Mel and the 180km Ring of Kerry

phonejacker

I was thinking of doing the Tour de Conamara on 27th May http://www.trisport.ie/en/tour-de-conamara.html but I'm not sure if I would be able for it. It's 140km (there is a 80km race as well). I purchased my race bike in April 2011 and my usual route last year was 25-30km 3/4 days a week with an average speed of 22-25km. The most that I did last year was 60km. I didnt do anything in november or december. But I want to start now again and have a goal (which i didnt last year cause i didnt enter any races), which is to finish thwe140km race. So I have till end of May. But in your opinion is my goal to big?

silentfox

mel.b you are an inspiration to me. The improvements you have made are very positive and I hope I will be able to be as successful with my goals as you were with yours. Good luck in the future!

P.S. Your facebook link isn't working:(

mel.b

Thanks silentfox Try this link... http://www.facebook.com/groups/207464475957007/

Phonejacker, i'm probably the last person to ask! I would say go for it though...you won't know unless you try. Certainly your average speed is faster than mine (i haven't yet been able to crack 20km/hr...is going to make the Ring of Kerry a loooong day if i don't get a bit faster!) and you have a good start with doing 25-30km every couple of days (even if you haven't done anything for the past two months). I don't know how tough the tour de connemara is - are there lots of big climbs? I would go for it anyway and start getting on the bike now and increasing the mileage. I found last year that setting up a sponsorship page early also made a difference...it was like people were 'paying' me to go for a ride and that gave me extra motivation to go out, because i couldn't let them down.

Good luck & keep us updated....maybe start a blog here as well?

carrielou

Well done Mel, good to see you back, got lazy myself over the december, early jan part but back on track now TG.

Went with club on jan 15 and ended up doing an 85km route, done it but very slow from 60k on. it was too much after a break of 6 weeks

Am in training for https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003018440858 now so really need to get in shape.

lost a stone since christmas and have upped my training some bit, wind wont let me out today as it is too bad. what a difference 2 weeks have made tho.

done a 40km on 17th with lots of climbing, 60km on Sunday last, 40km lots of climbing monday and done 60km yesterday.

Feel better and stronger every day that i am out.

I am aiming for Ring of Kerry also this year so hope to meet you down there.

Keep it up Mel, you done great things last year and it can only get easier, I hope

mel.b

Way to go with the weight loss Carmel I have started focusing on my diet again, so hopefully combined with the cycling starting again I will see some results again. Have managed to cut out the soft drink again, although I wasn't drinking as much of it as I was before I started all of this back in May last year. If only I could give up my crisp habit...:(

Had a mixed past two weeks. The first week was great and I did 5 sessions on my turbo trainer, however i then discovered the reat wheel was flat and it took me until Wed to get it fixed. Went to put the bike back on the trainer on Sat and couldn't get it on - a mystery nut has appeared so i'm not sure what is going on there. Hopefully I can get it sorted though as it's still good to be doing something when the weather is just too crap to get out (although i have now ordered a wind/rain jacket so that will help with the weather).

Went for my first spin outdoors today since the end of day light savings last Oct...was great - the weather was perfect. I wasn't sure what to wear so I wore a thermal base, my jersey and then a polar fleece jumper on top and on the bottom I had my tights (just normal ones) and a pair of tracksuit pants bottoms as well as my gloves. I was roasting!! The gloves came off after about 5min, then the sleeves of the jumper got pushed up and finally the sleeves of the thermal were pushed up as well. At least it gives me an idea of what I need to wear outside now, although it wasn't actually that cold (about 10C according to the radar at SNN airport). I think if i can get a sleeveless gillet that would be perfect rather than the fleece jumper.

Did 24.85km in 1hr 44 - avg speed about 14km/hr so terribly slow, but I really haven't done anything except the few turbo sessions since Oct and I know I'll get faster so that's ok. Happier that I coped with the distance as I wasn't sure when I was setting off.

I have also ordered my new bike and fingers crossed should have it later this week. I ended up getting the Scott Contessa Speedster 25...


Can't wait to ride it properly and see what it is like:D

carrielou

very nice

AstraMonti

mel.b wrote: »

Have managed to cut out the soft drink again, although I wasn't drinking as much of it as I was before I started all of this back in May last year. If only I could give up my crisp habit...:(

Each time you are thinking of opening a can of coke remember that it has at least 9 spoons of sugar inside it. 9 SPOONS! There is also almost zero nutritional value in a soft drink. As for the crisp habit, you just have to work a bit on preparing snacks beforehand and.. really stop buying them. If they are not in the house you can't eat them. If you need a snack and you have nothing around grab a carrot or toast a slice of brown bread, pour half a tablespoon of virgin olive oil on it and a pinch of salt and you have a lovely easy snack (just don't overdo it with the bread, and avoid white bread). And don't be too hard on yourself otherwise you 'll hate the diet and you 'll end up worse. Give yourself at least a cheat-meal (not junk food) every 10days as a reward of being in control of your diet.

