Category: Rides and exercise

Monday: Work. Other than that had no central heating as the boiler had packed in on Sunday. Really missing a ride now but it isn’t happening.
Tuesday: Work. Just when I’m thinking about a Wednesday ride the bad news is British Gas are coming to fob me off again. Can’t be the pump that was replaced 3 and a bit days ago. We’ll see.  Another way of looking at it is a week to today 3 years ago I made the decision to turn things around. Been a great success, even today I got told by one of the canteen staff at work that I’ve managed to keep it off. (totally unprompted)
Wednesday: Should be down at the Eureka but this clashes with British Gas giving me the run around. Hope to get out on some sort of ride. Life style and Weight  Management Followup, a month off my first class 3 years ago.
It’s raining but the central heating is sorted and off out to the Eureka. Nothing big today but at least I’m out on the bike.
Got to the Eureka with only a few non club riders there. It soon filled up with Weaver Valley riders most of whom were in a right mess. The lanes being particulally snotty at the moment.
Rode home via Denhall Lane and Parkgate with a stop for water and a view of the snow on the welsh hills. 18 miles.
That’s the thing with the Eureka, it’s a local base for Wirral and Chester clubs  but a destination for clubs further afield.
Iceni rear mudguard bridge got replaced when I got home. Then it was off to Eureka Cyle Sports for some wheel bearings, some chainlube and front wheel support for the Tacx trainer. Cyclops 9701 Climbing Block. Had to buy it when I saw it as I had just been telling Keith about my trip up the Ventoux.  
Follow up class this evening,  6 turned up including moi. Two women had just finished their twelve months. Just 2 out of 25 starters. In my case it was 1 out of 25. NEXT CLASS IS 11 MARCH.  That’ll be my third aniversary of starting this life changing course.
Talk after things were sorted revolved around the PCT funding a lot of which is going into free classes for the overweight plus the equipment for the obese kids. Those big buck spinning bikes all paid for by the NHS. Along with the dance mats and it goes on.
The problem is that they have no one trained up to supervise the use of the kit.  I hope it takes off as there has been an awful lot of money invested in it. Can’t attend the roll out on Saturday as I’m at work, a four letter word.
Thursday: Comic day. Spin and the gym.  No central heating yet again, thought it was third time lucky but it was not to be. Off out for a spinning class. Gym afterwards, ran a mile at 11km/hr. 2km row in under 10 mins some weight machines and I was done. Threw away a lot of my 8 bit and 16 bit computer past. The start of a major sort out. There was a lot of it and there is more to go from the loft.
C64s, Spectrums, Amstrad mother boards and my first 386 machine went to the tip. The 386 had a clockspeed of 33 mhz which was quick at the time.  Iceni rear wheel got new wheel bearing and the freehub serviced. The freehub wants replacing even with some shims removed. Good to see how it all works. Bought an ultrasonic cleaner from Aldi and it worked really well. dunk the cassette in and it comes out like newish.
Northend Club night.
Friday: Rest day, put the wheel in to the Iceni change another tyre a piece on the cars and I’m off out.
Went to the Trafford Centre, wondered who would spent £20,450 on a mobile phone when there was a similar one for a bargain £4,000 pounds next to to it.
Found this on Twitter.

Just the thing for a club 10.
Didn’t see anything like it at Decathlon in Stockport, undergoing a refit they have lost some of the cycling lines. Came out wih some Btwin tyre levers as getting the latest tyres off rims is becoming hard work. Bendy nylon ones don’t cut it anymore. It’s not the place it was and as it’s a French group the Euro is starting to hurt it. Some items appear to be a third dearer than they once  were.
Two tyres from Costco on the way home. The guy in front of me spent £960 for tyres for his BM and that was with 20% off, I got off lightly.
Saturday: Work. Going to watch the Tour of California when I get in. Managed to stay awake for most of it.
Sunday: Work. Someone has robbed Lance Armstrongs time trial bike and three race bikes from the team lorry. Barloworld had 21 nicked last week in Italy. You wouldn’t have thought it could happen in the USA. Lance up to 105 thousand followers now, the bike should be easy to spot. It’s plastered all over Twitter.
Managed to get the Times at 8 pm, this is unusual, there were loads of papers left which seems to suggest that everybody is cutting back on luxuries first. I’d like to see the circulation figures as I think they would be vastly down. The Times on Saturday is now £1 which is about right seeing as the format has changed, @ £1.50 it was too much for what it was. Good to Lance laying into Paul Kimmage at the TOC press conference and then answering his question, he should sue and see if the Times backs him up. Walsh article with Nicole Cooke was OK but wasn’t what it was billed as. A clean champ, no news there.
Lance’s bike only has a couple of km’s on it and he hasn’t ridden it for more than 5 minutes.

