The Kentish Killer Preview

This weekend sees my on the bike and outside for the first time in 2012.  Come 09:00 on Sunday I’ll be rolling out of the Brands Hatch Motor Race circuit – ahead of me will be a 112kms with a little over 2kms of climbing which in truth, I’m slightly daunted by.

The so called Kentish Killer is traditionally the curtain opener for the UK sportive team.  I’ve not ridden it before although it comes highly recommended from those who have and from aspects of the cycling media.  The ride’s profile is certainly interesting with sections that must be in the region of a 10% - 15% incline.  Naturally this type of climb has nothing in common with those of La Marmotte although they’re certain to test the legs.

Above: Kentish Killer Profile

I’m hoping to finish in 4 to 4 ½ hours although of course that assumes no flats, good weather conditions and friendly car drivers.  The latter two of course can never be taken for granted.

Full write up to follow early next week.

Strada Handbuilt Wheels - Velocity A23 Wheelset Unboxing

Note: For a full review of these wheels, please head over here

I've been looking at getting hold of a pair of "do it all" wheels for a little while and naturally there's plenty of such wheels within the market that meets such a demand.

Having been through the options, read the online reviews and spoken to a few people at my LBS, I was close to pulling the trigger on a set from within the  HED Aredennes range.  What stopped me doing so was a conversation with a work colleague who suggested I could probably get something built bespoke from an independent wheel builder based here in the UK.

A little more internet searching later I found myself speaking with Strada Handbuilt Wheels who are based out of Lancing in West Sussex.  After a comprehensive discussion about what I was looking for, my riding style and weight etc I was recommended a pair of Velocity A23s.  While I wasn’t familiar with the Velocity brand, Strada were more than able to overcome my inherent unwillingness to go for something untrusted.

So purchase I did......

I opted for a 20 / 24 hole pairing (I'm 69kgs) using Sapim CX Ray Spokes built upon a Powertap G3 rear hub (supplied by me) and a black PMP front.

While I'm yet to ride them I've been mightly impressed with Strada from the customer service and the exceptional quality of the wheel's build.

I’ll give the wheels a month or so to bed in and I’ll post a review sometime towards late March or Early April. In the meantime, here are a few unboxing pics:

Firm stong box

Wheels secured firmly in place at the top side

And at the bottom

20 hole PMP front hub

24 hole PowerTap G3 rear

Velocity A23 front wheel in profile

Velocity A23 rear wheel in profile

Testing testing testing....

With a new job, a poorly newly one year old and lots of other things besides, I’ve been rather quiet on the blogging front. 
 
All told, things are going well from a training perspective.  I’ve been able to get the km’s and hours under the belt which has meant switching my weekday sessions to a pre work and pre breakfast time frame.  So far this hasn’t proved to be too taxing just as long as I remember to eat something before getting onto the rollers.  If I forget I tend to get dizzy about half an hour into the ride and all but fall out of the saddle. Not pretty.
 
Anyway… Yesterday I took the opportunity undergo my first FTP test session of the year.  I’ve not tested myself since October of last year and while I’ve not really been training to kick it upwards, I felt it time to see how things are going. 
 
Somewhat interestingly my FTP has gone up to 298 watts (using standard 20min extrapolation method of 20 min max minus 5%) which gives me a 4.32 Watts per KG ratio which I suppose isn’t altogether that bad.
 
Now to improve on it……..

New Year, New Job

This week thus far has been rather interesting.

For one, I started a new job working within the environment I love but within a very different environment.  With a working week under the belt, so far so very good with smiling people and a wonderful resonance about the place.

I'm genuinely smitten.

For afters this is my first little taper / drop down week of the new year.  Last week I put in a solid 11hr on the bike and covered close to 380kms with plenty of hours at tempo and above.

This week will have me put in perhaps 7 - 8 hours in the saddle all at a very gentler endurance pace before looking to build up the pace and hours for another 3 week training cycle.

Fun.

A Fresh Bidon Every Time...

It's almost time to put away the steriliser..... or is it?

With our little person about to celebrate his first birthday in a few days, Mrs T has informed me to get ready to man up so to speak and to find the step ladder from the shed.  I'm told it's time to hide the steriliser in the loft with the rest of our junk.

I understand after the first birthday, it's no longer imperative to formally sterilise a young person's feeding bottle for each sitting.  I suppose there's some logic to this.  After all, I doubt very many if any adult, bar those compulsively obsessed with cleanliness perhaps, would do something similar with each and everyone of their water tumblers?  

However, I've delayed the no doubt inevitable trip up into the cold and spider infested attic having discovered a secondary use case for said steriliser.  

Bidon cleaning.

Mouldy bottle innards be gone! Works like a charm.

A secondary use case for our redundant steriliser

Two Hours of Nowhere

While my part of the UK remains relatively untouched by the recent storms that have battered much of the country, it's still been a little too breezy for me to venture further on the bike than my front room.

I've written before on why I quite enjoy riding a turbo so I'm not planning on spending any more time looking to justify an activity that many people would rather see removed from the field of human invention.

In any case, todays session was a simple 1 hour ride at tempo with 2 intervals of 10 mins at FTP late in the session.  For the most part everything went well until the second of the FTP efforts when the fact that I'd not consumed any food in the past hour and a half caught up with me.

I'll call it a mini bonk although it was big enough so to speak for me to bail out of the last internal after 7 mins.  Despite, or in spite of this little mishap, I really enjoyed todays ride.

Of course, come July I'll be needing to ride this sort of tempo pace for over 2 hours so clearly, there's still much to be done.

WKO+ analysis of todays session

Early 2012 - Gently Does it

Today I went for my first outdoor ride of 2012.  While much of the UK was battered overnight and throughout the day with gale force winds, we seem to have avoided anything more than a stiff breeze, with the sum damage to the local area being it's ability to knock over a few peoples vast piles of New Year's recycling into the gutters.

As I'm still on holiday, I waited until latish in the afternoon before getting the warm trousers, gloves and coat ready.  There seemed little point in starting the year too hard so I set off and maintained a simple and easy pace well into the endurance zone (i.e. 180 - 220 watts).

With speed and effort being somewhat irrelevant to the ride I spent the best part of an hour and a half simply pottering around the outskirts of Newbury before heading home to a steaming cup of tea that Mrs T had already made in anticipation of my return.

A wonderful start to the riding year and no doubt come my planned dose of FTP testing later in the week, a ride I'd be happy to repeat over and over again.

A junction in The Ridegway, not far from West IIsley