Here we go again, Nilhg's 2013 log

nilhg

This week:

Distance:179.80 km
Time:6:46:44 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,422 m
Avg Speed:26.5 km/h


Two morning spins during the week both at a nice keep warm pace, and then the Saturday club spin which was similar to the last few weeks, the pace is a little up and down till the groups split and then more sustained after that. We went up through Kilteel and back around to Brittas via the road up by Slade valley golf club, I was comfortable in the group till the gradient kicked up steep and the lighter lads pulled away a bit on me, I've no real problem on the steep stuff (short bits of it anyway) as long as I do it at my own pace but the weight difference does tell compared to the others.

We went back into Blessington via Ballysmutten and again I got dropped on the steep bit, I might just have hung on cause I knew the road and that it wasn't that far up but I started having problems with the gear change on my rear derailleur and couldn't easily change gear from half way up.

A quick inspection revealed that the cable had started to fray where it comes out of the lever so I was afraid to use it in case it damaged something so I rode the rest of the way home in the 17 sprocket with just the change down on the front rings for gearing, it was interesting but I managed OK, it could have happened in a worse place.

http://www.strava.com/activities/99034209

Didn't stir out today, going to have to have the bike repaired, wouldn't mind doing it myself but don't have any cables or cutters so probably will drop it to the LBS tomorrow, hopefully will get a few spins in midweek and something decent again next week.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:174.36 km
Time:6:19:58 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,239 m
Avg Speed:27.5 km/h


Didn't manage to get the bike sorted till Wedensday afternoon so missed a few chances at morning spins early in the week but did manage to get out Thursday and Friday mornings. Thursday morning I was feeling good and with the wind fairly favourable I made a decent effort at a local strava segment, a it's a nice rolling 7km and managed to take almost 30 seconds off my PB (which was set one day with a proper gale behind, it was the day of the Tour de Foothills) and nab 2nd overall which I'm quite happy with.

With the forecast for Saturday horrible I extended my Friday morning spin to 64km, nice brisk pace throughout felt nice and comfortable.

Might have tried to get out early for a while yesterday morning but we had a bit of a problem down the yard so I had to give it a miss, no harm given how the weather turned out.

The club Xmas drinks and dinner was last night so I was a bit slow to get going today but managed a nice steady 66km, I was trying to avoid the worst of the wind by sticking to sheltered roads but managed to find a long stretch that had had it's hedges cut recently, I snuck through as best as I could but eventually my luck ran out and I picked up a blackthorn twig in my front wheel, not the greatest day for a puncture but that's the way things go, thankfully the rest of the spin was uneventful.

I'm 250km short of getting to the 10,000km mark for the year, hopefully if things go right I'll get it done and dusted before Xmas, maybe even next week, a couple of us have something a little mad different planned for next weekend which would be a nice way to do it but it's weather dependent so we'll have see how it goes.

nilhg

This week:


Distance:228.34 km
Time:8:36:01 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:1,364 m
Avg Speed:26.6 km/h

A bit of a strange week, events and the weather haven't been too conducive to much time on the bike but I managed to get out twice during the week and again today.

Monday morning I did my usual Lullymore loop, at a nice steady pace and on Thursday afternoon I thought I saw an opportunity to get a quick spin in before sunset, I could see a bit of a black cloud away on the horizon but thought it would miss us here, I was wrong, I finished up having to put the hammer down to get home covered in snow just before it got completely dark.

A little while ago (when we were having that extended spell of lovely weather) a few of us got chatting about doing something to finish off the year with a bit of a bang and we decided that a 200km spin before Christmas would fit the bill, it seemed that there would be 6 of us, all well capable of the distance if conditions were OK. Today was the appointed day but before we had started we were down two riders, and conditions weren't looking great but the other 4 said we'd give it a go. The plan was to loop down around through Kilkenny so at 7 this morning we headed on with enough lights for a Christmas tree and enough hi-vis to be seen from orbit. Down near Castledermot one of the lads was feeling a bit under pressure and decided to turn for home and by the first coffee stop in Leighlinbridge we had another casualty so that just left two of us, after getting news of snow at home and a quick look at the weather radar showing the showers sweeping in we decided not to get farther from home but to head back with Ken to Carlow and then zig-zag our way home to make up as close as possible to the planned distance, that plan held till we got caught in a heavy snow shower up over Kileshin, we had to take shelter under a tree till the worst cleared, visibility was just too poor to continue.

