Exactly like riding a bike

Good week overall. One race and just under 400km for the week....and my first ever points finish:cool:.


Tuesday 8th July
Nice handy recovery spin. The racing from the previous sunday had taken its toll. Good to get the legs flushed out and plenty of foam rolling.

Distance: 31.8km
Av speed: 24.4km/hr
Elevation Gain: 269m


Wednesday 9th July
I was wrecked all day. Audit at work meant I missed breakfast completely and even though I had a decent lunch I was still hungry. Just wasn't feeling it at all when I arrived for the league race. Was chatting to the lads and reckoned I would be lucky not to be dropped.

Off we went and it was more lively than usual with little jumps here and there. I started to find my pace again and when a breakaway formed early on I jumped with it. About 9-10 of us at the start, which became 7 after a few km and then 6 after half a lap or so. The pace was hard and I was starting to regret going with them. The little doubting voice in my head told me to drop out but I dug in. We worked very well together and found ourselves with a minute and a half of a gap back to the group, which at this stage had resigned to letting us go. We hammered on and with 4 km to go I realised that there were league points to be gotten....my first ever race points. All 6 of us took some time to take stock and get ready for the sprint. I jumped early, too early as it turned out and led the others out, but managed to hold off 2 of them for a 4th place finish. Absolutely delighted:D.

On reflection, the 4th place was nice but I was more happy about the work rate. I had buried myself and done my fair share of the work, I wasn't carried at any stage. I had gone early in the end but I went exactly where I had decided to go. I reckon I would have placed 4th either way, but the next time I'll be a bit more savvy. What a buzz though.

Distance: 52.0km
Av speed: 38.1km/hr
Elevation Gain: 291m


Thursday 10th July
Despite the previous nights racing I decided to do a reasonably hard, steady session. Happy with it.

Distance: 54.1km
Av speed: 29.0km/hr
Elevation Gain: 479m


Friday 11th July
Another decent steady session. Little bit tired but nothing major.

Distance: 62.7km
Av speed: 28.1km/hr
Elevation Gain: 468m


Saturday 12th July
Handy recovery spin after the last 3 days.

Distance: 61.5km
Av speed: 24.4km/hr
Elevation Gain: 474m


Sunday 13th July
Bit of a leg loosener to meet the club guys first, followed by club spin and a bit more on my own. Nice finish to the week. Great to be out with the club. It's been a while and I'd forgotten how much easier it is when you've got great company.

Distance: 24.2km
Av speed: 26.1km/hr
Elevation Gain: 168m

Distance: 98.7km
Av speed: 27.2km/hr
Elevation Gain: 645m

Good week overall. Just under 400km. Rolled through 1250km for July so far. That's over 2500km between June and July, so things are progressing. A little more research on wheels upgrade. More to follow next week.


Tuesday 22nd July
Recovery spin.

Distance: 38.3km
Av speed: 26.3km/hr
Elevation Gain: 482m


Wednesday 23rd July
A chance to get in some distance at a steady pace.

Distance: 106.3km
Av speed: 26.1km/hr
Elevation Gain: 859m


Thursday 24th July
League race. Felt good throughout. Some time spent up the front. Bridging to little breakaways. Had a crack at the sprinting but not from a very good position. Finished middle of pack.

Distance: 58.0km
Av speed: 38.2km/hr
Elevation Gain: 470m


Friday 25th July
Tough one. Very warm. A chance to do another "bonk" ride. No breakfast. Just a banana on the bike and 1.5L of fluids. Had planned to do about 100km but pushed on a bit further. Last 30km were very tough and done in a very energy depleted state. Got it done though.

Distance: 129.8km
Av speed: 25.7km/hr
Elevation Gain: 1082m


Saturday 26th July
Recovery spin.

Distance: 33.0km
Av speed: 24.4km/hr
Elevation Gain: 310m

Handy week, a step back week of sorts.

Tuesday 5thth August
Handy recovery session. Tagged on some hill sprints at the end.

Distance: 21.0km
Av speed: 24.6km/hr
Elevation Gain: 204m


Thursday 7th August
League race. Decent warm up. Different route and it handed me my a$$. Great to race on a more challenging course as it lets you know exactly where you are. A nice reminder that at best I'm average on the bike, or a bit below, and shows you what the rest can do that you cannot.....yet.

Distance: 48.7km
Av speed: 33.2km/hr
Elevation Gain: 538m


Sunday 10th August
Fartlek session with 2 others. Nice bit of training. We attacked each other at times and worked together at times. Generally mixed it up as we had planned to do. A strong headwind made it a testing session. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Felt stronger and more in energetic, so the easier week had obviously worked. Did some sprints at the end before I headed home.


