g rock's audax attempt

G rock

Apologies in advance for the lengthy first post!

I’ve been thinking for a while about starting a log of my own, just to keep track of how I’m coming along and to help motivate myself a bit and avoid making excuses.

I’ve read with interest other logs here, and am always impressed with the good advice given to all. Hopefully I can receive some of that along the way too!

A bit of background first: 28, took up cycling towards the latter end of 2010 through the BTW and was bitten by the bug.

2011 got off to a pretty lousy start when I injured myself and was off the bike until the start of april. Things started looking up after that and the year didn’t end up being a total disaster- I completed my first few sportives, went on a few club spins, took to commuting by bike full time (and even sold my car due to lack of use), and generally clocked up the miles. From july to November I cycled 1000k per month, and finished with about 8k for the year.

I’ve been finding it difficult to get out for any long spins due to work and family commitments, and things are gonna get tougher again at the end of the month since I’m moving house and job (from dublin to monaghan/cavan), and commuting by bike may not be an option.

Since October/November most of my mileage has been coming from extended commutes (kilmainham to blackrock, extending it both ways by a couple of laps of the park before and after work, or out to lucan and back), adding up to 200k per week or so. This distance is covered solely on my single speed, which is far more fun than my road bike. Any longer spins at the weekend have been a bonus.

Some positives about the move back home include having two days off per week (I have been doing 6 days every second week), and the fact that I’ll be able to commit properly to a club and to proper weekend training rides, instead of heading back home to see family etc at weekends (no car, no bike transport!). So my mileage patterns are likely to change, with one or two long spins per week instead of shortish spins every day

I don’t really have any interest in racing, but I’ve got to thinking about audax events. I’m drawn to the thought of those distances, which seem to me to be about as much mental strength as physical!

So I suppose I better set down some goals for the year ahead:
1. become a member of the local club and get as much done with them as possible
2. beat my current solo daily distance record (165km)
3. beat my current weekly distance record (which stands at 430k-not a lot I know but it was hard won!)
4. participate in as many sportives as possible, perhaps to include the ww200, if only for preparation for number 5 below
5. complete at least one audax

potential audax events that I have my eye on are the ardattin 200, the mick byrne 200, and the around down 200, which in july, is looking like the potential first one that I’ll be fit for.

The ardattin and mick byrne might come too early in the year for me since everything is going to be a bit up in the air in march while I adjust to new job etc and try to get into some type of training routine.

A bonus to the year would be completing a 300k event (if any, it’ll probably be the dying sow (or is that cow?) in September. I’ll need the time to train up to that one.

I’m afraid that I don’t have a garmin or any other fancy bike computer so if anyone follows the log at all it’ll only be logged with total distances and maybe a quick breakdown of the route and any highlights/lowlights.
Did I see somebody here say that the surefire way to fall out of love with cycling your bike is to buy a HR monitor??! For now I’m just enjoying being out on the bike and getting some distance into my legs. Hopefully I cover enough ground to enable me to finish one of the events above.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully not all my posts will be this long and boring!

G rock

i only got back from holidays three weeks ago so the year had a delayed start.

i'm just going to post weekly distances from the first three weeks. everything done so far has been from extended commutes on the single speed.

week 1 (w/e sat 21/1/12) 200km
week 2 (w/e sat 28th) 185km
week 3 (w/e sat 4th) 275km

CramCycle

Audax Ireland are running Saturday spins (hilly and fast) from the Yellow House in Rathfarnham at 0830 in the morning, between 60 and 90km. Then a flatter, slower route from either Pheonix park or St Margarets NS on Sunday mornings, again from 0830, might be worth popping down to get a feel for it, plenty of old war stories passed around.

There is a google group also: http://groups.google.com/group/audax-ireland/msg/780120a7090c71b3 giving times and changes of plan notices.

G rock

That's great cramcycle, thanks for that!

what's that I hear? Is that the sound of the first excuse winging its way into this thread at such an early stage??

Prob won't make it for next few weeks, but no reason why I couldn't take a spin down from monaghan to the north side spins sometime, be great to get a bit of first hand advice and hear those stories.

