Notes from Swindon – home of the Magic Roundabout
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My brain does funny things sometimes.
I was doing a little training course at work about a process that helps to keep the wheels of industry turning in the organisation that I work for, and I was disturbed by this image:
I instinctively knew that something was wrong. Do you see it too?
So, as I think I’ve said, April through to July has been pretty darned busy. I made my way on to several rotas at church, had a busy time at work several weekends away and a week-long holiday. Finally some more “free” time is here – hence the recent blog activity.
I wanted to take a quick look back at the last few months’ cycling. There are some thoughts that I’ve not had a chance to jot down.
Tags: campaigning, cyclescheme, Cycling, training
After February’s rather poor cycle mileage (mostly due to the snow that I’ve not written about yet), and with some determination to make a habit of extended commutes and regular “training” rides, I’ve decided to set myself a goal.
I’m going to try to cycle 300 miles during the month of March!!
On the one hand, this doesn’t seem like too much. It’s a shade less than ten miles a day – and my standard commute is over 7 of those! A few lunchtime rides here and there, some long rides home, and making sure I go out for 40 mins on Saturday and Sunday (or 80 mins on one weekend day).
On the other hand, I’ve never done more than 250 miles in a month – and that was in Bike Week in June!
I’ve made a good start with 35 miles in just 3 days (I didn’t cycle on the 1st). But I suspect it will be hard to keep up.
Following on from the last post about spring, the weather has been a bit up and down, but today was beautiful for cycling and I grabbed a snap of part of my favourite 8.5 mile route. Well worth going out of my way for, even if it was a few extra miles:
After a week off with bad weather and a few days off with a bad back (caused, indirectly, by the bad weather), I was finally back in the saddle today.
The commute TO work was pretty treacherous with lots of black ice. But I managed to stay “rubber side down” as they say. It was also VERY cold and I was numb even through my winter SealSkins AND thermal inners.
Things had improved by evening time and, despite the darkness, I put in a fairly useful 9 urban miles or so. And I felt pretty strong too!
You know, I might have said this a thousand times before but I just LOVE cycling. I think I’m the sort of person that thrives on intense exercise, so that sways my opinion, but I feel so much better in so many ways for having put a few miles in.
Hah, I’m chuffed with that title.
Another trip to the gym tonight. The country has ground to a halt today with something like the most snow we’ve had for 18 years, so cycling was out, but a free evening gave us a chance to get some exercise in.
I continued my running, with another 5km on the treadmill. Slightly slower than last time, but I was using gradients rather than just on the flat, so that’s OK, and I mostly felt fine afterwards.
But as soon as I stopped my left calf cramped up again. It’s not as bad as last time, but I suspect that the reason is the same – not hydrating myself enough. Must get into the habit of drinking LOTS of water at work rather than just the odd coffee here and there.
Still, given the weather I won’t be cycling again for another couple of days, so maybe rest is on the cards.
Just had a new experience on the bike….cramp! I’ve been meaning to get out on a lunchtime ride, but the week has been manicly busy, so, with Sally out tonight, I decided to try my well-lit, urban 14-miler again.
I knew it was colder than I was expecting by just at the back door of the office, you could feel the chill. That was confirmed on stepping outside. Brrrr. I was mostly prepared for this, but I only had my three-season, three-quarter-length longs on.
About 5 miles in though, and I could feel little twinges in my legs. Not something I’ve had before. Icy little darts of…not pain…but tension. I abandoned the 14-miler and started heading for home.
It was a traffic-light stop that killed me. I had to wait about a minute or so for it to change and as soon as I’d clipped back in…TWANG!!! It went. My left calf seized up.
I just about made it home without anything else going, but even after some good stretching I’m not right.
A word of winter warning. Wrap up well when it’s freezing, or take the short route home.
Ow.
So, not to be beaten after a single run, and slightly concerned about the very slight pain in my knee, I headed to the gym last week for my second run. Yes, sadly, on a treadmill!
Now, some runners at work have mocked this slightly, calling it things like “Just bobbing up and down and not really going anywhere”, and I confess, that’s exactly what it is. It’s not really like running. But that’s not to say it’s completely dissimilar too, and with my possibly painful knee I didn’t want to run 2 miles and have to abort and walk home, so it seemed like the thing to do.
And I’m pleased to say it was a success! I did get a bit of knee pain, in the left knee, but it wasn’t too bad and I ran through it and clocked up 5km. I felt pretty OK afterwards too.
The treadmill was funny. I mentioned about liking a long stride in my first run, and it was really hard to get that in the gym. It also seemed to take FOREVER to run 5km. I can see why people much prefer running outdoors.
But at the same time it was good. I did the 5km. I didn’t get as hot and sweaty as I thought I would. And I got to watch the highlights of Obama’s inauguration on the news while I did it.
I now have an odd pain just behind my right knee. It’s fading a bit but persisting. It’s not holding up the cycling, but I’m taking it easy, and definitely not running again, until it’s definitely OK.
The Swindon Half Marathon’s not quite in sight yet. But maybe I could get used to this running lark after all?!
So this was the winter when I was supposed to train! I got kitted out with some “longs” and a fancy new Windstopper jacket, and I was going to keep the mileage up and be ready in the spring to push on with my cycling from a good base fitness level.
Of course, my four common colds didn’t help. Health was an issue. But even without that, it’s not quite as easy as you think.
Winter isn’t just cold and wet. It’s dark! And this presents a whole new set of challenges. Especially as my longer rides tend to be on the way home after 6pm.
Most of my longer rides take me out onto quiet country roads, and these tend not to be lit.
“Well, that’s OK”, I hear you say, “you put lights on”.
But that’s doesn’t quite work either. You see most lights are good for getting you seen, but they’re no good for see-ing. My one attempt at dark country lanes was WELL scary, even with both a Halogen and an LED light headlight on.
No, without strapping a huge contraption and heavy battery to your bike like some night-time mountain bikers do, it’s just not safe – especially at road bike speeds.
This Thursday was an attempt to fix the winter problem of covering distance in the dark. Sally was busy and the run on Wednesday had got me hooked again on exercise adrenaline. So I headed off my normal route home to attempt a decent, well-lit, urban training ride.
The route is on Bikely and I’ve called it the Swindon Ring Road. I won’t pretend it’s entirely safe – there were some hairy moments with cars. I won’t pretend it’s massively quick – there are lights and junctions and roundabouts. But it’s MOSTLY long, straightish, flattish tarmac…with lights!
I was quite pleased to do a 14-miler as my first training run of 2009 after a few weeks off, and I didn’t feel too bad afterwards. I confess that I bailed out of climbing up Marlborough Road towards a downhill finish. I think the real route should look more like this.
