Team MK Ride, Castle Ashby

This weeks ride was to Castle Ashby, just into Northamptonshire and only about 6 miles from my home.  However, club rides being what they are its never that simple.

Adrian the ride leader had planned a route out via Olney and then looping round  via Harrold, Bozeat and Grendon to the The Buttery at Castle Ashby courtyard for coffee and cake.  The return to Stony Stratford was via a very hilly route starting immediately with a climb up Whiston Hill and then over the top to Whiston village.  On from there via the climb to Cogenhoe ( Pronounced ‘Cookner’ ! ) Through to Little and Great Houghton and the climb there, on to Preston Deanery and Quinton and the short climb up to Salcey Forest and then back via Hanslope to Stony Stratford.  Plenty of ups and downs on that little bit too.

Click Image For Ride Data

I however elected not to have to get up and out so early and to ride towards group as they headed for Olney to save riding to the start and then back again.  It was much cooler day than my last ride when it was shorts and short sleeved shirt weather.  It was back to tights and long sleeved shirt.  I should however have dressed even warmer I think.  Everyone else seemed to have full finger gloves and not my half finger track mitts, jackets and shoe covers!  It was an inducement for me to ride harder though I guess, just to keep warm.

The Buttery is only very small inside and so twenty odd cyclists descending on it out of the blue filled it to overflowing.  Also in the process disturbing all the incumbent diners from their quite morning coffee and chat I am sure.  Under normal circumstances we would have sat outside in the sunshine if the weather had cooperated.

We did encounter the threatened light rain on the return ride.  I left the ride at Hanslope on the way back and headed home to Olney solo again.  Although I was now heading into the wind, the rain stopped and the sun came out for a while and it even began to feel a bit warm for a while.

All in all it was a good ride for me.  I felt a lot better than I expected to after another ten days off the bike apart from one short ride in the week.  I coped with the hills quite well I thought.

But…. having recently joined up to Strava and started to log my rides on there and ‘following’ a few people from the club It seems I am doing about a quarter of the miles a week that they are.  A bigger and better effort is obviously required on my behalf I think and I don’t really have any excuses not too given that I don’t have to go to work and have everyday available for riding.

Here is what my Strava page for the ride looks like.. click on this image for the  full Strava information for the various segments of the ride.  I don’t fully understand quite how it all works myself yet but I am getting there slowly with all the gizmo’s on it.

Click Image For Ride Data

Apologies For Absence..

Apologies for my recent absence from here.  It has been because we took a trip to Lanzarote for some R & R in the Canary Islands sunshine.  The Canaries are a group of Volcanic islands off the north western African coast close to the equator so they have all year round sunshine and a steady high temperature.  Not particularly attractive scenery wise due to the extensive lava rock from the eruptions that created the islands in the first place. However they do serve a purpose for us sunshine deprived northern Europeans to top up our Vitamin D.

It was booked earlier in the year when my wife returned from her daily walk to the shops in town one morning a couple of months ago.  She was soaking wet, cold and bedraggled and said she was fed up!  I happened to suggest maybe we could take a trip to somewhere in the sunshine for a break.  Within hours it was researched and booked. The holiday, long term car parking at Gatwick Airport and overnight accommodation near the airport the night before the trip.  She didn’t need telling twice!

A sad reflection of our times is that I don’t like mentioning these kind of events online in advance or during, for security reasons.  As it happens it appears somebody did try to get into the back gate while I was away.  Unsuccessfully fortunately.

I will give a more detailed account, with pictures, later and I will also be putting some pictures on my photography blog later.  However I have over 300 pictures to work through and edit first.

The weight loss program I talked about in an earlier post here has kind of gone into reverse.  More of me returned from the trip than left here just over a week ago.  Thats the trouble with all inclusive holidays, food and drink is readily available with little or no effort involved, apart from the walk to one of the bars or restaurants.  I did however manage a quick spin on the bike yesterday afternoon and hope to go on the club ride tomorrow morning.  So the process starts again.. weight loss and training.

TMK Ride, Bluebells, Barns And F1

The destination for this weeks Team MK ride was to be the Bluebell Cafe at Marsworth, next to the Tring reservoirs in Hertfordshire.  However, all things can change as you will read later.

Click Image For Ride Data

There were about 30 riders assembled ready for the start of the ‘C Group’ ride at the newly appointed start time of 9:00am.  It was decided quite soon, because of the numbers to divide the group into two.  I hesitated in my decision about which group to go into.  I then saw that most of those with similar abilities to me were in the second group so I opted for that one.  However it wasn’t many miles later before that group also naturally split in two.  This time I was in the faster group.