Speaking of which, am gonna read your lowlands 1200 report this evening!

G rock

mon: 105km- kilmainham-n81-brittas-sally gap-laragh-roundwood-enniskerry-home @27.2kph
tues: 45km commuting
wed: 66km commuting
thurs: 45km commuting
fri: 45km commuting
total 306km
YTD 966km

the highlight of the week was my first longish spin since the end of november on monday, and the first spin in wicklow since the start of november!
i was quite happy with the average speed too, even though there was only one real section of climbing in the route. visibility from djouce (is that the spot?) into enniskerry was fairly poor though, it make for an interesting descent down that bit of a hill towards enniskerry!

i was definitely feeling it when i got home, legs were a bit tired, and that feeling was at its worst on thursday, when i didn't have the legs for the commute at all.

i supposedly set my alarm for an early start this morning to get a few km in before i had to drive over to work, but i woke up late and it hadn't gone off. doh! i wanted to do just 35km to bring my total so far to 1000k, which would have been nice for the first four weeks of cycling in the year.oh well.

two more weeks of dublin commuting left.

i have potentially only four days on the bike next week so i'd like to get at least 200k in with extended commutes.

i'll see how it goes anyway

G rock

tues: 75km
wed:75 km
thurs: 45km
fri: 45km
weekly total: 240km
YTD 1206km

i did a bit extra on both tues and wed evenings (out past castleknock college towards fort lucan and those back roads) to try and get some mileage in this week.

i had a disaster of a morning on friday-punctured on my way to work after my laps of the park, struggled for ages to get tyre mounted properly on the rim (marathons and track rims just don't get along!), then about 300m up the road all i could hear again was pssss....i thought i had checked the tyre properly but had missed a bit of glass that had gone all the way through. lesson learned the hard way!

i bid the single speed adieu today, it's been loaded up into the mover's truck, and i won't be riding it for a while i'd say (gearing just isn't suitable for home). i will definitely adapt it though, it's my favourite bike (until the new one arrives!)

i'm not too sure if the shorter frequent runs are helping me that much, i'm guessing that i need to start getting long (100k+) spins in more frequently, but this will be a lot easier once i get set up back in monaghan.

i have been reading a few threads on yacf on training up to audax distances, and a lot of posters seem to think that all miles count, so hopefully these weeks of shorter daily distances will stand to me.

triggermortis

Good to see another rider in Monaghan!
I'm usually out during the week, every other week, if you want to meet up for a spin any time - I'm just outside Carrickmacross.

G rock

triggermortis wrote: »

Good to see another rider in Monaghan!
I'm usually out during the week, every other week, if you want to meet up for a spin any time - I'm just outside Carrickmacross.

I'll be living in cootehill, could cycle over to meet you round kingscourt and you could show me round!

Once I get my work schedule I must give you a shout

triggermortis

Grand stuff - I'm only 10Km from Kingscourt. My usual loop these days has been Kingscourt, Loughanlea, Bailieborough, Shercock, Carrick. I don't really know the area yet - only moved here in August - but my wife is from Latton which is near Cootehill

G rock

mon: 45km
tues: 45km
wed: 56k
thurs: 42k
weekly total: 188k
YTD: 1394km

Not a great week to be honest, just got the four days commuting in. last ever dublin commute on thursday, not sure whether to insert smiley face or sad face here...

moved for good last night, hoping to start commuting in next few weeks. i'm hoping that it'll get a bit brighter, i'm still a bit nervous at the thought of the R and L roads i'll be commuting on, so if anyone has any country commuting tips i'd like to hear them!

triggermortis

G rock wrote: »

so if anyone has any country commuting tips i'd like to hear them!

Buy a tractor!;)

G rock

triggermortis wrote: »

G rock wrote: »

so if anyone has any country commuting tips i'd like to hear them!

Buy a tractor!;)

Ah, the country life, loving it already!