My eating habits were awful, chips, crisps, mars bars, candies, soft drinks etc etc. I was lucky enough to have great metabolism and I was always skinny (not anymore though, i am normal now ) but I did manage to destroy lots of my teeth because of all the sh!t I was eating, my dentist loves me. Now my diet is much better, not ideal by far but significantly better. When you are cycling the only fuel you have is your nutrition, if you 've spend last week eating only crap, then on the spin you are going to feel crap and out of energy.

You have a lovely bike now, only by seeing it you ll want to get out, take every opportunity, control the diet and you ll be flying by the time Ring of Kerry arrives. Good luck

j@utis

congratulations with your new purchase! gorgeous looking bike. now you need new clothing/helmet/shoes and accessories to match the color scheme

I was euphoric when I got onto my first road bike over a month ago. It felt so different to the stupid hybrid I was riding before... all nice tight sturdy and sharp. Unfortunately it didn't make me faster... ok, maybe a little bit faster, some like a split second faster. but instead I gained instant respect from other cyclist on the road, now they're waving at me the from miles away.

many thanks and keep up your good work writing this log. Being a woman myself I prefer reading about other ladies cycling adventures and compare them to my mishaps on the road. Guys' logs are interesting sometimes too but reading them I feel small and weak. 30km/h average speeds? do they have rockets shoved up their ar$ses or what?

mel.b

j@utis wrote: »

congratulations with your new purchase! gorgeous looking bike. now you need new clothing/helmet/shoes and accessories to match the color scheme

Thanks...it was the colour scheme I fell in love with first. No boring black bikes for me Can't wait until I get it - that's probably the one good thing about having to fork over the cash myself rather than go through the Bike to Work scheme...no waiting around weeks for work to process it. I think my helmet should already be a good match and I was eyeing off some jerserys and bike pants today online

j@utis wrote: »

many thanks and keep up your good work writing this log. Being a women myself I prefer reading about other ladies cycling adventures and compare them to my mishaps on the road. Guys' logs are interesting sometimes too but reading them I feel small and weak. 30km/h average speeds? do they have rockets shoved up their ar$ses or what?

LMOA:p

j@utis wrote: »

I was euphoric when I got onto my first road bike over a month ago. It felt so different to the stupid hybrid I was riding before... all nice tight sturdy and sharp. Unfortunately it didn't make me faster... ok, maybe a little bit faster, some like a split second faster. but instead I gained instant respect from other cyclist on the road, now they're waving at me the from miles away.

Bummer...would be nice to get a bit faster. Maybe we need some of those rockets

mel.b

I've had the new bike for a bike over a week now and i'm loving it:D i have done 5 rides so far with the longest one today of 50km (total 110km) When i think how long it took me last year to work up to doing a 50km ride and this year with very little riding since Oct last year i was able to manage it (although i'll probably pay for it tomorrow!). On top of that the bike has made a difference to my speed and i can now manage a 20km/hr cycle...and maintained that for the 50km today. I know it's still really slow but last year that was just a dream and if i kept riding and keep watching the diet i will continue to get faster. Also thanks to Marq-Dublin i have acquired a bike bag and will be taking my bike to Oz when i go later this month for a holiday. I should be able to get a few spins in the sunshine in and as a bonus my parents live in a really hilly area. I just have to be brave enough to take the bike apart to get it into the bag:eek:

Next up is some clipless pedals / shoes and then a bike fit when i'm back from holidays.

j@utis

110km in one day? wow, that's something. I takes me a week to cycle 100km (5x20km cycles).
I'm wondering how's your cycling going "down under"?

Morrisseeee

Well done on your progress so far

To improve your overall average, try this: go harder on the descents and on the flat, ie. take it easy on the hills, but go that little bit harder when the road isn't going UP. You can waste alot of energy & strength by tackling the hills and then you end up just free-wheeling down the hills or taking it easy on the flat. You'd be surprised how your average will creep up with this technique

Or try this: do the same route twice, route 1: tackle the hills, take it easy on the descents/flat. Route 2: tackle the descents/flat, take it easy on the hills. You should notice a difference in both averages.

mel.b

j@utis wrote: »

110km in one day? wow, that's something. I takes me a week to cycle 100km (5x20km cycles).
I'm wondering how's your cycling going "down under"?

Not 110km in one day...the furthest i have done so far is 54km, but i am hoping to start to increase this now.