Monday: Work, last day. A couple of inches of snow on the ground and no central heating means no faffing around thinking about exercise. Update blog and wait for the Tour of Qatar on Eurosport.
No British gas until Wednesday sometime. Booked in for a spinning class in the morning, at least it will get me out of a cold house.
Obviously no ride planned for Wednesday as I’m in but I could ride the Ventoux on the Tacx.
Following Bradley Wiggins at Garmin Chipotle seeing as he won the opening team time trial.
Tuesday: Spinning class at West Kirby followed by the gym. This was one hard class, lots commented on it. 830 calories worth. Forgot the water bottle and had a fruit drink out of the machine. Problem was it had a screw on lid. Pity I haven’t got the Garmin HRM sorted as it was around 170 bpm for a lot of it.
Gym afterwards, tried a different program on the sidestepper which was hard. It had me into the red a few times.
2 Km row , some weight machines and I was done. Shower and Aldi for lunch.
Tour of Qatar on Eurosport with Tom Boonen taking the win and time bonuses.
Costco for a tyre for the Polo, while waiting for that  to be fitted it was a trip to Cheshire Oaks. Looks like the recession is starting to bite. Loads of space, shops empty, staff looking for sales.
Came out with 3 cycling mags which should keep me occupied for a while.
Managed to get a place on tonights spinning class at West Kirby, a couple of newcomers. Only 696 calories tonight. Same class as this morning which even Barbara admited was hard.
Now if you if you think I’m overdoing it with the cardio one of the women has done three classes today. Two on the bounce and one this evening.
Wednesday: Got to wait in for British Gas so no ride. Mind you the slush froze overnight so it’s not high on my list.
Promised myself I was going to ride the Ventoux on the Tacx. More to come.
88 and a bit Kg this morning so yesterday was a success, the important thing is keeping it off. The odd ache is telling me I should take this as a rest day.
Tour of Qatar on Eurosport at 11.30 am.
Set up the Tacx for the ride but found the wheelbearings shot on the rear. Had a trip out to Deeside with Val but no joy with the bearings. Came home, measured them up and bought 3 off Ebay for £1.30 a throw. Paid £11 for the last one. Ceramic ones next.
Some nice bikes in Deeside including a Dolan time trial bike with Hed wheels. Lots of carbon.
Spinning class at West Kirby 525 calories and I’m done for the day.
Thursday: Waiting in for British Gas to replace a pump on the central heating. Tacx set up for the Ventoux.
Tour of Qatar interesting to watch on Eurosport with Dave Harman trying to comment on featureless stages with no spectators, a bit like the Tour of Spain. Comic day. No morning spin as it is full.
Central heating now sorted.
Just about to try the Ventoux on the Tacx. 12 miles. It starts off  pretty easy and I’m in the middle ring for this one. The problem with this is that it gets you nowhere fast.
An hour in I’m only 6 miles into the climb. So its looking like a 2 hour climb. Heartrate was about 120 for most of it . After 1hr 45mins I had to stop to go to the spinning class I managed to get on, This was a really flat class for me and I still had 3 miles to ride when I got home.
They were a hard 3 miles as I wanted to finish it. You should have seen the state of me at the end, drenched in sweat, even my arms were sweating. 2 Hrs 2 minutes.  54 miles of this is going to take me all day by the look of it.
Team GB have destroyed all the GB skinsuits which is a pity as I was offered one of them but didn’t take it up. Damn.
Barloworld have had all their bikes nicked in Tuscany.
The indoor training is harder than you would think, watching pros go up climbs like the Ventoux and then emulating it in your front room is hard work. 2 hours on one climb means I’m going to have to set aside more time to do them.
Friday: Last day of the Tour of Qatar and my last day off. Sorted a few bits out, picked up a mudguard bridge for the Iceni from Wheelbase.
Gym and a spin at West Kirby. 2km row at 148 watts. 1 km run at 9.5 km/hr and some weight machines. The women on the reception gave me a leaflet about the new Twixster machines they are getting at a few locations.

http://www.trixter.net/

Sounds a bit like a spinning bike with a Tacx I magic attached to it. Supposed to give an upper body workout too. Margaret took tonights class and mentioned the machines too. They have had the training and they go live next Saturday. Bit of a dilema here as It’s a Northend ride day.
Reception mentioned something about Wirral PCT funding them so there are probably going to be classes for those starting an exercise regeme on the NHS.
Margaret said you’d burn 500 cals in half an hour on these bikes as some cheat on the spinning bikes. (quite a lot actually) Interval based class from Margaret with a good stretch at the end. 550 calories, god knows what an Twixter is going to be. Not much more as you can’t give much more as your best on any given day.
Shower, home.

Edited a few links to the BHF diet and also had cause to look at the NHS BMI calculator.
Saturday: Work. The rear wheel bearings for the Trek Racelight wheel arrived which was quick. At £1.30 a throw there should be one left for a rainy day. Something to do next week.
Sunday: Work, now with no breakfast service, I could go on but why waste time.
Home to try and sort the wheel out, missing a cone spanner and then the central heating threw it’s hand in 4 days after having a new pump installed. Reassembled the cassette put it back in the frame and it was fine !!!!. Could have been a slack skewer as the bite doesn’t seem too good compared with a Bontrager one. Using the Tacx skewer for the Imagic.
Not best pleased with British Gas as they only replaced the motor and not the pump body too.

