BTW: I follow Obree’s world speed record attempts with interest – blog at Cycling Weekley

The Obree way is Graeme Obree’s unique and distinctive approach to training. It is an approach to training Obree developed himself over many years of his own successful cycling career. The book is worth reading just from the perspective of gaining an insight into the training and mentality of a World Champion, you also gain the feeling the author really put is heart and soul into the book. I think every cyclist will be able to pick up something from this training manual.

One thing I liked about reading the book is that I always felt Obree was just sat across the room talking about his training. It was like listening to an old club hand share his training secrets. But, in this case the old ‘club hand’ happens to have held the prestigious world hour record on two occasions and also is a former world champion. Obree’s pedigree definitely is important. If some of these training principles were explained by Tom, Dick or Harry you might be tempted to brush them off as being too obvious or too simple. But, if they worked for Obree, you give them much more importance.

Essential Aspects of the Obree Way.

Turbo Trainer To Obree, the turbo trainer is a key element of his training. It’s not something just to use when the weather turns icey, but even in the middle of summer. Obree wants to have the ability to very carefully monitor his progress and make sure a training session actually stretches his previous effort; the best way he feels is to use a simple turbo training carefully calibrated to measure exact performance. At this point, in the book I did think perhaps the same could have been achieved from power-meters. But, Obree’s way is largely to ignore computer data. (He says the only time he really uses a heart rate monitor is to make sure on a recovery ride, you stick to a recovery ride.)

Training Sessions

Obree doesn’t believe in intervals. To him the best training is to replicate the kind of race you will be doing.

“Specific training for specific events. Everything else is peripheral and less effective than the base truth of athletic performance enhancement.”

- G.Obree

If you are doing 10 mile time trials, a key training session is to do a 20 minute ride on the turbo as go as fast as you can. Later in the training cycle, after a sufficient time period to recover (could be several days). You have another go at this 20 minute ride, but aim to improve on your previous performance. The simple aim is every time you do one of these ‘key’ training sessions you push your limits and go faster than before. This is the simple training principle of ‘stress and recovery‘ You keep pushing your limits, give yourself chance to fully recover and then push your limits again.

It is beautifully simple. There you won’t find any  ’30 seconds at 95%, 1 min rest; 30 seconds at 95% type training sessions.‘

Another important training session for Obree, is the ‘glycogen ride’ This is a two hour ride, where you adapt the body to riding with low sugar levels to improve the body’s use of glycogen stores when racing. He says you should finish this training session really exhausted and ready to devour food (which you have prepared beforehand)

Obree also advocates incorporating a session of strength training. This involves pushing a huge gear on a gentle hill at a very low cadence.

Recovery

One of the most difficult things I found in book was the length of time Obree was willing to devote to recovery. He says some training sessions might take him 4-5 days to recover from. On these recovery days, you can go out and spin your legs. But, it is important to keep it at a recovery level. Obree mentions (without a trace of false modesty) that on one of these recovery rides, he was dropped by guys on mountain bikes. That takes something to be a world champion, but to have the inner confidence to get dropped by some overweight guy on an MTB doing 15mph. That is another element which comes through the book – A single minded determination. To Obree most of your training has to be done on your own, otherwise you won’t be doing the kind of training that you need to gain optimal performance.

Obree even suggests that to get to the peak of your form, you have to be willing to sacrifice a program of racing every weekend as this seven day  race cycle can interfere in your optimal training program. If you are always racing, you inevitably taper for race, and this prevents the training and sessions which really improve your performance.

Single-Minded Purpose

Whatever you think of Obree’s training methods, his thoughts on the mental approach to training are very illumining. You gain a very clear insight into the mentality and approach of a world champion. Obree makes the very astute observation that many people enter sport with the Corinthian ideal of giving it a good shot, and enjoying the social aspect. We may try very hard at times, but we hold back from giving it 100% because we can’t quite get into the mentality of striving to be our absolute best. As Obree says:

“Learn to challenge the option that says. “I have tried hard enough’ – there is always, regardless how small, some gas left in the tank.

To Obree, there is a strong correlation between our mental approach and thinking in the right way and also our physical performance. I found quite a few similarities with an article I wrote on pushing the limits.

Simplicity

One thing I like about this book is the simplicity and honesty. I’d read it in two days, partly because I found it very interesting, but also because it is short. From a commercial perspective, it might have made more sense to pad it out with a few usual things you find in most cycling books. But, you feel Obree only wanted to put in what worked for him. And if it wasn’t relevant – he wasn’t going to put in. There are quite a few personal anecdotes like several references to the benefits of mashed sardines and toast. (though no reference to the ubiquitous marmalade sandwiches which were often touted around world hour record) He doesn’t hold much truck with commercially packaged recovery drinks and food. Obree suggest ‘real food’ as he calls it, can’t be improved upon. He’s also quite honest about equipment making observation, you can spend a lot of money but only make a very minimal difference to your speed.

