Here we go again, Nilhg's 2013 log

nilhg

It seems last year's log had a wider readership than I imagined so in the interests of continuity and to keep my closet fans (they know who they are) happy, here we go again for 2013.

Goals for 2013:

• Maintain progress from 2012
• More elevation gain
• Wicklow 200
• Rebel Tour again
• Do some sort of multi day event (no idea what that might be)

The Wicklow 200 and wanting to get more kms in in the hills go sort of hand in hand, one will be preparation for the other, the biggest problem for me is the convienence factor, Holywood is the handiest gateway to Wicklow for me and Rosanallis to the Slieve Blooms but both are roughly 35km by bike from here, grand later in the year if I want to put in a long one but this time of the year I'd really need to drive over and locking up the car for a day wouldn't be popular, something I'll have to figure out.

I'll be taking in some of the local sportives both as preparation for the Wicklow 200 but also enjoying the days out and the company of the friends I've made over the last year.

The Rebel Tour was one of the highlights of last year for me and I'd love to go again if it's held in Beara again, well worth the long drive down.

I'll take in as many other sportives as I can over the year, I'd love to do the Sean Kelly but it's smack bang in the middle of harvest season, so hard to manage for me.

I've no idea what the multi day event might be, maybe something like Mizzen to Malin, I'll be keeping my eyes open for something suitable.

Ryder

nilhg wrote: »

It seems last year's log had a wider readership than I imagined so in the interests of continuity and to keep my closet fans (they know who they are) happy, here we go again for 2013.
I've no idea what the multi day event might be, maybe something like Mizzen to Malin, I'll be keeping my eyes open for something suitable.

Mizen to malin had always been an ambition of mine. No longer live in Ireland buy would love to come back and do it......think it could be done over 3 days with a handlebar mounted bag and overnights in b and bs

Good luck with your log

nilhg

This week:

Distance:118.18 km
Time:5:05:44 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:767 m
Avg Speed:23.2 km/h


I had hoped to make a better start to the year but a dose of the flu that came on me on New Year's Eve scuppered that and I didn't make it out for my first spin of 2013 till yesterday morning, I didn't feel great starting off especially into the breeze but a nice tractor driver paced me across the Commons on the Athy road out of Kildare and I got a nice push home from the wind so in the end it was a decent enough 47km.

I had to do a run down to Abbeyleix this morning and as a consequence missed the Kildare club run, instead I went out with my brothers, progress was leisurely enough, the lads are only starting out again for this year which meant that we arrived back to the only KOM on the spin fresh and with the breeze at my back, seemed like a chance to give it a proper blast, good job I did too because it's probably the only KOM I'll ever get up a reasonable hill. I know it's not a popular segment but it's nice to have one in the bag for a while, it's very handy for some of the local racer types to easily swing by and have a go at so it'll probably not last long but a nice way to start 2013, beats the Flu anyway:D.

http://app.strava.com/activities/36233777

Ryder wrote: »

Mizen to malin had always been an ambition of mine. No longer live in Ireland buy would love to come back and do it......think it could be done over 3 days with a handlebar mounted bag and overnights in b and bs

Good luck with your log

I hope if I was going to attempt it in three days somebody would be carrying the gear in a support car, I'd have mixed feelings about trying to push too hard, be nice to be able to have the route visit some of the places worth seeing rather than trying for the quickest/easiest possible, but anyway that's all academic at the moment.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:172.95 km
Time:6:39:50 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:966 m
Avg Speed:26.0 km/h

Happy enough with this week, Tuesdays spin was a short one but I went hard from the start and kept a high HR and cadence for the 30km, wouldn't like to have to go much farther at that effort wasn't completely shot when I got home either.

http://app.strava.com/activities/36693287

Thusday morning was an easier spin, just took it nice and easy.

Yesterday I left home with the intention of getting home in time for my young fella's rugby match, got the calculations a little wrong so had to kick it up a gear for the spin home but felt strong enough even on Boston Hill after pushing across from Naas.

Club spin from Kildare this morning, delayed because of the frost we only had one group so the pace was handy enough, enjoyable spin despite the weather.

