Back on the bike, after almost 30 years

nilhg · 15-02-2012 11:51am #1

Back then:

One of the most vivid memories I have of when I was young is getting my first (proper) bike, when I think about it it was probably the first significant thing I ever bought myself. I was about 8, and the local Credit Union had just started up, my mother brought me in one evening and signed me up and they gave me enough of a loan to buy a shiny blue Raleigh, I don't know how much it cost but I cycled up the road to the CU ladies house for about two years paying the loan off at the rate of 50p a week which was part of my wages for hepling out at home on the farm.
From then until I was old enough to get my driving licence (the day I turned 17) we (there's 10 of us) would have cycled almost everywhere weather permitting, there was a big crowd of us between brothers and cousins and we were always on the move either to GAA or Rugby matches or just general mooching around.

I played both GAA and Rugby up until I went to Ag college, I was involved in an accident there and had a bad break to my leg which meant several operations and stays in Hospital, the medical advice at the time was no contact sports and by the time I'd gotten the all clear to go back I'd gotten distracted by other things. My main physical activity was a spot of hunting/shooting/fishing but at best that's seasonal and as time went by i did less and less of it. More recently photography has been my main hobby and while I'd get some nice walks in and out of various locations quite often you'd spend more time sitting waiting than actually moving.

Now:

I'm 45, last time I was at the doctors I weighed 108kg and while I liked to think I had a fairly active life I don't think that's (was) true, I was at a Health and Safety course recently with 20 other farmers and there was a discussion about this, the instructor argued that we were strong but not fit and looking around the room and knowing the folks present I think she was right in all bar one case.

My daughter is a student Physio and she's really into her health and fitness, her project for this spring is to run the Connemara marathon, she's been training hard, doing her studies and keeping down a weekend job so I've got to admire her drive and determination. She's been "encouraging" me to follow her example and to set a target and get up and get some proper regular exercise, so eventually we came to an agreement, on the weekend she's running the marathon I'd cycle the course (obviously not when the race is on).

So with that in mind I went out at the end of January and bought one of these, I know it's not the bee knees but to be fair it seems mechanically quite sound and the components while entry level seem to be well tried and tested. I got it on a Saturday evening and headed off the next day to do a 10KM circuit here locally, I wasn't long finding out how unfit I was, I had to stop twice to catch my breath and was absolutely shattered when I got home, 40km in Connemara at the end of March looked a big challenge that evening I can tell you, but I stuck at it and with the help of some links from here, youtube and a bit of experimentation managed to adjust the bike so the fit is much more comfortable which made a difference. I live less than a KM from the yard so I decided as much as possible I ride up and down and that I'd also try to build up the kilometers gently with regular short rides, the roads around here are not really hilly but there's plenty of short ups and downs which I found tough because I couldn't get my breath bacj on the downs before I had to go up again.

The Sunday before last I decided to head for the flat bog road and on it I managed to do 16km without feeling too distressed so I was happy enough with that. I took it relatively easy for a few days early last week and decided on Friday to try a circuit beside me with a (for me) decent hill at the start and a nice downhill run home 11km in total, I was surprised how comfortable I felt doing it and was fresh enough when I got home, so Saturday I went out again this time heading over Boston hill from the Feighcullen side, again as I got close to home I felt well so I added in and extra few KM's and finished up with 16 feeling reasonably well and within a few minutes of stopping I was fine .
On Sunday morning my brother rang me, he did the ROK last year and is getting ready for this year again, and he asked me to go for a spin with himself and his wife, I thought they'd be going too far and too fast but he said he was only going for a short one, we went out towards Offaly (flater roads)and finished up doing 32km , I will say that the last few I was feeling it but not too distressed, having company makes it a little easier I think. I took Monday off apart from cycling up and down to the yard, the legs were definitely sore but yesterday I did 21km on my own at a nice comfortable pace and this morning I did a hilly enough 16km and feel fine after it.

It seems to me that I went from struggling from the start for a few weeks to being comfortable at a reasonable pace quite suddenly and I'm not sure quite why that was but I'm not complaining.

Goals for this year are, A: do the Connemara course, B: do one of the local sportives at the 70/80km distance (Tour of Kildare and/or Leinster Loop), next year maybe the ROK.

Maybe lose some weight, but I'm not going to worry too much about that, the main concentration is on getting fitter, if I watch the diet the weight should look after itself.

Apologies for the long post, thanks for reading through this far, all tips and encouragement will be gratefuly received, some of the logs in here have been a great inspiration to me.

Beasty · 15-02-2012 3:01pm

Good luck with this. I started older having done very little physical activity since leaving school, and weighing around 120kg. I'de had 4 back operation, and there was no way I could do any contact sport. That left me with the options of swimming or cycling to try and get back into some sort of shape. Swimming facilities are not particularly good in Ireland, and I decided I wanted to make cycling part of my daily routine. 4/5 years later I'm averaging getting on for 1,000km a month weigh about 85kg, and was last week given a lung age indication of around half my real age

I started off slow, targetting an hour for my 23km commute. I never for one moment thought I'd do it in less than 50 minutes. I built up from there though, increasing to a couple of commutes, and then just getting more and more time on the bike - my best time is now under 38 minutes, and I think I'm fitter than I've ever been in my life.

Just take things steady, and build up - It's something that could become life-changing if you want it to.

mel.b · 15-02-2012 9:31pm

Way to go:) I started in a similar position last year where 10km was a challenge and set myself a goal to do the 50km Sean kelly in Aug which i did. My goal this year is the ROK.

I found with cycling that you can make progress much faster than you can with running for example. I think it could due to the low impact nature of the sport - it's much easier on your body. It makes it even more motivating when you see the progress happen so fast.