Cycling down under was good. I'm just off the plane about 3 hours ago! I only got 3 spins in but i don't regret taking the bike. I arrived on a fri night and then the sat & sun had temps over 35c:eek: by 10am. I managed to get out on the Sunday at 7am for a spin. The next two days we had torrential rain and then the followong two days blew a gale. Seriously, i'm sure you guys had better weather in Ireland! Got out for a spin on the Friday then was in Sydney and CHC for the second week which gave me time for just one more spin before flying back late Fri night. My parents live in a very hilly area so it was challenging for me, but the roads are so smooth even out on the back country roads.

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Well done on your progress so far

To improve your overall average, try this: go harder on the descents and on the flat, ie. take it easy on the hills, but go that little bit harder when the road isn't going UP. You can waste alot of energy & strength by tackling the hills and then you end up just free-wheeling down the hills or taking it easy on the flat. You'd be surprised how your average will creep up with this technique

Or try this: do the same route twice, route 1: tackle the hills, take it easy on the descents/flat. Route 2: tackle the descents/flat, take it easy on the hills. You should notice a difference in both averages.

Thanks Morrisseeee...i'll give those ideas a go:)

j@utis

lol I misread it. I thought you did 50km one-way.
and yeah, I push down hill instead uphill as Morrisseeee recommended. and also it helps trying to stick to somebody faster than you. Today I was overtaken by two lads and I went chasing them. I was hitting 55km/h downhill at one point I was trying so hard not to loose them out of sight and it was going well (25km/h+) but after 5km or so they decided to stop for a snack and my riding speed went down to usual 22km/h...

mel.b

What a great day for a spin it was today

Have had a great week on the bike with my highest weekly distance to date: 171km:D Am absolutely delighted with that. Monday's ride was the longest at 70km (longest ride to date also) and I found it hard work for a number of reasons but now I'm so proud of myself for getting around it and finishing it...even if the only reason I finished it was because no one was home to pick me up when I rang looking for a lift home:o

I want to now keep increasing the distance and also start to do some 30 - 50km rides on consecutive days which I'm not doing at the moment.

I've signed up to do a charity ride for Ronald McDonald House in April in Wicklow, so that will be my first experience of Wicklow:eek: Fortunately it's only 50km, although there is an 80km option but I don't know the route. I've also signed up for the Tour de Conemara 80km and the Tour of Sligo 100km so some busy times ahead before the Ring of Kerry in July:)

j@utis

don't worry about wicklow I ride in wicklow everyday (well almost everyday). I have push my bike up the hill sometimes but then I can enjoy 40km/h+ descents for miles and miles... ok, I'm just joking. I usually stick to coastal roads that are relatively flat (lazy me).

70km ride? wow that's impressive! well done girl!

Esroh

Mel

I see the Ronald Mac cycle route is around Blessington Lakes. This will set you up nicely for Sligo and Connemara as its short hills are very similar to what you will meet over here .
Sligo has 1 stiff climb(which comes early enough) the rest is whats best described as rolling.
Connemara 80m is again rolling rather than having big climbs.
Pray for good weather in the west as the wind is the unknown that can really effect your day out.

Your will be well on the way distance wise after your 3 events in 8 weeks, ROK will be well within your grasp.

Keep it up.

mel.b

Big acheivements for me this week on the bike.

First was yesterday with the Pakie Ryan memorial ride which was 50km (although more like 55km). I did it in 2hr 31min with an average speed of 21.49km/hr. I was almost the last one back, but I was delighted with that speed as it was the first time I had managed over 20km/hr. I get overtaken badly on the hills but manage to catch up on the flat.

Then I went down to TriBikes in limerick and picked up a pair of road shoes and Look Keo Easy pedals & cleats.

So this morning I worked up the courage to give them a go. Had been reading suggestions to use a door frame for balance...that was a mistake! I only have tiled and wood floors and the shoes are like ice skates on that surface and I just about fell over trying to just put my leg over the bike:o So the bike was quickly put outside where I was relieved to discover it was much easier to walk on concrete. After practicing clipping in and out about 10 times on each leg while just standing over the top tube I then had a go a couple of times while sitting on the seat. I found it harder to clip in than out, as I was never sure where to put the shoe and I was trying to do it while not looking down.

Working up more courage after lunch I decided to just give it a go and tried riding around the estate which went well and I had no problems. I find it easier to clip out with my leg in the 12 o'clock position rather than 6 o'clock. Where do other people have their leg when clipping out? Practiced both left and right in/out, in/out, in/out until I was feeling more confident and getting my shoe in faster. I then headed out for an easy spin - flat and not too many intersections or roundabouts to navigate. First roundabout - no traffic -easy, second roundabout - am slowing down, there's a car coming on my right - he's in the middle of the two lanes - no indicator...which way is he going to go? He decides to go straight through - twist left foot, leg down & stop...perfect! Was rather pleased with myself:)

I did notice that I was getting some pins & needles / numbness in both feet by about 12-13km and real pain in my right foot at the very end of the ride which was 28km. Not sure if I had the shoes done up too tight or the cleats need a slight adjustment?