Since the Autumn I've been trying to improve my cadence, since I only had a Garmin 200 I wasn't really sure what it was, sometimes I'd take note of my speed and gearing and use an online calculator to give me a number. I used to be a divil for cross chaining in the big ring, one of the lads on a club cspin nicely advised me to drop into the small (34) ring and leave it there for the winter, which mainly I've done, at the start I used to spin out on a drop of a hill at about 35km/hr (cross chaining like mad in the small ring now ) but the other day I got up to 54 km/hr coming down off Boston and since I now (thanks Santa) have a 500 I know that I was spinning at 139, wouldn't like to do it often but I'm comfortable at 110 now and can maintain that for quite a while. I suppose the next job is to be able to sustain that an push a slightly bigger gear.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:214.67 km
Time:8:20:11 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,106 m
Avg Speed:25.8 km/h

30km of the above on the turbo.


Got a nice bit in this week, so happy enough with that.

Braved the rain Wedensday morning for a handy spin, was feeling a bit sorry for myself till I met the funeral of a chap that went to Ag college with me, glad to be able to go for a spin after that.

Turbo for an hour Thursday evening.

Yesterday took my daughter out for an hour as a warm up for her debut in the Naas Duathlon today (she did great), then met my brother and sister in law did another hour with them, a nice handy 60km.

This morning was the club spin out of Kildare, I knew going over Dunmurry on the way in that it was going to be one of those days, (I know that we don't discuss medical stuff here so I'm only mentioning this here so folk who look at my strava will understand), for a long time I've had an intermittent problem with my stomach, comes occasionally but mostly I'd be OK, and when I'd have it other people would hardly ever know. It manifests as an upset feeling and the production of loads of gas, mostly that's not really a problem a discreet blurp and all is well but on the bike it tends to gather then all move in unison usually in response to hitting a bump or rough patch of road (the position and the tighter clothes don't help) then the sport starts, until it comes up my HR goes "funny", until recently I had no way of documenting this but since I got the 500 I get to see it all in real time, which can be interesting. Once the gas is gone all is well. On the bad days though the gas comes and comes which is annoying and uncomfortable. The big problem is that since it's intermittent it's hard to go to the doc when the problem is there an even harder to schedule tests, but we're working on it.

Today was on of the poorer days, we decided to stick to more open roads in case of any snow/ice and did a nice sweep around South Kildare, a couple of the lads took a shorter option so the pace picked up for the second half which wasn't a problem except when I had to hang out the back for a few minutes and get rid of a belly full of gas, just annoying really.
I finished up with 90km on the day which was a nice spin.

http://app.strava.com/activities/38108616

I hope to do something similar again next week weather permitting.

nilhg

Last week:

Distance:202.41 km
Time:7:53:09 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:914 m
Avg Speed:25.7 km/h


A few decent days saw a start to field work again (didn't last long) so during the week I was confined to hitting the turbo 2 evenings, one session was a pyramid, upping the intensity gradually then dropping back in the same way, the other a session at the same resistance, gear and cadence apart from warm up and down.

Got out on the road Saturday morning in lovely sunshine, got home again in wind and rain, nice 67km spin though.

Yesterday I headed out in the wind, had a few narrow shaves with showers but was getting away fairly lightly till one with a mixture of hail, snow and vicious gusting winds caught me, luckily I'd seen it coming and had set sail for home, only had the last 5km or so in it, 77km in total on the day.

This week will be much quieter for me, the bike is being dropped off for a service this afternoon and we have a family occasion next Sunday so maybe I might get a spin in Saturday, an easy week probably won't do much harm at this stage.

t'bear

Don't forget the Portlaoise one on Feb 10th John!

nilhg

t'bear wrote: »

Don't forget the Portlaoise one on Feb 10th John!

I'm hoping to make it there, all going well (if I can fit into my boards jersey it would be a good sign).

nilhg

January 2013 stats


Distance:675.00 km
Time:26:28:25 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:3,556 m
Avg Speed:25.5 km/h


Happy enough with that considering I missed a few days at the start of the month with sickness and we had some frosty days as well.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:51.95 km
Time:1:58:00 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:442 m
Avg Speed:26.4 km/h

I knew this would be a quiet week, loads of stuff on that had to be done, probably no harm as I was a shade tired and have a slight chest dose on me.

Got out Friday morning for a spin but had to turn back from my intended route because of ice, finished up just spinning over Dunmurry and back.

