Commuting

I have been commuting by bike since December 2013 and I love it. It’s great for 3 very good reasons:

1. I get fit and stronger on a bike without wasting excess amounts of time.
2. I gain respect from my peers and extra Kudo’s on Strava for commuting during the harsher conditions. I also induce jealousy among my followers during the lovely summer months.
3. The money I save on fuel, tax, MOT’s and general vehicle wear/maintenance justifies the large expenditure that cycling requires.

It all started as a way of improving my fitness to help with my running. It’s evolved into a love of cycling.

My commute consist of a minimum of 8 miles each way though narrow lanes. I also have the choice of the A38 at no extra distance but I’m not a massive fan. The view through the lanes is better, there is less traffic and you get extra shelter in windier conditions. During the winter I have been known to push this distance out to 25 miles each way. I tend to keep it flat then so I can keep the speed up. Depending on my training requirements and weather, I also have the option of adding some great climbs in.

The 8 miles commute means I very rarely need to worry about warm or waterproof clothing. I can put a high enough effort in to stay warm even in the coldest/wettest conditions with nothing but normal tights, jersey, thermal base layer and a windproof base layer. I also have the preverbal hat, gloves and overshoes.

I chose to commute using a pannier over a rucksack. It makes bike selection more difficult as you need one with rack and mudguard mounts. I also wanted disk brakes which limited me to even less at the time. Some people I know get on really well with a rucksack; I just hate the feeling in the summer. Sweaty back, straps flapping around... panniers may not look cool, but they feel better when you’re riding. Others I know just have a large saddle bag so they can fit the essentials in. If you have the option to buy your lunch on site or you are vile enough to not wash when you get into work, you may not need to carry anything for 8 out of 10 commutes. I tend to take my own lunch in, wash when I get to work and frequently carry additional items such as batches of protein powder. I have even been known to transport laptops and workbooks backwards and forwards. On these rare occasions, I have used two panniers at the same time... I would never have managed that in a rucksack.

I read a statistic somewhere that it only rains for about 7% of the commuting time. I would have to agree this is probably about right. Even when rain is scheduled, the likely hood of it raining when you’re on the road is quite low. You will find you have a few days or weeks a year of consecutive rain... the rest of the year is just down to luck.

If there are a few suggestions I can make for anyone wanting to start commuting it would be the following:

Look at the weather the day before and mentally prepare yourself (if it looks bad)

Get the brightest/most expensive lights you can afford. They can never be too bright and you can never have too many.

Get all your kit ready the night before. You don’t want any excuses to not cycling when you wake up.

Keep warm. If you’re not warm, you won’t enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, you won’t do it!

Either have spare set of cycling clothes at work or make sure you have facilities to dry your kit. There is nothing worse than putting cold wet cycling gear on to start your journey home.

Make sure your bike is easily accessible. Again, you don’t want any excuse to not cycle in the morning. “ahh... I can’t be bothered to get the bike out the shed today” is a poor excuse, but it will get used!

Just get out and bloody well ride! Once you’re wet, you can’t get wetter. No matter how bad the weather is, if you get out and get to work you will buzzing with confidence and sense of achievement. It will be worth it in the end! Believe me! No matter what the weather!

General Diet Plan

I’m not going to pretend that I need to watch my figure. I’m 6ft tall and weigh in at 150lb’s at the moment. My BMI is 20 and I generally eat whatever I want and I very rarely fluctuate or put weight on.

This used to bother me back when I was weight lifting a few years back. I used to get demoralised that I could not sustain a larger weight which seemed to make developing muscle mass more difficult. Now I’m cycling it really does work in my favour. Especially on the hills.

Unfortunately, this often turns into ‘eating anything I want’. Cake, chocolate, pork pies, fast food... you name it, I eat it. The trouble comes when your body doesn't get enough nutrients to repair and build muscle. Your immune system drops and before you know it, your ill... or at very least, feel lethargic and lazy.

During the winter it didn’t really bother me. I was only clocking up long steady miles and the risk of becoming ill was quite low as I wasn’t really pushing my body to the limit.

