Altitude Training

Part of my training plan was to hit Scotland for the bank holiday weekend and take on some hills.  I did a similar weekend last year and encountered gale force winds, torrential rain and even hail stones; I also had the worst the two worst days of my life cycling Lands End to John O’Groats in Scotland; so to say I was excited would be a lie!

oh, another hill!

The plan was for me and Keith (my girlfriend Kelly’s brother) to travel to a few lumpy bits of Scotland and take on some hilly rides.  The plan went tits up before we started as Keith was ill with a virus, so suddenly I was facing three days of cycling on my own (cycling in groups is easier than solo as when you follow another cyclist you are sheltered from the wind); Keith valiantly took one for the team and offered to be a support driver for the weekend, meeting me at strategic points to pass supplies and take photos.

The eagle eyed of you may have noticed I am riding my road bike Jasmine.  As much as I love Holly, she is a beast of a bike and I tend to only ride her when I need things carried!

Day 1 – Rest and Be Thankful

The day started well.  I was crowned King of the Mountain on the very first climb of the day, straight out of the car park!  Website Strava compares GPS records of all cyclists who cycle common routes and rates them accordingly;   I claimed the climb to Rest and Be Thankful…… this is one of the greatest sporting of my life (even if I did only beat 9 other people!).

If I am not no. 1 on the leaderboard, I was when I posted this!!

The ride was a fantastic route with a good mix of climbs and descents, I had a cracking time, although I was pretty knackered by the end of the day as the route saved the biggest climb for last.

Towards the end of the day I cycled past Keith and just up the road another car stopped to watch me ride past.  I thought nothing of it until I met with Keith at the end of the ride.  It turns out that as Keith was wearing a Tour of Britain jacket the people in the car had stopped to ask him if I was pro cyclist!!  Keith did nothing to put them straight (I couldn’t accuse him of lying!), so I had my first ever cycling fans, even if somewhat fraudulently!!

Day 2 – Etape Caledonia

My second ride followed part of the route of the Etape Caledonia.  The ride started with a nice hailstone shower, before a bit of snow and plummeting temperatures.  After 6 miles I was considering calling it a day as I am not a lover of the cold and I was not dressed for artic conditions!  Luckily I persevered and the day turned out nice.  The route had one big climb before returning to Pitlochry along a very undulating route.

The ride went well until the last four miles……then I bonked.  Bonking is a cycling term for when your body runs out of energy.  Having burnt all your carbohydrates your body needs to break down fat to fuel itself; the problem with this is the body cannot break down fat fast enough to support an activity such as cycling!  When you bonk your legs have no power and even the simplest of climbs start to feel like climbing Everest with lead boots, not a pleasant experience.  I am pleased to report I made it to Pitlochry (just) and upon arrival I devoured a baguettes to get my body back up and running.

For the geeks, you can see where I bonked at the end by looking at my heart rate trace.

Day 3 – Campsie

After the previous day, I filled my bottles and pockets with carbohydrate drinks and gels.  We set off to Campsie, to return to the site of the hailstone storm of the previous year.  This ride in 2011 was easily the most ridiculous conditions I have ever ridden in.  The hail stones were so bad that I could only look down at the white lines on the road as lifting my head up would have been like getting my face shot blasted!

Although I was feeling the previous two days in my legs, I decided that one last effort was required to record a decent ascent time on the Tak Me Doon Road.  I posted 18^th out of 81 and very nearly puked at the top!

Although this doesn't look fast I was doing 43mph!

The rest of the ride went well, although the state of the road alongside the reservoir was shocking, my arms worked harder than my legs in places with all the bumps and potholes!

So what next?

My training is now focused on completing a half ironman on 23^rd June.  I will be splitting my training between cycling, running and swimming until then.  After 23^rd june I am hoping to do a few long training cycles and put on a bit of weight before I head out to the states.