Yesterday after young fella rugby in the Am and the Ireland match I got out for an hour, felt great on the bike and for once my stomach was on it's best behaviour, was able to push it a bit over the second half of the spin.

http://app.strava.com/activities/39486275

Next week looks iffy weather wise so I'll probably have to pull out the turbo again but hopefully might make the Portlaoise Winter Classic on Sunday, though I wouldn't be looking forward to that Mur de Pike.

nilhg

This week,

Distance:132.26 km
Time:4:55:28 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:467 m
Avg Speed:26.9 km/h
22.65km of the aboove on turbo


Unfortunately the chest infection from last week didn't clear by itself so I had to go on a course of antibiotics and take it easy for a few days.

Friday was my first day of the week on the bike, it was a lovely afternoon so I snuck off for a spin, felt well and probably ended up pushing too hard, after I had gone over Dunmurry and the Hill of Allen the rest of the spin was flat and when I noticed after 20km or so that my average speed was good (for me) I fell into the trap of seeing if I could maintain it till home. I did but don't know if it did me any good.

http://app.strava.com/activities/40175691

Yesterday morning I did an easy 58km out around Edenderry, I had hoped to do the Portlaoise Winter Classic today but the forecast and some stuff that came up here at home persuaded me (it wasn't hard to do) to give it a miss so today's workout was a turbo session concentrating on improving my cadence.

Hopefully I'll get a better week in next week, I'd hope to take in the Ned Flanagan leisure event on Sunday and get a few decent spins in as well.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:234.75 km
Time:8:25:25 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,278 m
Avg Speed:27.9 km/h
31km of the above on the turbo.

A productive week I think, started with the hardest turbo session I've done a sort of a pyramid session working up gradually till I could do no more than gradually reversing back down.

No frost meant I could get out early on Thursday morning, I wanted to ride tempo, HR below 150 on the flat and 160 on the hills, mostly managed to keep it that way so happy enough with an average speed of 27.5km/hr.

Yesterday morning I was supposed to go with the club for an easy spin but got held up so did a solo 67km, again trying to keep the HR steady, faster roads than Thursday but again happy with a shade under 28km/hr for the spin.

Today was the Ned Flanagan Memorial in Monasterevin so I spun over easy to the start, (that was the plan, but nothing was easy in the wind)

The plan for today was to try to stick in the front group for as long as possible but I fecked that one up right from the start, had to sort my daughter's bike for her and was delayed so started from the back. By the time I got myself organised there were splits everywhere an the fast group were gone up the road. I did try to catch them, chased hard and got to within maybe 50m of them but the road kicked up a little and I was well into the red solo in the wind so I let them off and waited hoping a group would come up from behind, eventually near Portlaoise 3 came up and we rode hard in the wind for Strad and on to Athy, not sure who they were but one was a hardy lady from Carn Wheelers. Near Athy we were joined by another fella so there were 5 of us when we finally got the wind behind us after the turn in Athy, we rode hard from there to Kildangan, making good speed. After the turn in Kildangan though things went a little astray, the las in front eased off a little for a speed bump without calling it and I was left with nowhere to go but the bridge wall, I should probably have seen it coming and been a bit more cagy but was well on my limit by then and not a sharp as normal. No real harm done, some sore ribs and a bit of wall rash on my hip but could have been much worse.

Once I made sure that the bike was OK we headed on again, with a bit more space given on all sides. By the time we got to Kildare the group had split out and we made the best of our way home. Nice u16 from Newbridge CC out for a spin kept me company for the last 8km or so.

I finished the 70km in 2hrs 27min for a average speed of 28.4km/hr which i was very happy with, more importantly I rode most of it pretty much as hard as I could, there wasn't much chance to get a breather at all, without blowing up, felt reasonably strong at the finish. This was the first time I rode something like this without consciously trying to pace myself. Hopefully I'm on track for bigger challenges during the year.

http://app.strava.com/activities/41252019#

After sambos and a well earned drink in the Bellyard I ha to wait a little for Emma to finish to sort her bike in her car, got a little cold before I spun home

In total today was a shade under 100km and 165km for the weekend, very happy with that.

I'm hoping to get a few spins in this week before maybe another long one next weekend.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:104.83 km
Time:3:55:45 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:561 m
Avg Speed:26.7 km/h


With the improvement in the weather and land drying out the short description of my week is: Ploughing 1, Cycling 0.

Got out for a short spin Tuesday morning and went with the club this morning for a chilly 75km, both at a handy enough pace.