Keep it up:D

Wheely GR8 · 15-02-2012 10:54pm

Great to read your post ,I've only been back on the bike the last few months after about eight years.
My first bike was very important to me aswell and I think thats why I treasure cycling ,happened to be a blue raleigh aswell

Keep up the good work

triggermortis · 16-02-2012 9:55pm

Good luck with it. I've only been riding the past year (similar age) and have seen some improvement on my fitness and weight, without going too mad about it.
It's a good idea to set goals and work up to them.

Good luck.

nilhg · 17-02-2012 12:35am

Thanks for the support folks.

I have to say I'm enjoying it at the moment, I'm lucky that I have a good variety of roads around about and it's easy enough to make up a circuit or out and back run that suits me any day, traffic isn't too bad either if you stay off the busy roads at the peak times.

Being my own boss is handy too, no problem heading off for an hour in the morning if I want to, though in the summer and autumn harvest and sowing seasons being the only one here will really restrict me, swings and roundabouts I suppose

nilhg · 19-02-2012 5:19pm

A good week for me, 145KM in total with just about 75Km this weekend in two 37/38Km spins.

I went out yesterday with the sister in law and finished up doing a longer spin than planned, I got my calculations on the wind direction wrong, so we finished up coming home much more into the wind than I thought but I felt comfortable at the pace we were doing and at least we were home before the showers hit.

This morning my brother and I headed off and again we did about 37.5Km I felt good enough most of the way but there's a fairly constant uphill drag for the last 10Km or sow and I was getting tired over the last few KM.

I has my first experience with an "impatient" motorist yesterday, happily I know him, though I doubt if he realised it was me, you can be sure that by the time the summer is over he'll have learned what the back of my tractors look like.

nilhg · 26-02-2012 7:42pm

Slightly less KMs this week at 136 mainly because I had to go to Mullingar with my young lad for a rugby match yesterday and I hadn't much time left to go very far once we got home.

The week started poorly, I went out for a spin on Monday morning which on reflection was too soon after having done two (for me) long rides Saturday and Sunday, I felt weak and uncomfortable on the bike and it was a struggle getting home. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off apart from the runs up and down to the yard and after one of them I discovered that the seat post on the bike had slipped down more than a CM, it's surprising just how much difference that it made resetting it correctly.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday I had 3 nice 20-25KM runs, done at a nice consistent pace. Today three of us went for a longer spin, 43KM and even though it's the longest I've done yet I felt really comfortable all the way through and for the first time didn't seem to be holding up the other pair too much.

I have to say I'm enjoying this now and feel more confident that I'll manage some of the local sportives coming up sooner rather than later.

nilhg · 05-03-2012 12:10am

184KM this week in 4 separate rides, Tuesday I did 30KM on my own, pushing on on the harder parts and tasking a breather on some of the easier bits, I felt fine till just before I got home when the legs felt heavy so I suppose I got the pace about right.
Wedensday myself and my brother did 37KM at a nice even pace, felt fine all through.

Yesterday myself and the sister in law did 37KM again, we headed off early to avoid the showers that were forecast but only seem to have managed to get the windiest part of the day, going out was fine but getting home was a battle.

This morning I was going to be on my own so I decided to try for a long one (for me) of about 55KM, I did out a route on mapmyride, most of the roads would be very familiar to me but there was one short section that I wouldn't usually have much need to be on but I was happy enough that the maps would be correct:rolleyes:.

The first 20Km this morning were hard going, the wind was stronger than I thought it would be and almost entirely in my face all the way to Portarlington, when I turned on the Monasterevin road it was easier an I felt quite comfortable at that stage. The plan then was to cut back up to Jamestown on the Portlaoise road, turn left down towards Vicarstown but then cut across over the Barrow towards Kildangan and home, unfortunately when I got down to where the map said the bridge was, it wasn't.... I had to head south and cut take the road around by the Cush Inn and home. By the time I had the extra done I had 72Km clocked up which is by far the farthest I've ever ridden in one go, I was tired when I got home but not totally exhausted and even though I wasn't really trying for any speed I was glad to see that my average was almost 25KM/Hr over the day.

Here's a picture I snapped with my phone at a canal bridge close to where the "missing" one was supposed to be, luckily it was a lovely day to be out, apart from the wind.......

nilhg · 12-03-2012 12:27am

172KM this week made up of 4 decent longish spins and a bit of faffing up and down to the yard.

After doing my longest ever ride on Sunday last I went out on Monday morning and did 18KM at a reasonable pace, it was probably too soon but I knew I'd be without the bike for Tuesday and Wednesday so I wanted to get some sort of spin in to loosen up my legs.

Thursday morning I got out for 31KM, speed here was 23.5KM/HR which I was happy enough with as there's a few nice long drags on the run which really get the heart beating and the legs burning.

Yesterday I had company on a spin out Naas direction, as it turned out we had 2 unscheduled stops so the day finished up more like 2 normal (for me) rides than a longish one, we came home via Punchestown, Twomilehouse and Athgarvan which has some lovely rolling countryside with nice short hills and a chance to recover afterwards. My companion wasn't going too well uphill and the homeward journey was in to the breeze so our pace dropped then but we eventually finished up with 57.7KM at 22.3KM/Hr.

http://app.strava.com/rides/5006123

This morning I was on my own and after spending most of yesterday in pretty constant traffic I decided to find some quieter roads and headed west into Offaly and Laois. While the roads were a lot quieter the surfaces in a lit of places were poor enough and I found it hard enough to keep pushing a pace that I would have been comfortable enough with on better roads so I was happy enough to finish up with 59KM at 25.2KM/Hr, apart for a quick toilet break this was non stop so I was satisfied enough especially since I did feel that I could have done another 15/20KM.

http://app.strava.com/activities/5056096

My weight is gradually coming down, I reckon I've lost about 5KG over the last 6/7 weeks, I've not really tried any dieting as such just being careful with what I eat and trying not to fuel up to compensate for the extra exercise. I hope this rate of weight loss is sustainable even if not at quite the same rate.