Distance: 91.4km
Av speed: 26.9km/hr
Elevation Gain: 882m

Harvesting for a lot of the week. Small bit left to do as it was not ready to cut. Bike work was minimal. Did my first 2 day event as my last racing for the year. I had thought maybe to do one more race but I'm sticking with the plan. Maybe a few sportives and club spins and get some nice handy distance in.


Tuesday 19th August
Fartlek session.

Distance: 38.0km
Av speed: 31.1km/hr
Elevation Gain: 333m


Saturday 23rd August
Headed over for the Wexford 2 day for stages 1 & 2, an 75km race and a TT later in the day.

The race was tough. I knew it would be. Thought I might be dropped a lot earlier than I was but I hung on as long as I could. The lighter weeks had helped me recover a good bit. Finished over a minute behind the group but I was pretty happy. I wasn't completely spent but a lack of concentration and experience showed in the end and of course a serious lack of hill climbing ability.

The TT was tough for me. Not a great time at all but probably not too bad given my ability and the race earlier. Had a time of over 9.5 minutes. Overall it put me in the lower third in GC.

Distance: 74.9km
Av speed: 35.6km/hr
Elevation Gain: 743m


Sunday 24th August
Wexford 2 day stage 3. A pretty decent nights sleep. I felt reasonable. Rolling start. Light rain turned a bit heavier and the pace was decent. Left hip was not great but not bothering me too much. Unfortunately I had a mechanical and the support car was brilliant, but I had lost too much time on the group. The weather was crap and if it had been better I would have hammered on but an offer of a lift from a really nice couple from newry saw me abandon. First time I've done that but I really didn't see the point tbh, just too miserable. Felt a bit out of sorts this evening, I guess a mixture of disappointment and energy not spent in the race. Still a great experience and I would recommend it highly. Just a great buzz. Thanks Wexford Wheelers.

Distance: 44.0km
Av speed: 36.1km/hr
Elevation Gain: 275m

pprendeville wrote: »

Nice to meet you at the race on Saturday. Good to get your first stage race done and by the looks of it that was a pretty successful first season of racing. Looks like you'll drop a lot of weight if you keep up the bonk rides although don't go mad on them is what they say and obviously keep the diet good. hope to drop a few kg this winter and get racing earlier next year myself.

Good to meet you too. You got on well yourself, congrats. Not sure how much more you need to lose. You look in pretty good shape in fairness.

Its a start anyway. I've a new weight goal. The bonk rides will continue but mostly supplemented with pre-breakfast turbo sessions, starting half 5 tomorrow morning. I have a new training room outside so the family won't be disturbed and its colder so hopefully the usual sweatfest will be minimised.

Good week distance wise with just over 400km, most I've done in a week since I started. Also a good week weight wise with some good progress, more to do but getting there. Changed the back tyre on the training bike. It was worn through to the thread. In fairness it has probably done over 6000km from when I fitted it last October.


Monday 1st September
The car needed brake pads, so I brought the bike with me when I brought the car over to my mechanic. Got in a decent fartlek session while the work was being done.

Distance: 30.6km
Av speed: 31.9km/hr
Elevation Gain: 191m


Wednesday 3rd September
Handy recovery spin.

Distance: 24.1km
Av speed: 24.1km/hr
Elevation Gain: 189m


Thursday 4th September
Another fartlek session. Not as hard though.

Distance: 28.2km
Av speed: 28.3km/hr
Elevation Gain: 282m


Friday 5th September
Huge breakfast. Out of work early. No lunch. Collected the young fella from school. Once herself was home I headed off. Strong cup of coffee, no sugar or milk before I left and 2 fig rolls. No food on bike. 1.5L fluids. Bonked a little bit before the end but only slightly. Took in a few climbs as well. Enjoyed the session.

Distance: 84.7km
Av speed: 27.4km/hr
Elevation Gain: 878m


Saturday 6th September
Another chance to get in some distance in. No breakfast. 2 slices of fruit loaf, 3 fig rolls, 2 bananas and 1.5L of fluid on the bike. Strong throughout. No mad hunger afterwards.

Distance: 138.0km
Av speed: 28.4km/hr
Elevation Gain: 996m

Had some family and friends around in the evening. Didn't eat much junk. The stories were flying and there was great banter. I mouthed the word "Whiskey" to my mate, got the nod of approval......game ball. We don't get a chance to drink together much but when we do its pretty epic. Only one rule, whiskey is to be drunk neat. We finished off a bottle of Kilbeggan and I headed back to the cupboard. Like I say I don't do it much but I always keep a nice bottle tucked away for such an occasion. In this case a nice bottle of 12 year old Glenfiddich. We proceeded to polish that off as well. As they all headed home later I was told to enjoy my cycle in the morning and herself gave me that "yeah right" look cos she reckoned there was no way I was going to be able to do it.


Sunday 7th September
Woke up at 7, paused and waited for the hangover to overwhelm me. Couldn't believe it, I was in great order, like I didn't drink a drop. Not as satisfying though as the look of disbelief on my wife's face as I strode across the room in the cycling gear saying I'd see her in 4 hours.