Forecast for next week is decent an I've plenty of work piled up so the best I can hope for cycling wise is a turbo session or two and to see how the weekend goes when it comes, I'd like to get to the Slieve Blooms soon if I can.

nilhg

Feb:

Distance:546.49 km
Time:20:00:44 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:2,748 m
Avg Speed:27.3 km/h

This week:

Distance:131.73 km
Time:4:36:57 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:615 m
Avg Speed:28.5 km/h
22.7km of the above on the turbo

Busy with work again this week, only got a short turbo session Tuesday evening late to try and loosen up the legs, I find that I feel very tight when I do extended stints in the tractor.

Finished at a reasonable hour yesterday afternoon, stuffed down a bite to eat and headed out for a spin, after I loosened up I felt strong enough and pushed on a bit, managed to improve my PB on two segments and post a second fastest on the other which on a still day with no wind benefit I was pleased with.

This morning a few of us were supposed to have a look at part of the course for a charity cycle that is in the planning stages here locally at the moment, it finished up though that I did it on my own, I was a bit late leaving and under some time pressure so any thoughts I'd had of adding in a few KMs extra had to be abandoned instead I pushed on the pace to make it a decent workout. I felt comfortable enough most of the way, only really feeling it on the last drag towards home. While the circuit is pretty flat I was very happy to have done almost 60km at an average speed of 29.3km/hr.

http://app.strava.com/activities/42932218

I put in quite a few KMs in November, December and Janurary and it feels like it's paying off now, I'm never going to go racing but I'm reasonably confident that I'm on track to do any of the tougher sportives that I can get to during the summer. Hopefully this month I'll be able to start to get up into the hills and see how I get on on a few decent long climbs, maybe I might even get to the Slieve Blooms later this week, over and back The Cut would be a nice way to start.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:103.55 km
Time:4:24:31 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,141 m
Avg Speed:23.5 km/h


Quiet enough this week, got out Wednesday morning for a spin in the rain, took it nice and handy as the roads were slippy enough with muck and oil after the dry spell and today was just a leisurely spin viewing the Newbridge GP and taking some photos.


Yesterday I took myself off to the Slieve Blooms to try and get some (proper) climbing in, I felt I'd been going well enough on the shorter ones around here but you never know till you get on the longer ones. The plan was to park up in Roseanallis and use the spin over to Clonaslee to warm up before heading up the Cut, from there depending how I felt I'd have a few choices. Most of the way up I felt fine, but near the top I started to come under pressure and had to drop a gear, my stomach gives me some jip at times and it seemed to be starting to act up again. Over the top I stopped to take a few photos and all seeme to settle down so I headed on down the other side to the Mountrath road. I had it in my head to take a quick look at the statr of the Wolftrap climb but on the way over there things literally blew up and i had to stop for a little while till tings cleared up. Time wasn't on my side at that stage so I turned and headed back the way I came, I felt good up the southern side of the Cut, though taking it easy and probably had to work harder to get back to the van into the wind on the road back to Roseanallis.

Happy enough with the day, just need to get more time in the hills.

http://app.strava.com/activities/43701562

Next week will be a case of grabbing any chance to get a spin in, weather will decide, if it's fine it'll be all hands to the deck.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:41.75 km
Time:1:35:57 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:642 m
Avg Speed:26.1 km/h


Slap into the middle of the spring sowing season here now which meant that I didn't get on to the bike at all this week till the rain came at lunchtime today, for reasons I don't need to go into here I couldn't be too far from home so did two laps of the circuit I sometimes use, Dunmurry, Allen and Boston Hills. It was wet and cold but I just wanted to get out and stretch the legs.

http://app.strava.com/activities/44792982

nilhg

Distance:208.15 km
Time:8:07:12 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,658 m
Avg Speed:25.6 km/h


An eventful week, starting off Monday afternoon with a nice 60km spin up through Naas, Ballymore and home via Kilcullen done at a nice touring pace, it felt good to be out and I came home with great plans for the rest of the week, hoping to get a few spins in before the Lap of Laois today, Those plans didn't last long, the vomiting bug came calling and by Tuesday morning I was barely able to drag myself out of bed and do the few must do jobs in the yard. Most of the day and Wednesday were spent in bed. Thursday and Friday I felt a little better and by yesterday I decided to go out for a short spin to see if the legs would stand up to Laois today.

Heading out and through the village here I felt as strong as a horse but when I turned into the wind I thought I must have been dragging the horse behind me, but overall felt good enough to give today a go.