The other thing I did this week was lay my hands on a second hand Garmin 200 (thanks Cian) it's sort of fascinating watching the KM's clock up and my speed vary up and down.

Next week looks busy for me so I'm not sure I'll be able to get the same level of activity in but all I can do is take any chance that I can I suppose.

nilhg · 18-03-2012 10:33pm

A busy week work wise for me this week with the result that I only got out one morning , seeing as I knew I'd be short of time I decided to try something new and did a short loop close to home over Dunmurry Hill from both sides twice, 24KM with 249M of rise is stiffer than I'm used to but since I'm hoping to do the Tour Du Foothills next month I probably need to get more uphill in.

http://app.strava.com/activities/5194312

Yesterday my brother and I did 60KM of mostly flat roads out into Offaly and home, I felt quite comfortable all through and was fresh enough getting home.

http://app.strava.com/activities/5319182

This morning I had planned a spin in the opposite direction down towards Athy but Jean Byrne on the weather forecast was giving a fresh North Westerly for this morning and I didn't fancy coming home against that, so back to Offaly it was again, this time on a loop through Edenderry. Early on I felt quite flat but after 20KM or so I got stronger and in the end if I hadn't wanted to see the Newbridge GP race over my local roads I might have added an extra 10 or 15KM on before I got home, thinking about it now probably best I didn't, I finished with 62.5Km at an average speed of 25.6KM/hr which is my best ever.

http://app.strava.com/activities/5319182

A quick spin up to Boston Hill to see the race brought today's total to 70KM and the week's to 157KM which I'm happy enough about.

It's eight weeks since I got the bike, if someone had told me then that I'd have over 1000KM done and would be thinking of doing a 60KM (maybe even the 100KM) in the foothills of the Wicklow mountains I'd have laughed at him, hopefully I be able to keep the momentum up.

nilhg · 25-03-2012 10:18pm

A quiet week on the bike for me, just 120KM in total, mainly because we had a confirmation here yesterday and most of my free time towards the weekend was spent running round the place doing various errands.

I've decided that I'm going to do the 100KM version of the Tour de Foothills, I'm still not sure if that's a rational thing to do at my stage of fittness but I've been doing (flatish) 60KM solo spins reasonably comfortably so I'm using it as a challenge to work towards.

With that in mind I felt I needed to have more hills in my legs so I decided to concentrate my efforts this week on a circuit with the 3 biggest local hills included in it, Dunmurry, Allen and Boston, I rode round it once on Monday, twice on Wednesday and twice again this morning. I had hoped to get another lap in this morning but the bad thing about laps that pass your house is that your leave can be cancelled at short notice:p. Even so I was happy enough, there was quite a wind this morning, straight into my face on the long drag up Dunmurry and down the other side so the fact that my average speed was similar to Wednesday when the conditions were easier was satisfying. I felt really fresh when I finished, I find the climbs tough but I think I've some idea of the most efficient way for me to get to the top at least on the climbs that I know, my recovery afterwards seems reasonably quick too at least compared to a few weeks ago.

Next weekend we're in Connemara for Emma's run in the Connemara Marathon, I hope to be able to get in a good long spin on Saturday, I was hoping to be able to follow Emma a bit on the bike on Sunday but since a lot of the roads are closed for the race I'm not sure if that will be possible.

nilhg · 03-04-2012 12:16am

The one thing that started me off on the journey to doing this log was my daughter Emma laying the gauntlet down to me one day,

"I'm going to run the Connemara Marathon, what are you going to do?!!!!!"

This is her yesterday heading for the finish, cheered on by her proud Dad.

Emma in the Connemara Marathon-2 by cilldara, on Flickr

My part of the bargain was to be fit enough to be able to cycle the Marathon course over the weekend, thankfully after a shaky enough start things had been going well enough for me on the bike up till a week or so ago so I was confident enough to think that I would be capable of going quite a bit further than that 42KM so the plan was to cycle back to Clifden where we were staying after doing the course.

There was a bit of a spanner in the works early last week though, a virus got into the house and all of us got it to some extent or other, Emma was the first and if the Marathon was the previous weekend I don't think she could have lined up for the start, happily she started to feel better in time and while it must have had some effect she got through. I had a busy week at work and wasn't feeling to great myself with a dose of sinusitis but thought I'd be OK to go for a spin on Wednesday morning to keep me ticking over till the weekend, I can honestly say I never felt so bad on the bike, I was frozen with the cold, everywhere hurt, I had no power at all, I couldn't go hard enough to make my legs hurt. The bare stats don't look so much different than before but i was knackered when I got home.

http://app.strava.com/rides/5908951

I did feel better though as the week went on so I decided to stick to plan A and go for it, my wife and the rest of the family dropped me at the Recess end of the Inagh Valley and headed off leaving me to hope that I'd (and them) would have a phone signal if anything went wrong. Thankfully I felt OK on the day and the fact that I was under no time pressure meant that I could make a comfortable pace, the wind made the going tough in places but that's hardly unexpected in Connemara.
I made my way trough Leenane, Maam, Maam Cross and back to Clifden I felt reasonable comfortable it was only when I headed out the Sky Road where we were staying that I started to feel tired, while it's not particularly long it's steep up out of the town.

