Goodbye snow. Hello roadbikes

At last!  All that remains are the rotting corpses of snowmen in people’s gardens and the odd patch of compressed snow and ice looking to catch us cyclists unawares.

The pressure of a work deadline has meant lots of time in front of a PC (not much fun with my dodgy eye I can tell you) and not enough time on the bike over the last few days.  I did brave a very slippy ride in to Sheffield on the touring bike towards the end of last week but otherwise the mileage was much lower than it should have been.  However, the much improved weather and less work pressure this week marks a change in all that.  And I can confidently take one of the skinnier tyred beasts out of the garage.  By the way Caroline – I’ve never even considered naming them :-)

More snow cycling

15 miles or so on the MTB yesterday, mostly on a snow covered NCN route 1 east of Lincoln.  I really love that stretch of old converted railway line and use it whenever I’m out that way.  It was beautifully quiet yesterday and plenty of wildlife to enjoy despite the freezing conditions.  Maybe just more visible when everything is white?  It was all very grin inducing and despite having VERY cold feet (forgot to wear overshoes) and a  numb face I was surprised how warm I got.

The heating on the train back to Worksop was seemingly set on ‘blast furnace’ and so after finishing the DT crossword I dozed off nearly missing my stop.  This instinct of waking just before your intended stop did not befall the amazingly drunk guy who was so comatose that not even a solid punch on the shoulder could rouse him.  He probably woke up bemused and hungover in Donny.

Very tricky conditions on the local snow-packed roads and it was fun trying to control the involuntary slides.  Home safe though.

Cabin fever

This snow is all well and good if you are a training for a cross-country ski-ing event but not when you are trying to get some LEJOG training miles in.  Cycling withdrawal is biting but the risk of coming off on ice is too great for me to get any of the road bikes out.  I gave in yesterday and decided to venture out on the MTB.  Not far at all; just to do a bit of shopping and have a bit of fun on some local tracks.  I’ve never really ridden in snow since I was a kid (the risk perception and fear genes only kick in in later life don’t they) but after a tentative start and a few hairy moments I was having a blast.  If I wasn’t so busy today I’d be making my way to a quiet Clumber Park and wearing a fixed grin on my icy mug.

Ouch

So, after the session planning my training programme I thought I’d do an hours cardio session in the gym.  Five minutes into a gentle warm up jog on the treadmill and I go and strain a calf muscle.  Quite painful to walk now.  Will have to rest it until new year.  Bugger!

Mileage plan for training

Met with Ryan at the gym today to discuss a training plan for LEJOG.  He suggested increasing the mileage as follows:

So approx 120 miles per week in Jan with the 4th week being a recovery week before upping the weekly mileage each month until I’m doing 200 miles per week in April.  I’ll aim to include increasingly long rides and perhaps for one week in March do 3 consecutive daily rides of around 70 miles.

I’ll be using the gym to build some cardiovascular fitness as well as taking advantage of it during recovery weeks.

Also got some exercises to do to strengthen my trapezius muscles to minimise neck pain/stiffness on longer rides (I mentioned I suffer from this).

All very useful stuff.

Training update

A combination of too much work and bouts of illness over the last month or two have put paid to any serious start to the training but I can sense things are starting to improve.  Over the last couple of weeks I’ve managed to get in the odd commute (40 mile round trip) as well as getting back in to the gym for some cardio workouts.  I’ve even made an appointment with Ryan at the gym (who’s a keen cyclist himself) to prepare a suitable training programme.   So, the motivation is there and this can only be a good thing as the weather starts to get a lot colder.  Met Office are even predicting some sleet and snow this week!

Aim this week is 1-2 long commutes, at least 3 sessions in the gym and a mountain bike thrash round Clumber Park trails.

Not much cycling going on

A combination of work and illness has meant hardly any miles over the last couple of weeks. Work is hectic for another month but I'm feeling much better so at least I can try and get a few rides in whilst the weather isn't too bad.