Generally, I like the shortness and simplicity. It helps to highlight the essentials. However, one area where I would have liked more details is the training chapter. After reading the chapter, I felt like wanting to ask more specific questions. An example of an actual monthly training diary would have been interesting.

Stretching

Obree makes a strong case for stretching everyday. He believes that stretching plays a key role in re-energising muscles and help a smooth pedalling action.

Pedalling Action

This is another area Obree believes is important, and Obree gives tips on developing a smooth pedalling action. Also, Obree says crank length is very important, (which made me feel a bit embarrassed for having no idea what crank lengths I ride. I can tell you how much my saddle weighs to the nearest gram, but not something important like my crank length.

Breathing

There is a whole chapter devoted to the ‘Obree breathing technique’. This is perhaps the most interesting part of the book. I’ve never come across the idea of trying to improving your breathing technique, which is perhaps surprising given that breathing must be pretty important in an aerobic sport like cycling. I will be trying this.

What will I take from this book?

• A commitment to do the four simple stretches he mentions every day.
• Some greater confidence to really rest and recover when necessary.
• New simple training sessions.
• Another look at small things about race to get maximum equipment. e.g. using a bigger front chain ring like 58 rather than 53 to get a better chain line.
• I will try the Obree breathing technique. More than anything I like the idea of concentrating on breathing during training and racing.
• I can’t see myself training on the turbo in the middle of summer.

This was a pyramid interval session, loosely based on Gordon Wright’s inverse pyramids. It’s probably about 60% of the length of a full workout, but it will do for me. The intensity is more important than duration.

First up is 25-20 second sprint intervals. Spinning a high cadence. The maximum power I got was 850 watts. When you consider Mark Cavendish manages 1,500 watts for the sprint at the end of a 250km tour stage, you will understand why I will never be a sprinter.

Then there are 1 minute intervals up a small hill. These one minute intervals are good, because you can go full out, but you don’t get too exhausted (relatively). If you leave a good rest in between them, you can maintain a fairly high intensity. The average power was around 500 watts, with a steady tail off as the intervals went on.

Then I went over to A40 climb to Stokenchurch. The first interval was good; it was reasonably fast and I managed 385 watts (compared to max of 435 when fully fresh). But, these 5 minute intervals on top of previous efforts, saw a big tail off in output. The second was at 350, and the third at 335 watts. It’s a funny feeling trying to do an interval when your legs are already tired. Starting the third interval felt like some kind of purgatory. I knew straight away this was going to be hard work. After the third interval I decided to head home. The legs were shattered and it wasn’t possible to train in the highest intensity any more. The ride took 3 hours and was 100 km.

click to enlarge

There’s an old phrase – I went to Blackpool and all I came back with was this lousy T-Shirt. We could change this to I went on a 100km bike ride and all I came back with was a lousy power meter file.

When I wasn’t looking at a power meter, it was a beautiful autumn day. Probably one of the best times of the year to be out riding.

1. - intervals
2. - core strength training
3. - But, road tax was abolished in 1936.

Intervals seems to be the answer for every cycling training programme. Though I rather like the reply of one cycling wit, who said he did really hard, 110%, eye-ball out intervals, he just left a gap of one year in between them.

But, after a few days to think of a more useful answer. I would add to your intervals, try and enjoy it. That may sound like a contradiction in terms – how can you enjoy something that is inherently painful and tiring? Perhaps enjoy is the wrong word, but at some level you have to look forward to training, you have to enjoy the experience, if not in the usual pleasure-seeking way. At least you need to get some kind of Zen like satisfaction. If it’s a routine, if it’s just ticking off a training programme, it will be hard to summon up that extra zip and motivation to transcend your previous efforts.

Photo Adrian Shingler, Glossop Kinder Velo

In the past couple of years, I’ve made steady progress. I’m pleased because I’m already edging towards the magic 40 (where life begins, but the physical starts to deteriorate, we are told. – Though watching the 42 year old Chris Horner dance away from the leading contenders in the Vuelta yesterday is a great boost for us who are looking forward to competing in the VETS categories.)

I think a very important factor in making progress (especially at the higher end of racing) is the ability to have a deep motivation. You have to really love the sport to make the sacrifices and do all that interminable training. It’s no good going through the motions, you need to treat effort session as a great opportunity to make progress and enjoy it. That also means making sure you get the right balance between training and recovery. If you over-train, you won’t enjoy.

Another thought which crossed my mind yesterday was – I can’t believe I’ve got 6 or 7 weeks of intense interval training left. It’s already been a good season. In a few weeks, other riders will be hanging up their racing wheels and taking a few well earned recovery rides to the local cycling cafe. But, for the hill climb championships it’s eyes balls out until the bitter end. I decided the best way to approach the season is to take it day by day, week by week. If you think of 7 weeks of permanent intervals, it’s enough to put off even the most determined and enthusiastic hill climber. To use a great football cliche ‘Well, we’ll just concentrate on the next game.’

