Club Ride to The Cafe at the Walls

Today's Vita cycles Club ride had a purpose today. We were invited to check out a Cafe in Chester, The Cafe at the Walls, or @wilsoncoffee if you like twitter! One of the Vita riders works in Chester and recommended  the coffee and cake so I contacted the guys at the cafe and todays ride destination was sorted.
There were six of us today, the lads who have been in Lanzarote were having a well deserved rest. We rode through the lanes, towards Two Mills then dropped down to the Dee path. There was a surprisingly sapping headwind all the way into Chester which slowed down our chain-gang training! Once in Chester the Cafe is easy to find. just by the arch in the wall at the river end of Lower Bridge St.
True to Ros's recommendation the Coffee and Syrup sponge were great. I think we have found a new brew stop! http://www.wilsonscoffeehouse.co.uk/

We kept to our self imposed time limit to the cafe stop, and headed back along the Dee path, this time with the wind at our backs. The pace was obviously faster, 14.8mph ave on the way out and 22mph ave on the way back. It didn't take long to get back to the Chester high road and then drop back into the lanes. I felt good today, the evening rides seem to be paying off, and I even managed to climb one of my lest favourite hills faster than I have before.

Once back at the shop the conversation turned to the Tunnel Challenge and logistics for the day.
The chance to enter has now closed, but if anyone would like to offer help as a marshal then please contact the shop. We need as many people as possible to help make this event a success and run smoothly.
Tomorrow will be my last tunnel test ride. As usual we will be leaving the 12th Man at 7am.

Today's Ride details: http://app.strava.com/rides/4064167

A late evening blast and a City Bike expereance.

The evening rides are becoming more popular. It started off a few weeks ago with just me and Paul and last night we had our biggest group of 6 going out for a late evening blast. We rode out to West Kirby, at a reasonable pace through Meols and Hoylake, to do some loops of the Hill before heading up Thurstaston to Heswall and back through Irby.
It was the first time I had given the new Moon Shield 60 a proper outing. As with the X-power 500 front light it helps the confidence riding at night  knowing you are clearly visible to other road users, even if you do have to put up with moans from others in the group that you are burning their retinas!



We are planning on going out again tomorrow night. 7.30'ish at the 12th man on Greasby road. (sunglasses optional!)

Ride details: http://app.strava.com/rides/3972721

Today I had to go to Crosby Leisure Centre for a meeting. It is a bit off the public transport network, so I decided to use a pool bike instead of the Bus! It certainly was an experience. I can't remember the last time I rode a bike with Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gears and a sprung saddle. The position felt a little awkward, very different to the racing bike, and also different to my mountain bike set up. But fundamentally a bike is a bike so off I went. It didn't take long to miss the smooth Ultegra gear changes and the range of gears available on my other bikes. I soon ran out of usable cadence!! The one advantage of riding to a meeting is being able to use cycle paths, especially the coast path from the docks to the Leisure Centre. It was great seeing the Tide come in to cover the Iron Men.

Dawes Haarlem City Bike at Crosby Beach

Riding back to the office wasn't as pleasant. There was quite a strong headwind, and it was slightly uphill. Add to this the wrong clothes, Suit and fleece lined coat equals a rather sweaty ride!!
I will definitely be using the pool bikes again, but maybe need to rethink the clothing and request that a Cervelo S5 is maybe added to the fleet!
I used the Garmin app on my phone to record the ride, It worked well, but drained the battery significantly, but that could have been the two and a half hour pause between riding there and back! I'm not sure how I hit 33mph either!!!