Monday: Spinning class after work. 550 Calories.
Tuesday: Woke up the rightside of 89 kgMorning spinning class at West Kirby followed by the gym. 15 minutes on the side stepper machine @ 300 watts had the heartrate up to 150 on some of the levels.
PM spinning class turned up and got a bike. 700 Calories in this one. Hard work.
Wednesday: Ride day, probably a wet one. Another comment from annon last night.
Computer crash this morning, lots of bother for Val and still no login for my self assessment means no ride.  Self assessment deadline now extended to 10 Feb. Taking Val out for the afternoon.
Found out Hideaways Cafe is closed October till March , this was after coming down the Shelf in a car for the first time. Stopped to take a picture the view was that good. Going to add this as the rides to do in 2009 even if a solo effort.
Ended up at the Castle Cafe in Ruthin. Nothing much has changed in thirty years. Onto Llandudno while calling in at West End Cyles.  Saw a carbon Raleigh bike for £749 which is a keen price. Campag Veloce groupset with a FSA compact chainset. Left empty handed.
Took a picture of the mist over Llandudno and went to the Dry Ski Slope on the Great Orme for a hot chocolate which also had it’s picture taken.  Haven’t been skiing for about 10 years and not much has changed here too. The road up is just as steep, now with a few potholes.

Home, spinning class as West Kirby. Vocal class tonight especially the woman next to me. 550 calories.
Thursday: Last day off. Spent the morning trying to get Internet Explorer to load a page. Had to upgrade to version 8. Good job Paul put Morzilla on the PC. Removed Tweetdeck and a couple of other things. Probably a trip to the gym later. File tax return online which require about an hour on the phone as I had trouble logging on. Europa pools fully booked. Managed to get a bike at west Kirby by turning up. Forgot the towel. 625 calories.
Friday: Work , first of four. End of month so it’s bound to be chaos, everyone wanting their job done first. Good  to see that anon  has lost his yorkshire rag and reverted to form, poor sad bastard.
Replaced a tyre on the Polo  that was scrubbed.
Saturday: Work. Thats about it. Answered a few comments.
Sunday: Work. Boiler packed in so still in an outdoor coat keeping warm. It’s a three way battle between Glowworm, British Gas, and the central heating engineers as to who’s responsible. Snowing on the way home too boot. Lacklustre week not a lot to show for it, things can only get better.

Monday: Barbara’s new format spinning class at West Kirby. Had to get a bike first from the store. Only to find two bikes with water bottles in from a previous class.
Ran a kilometre@ 10km/hr with no knee problems this week. 300 calories on the crosstrainer was 27 minutes worth. A 2 km row had Margaret on the next machine putting my machine on level 10 for a laugh as she left for her class.
I also did a program on the side stepper. This machine gets missused nearly as much as crosstrainers and exercise cycles. It starts off on a high level of resistance which means slower steps. As the program steps through the resistance lessens but your steprate increases. I’d put the data in, age weight as it works out your max heartrate.
This is one difficult machine, at one stage I’m doing over 210 steps a minute with the wattmeter showing 494 watts. Heartrate was bordering on the red at 150 bpm and sweat is pouring out of me. Weights, shower and Aldi for lunch.
Snow storm when I got outside and I had to remove it from the side windows to reverse out of the parking space. It proved shortlived and was gone within an hour.

Site traffic: Gone up a 1000 hits a month over the last few weeks. Don’t know if this is due to Twitter or the fact that Garmin are on a roll. A Google search reveals a lot of 705 search terms but at number 15 is weight loss diary searches that I started 2 years ago.  Crane sports  are also in there too.  So there you go I can’t keep everybody happy. One side of the site is based on the Garmin side of things the other on the weightloss side of things. I don’t concentrate on either side but get more satisfaction from the weightloss side.

I’ve not posting anything original for a while because there is nothing to announce. The weekending posts are just me going about daily business.

Tuesday:Work, OT and a full day playing with radar levels.  No gym no spin. Trying to catch up on the Tour down under and Lances comeback. Haven’t got Sky Sports and it’s not on Eurosport. No Twittering today, loged on and found the above Lance pic is now linkable.