Once it cleared we headed for home, the slush on the road made for lots of spray and it wasn't nice at all till we got down lower off the hill.

I felt quite well all through and it was only in the last 10km or so that I ran into trouble, I just got very hungry, couldn't get food into me fast enough and I reckon I was on the point of a fairly severe bonk just when I got home, we'd only stopped once, and even though I'd eaten some on the bike I reckon I didn't account for the effects of the cold.

We finished up with 161km @just under 26km/hr

http://www.strava.com/activities/101400787

Next week will be quiet, I need 21km to get to 10k for the year, once I get that I'll be taking it easy.

nilhg

This week:

Distance:107.94 km
Time:4:27:42 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:633 m
Avg Speed:24.2 km/h

A quiet week, three of us went out S Stephens day on roads that were worse than we expected so we just stuck to the old N7 up through Newbridge and Naas, taking it easy, very easy in fact even with a bit of a sprint up Boston Hill on the way home my average HR was below 100, I don't think I've ever managed that before.

That spin, easy and all though it was did finally push me over the 10,000km total for the year so was happy to have that out of the way.

Yesterday morning I was out and about early to get some jobs done before the club Saturday spin, no sign of frost here at all, on the cars or in the yard so I had no worries about conditions, even going to Kildare over Dunmurry there was no sign of ice at all so I was surprised when only two others turned up, the lads that stayed at home must have known more than me, because we were only a few KMs out of Kildare heading for Kilcullen on the back road when we ran into black ice and I was the unlucky one to hit the deck. Luckily enough there was nothing coming and no great permanent harm was done, I've a bit of road rash and am a bit stiff and sore today but it could have been much worse. The fall put paid to the plan to visit Hollywood and environs though so it was back to the old N7 again for a nice gentle spin up to Naas and back, we did open the legs a bit from Ballymany back to Kildare though, and I was happy enough to be able to stick with our resident fast man for most of the way.

http://www.strava.com/activities/102334166

I might get one more spin in before the end of the year bit in general the plan is to take a few easy weeks before maybe trying to be a little more targeted in my approach to next year, but that'll be for next years log.

upthe19th

Nicely done J. Well done. Glad to hear you were ok after hitting the deck.

nilhg

The full cycling review of the year will come soon but hopefully within the bounds of the boards policy on talking about medical stuff (mods, if I'm out of line please feel free to do whatever needs to be done) I might just clarify some of the stuff I mentioned during the year.

The biggest fustration I had during the year was on the occasions when I felt I had the legs to stay in a group/go faster up a hill but some other part of me let me down, usually a double whammy of stomach trouble and then a elevated HR, easing off the pace or stopping and resting for a few minutes would sort me out and I'd be good to go again but it was disheartening to say the least to see your group go up the road without you.

None of these problems were new, I'd been managing OK with them before I started cycling but stuff that doesn't seem significant at rest can be vry different when you are pushing hard.

I'd had loads of tests for the stomach problems, I'd been scoped up and down, scanned, ultrasounded, kept food dairies, done exclusion tests, been prescribed different potions and tablets and thankfully while everything was clear the prescriptions made no difference which is not really surprising as there was nothing specific to treat. All along the medics had been assuming that the HR issues were a symptom of the stomach issues but after I started to get some specific data from my Garmin my GP decided to send me to a specialist in HR arrhythmia and after a few false starts (it's amazing how intermittent problems never occur when you're strapped up to a monitor) we finally managed to catch it during a stress test in the hospital and I have a definite diagnosis of PSVT which in my case seems 95% of the time to have been triggered by the stomach problems. Not an ideal situation but not the end of the world, currently I'm being treated with drugs which control it well but with some side effects but hopefully I may be ale to have Keyhole surgery to sort it finally.

