#edge 800

[themamil]

Ride like the wind(screen)

OK. So the title is a bit lame. Had to take the car in to get a new windscreen fitted and it needed 2 hours to allow the glue to set, and the work to be done, so I took the opportunity to get out on my bike. I created a course on the Garmin website, and sent it to my device and then effectively cycled blind, following the Garmin 800 directions. It worked a treat. I guess my only 2 gripes with the Garmin 800 are:- 1) Directions. You have to follow a blue line, which in sunlight can be difficult to see. Would much rather have BIG arrows pointing the right direction, or better still - Voice guidance like a car sat nav. 2) Rounabouts - For some reason the Garmin is insistent on sending me the wrong way round a roundabout. Not usually noticeable, but on the bigger rouandabouts I get a screetching that I have gone off course. Still, minor gripes. Today took me 22.5 miles to add to my 2012 miles in 2012 total, so pleased with that little addition.

[themamil]

Garmin Edge 800 - For dummies?

I use the Garmin Edge 800 for tracking rides, compiling routes and using it to navigate when riding a route I am not familiar with. In fact I used it to quite good effect when I took the car in to get a new Windscreen and had a couple of hours to kill. The issue I faced is that I couldn't really see the route too well whilst cycling and this meant I was taking time to concentrate on where I was meant to be going, and not on the road itself - which is never a good thing. So imagine my delight when I found this resource : http://frank.kinlan.co.uk/garmin-edge-800/dummies-guide-to-the-garmin-edge-800/ It's a great site, and the article is exactly what I needed to now allow me to get the best out of my Garmin 800. It shouldn't really be like that though. I consider myself fairly tech savvy but some of the settings that this blog highlights are so deeply hidden, or unintuitive to find, that I wonder how anyone has managed to get to grips with this piece of kit or is using it correctly - without resorting to finding resources like this on the web. The Garmin Edge 800 is a good bit of kit, don't get me wrong, but if they had an easier getting started guide that actually got you started, I'm sure a lot more people would be raving about it.

[themamil]

The Final Revolution

I am acutely aware that I have been droning on about The London Revolution for long enough now to bore you to tears. However, I wanted to sum up my whole experience as anyone reading this might find it helpful if they are contemplating this event or something like this.  The weekend definitely took me through a full cycle of emotions (and I don't excuse the double pun). Day 1 I was excited and apprehensive, but at no time did I try and qualify in my mind exactly what I was about to embark on. If you think about it too hard it just seems horrible and you would start questioning your sanity.  As we set off I kept focusing on taking on liquid (something historically I am not strong on) and pacing ourselves. However, it's the first time I have ridden with someone in a focused way and I was surprised about a few things.1 - how much benefit you get from sticking to the back wheel of even just 1 person (I was always under the impression that you needed a group to benefit)2 - how much another rider can motivate you and keep you pushing3 - the benefit of companionship on a ride, even if you don't natter all the time...  As the first day wore on I was a little concerned that our pace was too fast and unsustainable. This proved not to be the case, I suspect as a result of the benefits listed above, so as we finished day one on a bit of a high, buzzing with our initial achievement.  The morning of day two was nowhere near as painful or sore as I had anticipated. I remember this feeling I had in my muscles from early school days after a hard previous days rugby,so although the muscles felt a little raw I was confident that once we got going they would soon loosen up, which indeed they did.  Naturally the pace on day two was more subdued, as the body was simply not quite as fresh as the previous day, but also ate had Box Hill and Biggin Hill firmly in our minds. Box Hill is not so bad but the climbs round Biggin Hill were horrific. It's at this point that the emotions turned distinctly to despair, as the body and mind locked down and just focused on dragging the bulk up the climb. Certainly one of the things that kept me going was knowing that once the climb was done there would be a nice decent in to London to the finish. Whilst it wasn't quite a clear as that, it's what kept me going, conquering the climbs, albeit at my pace.  Emotions turned to frustration, agitation and disappointment as we hit London again. The congestion and attitude of many drivers on the Sunday dampened spirits for the final few miles as we struggled through parked cars and teems of queues to progress to the finish. Even Tower Bridge was a disappointment for the same reason.  The final 10 miles took in excess of an hour, quite possibly close to an hour and a half, and emotions were running quite low at this point as the anticipations of completing the ride started grow. Once we hit East of the city things opened up again and we were able to finish with a flourish, and with emotions turning to euphoria as the scale of our achievement took hold. We were proud.  The whole route was captured on my Garmin 800, but because it was split over 2 days I have now mashed the 2 days together and the whole route is presented on SportinigCircles here : http://www.sportingcircles.com/tracks/viewtrack/117-the-london-revolution  I also need to call out my bike. The WONDERFUL Specialized Roubaix Expert 2011 edition which performed flawlessly for me through the ride, despite the pressure I was putting it under. What a fantastic bike it is!  The London Revolution is certainly one of the hardest (and best) challenges I have ever completed, but in the words of the organisers Threshold Sports, I know that "more is in you" and fairly soon after the event my mind turned to the next challenge. Suddenly events like London to Paris or JOGLE seem like distinct future possibilities. My confidence is brimming and I need to channel it accordingly.  For the record, before I close this chapter, we came 103rd of 769 2 day riders averaging over 16mph over the 2 days. That was the icing on the cake for us. We know we cycled hard and put ourselves through the mill, and to get a result like that makes us feel a true sense of achievement and pride. My 2012 mile target now sits at a comfortable 885 miles, and well on track to achieve the total.  Finally, I mustn't lose sight as to why I'm dong this. Vanessa Riddle is an 11 year old girl with Neuroblastoma cancer, whose chances of beating the cancer are being tested to the limit due to the lack of treatment available on the NHS. Accordingly she needs to go abroad (Germany) where treatment is expensive. She is one of the gutsiest young ladies you could find, and is taking her challenge with such courage, determination and positivity that it makes what we achieved on the ride look like a walk in the park.  You can donate to help Vanessa through the JustGiving widget on the right of this, and any other post, on this site or visit www.JustGiving.com/RupertRiding4Vanessa.  Thank you.  