Twittered  Hincapie about the new kit, hate it, not expecting a reply.
Wednesday:Looks like a ride day. Knocked back at work although there is shedloads to do. Get out there and make the most of it, feels like semi retirement. I can understand the concept of working smarter but this is the opposite end of the scale.
A late start to avoid the ice it was down to the Eureka for breakfast.
43 miles around Wirral. Puddington, Burton, Denhall Lane, Neston Parkgate, Lower Heswall, Caldy, West Kirby, Hoylake front, and the promenade to Seacombe. Picked up two punctures the first from glass. Someone offered me a bowl of water to find the leak which was nice for a change. A spare tube went in as the patch didn’t take in the cold weather.
Setting off I’d just got over the Four Bridges and it was flat again. It’s a fight getting the Conti’s of the rim these days and it’s gone in the same place. This time the tyre comes off for a real close visual inspection.
There is no trace of what cut the tyre but what it has done is cut one of the kevlar belts and this is what caused the second hole. A patch goes on the tyre as well this time.
The tyre is going to get replaced as it’s getting a pain to take off and the carcass is compromised now.
Getting dark near the end with the 705 saying sunset at 4:33.
Spinning class at West Kirby, 650 calories worth. Not a bad day, a bit bleak. The police were out with the numberplate recognition van pulling uninsured and untaxed cars.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1872685

Thursday:Work. Watched bits of the Tour Down Under, read the comic. Bike of the week is Steve Cummings Bianchi.  If I go out of this world I’ll remember finishing 2nd to an Olympian in a time trial, there was only three off us that finished.
Friday: Day off. Started to sort out all the magazines I’ve been buying. Three years of Cycling Weekly went to be recyled, saving the 2007 Tour ones, the Steve Cummings ride and the Tony Bell one (Wirral ride).
Mens Health got ditched as well as It can be a bit repetitive. Floyd Landis also got saved as his 2 year ban is up in a day or so. It was strange looking at all the race reports and stories on riders that are now banned or coming out of 2 year bans. It looks like they were all at it, anyway it’s gone now and it was a big pile.

Spinning class at West Kirby. 620 Calories worth. Three first timers looked totally lost. Sprint to the Blade  track to end it. Confusion by New Order.
Saturday: Work. Haven’t seen the Tour Down Under for the last two nights because the skating on Eurosport overran. Planet Lance get the chop because it follows it. Not a happy bunny.  Sky Sports have the race and I ain’t shelling out for a football channel I won’t watch.
Sunday: Work. A long day. Returned home to positive comments about the site which is always good.  Jack was around watching train video’s while I was out and the Mallard has been renamed Gordon.

I just had to reply to this one. Twittered this.

Monday: Gym and a spin. Lucky to get a bike as it had been sold as I turned up. Forgot the watch so no data for the class. Onto the gym for a session. Weight machines  then a 2 mile run at 9.5 km/hr. Side stepper for 15 minutes at the 150 watt level then 30 minutes rowing. Did about 150 metres more than last time at 6482 metres. I’d averaged 130 watts for the session as I put a spurt on at the end but it was around 125 watts for most of it. 375 calories worth.  Crosstrainer for 15 minutes and I’d had enough.
Quality Street have a lot to answer for as I’d tucked  into a box of them last night. They’re all gone now so there is no more temptation. Top gear getting cancelled for Darts mucked the evening up a bit.

Sorted the kit out and will probably do another class tonight. With a watch this time.
With all the fuss about 100 watt light bulbs  getting in short supply as people hoard it was a surprise to see 5 of the low energy versions for the grand sum of 40p. As I’d just just paid the electricity bill of £160 I thought it was time to make a few more savings.

Got to the evening class in good time with the HRM this time. Another first timer signed the death warrant.
Had a good class finally burning 675 calories. Shower and home. Catch up on some cycling sites and news.

Tuesday: Morning spinning class, last day off work so got to make the most of it.
Lost a kilo over the last day but should have had this as a recovery day. 650 calories burnt in the spinning class. Walked a mile on a 7% incline on the treadmill as the knees didn’t take to running.
No second class today.
Wednesday: Work. Called in at the Lifestyle and weight management class on the way home. No Ron this time as he has had a knee op. Had planned on going the gym but put it off until tommorow night.
Picked up some info about the changes to the Course. Shorter but with an emphasis on the monthly classes, no longer called followup classes. A tie in with Slimmimg World and another with the Pharmacies.
Not sure how it will all pan out for them as they are now in competition with the dieting industry.

Part of the problem is that the course is tailored for the problem cases like I was. Results are hard to come by in a reluctant group where the overwhelming desire would be to pack in. I haven’t bumped into anyone out of my class two years on.