Now I am in the pre-race season of intervals; which will be closely followed by racing, my body is kept right on the limit. I need to ensure that my body is looked after correctly. Diet and Nutrition is going to be essential to achieving the right amount of training. I am also slightly heavier than I want to be by about 7/8lb so I also need to reduce my weight over the next few weeks. My normal routine for shedding weight is cutting carbs out. Less energy causes your body to burn fat. You need to be careful though. You need energy to train and recover.

My general diet/routine is going to consist of the following:

Breakfast:

Porridge or Muesli. High in carbs, fibre and some dried fruit (sugar) this sets me up well in the morning. This usually means I can last until lunch until I eat again.

Lunch:

Egg noodles, tomato salsa, avocado, tuna in sunflower oil and egg. Small amount of carbs, lots of natural fats and lots of protein. Perfect to provide energy and aid recovery. Tastes bloody lovely and is easy to prepare each day as well. The salsa is made at the beginning of the week and the noodles take 4 mins to cook. I also take in some oranges.

Afternoon snack:

This will usually consist of a homemade flapjack.  No refined sugar. Made purely of oil and banana with some dried fruit. I often treat myself with some jam in the middle... (recipe to follow) I eat this just before I leave work. By the time I get home, I have enough energy inside to perform the necessary interval session when I get home.

Dinner:

This varies massively as LouLou is on the Slimming World diet a like variety. I get to have fat free high protein meals so this works massively in my favour. I would prefer a greater level of fat but this can be added with a drizzle of olive oil if needed. The main thing is the protein. Following a tough session on the turbo a good protein rich meal sets me up for a good recovery during the evening/night. I tend to cut all carbs from this meal if I can. No carbs after lunch means your body has no excess left in your body during the night. No excess energy means no fat storage.

Pudding:

I’m not really a pudding type of guy. I often have a little treat in the form of an ice cream to get my chocolate hit. If I’m feeling particularly strict, I will have full fat yogurt with some fresh fruit. I’m not going to pretend this happens very often... I should enforce this more really.

Additional protein:

I will consume a protein shake every morning when I arrive at work, after every training session and during any recover/foam rolling session to aid muscle repair/development. I use DiscountSuppliments.co.uk’s own brand of protein (Optimum Health) as it is one of the cheapest per serving on the market and tastes great.

I’m not going to pretend this will work for everyone; this is just what I do. I know LouLou has to have a different lunch every day or she gets bored. I ate tuna sandwiches every day for 20 years when I was at school. Also you need to work around your lifestyle and time everything correctly.

If your looking to lose weight or keep your weight stable I would highly recommend not eating carbs after 1pm. Also doing morning exercise without breakfast can kick start fat burning. Just remember to consume carbs and protein as soon as you finish as this will prevent your body from breaking down muscle mass as a source of energy.

You should be consuming protein as often as possible. Breakfast, lunch and dinner should be high in protein and following any exercise it is also essential. If you can’t eat due to work/time/money, protein shakes are a great supplement. I would highly recommend Discount Supplement’s own brand of ‘Optimum Health’ protein if you are on a budget. If you have a bit more cash to splash, Protein Works do some awesome flavours... Bannoffie Pie, Cherry Bakewell etc

Planet X AL30 Alloy Wheelset

20/24 stainless steel spoke arrangement and sealed cartridge bearings, these beauties weigh in at a combined weight of 1.6kg. Matching that of my carbon race wheels, I would be happy to use these for hill TT’s.

And let’s face it... on Taylor... they look sexy!

I purchased them mainly for training on. The rear wheel is going to take a reasonably large battering from the turbo training but they are unlikely to cover miles anywhere near to that of the general commuting machine.

I will keep this page updated as time goes on but so far I have been very impressed!

ProLite Rome 5 Spoke Carbon Wheelset

Fair play... they look awesome! They feel awesome and sound awesome! They are just awesome!

Weighing in at 1.6kg for the set they are quite reasonable for their weight. The front wheel, although not on the UCI registered/measured wheels that come within the cross sectional limits, has been calculated my gramp and I (using AutoCAD and a publishing program) to come well within the limits.

