Tompy shall have new shoes (and stuff)

Wiggle have just sent me a pair of Sidi Genius 5 shoes. They look great and I will wear them on the turbo trainer tonight and test them for comfort.

I also got a camera to mount on the bike (or a helmet). Now I will be able to film some rides!

And carbon bar-end plugs for the death bike.

the man machine

We went to Manchester on Saturday to watch World Cup cycling at the velodrome. It was our first experience of track cycling and it was brilliant. Highlights were Team 100% Me’s team pursuit qualifying ride and Chris Hoy’s tussle with Arnaud Tournant in the men’s sprint final. GB’s team pursuit final where they caught the Russian team was also brilliant but there seemed an inevitability to it so it wasn’t quite as exciting as when the younger lad’s performed so well.

Next year we’ll probably go to all 3 days of the World Cup and also try and take in one of the Revolution evenings too.

Cheam and Morden Hilly 50k

On Saturday I drove down to Surrey to ride the Cheam and Morden Hilly 50k ride. It was very tough.

Right after the start there was a long hill, way longer than anything round here, but I twiddled up it rather than trying to match some of the faster lads. The descent was brilliant but I soon realised my rear brake wasn’t going to be up to the job when we came to a junction on the edge of Dorking. To make matters worse, my front brake squeals like a pig.

Anyway more hills followed and they were all worse than that first one but I managed to achieve my goal of not walking any of them. On White Down I did have to stop twice to catch my breath but I didn’t walk any of it. Box Hill or the Zig Zags as it was called by locals was quite easy in comparison. I achieved a nice rhythm with a reasonable cadence and felt strong at the end.

It was a great ride in lovely weather and I want to do it again. There just aren’t enough hills around here to get anywhere close to this ride and it took less than two hours to get there.

Here’s the route profile:

Not ladders

My all time favourite band of all time, Rush, are releasing their umpteenth studio album on May 1st – Snakes and Arrows. A teeny snippet has been posted on rush.com and to my ears it sound very reminiscent of their 1978 album, Hemispheres. After the over-blown, if not messy, production/mastering of their last effort, Vapour Trails, this is a very good thing indeed.

Tough love too tough

Training has been going well. And I went out for a proper ride on the 3rd (it was a lovely day) – my current favourite loop up to Stamford and back south via Kings Cliffe, Apethorpe, Nassington and Elton – which was easier than the previous time despite me only having turbo trained in the interim. The climb up to Collyweston from the River Welland is still a bastard though!

Last week I added two more Spinervals DVDs to my collection: Hillacious and Tough Love. Hillacious is hill climb training, lasts an hour and felt like a good workout. It was hard work but nothing hurt afterwards. Tough Love is a different kettle of fish. At 3 hours long it’s always going to be an effort but it’s the nature of the reps and intervals rather than the duration which makes it tough. At my current level of fitness there was too much out of the saddle work and I only managed to complete 2.5 hours. 3 days later and I’m still feeling the after effects.