Had some Aldi dried exotic fruit at work during a break, just as well I didn’t polish the packet off as there were 400 calories in it. Didn’t realise until I read the label.
Thursday: Work. Logged in to Twitter to see Lance heading the list saying he had been drug tested. Off to work.
Comic on the way home, interesting to see a review on a Tifosi Audax bike which gets slagged off for being a triple, Sora shifters get a mention for getting to the down button on the drops which I think I mentioned two years ago. I still think a tripple is the best thing since sliced bread. Gears low enough for a mountain goat but with a big ring for the big hitters. 8 speed Sora NEVER misses a shift.
Friday: Work and a bleak one at that. Glad to get out of the place.
Saturday: Work, last day. Still haven’t got around to reading Thursdays comic. Looking forward to following Lance and the Tour down Under, even following it on Twitter.  Dakar in South America needs it own event, stages cut short but it was still a decent event.
Sunday: Eureka for breakfast.  Gave someone a 21mph wheel  as far as the Hinderton Arms traffic lights then got dropped. Eureka heaving, and only just got a place on the rail. By 10:20 with most of the club rides gone the place was pretty empty. The chap on the table I was on told me that the missing link was getting worked on and there was 6 inches of mud in it. With that it was back home via Puddington, Burton, Denhall lane and Ness Gardens. Carolyn going the opposite way  to the Eureka. Neston via Church lane and then down to Parkgate. A slow ride along the empty front and then it was a Discovery versus CSC battle up to Leighton Road. On the stretch up from the Boathouse I’d managed to stick a fair distance into CSC and I thought that was that. I’d eased up a bit hadn’t looked back and next thing he’s looming large on me only to turn down Leighton road. 17 miles, better than nothing.
More Thomas the tank engine with Jack and a trip to Chester to see the trains.
Pauls launched WWW.Frienddeck.com which is an aggregator for Friendfeed for Twitter.

Monday: Last day off should have been a session in the gym and a spinning class. As it was it was another car trouble day. Cooling fan running on a freezing cold morning was not a good sign, thats with the car being left overnight. A trip to an Auto Electrician and 4 hours wandering around Moreton had the car back with me with no fault found.
Took the heating console out and checked the fan speed switch which was OK so now it looks like the motor has a faulty winding.  That was most of the day taken care of.

Managed to get a cancelled place on the spinning class at West Kirby, 5 free bikes for a fully booked class meant some new years resolutions already getting broken. Two first timers too. Looking at the car park the place must have been heaving with every one hitting the gym for the first time.

Back to the class, gave this one a really good go.  Burnt off 725 Calories in the class and another 50 doing the stretching for a total of 775.  Max heartrate was 190 bpm which is a level I haven’t seen for a while in fact I’ve only bettered it once and that was in the same class. Average was 151bpm for 45 minutes.
Shower and home.
Thursday: Work, stayed late as the sh1t hit the fan. Late for the Northend monthly meeting but paid this years subs.
Tuesday: Work, up at 5:15 to make sure the car starts. Back on the plan, only fruit for snacks and not too much of it. Crucially no more liquid calories in the evening.
I’ve logging my weight and body composition for over 2 years and around Christmas the body/fat percentages tipped the wrong way. I’d just assumed that number went in that column when it tips the other way it’s a shock. Going back a year or so I was 50% water, the last month it has struggled to reach 48%.

It’s probably worth putting the data in a spread sheet. I’ve even got the weight and reps of the weight machines from 07 so it would be worth seeing how I compare.
Depending how work goes it may be a gym session on the way home.
Wednesday: Work. Went to the Oval after work and it was surprisingly quiet.  30 minutes on the treadmill cross country program was 450 cals after the 5 minute cooldown. Chap next to me spent abot 15 minutes on level 1 which is pointless and the machine acts as a pendulum rather than a resistance machine. Treadmill for 1 km @ 10, 11 and the final half Km at 12 km/hr. Shower and home.
Thursday:  Work, stopped an hour as the sh1t hit the fan. Late for the Northend club meeting  but  managed to pay my subs. Home for dinner and the Dakar. Sub 90 kg. A long day.
Friday: Work, last day. Weather looking very cool for the weekend. Looking to get out Saturday. Picked up the comic on the way home.
New version of software for the 705 so just upgrading now. Ver 2.60 thanks to a reader. 
Congratulations to Barry for yet another letter in the comic, his third but no pump for star letter this time.
Saturday: The ride to the Eureka didn’t happen as I had a call from my dad about his compute so rode around there instead. Spent a frustrating few hours with Vista and Macafee while doing updates via a dialup connection. Returned via Hillfield drive and Quarry Road, thought Hillfield might be a good hill to do intervals on. Thermals better than nothing but it’s still chilly.
Went to watch the fireworks on the Mersey to end the Liverpool Capital of Culture year. It was bloody freezing but when the fireworks started it was worth it.
There was a good rendition of the Farm’s All Together Now drifting across the Mersey with it finished off with a blast of foghorns from the ships.
Sunday: No ride out to the Eureka as it was time to box the christmas tree up and fit the new longer stem I picked up yesterday. 130 mm is a big jump from 110 and it feels that this is as far as I want to go as the bar is virtually over the front wheel spindle. A Jack day so it was time to set up the train set for the day.
Aldi oranges at 49p are a quarter of the price of the Tesco ones I bought 2 days ago. They taste just as good too.
Got a place on the spinning class at West Kirby. One first timer signing the death warrant.
599 Calories meant it was about two Mars bars worth. It doesn’t seem a lot given that there are 9,000 calories in a kilo of fat but it’s better than nothing.

