A curious day...

briantrumpet

Hmm, an odd day. Had an gastroscopy this afternoon, so a banana and coffee at 7.30am, then gastroscopy at 2pm (mmm, lovely), and finally ate a double Snickers at 3pm.

Got home after a meeting at 4pm, shoved some more coffee an apple and some chocolate brownie down my gullet. Great nutrition, eh? Feeling a bit lethargic/sorry for myself, but looking at tomorrow's forecast, decided to pop out for a spin round my 22-mile lumpy circuit to get some fresh air.

And recorded my best time. Legs felt fab, the hills were flatter than normal, and I finished at 21mph on the nose.

I'm not planning on repeating that preparation to see if I can duplicate it. And children, please don't try this at home. All very odd. That's all.

CakeLovinBeast

Maybe it was all of the wind escaping after your gastroscopy, providing a bit more forward thrust?

All I can say for definite though is: Whatever you've found, I've lost it... Last two days on the commute my legs have been like lead, even on the flats. Thought about taking the long way home last night, but the thought of going over Haldon made me just forget it!

briantrumpet

CakeLovinBeast wrote:

Thought about taking the long way home last night, but the thought of going over Haldon made me just forget it!

The thought of Haldon (Chudleigh - Clapham) is enough to make anyone's legs feel like lead. I'd rather go the even longer way round of the Teign Valley.

CakeLovinBeast

The irony of it is, I do it from the other side (work in Exeter, head back from the Clapham side) and it breaks me every time. I remember scoping the route in my car before I got the bike and thinking, "this isn't so bad. It's long, but not so steep..." I almost vomited those words right back up the first time I attempted it! It doesn't help matters that they've resurfaced the other side with all of that gravel - was heading down towards Chudleigh last week and almost got creamed by a truck pulling out across the front of me.

I considered my longer way round - out towards the coast and go Powderham - Starcross - Dawlish - Teignmouth, but then that's the route I did on my first day I got the bike and I hit the wall just on the gentle climb out of Teignmouth towards Newton and it's put me off since!

inkyfingers

All the rest and nutrition principles are very good but sometimes you are just on a good day I think. I've had days where i've been in good shape and prepared very well but felt terrible, and have also had days where i've been out late drinking the night before but felt surprisingly good on the bike the next day.

I can't do it anymore but when I was in my early twenties I used to regularly go out drinking on a saturday night then somehow get up and out at 9AM and do a hard 50-60 miles, those were the days.

mustol

Trumpet and Cake,

Not been cycling for long, but can't stop myself from searching out the hilliest routes possible. A couple of weeks ago I did my longest ride (56 miles) - including a 'bumpy' loop over and around the Haldon Hills - Kenton, Mamhead, Haldon, Doddiscombleigh, Chudleigh, Ideford, Little Haldons (by Teignmouth Golf Club) and back to Starcross, before heading home to Topsham. It's fair to say that there were a few hills to negotiate. Loved the long climb past Mamhead - good even gradient, can really settle into a decent rhythm. Don't go around - go up!

briantrumpet

mustol wrote:

Loved the long climb past Mamhead - good even gradient, can really settle into a decent rhythm.

Yeah, someone else was telling me about that one a couple of days ago - must give it a try. Obviously there are all the Dartmoor hills, but the ones on Exmoor are just as fun. We've got 8,000 miles of roads to explore in Devon - that's more than the whole of Belgium.

Incidentally, over in Tour & Expedition, I've put a route right round Devon I'd like to do: 341 miles and 33,000ft of climbing. Here. I won't be doing that straight after a gastroscopy.

CakeLovinBeast

I keep *meaning* to find more hilly routes, but at the minute I'm leaning more towards distance than elevation. I know I should mix things up, but once I've built just a smidge more endurance then I'm going to look to join my local club and use that as additional training. I suppose it doesn't help that I'm still a 16-stone beast... It's fairly well proportioned to be fair, but I'm not built for hills!

Brian - loving the look of that tour. I bet it'd be possible to do something similar for Cornwall too that could be used to extend it further for the hardcore types. Did you ever speak to the council about it?

briantrumpet

CakeLovinBeast wrote:

Brian - loving the look of that tour. I bet it'd be possible to do something similar for Cornwall too that could be used to extend it further for the hardcore types. Did you ever speak to the council about it?

I emailed them but they haven't got back to me yet. I'll chase them if they don't.

Could be done to include Cornwall, I'm sure, but I did this one to avoid the need for passports and eating pasties. But it would add about another 290 miles, bringing the total up to 730ish miles, so about three-quarters of the LEJOG distance, and probably with more climbing than LEJOG, as more or less the entire route would be hilly. The Devon-only route would be easily managed in a week by most people, I think.

PS - will be in Teignmouth this evening, playing in the Mike Westbrook Big Band in the Carlton Theatre. Not cycling there though.