In the snake pass post, I left a comment - ‘never believe a hill climber, who says he eats donuts and fried marsbars‘ Perhaps I should add ‘never believe a hill climber who says they enjoy it.‘ Maybe, when you’re doing a hill climb, it it’s a very painful experience, but there’s also something that pulls you back for more. ‘Please Sir, Can I have another go?’

Related

• Hill climb training – slightly more scientific approach
• Thoughts on hill climbs - more random thoughts
• 12 and half reasons to enter a hill climb

Buying a bike

The first place to start is with buying a road bike. You don’t have to spend a fortune. For an entry level road bike, I would advise selecting a budget and sticking to that. Anything in the range of £500 to £1,200 is a good starting point for an entry level road bike.

• I have tested a few sub £500 bikes, and they are fairly decent. If you want to get started in road cycling, don’t worry if your budget is only £500. I have bought a Specialized Allez road bike to use when in New York, and it gives a good enough riding experience for my training over in the US.

• If you can increase your budget to £1,000 you will get a significant improvement in the quality of the bike – lighter, stronger, better components. See: Best bikes under £1,000
• For £1,200 there are quite a few good choices of full carbon fibre road bikes. This gives a nice riding experience. But, carbon fibre isn’t everything.
• Over £1,200 you can pay as much as you want to – up to £7,000. But, you will get diminishing marginal returns for your extra money. Many riders wouldn’t really notice a big difference between a £1,500 bike and a £3,000 bike.
• In terms of bike models, there are many good options. I couldn’t recommend one brand being significantly ‘better’ than another. In reality, there are considerable similarities. For some brands like Bianchi, you might pay a little more. For lesser known brands, like this KTM Strada, it is relatively cheaper for the components you get.

Where to buy a bike?

For a beginner, there is a lot to be said for buying from a good local bike shop. They will be able to advise, and help with set up.

• Best place to buy a bike
• Advice on buying first bike
• If your budget is low, second hand is an option

Basics of riding

• Saddle height is very important. A good starting point is this guide to correct saddle height. Learn your saddle height and keep it constant across different bikes. If you get more into cycling, you might like to do a full bike fit. But, for beginners, the correct saddle height is the most important starting point.
• Cadence. Many beginners like to churn a big gear (low cadence). Generally, it is good to practise pedalling at a little higher cadence. This helps to prevent muscle fatigue too early. Pedalling a higher cadence can also help to improve your cycling style. (optimal cadence)
• Good position. Sometimes you might hear a remark ‘that cyclist has a nice style’ Where possible, we want to keep the upper body still, also look at your legs, they should move in straight lines like pistons. If your legs are moving outwards or inwards at funny angles, it can cause knee problems and is inefficient.

Things to carry when riding

For any ride where you’re a good distance from home, it is good to be self-sufficient if you get a puncture. Get a decent saddle bag, and carry

• Two inner tubes (punctures can be like buses, they have a habit of coming along in twos)
• Mini pump
• Tyre levers
• Multi-tool. (ideally it should have a chain tool). Breaking your chain is very rare, but when it does you’re stuck without a chain tool.
• Waterproof jacket.

Pacing

Whatever the event – a 10 mile time trial or a 100 mile sportive. Most riders, at some stage, will set off too fast! and pay for it later.  If a distance is completely new, hold back a little at the start, you can always pick up the pace later.

Other riding tips

• Tips for cycling up hills  -
• Tips for long distance cycling – how to prepare and manage for long distance riding
• Tips for avoiding saddle sores - they can be a pain in the butt, but they can be minimised.
• Tips for better pedalling technique.

Training

The good thing about being a beginner is that as long as you ride the bike, you will see improvements in fitness. It’s only when you are already fit, that it gets progressively harder to keep improving. The best principle is to start off with some basic endurance training – get used to riding the bike at a steady pace. When you  have this base aerobic endurance, you can start doing some speed work, hill climb intervals and improving your top end.

Training for cyclo sportives

Bike Maintenance

This can put quite a few people off. (I was always pretty useless) The only really important skills are:

1. Learn is how to replace an inner tube. In particular make sure you don’t cause a ‘pinch flat’ – getting the inner tube stuck between tyre and rim.
2. Check your brakes are working and use an allen key to adjust if necessary

Other tasks like changing chain and cassette, adjusting gears are less important.

