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As I was new to road cycling in 2004 & 2005 the goals had been based around milage, whilst there's nothing wrong with high mileage (Audax) type goals, with the time I have avaliable, work/family etc, higher annual milage would become increasingly harder to achieve each year.

The goal for 2006 then is to become more structured in the training such that I can achieve good results in the target events for the year, which to date are:

To compete and complete the following Sportives:
Southern - Sussex - 10 September– http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3692

Falling Leaves – Dulwich to Westerham – Normally first week of October
Route - http://www.wallygimber.freeserve.co.uk/leavesroute.htm
Registration - Not yet active

South Downs Challenge - August 20th 2006 - http://www.cyclegb.co.uk/cyclosportive.asp

In addition to this my general goals are to:

To improve my climbing ability. I enjoy short, sharp climbs but suffer on long drags, such as the one from Frensham ponds to Hindhead.

To increase my mileage such that I feel comfortable on 160kms rides. I currently do 80-90kms on a Sunday run in 4 ish hours but only get the chance to get a longer run in every 4-6 weeks. We went down to Winchester the other week and the run down (80km) was fine, but coming back I started to suffer at 120km and then got a second head of steam to finish. I think feeding has a lot to do as if I keep my sugars high I don't seem to get as fatigued so I've been loading on the dried mango, dates etc on the way round

To enjoy my cycling. If I don't what's the point?

Current "training";
Mon - Rest if out on Sunday. Swimming in the evening (winter), Richmond Park (summer)
Tue - Lunchtime ride from Cobham to Clandon and back or the turbo in the evening
Wed - Same as Tue if possible. Had a couple of jobs in chobham recently so had a couple of rides out from there
Thur - Hillingdon. I really enjoy this session, hard but not such that I feel like packing, fast and technical
Fri - Rest
Sat - Enforced rest due to chauffeuring the kids about. Sometimes get a Richmond session in
Sun - Every two weeks a run from Hampton to Shere or Sonning/Henley, Chalfont, Ewhurst or the like. Every 4-6 weeks a longer run to Winchester the Chilterns, into kent. Got plans to drive to Canterbury and do the Viking trail and another trip and the IoW.

Likes:
Short, sharp climbs

Like more:
Descending. It's the skier in me :-) I do enjoy going downhill fast

Dislike:
Long drags, even if there flat. There's one out from Virginia Water to Chertsey, boring...I don't think I'd make a good time trialist!

Current weight - bang on 77kg and dropping consistently. Goal 74-72kg currently. I have a good diet but eat too much as the wife's a good cook. Don't want to crash diet but if I get down to 72 this year I'll try hard to not go above 74 in the winter.

DATE - WEIGHT - RESTING HEART RATE
02/01 - 78.8 Kg - Not Recorded
09/01 - 78.8 Kg - Not Recorded
16/01 - 78.8 Kg - Not Recorded
23/01 - 78.8 Kg - Not Recorded
30/01 - 78.8 Kg - Not Recorded

TOTAL YEAR PREVIOUS YEAR (2005):
Duration 158 hours 21 minutes 44 seconds
Distance 3,512.75 kms
Climbing 14,856 meters

TOTAL FOR JANUARY
Duration 10 hours 50 minutes 20 seconds
Distance 175.8 kms
Climbing

The month to date has included the following rides:

03/01 - Performance 1 - Duration 48.12 - Distance 20.2
Plough > Effingham Junction
Have decided to complete this year with a more scientific approach. To this end I am setting monthy Performace tests such that I can judge improvement as well as the general "feeling" of being fitter.

Test 1 is the Cobham Plough to Effingham run x2
Test 2 is a run from Cobham to Esher return (10.58 km)
Test 3 is likely to be the Steeple Lane hill climb

This test started feeling sluggish (a result of very little riding over Christmas) but the second run felt better and this is my base for the rest of the year so it should improve. Have thought though that I need to "split" the tests such that the run from the end of test 1 back to the start of test 2 is not calculated into overall time as it was here.

05/01 - Steeple Lane - Duration 1:18.31 - Distance 29.3
Took out the S-Works. Felt really good, had the stop in Clandon to put the seat up a bit. Really flying down Steeple, almost too fast at times, but breaks really good and the bike feels really steady but the lightness takes a bit of getting used to.

