with no pictures.
Feel free to add names to pictures as I only remembered a few.

Monday: Work, need to get back out doing something. Website crashesmean just getting back up and running is taking time. Warning light issue on Polo means I’ve had no brake lights for a couple of days but it looks like an ECU fault from the manual.
Tuesday: Work. Brake light switch problem resolved last night, fine this morning. Could have been expensive. A ruck of 705 comments to reply to and facebook has just been updated with the STI Etape ride pictures.
Wednesday: Work. Last day. Etape pictures from Maindru have arrived and they are good.
Thursday: Work. Lost an Etape picture with the Tom Simpson Memorial on it which is bad news.
Friday: More work. Still haven’t rescued that picture yet and it doesn’t appear on the CD. Going to be a bad week for rides this week as I’m in work Saturday too.
Saturday: Work. Spent more time trying to rescue the Simpson Memorial photo.
Sunday: Eureka for breakfast and then home as it’s a Jack day.
Ended up fixing a laptop power socket which meant a trip to Maplin at Cheshire Oaks. The repair went ok but was a bit of a struggle to get it apart and back together.
Paul upgraded the WordPress version so all I need now is a decent theme.
Had a look at the Tour pictures so I should really do another post now thing have settled down.

Sunday: Work, first day back after nearly a month off. 50 to boot.
Website has been crashing everynow and again so needs an update.
Captured all the thumbnails of the STI coach tour riders from the Etape, can’t upload them to flickr yet as the limit is getting reached on the free account.

Monday:L’Etape du Tour. I can see why it has a cult status. The whole sportif scene has largely passed me by until now but to a whole class of people this is a lifestyle and they take it seriously. Very seriously. Felt like a black sheep for wanting a beer after being up for 20 hrs on the way down and nstill not getting one. Saving all the Etape stuff for the write up which may take some time.
Tuesday:Etape rest day. 20 km ride out to a village and back then teamed up with the  group to watch the Tour on Eurosport in  a bar. Don’t feel too bad, others are hurting but it does seem all or nothing for them. The results are now posted so it is time to generate a results list for the 30 of us based on age categories. Flicker pictures to upload and started on the ride write up. Pictures are going to get tagged with rider numbers and I didn’t see anyone else doing what I was doing, certainly not on the moonscape.
Wednesday:  Ardeche gorge. 97 km , 1200 mtrs of climbing and some great sights to see. Better on a bike as it is more rewarding. Got baulked by a Johnsons coach on the way down. Decent lunch stop icluding a humongous pizza that wasn’t finished. I do have a picture. Group split on ability and water.
I stopped at a village fountain on the way back as I was nearly out and it is very hot.
Bar in town for the stage finish, hotel and shower for dinner.
Thursday: A ride to Orange, a bit more laid back today, 63 km loop with a stop at the ampitheartre.
More good food with more pictures. It is dear if your going from £ to Euro but is generally worth it. Food is great at the hotel too. Very hot on the way back with me going thru water at a great rate of knotts.
We had great fun getting some Graham Watson ” Sunflower” shots. Harder than you would imagine, you can’t go into the sun, if the sun is at the wrong angle the sunflowers point the wrong way and it goes on.
Graig dived into a field of them but it didn’t work.
Plans are forming for the next 2 days. It isn’t straight forward, it may sound great to ride to a stage but the reality can be a bit different. The Ventoux is the worst possible case. Too many people, a narrow road. a bike is going to get swamped. Above Chalet Reynard, dream on.
Friday: Coach trip to Aubenas to watch stage.  Site has been down a while, plenty of time to catch up.
Cav does the business and I was there@ 350 m mark.