G rock

only two trips to report for the week:

sun: 98k
thurs: circa 105k
weekly total: 203k
YTD: 1597km


met up with a friend on sunday in ballybay, and we did a circuit round shercock, kingscourt, carrickmacross, back to ballybay (and i cycled to and from ballybay)

thurs i managed a solo spin along the potential commute route, it's fairly up and down all the way, and stuck on an extra few km.

good to get out on the monaghan roads and get a couple of longish spins in.

a few photos from bragan, co monaghan:

https://picasaweb.google.com/114783453290207759060/DropBox#

i was feeling fairly strong on both days, and felt like i could have kept going. knee was a bit niggly though so thought better of it. will build up the distance gradually.

plan for the week is to do a few morning spins and try a commute or two (the only thing holding me back from that is the fact that the evenings are still very dark)

G rock

sun: 114km
tues: 58km commute
fri: 58km commute
weekly total: 230km
YTD: 1827km

out for first spin with the local club on sunday (emyvale cc).
cycled out to meet them and had 30km under the belt before the official off. good to get out with a group.

Tues and friday were both commute days, it's amazing just how empty the roads around here are at 7am, i only met a handful of cars on both mornings.

still very dark in the evenings along the backroads. didn't help that i got punctures on both trips home. must be the hege cutting.

the plan for the week ahead is a long run tomorrow (day off), and 3-4 commutes. i'd like to get as close to 300km for the week as possible, haven't come close to that in ages

G rock

mon: 110km mini tour of monaghan and cavan (cootehill-redhills-scotshouse-clones-ballybay-shercock-balieborough-cootehill)
tues: 58km commute
wed: 58km commute
thurs: 58km commute
fri: rest
sat: too lazy to get up
weekly total: 284km
YTD: 2111km

all my cycling this week was done on the single speed (48-16) since i discovered two holes in my rear tyre when setting out on monday's spin. i didn't want to let that end the cycling for the week so headed out anyway. 48-16 probably didn't help my cadence much!

meant to get up before work on sat to try and do a bit to bring the weekly total over 300km but that didn't work out so well.

still quite happy to get that distance in over the course of 4days. i'll have to become a bit more disciplined in getting out of bed!

G rock

sunday: 123km: cootehill-mountain lodge-ballyjamesduff-finea-oldcastle-up and down lough crew-virginia-balieboro-cootehill 29.1kph average
mon: 53km leg loosener
wed: 38km pre-work fast spin
thurs: 38km same again
sat: 112km same direction as sunday, average 28.2kph
weekly total: 364km
YTD: 2475km

a better week.

two great spins weather wise, photos of mountain lodge below (don't let the name fool you-it's not that mountainous!)

https://picasaweb.google.com/114783453290207759060/Mar24201202#

quite the climb up to lough crew from the kells road side!

G rock

mon: 28km
tues: 39km
wed: 75km commute
thurs: 45km
sat: 28km
weekly total: 215km
YTD: 2690km

Not a great week, no long runs and had to make do with trying to fit in a few short spins at a higher speed.

heading to dublin now to do the ardattin 200 in the morning, have to say that i'm slightly apprehensive about it, not least because my sense of direction is appalling.

i have 2690km more done than this time last year so i suppose that's some encouragement!

G rock

sun: ardattin 200, 203km on the cateye
mon: rest
tues: 58km commute
wed: 33km before work
thurs: 125km
fri: 33km
weekly total: 452km
YTD: 3142km

goals achieved:
first audax completed
new daily distance record (203km)
new weekly distance record (452km-previously 430km)

sunday was a great day on the bike. the weather was perfect, and there was a good group starting out from the bray wheelers clubhouse. i was slightly nervous about having the legs to complete the distance but i guess that having such a large group contributed no end.

i was in a large enough group all the way to the first control, and i was feeling fairly strong on most of this leg. the pace was a bit higher than expected, but managed to stick with it, and was very lucky to avoid a little spill on the coast road. luckily all were ok.

i spent most of the distance between the first and second control with planet x of this parish, was great the company! met rottenhat and lastgasp along this stretch too! i was feeling fairly ok right up to the control at the ardattin inn, but starting to get hungry, so was glad of the break.

after the control there, another group formed and lastgasp was absolutely horsing it along for the first 10-15km; at this stage i wasn't feeling the best, just couldn't get back into a rhythm at all. i took a very short turn on the front and then just tried to hang off the back until the third control at rathdrum.