• Bike maintenance for beginners
• Tips for avoiding punctures

Best equipment to buy

A newcomer can be overwhelmed by the amount of equipment you can spend your money on. There is a temptation to think spending money will make you a better cyclist – it won’t. These items are definitely worth buying

• Small set of lights for winter.
• Cycle helmet
• A good pair of road tyres. Even if your bike costs only £500, I’d still recommend spending £60 – 80 on the top of range pair of tyres. They will last longer and be less prone to punctures.
• A good pair of padded shorts. Many people find sitting on a saddle uncomfortable. A good pair of shorts makes a huge difference. If you are going to be doing 6 hour rides, I really recommend spending £100 on a pair of shorts. If you are doing just 2 hour rides, you don’t have to spend that much, but it is still a good investment.
• Saddle bag, mini pump and spare inner tubes.
• Clip on mudguards - easy to fit
• A good wicking inner base layer
• Cycle jersey with back pockets for food.
• Clipless pedals – make it difficult to walk, but improve the cycling experience

Remember cycling doesn’t have to be expensive – Tips for saving money when buying equipment

Road Etiquette

It’s good to get practise riding in a group. Riding with people of similar abilities. If you go out with a local chain gain when you’re not used to riding at those speeds, could end in disaster. Some simple element of road etiquette

• Don’t use tribars when in a group.
• Use mudguards during winter.
• Be careful, point out upcoming obstacles to riders behind.
• See tips for riding in a group
• Do observe the Highway code. You will get into less difficulties and dangerous situations.
• If you want to take road cycling really seriously, you could check out these 101 rules (though I’m not very good at following them)

Nutrition and hydration

The good news is that cycling can burn a lot of calories. Although eating and drinking is common sense, you might be surprised at how much extra calories you need on long rides. You definitely want to avoid the dreaded ‘bonk’ – If you ride all day, forget about the 3 meals a day – you need to be taking in energy as you go.

• Cycle food
• Cycling Nutrition Tips
• Mistakes of cycling nutrition

Things to avoid

• Don’t feel the necessity of spending a lot of money on ‘lightweight’ expensive components. You can if you want to, but it won’t really make too much difference. (Before spending £1000s See: time saved from weight loss on bike)
• Being unrealistic in your aims. If you jump into a six hour ride, unprepared, you might be put off for life!

Things to do

• Just start cycling. A lot of it is common sense you can pick up things along the way. Once you get the cycling bug, you will always find a solution to any problem.
• Join a cycling club group with similar aims. You will pick a lot of tips from riding with old timers.
• A bit of core strength exercises are worth doing
• Enjoy it. You will meet inconsiderate drivers. But, be prepared for worse, and let go of unfortunate incidents (cycling and how to enjoy bike)
• Do enter a hill climb. No, this really is the best advice I can give to any beginner cyclist. The sooner you learn all about excrutiating pain, the better. It made me the cyclist I am today.
• Do try to make your position on the bike relatively comfortable. If you are uncomfortable, you won’t want to cycle. See: these tips for making a more comfortable ride

On a quiet country  lane near Frieth, I saw a cyclist walking along the road, not looking terribly happy. I stopped to ask if there was a problem. He replied a double puncture, and he was walking home to Marlow. That’s a fair walk when you’ve got cycling shoes, and even though it was a nice day – it was not something I’d want to have to do myself. I offered to give an inner tube to fix the puncture. I thought it would be a pinch puncture (a common cause of double punctures) but on removing the tube, I found it was actually a puncture patch not quite working. We threw the old tube away and put in the new one. The tyre was up an running in a few minutes (one of quickest punctures I’ve repaired). Peter (the chap with a puncture) was grateful to get his bike going again. He had just started cycling a few months ago, and was a bit inexperienced. But, enjoying getting out a few times a week.

• My top tip is to always carry two spare inner tubes. Forget about a puncture repair kit. If you can buy new inner tubes for £2 a go, it’s really not worth the hassle of repairing – especially when there’s no guarantee they will work when you need it. (also if it was raining or cold, who wants to fix a puncture by side of road?)
• The other advice I’d give to newbie cyclists is – you don’t have to spend a lot of money on cycling, but money on good puncture resistance tyres is very worthwhile. Peter’s tyres looked pretty cheap (though very easy to remove from rim)

Just a few weeks ago, I was very grateful when a couple stopped to help me put on a tyre in Grassington (I’d had a double puncture and was really unable to fix it third time. So today it was nice to be able to return the favour to a fellow cyclist.

The good thing about buying 10 inner tubes for £20, is that it feels quite easy to give a few inner tubes away on the very rare occasions you see a stranded cyclist.

There are a huge range of cyclists on the road these days, and it’s nice there is a certain camaraderie amongst cyclists. It’s not a big deal to stop and offer a little help for a cyclist stranded by the road, but it gives a rare opportunity to offer a little help. If you saw a car broken down, I would just drive on. But, a cyclist walking by the side of the road will always grab my attention.

Perhaps it’s also believing in Karma. You help a cyclist – because if you were in that situation, you would appreciate a bit of help yourself.

Power PB

Apart from my good deed for the month, the other great excitement was setting a power meter reading for my favourite climb on Stokenchurch A40. I’ve been testing my time on this climb for the past 5 years (5% constant gradient. length, 2.5km, height gain 118m).