Today was one of those days when I never really knew how I was, sometimes I was suffering but ten minutes later seemed to get a new lease of life and things were much easier, most likely an after effect of the bug but also the cold didn't help, I had a mechanical or two (front derailleur troubles, not at all sure what happened cause it was fine at the start) which cause me to lose the group I was with before Stradbally, had them almost caught again on the Vicarstown road till I lost the chain again so was solo for quite a bit of the first half. Picked them up again at the food stop and went with them to the bottom of the Cut, the shout there seemed to be that there would be a reform at the bottom, went over in my own time, felt I paced myself well, the riders who hadn't done it before seemed to suffer towards the top and I picked up a few of them, stopped for a natural break and to sort my gear before the descent and never saw any one but a few souls struggling like myself all the way to the finish, out of Mountrath I could see a group up in front of me but couldn't catch them.

All in all I'm pleased with my spin today, as the day went on I felt stronger, and even with the effort of coming home that open road into the cold wind felt fresh enough finishing, the bits of me that I could feel anyway:eek:

http://app.strava.com/activities/45674173

Next week depends on the weather, hope to get a short recovery spin in tomorrow and a few more during the week if we don't get going sowing.

nilhg

March:

Distance:534.14 km
Time:20:45:43 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:4,641 m
Avg Speed:25.7 km/h

This week:

Distance:71.67 km
Time:2:47:13 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:585 m
Avg Speed:25.7 km/h

Despite my intentions of getting a spin in Monday and a few in during the week I didn't sit on the bike this week till this morning, mostly because of pressure of work and the need to catch up on the few days I missed sick the previous week but also partly cause of the weather, didn't fancy the snow.

We've made good progress on the work front and with a decent forecast for next week we decided to take today off, so I headed out this morning with one of the lads from Headstrong for a handy spin, we headed down to Crookstown into the wind and as a result had a nice spin home via Sunnyhill and the Curragh. I felt good and since I still had some time before the curfew I decided to take the scenic route home after we split, taking in Allen and Boston hills, gave both fairly full gas and reckoned I was on a decent time on the Allen segment till my chain dropped when I went to change back up onto the big ring. Boston went better and I managed to post my 2nd fastest time there which I was happy with since there wasn't really much help from the wind, certainly nothing like when I set my PB.

http://app.strava.com/activities/46615483

Next week, all going well, we'll finish most of the spring sowing so hopefully things will settle down somewhat then and maybe the weather might even warm up a little, I'd like to start getting in some consistent morning/evening spins and get a few consecutive weeks of decent mileage in.

nilhg

Distance:172.05 km
Time:6:47:07 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,252 m
Avg Speed:25.4 km/h


Finished sowing Spring barley on Thursday afternoon in time to get out for a quick spin to stretch the legs, you get very stiff confined to a tractor for extended periods,was slow enough at the start but freed up after a while, then tried pushing a slightly bigger gear than normal on some of the hills coming home to build strength a little which felt hard but the segment times seemed OK, something to work on I think.

Got finished early enough Friday evening to get a decent spin in, headed south towards Athy, I was flying early on, thought this cycling game was easy but wasn't long figuring out that I'd misjudged the wind direction, had to work hard to get home in daylight but finished up with what is for me a good average speed of 29.2km/hr over 58km

http://app.strava.com/activities/47370353

Had a nice spin locally yesterday morning and today drove from home in Kildare to Connemara then cycled the Connemara Marathon course (plus a little) carrying water and food for my daughter who was running the Marathon, a great day out, weather wasn't bad apart from the wind, it was basically stop start most of the day for me after I caught Emma up but really enjoyable.

Next weekend I hope to do either the DSI cycle from Blessington on the Saturday or the Tour De Foothills on the Sunday, logistics will probably decide which, hopefully having got a few spins in during the week.

nilhg

Distance:246.54 km
Time:9:53:49 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:2,259 m
Avg Speed:24.9 km/h


I had a few hours to kill in Carlow Monday evening so threw the bike in the car and took advantage of the longer evenings to get a nice spin out the Kilkenny Road and back, was impressed enough with the bike lane both sides, felt safe even when it was getting duskish as I got back to the car.

Wednesday evening a couple of us from the club in Kildare did a nice 47km spin at a decent enough pace, nice evening for the job.

Saturday was the Down Syndrome cycle from Blessington, I met some friends up there and the 4 of us decided to stick together all the way. With the weather closing in we decided to leave a bit early once the organisers had announced a delay in the start, better to be cycling than hanging around. We set off at a nice steady pace and things were fine really till we got up past the Kippure adventure centre, the weather closed in at that stage and things got fairly rough, the wind was coming straight into our face and the rain though not particularly heavy at that stage was the type of mist that blows everywhere and soaks everything.

