Knackered and new wheel

Pretty hard training week last week, intervals, sprint etc, so after 3 hour ride in the pouring rain on Snday I was Knackered - decided to take a few days off. We rode down the Innocent path to the river Esk, and then to Dalkeith Park and played around in the mud there. Flat tyre. It poured down for the whole morning, only hard core dog walkers were out.
Got my new wheel though, it is massive 29mm, much bigger than Neil's wheel, which in the end was only 21mm. The profile of the rear tire is now amlost flat, which should give amazing grip, but huge rolling resistance. Went out for a ride down the cycle paths on Thursday taking the mountain bike, not my bike with road tires- I was still feeling a little tired,a nd maybe low on bloody sugar, but Dermot was way past me on the intervals we did not the way home. I wonder if it was the right way to go to get such a big wheel. It was a bit flat, which did not help, but a slicker tire might be in order for rides that are mostly on paths.

A couple of links - a study by an academic that shows car drivers drive closer to cyclists wearing helmets than those who do not Link
And an article on how early Tour de France riders rode fixed gear bikes off road.

riding and new wheels

No great adventures. After having all the new drive parts on my bike replaced by the Bike Coop, I set out for a ride last weekend, and realised a spoke on the rear wheel is broken, and the rim warpped. So much for the mechanics in checking it over, or maybe it was just falling apart. Coop cannot fix it for 10 days, so try the Bike Works who can do it straight away. Decide to buy a decent wheel anyway, and use this as a spare. After trying to make head or tail of which rim opts for the Mavic XM 719, but then change my mind to Mavic EX 729 - should be bomb proof and I don't have to pay for braking rims either .- and 200g of weight is not so much of a problem. However after 10 days they still haven't got it in stock. Neil said it took then over 3 weeks to do his wheel.

Anyway, a short sharp ride on Sunday tested out my last 2 weeks of good training: some shorter endurance rides, interval, sprint and tempo training at lunch times with Dermot. A very foggy morning soon cleared to sun up in the Pentlands. We went fast up Puke Hill, down to Glencorse and up Maiden's Cleugh. Neil still had something to prove on Harbour hill and carried on straight up while I was snacking. He very impressively got to the top without stopping, only putting his foot down once. I had to stop half way - but he wasn't looking! Down through the technical sections in Terror woods (White Hill) - chickened the first technical section, but managed the steep steps - wet roots can be a bit scary since they are like ice. Went over the shoulder of White Hill, did some of the steps that I fell off a couple of weeks ago. Final climb up the bottom section of Allermuir hill in order to do the fast run across the field. Home with a few sprints. Easy 2hrs.26k

I still think there is something up with the front forks, they seem to clunk a bit. ...not that I can afford new forks.

Week of riding - Sunday rain

Good riding week, experimenting with different training exercises based on the Bragenzer article. Lunchtime ride to Prestonpans (30k), some long tempo intervals round Arthur's seat, and then a sprint session on Arthur's seat with Dermot on Wednesday after reading this. Didn't seem to hard at the time but I could really feel it afterwards. The best was the ride out to the seaside, off road to Joppa, and then on quiet roads. Work at maintain a steady easy heart rate. Now I understand why people train on roadbikes to get the steady hours in. I took the child seat off the cross bar of the city bike and that works pretty well though.
Sunday morning Pentlands ride was the wettest I can remember. Not so muddy, by huge puddles and steady warm front all morning. Nobody else out. Easy ride out though the reservoirs then return via the Redd Road, Black Hill.Couldn't see a thing with wet glasses, so had a harmless fall on taking a wrong line. Maybe the last time until we can ride these until the ground freezes - muddy season starting. Climb up Maiden's Cleugh, followed by Harbour Hill. Met a guy at the col: ' never seen anyone ride up there!'. Had to stop a few times, but rode everything. Cloud at the top. Neil pushed up. A few weeks training needed to crack this one. Neil was getting tired, although I could have done a few more hills, descent to petrol station and home. Soaking wet, covered in mud and starting to get a bit cold by the end. 47k, 3:20hr.
Think I need 5 bikes - Road bike, city bike, hard tail, Full sus and street bike. Chances of getting them, nil! Have to make do with bits and bobs from the Bike coop sale.