08/01 - Hindhead (MTB ) - Duration 1:56.13 - Distance 20.0
Mountain biking with Dave - Hindhead did Gallows Hill OK but cold then after a cuppa another run from Hindhead around Polecat Hill and Gallows Hill.

10/2 - TBC - Duration 1:09.46 - Distance TBC
Have a ride listed but no details or distance?

18/2 - Ockham - Duration 58.11 - Distance 16.2
Speedo not working for first 15 minutes so needed to manually adjust distance. Did a new route from Hungry Hill, left and back around to Ockham. OK but feeling quite tied.

22/2 - Twyford - Duration 3:17.30 - Distance 58.6
Went with Dave to do the Sonning run, freezing cold (even the water bottles froze!). Got to Twyford and turned around due to time constraints. Good run felt OK, got a good 25-30kmph run in along sone stretches then waited for Dave to catch up.

26/2 - Staple Lane- Duration 1:21.57 - Distance 31.5
Lunchtime run Cobham > Staple Lane, to the top > left to West Horsley then down to the turn off on the Twickenhamm 10km but straight on following the road back to Ockham > Cobham. Felt really good - quite cold

DATE - WEIGHT - RESTING HEART RATE
30/01 - 78.8 Kg - Not Recorded
06/02 - 78.8 Kg - Not Recorded
13/02 - 79.5 Kg - Not Recorded
20/02 - 79.1 Kg - Not Recorded
27/02 - 78.2 Kg - 51bpm

TOTAL YEAR TO DATE (01/01/06 - 31/01/06):
Duration 21 hours 47 minutes 53 seconds
Distance 421.3 kms
Climbing TBC

TOTAL FOR FEBRUARY
Duration 10 hours 57 minutes 33 seconds
Distance 245.5 kms

The month to date has included the following rides:

05/02 - Box Hill - Duration 3:23 - Distance 69.8
Sunday run with Dave to Box Hill, took the S-Works and Dave took the Holdsworth for the first time. Had to stop in Cobham to adjust saddles. The bike runs like a dream and we were cutting along, actually felt quite tired even though we got up Box Hill doing 17-19 kmph. Box Hill > West Humble > Cobham > Hampton
Again good run down from Box Hill and climbed West Humble really quite quickly. Felt tied at the end but this was a quick run.

09/02 - Performance Test 1 - Duration 10.42 - Distance 4.8
09/02 - Performance Test 2 - Duration 11.20 - Distance 4.9
09/02 - Additional - Duration 23.19 - Distance 10.30

15/02 - Chobham - Duration 1:04:13 - Distance 26.8
Working at RPs, so did a route from Chobham around Windlesham nr Bagshot and Lightwater. 26.6 kms isn't bad going as not flat and very windy in places.

DATE - WEIGHT - RESTING HEART RATE
30/02 - 77.0 Kg - Not Recorded - previous known rate 51bpm
06/03 - 77.0 Kg - Not Recorded
13/03 - 77.1 Kg - Not Recorded
20/03 - 78.0 Kg - Not Recorded
27/03 - 76.9 Kg - Not Recorded

TOTAL YEAR TO DATE (01/01/06 - 31/02/06):
Duration 21 hours 47 minutes 53 seconds
Distance 421.3 kms
Climbing TBC

TOTAL FOR MARCH
Duration 7 hours 34 minutes 36 seconds
Distance 157.80 kms

The month to date has included the following rides:

01/03 - Shere - Duration 1:16 - Distance 31.4
Did the longer Staple Lane route and back through Horsley. Really good and dropped a good 15 minutes of the last time.

05/03 - Hindhead > Winchester Loop- Duration 6:17.48 - Distance 126.40
Hindhead > Farnham: Threw chain, stopped for 20 minutes
Farnham > Winchester: Stopped for 20 minutes in bike shop to get chain looked at but turned out to be crank issue
Winchester > Rake > Hindhead: Killer climb out of Haslemere back to Hindhead. May do opposite direction next time.

17th to 28th bought of flu and an ear infection finished off the month apart from a couple of runs with Orlando at lunchtime. Kinda suffered as well after this, it was like starting the year all over again from ground zero!!