Did a total of 151km for the week and one swim session. Got in 4 rides - Wed/Thurs and Sat/Sun so happy to get in the back to back rides and also was pleased to note that my legs weren't sore at all on today's ride after yesterdays effort. With the continued good weather forecast for the next week my goal is to take on a ride with hills that I last did in August last year where I had to push the bike up some of the hills & see if I can make it without having to push this time!

nilhg

mel.b wrote: »

I did notice that I was getting some pins & needles / numbness in both feet by about 12-13km and real pain in my right foot at the very end of the ride which was 28km. Not sure if I had the shoes done up too tight or the cleats need a slight adjustment?

New shoes and cleats for me too this week, SPD in my case, I found the clipping in and out OK TBH, no real dramas at all.

I did have the same problem with my feet though, round about the same distances as you, I'm fairly sure it's from having the shoes too tight, especially the lower straps, it'll be a case of trial and error to get the balance right.

Sounds as if you're going well, the training trip down under must be paying off;)

mel.b

Even though i only got a few spins in while in Oz, i actually do think it paid off. The hills were steeper and more frequent then where i ride in Clare so i notcied coming back that it all fet easier. I need to push myself more now and start taking on some other hills.

I'm hoping that the foot pain is just because i had the shoe done up too tight. Will try loosening them for my next spin. Otherwise i can't see myself managing longer cycles until it is sorted. No use me trying to get them in the right position as i'll probaboy just make it worse. I'm in the process of sorting a bike fit so if need be, it can be looked at then.

pointer28

Hi Mel,

I had similar issues when I got my shoes and cleats first.

A got a good bike fit done and he also positioned my cleats properly for me and it made all the difference. It might not look much but if you're even half an inch off you'll really know after a few hours in the saddle. Your knees will thank you.

j@utis

great stories here about switching to clip-less pedals for the first time. I bought a pair of diadora shoes, shimano 105 spd pedals + cleats few months ago but I haven't summoned the courage yet to try them out.
did you change your pedals yourself?

oh and congrats on new avg speed record!

mel.b

I had my bike with me when i got the new shoes & pedals so the lbs put them on for me...meant there was no backing out!

I've taken the normal pedals off my bike before though and it is easy to do.

You should give those pedals & shoes a go:)

Four of a kind

mel.b wrote: »

I had my bike with me when i got the new shoes & pedals so the lbs put them on for me...meant there was no backing out!

I've taken the normal pedals off my bike before though and it is easy to do.

You should give those pedals & shoes a go:)

I changed to cleats and proper shoes after 2 weeks of cycling as the toe clips were just annoying. Don't know how I managed as the cleats are just serious. Major difference when climbing and just way more efficient overall.

Go for it.

mel.b

Things had been going so well for the past couple of weeks. Had started to increase the distance, was getting better at hills (if you discount the disaster that was woodcock hill), having managed corkscrew hill twice and i got my bike fit done which meant i was comfortable on the bike for the first time.

It all came to a crashing end lasy night when i fell off my bike (completely my own fault, no one else involved - misjudged the angle i needed to move from the road into the entrance of a petrol station and went spectacularly over on my side). The end result: a fracture to the radial head of my left elbow Not sure how long I will be off the bike for until I have my appt at the fracture clinic on Thurs, but definitely the cycle for Ronald Mcdonald House next weekend in Wicklow is out. Had just signed up for the Tour de cure on the 13th May and the DID cycle4life on the 19th May as well:(

nilhg

Ah that's hard luck Mel, hopefully you'll be back up and going in not too long a time.

Dermot Illogical

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you'll recover soon. I'm looking forward to reading your turbo reports in the meantime.

on_the_nickel

Mel, just came across this thread and skipped from page 1 to the last page.

The injury is a downer, but the progress you've made is incredible. So while you recuperate, have a read through this thread to keep your spirits up - what you've achieved is inpirational!

G rock

tough luck mel. wish you a speedy recovery and looking forward to you posting here again with continued successes!

pointer28

Hi Mel,

Terribly bad luck with the injury but don't lose hope and give up after working so hard.

Have you a turbo trainer that you could use at home? Even half an hour every couple of days just to keep the legs spinning while you're injured.

I'm sure if you asked nicely you might even be able to borrow one off some nice boardsies who wouldn't be using it this time of year.

Just a suggestion.