I finished with 85KM (13KM farther than my previous best) in just under 3 1/2 hours which give how I felt on Wednesday I was very happy with.

http://app.strava.com/rides/5980153

Sunday evening when we came back from the Marathon finish I did a shortish spin out around the Sky Road to loosen out the legs,

http://app.strava.com/rides/6042459

I felt even better than the previous day and while the average speed is slow looking most of that is down to my lack of bravery going downhill on the narrow road with tourists liable to be stopped in the middle of the road anywhere.

My total for the week was 132KM with over 1000M gain which is the first time I've managed that much height.

Next target is the 100KM version of the Kare Tour De Foothills, that'll be the furthest I've ridden again but I'm hoping that being part of the day will make the distance easier.

Some poor quality phone pics from the weekend, I'm going to have to get a reasonable camera to go on the bike, my DSLR and good lens id too heavy and awkward.

Killary Harbour,

On the hill between Maam and Maam Cross,

Sky Road,

Peadarmac1 · 07-04-2012 11:00pm

Hi, great progress keep it up,

I too can remember buying my first bike in 1976, a red Raleigh team racer from McHughs Cycles under the bridge in Talbot street, I paid it weekly over the the year:o.Looked something like this see attachment, only to have it stolen a year later.

Last September i got a hybrid and have started cycling regularly since January, I’m 51 yrs old and about 2 stone overweight, I started doing 20-25km 3-4 times a week, so far have lost 10lbs, and last weekend managed a 55km trip from Dublin Northside to Blessington and then on to Naas for a family event (Halfway to the Magic 100:rolleyes:) but took the easy option and got a lift Home:D, Now I have plans to start visiting some family and friends around the country, next stop Navan, but will probably go with the lift back:) hopefully i will eventually manage the round trip

nilhg · 08-04-2012 7:34pm

Peadarmac1 wrote: »

Hi, great progress keep it up,

I too can remember buying my first bike in 1976, a red Raleigh team racer from McHughs Cycles under the bridge in Talbot street, I paid it weekly over the the year:o.Looked something like this see attachment, only to have it stolen a year later.

Last September i got a hybrid and have started cycling regularly since January, I’m 51 yrs old and about 2 stone overweight, I started doing 20-25km 3-4 times a week, so far have lost 10lbs, and last weekend managed a 55km trip from Dublin Northside to Blessington and then on to Naas for a family event (Halfway to the Magic 100:rolleyes:) but took the easy option and got a lift Home:D, Now I have plans to start visiting some family and friends around the country, next stop Navan, but will probably go with the lift back:) hopefully i will eventually manage the round trip

Peadarmac1, mine was nowhere near as flashy as that, though it did have brakes, I don't think my mother would have let me out on it without them.:D

nilhg · 08-04-2012 8:17pm

For various reasons I only got out twice this week for a total of 86KM which is almost my lowest total since I started to keep any sort of record.

I had hoped to get a nice few KMs in in Clifden before we left on Monday but things didn't quite work out for me(more on that later).

We had a herd test this week which is time consuming and I was also trying to catch up on some work that I long fingered when we were going to Galway before the weather broke so the first real chance I had to get out on the bike was Friday evening, a nice spin to shake out the cobwebs.

http://app.strava.com/activities/6297844

Yesterday I was in the Aviva for the match with my brother, the ticket was a present for his 40th birthday, the thing he didn't know was that once we left his house was being transformed for a surprise party, let's just say that the party was more exciting than the match and a great night (and morning) was had by all.:D

I wasn't up too early this morning and volunteers to come with me for a spin were thin on the ground and with visitors coming my spin today was shorter than I had hoped but still a good workout given the previous night's goings on.

http://app.strava.com/activities/6414629

I hope to get a few decent spins in early this week then have a couple of rest days before the Naas Tour de Foothills next Sunday.

I did have a few firsts over the last few weeks though, I wore out the original rear tyre that came on the bike, I went out one morning and there was a s shaped bulge on it, when I stripped it down the fibers in the structure of the tyre were gone it was ready to burst, on closer inspection there was a nice flat section worn right around the circumference. I stripped both original tyres and fitted a pair of Continental Gatorskins.

I got my first puncture out on the road, my youngest brought her bike down to Connemara as well so I took her for a short spin down the lower Sky road on the Monday morning, we saw a local fella loading lobster pots from a pier so went in to have a look and a chat. The lane down to the pier wasn't great and on the way out to go home something caught my rear wheel and punctured it, no problem I thought I'll show the little one how Dad can be up and running again in a few minutes so I whipped out the tools, removed the wheel , took out the old tube and replaced it with a new one, refitted the tyre and started to pump like crazy with my little pump, just when I was thinking I had it hard enough to try on the bike BANG and down it went, so I had my first pinched tube on the road:D. By the time I had replaced that tube with my second spare and got home the troops were getting restless and it was too late to think of a spin on my own.

nilhg · 15-04-2012 10:47pm

A good week for me, 184km, 1267m elevation gain.

I was out three evenings this week 44km Monday with some of the local climbs included, a flatish 29km on Wedensday, despite a fairish headwind on the first leg I finished this one at almost 29km/hr my fastest yet.

I was late out on Thursday so only managed 15km but again I felt well and my speed seems to be improving.

The plan was to get out for a spin yesterday before the TDF today but when I was taking out the bike I noticed two broken spokes in the rear wheel, fair play to the guys in Eurocycles in Newbridge, they got me sorted out at very short notice but the chance to go out was gone.

Today was the biggie for me my first sportive, the tour de foothills, I did the 100km, took it nice and slowly to make sure I'd get the distance, all the laps I'd been doing locally paid off for me today, I found I could set myself a rhythm and pick a gear suitable for the hill I was OK, once or twice I thought I was going to run out of sprockets (my smallest is 30/23) but I managed to make it over everything without too much drama, going down was a bit different, I'm not very confident yet and not 100% certain of the brakes on the bike so was probably really slow on some of the drops, folk that i passed going up were passing me easily on the other side.

