Turbo Week 8

Wednesday
Missed Tuesdays workout as I needed to take my daughter to the dentist for treatment so completed Tuesdays workout a day late.
Today's workout consisted of fast pedalling which I thought would be a piece of cake, after all the instructions are to select an easy gear and just concentrate on a smooth circular motion with a cadence of 108 – 120 rpm and only 1 set of 4 x 3 minute intervals with 3 minutes rest between intervals. Were they easy? Yes and no(ish) yes to getting into the range and no for keeping it there…

The hardest part of this workout was keeping it in the range as the intervals progressed so even though this doesn’t sound much of a workout it was still quite hard at times, for how hard this workout was I would give it a 6.5 out of 10… Not much to be said about them really, I think Carmichael has thrown them in for this week as a way of getting a mild workout, giving the ‘athlete’ a bit of a rest…

Thursday
Today's workout promises to be to last big workout before the Cheshire cat, I'm at week 8 in the Chris Carmichael Time Crunched Training Plan, 8 weeks that started off at a nice steady canter and ends in a full blown sprint so to speak. Today's workout is a mix of power intervals and over/unders. Power intervals first that saw me averaging around 245 Watts for the duration of the short intervals. Over/Unders next with a more modest 177 - 206w.

So what can I say now I'm coming towards the end of my first training block under 'the plan'?

1. My power has increased, gone from barely scratching 206 watts in the first weeks to 245 watts, an increase of 19% in just 8 weeks. Great stuff...

2. My heart rate has gone down. For any given power output say for example in the first week I was putting out 150 watts my heart rate was around 150 bpm, now for the same power output my HR is down to 135. Great stuff again...

3. I can train more by training intelligently and efficiently. Previous to 'the plan', any more than 2 turbo/road training sessions and a week-end ride would have me on the edge of illness and that's purely because I didn't know how to train, I would just go hard at it every time. Now I have been educated to 'train right' by Mr 'train right', I can train 3 times a week along with a big week-end ride without anything nasty happening with my health...

4. As a result of all this time in the saddle my posterior can handle nearly any saddle going...

5. Thank goodness it's all coming to an end, I have run out of 'Turbo saddle' motif pictures that start these turbo blog posts...

It's not quite the end just the end of the power intervals. Saturday I will be out but taking it a little easier and Sunday there's the club ride. Next week in the run up to the Cheshire Cat I will mostly be taking it easy. On Tuesday I will have a hour or two ride probably incorporating some over/unders, Thursday maybe an hour easy ride/turbo and then it's rest until Sunday.

My Stats
Wednesday 14.8 miles, 1 hr, Av Speed - guess...
Thursday 14.72 miles, 1 hr, Av speed - work it out...

North Cheshire Clarion club run 14 march 2010 & Turbo week 7

Sunday
Twelve of us met at Stretton, nine regulars and three guests for what promised to be a bit of a hill fest, forty odd miles riding down the spine of hills ranging from Frodsham to Kelsall and Willington. As a group we have ridden most of them but today was a little different from the norm in that we chose to ride ALL of the hillier hills that run through the area. First hill of the day was Bellemonte Rd in Frodsham, a tight winding road that wasn’t as bad as I remembered from last year, however I had a problem, I developed a stitch in my side as we travelled up Fluin lane just prior to Bellemonte Rd and this stitch troubled me for the rest of the ride, it wasn’t as nasty as it has been in the past but it did put a bit of a dampener on my ride at times. For some strange reason I always get this stitch riding up the gradual incline of Fluin Lane, someone mentioned it may be because this incline is so early into the ride and i'm not warmed up properly, or perhaps it has something to do with my surgery, it's in the same place. The most likely explanation is it's a combination of both the surgery and not being warmed up enough…

After Bellemonte we travelled south through Delamere Forest arriving at another hill called The Yeld. I have ridden this hill a few times in the opposite direction but this time we approached it from the north which proved to be the harder direction, a slow ramp up and I was thinking ‘is this it...that wasn’t too bad’ then as we crested the brow of the first hill we were presented with a dip and then a length of tarmac pointing skywards similar to Mow Cop but not as steep, so down the dip gathering speed then up the ramp in and out of the saddle, that was a bit tough but soon over. At the end of the road was a crossroads, straight on for the café stop or right for the last significant hill of the day climbing Chapel lane. Some chose to go straight on for what promised to be the easier option but in reality there are still a few hills and it’s only different from Chapel lane in that Chapel Lane is ¾ miles long and it's all a steep climb, whereas this ‘easier’ option still has a lot of climbing but over a gradual longer length, might be a little easier on the legs but certainly not in the lungs. I went for Chapel Lane and again I found it easier than previously, was it the new lighter bike or my increased fitness or perhaps both? Whatever the reason on previous occasions even before reaching the armaco barrier half way up I was dying but today it was not nearly so bad and I enjoyed the feeling of really hard work without busting a lung in the process…

