Last road ride of 2009

I haven't been out on the bike for a proper ride for a couple of weeks owing to the weather so was eager to get out at the first opportunity on the road rather than being stuck in the garage on the turbo and the last day of the year gave me that opportunity. The weather was still freezing cold but the snow and ice had mostly melted away so I set off for one of my short usual routes around north Cheshire.

Now normally it doesn't take long for my heart rate to shoot up but strangely today despite 15 minutes on the bike and speeds of 20 mph my heart rate only rose into the 70's so I assumed either my HR monitor was on the blink or there wasn't enough moisture (sweat) on the strap contact points. Eventually after a hill my HR settled into the expected range so I'm assuming the problem was a dodgy signal rather than an inability to get my HR up - I hope... Normally when there is not enough moisture on my HR strap I just lose all signal and not get the weird reading I experienced. Strange...

On this ride I didn't go too hard with ice still being around in places but did get a few sprints in for a few intervals. So that's it for 2009, roll on 2010.


My Stats
21.5 miles, 1hr24min, Av Speed 15.4mph, Av/Mx HR 146/171 

North Cheshire Clarion Christmas run 27 Dec 2009

NCC Christmas Club run

No blog entries for the last week or so with the weather being so bad. My only cycling activities has been the purchase of a new set of road handlebars and a few sessions on the turbo. Today's ride was the scheduled run to initially Tatton Hall but due to the bad weather conditions Dunham Masseys Lavender farm got the nod.

Not as many as expected turned up with just seven hardy individuals braving the elements. Just after 10.30am we set off eastwards to brave the biting winds and stinging freezing rain. We stuck to clear B roads and some A roads dodging slush here and there and no-one came unstuck except Phil who tried to unintentionally carve a path through the slush and nearly came a cropper but a quick recovery saved his bacon. This ride was intentionally ridden slow because it was the clubs xmas run and sociable in nature but the problem I found with travelling at such a slow speed was that I never really warmed up and on occasion I put a spurt on in a vain attempt to get the blood flowing and generate some heat.

The only time we had to give in to the weather was in the attempt to ride up the cobbles to the doors of the cafe stop - sheets of ice everywhere so it was off and walk.

After the cafe stop the weather did improve slightly and I'm sure the sun popped out momentarily but it was still bitterly cold. It was a great relief to get home and dive into a nice warm shower.

My Stat's

24.48 miles, 1hr 53min, Av Spd 13mph, 1188 ft climbing

North Cheshire Clarion club run 13 Dec 2009

Magical Mystery Tour

Looking out of the window first thing in the morning revealed a nice thick white frost and on the car ice glinting off the windscreen - it was dark and very cold at 7am when I got up for the Sunday run. I'm not one pf these people who can get up at 8am grab a quick bite and be there at the start point for 9, wish I was but I'm not. I like to have a good breakfast a good sit down with a big mug of tea followed by a coffee and a browse of the news on my laptop before I even come alive, then and only then am I ready to face the world the cold and the frost...

So load the car up with bike n gear after giving the car a good defrost first and then drove out to the start point, it was fairly slippy on the side roads so had a good idea that we were in for a hairy time. Stuck all my gear on including a buff that made me look like the invisible man (when he was not invisible if you know what I mean) complete with glasses, cap and helmet - I may have looked a little scary but I didn't care, I was warm and that's all that mattered, the only problem I found out later with having a buff cover up most of your entire face is it's difficult to drink anything unless you want it sieved first - a minor inconvenience...

Setting off from Stretton was a dicey experience, side roads and country lanes thick with white frost meant riding at a slow pace and gingerly navigating bends waiting for a tumble - didn't happen but there was a few times my back wheel spun out. As the miles wore on the temperature changed slightly for the better our confidence rose and the speed upped.

Now this is where the magical mystery tour comes in, around about Moulton our 'guide' took us over water via two wooden frosty bridges, one slip and there was a good chance of a dunking - but it was a very scenic route so well worth it... then we rode some cross country up some semi frozen mud 'trails' (a bit like Arctic tundra), this experience was a bit different and called for some careful navigation to avoid the many HUGE potholes and general loose bits of mud - those potholes are just mere dints in the road for a mountain biker with suspension and fat tyres but to a roadie on 23mm tyres and no suspension aside from bum cheeks, they were huge, HUGE, (no not the bum cheeks)...

A stop off for tea n cake then on again for the homeward bound part of the ride and it's here we observed what looked like a fancy dress time trial, we overtook Little Bo Peep with her sheep and travelling in the opposite direction were 2 Santas and Jimmy Saville complete with cigar, hows about that then!!!

Overall because of the white roads we had a slow start with a low speed run out from Stretton that soon got a little faster as we moved onto the clearer main roads and the sun coming out to play. Then off the main roads as we went wild in the country, next we frightened anglers out of their tranquil musings as we all trundled past topped off later on by a bit of fancy dress passing by - A very different entertaining Sunday ride.

My Stats
43 Miles, 3hrs 3min, Av Speed 14.1mph, 1424 ft climbing.

Bikehike , GPS & TCX

I have been asked a few times about how to transfer a plotted route over to a Garmin 205/305 so here's how you can do it.

1. Using Bikehike plot your route like in the above example (right mouse click and open in new tab to expand illustration)

2. Connect your Garmin via USB and turn on.

3. In Bikehike under Mapping Controls click 'Download Route'

4. A new box will appear, fill out as my example i.e. tick 'tcx' - give the course title a name - tick 'GPS unit' then 'Download Route'

5. A 'Loading Garmin Libraries...' dialogue will pop up (if you haven't got the libraries you need to go get them, probably this from Garmin).

6. A box will pop-up to advise you of success or not.

7. Disconnect USB if you wish.

8. In your Garmin check your course has transferred across properly, go to: Training - Courses - Select your course - Map.

9. When it's time to ride your course go to: Training - Courses - Eureka (name of downloaded course) - Do course.

This is the simple way I prefer to do it, it's real easy and only uses one piece of software. There are many other ways out there that you can find by doing a google search but most use two or more pieces of software - long winded and complicated.

Note: The way I choose to plot my routes does not make use of any coursepoints because on my Garmin 205 there is a screen freeze of 15 seconds or so after a coursepoint warning has sounded and flashed up - obviously not what's needed when navigating a tight series of junctions or to confirm you are on the right road after a turn so I choose not to use any coursepoints if I can help it. Doesn't mean you can't....

Other links to peruse.
Veloriders on the Garmin 705
Frank Kinlan on the 305 and 705