after a short stop i found my legs again and set off with lastgasp, planet x and a few lads from bray wheelers and navan road club, and we were able to keep up a good pace right up to a bit of a hilly section just before we hit the n11 where the group broke up a bit. i finished the final section with two others, and surprisingly was feeling good coming in the n11, where we were cruising along at over 35kph (the slight decline helped no doubt).

i couldn't have enjoyed things more, although i definitely have the feeling that i was somewhat cheating since i was so well looked after by paul and co on the day, and also by spending the majority of the route in a group.

i reckon that other audax events may be a bit tougher, but the ardattin was a great introduction to longer runs.

thursday was another great spin, headed along the border and into fermanagh towards fivemiletown where there's a great hilly section.

overall a good week, but the fact that there are quite a few guys on the road right now on the easter fleche doing my whole weekly distance in one 24hr period puts the week in perspective.

must. go. further.


so new goals:

a 300km audax
over 500km in a week

G rock

sun: 105km
mon: rest:
tues: 34km ss run
wed: 61km ss commute
thurs: 61km ss commute
fri: rest
sat: 258km epic (new pb)
weekly total: 519km (new pb)
YTD: 3661km

i didn't think i'd achieve one of the goals i set down for myself last week so soon, but it turned out that plans made late on friday evening helped things greatly!

a few lads from the local club are in training for an event in majorca in a couple of weeks and are keen to get the miles in beforehand. so they planned to ride from monaghan to belcoo, co fermanagh to partake in lakeland cc's sportive, and having the day off i tagged along.

i left home at 6.30am and rode 27km to roslea to meet up with the group, and then proceeded northwards to enniskillen and on to belcoo for the start. (86km completed before the start)

there was a nice crowd assembled for the start, and a great 100km route took us out to glenfarne, manorhamilton, up some serious climbs (rewarded with great views over leitrim, sligo and fermanagh), on into garrison (near donegal i think) for foodstop, back into belcoo for more food, great sportive. then back to monaghan we went.

the emyvale crew were a strong bunch, and i was glad to have the help on the way home.

the last hour towards home was the toughest, since our routes at that point diverged and i was on my own. got home at 6.20pm, riding time 9hr 40mins i think.

quite the day out!

i got out again this morning, and did 115km (up to ballyconnell and back) with a couple of other lads, and am tempted to add this to my weekly total but that would be cheating!

overall i'm feeling fairly strong, even kept up a good pace this morning despite the long day in the saddle yesterday, which surprised me. counting today i have over 1000km done for the month so far, so might take it a bit easier this week

ROK ON

That is some absolutely savage distance that you are putting up.
Fair play and well done.

You will be will able for a 300k or 400k audax I would imagine (not that I have ever done that distance).

G rock

sunday: 115km as previously mentioned
thurs: 109km on the single speed
weekly distance: 224km
YTD: 3885km

that was it for the week.

after a long weekend in the saddle last week i found it hard to motivate myself. i was feeling fine on monday, but as the week went on and i did nothing on the bike i started to feel more and more tired. i suppose that even a few short runs would have kept the legs in better order.

the freewheel on my roadbike finally gave up the ghost, completely seized in the garage on monday. hence the long run on the single speed. it was fairly flat but the drumlins are hard work on it.

new wheels have arrived so will hopefully have some help switching the cassette during the week, but until then it's single speed miles only.

goal for the week is consistency; i'm gonna try and do something every day, even if it is only 20 or 30km. weekend away (and also off the bike) next week so looking forward to the break!

G rock

sunday: 154km
mon: 32km
tues: 51km (32 before and 19 after work)
wed: nothing
thurs: 32km
fri: 60km (32 before, 28 after work)
weekly total: 329km
YTD: 4214km

again, all this week's km were ridden single speed (just haven't had chance to sort out road bike)

sunday was the longest single speed run i've yet been on (up in leitrim via belturbet, swanlinbar and home) and i was fairly wrecked afterwards. still managed an ok average speed-about the 28kph mark (if endomondo is to be believed, which i doubt).

no commutes now in two weeks, gonna have to organise myself a bit better.

overall i'm fairly happy with how things are going so far. april was a good month for me with 1524km completed.

new frame has been built and is now in the sprayer's, so will work towards doing it justice whenever it arrives in a couple of weeks

off for the weekend now to eat and drink!