After the café stop for the remaining leg of the trip we continued eastwards and then north into a 16-19 mph wind. That head-on and side wind was really energy sapping and combined with the pace we set I think everyone found it hard going. As I might have mentioned a few times already, I was on my newly built bike for it’s first major outing and what I found compared to my aluminium Focus was a slightly smoother ride so more comfortable but the biggest difference came in the hills, I found them easier to climb, not by a huge amount, I certainly did not become the new Marco Pantani but there was enough of a difference to certainly notice.

PS If any of the three ‘guests’ are reading this and are perhaps a little put off by today’s hilly ride then don’t be, today in the run up to the Cheshire Cat we deliberately headed for the hills to train on, this isn’t the norm and usually we have a good mix of flat and hills…

Saturday
No ride today as I had a leaking central heating radiator valve to sort out, I was hoping for a 30 mile ride today....

Thursday
Another Carmichael session on the turbo this time 3 sets of 3 x 2min Power intervals with 2 minutes rest between intervals and 6 minutes rest between sets. The total time of the 3 sets was 40 minutes, the remaining minutes of the hour was comprised of endurance miles. Today I found this session to be the most productive of all sessions so far, my power has gone up to 230 watts for the duration of the intervals, granted this isn't a whole lot of power but I have seen my figures improve week after week.

Tuesday
Today excitement got the better of me with my newly built bike and the delivery of my pedals. Stuck the pedals on and took it for a short spin around a local flat loop just to get a feel of it and to check it all out before the week ends ride. Didn't ride far or high enough to get a good overall feel but it all felt good, needed a little tweek of the gearing but that was it. On the road the riding position is very similar to my focus but the ride was smoother, I could still feel the road but no-where near as harshly as my Focus, that's all i can say about it really until I get a good couple of hours on it.

My Stats
Sunday 41.37 miles, 2hrs 53 min, Av Speed 14.3, 2227 ft climbing
Thursday 14.86 miles, 1hr, Av Speed 14.9 mph
Tuesday 20.73 miles, 1hr 17 min, Av Speed 16.2 mph, 453 ft climbing

Total for the week 76.96 miles. Failed to reach my target, blame the radiator...

Turbo Week 6

Tuesday

This weeks format is similar to last weeks with 2 consecutive day workouts and again similar in the use of power intervals. Today I am a still a little tired from Sundays ride and working an early shift. The hardest thing I find is getting the motivation to get motivated but once on the bike it all comes good. Today I had to complete 5 x 3 minute power intervals with 3 minutes rest between intervals. I am finding that even with a 15 minute warm up, the first 2 intervals are harder than the remaining intervals; it must take me some time to properly warm up so perhaps I need to rethink my warm up strategy.

Wednesday
MORE power intervals, 3 sets of 3 x 2 minute intervals with 2 min rest between intervals and a whopping 8 min rest between sets. Today it’s all caught up with me, early shifts, yesterdays workout and still a little tired from the W/E however this is the last workout until Saturday so I give it everything knowing that Ive got a full 2 days of recovery before the next workout and it didn't go as hard as I thought it would. As per usual I found the first couple of intervals hard but as I got into my stride it all came together and I’m concentrating on feeling the burn in my thighs then backing off very slightly, constantly rocking in and out from the burn – this is good practice for what I need to do on the climbs.

Am I improving? Is this training system working for me? I have to say a definite yes. My sustainable power has gone up - not a great amount but just a few short weeks ago I could barely make the 206 watts required for a power interval, now I’m averaging 215 to 220 watts and finding 225 watts the level I now find really difficult to maintain, and what’s better is that when I’m doing the man thing of having a standing pee I can’t see my knee caps anymore over the new muscles I have developed, now that’s REAL progress…

Saturday

I'm due a workout today but life gets in the way with many choirs to do and more importantly I need to add the finishing touches to my new bike build - details with many pics to come...