The weather was bright and sunny at the start of the ride but about an hour into the ride it came over very black and got quite cold.  It looked as though the rain that was forecast for around 1:00 pm was arriving early.  However we rode through that, without any rain and into brighter but now sunless skies.

We decided amongst ourselves that we would prefer to go to the Barn Cafe, just up the road from the Bluebell.  In my opinion and obviously that of others in the group to be a better cafe.  It is more reasonably priced, quicker service and plenty of freshly baked cakes.

It was a tough ride out into the south west wind, but that was compensated for on return leg.  Its quite a hilly ride over rolling countryside, not a lot of flat.  The return ride took us past the hotel owned or at least part owned I heard by the Red Bull Racing F1 racing driver, Mark Webber, The Stag at Mentmore.  He however was otherwise occupied out in China qualifying for the Grand Prix at the time.  It didn’t turn out to be a very good weekend for him as it happens.    He had problems with qualifying and in the race itself.

Our ride was fortunately problem free however and the ride back was quite fast.  The earlier start meant that I got home at a slightly more reasonable time.  The rain forecast for 1pm arrived almost dead on schedule but by then I was sitting indoors tucking into a bacon sandwich and feeling that pleasant ache in my legs you get from having performed some vigorous exercise.  At the same time watching the replay on TV of the qualifying rounds of the Chinese Grand Prix and the luckless Mr Webber.  I felt sorry for him because I know both he and I wanted him to get revenge over his team mate, Sebastian Vettel, for the way he did the dirty on him in the previous Grand Prix.

Bongo Hat..

Saw this amusing little ‘gif’ on Twitter

Bernie Eisel of Team Sky playing bongo’s on a fellow riders new style ‘aero/potty’ helmet 

About all they are fit for I think.. horrible looking things..

By Way Of A Change…

Spring is definitely in the air.. I had a meeting this afternoon that didn’t take as long as I expected and as I was walking home in the sunshine I decided another bike ride might be appropriate..

No sooner said than done.  Within minutes of getting home I was out on my bike.. I headed off on a circuit in the opposite direction to that of yesterday, so a map of the two rides combined would make a figure eight with a bit of a tilt on it.  Yesterdays was was kind of south-east and today was north-west.

I rattled up and even faster average than yesterday, breaking well into the 17 mph average over almost 24 miles.  By way of a change I have linked to the ride data from my Strava page which I have recently started loading rides onto as well as Garmin.

Click anywhere on image for ride data

If you would prefer the Garmin data layout click on THIS

Strava is inclined to make one a much more competitive rider I think as it analyses various segments of a ride and compares your performance with that of other Strava members over the same stretch.  You may feel inclined to try and move yourself up the overall ratings or just be satisfied with personal bests on various segments.

Overall I don’t compare very favourably, as you would expect when the performance of a 70 year old is compared with that of a 20 year old!  I would usually be at best about halfway down ( Or up, depends if you are a cup half full or half empty person! ) the list that may consist of a 100′s or 1000′s of other riders on the same segment.  However, there is a facility to make age group comparisons if you have subscribed to the service.  The oldest age group is 65 plus ( Still young I think !!  :) ) and in that I appear at or near the top, albeit there are probably only about half a dozen people on the list at most usually.  My Mont Ventoux ride in 2011 rated me at 12th in my age group.  I’m not sure that I am tempted to go and try to improve on it though.. !

Being a competitive type of rider it suits me well although it may not be for everybody.  It gives me a target to aim for outside of actually racing.  More like individual time trials I guess aiming for personal bests.

Lighter, Brighter Days And Rides…

On a whim I decided on a bike ride this afternoon.  The possibility of rain that was suggested by the Met office didn’t materialise and it was about 2pm.  I had time for a couple of hours riding so I got myself ready and off I went.

It doesn’t take quite so long to get ready this week as it did last week with the slightly improved weather we are having.  Fewer and lighter clothes makes the operation far less of a chore, a) to find them and b) to get them on.  I dispensed with the casquette under my helmet, I had fingerless track mitts on instead of full gloves, no gilet and no tubular neck warmer.  In a matter of minutes I was dressed, bottled filled with water and bike out ready for the off.  Spontaneity is king!