For most of the way I was in the company of my brother, his wife and another lady, they were a bit slower than me but I didn't fancy heading off on my own so I went at their pace, we finished in 4hr 28mins approx ( I think the garmin was counting some of the time I had it in my pocket at the stops).

http://app.strava.com/rides/6799589

My weight has come down gradually, I'm now comfortably under 100kg and had to drill new holes in all my belts to keep my trousers up, some of those belts are quite old so that looks good.

bad2dabone · 16-04-2012 9:35am

You're doing great! keep it up, inspirational stuff !

nilhg · 22-04-2012 10:06pm

This weeks totals,

Distance: 168.23 km
Time: 6hr:30m
Elevation Gain: 783 m
Avg Speed: 25.9 km/h
YTD 1733KM

After the Tour De Foothills on Sunday I took Monday off but got out Tuesday morning to shake out the legs, 30km with a nice little kick at the end.

Wednesday evening my self and the brother headed out we were a little late getting away so we just did one loop of the "hilly" lap I use, 23k m at just under 26km/hr, that one blew out the cobwebs.

I had hoped to get out for an hour Friday evening but got caught up at home so I decided to head out early on Saturday morning to do 50 or 60km, the only problem was that I have a backlog of spraying to do on the farm and the forecast for Saturday was more promising than any other day earlier or later in the week. I decided on a loop out from home so I could shortcut home if the conditions looked suitable. I wasn't 15km from home when I met the first sprayer out working and not long later another, so I turned left at Kildare and home, (I had a few close shaves with showers later on but got a nice hole in the back log).

http://app.strava.com/rides/7090973

This morning it was clear to me from the time I looked out the window that there would be no spraying today, so I decided to do a decent spin, I'd been keen to head south towards Athy but facing home against the recent northerlies had put me off, with the forecast for the wind to drop (it didn't till too late) I decided to head that way today. As I was going into Monasterevin someone passed from the Portlaoise side in front of me and turned about 100m in front of me for Athy, as it turned out we were fairly well matched and he paced me almost all the way to Athy, I never got much closer and he never drew much farther away, the road between Monasterevin and Athy is a joy to cycle, a good rolling surface, flat and with long straights, with the wind behind i must have done the 16km at about 33km/hr which is unheard of for me. After Athy the new slip road to the motorway is even better, not as flat but lovely to cycle on and fast. After a quick coffee in Reilly's of Crookstown it was time to face the breeze and head for home, much tougher going and I had thoughtfully left the climb over Dunmurry Hill till just before home, not very bright really.
I finished up with 76.4km, at an average speed of 27.1km/hr which I'm really happy with, I was fairly tired at the end but that should hardly be a surprise with the toughest bit at the end.

http://app.strava.com/rides/7162731

Not quite sure what the plan is for next, I'm wondering if one of the 140km sportives coming up is a bridge too far, maybe one or two more 100kms first, it'll probably come down to making my mind up at the last minute, it's hard to plan anything too far in advance for me in the spraying season.

nilhg · 29-04-2012 11:44pm

This week:

Distance: 106.51 km
Time: 4:13:28 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 551 m
Avg Speed: 25.2 km/h

I found it hard to get much time on the bike this week, pressure of work, my young fellas sporting endeavours and me visiting bike shops all made it hard to clock up the kms.

Tuesday evening I did my usual loop but backwards this time for a change, I felt fine at the start but as I went on something I had eaten wasn't agreeing with me and by the time I got home I felt quite ill, not sure really what happened, it passed quick enough when I got home but not nice when it happened, I'm not sure if I came home faster because of it though:D.

Yesterday I did the same loop but this time my normal way round, time was scarce but I just wanted to get out for a spin for reasons you'll see below.

Today I had hoped to get out early before the forecast bad weather and to be home in time for the Kildare and Leinster matches on the TV in the afternoon, but as it worked out when I got up early I had to do some work and didn't get away till near 11, I headed off into the wind and did a loop so I'd have it fairly well behind me most of the way home, I finished up with 60km odd, including my fastest ever time over Boston Hill (wind assisted but Strava doesn't know that).

My big news this week though was that I broke out and bought myself a "proper" road bike, I'm not going to go into the long and convoluted thought process I went through to finish up with something I'm happy with here now but the result is that I'm now the proud owner of a Trek 2.5 compact, I got what I think is a good deal from a LBS (Cahills in Naas) on a 2011 model (like this here, but not from them).

So far I've only 80km done on it, the whole drop bars and integrated shifters thing is new to me but I think I'll get the hang of it eventually, so far I'm really happy, just need more hours in the day so I can get to ride it.

manwithaplan · 30-04-2012 11:01pm

I hadn't noticed this thread before so I just read the whole thing. Your progress is fantastic and with the new machine, you're all set for a great summer. You seem to have the whole balance between work, family and leisure just right. You can get "the brother" to look after the farm for a couple of days and tell him you're having his ROK entry.

Your photos of the Newbridge GP were top class by the way.

nilhg · 01-05-2012 12:21am

manwithaplan wrote: »

I hadn't noticed this thread before so I just read the whole thing. Your progress is fantastic and with the new machine, you're all set for a great summer. You seem to have the whole balance between work, family and leisure just right. You can get "the brother" to look after the farm for a couple of days and tell him you're having his ROK entry.

Your photos of the Newbridge GP were top class by the way.

Cheers.