Mow Cop tomorrow with the North Cheshire Clarion. We are riding a 60 mile recce to include the first three hills of the Cheshire Cat, should be heaps fun...

Turbo Stats
Tuesday 1 hr, 14.8 miles, Av Speed 14.8 mph
Wednesday 1 hr 10 min, 16.65 miles, Av Speed 14.3 mph

Turbo Week 5

Tuesday
60-90min of Endurance miles with intervals consisting of 2 sets of 3 x 3min Power Intervals, What that means in practice is a 3min PI followed by 3 min rest and then repeat the interval and rest a further 2 times and that's set number one. Rest for six minutes then repeat the first set.

Rest doesn't mean getting on the sofa for a legs up and a cuppa, no it means lowering the wattage down from the PI of 206+ Watts to around 140-150W for the duration of the rest interval. Not easy...

Wednesday
Normally Carmichael plans his workouts on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays but this week he's upped the ante a bit by having consecutive workouts on following days. Today's workout is almost the same as yesterdays but he allows 8 minutes rest between sets, the rest is exactly the same. Yesterdays workout was hard but doable, today's was harder with no rest day in between workouts. The legs are tired as is to be expected but I hope the added stress of two workouts on the trot will only do me good, the good thing is that I now get two days rest :)

Saturday
With Sundays ride in the back of my mind I decided to complete the minimum workout of 90 minutes rather than the full monty of 2 hrs. The workout on paper looked easier than the 2 midweek intervals and in reality they were - slightly... Total time of the intervals was 30 min, 3 x 10 minutes of over/under with the rest consisting of Endurance miles.

A good week of hard intervals but they must do me some good, all I want is more POWER and endurance (don't we all) and I feel by closely following my coach's workouts I am defo getting there. The Cheshire cats only a month away and I think I have improved a fair bit during these last 5 weeks of the plan. Proof will be in the pudding as they say...

My Stats
Tuesday 1 hr, 14.4 miles, Av Speed 14.4 mph
Wednesday 1 hr, 14.7 miles, Av Speed 14.7 mph
Saturday 1 hr 30min, 22 miles, Av Speed 14.7 mph

Total turbo miles this week 51.1 miles - just need 49 miles from Sundays ride for my target of 100 miles.

Turbo Week 4

Tuesday
4 weeks into the program and Chris gave me Monday to Wednesday off, so no Tuesday workout, isn't that kind of him...

Thursday

Today was a repeat of a last weeks Tuesdays workout with 6 power intervals, sounds horrendous but each interval is only 3 minutes long with 3min rest between intervals. I'm finding the prescribed wattage for these intervals getting easier especially after the early weeks rest, today 206 watts seemed nearly easy and I was regularly in the +215 W range.... I'm happy...

Saturday

Should have been the same workout as Thursday but with a shorter rest time between sets however as Sunday was our club ride day I thought I should go easy and do Sundays easier 'group ride' workout a day early. The workout didn't quite go to plan as i chose to follow Chris Carmichaels hill climbing DVD that calls for a lot of steady state intervals.... hard but steady intensity work...

Sunday
Snow here snow there snow every flippin where and no club ride so instead I retreated to the kitchen and an MP4, the MP4 in question? Sufferfests downward spiral. I had all my wattage figures worked out so knew exactly what levels of suffering I was to undergo, and yes I was worked hard, really hard but what got me was the sprints near the end - you think you are almost finished so go all out, out of the saddle for the last 15 seconds or so then you are told to do it again then again then again.... I was TOAST after that and I mean TOAST... end of workout No1, time for a breather...

Workout No2 was Realrides Force DVD, all good stuff with more steady state intervals but with suffering from the Sufferfest and knowing what Carmichael had in mind for me the following week I didn't go all out and cut the DVD workout short 40 minutes in making up the hour at endurance miles intensity.

Turbo Stats
Tuesday Rest day
Thursday 1hr30min, 21.77 miles, Av Speed 14.5mph
Saturday 55min, 14.04 miles, Av Speed 15.3 mph
Sunday No1 - 1 hr 2min, 15.41 miles, Av Speed 15.41 mph
Sunday No2 - 1 hr, 14.3 miles, Av Speed 14.3 mph

Total for week
65.52 miles

Well short of the desired 100 miles but it was expected with it being a half rest week and no W/E ride.