It’s a very rough guide to form. (with much effort I reduced pb time from 5.08 to 4.52 in past two years) Though times can vary by 20-30 seconds depending on the wind direction / temp e.t.c. This was first time I could record my power reading (average power for climb: 439 watts for 4.59. (watt /kg 7.0)

Next time I go up, I will have a power meter reading to compare! Though I promise this blog, won’t become full of my power meter readings and other statos.

I haven’t quite become Chris Froome, just yet (see tumblr: Chris Froome looking at stems)

Here are few initial observations on power meters.

• I remember seeing a photo of Bradley Wiggin’s power output after winning the UK 10 mile TT championship in 2011, and showing his average power output of 460 watts for the 20 minute race! It didn’t take long for the power meter to confirm, I’m not Bradley Wiggins.
• I’m not sure how a power meter is going to help me go any faster cycling up hills.
• I was doing a few hill climbs in training yesterday. The power varied considerably during the climb. When it got steep, it was ‘easy’ for the 3 second power output to rise to 450 – 500+. When the gradient eased off, the power output seemed to evaporate and it could fall to 350. It required great effort to keep it as high as on a steep gradient.
• It was interesting to see how in my first hill climb effort, you can easily start off with power above 500 watts, but, by the last minute, it was tailing off to 350.
• I’m not convinced looking at a power meter enhances you’re enjoyment of cycling. I’m still an old traditionalist at heart. I like riding on feel. Using a computer to gauge your effort somehow takes the ‘romance’ out of cycling. (see power meters and pushing the limits) Surely a skill in cycling is the ability to pace your efforts. I don’t think a power meter changes this skill. When you’re really racing a 3 minute hill climb, you don’t have the ability to even look at a power meter.

I really bought a power meter for time trials. I wanted to see how my pacing was working out for 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles. I’m hopeful that it will be useful and help improve efficiency of these rides. For the hill climb season, I can imagine doing the hill climbs, without even looking at it.

For the statistically minded, it’s still kind of interesting to have lots of data. The trick is being able to make use of it.

photo top: Source: Flickr Mark Geo

Photo bottom: Source: Justice BUK

Believe it or not, I’ve done 40 mile ‘recovery’ rides and come back with an average speed of close to 20 mph! Good job I don’t have a coach to tell me off for breaking all the rules of recovery rides. But, after the National 100 yesterday, I really felt like a ‘proper’ recovery ride. I managed 16 miles, in 1 hour 15 – averaging 13.4 mph. I cycled to Ilkley, but couldn’t resist taking the scenic way back over the Cow & Calf climb. That’s the problem with Yorkshire, you go out for a recovery ride and come back with 500 metres of vertical ascent on the clock. I did managed to go incredibly slowly up the Cow and Calf. I don’t really enjoy slow recovery rides, but at least, this time, I managed to make it a recovery.

One interesting thing with riding so slowly is that there’s a different dynamic with cars. On some of the moor roads, you feel more visible, more of a presence because you’re going so slow. Part of me thinks I should speed up – just so as not to hold up the car behind.

I remember quite well the first time I went on a proper bike ride. I was probably 13 or 14. It was 35 miles to Burnsall. It was a huge achievement to make it and I probably couldn’t walk for the next 2 days.

In those days, the only training / racing I knew was to ride the bike and try and come back with the highest possible average speed. I used to religiously record my average speeds and try and improve them. I remember quite well, my average speed on that ride was 13.5 mph. That was the benchmark for quite a few months. By the end of the year, I’d managed an 18mph ride which I was absolutely chuffed to bits with! I never did recovery rides in those days. I think every single ride I did was to go as fast or as far as I could. There were no half measures, every ride was a race against the average speed on my 5 function speedometer.

But, then I learnt it’s nice to through away the computer and just enjoy the bike ride!

Related

• Recovery after bike ride
• Stress and recovery

At Buckden, the tour will take in the first climb of the 2014 tour – Kidstone pass.

Compared to the Mont Ventoux’s and Alpe d’Huez the tour will tackle in later stages, Kidstone pass barely registers as a blip on the altimeter. But, whatever your fitness, it’s still a good test of your fitness. It climbs about 150 metres from Buckden to the top of Kidstone Pass where there are simply wonderful views in all directions.

It’s a shame the Tour can’t stop for a cup of Yorkshire tea to admire the scenary. That’s one good thing about being an amateur, you can stop if you want to. There is then a nice fast, non technical descent to Asygarth before turning left along Swaledale towards Hawes. At this point in the ride, it was turning out to be one of those great rides, everything clicking into place. I was tanking along on my time trial bike and looking to set a good speed to Hawes. I was in confident mood, and a  vague sign about some resurfacing barely registered.