G rock

wed: 91km with a day's work stuck in the middle
thurs: ugh, feeling terrible
fri: cue sound of towel hitting canvas
weekly total: 91km
YTD: 4305km

feeling like **** at the minute, first time sick in a long time. had a big weekend planned including cycling to carrickmacross for their northeast cycle challenge sportive and home again on sunday, but i think it's best that i don't do that now.

may is looking like a bit of a disaster-first week down with only 91km, have a week away with no cycling in two weeks time.

was hoping to have 5000k done by end of month but not looking likely now:(

G rock

wed: 58km commute
thurs: 58km commute
sat: 206km solo effort
weekly total: 322km
YTD: 4627km

i took it easy at start of week after being sick, but today i pushed the boat out a bit: cootehill-shercock-kingscourt-ardee-dundalk-up jenkinstown hill-omeath-carlingford (lunch)-dundalk and home the same way.

longest solo effort i've ever done and i'm bunched after it; there were a few hairy psychological moments facing into a headwind on the way home (especially from carlingford to dundalk-is that as draggy as i thought or was i just suffering??).

i averaged 29kph up until lunch (the first 107km).

no doubt i was helped by a tailwind but i probably pushed things a bit on the outward leg-to be fair i was feeling fine and spinning away, but the homeward leg i suffered more than i've suffered for a long time. the constant up and down around south cavan drained me.

i ended up averaging 27.1kph for the day

i learnt a valuable lesson about pacing today i suppose.

oh, also there's a class place for lunch in carlingford called food for thought; no doubt a few of you are familiar with it but if not you should get acquainted!

G rock

out of action again this week, a return of the illness from two weeks ago, which may or may not be cycling related according to gp.

in a "wait and see" period at the minute.

i'm off for the week next week too so May will end up being a total disaster bikewise!

i had been looking forward to the mick byrne 200 too but probably off the cards now.

you win some you lose some i suppose, hopefully be back in action soon.

next audaxing mission is the around down 200 in july, still trying to make a 300 but looking at the audax ireland calendar it looks like work is getting in the way each and every weekend there's a 300 on.

ok, moan over!

CramCycle

G rock wrote: »

next audaxing mission is the around down 200 in july, still trying to make a 300 but looking at the audax ireland calendar it looks like work is getting in the way each and every weekend there's a 300 on.

I missed my first 300 of the year as well due to work but was talking to Pat, the organiser of "The Quiet Man" 300 over in Mayo, if your up for it later in the summer I am planning to drive over and do it as a permanent.

G rock

That'd be absolutely great cramcycle, I'd be on for that!

I know you have a busier calendar than me but we must put our heads together on it and try and get a date that suits

G rock

friday: 90km
sat: 133km with some local lads, good to have company
weekly total: 223km
YTD: 4850km

had a great few days in the west this week, but was looking with envy at everybody i met on a bike down there, so was glad to get back into it, even if it was only the two spins.

couldn't resist getting out in that weather, the sun made the wind more than bearable!

not back to work until tuesday, so another two days for some cycling.

G rock

w/e sat 1/6
sun 28/5: 76km
mon 29/5: 135km
weekly total: 201km
YTD: 5051km

had a good enough weekend last week, four days on the bike with over 400km done, spilling over into this week.

even saw a lap or two of the emyvale gp while out on a spin on sunday with bax4556 of this parish.

since then have done feck all, kept setting alarm to get up before work but then couldn't get outa bed. may was a poor month (especially when i compare it to the good work i did in april), and i'm now struggling to motivate myself again after some forced idle weeks.

to try and get back on track i'm gonna lay down some goals for june:

-at least one 200km day in the saddle (if i'm lucky the boards 200km next week!)
-one 400k + week
-1200km for the month