Turbo week 3

Tuesday

Week three of the Chris Carmichael training plan introduces power intervals into the mix starting today. Thankfully they are kept short with just 2 sets of 3 x 3 minute intervals with 3 minutes rest between intervals and 8 minutes between sets. For me that means putting out a consistent power output of 206+ watts coming down to less than 150w between intervals.

Today I experimented with cadence, I tried to maintain a cadence of 90 at +206watts and although it was slightly easier on the legs I found my heart rate was a few beats higher than if I went up a gear and lowered my cadence to around 80 so down to 80 I went - just a little bit more comfortable. The workout called for 1 to 1.5 hrs but because of having to dash off to work I cut the workout a little short of the full 1.5 hours.

Power intervals at around 206 watts seemed to be about the right level for me, they were hard enough that during the intervals I had to constantly goad myself to keep the effort up esp when I got into the last minute of each set. They were hard but not so hard that when finished I got off the bike absolutely cream crackered. Carmichael knows how to put a good taxing but not overtaxing workout together, not only did my legs get a good workout but my willpower also, something that will be needed in bucket fulls come the end of March and come the sight of that hump called Mow Cop...

Thursday

Today's workout called for 27 minutes of over/unders incorporated within 75 to 90 minutes of Endurance Miles. Over/Under works out at 86-90% (under) and 95-100% (over) of the field test measured in watts, in my case that works out at 177-185w & 195-206w. So 15 minute warm up then into the 3 sets, each set comprised of 2 min under 1 min over repeated 3 times for the first set of 9 minutes, 6 min rest then repeat and then repeat again. All I can say is that they are bloody hard work but funnily enough I found that the Over with the higher wattage was just that little bit easier than the Under. What I was doing was upping the cadence to get to the +200 watts even though my HR upped slightly and that made a difference, not a lot but enough to take some pressure away from my thighs.

Again I am pleasantly surprised that the workout was hard but not so hard that after the workout I fell about with jelly legs and a foggy brain which i have done on occasion after an intense workout when I've been doing 'my own thing'. Completing the field test to get an accurate figure to base the workouts on is well worth the effort and anyone reading this contemplating following the TTCP would be well advised to do the test and not just guess your figures.

If you are wondering how I'm reading watts well I bought myself one of these. They are OK but nothing that cannot be done with a normal rear wheel reading bike computer and the speed to watts charts available from Kurt Kinetic, with the KK trainer any certain speed equates to a certain power just as long as you set up your bike on the trainer the same way every time. My advice? don't bother buying the KK computer unless if you are on the lookout for your first bike computer.

One thing I'm not sure about is Kurt Kinetic 'watts', are they the same as real watts the same as you would get from a 'proper' power meter? I hope not I hope that the KK watts are under reading and that my paltry 200 watts is really 250w because if they really are accurate to +/- 3% as KK say then I have a lot of work to do, I've got the power of an untrained pre-adolescent girl... no offence to any pre-adolescent girls reading this, unlikely I know but you just never know...

Saturday

An easy day today with Sundays club ride in mind so it was pure Endurance Miles and a DVD, just miles today, no intervals and nothing else... boring stuff...

My Turbo Stats for the week

Tuesday 1hr10min, 16.42 miles, Av Spd 14.1

Thursday 1hr30min, 21.75 miles Av Spd 14.5

Saturday 1hr 20min, 18.28 miles Av Spd 13.7

Total 56.37miles

North Cheshire Clarion Club Run 7 Feb 2010

First 50+ mile ride of the year and I lost a virginity...

It's Feb already and this is my first biggish ride of the year, this stinkin weather has a lot to answer for - keeping me cooped up inside on my turbo just ain't cricket!!!

Nine of us set out from Stretton on a pre-planned route that would take us around 52 miles of North Cheshire countryside with the climb of Artists lane being literally the highlight of the ride. Three punctures along the way (none of them mine) - it was just the one rider that had the misfortune of being singled out for special treatment by the puncture fairy, must have really took a fancy to Phil J the poor guy.

The route was fairly flat with just under 1400ft climbing according to Bikehike but there were a few hills to be found along the way and I'm glad to say that I enjoyed them all, I felt really good on them and unlike my last ride I was able to keep up with the stronger riders. Artist lane was a different story though, it was a 'proper' hill, not especially long or steep but it was winding and pretty and did give the old ticker a good working over, here my special tactics of slow plodding came into force, didn't matter what everyone else was doing I just went at my own pace just as fast as my desperate breathing would allow - thats my excuse and line of reasoning and I'm sticking to it!!!