Monday:  Spinning class then the gym. Weights and a few cardio machines. Exercise bike at level 25 is just under 300 watts. Cadence is about 50 rpm which is what is was when I was going up the Shoe later.
Drove to the Ponderosa with the shoes this time and went down the Old Shoe and up the Shoe twice in 50+ minutes. The idea was to get some climbing in look at the gradient and the speed.
On the Ventoux next week if I make it I’m looking at just over 6 mph. So the 2 hours on the Tacx is real enough. On the second climb the sweat is pouring out of me, running down the peak of the cap and all over the Edge. 39×27 is doable at 8% for the Ventoux but 13 miles is iffy. Good job I’ve the buzzsaw (26) to fall back on if I blow up.
Dined out.
Tuesday: Brimstage 7 in the evening, probably the gym in the morning. Nothing daft now as I’m not looking at picking up an injury.
Hill repeats up Grange Road after the gym as I was bored. Gradient is around 7% but it’s hardly the Ventoux. Did 9 reapeats which is a couple of miles of climbing and 1045ft.
Bought a map of the area from Goulds.
Brimstage 7, which was the last one in the series. Took the tri bars off the other day and it showed. 9min 16 seconds this week. I did welcome the ability to shift gear on the drops this week.
Got soaked on the ride home.
Wednesday: Bought some decent tyres, conti Attack and Force. Fitted some new bar tape and brake pads after giving the bike another clean. Sorted the bike bag out, no seat and no bars to make the size restrictions. 20 miles on the bike but all of it flat.
Thursday: Winding down now, Gym for half an hour then a spinning class. New cleats on the shoes and a dress rehersal for what I’m going to take on the ride.
Some last minute shopping and thats me done.
Final results for the Northend Time Trial League results are out, finished third in the B league behind the two girls, Vicky and Janet.
Last minute flap, punctured a tube putting the tyre on.
Friday: 5 am start from Manchester. Going to be a long day.
Arrived in Paris at 10.30pm, no evening meal, bike bag spent the night in the room because of possible bike thefts. 
Saturday: Travel down to Montpelimar. Another long day on the coach with traffic delays due  to a caravan accident and a motorcycle crash. Hotel seems fine and the food is good. Been out of the loop tour wise for 2 days now.
Sunday: Rode 27 miles to Registration at the Etape Village. Our group of 20 split and split again and I ended up signing on on my own and the finding the others when they had booked their bikes in to the overnight bike storage. This was later abandoned in favour of returning to the Hotel with the bikes in the trailer and taking them to the start. If we get caught in a jam, just unload the trailer and ride to the start. Weather was scorching and is going to be a problem on the day.
Another good meal at the Hotel. There is a lot to catch up on but it’s time to sort things out for the big day.Rise at 4 am, breakfast 4.30, start 7.00 am finish whenever.
Monday:  Etape update: Finished around 17:12 so inside the time limit, didn’t get over the line until 7:30 so I was up against it all day. The Ventoux is just out of this world as a climb, it’s hard to comprehend how tough it was after 150 km. Big write up coming up along with the usual pictures.

place	Pl.AC	number	name	ac	top of Mont Ventoux	brutto
6663	1305	8480	» KINLAN, Frank	D	03:20:56	10:12:39

3:20:56 to get up the Ventoux. There is a tale to tell there.