While all this was going on I had a appointment with my GP where we decided to try an alternative approach to sorting my stomach, which though it didn't work led to me trying Psyllium Husks which nearly 4 months on have been a revelation, I'm no real believer in alternative therapies but 2 teaspoons of these in a pint of water per day have made a huge difference to me, the bloated feeling is gone, the constant gas is gone, the waking up with my mouth covered on "fur" is gone, I just hope it continues.


So to conclude, hopefully I go into 2014 in better condition than last year, while the problems I had were insignificant compared to the challenges some folk face I'm happy to have made progress of this front and looking forward to not having to let all the folk i passed going up a hill by me while my Hr recovers on the other side.

And lastly and most importantly, this is just an abbreviated version of my experience, if you have similar problems go see your doctor.

nilhg

Last month:

Distance:859.22 km
Time:32:24:46 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:5,566 m
Avg Speed:26.5 km/h

A couple of easy spins Monday and Tuesday to finish out the year, so the final totals were:

Distance:10,189.27 km
Time:394:25:04 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:86,836 m
Avg Speed:25.8 km/h

Happy to get over the 10K barrier and well pleased with the amount of climbing, but I'll do a proper review of the year shortly.

Buzwaldo

Cheers nilhg. Have enjoyed this thread intermittently through th year, esp your take on some of the events I got to also.
Only managed about a third of your distance however. Next year will aim for half or more.
Keep up the good work in 2014.
(Ps - also enjoy the farming references. Brings me back to times spent drawing corn or harrowing 30 years ago).

nilhg

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.

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.

Looking at my goals from January again now it appears that I managed to fulfill 4 of the 5, only doing the multi day event fell by the wayside, mainly because whenever a few of us discussed something the logistics never seemed to work, so a must try harder there.

Personally I feel I improved as a cyclist since 2012, when you don't race it's hard to quantify that, times and positions on strava segments round here depend more on being out in the wind than any absolute ability, the two best estimates I can give are that my PB's on the longer hill segments in Wicklow and the Slieve Blooms dropped consistently during the year and that on the club spins I can hang in longer and more comfortably when the faster lads drop the hammer.

I definitely got in much more time in the hills, and to be honest I love it up there, I'll never be a fast climber but compared to last year I do feel that at my own pace I'll get up most of what I'll meet out there.

The WW200 and RT went very well for me, both held on beautiful days which is always a help but I paced myself well and the legs felt comfortable all through both days so it's nice when the plans work out.

Events wise, I did quite a few this year, at least one per month from Feb through to October,

• Ned Flanagan
• Lap of Laois
• Cycle 4 DSI
• Tour De Bog
• Tour of Connemara
• Wicklow 200
• Wicklow Peaks
• Watchtours Summer Sportive
• Tour of Kildare
• Rebel Tour
• Sean Kelly Tour of the Midlands
• Castlecomer Classic

enjoyed all of them, the Cycle 4 DSI was epic for the way the weather went, quite a lot of the people who started didn't finish so it was great to be one of the ones that did, probably though the WW200 was my favourite event of the year, the day was super, the group of riders that I seemed to meet every so often on the road were great and I didn't suffer too much, even a puncture near the end didn't mess things up.

I also did a few long solo spins, the longest being 165km, it's a long day on your own but you do have to be reasonably confident in your own form and your preparation of your equipment to take it on so it's a good feeling when it all works out.

I really enjoyed 2013, I feel better than I have for years, my weight came down a little more through the year though I sort of deliberately put on a few KG for the winter I'm confident what with a bit of self control near the cake tin I'll drop it off again for the summer.

Many thanks to all the boardsies who read, thanked and commented on this log, I know I met some of ye on the road, hopefully next year I'll meet more and if you see a Headstrong jersey somewhere be sure to ask for John O'L.

Happy 2014 to everyone

macbane66

Good man John , looking forward to seeing or 2014 bucket list !

nilhg

macbane66 wrote: »

Good man John , looking forward to seeing or 2014 bucket list !

Well you can be sure that after seeing what it did to you Race around Ireland 2014 won't be on it...