I was going well enough till almost the top on the steep bits when I ran out of puff and had to put the foot down for a minute to get my breath back, geting going again was fun.

Over the top the drop down an climb up to Luggala wasn't as bad with a bit more shelter but I found the descent down to the Roundwood road a nightmare, visibility was poor, my glasses were covered in rain but if I didn't use them the rain was threatening to take the contact lenses out of my eyes which would have left me in trouble, as if that wasn't bad enough with all the water my brakes weren't filling me with confidence.

Once we dropped to a lower level things improved and we got a nice group together and made decent progress to the stop in Laragh, the food there was very welcome but once we stopped the cold got into us, and it was hard to motivate ourselves to head out into the weather again so a visit to the cafe next door seemed like a good idea, I don't think a cup of soup ever tasted as good.

The spin home was uneventful, the wind probably helped us up the Wicklow Gap and visibility was better going down so no real problems there, since we were running late we took the Valleymount route home.

The conditions up the top of the Sally Gap were the worst I've cycled in but despite that I enjoyed the day, I think the sportive has the potential to be one of the best on the calendar (with a bit more luck with the weather) so well done to the organisers.

http://app.strava.com/activities/48587086

I had a notion of doing the Tour de Foothills today as well but woke at 7 this morning to the sound of the wind howling and the rain hitting the windows, it didn't take me long to decide that one wetting/freezing was enough for one weekend so passed on it. After breakfast though the rain cleared, and since I felt fine I headed out to spin the legs for an hour or two, did the hard yards at the start and had the advantage of the wind at my back to set a few PBs on the way home, a nice 60km spin, legs felt fine all day which I was really happy with.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:217.15 km
Time:7:54:04 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,582 m
Avg Speed:27.5 km/h

A reasonable enough week but a bit frustrating, I'd hoped to get back into the mountains again this weekend or at least get a decent long spin in but neither worked out.

I did get some nice spins in midweek, Tuesday evenin I got home early enough to get a nice 50km spin in, chased a few PB on Strava and was happy enough with the results.

Thursday morning I was out early on a breezy morning, hard going into the breeze but I managed a few decent segment times again so happy enough with the mornings workout.

All that wind and segment chasing left my legs a little tired so Friday mornings spin was a little easier paced.

I'd hoped to get out for a while yesterday but things didn't work out, today we had a family event in the afternoon so my spin today was shorter thaan I had hoped, still got in 85km, a nice loop down through Stradbally, over the Windy Gap and home via Athy. I didn't think there was much wind out leaving home but found the spin down the old N7 to the Heath hard going but enjoyed the spin home once I had the breeze at my back
85km @ 27.5km/hr

http://app.strava.com/activities/49883330

Next week I'd hope to get similar kms in but hopefully I'll get a chance to get up some decent hills.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:282.03 km
Time:11:44:31 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:3,126 m
Avg Speed:24.0 km/h


A good week, managed to get out regularly and even managed to get in the long hilly spin I'd been hoping to manage for a few weeks now.

Monday and Wednesday mornings I got out early for a couple of handy spins and Thursday evening I was late home but headed out, I didn't go too far from home but decided to see how many vertical meters I could rack up in a short spin, managed 450m in 30km.

The forecast for Saturday was decent so I packed up any spares I thought I might need, filled my pockets with grub, topped up the bottles and headed for Wicklow. The plan was to head up over the Wicklow Gap, down to Laragh, up by Glenmacanass to the Sally Gap and see then how the legs felt, with a few possibilities at that stage for the route home.

The legs felt good heading across the plains of Kildare but I had a suspicion that the breeze was helping more than I thought, but up the hill out side of Hollywood I was still going OK, the last time I went up there I thought my heart would explode but yesterday was hard but OK.

Just over the top I met two lads from the club in Kildare coming the other way an we stopped for a chat, they changed their minds and decided to come along with me for a while, both of them are much faster than me so it was only going to be for a while, lucky for them they did as one of the las chain broke just on the bottom of the Wicklow Gap and neither had a chain tool or speed link, so I got to try out my new multi tool and use one of the speed links I'd just got, there's a knack to it, so while we lost quite a bit of time yesterday at least it was dry and I'll be quicker next time.