I think it'd be safer to let the farm look after itself and the two of us head to Kerry:D

Anyway the main thing it that I'm enjoying the cycling, losing a bit of weight and feeling better in myself, now I just need to teach myself to get off the internet and go to bed at a decent hour.

nilhg · 06-05-2012 10:01pm

Aprils totals:

Distance: 571.00 km
Time: 23:28:13 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 3,326 m
Avg Speed: 24.3 km/h

This week:

Distance: 135.87 km
Time: 4:59:27 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 380 m
Avg Speed: 27.2 km/h

A hard week to get much time on the bike, I was away Monday evening when I could have got out for a while after the rain cleared and Tuesday was a washout. Wednesday morning I did get out for a quick 43km spin but after that with the weather a bit drier it was all hands to the deck to get the backlog of work that had built up cleared, thankfully we are all up to date now for the moment but the rush meant I couldn't really plan for this weekend. I had hoped to head up to Sligo and do the 100km version of their Tour but I didn't fancy booking my place and a hotel and then not being able to make it so I had to let that idea slip. Plan B was to take in the Carlow Slieve Bloom Challenge but transport (or the lack of it) scuppered that one so my weekend spins were a quick local loop lateish yesterday evening and a trip down to Athy and back this morning.

I had been trying to fine tune my fit on the new bike and I seem to be getting close to something comfortable and efficient so much so that yesterday evenings spin was considerably faster than anything I'd ever done before and today I felt quite strong on the bike, I'd hoped to get in a longer spin but my companion today wasn't firing on all cylinders and we decided not to extend it too much so we finished up with 62.5km at just over 26km/hr

I'm hoping this week to be able to up my km a bit, work shouldn't be such a problem and hopefully the weather will co-operate.

nilhg · 13-05-2012 5:25pm

I suppose the main thing about this week was less work more cycling.:D

Distance: 274.64 km
Time: 10:22:48 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 1,625 m
Avg Speed: 27.7 km/h

The week didn't start off great though, with having to ring home to be collected, a brother of mine (not the usual one) has bought himself a bike and wanted to go for a spin, within 5km of home we both had punctured and of course he had no spare tube with him so that was both mine gone, it was the first time I'd used my mini pump in anger on the road in anger and the results weren't great, I think I bent the little pin in the valve and within 10km it gave away, at that stage there had been a big thunder/hail shower and another was on the way so I rang for help.

http://app.strava.com/rides/8103534

That night I patched the original tube and put it in the bike and kept my last new one as a spare ready for Tuesday morning when I did a lap of my usual local humpy circut, that evening I was on my own at home, it was a fine evening so I decided to head out again, the loop around from home via Cherryville, Monasterevin and Rathangan has a string of nice little rises and some nice fast flat streches in between so I gave that a go. On both ride I was aiming to maintain a good (for me) strong pace without being flat to the boards. 58km odd on the day.

http://app.strava.com/activities/8103532
http://app.strava.com/rides/8134656

Wedensday morning I was out again, the same course as the previous morning , the legs were feeling it a bit from the previous day but I still felt strong enough once I warmed up. By that evening i was tired though, and decided to take Thursday off.

http://app.strava.com/rides/8169434

Friday I was reading here about the various "walls" and decided to pluck up my courage and give the local one a go (it's only 4km from here), the quality of the road surface up there isn't great and trying to pickup a bit of speed on the down slope to it I clipped a pothole and down went my wheel, after a quick change and a very careful inflation with my mini pump I headed up with a half pressured wheel, and got over it too, though my legs were screaming by the top. I gingerly spun around home by Kildare, pumped the wheel up and did a run around over Boston Hill before dark.

http://app.strava.com/rides/8318823

Yesterday morning I was out early and did two laps of my usual humpy circuit,
I felt strong and was comfortable enough all the way, the only real problem was later on, I had to drive up through Wicklow and home via Dublin, my legs were stiff enough by the time I got home.

This morning I met up with Gavin, a friend of ours here and we headed off for a spin, he's a triathlete and a great man for the hills so the first place on his agenda was the "Wall", this time no puncture but the legs gave out on me before the top and I had to walk the last 100m, not a great start but things improved from there, we spun down to Athy, out across the slip road and stopped for coffee at Crookstown before heading back to Kilcullen, Newbridge and home over Allen and Boston Hills, the last 15km was face on into the wind with almost shelter, I found that hard but up to that I'd been comfortable at our average speed of 28km/hr.

http://app.strava.com/activities/8430843

This has easily been the biggest distance I've done in a week, I'm not sure when I'll get to do anything like this again but I'm glad to have done it and feel it'll be a good base for taking on some outings over the summer.

Not sure what next week will bring, I've had my eye on doing the Cycle4Life for quite a while but that's dependent on a few things going right for me, at the moment I'm less than 50/50 to make it, and even if I do the 140km will be much farther than I've ever done before, I just hope that if I am sensible with the early speed on a flatish course I'll be OK.

Weight is coming down too, I'm within sight of 95kg, which would be 13kg off since I started back on the bike, a lot when you think about it.

Apologies for the long post but I won't often have as much to report.

nilhg · 20-05-2012 10:45pm

Distance: 236.21 km
Time: 8:32:59 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 905 m
Avg Speed: 27.6 km/h

Got more done this week than I thought possible mainly because I did get to go to the Cycle4Life after all.

On Tuesday morning I did a 30km spin to shake out the legs after the weekend.

http://app.strava.com/rides/8565275

On Wednesday myself and Paul met up with a friend from Naas on the Curragh and we did a quick lap out around Martinstown and back through Kildare Town.

http://app.strava.com/rides/8675371

Thursday I was going to go for a spin on my own but the attractions of a Glanbia crop walk (free BBQ steak, to be fair they put on a good show) won out.

Friday was a rest day in preparation for Saturday, washed and lubed the bike.