[themamil]

Elevation

I extracted the elevation profile from "The Yorkshire Terr(i)or" ride I did the other day as recorded by my excellent Garmin Edge 800. I thought I would post it because it still makes my feel ill looking at it. Also quite nice to look at and know that I beat it. :-)  

[themamil]

Father's Day ride

We were going to visit my parents-in-law today and so Louise kindly suggested I cycle to Havant and meet her, the kids, and the dog down there. I pre-planned the route using the course creator in Garmin Connect and set off on a route I only knew the very first part of and the very last part of.  It was pretty windy today, and heading pretty much due south I thought I was going to be in for a hard ride all the way to the coast. Luckily, as I cycled through many of the country lanes, I was shielded somewhat from the wind, although at times it was pretty fresh. Given yesterday's wind, I can't imagine what that would have been like.  There were many beautiful scenes of rural Surrey / Sussex / Hampshire on route. I snapped these 2 photos just south of South Harting. Lovely.      Shortly after taking these 2 snaps I was faced with the only serious climb of the day, and although it wasn't a patch on what Yorkshire had to throw at me on Wednesday, clearly my body was still repelling from the exertion of the mid-week ride as I found the climb very very tough today.  After the ascent, it was pretty much a lovely descent all the way to the coast. The route I had plotted meant I got to Emsworth and then had to turn right to track the final mile or 2 to Havant. Well, I couldn't let an oppportunity to go to Emsworth Harbour go by, so I ignored the screeching of the Garmin 800 as I went off course, and went to enjoy the view of the harbour for a few minutes. And I captured these shots.      I think I was justified!  Following this, it was just a short trek to Havant to be greeted by my family. As lovely ride, just over 2 hours, but one I wouldn't mind doing again.  My 2012 miles in 2012 target now stands at 57% completed, with around 1173 miles completed. At this rate I am hoping I can reach target by the end of August. That would be great!  