The lads headed on up the Gap to have the coffee ordered in Laragh, while I made my way at my own pace, the legs felt good but unfortunately my stomach started to act up bit which slowed me a little. It's an intermittent thing which occurs from time to time, I was hopeful that we had it sorted over the last month or so and while yesterday was not anything like as bad as it can be, it was an annoyance and makes it hard to eat and drink enough on a long day out.

The spin from Laragh to the Sally Gap I found fine, the wind was swirling every way up there and it was cold but I was taking it easy enough so was fresh enough reaching the Sally Gap.

Heading down I decide to take in Ballysmuttan Hill and go home via the Lakes and Hollywood, legs were tiring a bit by the time I got over the last hill but a cup of tea at the garage on the N81 got me going again and I felt comfortable heading back through Kilcullen but things got a little harder on the Curragh where I was exposed to the blast of the headwind, but I manage to make it home feeling OK for my longest spin of the year and my longest ever solo one. I'm happy enough with the day, the legs were good, if my stomach ha behaved I would have had a more comfortable day but I'm hopeful that we're on the way to sorting that. I'd be glad the WW200 wasn't yesterday but hope I'm on schedule to get around it.
145km, 1974m elevation gain, @22.7km/hr

http://app.strava.com/activities/50965781

Ha to go to Dublin this morning so only got out this afternoon for a handy 35km recovery spin.

Next week is busy enough for me so I'll be quiter on the bike but would hope to get some decent spins in over the BH weekend.

nilhg

Aprils totals:

Distance:1,000.97 km
Time:9:29:10 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:10,141 m
Avg Speed:25.4 km/h

Both the distance and elevation gain are PBs for me for a month so happy enough with that.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:251.57 km
Time:10:02:00 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:2,614 m
Avg Speed:25.1 km/h

Got out Monday, Tuesday and Thursday for spins to keep things ticking over, the weekend worke out a little more complicated than I'd thought so couldn't make any plans. It finished up that I managed to get in a nice easy 60km spin yesterday evening and this morning I was able to head up to the Slieve Blooms.

I'd hoped to do this spin from home but time was against me today so I put the bike in the car and drove the flat bits, the plan was to go up over the Cut and Wolftrap, down into Kinnity and decide there whether to go back to the car the way I'd come or the flat road along the bottom of the hills. As it worked out I felt fine, I knew that I'd be OK on the Cut from the Mountrath side and I enjoyed going down into Kinnity from the Wolftrap so much and with a decent surface most of the way back up I couldn't resist. It's a nice climb, some steep ramps but places to recover as well and with the leaves appearing on the beech and larch trees it was lovely and picturesque.

In general I was happy with today, it seemed to me that I climbed OK, not really being under severe pressure even on the steep ramps on the Wolftrap, I never pushed hard I was happy to be able to hold a little in reserve, it'll be needed on harder days. 75km 1365m gain.

http://app.strava.com/activities/52465833#

Next week will be more of the same, weather permitting, hopefully with a visit to the hills again next weekend.

nilhg

Distance:219.03 km
Time:8:20:57 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,577 m
Avg Speed:26.2 km/h

Got out 5 times this week but no long spins, there is a dose going through the house, everyone just seems to feel a little off, not sick as such but a bit under the weather so I kept it simple and easy, just keeping the legs spinning over.

Apart from that things seem to be going according to plan, this week saw me break 3000km for the year, my weight is still slowly coming down, I'd probably prefer to lose a few kg more but not enough to stop stuffing my face it seems;).

More of the same for next week, weather and work permitting.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:201.93 km
Time:7:14:05 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,228 m
Avg Speed:27.9 km/h


Quiet enough during the week, just got out Wednesday morning for 37km. Yesterday I was out early marking the roads for todays Tour De Bog, when I got back the forecast rain hadn't arrived so I got a nice 52km in, nothing hectic pace wise but I did take advantage of a tail wind to grab a nice Strava KOM.


Today's Tour De Bog went fine, I was comfortable in the big group till I had to make a comfort stop, still made good progress back to the food stop and went on again with the group for the second half, again I was comfortable till I had some stomach issues and had to take a quick stop but once things settled down I made good progress home, with the spin in and home afterwards I finished with 112km @29km/hr, very happy with that.

Heaing to the Tour of Connemara next weekend, have a bit of a backlog of work to clear before that so might not get out much during the week but we'll see how things go.

nilhg

Distance:319.51 km
Time:12:30:03 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:2,362 m
Avg Speed:25.3 km/h


A new weekly distance record for me, got out Monday and Thursday mornings before breakfast for 38km each time and Tuesday evening's spin was suppose to be roughly the same but I got my back roads mixed up so finished up with almost 55km.

