Heart Going Well - Proven by ECG and Seamons Club Run

My ECG was all good - Dr Lee, my cardiologist said that it was all settled nicely and I wouldn't have to come back for another 12 months. This is fantastic news! There is always a chance that the Atrial Flutter will return but as time goes on, that possibility diminishes.

On Sunday, a rare and sweet combination of no children's parties, football matches or illness gave me the opportunity to head out on my bike for the Seamons CC Sunday morning "half-day" ride. There always seems to be a catastrophe just before I leave and yesterday was no exception - my daughter had a splinter in her foot and it had to come out but the mere sight of the tweezers caused the most blood-curdling screams (my neighbour texted to see if we needed to take someone to hospital). After much cajoling and coaxing, it came out with a whimper and I was left with 4 minutes to get to the start point.

A large group were ready for off by the time I got there. I'd checked the website and knew that we were heading over towards Beeston Castle - flattish riding with a few rollers. The pace seemed hot to me but I'm hoping that with a few more rides, I'm going to find it less hard going. We were averaging around 18mph until we got within a few miles of the cafe stop, then things went absolutely crazy - the pack set off in an all out sprint for beans on toast. The pace was unbelievable - I was up to 36mph but I couldn't keep it up and went back to my more sedate 20mph and arrived last at the cafe and last in the queue for refreshments. I lost a lot of heat at the cafe and was shivering by the time I got back on my bike but the continuing pace ensured that I was soon warm again.

We eventually rode over 70 miles, which was a bit more than I was expecting but I'm really pleased to get those miles in the bag. The average speed remained around 18mph but a puncture (not mine) saw that dwindle to 16.5mph - still pretty good. I want to join the club and to try to ride with them every other weekend - these rides are really good training for my sportives. I have to push myself just a little harder than I normally would and I'm hoping that is going to result in some good performance gains. I love my solo rides in the peaks - they are my meditation - but it makes a fantastic change to ride with such a friendly & encouraging bunch.

Here's the garmin data - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24158738

January Stats - pretty poor

January Stats

Road miles: 160 miles
Rollers time (I can't measure speed/distance on rollers as my spokes are too fat for the magnet - I must investigate a solution to this): 4hrs 35mins
Total training time: 17hrs 5mins
Weight: 1.1kg lost (85.6kg)
14 sessions

I've been looking through and comparing this winter with last and I'm coming up short - in Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan of 08/09, my riding time was 73 hours whereas for the same months of 09/10, my riding time was 42 hours. In terms of sessions, I've done 40 this year opposed to 55 from last. I've had a few coughs and colds and unlike 08/09, I took a planned break from riding in order to recover from the exertions of a season of sportives. The ice has also been far worse this year and that's had an effect on my ability to ride outdoors and my rollers sessions are always much shorter than road rides. I'd feel a little more confident if I'd been able to manage more but I know that in terms of my fitness, speed and times, I feel ahead of where I was this time last year.
On the weight front, I'm about 4kg lighter but I really need to start my food diary going again as I haven't lost much in January.

In February, I'd like to match or better last February's training.

February Goals
Total Training Time: 28hrs 30 mins or more
Weight: lose 2 kg
Road miles: 300+
Sessions: 14

I've finally entered the Cheshire Cat!

Bad Teeth :-(

I went to the dentist today with a really painful tooth. I had an xray and the tooth in question is really badly decayed inside. I need to have root canal work done - I've had this before so I know how painful and expensive this is going to be. They're going to try to save the tooth and failing that, I'm going to need an even more expensive bridge or failing that, an astronomically expensive (getting close to the price of a titanium frame!) implant. Another tooth needs filling and the dentist, a fellow cyclist it transpires, was trying to establish the cause of this rapid decline in the state of my teeth. I don't drink tea or coffee, cola or other fizzy stuff (well, perhaps a bit of sparkling water) but I am a devil for drinking Robinsons no-added-sugar squash. I go through gallons of this stuff and it's likely to be one possible cause. We also concluded that the carb drinks and gels, that I consume on a regular basis, may also have had some impact on my teeth. I don't intend to stop drinking the carb drinks and using gels on long rides but from now on, I'm going to have to drop the squash. The dentist asked if I could ride with a small bottle of mouthwash in my back pocket - I don't think I'm going to go to this extreme (weight-savings!!), but I might start riding with one bottle of carb drink and one bottle plain water - just so I can rinse and dilute a little. I go back in on Monday to see if the tooth is savable.