They come with easily maintainable sealed cartridge bearings (that I have not yet needed to service)

If you gave me £2k to spend on a wheelset would I spend it on these... hell no! I would probably buy something that is better value for money. Planet X would probably be on the list and I would probably get a disk rear wheel instead of the 5 spoke. Would I change what I currently have... probably not... I’m more than happy with them. The front wheel will probably stay for a very long time... I may swap the rear wheel out for a disk at some point.

Downsides I have noticed since owning them... they don’t run true. Now I’m not entirely sure how true a full carbon wheel should run, at this isn’t out my much. But it’s noticeable when you are braking that you get some minor snatching occurring. It has yet to cause problems but I have yet to do much descending. The U17/b3 will be the true test. If this was a normal ‘spoked’ wheel, I would true it up.

Swift Carbon Neurogen

I managed to pick up this black beauty from an NFTO pro racer from Bristol on eBay for an absolute steal. I had my eyes on a black ‘stealth’ looking time trial bike with as many ‘Aero’ technical designs as possible. This bike pretty much came with everything I could ever want (with exception to a disk rear wheel). I was looking at a Boardman, Planet X or Cannondale at the time and as soon as I saw this I put it way above its competition in terms of looks and spec’s.

I have named her Taylor

 Key design features that interest me:

Front brake integrated behind the front fork for improved airflow around the front profile

Rear brake integrated under the rear by bottom bracket

Bars look sexy as hell... lovely profile and great look with the way the arch over the front wheel and allow the drop/brakes to sit lower than the top of the headset. Reminds me of the TeamSKY bars

Adamo Attack saddle. I was looking at the Adamo range before finding this bike so this saved me the best part of £100.

 The bike came with a ProLite Rome Carbon wheelset which I will give a more detailed review another time. Although the rear wheel was not a full disk, the 5 spoke that it came with may suit me more for handling on some of the more extreme courses like the U17/b3

 The previous owner claimed that the bike had done no more than six 10m TT’s and some indoor trainer work. The wheelset itself had done less than 30 miles. 

 Since owning and using the bike for the last few months I can safely say I made a great call. The bike is awesome! Not that I have much to compare it with as this is my first TT bike.

 There are a few issues I would highlight that are not necessarily a result of this particular bike, more due to the design of the ‘aero’ designs:

 The brakes get covered in shit and are difficult to adjust. Especially the rear brake. I hate riding it in bad weather as I know the bottom is getting covered in spray etc. The access to this brake makes it difficult to open to change the wheel. Luckily, the tyres I use just squeeze through.

 The rear wheel is mounted from the rear. Unlike a normal road bike where the wheel mounts from underneath. I believe this is because the bike could be fitted with a fixed/track rear wheel. There are two adjusting plates on either side to apply tension. These need to be adjusted perfectly or the alignment of the rear wheel is out. One problem I encountered early on was these adjusters were not secured properly, the wheel went out of alignment during a ride and the brake rubbed on the rim. To make matters worse, the brake pad twisted and rubbed some of the ProLite detailing off the wheel... I wasn’t happy. I have since secured these items and I ensure the rear wheel is tight... very tight! I have not had this problem since.

 If you have to spend a considerable amount of time on the drop bars (brakes) your wrists start to ache and it makes braking difficult. After speaking to a few TT bike owners, it appears as though this is normal and something I need to get used to... great!

Apart from these issues, the bike has been running great. I have recently purchased a set of Planet X AL30 wheels for training and racing in windy conditions. As they are white, they give the bike an awesome look.

Time Trial Position

I will be honest… I’m not experienced at fitting a bike and I wouldn’t be able to ‘fine tune’ a riding position like a professional would… but I’m not going to pay £100 for someone to do it either…

I have always struggled to stay in the TT position for any length of time. I don’t think it is because my position is wrong… I just think it’s bloody hard. My shoulders and arms begin to ache after a while and I need to sit up and stretch a bit. Hopefully the interval sessions and additional hours spent on it will help.