Yesterday was the Tour De Connemara, we were staying 15.5km outside Clifden, I decided to spin in and out as well as doing the 140km. As I left the hotel the rain started so I was wet by the time I got to the start and since I was good and early, cold by the time the Tour started. It took me a while to warm up, I had no set pace in my head just sat into groups that seemed to be at the right speed for me and was going OK till I had a problem with my front deraileur just before Roundstone, I did some running repairs and got it reasonably well straightened out but it wasn't entirely reliable for the rest of the day and gave the odd problem changing up to the big ring for the rest of the day.

After the first stop I didn't seem to meet as many groups and rode the majority of the rest of the route solo or chatting to folk I met on the road, doing a conservative pace that I felt I could sustain for as long as I needed. Somewhere down towards Kylemore I started thinking that my longest ever spin was the ROK last year (171.3km), that I was going to be within touching distance of that and maybe I should find a little loop somewhere to make up the distance. If the sun was shining I probably would have done it too but when I got close to the hotel I was fed up of the rain and knowing that the rugby match had just started I headed for the warmth and some dry clothes.
165km @ 24.8km/hr

http://app.strava.com/activities/56191204

This morning before I packed up the bike I manage a 22km recovery spin down to Roundstone and back.

There won't be as many kms next week, but hopefully I'll get some nice morning spins in and maybe a visit to the mountains next weekend.

nilhg

May's totals

Distance:1,020.08 km
Time:39:21:25 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:7,858 m
Avg Speed:25.9 km/h

This week:

Distance:282.00 km
Time:11:43:53 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:2,927 m
Avg Speed:24.0 km/h

Got out three mornings, once on my own where I pushed on a little and twice with company where the pace was slower.

Yesterday Emma, my daughter was competing in Tri-Athy so I spun down to cheer her on, normally Athy and back is 60km but with going out to see her on the bike course and road closures I finished up with 87km.

The plan for this today was to go to Wicklow and see how I would cope with some of the WW200 climbs that I hadn't done before, the full route from home would have been roughly 140km, which I didn't really have time for today so I cut out the flattest 50 by driving up to Dunlavin and going from there. As some compensation my route took in every decent hill I could find, I even considered going up to Turlough Hill but decided in the finish to leave that pleasure for another day. The steepest parts of all the climbs pushed me right up to the red line but I thought I coped OK, with a little in reserve though those climbs will probably seem a lot different next week with more kms in the legs.

http://app.strava.com/activities/57706543

Next week will be fairly quiet on the bike, I'm away at farming events two days and will probably limit myself to a few short easy spins to be fresh for the WW200, hopefully this time next week I'll be reporting that I got around, safe and sound.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:275.36 km
Time:11:48:03 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:3,118 m
Avg Speed:23.3 km/h

Busy week work wise and with the WW200 on today didn't push too hard to get out. Was out Monday and Thursday though, a very handy recovery spin Monday evening an something a little brisker Thursday evening to get the legs opened up a bit for the weekend.

Really enjoyed the WW200 today, wasn't too worried about time or average speed just wanted to get around in relative comfort. Wasn't going great at the start, stomach troubles on the Wicklow Gap meant I had to take a minute but felt better as the day went on and finished feeling like i could stay going a bit longer if needed, though I wouldn't have been going looking for more hills to climb.

http://app.strava.com/activities/59311748#

Found the hills OK today, went up at my own pace and find I can manage to keep a little in reserve for those times you think it's over but it isn't, I'm never going to be a fast hillclimber but I do love heading up the mountains.

Not sure what next week will bring but will probably have an easy week off the bike, let the legs recover.

smacl

nilhg wrote: »

I'm never going to be a fast hillclimber but I do love heading up the mountains.

You sailed passed me no bother, there's hope for you yet!

nilhg

smacl wrote: »

You sailed passed me no bother, there's hope for you yet!

Think that was I could see the top, just wanted to get off that bloody hill.

I think going over that way the previous weekend paid off last Sunday, both Slieve Maan and Shay Elliot seemed longer than the week before but that was just the extra KMs in the legs before I got there but A: I couldn't say to myself this is too hard, I'll get off and take a rest and B: I was fairly conservative in the pace I set up to them.