G rock

actually just realised that my may sum total was 8 days cycling. terrible:(

G rock

just a quick update on a great spin today:

was out with a good group of fellas, most of whom are training for various trips (coast to coast, mizen to malin, another club trip) which i can't sign up for due to work reasons. set off from home at 5.30am, met group at 6.15, headed from monaghan up to belcoo, and up a great wee climb over glangevlin, home via belturbet. unfortunately there were a few mechanicals on the way, and one of the fellas had to call for a makeshift broomwagon

191km for the day, 28.8 average, and felt strong up to the final 15km or so.

i'm wondering if the 200k mark is my ceiling though, since i struggled with those last few km, similar to a couple of weeks ago

i'd still like to get a 300km done but concerned that the same thing will happen around the 200km mark!

anyone any thoughts on pushing through that barrier? just more miles in the legs? (haven't done anything in the past two weeks)

Beasty

G rock wrote: »

(haven't done anything in the past two weeks)

Don't claim to be an endurance expert, but if you haven't been on the bike for 2 weeks I'm not surprised if you were struggling towards the end. Certainly more time on the bike will help. Only riding on 8 days in May will not help the endurance.

Try and get a long ride in every week, with additional shorter rides between.

Perhaps start easing off a week or so before a long ride, but don't stop altogether - keep the legs turning until a couple of days before the ride - so you have retained fitness and gained freshness

G rock

perhaps that's a valid point alright!

in hindsight probably a stupid query.

will have to keep up the frequency and see how it goes

G rock

w/e sat 16/6/12
sun: 191km
sat: 57km
weekly total: 248km
YTD: 5299km

long way to go to that 1200km target....uh oh.

G rock

w/e sat 23/6/12
sun: 91km in the north east coastal challenge
weekly total: 91km
YTD: 5390km

had a very enjoyable cycle on sunday courtesy of carrickmacross cc, a fast (33.8kph) spin out to the coast and back.

it taught me a few things:
1. i'm definitely not as fit as i thought i was!
2. cycling fast is fun
3. i therefore need to work on my speed!

as i've posted before, i've been experiencing a few difficulties health-wise in the past few weeks, and again that took its toll this week and the past few weeks in general.

no gorey details, but suffice to say that a few visits to a consultant and a couple of tests have hopefully got things sorted and after a lay-off period of a couple of weeks i'll get things back on track again:)

G rock

w/e sat 14/7:
wed: 41km
fri: 45km
sat: 32km
weekly total: 118km
YTD: 5508km

not a lot but it beat sitting inside wishing i was cycling!

tried to just go out and spin easily as a reintroduction to it, but that idea went out the window after a few km on each spin and i couldn't resist pushing it a bit, managed to average 30kph or close on each of the rolling routes i took.

i hope pushing it a bit doesn't come back to haunt me...

G rock

sun: 104km
tues: 34km
thurs: 90km
Fri: 50km race (monaghan road race hosted by emyvale cc)
weekly total: 278km
YTD: 5786km

competed in my first race last night, the monaghan county championship or whatever it was called. i just thought i'd give it a go to see how i'd get on.

obviously i signed on as an a4 (with the majority of the crowd), and we set off on a rolling course 5mins ahead of a1/a2 (which was too much of a handicap i reckon). two laps of 25km, with a kicker of a hill at the very end of the lap.

when we first set off it took me a while to find my legs, and i was a bit taken aback at the pace. we got a few up and overs working, and i tried to take my turn on the front, but each time i did i think i slowed the pace down; i just don't have the power to maintain that pace.

the hill at the end of the first lap however suited me, and judging from the other riders i thought that if i could stay with them through the second lap i'd do ok at the finish. during the second lap i did a short turn or two on the front, and just tried to stick with the bunch. into the final corner before the hill it was each man for himself, and i spun up the hill to finish fourth over the line. had the finish line been a couple of hundred meters further on up the road i wouldn't have finished in that position, the final hill really worked to my advantage.

a1/a2 finished about a min or two behind us (so the 5min handicap was definitely too much). 39kph over the 50km.

all in all a great experience; i am now beginning to realise what goes into training for racing, some seriously quick guys in the pack.

yet again it was a learning curve in how far i have to go to improve my cycling! i think i'm ok on the hills, but have no power to maintain a high speed on the flat.