Monday:Spinning class and the gym at West Kirby. Had 1/2 an hour on a exercise bike to see what wattage I’m comfortable with. Took the front wheel to Colin  to get it trued as a spoke is continually loosening off.
Gave the bike a good dose of looking at and found the bottom bracket shot so it was off to Deeside for another.
Watched the Tour then got a refund on the fan.
Tuesday: Late morning spinning class. Fitted bottom bracket only to find I’d put a lip seal washer on the wrong way around so it was my fault it was shot. Found the chain was shot as well, so I,m litterally wearing the bike out. 2.5 hrs on the Tacx with The Giant of Provence while watching the Team Time Trial. This is one of the best starts to a Tour for ages.
Northend 10 time trial from Pulford. A strong sidewind has me loosing a minute and half on the last one. 26.38 minutes this week. Dropped to 5th in the league with the scratch riders getting 6 rides in.
Can’t complain really having mucked around on the trainer for over 2 hours.
What I did notice on the DVD was the lack of places to get water, the available ones are going to be programmed into the Garmin.
Wednesday: A damp start had me staying in. Lunch at the Eureka and then off to see Keith at Eureka Sports who is doing his Ironman this weekend in Switzerland.
Price of bike bits has shot up, £37 for a chain these days.
Fitted chain using a split link only to find most of them were 8 speed so that needs sorting. The shimano pins are a right pain. Had a look at the bottom bracket again as I noticed a creak. Next up is a new pair of Look Keo’s. They still function OK but are a bit sloppy.
Thursday: Spinning class and a session in the gym, mainly weight machines this time.
Picked up the comic on the way home along with fruit. Been checking out climbs on WWW.Climbbybike.com .
The split link wasn’t agreeing with the front mech on a test ride. Found adjuster seized so fitted a new cable adjusted the stops on the mech and that improved things.
Friday: Time to get a ride in. Drove to the Horseshoe pass only to find I’d left my shoes at home.
Tea at the Ponderosa and a slow drive home.
28 miles around Wirral after watching the Tour.
Saturday: Was going to be a ride day, but it’s time to start getting sorted for the Etape.
Manchester to sort out drop off for Friday. Saw all the direction signs for the Manchester to Blackpool charity ride.
Sunday: Marshall duty for the Open 25. Missed the 10 oclock ride from the Eureka so went out with Barry and Vickey to the renovated ICF. One hour twenty two for the outbound 25 miles meant the pace was high.
Just what I needed. 43.3 miles at 17.6 mph. The Ice Cream Farm looks realy good now, cycle racks where the hedge was and no one trying to nab a disabled space 10 ft from the door.
Incident on the way back with Vickey touching my wheel and ending up on the deck. A lad on a mountain bike confused things coming across our turn in in point. Thankfully no damage, got put on the front so it wouldn’t happen again. Led Barry out for two signposts and enjoyed the sun at the Eureka again. Meanwhile Keith is doing his Ironman in Switzerland in the rain.
Things are hotting up in the Time trial league with me going backwards having done my best rides.   I’ve gained points by doing poorly attended rides in bad weather, if 10 turn up and you finish 10th you still get 15 points.

Monday: Ride day 82 miles up Moel Y Parc which I ‘d like to show you but it’s stuck in the 705. Version 2.80 software upgrade has been a complete waste of time. Scorcher of a day, no pictures.
Tuesday: Wasted 2 hours with 2.80. went for a Spinning class then wasted more time on 2.80 .
DELETED yesterdays ride AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH. Going back to 2.60.
Found I had no History Folder so the rides would not upload as they were in memory somewhere and not the folder. Contacted Garmin support after I’d made a new history folder and lo and behold it worked. Went for a drive to Eureka Sports to give it a try and it was fine. Unit is still 2.80 as I couldn’t get the 2.6 downgrade to work.
Time to head out for tonights 10.
What a day this turned out to be, finally got the 705 sorted which was just as well as it was eating me up with the Etape coming up. Mondays ride data that was lost had me doubting I would be up to the challenge. It would be borderline the way went on Monday where the idea was to see how I went up comparable gradients.
Bottom line is 6.6-6.9 mph up an 8% gradient, a good 2 hours on the Ventoux IF I make the cuttoff.
Northend 10 from Pulford, cutting straight to it 25minutes 5 seconds which is a PB by 1 second.
Can’t seem to crack that 25 minute gold standard but it does seem to confirm that I’ve platauxed.
What’s missing these days is the amount of riding I do.
What has set the alarm bells ringing is having to get off and walk last month on the Aquaduct Challenge. Ok it was 20% and was at 100 miles but I just wasn’t up to it.

