The BIG Fortnight - Wednesday Week 1

173 km completed so far including 2 interval sessions on the turbo. Out on the road again tomorrow; it looks like the nice weather is here to stay until at least the beginning of next week - yippee! Hopefully will crack the 400km barrier this week - that'll be a first for me.

Leave, Sunshine & Cycling.

Isn't it great - I'm on leave, the sun is shining and I can get out cycling every day. I'm hoping for a couple of big training weeks in prep for Barcelona; so far, so good.

Reconsidering the future...

...of my bikes. Yes, I know I said I was going to sell all of my TT kit and become a dedicated roadie and buy a new Parlee Z4 and just ride sportives, but I'm really looking forward to Quelle Challenge Barcelona now, and a few tweaks to the set-up of PoD (my black Dolan) have improved comfort no end. So I may just keep the TT bike. In which case I will not have sufficient cash to buy a new road bike, so my Litespeed may just get an overhaul. The internet is brilliant for virtual shopping; I really fancy a custom re-spray and then fitting a new groupset (Dura-Ace 7900) and Hed Ardennes wheels. A few upgrades of other components will see the weight down to just 15 pounds - about as light as you need.

But I also want a new widescreen plasma TV... (sorry JC!)

A good week

As Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor says: "You can never have enough power!"

Just completed by Training Diary for the week and it's been my largest weekly training volume since the first week of June when I completed the Highclere Sportive. This week I managed just over 9 hours of cycling at an average speed of 31.2kmh, that included 2 excellent power sessions on the turbo and a lot of riding at IM target power output (75% of FTP). I need to increase my FTP by about 10 watts to reach my original target FTP for Barcelona, although with 8 weeks to go I am now hopeful that I can reach that target and maybe add another 10 watts or more to it.

It seems that after all my motivational problems of a few weeks ago, things have fallen into place and my head (and more importantly my legs) are 'in the zone'. I have an easier week this week before a 2 week intensive block that includes the 78 mile New Forest Rattler sportive.

Moving away from tri-related things, we have recently purchased one of these (and yes, ours is red!)

It's the Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee machine and we think it's brilliant. I was a bit concerned at first that it uses the pod system but the coffee is spot-on, and a vast improvement over instant. And it's so simple that even our 8-year old daughter can do it!

Barca Prep Starts in Earnest

Having realised that there is just 8 weeks to QCB I thought I had better dust off the TT bike. So far this year I have ridden The Prince of Darkness for just 20km at the Brize tri so thought I should really get some miles under my belt before I head off to Spain. The easiest way to do this is, of course, to put it on the turbo, so after giving it a quick clean and taking a picture of the bike in IM spec (simply turned the stem upside down to raise the bars a couple of cm) it is now turbo ready (changed the disk for a normal wheel with a proper turbo tyre).

Tomorrow I have a long road ride planned; this will be about 3 hours on my Litespeed depending on how I feel. It's been a good week so far with approx 130 miles of cycling completed, including a couple of nails turbo sessions. Looking forwarad to 2.5 weeks of leave that starts next Thursday evening, when I expect the mileage to properly ramp up.

Train smart folks.

58 days to go...

... to Quelle Challenge Barcelona. I looked at the website today and the countdown reminded me just how quickly this is coming round and yes, I admit I had a few butterflies. Unlike most of you I have done very little competing this year; I raced the Brize Sprint and have done a couple of Sportives and that's it. Hopefully I will be able to keep it all under control come 4th October.

The good news is that they have changed the bke course avoiding the inland loop up the long incline (I will avoid calling it a hill). It's now a straightforward 3-lap course up and down the almost flat-as-a-pancake coast road that will be closed for the event. Fingers crossed for a good ride.

24 hours of lard!

Started last night at the Stokes Bay Festival with plenty of Guiness and The Proclaimers (or Jim McFarlane?). And they were great; a really enjoyable night out.

Today we had an all-you-can-eat buffet in the local Indian restaurant followed by a trip to the cinema to see the latest Harry Potter film along with a bag of liquorice allsorts that only just about survived until after the opening credits. All finished off tonight with a few pear ciders. Best I get out and ride my bike tomorrow then!

Best of luck to those racing IMUK tomorrow - I think you're going to need it.