Cycle4Life went well for me, I was a bit apprehensive about the distance, 140km is a fair step up from my previous furthest of 100km on the Tour de Foothills but the course didn't seem as difficult and I'd got in quite a bit of distance (for me) the previous few weeks so I was confident enough I'd be OK, but you never know what way things will work out on the day. In the event itself I was off slowly enough, I was well back from the front at the start and had been standing around for a while in the cold so took a while to warm up, I wouldn't be confident in a big group and shings seemed to me to be skittish enough with plenty of speeding up and slowing down for no apparent reason and when the fellow in front of me decidec that it was a good idea to chat to his mate while drinking from his bottle and almost took me off my bike when the inevitable result happened I decided to look for a bit of clearer road ASAP, my chance came after the first stop at Tara, there was a few of us going at about the same pace and it was easy enough to have a bit of company while still having some space. The section on the main road into Trim and on to Athboy then down the N52 was very pleasant going, good roads and the wind to our back, I felt very comfortable all through. Once we turned back for Killucan it was different though, with the wind now in our face and the road more rolling in nature, at the food stop I'd seen a decent size group leave a few minutes before me so I made an effort to catch them and get a bit of shelter. when I got to them a chap from Lucan was trying to get a bit of an up and over system going and it worked well enough for a while but gradually there seemed to be less of us taking more time on the front. Eventually I was in front going through a junction and though the road was clear for me the others pulled up for a car in the distance, I waited a little while for them to come up to me on the other side but they never did. At this stage with about 30km to go I was feeling very well, much better than I would have thought I would so I decided to get some value for my entry fee and to push it a bit more for the rest of the way home. I reckon I finished strong, my Summerhill to Dunboyne split seems OK for someone at the end of a longish ride and at the end I felt I could have gone on longer if needed. My moving time for the day was 5hr 13mins which is an average speed of 27.8km/hr for the 143.9km, which I'm really happy with.

http://app.strava.com/rides/8864545

Today I took the bike up to the Hill of Allen to see the RAS pass by, I had my camera in a backpack and it's a heavy bit of kit so I just came home around by Dunmurry Hill.

http://app.strava.com/rides/8936181

While I had the camera with me I took the opportunity to grab a shot of the new bike on Dunmurry.

Trek by cilldara, on Flickr

Not sure what next week will bring, probably going to be busy for me if the weather forecast is right but I'd still hope to get some kms in. I'm going to try to fit one more sportive in ahead of the ROK in July, not sure where yet though.

nilhg · 27-05-2012 10:30pm

This week:

Distance: 237.01 km
Time: 9:14:52 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 1,437 m
Avg Speed: 25.6 km/h

Another week where I kept the kms done up reasonably well despite having thought I'd be in trouble for time.

Monday was a rest day, Tuesday I didn't get out till late in the evening but managed to get in 20km at a fairish clip for me over a few local hills including my first trip up Wynnes lane which has a poor enough surface from lorries using it but is a steep enough test 0.8km @5.6%, I was happy enough to make it up.

http://app.strava.com/rides/9116107

Wednesday morning I joined a neighbour of mine here who's thinking of doing the ROK for a spin around my usual loop, pace was set to suit him so I found it easy enough,

http://app.strava.com/rides/9244123

Thursday evening I went out solo for a good workout before dinner, the smell of BBQs on the road nearly drove me mad:D A lumpy enough course including the Kildare Wall, Dunmurry and the easier side of Boston hill with deadish surfaces so I was quite happy to finish up with an average of 28.2km/hr for the 51 km odd.

When I got home Thursday evening I discovered that I had to go up to Blessington on Friday morning so on the spur f the moment I decided to take the bike with me and see what a proper mountain road felt like, I had to be home for lunch time so the plan was to head up to the Sally Gap crossroads and drop straight back to base. Shortly after 10am on Friday morning I headed off to Manor Kilbride and on up the road to the Gap, most of the way I felt fine, going at a comfortable pace and even though it was hot and the wind was in my face I was happy enough it was only when I reached the steep bit towards the top that I ran into trouble, it seems to me that I ran out of gears, had to stop to get my breath before heading on again, that scenario was repeated a few times again before I reached the top, I suppose maybe if I was close to the top I might have toughed it out but I didn't see the point in chancing a heart attack or a stroke.

I was a bit disappointing not to make it up without stopping but I suppose given where I've come from the fact that I even thought to take it on is progress, anyway we live to fight another day.

http://app.strava.com/rides/9302200

Saturday would be hard to call a rest day considering the day I had but I didn't go near the bike.

Today, seven of us did (barring one little mistake with directions) the route used by the Tour of Kildare, no real rush on, just kept up a comfortable pace to suit the group, we finished the 96km with an average speed of just over 25km/hr, personally I felt really comfortable all through, all in all a great Sunday spin on a beautiful day to be out and about.

http://app.strava.com/rides/9458835

I'm pretty sure that my time on the bike will be much more limited next week, turf footing time is upon us, any pain in my legs and back wont have anything to do with cycling this week:eek:.

nilhg · 04-06-2012 11:48pm

May's totals:

Distance: 929.94 km
Time: 34:16:03 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 4,390 m
Avg Speed: 27.1 km/h

Last week:

Distance: 141.85 km
Time: 5:16:47 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 613 m
Avg Speed: 26.9 km/h

A strange week, I spent almost every evening and some of Saturday morning in a fairly extreme aero position, backside up and head down but unfortunately I wasn't on the bike but footing turf on the bog;). All this activity had a double whammy effect on my bike efforts, less time and the back of my legs were bloody sore, it sort of takes the inclination to head out on the bike off you.

I did get out Wednesday morning, a flat 33km spin out the bog road

(see the others suffer) to see how the legs would feel, (better than I thought as it turned out) and again on Saturday, a nice handy 51km spin .