Tomorrow I'm in hospital for my 6 monthly ECG - I've been feeling a few flutterings but haven't seen anything untoward on my hilly peaks rides so I'm hoping that the results will be positive.

If he can do it.......

Graham (Team Lard) made this comment on my previous post:

A few days after I rode it (Tourmalet) again and passed a local "just nipping over it to see his relatives!!!' on what I can only describe as a butchers bike which was bad enough, however just to rub my Assos and Carbon nose in it he was wearing flip flops.......How crap did I feel :-)

This reminded me of a chap I saw riding the 2008 Etape. I was standing at the final water stop just at the foot of the Hautacam climb, filling peoples bottles and taking pictures, when this guy rolled up:

Is it the same guy Graham? There can't be many cyclists like this around :-) He actually has a bag of garlic hanging off his seat!

Etape Preview DVDs

I'm sure that just like me, many of you will already have bought the superb Cyclefilm Etape Reconnaissance DVD as part of your preparations for July. I own three Cyclefilm Etape DVDs now and in my opinion, the latest is the best of the bunch. Right from the off, the video is absolutely stuffed full of really useful information about the route, road surface, danger points, good spots to refuel, pacing strategies, climbing/descending techniques, appropriate clothing etc. I really do believe they cover pretty much everything that we are going to need to consider on the big day and in my humble opinion, it is worth buying if you haven't already done so. I have been watching it whilst training indoors and found that the combination of music, commentary and beautiful scenery certainly relieve the monotony of rollers (that is, when I'm not sufferfesting!) I found that my Etape 2009 DVD was nice to watch after the event when you want to relive memories of the day (and impress your Mum with what you were doing over in France while she was incredibly busy looking after your children!)

I've also just finished watching the SIS Guide to Super Sportives, which comes free with this months Cycling Plus magazine. It's not quite up to the standard of the Cyclefilm DVD; it doesn't give you the level of information and I think they slightly overdid the promotion of the SIS products. However, I feel that this DVD gives a better insight into how much we are going to suffer. Cyclefilm's Mike Cotty is super fit and weighs about the same as my left leg - he is obviously a really talented guy and he dances up the hills with, what appears to be, very little effort. On the SIS DVD, we follow a group of cyclists with varying ability and you get a sense of how much they are hurting on those climbs. We watch their grinding, painfully slow cadence - they tell us how much they are suffering and how they are going through those bleak moments that we have all experienced on long tough rides. One guy was almost in tears when he finally finished on top of Col du Tourmalet. The slowest rider on the day finished in under 9 hours, which to me would be a really fantastic time so even though they are no slouches, they still found it a tough day.

Now, after talk of all that suffering, I wanted to leave you with an image that I took at the top of the Tourmalet - this guy ascended the same way as we will in July. WOW!

EDIT: A trip to Waitrose just reminded me of something else that the SIS DVD had to offer - a shot of Chris Hoy squatting, seemingly taken from on the floor looking up at his thighs. I might have to watch that bit again. This is what women think about when doing shopping - no wonder I always forget something. 

Riding the dream bike

Thank you for all the wonderful comments about my bike! It probably highlights some character defect but your compliments and expressions of bike-envy have made me feel very chuffed with myself!