[themamil]

Homeward and wayward bound

I decided to ride home today from Farnborough to Farnham. The direct(ish) route is only around 10 miles, and given that I've been 5 or so days out of the saddle, I felt I needed a bit of a rude awakening, and so I plotted a path from Farnborough, through Mytchett, Worplesdon, Guildford. Elstead and to Farnham. A 32 mile or so course, and duly set off.  Things went fairly well, with the odd missed turning, but I was on generally good pace - and focussed on getting back because I had suddenly remembered it was parents evening at school (nothing like an actual hard stop time for when you have to be done to motivate you).  The first mildly scary point was whe I was descending (at pace) in Mytchett, in wehat turns out to be the Mytchett Summit to Grapemough segment on Strava. Little did I know that the descent stops, fairly violently, as it meets a blind main road. I'm sure I left a few tyre marks on the road at this point. Still, my performance is pretty OK - 10th overall, and off the pace for 1st by 6 seconds ... :-)  

 The next point came when I reached Guildford.To the North, the town is disected in 2 by the bypass and the A3. Had I trusted my instincts I could have joined the bypass happily, and turned South into the town center, no problem. Instead I "trusted" the Garmin which proceeded to dump me at the bottom of a footbridge, outside a pub. I had to dismount my trsuty steed and carry it across the footbridge, a little embarassed by this particular episode.  Don't forget, time was still ticking and my eyes were glancing constantly at the clock. The pressure was mounting.  As I came out of GUildford to the South I joined roads I should be very capable of navigating around, but to be honest, I get easily confused by certain junctions and get a bit mixed up. As it was I ended up ignoring the Garmin which was trying to take me in to Godalming, instead opting to aim for Compton - thinking I was going to come out somewhere, which inevitably I didn't. Instead I ended up by the A3 in Puttenham, and then started heading towards the general direction of the Hogs Back, not quite sure what I was going to do, with the Garmin bleeping at me continuously that I was off course. I had almost resolved at this time that I would simply join the Hogs Back and aim down for Farnham. If you've driven on the Hogs Back you'll understand why this wasn't the most pleasing of ideas, but time was ticking and I was getting a little desperate.  As I approached the junction for the Hogs Back, I noticed a turn which I remember from the CTC Guildford bike ride I did last year, and remembered that it did somehow end up near Farnham, so without hesitation I went for it. Soon afterwards I was faced with yet another dilema. Shortly after the left turn I noticed a cycle path sign to Farnham (7 miles) but as I rode on a little there was a left hand sign to Elstead was a reassuring sign of a place I knew I could get home from. So instinct took over and I went for it.  As I rode I wondered more and more about whether I had made the wrong decision. Especially as the roads in this rural area didn't seem to have any signposts at all, and where there were signposts, they had no mileage indicators - so I had NO idea how far I had to go. Tick Tock Tick Tock. Finally I arrived at a crossroads. The 2 obvious options were "Sands" (which I almost went for but didn't because I didn't even know if it was the Sands I knew) or "Elstead". I continued towards Elstead and finally arrived at the road I knew, the one that leads out of Elstead towards Farnham. The clock was still ticking and so I launched into Charles Hill and onwards, finally arriving home.  Ironically, the distance I covered was pretty much identical to the routed course, and I came in just under 7 minutes faster than I had given myself to do the route, in time to get home, shower and change for parents evening. Nice!  

 My performance I think bodes well for Sunday when I take on the London to Oxford bike ride event, if I can maintain that pace. It takes my 2012 miles in 2012 total to 1237 miles, and 61% of total.  Tomorrow morning I have to cycle back to work. I'll be taking a more direct route I think...

[themamil]

