Last Sunday and this week so far!!

After Saturdays nightmare with my front chainring went out on Sunday to do my 3 hours+ with 5 minute massive gear efforts.

My mate Adrian came out with me we met up at 08:30 and set off! I explained to Ady what i was going to do and he decided he would also like to try.

Got to sat Ady did a superb first hour but his lack of training soon took its toll and he dropped back to ride at his pace.

I managed 3 hours and 20 minutes but to be honest i could of done more but i took heed of what my coach said and limited the amount by only increasing by 10 minutes or so each week.

The week so far has been good i have managed all m scheduled sessions,yesterdays simulated through and off was a bit flat but you carry on regardless.

Just finished my 9x4 minute hill efforts at 164bpm best session of this so far felt great all the way the wind was blowing up the hill but regardless of that legs felt strong.

Sundays session is same as usual might try 3.5 hours this week.

New bike.

Note the large headstock a classic Ridley trait!!

Heres a few photos of my new ride theres a few things to change to get the position just right

Top left..Dura Ace 10 speed should be hassle free with smooth shifting.

Bike maintenance.

Hill intervals today 9x4 minute efforts at 164bpm everything was going great untill i tryed to engage the 13 sprocket then all that i was experiencing was massive chain slip.
I was to annoyed to investigate there and then so took the lon route home at a good brisk pace to try and sort it out.

It turned out that i had completely buzzsawed my front chainring thats what happens when you ride nothing but the big chainring and change your chain but dont check your sprockets.

Buzzsawing is when a chainring loses its profile and each tooth ends up pointed (like a buzzsaws) thus making the chain jump.My fault lesson well and truely learnt!!

3+ hours tomorrow 130-140 with 5 minute massive gear efforts....cant wait!!

Wet ride.

Wednesday off.So here we go again!!
2 hours progessive heart rate starting at 130bpm and increasing by 10 beats every 40 minutes so culminating to 150bpm but the last 5 minutes is a full on race pace effort.

The weather was awful rain and wind were the order of the day but serves me right for not taking full advantage of the beautiful day that was Wednesday.

The session itself went really well i reckon i am averaging around 20mph thats with warm up and cool down so pretty good for this time of year.

Tuesday 20th January.

After the weekends efforts i took Monday as a rest day so i could be relatively fresh for the shortest session of the week on Tuesday.

The shortest session is also the hardest with a flat out sprint required every 20 seconds i can normally do 4 per block and around 4 blocks but its a real killer so much so i've had to take Wednesday off as well but normal service will be resumed Thursday with 2 hours progressive heart rate on the road.

As i have taken my allocation of rest days i must now train 4 days straight...should be interesting!!

Sunday 18th January 2009.

After Fridays and Saturdays antics i was intigued to see how the legs felt today. The session was effectively a base ride but every 10 minutes i was to drop the gear into the biggest sprocket (12) and roll this along for 5 minutes with my H/R just climbing into the high 140's but no higher than 150bpm.

I have done similar sessions in the past but not quite as early in the season as this so i set off at 08:15 this morning with the plan being 4 hours my coach had said to me not to underestimate this session as it is quite tough so he suggested starting with 3 hours and gradually increasing week on week untill i am doing 4 hours or more.

I thought i knew best so with 4 hours and a route firmly entrenched in my head off i went.
The first 2 hours were superb really strong and my thoughts were "piece of piss this" but then around 2.5hours just after another 5 minute effort my legs completely went i will go back to my coach eating a large slice of humble pie.

I will try and do 3.5 hours next week but rest assured when i can achieved 4 hours+ of this session i will definately be in superb condition.

Saturday the 17th of January.

After Fridays session came my specific power session which i do on the Tadmarton golf course hill (Broughton side not Milcombe side).

This session is 9x4 minute sessions on the 53 chainring ranging from the 17-13 sprockets and back up again.
Thought i was going to struggle a bit this morning after Friday but the session went really well despite having a block headwind blowing directly down the hill.

Did all 9 sets and cruised home afterwards 1 hour 45 mins in total and felt quite strong 4 hours tomorrow with 5 minute big gear efforts every 10 minutes so we will see how the lega stand up to this but its effectively a base ride so should be ok.

Training so far.

I mentioned in my last blog that Friday was the start of a 3 day training block starting on Friday with a 2 hour hilly ride with 10 second hill sprints at the top of every climb.

I went out around 09:00am after provisionally sorting the route out in my head.I decided to go out on the Tadmarton road due to its rolling nature and the 2-3 good hills that they can provide.

I kept my H/R between 135-145 bpm on the flats but was scheduled to lift the effort on the hills to OBLA (164bpm) then with the crest of the climb in sight i have to put the gear in the 12 or 13 sprocket and sprint for the final 7-10 seconds.

This is quite a demanding session so the first proper climb of the day is the climb upto Tadmarton its self not so steep but quite long this went ok so decended the other side and started the long steepish climg upto Swacliffe.This was more challenging and i soon began to think i had bitten of more than could chew.

The next hill was the climb out of Brailes towards Lower Tysoe resonably long but not quite so steep i think the severity of Swacliffe made this feel a tad easier and my sprint effort was excellent.

Ever pushing on i rode to Lower Tysoe and sprinted the steep dig just before the village where i rode quite a long flat affair all the way through the Radway and took the back road to the intersection with the Warwick Road where camp hill awaited.

Up and over camp hill and attempted the sprint but its a 10% climb so it took me a bit to get the gear over but get the gear over i did and blasted right to the top. A hook left towards Avon Dassett and a turn right at the bad bend took me towards the British Waterways site at the bottom of Farthinghoe village.

