London-Edinburgh-London 2013: The thread

[Mad Doug Biker]

Just sent you a PM

 

[Arch]

You're on the map.

 

[Fiona N]

yikes, what sort of level of rider are you? that's bloody serious surely?

A tired one

I had a good base from a 2 week camp in Mallorca in early March and rode pretty consistently all Spring, then I picked up a training plan from a RAAM guy who worked full time (i.e. not a professional cyclist) and modified it for the three months before LeJOG. This mean basically 1500 km in month 1 (~May), 2500km month 2 (June) and 3500 km month 3 (July). The last month I was in Switzerland and the plan was:
Sat: 300km varied terrain but concentrating on high av. speed
Sun: 300km at lower pace
Mon: "rest day" (either 1hr lunchtime swim, or 50km commute or both in week 4)
Tue: 50-60km ride to work, 50-60km ride home, both flatish
Wed: 50km commute (round trip distance) + lunchtime swim
Thur: 50-60km ride to work, 50-60km ride home, both with serious 2-3km, 10+% climbs
Fri: 50km commute (round trip distance) + lunchtime beers (got to have some time off )

I had a few days easy riding at home before heading off by train to Penzance, did LEJOG, then caught the ferry from JOG to Shetland for a wedding for which the training was good, except my feet got blistered to death in the ceiledh (Scottish dancing for 6 hours).

The lesson from this was that I didn't feel up to doing RAAM which I had been toying with as I didn't think my knees would take it (on the Windcheetah) or my back (on an upright)

I should add - I'm not planning on repeating this for LEL either

 

[Greenbank]

Blimey, that's a hell of a training plan.

My LEL training plan consisted of my 12km each way pan-flat commute in London and an Audax or two each month (usually one 200 and one longer ride). Oh, and try to keep to under 30 units of booze a week, and cut down on the pies.

I did 8700km in 2009, and LEL was 1400km of that.

I got a whole 10 hours sleep on LEL (but then I don't really suffer when sleep deprived), but my aim was to have fun and finish within the time limit and no more. Total riding time was only 70 hours (so 20kph average) so that means I faffed around for a whole 45 hours.

 

[Tynan]

dear god, 300km a day for training

thanks for the alternative option greenbank, plenty to think about there on the training front, 2 200km+ audaxes a month on top of the commute ...

 

[trio25]

I must stop following this thread, it is tempting me!

 

[mcshroom]

Come on trio you know you want to

Would make a good 1000th post too

 

[trio25]

It would make an ideal 1000th post and there is plenty of time to change my mind.....

....so yes I am thinking that might be my challenge for 2013!

 

[PpPete]

Back on lighting - for a brief moment.
Semi-convinced by the battery argument, I've ordered a Hope Vision 1 with Ribble's latest discount, and to use up my PayPal balance before OH got designs on it....
Hoping it's bright enough for my moderate speeds on less than the max power, which at only 3 hours endurance could get expensive on AAs.

 

[ianrauk]

I found that the Hope Vision 1 was good enough on setting 2 and 3 (alternating) for even the darkest lane. I use Uniross rechargeable's (2700's) which lasted well over 9 hours.

Back on lighting - for a brief moment.
Semi-convinced by the battery argument, I've ordered a Hope Vision 1 with Ribble's latest discount, and to use up my PayPal balance before OH got designs on it....
Hoping it's bright enough for my moderate speeds on less than the max power, which at only 3 hours endurance could get expensive on AAs.

 

[RedBike]

Bit far in the future; but why not!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

*Thought*

2010: 3 years to practice, ahh, I'll have PLENY of time!!

2011: doo bee doo bee doo doo doo

2012: Oh yes I signed up for something next year, now what was it again??

2013: SH*T!! it's next weekend and I haven't got any practice in!!
Do you think they will notice??!! Yes, of course they will, Crap!! I'll have to pull a sickie .....Saddle Rot, yeah, that'll do!!

 

[Greenbank]

I'm doing it on my fixed.

It's a great ride on fixed although the endless flat in the Southern half does get a bit tiring on the a**e as you never have to get out of the saddle. Not to bad on the way North and I luckily remembered to wear two pairs of shorts on the final day coming back South.

I had an amusing conversation with an American rider on the first climb out of Cheshunt:-

Him: "You should shift to a lower gear, climbing at that cadence isn't good for your knees."
Me: "I'm in my lowest gear."
Him: "Oh, then try a higher gear then, don't tell me you Brits refer to gears the other way round too?"
Me: "I'm in my highest gear."
Him: *looks down* "Oh. You're mad."

 

[Arch]

Trio and redbike, if you'd like to go on the map (for finding potential training partners in your area), PM me with a rough location (town will do, or area of London).

 

[Arch]

<hoik>

So, how are we all doing?

I'm upping my daily mileage, gradually. At the moment I'm on 10 miles a day - not much, but my door to door commute is only 1.5 miles each way 4 days a week, and 3 miles each way one day, so it's a significant difference. I'm hoping to gradually add in more miles - the big step will be when I have to get up earlier to accomodate them! Also, I'm trying to up my pace a bit. I'm still woefully slow on average, but I try to sprint when I can, and maintain the speed just beyond where it hurts.

I managed to stay ahead of a woman on an electric bike today!