Monday: Morning spinning class at West Kirby, Barbara reported a full class last night. It must be people trying to work christmas off. This one had about 8 in it.
Gym next, weight machines and then 500 calories on the crosstrainer. This took 3 seconds under 45 minutes and was really boring and I started mucking around with power levels. 150 watts on level 11 got upped to 200 watts on level 14 out of 25. I don’t know what the woman on the machine next to me got out of her session but level 1 had the wattage at 39. I tried level 1 at the end and it’s a complete waste of time.
2 Km on the Concept 2 rowing machine with a drag factor of 88 took 8 mins 37 seconds which is steady going. The 500m/split time that it shows allows you to alter your technique as faster is not always the most efficient. Another set of weights then the shower and home.
Aldi had no sandwiches so I left empty handed.
Tuesday: Still the wrong side of 88 kg mostly due to a plentiful supply of chocolates in the house and no willpower on my part among other things.
Morning spinning class at West Kirby then the gym again. Much the same weight routine that wants a bit of looking at and ran another proverbial mile. Started of at 9km/hr and upped it for the final 0.5 km to 10.5 km/hr. 148 kCals.
As all the machines were occupied I had a go on an exercise bike. I normally wouldn’t touch these with a barge pole as they are mostly used as seats to watch the TV.
I’d set the time to 15 minutes and set the level to 13 which at a cadence of 80 rpm was 240 Watts.
I couldn’t maintain this for 15 minutes so backed it off after 5 minutes, recovered for 4 minutes at 100 Watts which is 100rpm at level 5. Adjusted the seat up a notch then spent the remainder of the time using Lances high cadence technique. 100 rpm at level 11 is about 250 Watts and it did feel better, near the end of the session I upped the level to 14 with the power shooting up to 300 Watts. Average power was 196 Watts and it felt like it, I had to get a paper towel to wipe bike and the floor.
Shower and home for a SIS Rego recovery drink. It’s the first time I’ve tried one and the 50g sachet has 29g of protein in it.

Spent the afternoon blogging, twittering and sorting out the heartrate monitors. Found the Forerunner 50 box at the back of the cycle gear cupboard. I soon realised how much Discovery Channel stuff I have, like George Hincapies 2005 race shirt with radio pocket, and his shorts. Steve Cummings’s skinsuit plus a winter jersey along with a mountain of other stuff like the Lance 7 stars kit. A battery or two later I found out I’d been using the wrong strap with the wrong HRM.

Now with a working HRM that measured calories it was off to the last spinning class of the year.
I’d phoned up for a bike and was told just turn up there are plenty. This was a bit of an understatement.
I’m first there turning up 15 minutes early, Barbara turned up and so did another two and that was it. A class of 3 to see the year out. Mind you it was -3 Deg C outside. No fan tonight for obvious reasons, reset the watch at the start and off we went all 3 of us. A squash court is a pretty bleak place to spin but it’s even bleaker when the lights go out as there is no one in the class to keep the infra red sensor alive.
The stats: 550 kCals with a dicky cheststrap. It doesn’t count heart rate in a timetrial tuck. Average heart rate 138 BPM including it stopping a couple of times.

Doesn’t look good for tomorrow. Probably a short ride to the Eureka and back and look back on the year.
Wednesday: Lie in, under 90 kg so yesterdays effort was worth it. Been crazy two weeks off work with the weight going on daily despite rides, spinning classes and gym sessions. Putting the Tacx away for Christmas didn’t help. Picked up the comic from Tesco along with Cycling Plus.
Now I’d popped into Halfords the other day and saw the Boardman £999 carbon bike. I had a double take on the price and gave it the carbon flick of the index finger test. Carbon sounds dull, aluminum rings, steel hurts I reckon.
It was they’re usual good review  and it came top in most sections if not all. If your wanting a Carbon bike this is the one. C+ have been shouting Focus Cayo praises for a while but the Boardman bike beats it hands down in this review. 
When I was looking at this sort of bike they were twice the price, if it had mudguard eyelets I’d buy it as a winter Trainer.   Never mind how hard things you think are going to get, get yourself a carbon bike for under a grand, get  out there and give it you’re best.
Thursday:  Not the best of days, a lie in came up with a car that had been left with a parking light on for half of a day and no chance of starting it. Two decent length extension leads and a battery charger meant a restart in the dark. Luckily it fired up OK but not without the radiaor fan staying on and the power steering not working. A two hour drive had the battery charged up I hope. Went for a mile walk to check out a 305 problem.
Friday: Off out to the Oval, give the gym a try out. Over a year after it closed for a pool upgrade not much has changed. The gym looks like it’s had a coat of paint and that’s about it. The machines are the same Preccor machines which aren’t that bad once you select a progam.
Had half an hour on the crosstrainer on a cross country program was 400 calories worth, weight machines followed by a 30 minute session on a Concept 2 rowing machine that had me doing 6300 metres at a steady pace.
After that it was a 15 minute run on the treadmill aerobic interval program. Not sure what was meant to happen on this when I started but the machine started to increase the gradient according to the profile. 8km/hr is hard work on a 9% gradient, then it drops to 6% then 0% then repeats.
Going back to the same machines I started on after a year break revealed just how much form I’ve lost.
There is an assisted dip/chin up machine and I was totally useless at it today. The gyms I’ve been using for the past year haven’t got room for the full range of machines and I’ve taken it too easy.