G rock

sun: 125km
tues: 33km
thurs: 35km
sat: 36km
weekly total: 229km
YTD: 6015km

had a very enjoyable day on the sunday, took part in emyvale cc's sliabh beagh tour with some of my regular cycling buddies. although i'm from monaghan, i had never been on parts of the route before, so enjoyed the variaton from the normal routes i take. cycled from the inlaws and back and made up a few extra km.

the shorter spins during the week i'm still trying to do at speed. on some of these i end up being as tired afterwards as i am after a longer spin. probably a good sign!

G rock

sun: circa 100k leisurely spin
mon: 65 glorius km
wed: 34km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/205893789
thurs: 42km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/205893763
sat: 81 not so glorious km! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/206361327
weekly total: 322km
YTD: 6337km

first 300k+ week in a looong time so fairly happy with that.

plus i got a new toy to go with my new bike so should make for some sobering reading:D

G rock

mon: 126km with two friends http://connect.garmin.com/activity/209055137
wed: 58km commute
sat: 76km solo http://connect.garmin.com/activity/209055029
weekly total: 260km
YTD: 6597km

not quite as much as i'd like, but was busy enjoying the weather!

not sure if it's the new bike or the shorter distances i'm doing, but i've noticed my av speed creeping up a bit.

anyone care to comment on average HR? pretty clueless about it TBH.

the few days i've been using it i've been averaging around the 160-170bpm range (details in the garmin links)

G rock

W/e sat 18/8
Tues 32km
Weekly total 32km
YTD 6629km

No more excuses!

G rock

Sun: 41km
Mon: 58km commute
Wed: 58km commute
Thurs: 128km
Sat: 20km (to meet a target!)
Weekly total: 303km
YTD: 6932km

G rock

sun: 153km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/215216483
wed: 58km commute
thurs: 58km commute
fri: 68km
weekly total: 337km
YTD: 7269km

went for what counts as a hilly spin in monaghan with a group on sunday, and was shown a few routes i haven't been on before. took things easy enough, and really enjoyed it. it's sometimes nice to remind myself just why i cycle- it's great just to get out and turn the pedals while taking everything in.

had a wedding friday so had a chance to get out beforehand. made me feel less guilty about the alcohol intake all day friday! needless to say there was no bike yesterday. having another wedding today hardly helped the motivation though.

overall i'm about 800k behind where i would have liked to be at this point of the year (wanted to average 1000k per month), and can only see that slipping back as we come into the autumn and winter.

think i'll also need to rename this thread as my audaxing didn't exactly come to much

G rock

wed: 73km extended commute
thurs: 202km solo http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221294659
weekly total: 275km
YTD: 7544km

my audaxing hasn't exactly worked out according to plan.

each time an event has come up that i'd like to do, something has come up to prevent me from doing it; similarly the dying cow/sow is off the cards this weekend (work).

so last week i decided i'd do an audax-type distance on my own. i really enjoyed it, couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise (well apart from a headwind in parts), plus it was the first longer run i've had on my new bike.

overall i felt fairly strong, and was glad i chose to lengthen my route at each junction where a turn for home could easily have been an option!

i found the HR monitor very useful-i picked a HR (fairly randomly i have to say-it runs at 180bpm when i'm really pushing uphill, so i reckoned around the 150-160bpm mark was a safe range) and kept cadence high, and managed to get home with a 28.4kph average, over a rolling route with a nice climb to glangevlin (even though the route profile doesn't look like much)


my stops totalled about half an hour over the day too (two stops), and i rolled home feeling good, helped no doubt by the following!
-large jerseypocketful of dried fruit and nuts
-chicken sandwich x1
-bananas x2
-coffee x1
-creamed rice x1
-horribly unhealthy doughnuts x 2 (to go with the coffee!)

next time, it'll have to be the 300km. with added lights and an earlier start

smacl

Fair play on that speed over the distance, pretty savage stuff!

CramCycle

Well done on the solo, audaxing normally has a large group at the beginning that whittles down to groups after the first 100km, if you can do that comfortably solo then you'll storm a 3 or 400 km audax.