I hope with the training regime I am following that my climbing ability will improve over the coming weeks, it especially needs to seeing as the Cheshire Cat is just 7 Sundays away. I need more POWER!!!. This week sees a ramp up in the Chris Carmichael training plan with the introduction of power intervals into the mix - gulp....

Oh yes the virginity bit, would you believe it I have never ever needed to traverse a cattle grid! but on todays route as we traveled through Tatton park we had to bounce over three of them!!! wasn't as uncomfortable as I tought it would be but there again these grids looked even and well maintained. Adopting a light but firm grip on the bike and approaching at 90' with a moderate speed was enough to do the buisiness. I wonder, was there a three theme on todays ride? three cattle grids, three punctures and three huge birds of prey (buzzards) spotted...

My Stats
52.8 miles, 3hrs 37min, Avg Sp 14.6mph, 1389 ft climbing

Total Mileage for the week
111 miles. My target of 100 miles has been achieved.

Turbo week 2

Tuesday
A full week since I started the Carmichael workout, today's session was upped from last week with a full 90 minute workout including 3 X 10 minute intervals at steady state intensity (up from 3 X 8). Last week I struggled to maintain the intensity, barely scratching the lower limits of the required wattage but today I was able to stay within the limits. It did require concentration as I was on the very edge of lactate build up so when I started to feel the pain in my thighs it was time to back off very slightly, rocking in and out of lactate build up. Steady state is all about maintaining an intensity that you can just keep up for the duration of the intervals, a total time of 30 minutes in today's workout. Today was a good but sweaty workout...

Thursday
Todays workout was a repeat of Tuesdays and with working an early shift I was feeling a little tired plus I had a little bit of a niggle in my left knee. Have I overdone it over the last week? Have I knocked it somehow?, I don't remember knocking it so I played it safe by having a nice long 15 minute warmup with a gradual ramp up to the first interval, so far so good no pains. Moving into the first 10 minute interval and the required 177 to 185 watts I eased in over the first 30 seconds into the lower regions of the wattage range, all was good and stayed good for the duration of the workout, a workout that required 75 to 90 minutes of endurance miles including 3 x 10 minute Steady State intervals. I decided not to push my luck and completed just the minimum time called for in todays workout. I'm aiming for a 200 watt Steady State by the end of this month, a big ask? time will tell...

Saturday
1hr 30 to 2 hrs at Endurance Miles intensity is the workout schedule for today with anything between 100 and 150 watts and 80 to 100 cadence, all very easy stuff. On my Kurt Kinetic turbo this works out at between 11.7 and 15.3 mph, in EM workouts I tend to spend my time in the 13 to 15 mph range occasionally venturing outside these speeds. EM intensity is for the purpose of building endurace as Chris Carmichael instructs

"This is your moderate-pace endurance intensity. While it has a wide range, keep your power and/or heart rate in the middle portion of your EM range"

As I said all easy stuff but thats going to change starting next week...

My Stats
Tuesday 1hr30min, 21.42 miles, Av Speed 14.3
Thursday 1hr15min, 17.66 miles, Av Speed 14.1
Sat 1hr30min, 20.06miles, Av Speed 13.4

Total millage for this week so far is 59 miles so I only need 41 miles from tomorrows ride to get me my 100...

Week of Turbo

Not really the right weather to take the bike out on the road so it's back on the turbo for this weeks biking adventures. The Cheshire cat is just a few weeks away so it's time to start my training regime, it's time for me to listen to my coach Chris Carmichael who wrote a book just for me called 'the time crunched cyclist', so with all my figures worked out (working in watts) as of last Tuesday I am now on week 1 day 1's workout which consisted of 60-90 min of Endurance miles with 3 x 8 minute Steady State intervals thrown in somewhere within the 90 minutes.

EM miles are 45-73% (watts) of the CTS field test so not so bad but the SS intervals are 86-90% of the field test and are easyish for the first 5 minutes or so then you have to start concentrating to keep the power up as you start to tire. My figures are all worked out from the field test I completed sometime before the end of the year and it seems that I have lost a fair bit of power over the new year with it's hiccups so I struggled with this workout and could barely reach the required power output for the full 24 minutes of the Steady state intervals.