So I’m no better or worse than I was last year.  Which is comforting in some way.
Wednesday:  Work, only four days then I’m off for the rest of the month. Some big rides to fit in.
Had a look at Motionbased reply and I could have saved my Monday ride by saving it as a Course. If only I hadn’t done a Hard Reset.
Booked a ticket for the last day of the UCI world track championship at Manchester.
Thursday: Work. Been reading up on the Etape tips, one of them is not to start at the back. Not knowing if I had an entry I did a search on the Etape site. Guess what number I am: 8480 out of 8500.
This set the alarm bells ringing, with me just in front of the broom wagon never mind making the fixed cuttoffs in checkpoints.
Going to have to get some similar length and gradient climbs no matter what. Monday was too steep in places so nothing over 10%.
Slipped 2 places down the TT Handicap league with the women giving me a good hiding.

Lot of conflict coming up Sunday, should I do Liverpool Chester Liverpool, an Etape training ride or play with the grandson and watch the Tour.
Fan that I bought Monday is way too loud, It’s like a turboprop on takeoff. Going back asap.
Friday: Work. Measured the bikebag up and it’s Ok. Downloaded the route off BikeHike.
Saturday: Work. Last day for the rest of the month. Would have liked to have seen the Prologue today  but bigger things are coming up. Planning an early start in the morning whether it is a park and ride or a straightride out into Wales again.
Offical entry for theEtape came through.
Sunday: Rode out to the Eureka via Parkgate after getting directed by one of the marshalls on the Liverpool Chester Liverpool ride. Turned off before the next marshall came up.
Only Peter there but we were soon joined by Vicky. Dave Large got caught up in the ride telling of how the marshalls were sending them through red lights.
Ended up going out with Tempo’s group to the fisheries. Got dropped on a few of the climbs around Cilcain but they were steep. Got caught in a shower and took a picture of the Northend hiding in a bus shelter.
This was the point where a few dropped off the ride. Namely Newby ,Vicky, Andy, Tim and AN Other.

Service at the fisheries was slow with such a large group coming enmase. A couple gave up after we had ordered. It is nice but having such a long break means  that other options on the ride back are a bit limited.

Managed to stay with the group on the way back (must have been the pancake). Set off the speed camera,s at (god knows where) with the group flashing through at 36 mph.  At least four flashes.

Eureka had all the usual groups finishing there, Leisure, CTC, Club and solo groups. Grabbed a wheel off Allans group after having a look at Steve Cummings bike on the rail.
63 miles.

Monday: Spinning class then the gym. Had a good go. A good 500+ calories worth. 180 watts on the stationary bike in the gym gave me the idea of setting up the Tacx for the Ventoux ride on the new PC.
Now for where it went wrong. New computer upgrade did not go to plan. spent at least 4-5 hrs of riding time pratting about with keyboard. Upgrades galor and I’m still no nearer getting on the bike.
Tuesday: Work, home early, sorted the Tacx out in a few minutes. Northend 14 mile TT tonight. Weather doesn’t look too hot with heavy showers forecast. Tour Series is at Chester tonight so it’s a low turnout.
The heavens opened as I was taking to the line, Barry went off 10 seconds late. Sunglasses in this weather wasn’t a good idea. I couldn’t see anything.
The carbon fibre Nike shoes with vents in the bottom had water coming in the vents,  the bridge at Aldford which should be flat out had me wary of the grid on the apex of the bend.

Andy Walsh passed me at Farndon so he has put 2 minutes into me and effortlessly pulls away. To be club champ he has to win all the remaining events.
Fibrax 10 is running at the same time and John Lyth comes unstuck with them. He’s on a flyer beating me this week and has a good decade on me. 
38 Minutes 44 seconds so I’m 36 seconds slower this time. Surprised it wasn’t more.
Wednesday: Work. Still struggling with the 705 history upload. Saturdays ride and yesterdays time trial don’t want to upload.
Thursday: Work
Friday: Work. Northend Time Trial League results came through with me leading the handicap league.
Mainly down to doing all the events and doing events with  low turnout thus increasing my points. 
Saturday: Work. Problems with Scenic got me home early and I know all about window regulators now.