I would normally eat alot more than that but I am a bit of a savage eater even when not cycling, glad you felt comfortable, Eddie Dunne has a 300 route not to far from you, you wouldn't have to start at the start but you could pick it up at the closest point to your house and have a crack, PM me your e-mail and I will try and forward it onto you.

G rock

CramCycle wrote: »

Well done on the solo, audaxing normally has a large group at the beginning that whittles down to groups after the first 100km, if you can do that comfortably solo then you'll storm a 3 or 400 km audax.

I would normally eat alot more than that but I am a bit of a savage eater even when not cycling, glad you felt comfortable, Eddie Dunne has a 300 route not to far from you, you wouldn't have to start at the start but you could pick it up at the closest point to your house and have a crack, PM me your e-mail and I will try and forward it onto you.

That's the three provinces isn't it? (another one I wasn't able to do at the time!)

I think I covered some of the route on my trip, it goes through cootehill which is home for me at the minute.

Much appreciated!

G rock

week of sat 16/9-fri 21/9:

i didn't really do anything last week, and i'm finished for this week so i'm going to count the week as saturday to friday instead

sat: 58km commute
sun: 103km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/225392428
mon: 10km mess around on the new fixed gear setup (i'm clutching at straws counting this one!)
tues: 58km commute
wed:58km commute
fri: 29km one way fixed commute
weekly total: 316km
YTD: 7860km

after a nearly a week of doing nothing, i tried to get out and do a bit on saturday and sunday, and i suffered! sunday wasn't the most challenging of routes, and i limped around the second half of the route, only managing an average speed similar to that of the 200km spin i did the week before, and feeling worse! i didn't bring any food with me, thinking that i could get around 100k without, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

in general, i feel much stronger if i consistently cycle, rather than have long gaps between days on the bike.

i also picked up new wheels for the single speed from holyboy, and decided to get them built fixed. so i had a trial run on monday and didn't kill myself, so brought the fixed on the commute on friday. i'm running a 48-18 gear ratio, and managed fine, despite nearly losing it on a descent. at around 50kph my legs stopped spinning smoothly, i nearly locked the wheel, and of course in my state of panic i forgot i had both front and rear brakes! stayed upright and learned my lesson.

the good bike will be parked for winter commuting, so fixed gear it will be!

off to kerry now for the week (no bike transport unfortunately), so another week's break coming up. i regret doing nothing last week now since i would have hit the 8k mark if i did

G rock

w/e sat 6/10/12
thurs: 84km
fri: 28km

weekly total: 112km

a poor week after a week's holidays

w/e sat 13/10/12
sun: 140km on the tour de breffni
wed: 58km fixed commute
thurs: 94km on fixed
fri: 58km fixed commute
sat: 29km one way commute
weekly total: 379km

YTD: 8351km

a very enjoyable day on sunday last courtesy of leitrim cc, and helped in no small way by a fantastic pace set by barry and noel from bray wheelers, who i also met on the ardattin 200. over 31kph over the 140km.

i also got some fixed gear mileage in too, and have given the dynohub a good testing. thursday wasn't the best of days so i took the fixed out since i didn't want to mess up the good bike. nearly 1000m climbing too. getting used to it slowly

G rock

sun: 83km leisurely group coffee run
thurs: 130km solo http://connect.garmin.com/activity/235675800
fri: 58km commute
weekly total: 271km
YTD: 8622km

i was quite pleased with thursday's spin, i averaged 30kph solo over 130km, felt strong.

i really should have done something early on in the week too though, but was too lazy, and now i regret it. oh well

G rock

w/e sat 27/10/12
tues: 58km commute
wed: 58km commute
fri: 58km commute
sat: 137km including 100km local charity run in monaghan
weekly total: 311km
YTD: 8933km

highlight of week: two 30kph commutes on fixed (just managed it- 30kph and 30.1kph!), which considering the rollling route i take i was very happy with

lowlight: finding out i was off today, and obviously missing out on the chance to ride the dying light 200.

so in essence the audaxing was a failure this year