Ride details: http://app.strava.com/rides/3994500

 If you have been reading the blog for a while you will know that I use Purple Harrys Cleaning Products to keep the bike clean and shiny! If you have used it too why not give the company some support by commenting on a thread on Wiggle's Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/WiggleCycling/posts/10150635010455429?notif_t=feed_comment_reply

Finally, the Ten minutes of hell time trial is nearly upon us. There are still a few places left, so if you haven't signed up but wish you had, it's not too late, and it's only £25!
If you live on Wirral and read the Wirral Globe, please ignore the journalistic mess they have made of promoting the event! I'm not too sure how they managed to mess it up but they did.
It is definitely not a Motorcycle Time Trial, although on a personal level I wish it was. The web site has been updated, and next weeks paper will have the correct details.
For info on the Challenge: http://www.vitacycles.co.uk/pain_suffering_glory_a_new_year_challenge

Tunnel Test take 3

Only two weeks to go to the Ten Minutes of Hell Tunnel Time Trial. I have spent the week pushing bigger gears on the hills and was looking forward to seeing what difference it had made to my time in the tunnel.
It took a lot of motivation to get out this morning. All the weather sites and apps were saying it was 4degrees but the road didn't seem to agree!

Ian and I were joined today by Paul and Dave B. As we rode out towards Birkenhead I suffered another mechanical on the front Mech! I'm sure the steel used in bolts isn't as good as it used to be!!! I decided to carry on and spin in the small ring, at least It would give my legs a workout! My tunnel time was a bit slower than the last few times but not by too much. The training this week seems to be working even when I only have half the gears. 

When we were in the Tunnel another cyclist, on a full TT bike passed us, and when we got to the end of the tunnel he was there with his coach. We chatted for a while and discovered it was Ryan Mullen. Ryan rides for Planet X, check out their website to see what we are up against, http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/news/teams-and-riders ( we think he probably did the Tunnel in sub ten minutes today, with the wrong gearing on the bike!)

Ian did another lap of the Tunnel and Paul Dave and I headed back via West Kirby to get 20 miles in the bag for the week. Even though the temp was a lot warmer than yesterday, the side roads hadn't cleared by the time I got home. 

I have updated my Diary page, and I am happy to say that I am back up to, nearly, 100 miles a week average and the weight is still coming off, slowly! If I can keep up the weekly mileage through winter summer riding and sportives should be great. 

Today's ride details: http://app.strava.com/activities/3899406

Team Vita Ride 10/12/11

It seems like ages since I did a full Team Ride, Last week and the week before I didn't go with the lads so today I was feeling a little nervous that maybe I may have lost a bit of speed and stamina, even though I have done a couple of Turbo Sessions through the week. Paul rode down to meet me today, and we headed off to the shop. It was quite fresh, but I had made sure I had layered up well. When we got to the shop, as usual, I was saying I may not go the full distance today, and Paul was happy to go along with the idea of peeling off early. Dave arrived and said that we were going to stick to the main roads today, to avoid the muddy, greasy lanes.
16 of us headed out towards Greasby and round the coast towards Wallasey. I was surprised that my legs were spinning well and I wasn't falling off the back!! The speed wasn't too fast, as the roads were still quite wet, and there seemed to be a lot of diesel around.
The group stayed together well today. A few of the lads needed to drop off along the route to either go to work, or get to the match.
Those of us remaining were treated to a couple of stinging hills on the way back, Denhall Lane, Parkgate and Heswall. I seem to be getting better with every ride, I'm sure by this time next year I'll be challenging Sean and Jeff for the KOM title!!!!!
The highlight of today's ride for me was Alex's inventive use of an old pair of socks and a couple of Tesco carrier bags to make a pair of Wind and Waterproof over shoes! The ingenuity of a student!!! I think he needs to let write a letter to Santa!!!

Next week we are being treated to a Christmas Challenge! A hill climb challenge with a trophy for the winner ( I will be timekeeping so that others have a chance to win!!!) and a race round a lop from the shop. Every one is welcome to come along, we will meet at the shop at 9.30.

Today was the first ride that I recorded on to Strava, you can access the details from the Latest Rides section on the top right of the page, or here http://app.strava.com/rides/2644488 if you are on a mobile.

There are 7 of us from the team now using Strava, and it has certainly added a competitive edge to the hills!!

If you needed any inspiration to sign up for The Vita Tunnel Challenge here is a picture of the Swift TT frameset up for grabs. Call into the shop or visit http://www.vitacycles.co.uk/pain_suffering_glory_a_new_year_challenge for more details.