To finish things off it was 30 minutes on the exercise bike. Intervals on this program, 2minute on 1 minute rest. Cadence, the aim was to maintain a cadence of 100 rpm as I slip back into 70 rpm mode when on a ride. 100 rpm at level 10 equates to 240 Watts and is hard to sustain for 2 minutes.
The machine has a fatburn/aerobic/dangerzone LED bargraph and feeding in my details has it turn red at 145 bpm. So it is in the redzone for every interval. For the last interval I’d up the level a couple of steps and the power shot up to 360 odd Watts. Heartrate shot up to 172 bpm too with that I was done.

I was in there about 2 1/2 hours which is a long time, there was a few people coming in to check the facilities probably with a new years resolution to keep.  This little lot was 1650 calories on the HRM and it did tally with the calorie counting on the machines.

My brother Andy rang up about his 705 and what to do next. A 705 doesn’t come with any software that actually makes the thing a useful device. Even the manual is a pdf on a CD.
Thai meal over the road which was good again.
Just started following Alberto Contador on Twitter. Some goods pics from Lance in Hawaii.

Saturday: Late start to the day. Rode to the Eureka for breakfast. Rode back with Dave the scenic route Puddington, Burton Denhall lane, and Parkgate. 16.7 miles. Looks like the altimeter is playing up on the 705as mine was showing a gradient of 200% on Denhall lane which is 8% max. After yesterdays gym session I’d have to treat this as a recovery day.
Sunday: Should have been a Northend training ride. Missed the easier run as it was still dark at 9 and may have made the 9:30 run but would have got battered by clubs big hitters. It’s bloody freezing by the way and the place is packed. Liverpool Century are there doing speed trials. I witness the CTC setting off to Delamere in the snow. I opt to call it a day and return home as I have no wet weather gear. Snow flurries on the way home via the scenic route. 16 bloody cold miles. This later turned to rain and I would have been in deep trouble even if I went out with the CTC to Delamere.
Off out to Birkenhead to get some thermals. Marks had a pair but not the Merino wool ones that got swept off the shelves. Cheshire Oaks faired a lot worse but at least I picked up some cycling mags in Smiths.
Todays Times was a tale of two cyclists, Rebbeca Rommero interviewed by Paul Kimmage was in sharp contrast to the Nicole Cooke article in Ingear.  The Kimmage interview was laboured and covered the same ground as most of the previous interviews about ditching rowing etc. Nicole rides for Halford’s but Rebbeca is still unsponsored. Given that Chris Hoy is on TV every 15 minutes it seems a bit unfair. Good article in Cycle Sport about Steve Cummings and Italy.
Mixed start to the year, it could have been better but a lot worse.
Dakar rally which this  year is in Argentina. A continent away from Africa and it seems to have lost a lot of it’s magic.

Monday: Rons funeral at Landican cemetery.
Tuesday: Spinning class at West Kirby then a session in the gym. Pretty chaotic at the shops.
Thursdays comic is in the shops, top 50 UK riders and a calender for next year but little else.
Twitter seems to be where it’s at these days, following Lance, Hincapie, Bruyneel it’s basically a texting service but is current, Lance has 15,000 followers and it grows by the day.
Wednesday: Ride to the Eureka and maybe a short ride. Two years ago I fell off and ended up in A and E with a chipped colar bone. Eureka for breafast just as the groups are going out for the day. Mulled wine and mince pies as well then a ride home via Mollington, Denhall Lane, Neston and Parkgate. Rear mudguard bracket snapped in Neston so now the bike rattles. Could do with sorting it out. No 705 on this ride but it’s about 13 miles. Fitted the bracket for the video camera to the Iceni. Took Jack to the station to see a train.
Thursday: Christmas Day, up late, walked to Freds for Christmas Dinner and generally overindulged.
Starting afresh in the next few days will look at the portion sizes again as I feel they have crept up. Cut back on the empty calories and get back on track.
Friday: Great day for a ride but not for me. The much vaunted sales were nothing but, lunch out at Cheshire Oaks then home to sort out the Iceni mudguard. Bodged it for now but it will need revisiting.
My brother Andy rang up asking about his new Edge 705 and how to do Routes. One big problem is that he doesn’t have internet access at the moment and you need access to download the software as it doesn’t come with any. It’s bad enough trying to fathom out a 705 with net access but the joke of a manual that comes on a CD as a PDF is something Garmin need to address.
Watched Mr Beans Holiday and polished the Iceni. New batteries in the video camera, bike mount seems sturdy.
Saturday: Ride day. Training ride or leasure ride, I don’t know which.
Woke up to heavy frost and -2 deg C. Rode out to the Eureka for Breakfast and rode home, frost on side roads. I missed the rides but I don’t ride in a group on a day like this. Tried the video camera out on the way home. The audio is picking up everything through the frame and bar mount and will have to be turned off. Saw a collision at Gordale, nothing serious but that’s another statistic for the safety signs.
Liverpool 1 was a bit of a letdown sale wise and there are going to be an awful lot of disgruntled Zavvi customers out there. No Refunds, gift vouchers wothless and Itune cards blocked.
Stuff is still full price, I wouldn’t bother.
Parking is £2 an hour so heading back I looked at the watch as I joined the queue. 10 bleeding seconds left and by the time I got to the machine 2 minutes later it cost me another £2.
Back on to Lance following Liz Kreutz used to do a lot of the Discovery Channel pictures and she is still in there. http://www.elizabethkreutz.com/main.php some really good shots of Lances comeback. Follow her on Twitter too.
Sunday: Jack day, played with a Thomas the tank engine train set for most of the day, went for a walk. A good day but no exercise as such.