DATE - WEIGHT - RESTING HEART RATE
27/03 - 77.0 Kg - Not Recorded - previous known rate 51bpm
03/04 - 77.0 Kg - Not Recorded
10/04 - 77.1 Kg - Not Recorded
17/04 - 78.0 Kg - Not Recorded
24/04 - 76.9 Kg - Not Recorded

TOTAL YEAR TO DATE (01/01/06 - 31/03/06):
Duration 29 hours 22 minutes 29 seconds
Distance 579.1 kms

TOTAL FOR APRIL
Duration 17 hours 49 minutes 48 seconds
Distance 427 kms

The month to date has included the following rides:

02/04 - Shere - Duration 3:14 - Distance 86.9
With Dave from Hampton through Thames Ditton, Esher, Bookham up Denbies, down Wyte Down to Shere and then as we were early for a coffee we pushed on up to Ewhurst and then turned at the top and back to Shere for coffee. Felt pretty hard and I was sick on the way down from Ewhurst. Struggeled somewhat up Coombe bottom as we'd gone some up to Ewhusrt but picked it up past Cobham and did my usual TT past the police college then home to dave's for a cuppa.

06/04 - Hillingdon - Duration 0.35 - Distance 12.8 warm-up - Duration 1:04 - Distance 29.8
First session at Hillingdon

13/04 - Hillingdon - Duration 49.57 - Distance 23.2
Started a through an off session with the beginner/intermediate group but some guy from Willesden kept cutting in and messing it up. Got a bit sick of it after a few laps so dropped back and went round with another guy. Not really hard enough though so need to stick at it next week

19/04 - East Clandon - Duration 1:02 - Distance 26.0
Used a bigger than nnormal gear (three from bottom) to tackle the hills, real headwind the whole way and bottled doing Steeple because of time and the fact I was knackered. Average speed is picking up though

20/04 - Hillingdon - Duration 12.13 - Distance 2.0 warm-up - Duration 55.56 - Distance 26.9
Did through and off with the Novice.Intermediate group. A lot bett than last week, got a good pace going and although I did most of the work off the front I got the benefit. Pulled at 60 minutes as I stared getting cramp in my left calf

23/04 - Winchester- Duration 8:25 - Distance 157.2
Hazlemere to Winchester: At times we were doing 31kmph, but with keep having to stop to check directions we lost quite a bit of time. Weather was lousy, Dave kept saying it's localized showers, big locality!
Winchester to Farnham: Had to stop in Farnham for a cup of coffee. Not that cold but wet through and absolutly knackered. By 120kms I was really starting to lose the plot on the ongoing hills and our time statred dropping through the floor
Farnham to Hazlemere: Refreshed after the cuppa but dreading the climb out of Farnham to Hazlemere we set off in now heavy rain back to the start. Got to the turn off for Frensham and decided to stick on the main road so we didn't get the awful climb out, as it happened we still ended going through Frensham a different way and then had a 6 mile climb to Hindhead, I felt like crying. Run down from there to Hazlemere in torrential rain with no brakes...

26/04 - Performance Test 1 - Duration 10.38 - Distance 4.8good and I think the ride over the weekend and the following rest will show well in this test

26/04 - Performance Test 2 - Duration 11.1 - Distance 4.8d again stayed in a big gear and was getting over the hills with what felt like a good speed and a good cadence
26/04 - Additional - Duration 19.0 - Distance 10.1

27/04 - Hillingdon - Duration 18.11 - Distance 8.6 warm-up - Duration 55.43 - Distance 30.9
Through and off with a group of about 10 (people joining and leaving as the pace intensified). I kept a strong pace going and was there for the duration. Pulled on the hour but got dragged back in by the coach as there was a sprint to the line - just no one told me where the line was. Got told to keep in a lower gear for a higher cadence and that I "have good legs"!

UK sportive events this year so far -

Southern - Sussex - 10 September http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3692

Falling Leaves – Dulwich to Westerham – Normally first week of October
Route - http://www.wallygimber.freeserve.co.uk/leavesroute.htm
Registration - Not yet active

South Downs Challenge - August 20th 2006 http://www.cyclegb.co.uk/cyclosportive.asp

TBC
IoW Randonee/Festival - 16th-24th September 2006
http://www.sunseaandcycling.com/

http://www.cyclosport.co.uk/events.asp has a list of some of the better known ones.