London to Oxford to Farnham - 1st July 2012

Today's post consists of 2 separate rides, but one which happened right after the other, so  could quite happily be considered 1 ride. I captured them separately because the first leg was the official CLIC London to Oxford Ride, and the second was getting home from Oxford.  There are 2 underlying thoughts about today's cycling which relate to both rides. 1) Wind. Wowser there was a lot of it today and it just seemed to ALWAYS be coming straight at you, or working hard to be a pain. Head on or from the side, it really made the rides today hard hard work. 2) Schizophrenic Scenery. Both rides were guilty of this in spades. Either lovely country roads with a blissful minority of cars, or just dull (sub)urban grey landscape of ugh. But when it was pleasant, it was very pleasant.  So ride one took me from Richmond Station up to Ealing where the London to Oxford ride started. I was intrigued to see how few people there were, although I was one of the last starters thanks to South West trains putting on a first train out of Farnham at 7.30. The first (2) legs to Burnham Beeches were horrible. Windy, grey, nondescript urban landscape. Why anyone would think it was a nice way of getting out of London I can't imagine, but then again, I'm not sure there was much alternative.  Things changed for the better (much better) at Burnham Beeches. I met up with Chris (brother-in-law), Rosie (niece) and Ben (Rosie's fiancée) at the Burnham Beeches stop. They had left earlier than me and I managed to catch them up. I cycled the next leg to Marlow with them, again much lovely countryside riding, and then we parted company as I had to think about my onward travel once I reached Oxford.  The next leg took me up the Chilterns. The Chilterns is no pushover and with the wind, it was a bit of a struggle, but the decent beyond the climb into Oxford was very pleasant, until I hot the town.  As is the want of most of these "city to city" rides, the organisers wish to start and end the course in, or near the town centre. Of course this invariably means that once again you are struggling with traffic and congestion, and takes a bit of the shine off the ride. Nonetheless, I arrived safely at the end in Oxford around about 1.30pm to a lovely welcome from many family and friends of other riders, and the organisers.    These are the stats from the London to Oxford ride.  

 Pace wise it's not impressive, but it's fine. Today was never going to be about speed - especially with that wind.  As I left Oxford about 20 minutes later, I don;t think I truly realised how low on energy I was. At the finish there were various hot dog and burger stand but if you are about to cycle another 50 miles, you don't really want to be packing a burger in your midriff.  So I set off and the pace was slow and somehow, even though I was heading South now, the wind was still against me. Added to this, the route I had planned on Garmin had led me down some pretty fast and exposed A roads (which I hadn't intended). Not long after I started, my mind wondered and began to think about a garage, somewhere where I could get much need energy, but it didn't materialise, for ages. But then it did.    Now well stocked up I set off again feeling stronger (a little) although the wind was again quite a hindrance. And then I started climbing. This was the Chilterns in reverse. It wasn't as hard on the way to Oxford, but after that many miles the exertion was taking it's toll and my mind started to wonder if today would break me. It did't, but it did my pace.  Once through the CHilterns the decent into Reading was really nice (my planning having taken me off the blasted A roads at last) and I found myself south of Reading, but needing another sharp intake of energy as my pace was still comparably slow to what I am capable of. I was running on reserves for much of this leg to be honest. So I stopped by the side of the road and took on what else I had.    The next phase of the ride is when I started to recognise places and names again and realised that I wasn't going to be beaten. Signs to Farnborough, Aldershot and Farnham we a sight to behold and gave me resolution to just plough on.  My next big fear was the climb, after Fleet, up Beacon Hill, that takes you to the top Of Castle Street in Farnham. On most days it a hard climb. Today, after 110 miles, it was going to be devastating. So I stopped at a bus stop just before the climb, and took on a load more liquids and finished off some wine gums I had bought and then I hit it. I was NOT going to be beaten by it. I was very fearful that this one could beat me - my first capitulation of the year. It didn't. ;-)  After that it was just all out reserves to get me home. I took this photo moments after I got home. Can you see the pain? I look like a man possessed.    So the stats for the 2nd leg (Oxford to Farnham) are below. Te pace is slow to what I am used to, but to be honest, this is the longest single days riding I have done and I am chuffed to have completed it with such a horrible wind.  

 So today's toils takes me to 68% of target for 2012 miles in 2012, and 1316 miles. It feels like a lot of pain to knock 115 miles off the target, but I think I'll come out of this stronger again, and fighting hard to finish this challenge by the end of August. That would be an achievement.

[themamil]

Calories Controlled?

With the recent addition of the heart rate monitor paired with my Garmin Edge 800 I noticed that my calorie burn rate has reduced significantly. I was buring near enough 1000 calories an hour, and with the heart rate this has dropped to about 700.  The routes in question were pretty similar, but in fact the route with the lower burn rate when I wore the heart rate monitor was more challeneging over a longer distance and period.  So it got me thinking. I assume the Garmin (pre-heart rate monitor), had made assumptions based on my weight, age etc. Now that it has the heart rate readings, it is able to determine how much stress and effort I am putting in so the reading are likely to be more accurate.  So does that mean that I am fitter than the Garmin assumed? Or does it mean I am not putting in enough effort on my rides? I'm hoping for the former, obviously. Any ideas or thoughts?