Monday: Work.
Tuesday: Work. Last day.
Wednesday: Ride day and Northend Christmas Dinner at the Ice Cream Farm. Last weeks chain cleaning episode came back to bite me, I was running late anyway but opening up the garage revealed the Iceni with no chain. Back in for the chain, fit chain then back in again to wash my hands.
Had a good turn of speed through the temporary traffic lights on the Chester High road but the Eureka was empty of Northenders. Merdeyside CTC were off to Parkgate, they suffered a broken hip last week and there were 5 cyclists in the same ward.  I’m glad I stayed upright.
Set off through Capenhurst to the Ice Cream farm with not much hope of making up that much time.
At Waverton Stuart and Dave are going the other way as they don’t know the way to the Ice Cream Farm.

We set off at a decent pace fending off a tractor in the lanes only to meet Clive and Peter emerging from the Huxley road at speed. 37 of us had a great Christmas Dinner at the Ice Cream farm and this was just the upstairs sitting, it was full downstairs to with a mixture of Northend and Seamons cycling clubs.

Clive led a rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas which went down well.

Outside I took a few pictures of the milling riders and promptly missed the ride back, to compound things it split at the top of the road. There was a Chester group that I followed but did not catch and the groups that went back via Waverton including a group with Steve Cummings. Took Route 5 back to the Eureka this meant going over the A5117. Now it is hedgecutting season so you ride away from the edge.
Well I did until a transit van came the other way and I went through a load of cuttings.

Back at the Eureka the front tyre felt softer and sure enough it was flat when I emerged from meeting up with the others. Getting dark by the time I got home but it was a chance to try out the lights. The 705 had sunset at 3:54 and we’re getting near to the shortest day.  53 miles.

A lacklustre spin at West Kirby and that was me done for the day.
Thursday: Gym then a good spin. Ran a kilometer had a 2km rowing session @ 9 mins 11 secs. Had a look at the Concept 2 settings. There is a measurment of resistance in there which varies on the condition of the machine. The setting today was 77, once you know about it you can set up the machine to a previous level. 
Birkenhead to pay the mortgage off, cancel the contract on the mobile. With a recession upon us it’s time to tighten the belt.
Friday: Rest day, went to Chester. Was going to do the evening spinning class at West Kirby but the Iceni needed the front mudgurard extending in preperation for tommorows training ride. Cleaned and polished the bike while I was at it. Picked up a new toy on the way home, a helmet camera so video’s next year.
Adjusted seat height and position, next thing is a stem change.
Saturday: Ride day, two bottle ride, expecting it to be hard. 28th Wedding aniversary to boot. Whatever happens it’s going to be one to remember.
Rode out to the Eureka in the rain with only the Northend making a show in the miserable weather.
Went out with Clive and Tempo’s group  and the drizzle didn’t let up all day. Two punctures on the ride and I had the front tyre bubble on the first one. On the second one Clive used the time to get my seat position sorted. Chicago was telling me about Steve Cummings saying I had more Discovery Channel stuff than he had. It’s probably true as I had just about everything they listed.
I still ended up getting caught in wheel spray and being the only one in overtrousers all the grit showed up.
New rider on a Bianchi did an impressive track stand at the Backford traffic lights for the full light change.
Eureka for breakfast, with Carols group coming in as I’m about to leave. Putting on wet gloves was no fun and my hands went cold on the way home via Willaston and Route 56. Washed the bike when I got home which was in better nick than Wednesday thanks to the front mudguard extension. Hot bath to get some heat back in me. 53 wet bleak miles and hours later it still hasn’t stopped raining.
Still a good day. Freewheel course on Sunday is clear with no watersplash. Rest hill is a 30 mph descent with a bend at the bottom of it, the brave will do well. This was my start of Every ride up until a year ago and the finish.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1579201

Sunday: Jack day. Signed up to Twitter to follow all the Lance posts also looked at Paul’s http://www.twollo.com/ site which now has 700 users after only being live for a week.

Moi on the Brimstage Time Trial , originally uploaded by Frank Kinlan.

Just receive this picture of me on the Brimstage Time Trial this year.
Thanks for the picture Tempo.