40 Goals

FWC - 8:24 Update : Power data uploaded and as suspected my power numbers are down significantly for the day. Average power 160w versus typically 190 for hilly rides. All critical power numbers are down. Its official. I was ill. Bit of a mixed bag really. Really happy with the time since I was under the weather, crap preparation and really crap nutrition strategy on the day. These are just excuses though since its my responsibility to get these things right. Looking through the results I came 394th of 632 riders. 315 riders broke 8 hours this year compared to 200 last year, so the conditions were good. Weather on the day was awesome with the only real rain kicking in as I finished the Wrynose descent. I on the other hand was appallingly underpowered on the day, struggled to get over 250w with a high HR. We camped the night before and I got little sleep and caught a chest infection which left me a little short of breath. Kicked off early and forgot (!) to have breakfast. What a Wally. ...

Fred Whitton Challenge I got a cancellation place and will be 'competing' next Sunday. Watch out for rider #160. Oh crikey, what have I done ;-) Looks like the weather is set to be truly awful on the day. The challenge is run in the memory of Fred Whitton who was the Lakes Road Club racing secretary for many years, the Lakes and Lancs’ Division road racing secretary, an ex first cat, a promoter of numerous road races including the Lakes three day, an all round clubman who could drink a pint of Guinness with the best of them, sadly missed when he died of cancer at the age of 50. The proceeds of the ride will be donated equally to the MacMillan Nurses and the Dave Rayner Fund . The sportive is about 114 miles long and takes in 4000 metres of climbing, so it really is a good measure of readiness for L'Etape, as well as being the premier UK sportive and a big day in its own right. Starting & finishing at Coniston, the route includes Ambleside, Kirkstone Pass (but not ...

Stratford Marathon - 4hrs 53mins Ok, it was my wife and not me. After 3 months of gruelling training and planning she ran the Shakespeare marathon in mild but windy conditions in the countryside around Stratford-upon-Avon. Although the time isn't as fast as hoped for, completing the course is a major personal milestone and there is a lot of learning there. Respect the distance that is for sure. Sam walked to the start line after a night of broken sleep due to troublesome kids, severe dehydration due to a room with stifling heat and a smaller than usual breakfast (a banana!) since the hotel only started serving from 8.30am (slackers!). Needless to say we won't be hurrying back to that particular hotel. The marathon itself was very well orgnanised and offered a lap of closed roads in the centre of Stratford at the start which was very exciting. As for me, well. I've had the week off and have spent it fiddling with my bike and doing light, easy riding of no real substance. I...

The Lakeland Loop Managed to get round in 5hrs dead. It wasn't quite the 75miles advertised, I made it 108km or about 67 miles and the climbing was limited to 2050 metres and not the 3700 metres advertised, but it was an amazing time in the saddle. I hooked onto a number of groups in an attempt to not get lost (I'm good at missing turns etc) and this helped me keep to a gentle pace and averaged 21kmh and 138bpm. I even had a 10 minute (!!) break at the second feed station waiting for a compatriot, who incidentally, dismounted at the base of Hardknott and I never saw again. Really encouraged at my climbing as I dropped all-comers on the longer climbs, by a distance. Of course, I did head out early with the slower guys so I'm not resting on any laurels. The Lake district hills weren't the scary prospect I was expecting. If anything they are relatively easy as you can settle into a rhythm and just climb. Having said that ... Hardknott is a beast - its seriously steep and j...

Legs of Steel Ride Happy with my performance today, covering the 81km route in 3:11:05. Obviously such a short (albeit hilly) course wasn't going to test my endurance but I put in some intense efforts on the climbs. The Start ... I'm not quite sure how I managed to screw up the collection of polar data but the transponder system that they used gave me splits of 62:17, 80:41 and 48:07 - of course it would be useful to see the distances these relate to - but never mind. Looking gormless at the top of Holmbury Hill As I finished I was 22nd out of 79 riders with many still out on the course. As it was a rolling start between 8am and 9am I could drift down the field quite a bit, but hopefully not too much. The first place rider covered the course in 2:38:14 which is no mean feat! I'll be looking at the ful-on-tri website for results, having come in the bottom 10% for the ToSH last August it means a lot to me to place well in a 'competitive' ride and demonstrate how I...

Goring 10k Disappointed with a 47.29. It was very congested at the start with plodders and recreational runner types at the front (why don't they start from the back?) and with an uphill start it was slow anyway. I guess the start at Foix will be similar... It was fairly windy and more hilly than I remembered, but good to run rather than cycle for a change. It didn't rain which was cool, especially since it caned it down in the afternoon. Can't fault the marshalling and organisation and I'd thoroughly recommend this race, but not if you're looking to set an especially fast time, although the winner seems to regularly post a 33 minute time, so what do I know? Not quite ready to hang up the shoes just yet till I've posted a sub 45 for this year. I suspect the next goal after the Alpe and Etape will be the NY marathon in September ... try and follow in Lance's footsteps (!).