Thursdays workout was exactly the same and I found it very much just as hard. After Tuesdays workout I was fairly leg tired so eased off time-wise on the Thursday workout. Come Saturday my legs felt great for the weekend rides so on Saturday the workout consisted of EM miles but cut short with Sundays 50 mile ride in mind.

Sundays club ride looked a really good ride but because of the flippin snow that fell on Saturday evening the ride was off so again I had to resort to the turbo. Today's workout called for up to 2 hours of EM miles and that's exactly what I did, 2 hours cycling in front of a TV watching Star Trek and a zoo program that was very interesting watching 2 cast off lion cubs struggling for survival, all good stuff and helped the time pass by.

My Stats
Tuesday 1.30hrs, 20.65 miles
Thursday 1.10hrs, 16.04 miles
Saturday 1.0 hr, 13.08 miles
Sunday 2.0 hrs, 28.07 miles

Total for the week
77.84 miles
5 hrs 40 minutes
22.16 miles short of my target of 100 miles

Week end ride 11 Oct 2009

No Clarion ride this w/e, the Clarionists meet every two weeks for the road run until the time that there is the demand and numbers for a weekly ride.

So we (myself & Phil) resorted to our own devices and old habits setting off for our usual cafe stop at the Ice Cream Farm near Tattenhall. By old habits I mean finding hills to climb and once climbed then riding at a fair old whack to the next hill. Now in our locality there are hills to climb if you look for them, there is a spine of hills ranging from Frodsham in the north through Helsby and finishing around Willington in the south and our usual route takes us through these areas - deliberately of course simply because not too long ago I in particular was crap on hills and the general advice for improving your hill climbing ability is simple - ride them thar hills, seek out and conquer them. A year on I have improved somewhat, not as much as I would have liked but all the hills I at one time walked up in this area are now conquered every weekend. I'm not saying I'm a mountain goat able to just waltz up em, no, I take the hills at my own slow pace, sometimes out of the saddle more usually in the saddle and in my lowest gear.

Old habits die hard they say and yes they do, but what we have come to understand is that your body mind and spirit needs rest, you cannot continuously go at it 100% all year round, you need to back off and give yourself chance to rest and heal. I have bought a few books over the last year or so looking for training regimes in particular and what I have generally found is that these books are designed for serious 'athletes' who have at least 8 hours per week to spare for training. I have found that my body atm cannot cope with that amount - that's over training to me complete with colds and sleeping problems but in saying that, in these programmes defence - I have not tried to follow them - I just know that going 'at it' as I have done in the past for 8hrs a week wipes me out and is defo no fun - not that these books endorse 'going at it', far from it, I have to sit down read them thoroughly, stick to the plan and make them work for me

Anyway I aim to get some serious training in for next years Sportives so I bought myself 'The Time Crunched Cyclist - Fit, Fast and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week' by Chris Carmichael to help me along. It sounds ideal for me, I'm not a racer nor is my goal to ride some huge foreign Sportive - although that would change if I could pass the required medical. I'm the weekend warrior with a few domestic sportives in the pipeline who enjoys his riding and wants to improve.

This book makes good reading, Carmichael goes into some detail about the theory behind his workouts. He details four different training programmes depending on your goals. He has you go through a 'field test' to determine your average max heart rate or power before you start any of these programmes then gives you a series of ratios to workout the various HR zones or power zones you will be working in. What I have now learnt from working out my zones is that I have gone out too hard every time I have ridden my bike - I have been working at too high a HR for way way too long and that cannot be doing me any good.

So back to old habits and all that, we (myself & Phil) discussed before this ride that following the advice from this book we should be doing 'EMs' - Endurance Miles before starting one of the training programmes which meant taking it easy and avoiding the hills to keep the HR down contrary to our normal habits of 'going for it'. My HR max although not tested properly (i'm no masochist) has peaked at 191 bpm so working out the ratios I need to keep my HR below 150bpm and that is not easy on the hills we needed to ride to get to our cafe stop.

So that was the 'story' behind this ride - keep that HR down even if it meant being overtaken by grandma on her zimmerframe. I think we were mostly successful, for much of the ride we were able to keep to less than 150bpm but of course when we hit the hills our HR's did go up to 160bpm at times, can't be helped on this route I'm afraid, we will just have to work out a few more flat routes for future rides...

My Stats

Distance 44.14 miles - Duration 3:25 - Av Speed 12.9mpg - Climbing 2000ft - Av HR 143bpm