No breakfast. 2 bananas, 4 fig rolls and 1.5L of fluids on the bike. Enjoyed the spin. I could press on at times if I wanted to and it was a beautiful morning.

Distance: 100.1km
Av speed: 25.4km/hr
Elevation Gain: 671m

pprendeville wrote: »

Savage going. Make sure you have something in the tank when the season is going again next year and don't become a winter wonder.

Will do. Just trying to mix it up and concentrate on the weight loss.

I see you're on the move to pastures new. Best of luck with it.

This is a bigger post than usual, so bear with me. Over 1250km for the month of September. A lighter week training wise but a busy one. Gave my regular blood donation. Spent a day at the ploughing championships which is a tough day on the legs. And the small matter of meeting a hero of mine and a true source of inspiration for me, but more on than later.

This week I surpassed my annual goal of 8,000km. I've set a new goal for the rest of the year. It won't be the end of the world if I don't achieve it, I'm happy to have achieved the first one.

I had hoped at the start of the year to get down to a weight of 13st 3lbs. I don't know what weight I was when I started cycling but I had not been running for ages through injury, so I'd reckon it could have been somewhere around 14st 10lbs. I was definitely 14st 7lbs at christmas. I managed to get down to a steady 13st 3lbs by the time I finished racing for this year. At the beginning of September I set myself a goal of hitting 12st 10lbs by the end of October, basically 8 weeks. To date I have surpassed that target in 4 weeks to a weight of 12st 9lbs. It's not massive weight loss but I guess its not too bad. Its meant a fairly strict diet, with some fasting and I'm tired sometimes but I just go to bed earlier. With the racing finished there's less need to be at my optimum performance, so I can go a bit deeper with depletion rides and lower energy levels. I've set a new target and hopefully I can get there.


Thursday 25th September
I've never spoken about this here but some mates at work and my wife would know about it. Gerry Duffy is a bit of a hero of mine and a massive source of inspiration for me. And so when I found out that the Wexford Tri Club were holding a fundraising night with Gerry as a speaker, I was on the phone and booked tickets for myself and a mate from work immediately. When we arrived I met Dilbert75 and the lovely Mrs Dilbert75 before things kicked off.

I've read Gerry's books over and over again. From them I found him factual, ambitious, interesting and an achiever. A guy who had obviously turned things around and then proceeded to apply this to all other aspects of his life. But you only get so much from a book. I needed to see how this came across in person.

I thought the talk was excellent and I got a lot from it. I had finally met Gerry, the speaker. I found him highly motivated, direct, confident and articulate. Pretty impressive from a guy, who described himself as having a pathological fear off public speaking before he turned things around.

Now I wanted to meet Gerry himself, but to be honest I felt very self-conscious. At the end I finally told myself that if I didn't go and talk to him and thank him for inspiring me I would regret it for ever more. So up I went. Now I met Gerry, the person. If I said that he was very friendly and approachable, it would be an understatement. He was the most inviting guy you could ever meet. We chatted away and I mentioned some of the things I was doing as a result of his achievements, trivial as they are in the greater scheme of things. And then I noticed that as I was speaking I commanded 100% of his attention and he was really interested. Whether it was a 1km run you did for the first time or a 1000km cycle, he was interested. Such an amazing quality in a person. A great experience and a photo with a hero of mine, what more could you ask for. I'll remember it for a long time to come.


Friday 26th September
Collected the young fella from school as per usual on a friday and headed out for a steady session.

Distance: 61.8km
Av speed: 27.5km/hr
Elevation Gain: 633m


Saturday 27th September
Nothing major distance wise with this one but used as a depletion ride (going to use your term phil if you don't mind, sounds way better than "bonk":)).

Protein shake for breakfast. No food on the bike. 1.5L fluids. Felt good.

Distance: 85.2km
Av speed: 27.0km/hr
Elevation Gain: 605m


Sunday 28th September
Again not major distance but another depletion ride. No breakfast at all. No food on the bike. 1.5L fluid. Felt strong and no issues energy-wise.

Distance: 83.1km
Av speed: 29.5km/hr
Elevation Gain: 530m

pprendeville wrote: »

Sounds rather like you to be honest. Was waiting all day for that post yesterday but had an early night so it has been a good read to start the day. Really motivating. I must see if I can get some material on Gerry Duffy. Sounds inspirational. Could help with my college work (goal setting and all that) plus the diet.

I'm not so sure about that but thanks for the compliments. I have a long way to go and have yet to achieve something substantial. But my motto is 'thoughts become things'.

Definitely look him up. I think it could help you alright. No matter what the area of interest is, the same basic principles apply. He's a very practical guy and knows the value of hard work. As he says himself, 'its simple, but simple doesn't mean its easy'.