Two more good climbs and 2 more sprints and i was back on the Southam road blasting back to Banbury.

Good session but next week i think i will drop down the hill at the Hanwell turn and use the climb past the Moon and Sixpence just to include one more climb which will make it a perfect session.

Days off!

Part of any good training schedule is an element of rest,its not just about pounding everyday you need to bring the traning adaptation on board and this can only be done through rest either sedatary or active.

Sedatary rest is completely off the bike while active recovery is a uba steady ride to flush out toxins and any metabolic waste that can accumilate in the body with reapeated hard training this is typically done during the racing season.

I have just had 2 days off back to back just cos i felt i needed it but now comes the tough part 3 hard days consecutive you can have the sweet but now comes the sour!!

Took the opportunity to give my old winter training bike a wash down this morning as this winter has really took its toll.The build up of shite was embarrasing and it took me a full hour of scrubbing to get it looking half respectable a quick squirt of WD40 and a good blast of teflon on the chain and she's now ready for a good blasting tomorrow 2 hours hilly with hill sprints......hmm nice!!!

Next training block.

January already and onto my 2nd block of 8 week training.

As i mentioned in my previous blog i am quite advanced fitness wise so both me and my coach have decided that "faint heart never won fair maiden" in fact faint heart never won fuck all so the plan is to put a fair layer of icing on the cake ready for the cherry to be put on top when i start racing in March.

The programme is hard with a sting in the tail in all the sessions that are scheduled.On Saturday did 9x4 minute hill intervals with my pulse around my OBLA (onset of blood lactate accumilation) 164/5 bpm. These are done on progressively harder gears starting on the 17 sprocket and going down to the 13 then back up again,all seated and all on the 53 chainring.

They went really well they were hard but satisfying.

I decided not to do anything Sunday as i wanted to start the week fresh ready for the 5 sessions that has been scheduled into a 7 day cycle.

Just finished my simulated through and off by far the shortest session of the week but by far the most brutal 10 seconds flat out sprint followed by 20 seconds hard just sprint as many times as you can around 4 for me and do around 3-4 sets managed to see 181bpm on my pulse which is very high for me and only managed 3 sets so will try and do the full 4 next week.My coach said that if i could do more than 4 sets i wasnt doing them hard enough on this mornings evidence i will definately agree with him.

2 hour road session tomorrow.....can't wait!!

See you on the road sometime,

Tony B.

Great day!

Everyday is a good day! That has been my pilosophy for a long time now you must always try and take a positive no matter how small and insignificant it may seem because before you know it your cup will be half full and not half empty.

Sometimes your day is full of positives and these are the best! Take for example this Friday (09.01.09) Hooked up with an old school and riding pal for a steady ride around the chilly oxfordshire countryside. Its been a good few years since we last rode and we had arranged to meet at the golf course on the Warwick road regardless of weather and conditions (just like the old days).

We hooked up at 09:30 and went for a spin it was as if we had never stopped riding together.The hour flew by then we went back to my house for a coffee and a chat before we knew it it was nearly 14:00 and we had to say our goodbyes.

Great ride, Great day!!

Tony B.

Today at Pete's

Today went to see my coach Pete Read to assess my current fitness levels and pick up my new bike.

The test went well with a big improvement in aerobic fitness about 10% which for this time of year is a vast gain but the bit i was most happy with was my weight and fat coverage .My weight was 82.5kg's with 16% fat which is a drop of 3% from my last test in November.

So all in all everythig looks to be heading in the right direction and really looking forward to get my next training block which i will receive tomorrow so full up date then.

Oh yes and my new bike its a Ridley Damocles with full Dura Ace but more on that in future blogs when i've actually riddden it so report and pictures at a later date.

Anyway thats it so far,

See you on the road some time,

Tony B.

Training so far.

Hello to anyone who is taking time to read this blog.It is my intention in 2009 to post all my training updates and my test/racing results and full reports during the 2009 season.

2008 season was a bit of a let down really trained really hard during the winter so expectations were high but never really delivered PB'ed over 2 distances but never really got going,so both me and my coach (Pete Read) decided that a change of direction was required.

I have always had a love affair with road racing but as i was concentrating on time trialing my love affair had to be put on the back burner but now it has been rekindled and the training so far this winter has been geared around road racing and my enthusiasm and hunger are well and truely back.

I firmly believe that a change is as good as a rest and this will make me a much more complete rider.

The training this winter has been interesting but not that much different from previous winters the only exception being lots of sessions that involve a change of pace which is quite testing but enjoyable nonetheless.

volume has been kept to around 10-12 hours a week so nothing ground breaking but most of the sessions have been based around quality so a typical week of training looks something like this....

MON- 5 on 5 off ( seconds that is ) up to 15x4 min efforts with h/r around 155bpm.
TUES- Road session upto 2 hours 145-155 bpm with flat out 5 second sprint every 6 mins
WED- Big ring ,small ring upto 2 hours
THURS- Strength session 53x12 seated flatout 10 second hill efforts 1 hour.
FRI- Off or easy ride 2 hours
SAT- Long steady ride 3 hours
SUN- Long ride 3-4 hours h/r 130-140bpm attack hills (optional)

I am going to see my coach tomorrow (Thursday 8th Jan 2009) for my latest test to assess my current fitness levels and pick up my new bike.

I will post another edition of tomorrows antics tomorrow.

See you on the road sometime,

Tony B.