The ice finally cleared and I've been trying out my new bike over the last week. My first ride was last Saturday - just a quick 20 mile loop from Timperley out to Lymm. As I pulled out of our road, my acceleration seemed to be ridiculously quick and I was soon whooping out loud - drivers looking at me like I was a nutter. I was soon up to +20mph and only dipped a little below when I went over the railway bridge - fantastic. As I headed out into the countryside, the wind came into effect and the drag up to Willow Pool Garden Centre seemed quite hard. I noticed that my HR was about +10bpm higher than usual but thought this was probably just down to 4 weeks without a road ride.
On Sunday I tried a ride into the peaks - it's been ages since I've been over that way and I was really looking forward to testing the bike on some proper hills. The wind had dropped from the day before and the going was much easier. My HR was still +10bpm but I'd had reassurance from Joe that this was normal after a long lay-off so I didn't worry about it too much. I went through Wilmslow, Adlington, Pott Shrigley and then up the Brick Works. Perhaps it's in the mind but the climbing did seem a little easier - I didn't have to engage bottom gear on all the climbs and I felt really light and quick when I got out of the saddle. The most noticeable difference was how smooth the ride felt - I went over grids and various lumps and bumps and it barely registered.  I came back home after 2 hours 15 minutes of riding - around equal to my quickest time on this route, which was during the summer and at my lightest. I love it!
I had another successful outing yesterday - again just a short 20 mile sprint . Heading out into the countryside after a couple of miles riding, I was overtaken by a couple of Team Sky riders! I decided to give chase and found I could hang onto the back - I wouldn't say comfortably as my HR was around +150bpm which is hard going for me with a max of 169bpm. After a mile or so, they turned off - I resisted yeeee-hawwwwwing (didn't want to embarrass myself again after my ridiculous behaviour with Chris Hoy in the supermarket) but felt absolutely brilliant to have ridden and kept up with some top riders.
A little further on I chatted with a couple of other riders who were drooling over my bike, telling me I looked like a really "classy rider" and that I was motoring along without looking like I was putting any effort in. They were so wonderfully complimentary in so many ways and I wondered if they were real or just a couple of cycling angels come down to earth to make my day! 
So, a very successful and happy first week together. I'm feeling so good about how things have gone that I'm going to give Seamons another go on Sunday - despite my weeks off, I feel that I might just be OK to keep up with the fast group again.

Here it is.......

....and I think it's beautiful.

Here's the spec:
Litespeed Icon Size L, SRAM Force Groupset, Fulcrum Racing 1 wheels, Speedplay pedals (although I am going to have to buy a new pair in white now), Ritchey WCS Evolution SL Bars, Ritchey Superlogic Carbon Seatpost, Deda Newton Stem, Selle Italia Saddle (think will change to white when it gets warmer). I may also change the cable casings to white.

The bike was lovingly built by Bikeshak in Altrincham - they called me a few times through the day to let me know how things were going. I went in earlier in the afternoon to sit on and get a feel for the position before they cut the steering tube. As you can see, there are a few spacers in there, as I don't want too racy a riding position. I can always go lower in the future but this is pretty much the same as my Felt and I have always been really comfortable on that. Unfortunately the SRAM cassette wasn't compatible with my wheels due to a difference in the depth of the grooves (going beyond my technical knowledge now) - SRAM and Shimano are compatible in general but not in this case it transpires. So, the SRAM cassette is going back and my old Shimano one is still on - the shop are ordering in a Shimano 11-28 so I still get that lower gear for the Tourmalet.

One thing that really impressed me about the frame was this little tag that came in the packaging. It shows the initials of the individuals who worked on it's construction. It's a nice touch that sends a message to me that it's a bit special and care went into its creation.

It's been a great day - I almost cried when I went to pick it up. I got so swept up in the whole bike thing that I completely forgot to take the kids to swimming lessons tonight! After I'd got them all settled in bed this evening, I got the rollers out and had a bit of a spin - the riding position feels great.  The SRAM shifting was straightforward, intuitive and precise - I'm glad that I made the change.  I was amazed by how much more quiet the bike is on rollers - I'm not talking about all the clunking that used to go on when changing gear on my old bike, just the actual sound of the bike turning around the rollers. It used to be like a helicopter taking off but the Litespeed was significantly less noisy - amazingly so - is this the mythical power of titanium??

With temperatures over 4 degrees today, I'm hoping that the roads will soon be clear enough for me to take it out for a spin sometime this week. It is going to be AWESOME! I may even have to video it!