40 Goals

I've managed to stabilise at a CTL and ATL of 95. Feeling strong. Had a taper for the fred Whitton which gave me a dip and them pretty much rode every day. Instead of taking a full rest day I rode noodly rides with my wife Sam. Very civilised and legs feel better for it.

OK, so I'm still 81kg and probably in the 20% bodyfat range and shredding is something bodybuilders will do before a big event to get down to 2% but I'm calling it shredding :-) No more refined sugar products or 'treats' till I start La Marmotte. Ideally I'd like to be at 75kg for the event but lets face it anywhere around 77kg would be fantastic. If only I didn't like biscuits and chocolate quite so much ....................... its just for 6 weeks.... its just for 6 weeks .... its just for 6 weeks ....... if I tell myself that enough maybe it'll help me get past those cravings. Saturday 23rd May - 81.9 kg Well during the week I watched 10 things you need to know about losing weight . And I put some of it into practice; I didn't have anything between meals (ok, I had a fruesli bar on Friday afternoon because I was really hungry), I had more protein than usual for breakfast (couple of poached eggs and toast), but having soup for lunch was the clincher. I...

So, right now it is raining. hard. But the weather forecast says sunny intervals. Mmmm. If I fire up google earth and hone in onto Cranleigh then select radar and cloud I am greeted with the image above. The HIRAD radar data gets refreshed every twenty minutes or so. Now the wind is coming at 22mph from the SSW according to metcheck and the bbc weather sites. So that band of rain from east anglia to hayling island is moving fast to the northeast. From that, my dear Watson I can conclude that we have one more heavy shower to endure and then we should have a rain free afternoon. LETS SEE IF I'M RIGHT SHALL WE? edit: Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. The radar is only over land masses. Once the first lot of heavy cloud cover had passed another one appeared and then another. Kind of makes the radar useless if you are near the coast.

I've been riding on the road seriously for a few years now. When I got my first road bike in 2003 I wasn't very clued up. I rode it and enjoyed it, but didn't really know too much about bikes, cycling history and culture and training. I realised recently that I've been through quite a rite of passage from newbie to well, experienced cyclist. Ok, so I can't tell you much about campagnolo bottom brackets but I can (and have) maintained or repaired or replaced every part of my dura ace equipped bike. There are a few behaviours I have picked up along the way that are widely viewed as roadie-neurosies. Not because I knew about them and wanted to fit it, more that they developed independently over time, here are a few; No saddle bag . I carry everything in my middle back pocket that would be in  my saddle bag. This is to keep my bike light and manoueverable, especially when out the saddle. Mega-Clean drivechain . My chain, chainrings and casette are indeed cleaner than my...

The chart above is what I call my poppy field. The yellow bars (or stalks) represent the average and normalised powers for each workout whilst the red and gray dots represent the average heart rate and intensity factors for each workout. As you can see my intensity factor has tailed off slightly along with my heart rate, that really reflects the gradual increase in volume. I'm still not convinced that daily workouts are the best way forward. I have a feeling that increased intensity and more frequent rest days are a much better way to organise your training. But then I keep thinking about TITS and would rather not risk 'innovating'. BTW, TITS means time in the saddle :-) The distributution chart below shows, in absolute terms, the amount of time I have spent this season in each zone. I'm quite pleased with the mix, especially the AC and VM. This really reflects the fact that I live in a hilly area more than anything else. I have not included time spent freewheeling for ...

Well, aside from the Crash in the middle of the month its been a good month. Plenty of hard efforts and the Majorca trip was great. I did an FTP test a couple of weeks after the crash and wasn't back to full fitness but still held an FTP of 285w. I reckon I'm higher now and will do a test after the Fred Whitton Challenge which is next weekend. My all-time best 5,20 and 60 minute powers in 2007 came a week after the FWC. Only 9 weeks to La Marmotte, gulp.