When I set off I wasn’t really sure exactly what my route would be as I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling.  As it turned out I must have been feeling pretty good because I was riding quite hard from the start.  Not flat out, just pushing myself all the time but not to the limit.  This resulted in my fastest average speed of the year so far and route wasn’t that easy with a few hills interspersed along the way and a strongish head wind for most of the first 12 miles.

My route was the longest option that I had in mind when I set off, I didn’t take any short cut options.  I went out on loop from home with the furthest point of the loop being around Stagsden, just outside of Bedford.  It made a change from my usual Ouse Valley rides.

Click the map for detailed ride stats

Now the weather is hopefully going to be getting better I can take some longer options in all directions.  I need to get some miles in to shed the weight I seem to have gained over the winter period of reduced activity.  I seem to have put on about 12 lbs. since the end of summer last year.  I now weigh in at 11st 6lbs, (160lbs) against the 10st 8lbs, (152lbs) I was then.

Its a similar situation to how things were last year except last spring I was a couple of pounds heavier than now.  All this information is stored in my Garmin data.  I don’t know where the extra weight is hiding because the clothes the lightweight me was wearing then I am wearing now and they are not tight?

The weight disappeared last year naturally by just riding my bike, I didn’t make any dietary changes, so I am expecting the same to happen again.

Signs Of Spring 1

I am hoping there will be a sequence of similar posts so thats why I have called this one number one, in anticipation!

After a wander around the monthly farmers market this morning we walked back via the meadows and the river.  It seems the farmer thinks Spring has arrived a he has released the cows out onto the meadows for the summer.  Always a positive sign.

The cows are usually a bit frisky when they are first released from their winter quarters but these seemed OK.

Click on the map for a larger view

There is a public right of way across the meadows and a public footpath across the meadows from near the Church and Old Mill situated towards the bottom left of the map that goes across the meadows to the river bridge just past the centre the near the bottom of the map where the river heads north and the path crosses the bridge and up to the small hamlet of Clifton Reynes, far right of the map. (You might just see a thin light horizontal line on the enlarged view of the map which is the footpath to the bridge).

You can also bear left near the bridge and walk north along by the river to the ‘Z’ bend in the river at the top of the map and it brings you out at the sports field where the rugby, football and cricket club are located. (The Rugby Club is identified on the map).  Its not actually an official public right of way along there.  However there are little bridges across the outlets where the field ditches exit into the river and everybody walks along there.  It makes a good alternative walking route to or from the town to make a pleasant looped walk on a nice day.  This was the return route this morning.  My house is just off the top of the map.

Team MK Ride, Canons Ashby

Yesterday I went on the Team MK ride to Canons Ashby.  It was at the new earlier start time of 9am.  This was instigated to ease congestion around Cofferidge Close in Stony Stratford (See the header picture, taken some time ago before cycling became more popular).  At the later time there were a lot of pedestrians walking through the meeting point as they go from the car park and the small supermarket back out into the High Street for their Saturday morning shopping.  I think we were beginning to get in their way a bit with the recently increased popularity of bike riding generally and our club rides in particular.  This was a good thing causing a bad thing.

I think the majority of riders were aware of the new start time.  I know that every time I looked at club website recently there were reminders of the new start time.  However in this day and age there are still quite a few people who don’t have use of the internet or even if they do they don’t browse it as avidly as some might !  In fact I have since heard that at least a couple of people were surprised to find nobody there at 9:30.

I am guessing there were about 25′ish people on the ride which was well led at a steady pace by Paul.   If the ride is at a steady pace then it becomes a much easier ride.  Much better than rushing off and dropping people and then have to slow down or even stop and wait for them to catch up, only to speed off again as soon as they do and drop them again on the first slight incline.  It becomes a very staccato affair and not a relaxed ride at all.  The average speed is always around the same regardless of the style.  It all depends on the leader as to how the ride is conducted.

The ride was to the National Trust property at Canons Ashby Priory in Northamptonshire.  It is a pleasant ride through rolling Northamptonshire countryside, not a lot of flat roads but nothing too taxing either.It was a far more pleasant day compared to recent times.  It was still a bit cool to start with mainly due to the earlier start time.  However as the sun got up you could actually feel some warmth from it for a change.  It was just as well the weather was better as we were able to sit outside, there is more room there.  I think we would have pretty much filled up the interior.

‘The bikes parked at Canons Ashby’

(I think they are plant display stands rather bike racks !!)

The return ride completed the loop and it was a well controlled finish to the ride as well.  The usual break up towards the end as people try to get rid of any surplus energy they feel they might have didn’t happen and the group stayed together to the end.

Click this image for detailed ride stats