I should have known better, because the next 5 miles were torture. North York council in there great wisdom were plonking a ton of gravel and tar onto the road, and it was spilling all other the place. Before I could turn round and do a u-turn, my time trial frame was severely scratched by stones getting stuck between tyre and frame. I resorted to walking with bike, but the damage was done. Even after the so called road works finished, there was literally miles of loose stones and gravel dotted around the road. I half mentioned something to a workman, but he appeared to fully prepared for complaints, and rather briskly said, you’ll have to take it out on North York Council. It was a fair point, but I can’t see North Yorkshire council offering to repaint a time trial frame. Finally, after the third cleaning of the wheel (to get rid of stones and tar) I was free to get back to riding. At Gayle I turned left (just before Hawes) and headed up to one of my favourite climbs – Fleet Moss from the north side. It’s a shame the Tour couldn’t take in a real Yorkshire classic climb. It may only be a cat 2, but it would set up a thrilling stage (unless you prefer a Cavendish sprint banker stage)

On a time trial bike, Fleet Moss is no joke. After a long climb, it gets up to 20% and it was a case of making a huge effort on an overgeared 39*25.

Any climb has its compensation and the descent down Fleet Moss is great, especially the long gradual valley descent towards Buckden. However, it was in Buckden that the gravel experience probably came back to haunt me. Rear wheel puncture. I’m not sure if it was directly related to gravel, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I couldn’t find the source of the puncture which is always a worry. I prefer a nice big thorn any time. The worst punctures are when you don’t know where they come from.

Alas, it was on stopping that I realised my mini-pump was not in my small saddle bag. It had been transferred to another bag for a race, and (as it is easy to do) I’d forgot to put back in. A classic school boy error, easy to do, but a real pain. Fortunately, if you’re going to have a puncture without pump. Buckden on a nice summers day is just about as good a place as any. I took advantage of local shop to buy some water and ice cream. The cold water was incredibly good – making me aware I was more dehydrated than I thought. I went back for more. I never knew cold water could be so enjoyable.

I got a new inner tube in and waited for a passing cyclist to ask to borrow pump. Quite soon a tourist obliged. Alas, I later noticed the inner tube squeezing out of the side, I had to deflate the tyre and sought out the inner tube. Fortunately, another three cyclists were passing and stopped and I could reflate for second time.

After 45 minutes cycling the thought popped into my head ‘you’re always most vulnerable to get a puncture when you’ve just had one’ Alas, my thought soon came true. And near Grassington I was again stranded in a small village. This time the tyre was incredibly difficult to put on. (I had a Shimano Ultegra tubeless tyre wheel and 25″ gatorksin) It took 25 minutes, and I was close to giving up before finally squeezing it on. Cyclists, here were a bit more infrequent, so I knocked on a door which was already open. It was answered by an 85 year old lady, who told me with great confidence, ‘you should always carry a pump when you’re cycling. I always carried a pump when I used to cycle for 12 years back in the 1950s.’ She had a good point, but unfortunately, she didn’t have a pump any-more. As interesting as it was to be given a lecture by an 86 year old former cyclist, it wasn’t really helping me to get home. My patience was still there, but slightly stretched after already losing an hour. I thanked the lady for her kind words and promised to listen to her advice.

It was at this point that I had a real stroke of luck. Two passing cyclists saw my plight and stopped (David and Jo). They didn’t just lend me a pump, but seemed to see my problem as their problem. For some reason, my wheel was really  misbehaving. When I blew up the tyre with their pump, the inner tube was popping out all over the place. I tried to put back in. But, tired by 90 miles and 1 hour of puncture repair, and two blisters on my thumb, I wasn’t making much headway. They obviously took pity on my plight, took the wheel off me, let out all air and started from scratch. Their job was a good one, and with suitable sense of gratitude was able to make the last 20 miles home. I narrowly avoided having to ring the taxi of Mum and Dad.

It was a good day all told. I was touched that 6 cyclists all stopped to help another cyclist caught short. I’ll remember my pump next time. But, it was a good experience all told.

The only thing is I assume when the Tour de France goes hurtling down Swaledale in 2014. they won’t be contending with flying stones and tar. Those loose chippings are a real pain. If you see them do a u-turn whatever the cost!

Related

• Cycling touring Yorkshire
• 10 tips for avoiding punctures

Ribblehead viaduct

It never really made much profit and has, a few times, narrowly avoided been closed down by penny pinching bureaucrats. But, fortunately it survives and the early morning train was full of walkers and cyclists heading out into the Dales. It was a very different atmosphere to your usual commuting train. Their was a buzz of excitement in the conversation, you even got friends of the Settle-Carlisle line coming along to offer teas, snacks and handbooks. It may not be profitable, but it’s a good service for those wanting to enjoy the Dales.
Dent station happens to be the highest train station in England at 1,150 feet above sea level. Quite a convenient point to start a bike ride. The train journey had also gone into a strong north westerly, leaving an ideal tailwind for most of ride home. I started near the top of a fearsome climb from Dentdale  to Garsdale. I took it easy to Garsadale and then plunged down into Hawes, relieving memories of the Circuit of the Dales earlier in the year. At Hawes, it was time to head into the high hills, climbing over Buttertubs pass (a climb featuring in the 2014 Tour de France.

