I started to go out on my bike regularly in preparation for the Triathlon events I was entering. Some of the Lichfield Triathlon lads I had got to know were and still are very strong cyclists. I started to be part of conversations that were going way over my head. Things like cadence, power output, functional threshold levels and similar performance measures were all completely new to me. I avoid technical things at the best of times (I never read instructions, easier to make it up as you go) but I was beginning to realise I had entered a completely different world.
It started to make more sense when I attended my first watt bike session at Lichfield Friary leisure centre. I had been encouraged to go along as the guy that ran the class did tests to figure out your average watt output which was then used to figure out threshold levels for the class sessions. These were intense and as with most of these type of things I enjoyed smashing myself to bits. Using the power as a benchmark was great for developing fitness so I went along as often as I could.
It wasn’t until recently that I took this a step further and invested in a power meter for my road bike. As I started to build my training up for the Ironman, I realised that any predictor of fatigue or over exertion was going to be critical for my chances of completing the event. Having deliberated for months about it I finally got one. Has it changed my world? Not really, but at least I have an additional guide that helps avoid the dreaded ‘bonk’. Destroying my legs on a 112 mile bike record ahead of a marathon would not be a good idea.
I never had any interest in cycling when I was younger but now I’m doing it regularly I feel as though I might have missed out. I’ve really no idea whether I could have been any good at it. Arguably my physique suits the sport and I have often been told that I have good leg strength. But I can’t honestly say whether that would have translated to being anything amazing.
I’ve only done one time trial. This was when I went along to a regular weekly club TT that Burntwood triathlon club held in Yoxall village. Only a handful of people turned up on the night I did it and since I didn’t do it again I have no idea whether I progressed or not. Not the way to do these kind of things I know. The training for these seems pretty brutal, with hours on turbo trainers to develop consistent power output over time. I know some people swear by them and they are great training for Ironman or sportives but it just looks massively painful to me.
I have had a go at track cycling recently. I got a voucher for an introduction session at Derby velodrome along with a few other family members. We went along and got the induction talk from one of the professional coaches. He clearly had some standard jokes and phrases that he used as part of his talk. Most of them went along the lines of ‘road bike users are lazy so listen up because this is completely different’. To be fair it was. I’d never been on a track bike before i.e. no gears and no normal brakes. It took a few minutes to get used to the fact that you need to keep pedalling otherwise you’d be braking, which potentially meant you could fall off. We went around the track on the flat section a few times to get used to the feel of the bike before he introduced us to the slopes of the velodrome. He placed markers on the track to push us higher up the slope. It was a bit daunting at first but you soon get used to the incline and get more confident as you cycle round. It was only an hour session so I only got a very small taste of what the top track cyclists do but you can see the appeal. Going as fast as you can in a race environment must be some feeling.
It is only recently that I’ve completed my second long cycling event. I entered the Rutland Sportive as a build up to the Ironman. The course is 105 miles long but you have to cycle 2 miles to get to the start from the official car park, so I’m rounding that up to 109 (that’s crazy maths). I selected that one as the route looked very hilly and would be good training for the Ironman course. I’d competed in other events around Rutland so I knew that it would be lumpy, the locals refer to the hilly countryside in that area as the Rutland ripple. I figured doing some hill work over a long distance couldn’t be a bad thing.
Aiming to avoid a bonk I decided to test my nutrition strategy. I’d just been on holiday and read a book by Vassos Alexander, radio sports presenter and self-confessed running addict. He mentioned making his own super food cake which had worked successfully for him over various long distance races, so I decided to follow suit. I’m not sure what his exact recipe was as it wasn’t in the book, but I ploughed on regardless by buying the essential ingredients of bananas, blueberries, eggs, peanut butter and avocado. I then made up the rest myself to add extra flavour. I was quite surprised when I made it that it actually tasted good so decided to take it along on the Sportive. It worked like a dream. I ate a couple of mouthfuls every 30 minutes, plus anything else I managed to pick up at the food stations dotted along the way. Bonk avoided.
The course itself lived up to expectations. It was very undulating. A few days before the race a fellow Leicester Tri club member posted on the club forum that he had also entered the event and wanted to know if anyone else was going along. More than happy to have a riding mate I said I’d meet him at the start. I’d never met Lewis, or Coops as he’s known, before the race but it didn’t take long to realise that we were both coming at it from the same angle i.e. nothing too serious, but great to have some company on the way. I think he may have regretted meeting up at one point as he’d only signed up for the 75 mile version. I convinced him to go for the full distance after a couple of hours. I’d found out that he worked for the RAF and that he doing a charity bike ride from London to Paris later in the year to raise money for war veterans. The extra miles were not going to him any harm in preparing for that.
It was a great day out. The weather was pretty kind to us, sunny with very little wind. I felt pretty good throughout and went well up the (multiple) hills. Apart from the obligatory sore backside from hours sat on a saddle, I had no ill effects from the ride or my cobbled together cake. The nutrition side went smoothly and my legs weren’t demolished. I don’t know whether I could have run a marathon straight after but I didn’t think it was an impossible task either. Job done. Coops and I went on our separate ways and it was another box ticked in my Ironman preparation.