In the meantime I bought some 60mm risers to raise the arm pads. They didn’t really help and I just ended up acting as a massive wind block

After looking at some of the faster club riders it is very apparent that their front end is very low. Their chins are almost level with their seat and their stomach/chest is basically flat. I have removed the 60mm risers and moved the bars forward slightly (probably outside of UCI specifications) and ended up with something like this…

(Picture to follow)

I have roughly calculated my flexibility (and with a little help from LouLou doing some Physiotherapy on me) I have established that when I am at the top of my pedal stroke, I have also reached the maximum flexibility (before I have to start adding additional force to get my knee further to my chest).

My knee is not in front of the foot when the crank arms are horizontal and my arms are approx 90 degrees to my torso (which I believe to be important).

I have spent a lot of time on the bike in this set-up and although I have to sit up on occasions (especially straight after an intense interval) I feel reasonably comfortable. I am hoping that this need to sit up will improve the more time I spend in it. Each time I can feel it ache over the shoulders and arms, the stronger I am getting in these areas.

I am also consciously 'tucking' my head into my body during training. One thing I noticed from my recent TT photo was my head sticking right up... need to get it low and into my body more. 

Spring Training Plan

The summer time trials are fast approaching and I’m in the mood… for killing myself on the Turbo Trainer! The interval sessions started last month and I’ve signed up to various TT’s during April:

BSCC 25m TT U17 – 5^th April

DRC 10m TT U7b – 11^th April

BSCC Mega Hilly U14/b3 – 26^th April

On top this off, the DRC evening 10’s start on the 2^nd April with the U7b short course.

I have signed up to the Strava CTS training plan with the general goal of improving my 30 min threshold. The general weekly plan consists of:

Monday – Rest Day

Tuesday – Endurance Miles

Wednesday – Interval Session

Thursday – Interval Session

Friday – Rest Day

Saturday – Interval Session and Endurance Miles

Sunday – Endurance Miles

I will be doing 4 week blocks of training followed by a rest week to recover. This was something that we used to do in athletics and seemed to work really well. The club 10’s during the summer are going to be used for training more than anything else and will replace the Thursday ‘Interval Session’. If the weather is in my favour, I will probably have a rest day before and have the odd stab at a PB.

My training sessions are basically going to consist of slow gentle commutes and hard intervals on the turbo trainer using the Trainerroad software for power. Sundays will be long steady rides to enjoy the summer weather and if time permits, (working around DIY and house duties) I will tag along to the DRC club rides whenever possible. If I am short for time, I will probably be out the door early and back just before LouLou wakes up.

As soon as this 4 week block of training is over with CTS/Strava, I will probably switch to the training sessions set-up on Trainerroad. Mainly out of convenience more than anything. CTS/Strava is great, but I have to manually create each workout on Trainerroad. By using their own, they are all set-up and ready to go.

Each 4 week block is going to be accompanied by a FTP test to both monitor progress and to establish intensities of the interval sessions.

One of my biggest weaknesses at the moment is leg strength. I have been toying with the idea of adding a gym session each week (which I have not yet ruled out) but there is a mixed opinion on the internet over the use and benefit of this type of training. So I have decided for the time being to carry out each of the interval sessions at a lower cadence. Normally my natural/comfortable cadence for big efforts is about 100rpm. This has allowed me to reach optimum performance with the minimal strength I currently have. If I was able to improve my leg strength by pushing a bigger gear at a lower cadence (85rpm) in training and still achieving the required power output for each interval, when I come to race at 100rpm, I should be able to do this in a bigger gear = go faster.

I currently don’t have any target times or goals for this summer. My main objective is to stick to plan and get the quality training under my belt. Once I have completed a few 10’s on the TT bike and carried out a few FTP tests I should have a pretty good idea of where I currently am, and what I am likely to achieve by the end of the summer. Towards the middle/end of the summer, this training is going to have to be modified to start preparing for the Hilly TT’s at the end of August & September. Not entirely sure how this will change… hill repeats are probably on the cards… might use Strava leaderboards to set goals and have a bit of fun at the same time.

Wish me luck!

POWWWWWWER!

It’s all about the power… right? That’s what everyone says... "If you’re serious about your training and you want to make the biggest gains… get a power meter".