Over the other side in Wensleydale, I took a nice tailwind towards Reeth. From Reeth I headed north to take my first look at the Stang hill climb. This years national hill climb course.

The Stang is a pretty tough climb.

• 3.8 km
• average gradient 7%
• Height gain:

At the start, there is a considerably long section of 16%, there are two downhill sections, which means going from your bottom gear into your big ring.

I took about 10 and a half minutes, though I was carrying an impressively large saddle bag with waterproofs e.t.c. I would estimate the winning time might be around nine minutes or nine and half minutes. I couldn’t work out where the wind was coming from, but perhaps a crosswind.

Tan Hill

After descending the Stang, I went further north to Tan Hill. In Simon Warren’s 100 climbs, I seem to remember him saying it was a nice gradual climb. But, it proved one of toughest climbs of the day. It was into a strong north-westerly headwind. The bleak environment offering no shelter, just a long hard drag  seemingly forever.

It was a relief to reach Tan Hill inn (the highest inn in England) 1,732m  – 532 metres above sea level. I saw a few cyclists emerging from the inn looking pretty cheerful. It was tempting to stop. But, it was cold and spitting and didn’t want legs to freeze up – it was still 60 miles from home. I had to put my arm warmers back on because my hands were freezing. On the positive side, there’s a pretty good descent back to Keld. At Keld, I had Hobson’s Choice. Buttertubs from the north or go East and take the Askrigg climb. I choose the Askrigg climb because I thought there might be more of a tailwind. It starts off with vicious 25% hairpins, and then grinds its way through the moors to over 500 metres.

From Askrigg the next stop was Hawes and a final big climb of the day Fleet Moss from the north. I haven’t done this climb for a long time. It starts off gradually and gets harder and harder. Fleet Moss is 589 metres high – one of the highest roads in England – and highest in Yorkshire. From Hawes, there is a climb of 330 metres It was definitely a day for the ‘highest’.

From the top of Fleet Moss, it was a lovely run down the Wharfe valley. With a tailwind and relatively flat roads, it felt fast after all that grinding up 20% slopes. I was enjoying myself so much, I rather unwisely choose to finish off with one last climb over the Cow and Calf.

Total for the day was 107 miles, 3,000 metres of climbing at over 6 hours. Not perfect training for a flat 100 mile TT, but it was very enjoyable. I could get used to catching a train into a headwind and gaining a few free metres into bargain…

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The aim of this pyramid interval session is to train all three muscle types from the fast twitch to the slow twitch. The pyramid interval session I read in a paper by Gordon Wright involved:

Phase 1

• 8-10 flat out sprints for 15 sec. At least 3 mins recovery between each.

At least 10 mins easy recovery

Phase 2

• Between 6-10 flat out 1 minute intervals. 5-6 mins of recovery between each.

15 mins easy recovery

Phase 3

• 3-4 2.5 mile endurance intervals (around 5 mins) at 10 mile TT pace or higher if poss.

15 mins recovery ride home

Additional notes

• All intervals must be done at highest possible intensity – treat each like a mini time trial
• All intervals should be done whilst maintaining a high cadence 120rpm for sprints 100 + rpm for longer intervals
• Stay well-hydrated and use energy drink.
• The whole session will take 2.5 to 3 hours.
• The idea is to go fast. Ride with wind behind on endurance intervals – get used to riding at race pace.
• Obviously, this high level of intensity training requires a very good base of fitness to start off with. An untrained athlete trying to do this would probably do more harm than good.

Science of Interval session.

Gordon Wright said he based his intervals on work by Malcolm Firth during the 1970s. However, the traditional pyramid is to start off with long intervals and work down to shorter ones. Gordon tried reversing the pyramid, so you start off with short intervals and move onto longer efforts.

• In the 15 second sprints, you recruit the Fast twitch type 11b – these fibres can generate a lot of power, but are quick to fatigue.
• In the 1 minute intervals, you recruit the fast twitch type 11a – these generate a lot of power and have some resistance to fatigue
• In the 5 minute endurance interval you recruit the slow twitch – these have a lower power generation, but are highly resistant to fatigue

By having good recovery time between intervals, the aim is to be fresher and do the intervals with less acidosis in the blood (e.g. lactic acid). This enables higher efforts and puts less strain on muscles from working in a more acidic environment.

By working different groups, you enable more training effort in a particular session.

Empirical evidence suggests that these fast twitch muscle fibres are used during short distance endurance events. Stuart reported a swelling of thighs when making the effort (akin to the pumping iron effect).

