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Good work, James, hope it continues that way and there are no setbacks!
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run down to brighton.
never seen so much rain.
not ridden with such a grin on my face for a while.
cold but great fun.Cheers for the company Skive. I agree...I was grinning like an idiot for lots of it. I even treated those near me to my singing.
75 fixed miles including the Bitchling. The rain was so hard on way back to Deptford that several of the roads were above pedal height deep in water.
Ace.
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re recovery
Am using a KMI practitioner for treatment. He specialises in releasing bonded muscle fascia and ligaments. One of my big problems is restricted movement and he is really helping with that. Additionally am finding the return to yoga and pilates has been great for reminding me what my body should be capable of, and by taking part in classes I find myself doing things that I forget I should not be able to do. It does hurt like hell, but seems to be about the best I can do.
I can really quantify my change in mobility. When I first started weight bearing, the ankle was stuck at a 15degree drop. I can now achieve a full point with the foot, and get my knee over my toes. This would not be enough for proper gym squats, so that will be the motion I will look for so if I need to I can then do some weights.
When static my leg has to be raised as venal return is pretty poor, it swells up fairly quickly. I was very reassured that actually the time on the bike today was not causing the leg to swell unduly, I think the turning action helped keep pumping blood back out. So riding a bike is much better than sitting doing nothing.
When the pain levels start to subside I may look to specific strength and plyometric exercises to help with bursts of power. The inability to deliver acceleration when I first got back on the bike was frightening, as I did not feel i was able to speed up to get out of danger. This is starting to return but feels limited.
So at the moment its a case of take it as gently as possible, and back off when serious pain starts to come up. I think I may well look to finding a coach at some point and doing some specific training if I can identify some particular weaknesses or deficits. Right now I am just hugely grateful to be back on a bike.
The sense of liberty and utter joy of today was amazing. Yes I was swearing inwardly a lot, and outwardly sometimes as the bursts of pain kicked in, but to get out and do some proper exercise was a huge reward to me.
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Reasons to love cycling, no 1 - eating
Word.
I've just been looking at the routes for last weekend's Tour of Wessex, particularly the final day. Hurrah to everyone who gave it a bash! Dunkery Beacon and the climb East from Crowcombe are hard, Christ knows how they will have felt after three days' peddling.
I hadn't planned to ride at all this weekend, but today my girlfriend had a spot of work to finish, so I took my spongy steel commuter for an impromptu spin around Surrey. Good fun, and jolly pleasant for being a gentle run. I stuck to a flat ride out from/ back to Brentford, with a few (only a few) climbs tucked into the middle.
I did snag my left knee a bit while climbing, which I could have done without. I've had similar before, I reckon it comes from pulling up too sharply at the back of a pedal stroke, which tugs at my knees' ropes and pulleys. S'nothing major; though I now sport a small swollen (and ever-so-slightly tender) patch in the rear of my knee, sitting over what must be a ligament (I'm not very good with anatomy). I just need to be a bit smoother on the pedals when climbing fixed, tis all, while a short spell of not asking too much from my pins will sort them out, I'm sure.
Finally back on the road bike.
Nice one.
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Glad to hear you're back on the bike James.
I'm down in Cornwall, so Saturday was Sennon - St Ives along the north coast road, popping in to Pendeen lighthouse on the way for sentimental reasons. Really bleak, beautiful and pretty hilly, but the wind was insane, all the way there I was riding into it, a full on coastal wind and on those roads quite big stretches have no hedges for protection, so it was pretty wearing. BUT flying back with the wind behind me was amazing. There's a 17% climb just outside St Just and I flew up it, left the cars for dust on the twisty roads and had a massive grin on my face all the way there. All set against a background of spectacular cliffs, abandoned tin mines and bleak Cornish moorland. Lovely. I didn't meet a man with seven wives though.
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/270609
Sunday was following the coast road in the opposite direction to just beyond Marazion. Unforunately after Penzance everything goes a bit crap, so I could have gone further (and probably should have at least gone down to the coast to mark the end of the ride properly) but got bored and turned back. Similar up and down coast road, climbing up to Treen on the way back and popping in to Land's End (which is rubbish, and it isn't even the most south westerly point, actually) just to tick it off. Highlights included some proper Cornish lanes with massive hedges and two tyre tracks you could actually ride on, the descent into Mousehole (pronounced mouz-ul) - at least 17% according to my map - which was amazing, but the best hill was near Treen - a 17%+ descent into a valley then a 20%+ climb out, followed by a really steep hairpin bend and another 17%+ ascent. Good fun.
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Sunday was the Chiltern100. I did the gran fondo fixed in 7hrs 30mins. Turns out we cant count in the country as it was 111miles. A real relief to see the 10mile to go marker and got loads of encouragement going up the climbs.
Had all sorts of weather from glourious sunshine to heavy rain, but all told it was a great day in the saddle.
Some friends doing the medio were halted by loads of punctures as some locals decided they would spread tacks across the road. Not heard anything more about it yet - but loads of people getting mutliple punctures in a small stretch of road is more than coincidence, unless of course a lorry carrying drawing pins shed its load on the potholes (and there were some chasms) in the lanes. -
^^^^ooof, those look good Fox. There and back route fail though ;)
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coast2coast both ways in 3 days
heat wave on friday and then rain/wind on sunday....excellent ride!
wimped out and did it on gears......not sure about Hartside on fixed.i did hartside fixed earlier this year.
slow and steady it's fine.
it's the 20 plus degree hill out of garrigill which i thought was the hardest.
props for going both ways in 3 days.
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Edit re dragon.. Sounds like a lot of people were delayed so much at the start (1 hr + in the start queue) that they missed the cutoff for the 200km and were forced to do the medium route, hence posting a very quick time. Garbage data. I agree they should have got people out quicker. 1-2 hour delay is crap. On the other hand a mass start would have been carnage. I witnessed a friend nearly stack it when he clipped some else's wheel as they were forced in by faster riders pushing through in a bunch hardly a mile from the start.
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102 miles on the club run on Sunday out to Dinton Pastures. Flat and fast, fab toastie lunch, only marred by shower on last leg home and rear-wheel blow-out.
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i did hartside fixed earlier this year.
slow and steady it's fine.
it's the 20 plus degree hill out of garrigill which i thought was the hardest.
props for going both ways in 3 days.
But you miss out on some serious high speed descents on fixed.
The gradients up were all fairly low with the exception of that initial bit from garrigill. But even that flattens out to a steady 6%.
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coast2coast both ways in 3 days
heat wave on friday and then rain/wind on sunday....excellent ride!
wimped out and did it on gears......not sure about Hartside on fixed.Very impressive, was it west - east in 1 day and 2 days back or did you even it out with an overnight at Allenheads/Eastgate both ways?
Sam
Oliver Schick
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skive
dancing james
FridayMarch26th
Fox
markyp
Smudgley
Yemble
pastry_bot
TM
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Tell us about your weekend ride
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great to hear. when you get back to full strength those scars are just gonna make you look knarlier. take it easy.