The original plan for this weekend was a few days away with the better half and the younger kids up in Sligo but circumstances conspired in such a way that it finished up to be a bit of a flying visit, I did manage to bring up the bike and get out for a spin yesterday evening though, I had a look late Saturday night for a suitable route and on a quick inspection a trip across to take in the Gleniff Horseshoe looked suitable for me, I should have looked closer though:o. 5km @ 3.2% looked grand for me but I missed the fact that the first 1.1km is at 8% and 700m of that is @ 10%+, it was a fair shock to the system when I got there;). The ride across had gone well, I felt good even after driving up from Kildare but when I hit the steep ramp I came under pressure quick enough, I can turn the gear OK (34/28) but can't sustain the effort for long enough to get up something like this just yet, I had to stop for a quick breather before heading on up over the top of the ramp and around the rest of the Horseshoe. It's nice country to cycle in up there and I really enjoyed the spin home, with a slight tailwind and mostly good rolling roads I pushed on home at a nice clip. A very pleasant 57km even with the few minutes of suffering in the middle.

http://app.strava.com/rides/10071461.

It's just over 4 months since I got the first bike and I'm rapidly closing in on 3000km done since then, I'm enjoying it immensely and haven't felt better in years.

I'm hoping to get in one more sportive before the ROK, the Tour de Burren was the obvious choice but I'm not sure if that's going to be possible now so I'll have to keep an eye out for something soon, all suggestions more than welcome.

nilhg · 10-06-2012 11:55pm

This week:

Distance: 179.08 km
Time: 6:41:54 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 853 m
Avg Speed: 26.7 km/h

A much more normal week, got out late on the bank holiday Monday for a quick spin and again on Wedensday evening with a slightly bigger group, both times the pace was pretty leisurely.

Yesterday evening I was on my own and fancied pushing things a bit harder over the usual lumpy circuit I use, was going pretty well for most of it but had a bit of a stomach problem near the finish that slowed me down a little, still happy enough with 40km @ 28.6km/hr.

Today was meant to be a bit more leisurely with some company but it worked out I was solo again so I rode at a pace that was brisk without ever really feeling that I was working hard, a pretty flat course through Kildare, Laois an Offaly, 58km @28.8km/hr. I was comfortable all through and feel I can sustain a pace like that for quite a bit farther, especially if I have some company.

I really want to get one more decent long spin in before the ROK, not sure if that'll be a sportive somewhere or a long outing here at home, something with some decent hills but nothing too severe would suit grand.

EDIT: Just noticed that todays spin took me over 3000km done since I started back, another small milestone.

BUACHAILL · 11-06-2012 11:17pm

Great to see you staying on top of it and enjoying it more and more !! Keep up the hard work.

nilhg · 18-06-2012 9:11pm

This week:

Distance: 149.91 km
Time: 6:43:06 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 1,585 m
Avg Speed: 22.3 km/h

Between the weather, work and various other stuff I had just two outings on the bike last week, on Wednesday evening 5 of us took a 50km spin down the old N7 and home through Portarlington, a nice even pace that picked up a little as the evening closed in faster than we expected.

My plan for the weekend was a good long spin on Sunday and I was just sitting down to plan out a route Sat evening when I got a message to be in Blessington at 10 on Sunday morning, that a group would be going out up the Sally Gap and then on on a route to be decided on on the morning. My last experience of the Sally Gap had seen me go home with my tail well between my legs, I knew I had made some mistakes that day but even so I had to think for a while before deciding to go.

In Blessington I discovered that A: the group was much bigger than I thought, B: it was 70% female, C: the plan was to do most of the hard bits of the upcoming Wicklow Peaks sportive, though anyone who wanted could take the "easy" shortcut home over the Wicklow Gap from Laragh if they wanted. I couldn't really pull out at that stage in front of the ladies could I, so on I went.

First hill up was Ballysmutten then on up to the Sally Gap, this time round I was very conservative in the pace I set up the hill with the result that I was much more comfortable on the steep bit near the top and managed to get over without any great problems, after a short wait for the group to reform we headed on by Lough Tay over the hill at Lugalla and down to Roundwood and on to Laragh for a welcome cup of coffee. I had found the whole spin that far comfortable enough, much better than before, so I decided to kick on and see how i would fare on Shay Elliot and Slieve Maan. OnceI had the steep bit at the bottom of Shay Elliot done i found the climb OK, long but with a few spots where I could recover and get my breath back. By contrast Slieve Maan nearly killed me, long, unrelenting with no real place to recover, probably coming so son after SE wasn't a help either, I got about half way up before I had to stop for a short breather and then another about a km from the top, I was relieved to make it too the top but delighted too, a few weeks ago I'd never have thought it possible.

The trip home had 2 smaller hills, both much more of the size that I'm used to before the spin up the N81 and back to the cars in Blessington. 100km almost exactly in slightly less than 5hrs moving time with depending on whose GPS/website you trust most +/-1500m of climbing. I'm delighted today I did it, maybe if I had known on Saturday evening where we were going I might not have gone. In the finish the part of the day I found hardest was the descending, steep slopes, poor road surfaces, sheep and my elementary bike handling skills don't make a happy mix but I suppose the only way to improve is to do more of it.

http://app.strava.com/rides/11065810

I'm not sure what this week will bring, I have a few busy days coming up, but will grab any chance I can get to do a few KMs before hopefully getting another decent day in over the weekend to build up to the ROK

wayne0308 · 21-06-2012 2:39pm

Hi nilhg, I've just had a read of your log. You've made fantastic progress since the end of January, truly inspirational stuff!

Back on the bike, after almost 30 years

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