My experience of Pyramid intervals

I’ve looked at pyramid intervals before. But, never really fully completed a set, and only done it as a one-off. But, a chance meeting with Gordon Wright at a recent 10 mile TT, made me think (we didn’t actually discuss interval training). I printed off an old paper (Google cache of paper) and decided to have a go. I’m well trained and fit, but, I thought as it was my first one, I’d do a conservative number of repetitions and concentrate on maximum effort. I did:

• 6 *15 sec sprint
• 6*1 minute intervals up a hill (Clare hill near Watlington)
• 6* 5 minute intervals up Aston Hill (A40)

The whole ride was 105 km, 3.40 hours, average speed 29.4, 1,000 metres of climbing. I sometimes took longer recovery than stipulated.

After a 15 minute warm up, I started the sprints. I’m unused to sprinting, and they felt relatively feeble. I’m only riding on feel, but I don’t think I would have been breaking any power meter records. It was also hard work to maintain discipline of maintaining high cadence. Instinctively, I tend to want to mash a big gear when doing any kind of sprint.

At the end of this 6*15 second sprint, I was still pretty fresh. There wasn’t much accumulated fatigue. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it’s only 90 seconds of work. I found it hard sprinting on time trial bike and getting up to max effort.

Then I moved on to the one minute intervals, I chose a shortish hill. Rather than do one minute, it’s better to have  a physical distance to aim at. The first interval was 55 seconds, the sixth was 61 second. You can time yourself and see how you are fatiguing. The end of the interval on Clare hil even has a white line, used as a prime in a local road race circuit. This makes it nearly ideal, though at the end it gets steeper, requiring a gear change to keep high cadence.

After the 4th interval of going up Clare hill, I couldn’t believe who I saw slowly cycling up the hill – Gordon Wright – resplendent in his High Wycombe CC cycling top! That was quite a co-incidence. I did one more interval and then waited at the top to have a short chat to Gordon. It was too much of a co-incidence not to share the fact I was doing the interval session inspired by him. Perhaps if I had seen him on the last endurance hill, I wouldn’t have been so grateful for his interval session! Gordon was doing a long ride in preparation for his first 50 mile TT in 20 years. After a good excuse for a extra long recovery, I went back down hill for the last 2 one minute intervals.

The sixth one minute interval was particularly hard, and the time started to drop off. Again, it required a discipline to keep high cadence and make big effort.

The biggest challenge in these interval sessions, is to keep motivation to really do all out time trial efforts. It’s easy to back off slightly and not go as fast as you can. The funny thing is that when I saw Gordon Wright on the hill, that interval was really hard and fast. Having someone on the hill to show off to, gives you an added motivation for an extra second.  But, when no-one is watching it can be easier to sublty back off.

After phase two, I was starting to feel the accumulated effort in the legs, but it was time to cycle off to Aston Hill for phase three. I chose Aston Hill because I knew he physical distance and often timed my efforts up there for many season. My best up the hill is 4.52 – that is at full hill climb pace and obviously when fresh, so I would be able to have a rough estimate of how I was doing compared to my maximum effort.

The first interval was hard but, I did 5.25, which isn’t too far off my pb. The second and third were reasonable times. By the fourth interval, my time was down to 6.00 and it felt well below 10 mile TT effort. But, that brought an end to the interval session. I could have done more, but the quality would have really started to drop off. I thought that was a pretty good start for these interval sessions.

An interesting thing about doing the five minute endurance intervals at the end, is you feel the ‘spark’ the ‘anearobic’ capacity has been exhausted by the earlier shorter efforts. In that regard you are really relying on and training the aerobic capacity.

The other thing is that maintaining a high cadence, you really feel extends  your capacity to do high intensity intervals. The temptation is to push a big gear, but then your muscles get tired. Training in high cadence, hopefully enables a more sustained power capacity – it puts more effort on heart and blood supply than relying on muscles.

I had a 17 mile ride home, which I took very steady in a high cadence.

The day after, Gordon recommends an hour recovery ride at the most. But, to be honest, you don’t really need to be told that. My legs haven’t felt this tired since doing the Buxton Mountain time trial and then riding over to Peaslows hill.

I enjoyed the experience. My legs felt more fatigued than usual. The problem is that it will now be mainly recovery rides before National 50 mile TT on Sunday.

Some of Stuart Dangerfield’s experiences

For the power meter fans

• During sprint intervals, SD hit a maximum power of 950 to 1000 watts
• In one minute intervals, he hit 650-700 watts
• For 5 minute intervals, he hit 500 watts.
• During competition 10 record, he held around 460 watts average.

In 6 week period leading up to 2001 National 25 mile TT, Stuart did 15 interval sessions of varying length, that’ 2.5 per week.

Stuart did a lot of endurance (level 2 training) during the winter months. And would often train 300-350 miles a week. But, from this interval session, it definitely wasn’t just churning out the miles!

If you want to have a go, you definitely have to be realistic about state of fitness. It’s really hard. You could start off with half the number 4*15 secs. 4*1 minutes 2*5 mins. Or you could miss out sprint intervals.

Related

• High intensity intervals pdf at High Wycombe
•  (Google cache of original paper) by G.Wright