Well I don’t have £700 to spend on such a device. If I had £700 to spend… I would probably buy a new bike. What I do have though is $8.25 a month for Trainerroad. This magical software converts the speed of the rear wheel on your indoor trainer and converts it into Watts of power. They have mapped the power curve of the trainer to produce a ‘virtual power’. Although the power could have as much as 30W error, the repeatability is within 1.5%... As a training tool, this is perfect.

So it all starts off with two 8 min max efforts to work out your Functional Threshold Power (FTP). This is the power you should be able to sustain for 1 hour.

This is my first FTP test:

As you can see, in the first of the 8 minute efforts I went off too hard… nothing like being optimistic right? ;) So I learnt from this and started the second at a lower power level and built it up over the 8 minute effort. 90% of the average of the two efforts gives you your FTP. Mine was 217 watts. 3.11W/Kg.

From this point on, you can utilise this FTP to structure interval levels of your workouts to get the optimum output.

For example:

This is a VO2 Max interval session (or Climbing Repeats as Strava like to call them)

As you can see, I was hitting the target power output and sustaining for the interval duration. Now let’s pretend I had no power meter whilst doing this interval. I would have gauged my power output based on perceived effort and heart rate. I would have waited until my heart rate reached the required/target value and then sustained that value for the remainder of the interval. I would more than likely have gone off to hard, had to have backed off and probably blown up before the end. If you look at what my heart rate actually did during this interval, you will notice it never stabilised. It was still rising right up until the end of each interval.

This is where the utilisation of a power meter helps structure workouts and allows perfect pacing during intervals. A well-structured and well-paced interval session is going to make far better gains.

I have to say… I may only be on the second week of using a 'virtual' power meter but I am more than impressed. A real power meter will definitely be on the top of my Christmas list (when they become more affordable). Until then, virtual power will have to suffice.

Severn Road Club U17 25m TT – 22nd February

So I will be honest… I had never even thought about doing a 25m TT this year... not at least until Matt said he was going to attempt to get under the hour this year. I’m not saying I have adopted his goal… little bit ambitious for me... I just thought I would give it a shot and get some experience.

The winter training of long miles had left me with no mental strength to really push myself. I was used to taking it easy for the last few months… I needed to change that. It was the beginning of February that I started some more specific interval training. I had signed up to Strava Premium and they had just released some interesting 4 week training plans suited to where you want to improve and how much time you have available. This suits me perfectly.

I chose the training plan that will increase my performance over a 3 min segment/climb. You may be thinking, why on earth would you want to improve over 3 minutes when you’re going to take over an hour to complete a 25 miles TT! I needed to feel the burn… feel the pain in my legs… I needed my mind to overcome the want to stop… there is no giving up when your racing. I chose this training plan to change my state of mind. I knew 4 weeks would never be enough time to improve my muscular strength… but I could make big improvements in my mental strength… I was weak!

A mixture of VO2 Max, Power and Tempo Intervals over the next 4 weeks really did the trick… I felt like I was back in the game… But I had never completed a 25 mile effort before. Especially not on a TT bike in race conditions! The weekend before the race I created a course locally to total 25 miles and gave it a test run… I needed a rough heart rate and average speed to aim for. Luckily the Strava training plan had already worked out my Functional Threshold Power (FTP) which gave me a good target to work too. The wind was pretty still that day and the weather was dry… not bad for February. Race day was the opposite!

The wind and rain was due to pick up about 11am… I set off at 11am. Great timing! Tail wind on the way out… head wind on the way back. I was second to last (one in front of Billy Oliver) and with some rough calculations before the race I had come to the conclusion that Billy would pass about 1 min and 1 second after I go off and I would be the last to finish… great. I was really looking forward to this one!

Luckily I had managed to complete the warm-up in the dry. I was down by the start line when the rain and wind started. Setting off with the wind behind me I felt good… learning from the mistake I made last year on the U7b with a tailwind on the outward leg I knew I had to take it easy. I was watching others returning… just missing the rain and wind… I couldn’t have drawn a shorter straw! I was surprised when Billy hadn’t passed by the time I got to the turn off from the A38 to complete two laps of the Wanswell circuit. Perhaps I was pushing a bit too hard I thought to myself… Before I knew it I was entering the corner. I had never taken then corner before… certainly not on a TT bike. It was sharp… I was still in the Tri bars… somehow I manage to grab the brakes just as the back end jumped out and I entered the other side of the road… with one foot out I just about managed to stabilise myself. With that, Billy passed… all I could think was… “I nearly took out the favorite”… that would have been embarrassing!

The two laps of Wanswell were a bit of a drag. There are a few roundabouts and junctions to contend with along with a few lumps and a painful drag out of Berkeley and up the A38. This kept putting my heart rate well above my FTP target. I was glad when the last lap was over. I had a decent tail wind out to Slimbridge which gave me time to recover before the dreaded battle back to the start. The headwind was brutal. It was just a case of head down steady effort all the way home. By Berkeley I was really feeling it. By Newport Towers I had blown. I was just attempting to hold on now. Keep the legs spinning. It was like a ghost town when I got to the end. The time keeper was sat in a VW T4 on the side of the road. A little finish flag sticking out of the grass. The layby on the right (that was full of athletes warming up earlier in the day) was now empty. I pulled over… nearly threw up… turned around and cycled back to the van. Took me nearly an hour to get changed. As soon as I stopped I started getting cold. By the time I got into the van it was as though my body had shut down. Somehow I managed to get into some dry clothes and back to HQ as the presentations were being made. Checking out my time of 1:06:36 I was really pleased. Given the weather conditions and my inexperience, I’m not sure I could have done any better.

Big thanks to everyone that shouted me on that day… the cheers definitely kept me going.

I loved the 25 mile TT… as soon as I got home, I signed up for the next one :D

https://www.strava.com/activities/258330877

Review of my Winter Training

Heading into winter my only real objective was to cover some extra miles. I was doing between 20 and 30 miles a day for the commutes and odd rides on the weekends. Averaging around 150 miles a week with no real purpose other than increasing time on the bike.

The purpose of this was to increase my average ride distance from the usual 8 mile commute. Let’s face it; my body is hardly going to be ready to race 10 or 25 miles if it only rides 8 miles on each ride!?

Many cycling training philosophies seem to incorporate this type of winter training. “Get your base miles in during the winter and build of them during the summer”. I was a little bit apprehensive about this. Back from the days when I was running we did things slightly different. Build strength during the winter (XC racing, hill repeats, gym work) and convert to speed during the summer (track and road). The base miles were incorporated into each weeks training plan with a steady Sunday run. This was my first stab at cycling training and peaking your fitness works in different ways so I thought I would follow the text book…

My overall impression… I think it did the job and fulfilled the purpose. Coming out of the New Year, I had far better endurance than I ever had. This was one of my main goals. The more riding I can do in a week, the more training I can do… right? So this was from about October to February. The first TT was at the end of February so I was in need of starting some higher intensity efforts… along came the intervals…

This was where the training really didn’t help much. Because I hadn’t been pushing myself much over the last few months, it was as though my body had forgotten how to inflict pain on itself. This was no good. How was I going to kill myself in the next TT if my mind was being a pussy! It was as though I had lost all motivation I was demoralised that I had wasted the whole winters worth of training.

And for this reason… I’m out.

I think this theory of building base miles during the winter is a load of bollox. You can build base miles any time of the year. Most of us do just by doing the Sunday Club ‘Cake’ runs. Long steady miles. Why would anyone want to do this during the winter?... when it’s cold, dark and wet?... Get out on a summer morning and do it. Watch the sun come up, feel the heat on you as you cruise around the countryside… freeing your legs up from the hard interval sessions during the week.

You should be attacking your weaknesses in training not following what everyone else does. You need to identify weakness; improve on it and build your fitness in the right areas for the right time of the year. As it happens, endurance was my weakness, so this winter’s training did me the world of good… but I will be keeping this ‘topped’ up during the year now… I sure as hell won’t be doing a 30 mile commute in the wet and cold again!

Long Slow Distance (LSD) training has been the basic format to getting better at something for years. It’s proven to allow you to reach up to 80% of you maximum potential without really pushing hard. Before interval sessions came along this was how people became athletes. The theory being… if you repeat something over and over again… you will become good at it. You will never become the best though. We’re not here to reach 80% of our potential… We’re here to reach 110%... here come the interval sessions…