Clifton CC

With the various clubruns shut down by the weather, wondered if many of you were getting out individually? Have been able to grab a couple of 3 hour rides over the holidays by picking times and routes carefully. Have a "winter conditions route" that often comes up trumps for me. A166 towards Stammy Bridge (obviously have to pick a quiet time) then N all the way up Gally Gap to Malton (this is usually gritted pretty well and has enough traffic flow to allow the grit to do its stuff). Worst case is then to retrace from Malton, but this time have been able to ride through Coneysthorpe, Terrington, Sheriff Hutton and Strensall. But obviously you have to be sensible about when to go for it.

Today got the MTB out for the first time in a while and drove it to Barton-le-Willows. So cold the car doors froze up and I had to climb out through the window! Anyway rode from there out into the Howardians, mixture of on and off-road. Only walked a 50m stretch where the ice below the snow kept breaking for me to sink to my axles in the mud! Fabulous to be out, real winter wonderland, didn't see a soul. Did see some bike tracks on the Centenary Way - was that one of ours? 3 hours of sweat and toil to burn off some excess calories, I hope.

So, how are you coping with this mini-ice age?

Hi Rob

I managed to get out around my neck of the woods for a couple of rides on the 26th and 27th Dec before falling victim to the cold virus passed on to me from my beloved neice ( i think!!) which has meant a new year so far without any rides. The roads around here are not too bad but are salty which i hate but are ridable. I know there not as scenic as the roads above York but i think it is a case of making do at this time of year. Am now felling better so am now just hoping that the weather warms up before embarking out again.

Jon

Only Bernard and myself pitched up at the square on Saturday to receive a map from Kev who had walked up.

Unfortunately we struggled on road tyres to get as far as the far end of Stockton Lane - any further just wasn't 'on' so we headed back.

I'm consoling myself with the idea that next season will be less spoilt by me not riding now that it would be if I went out and broke a leg.....

Just managing to wear out my set of rollers.
Which means running out of music / motivational youtube clips and sanity. Honestly if anyone has any favourite cd's to listen to while training indoors let me know, my mind is starting to go blank every time I search for things on Spotify, was forced to train to Kylie Minogue today (not the most masculine of cycling soundtrack but it did its job)
At least the bike is staying clean, silver lining and all that.

Mark I

Not been out at all since a 44 miler out towards Panal on 19th December!!

Too icy, too influenza-y, too scary!!

Getting major withdrawl symptoms.

I am also struggling to pluck up the "courage" to climb on board the turbo - any sugestions? Perhaps if this weather continues, we should have a club turbo run? It would probably make it a bit more bearable in company!

Mark

ho ho! Not much of a silver lining eh? Even I would rather be washing my bike...........

Which leads me on to......if we were to compile 'The Best Turbo Album in the World Ever' (!), what tracks would we choose?

My starters for 10 (and don't laugh, but these are actually on my Ipod titled Turbo1:

Robbie Williams 'Let Me Entertain You'
Queen 'Don't Stop Me Now'
Meatloaf 'Bat Out of Hell'
Bonnie Tyler 'Faster than the Speed of Light' [not representative of my turbos!]
Eurythmics 'Thorn In My Side'
Thin Lizzy 'The Boys Are Back in Town'

Now, Pete Read's special red turbo book advises that entertainment is superfluous to the task in hand and he may well be right, but my theory is that if it gets me through 40 minutes then it is better than doing nothing!

Any other additions, we might beat SuBo to the chart number 1 (hey, how with it am I?)

ClaireG

If we are going to have traditional winters, with snow and all that it makes sense to ride on traditional equipment. I found that on un-gritted roads the caked snow was very rideable and predictable on my folding super-lightweight multi-speed Dahon Mu bike, which has about 32mm grippy tyres in winter, with about 40lbs. pressure.

This combination actually is quite speedy, as daughter Soph showed the past couple of days, producing a fabulous turn of speed on it. Very sobering for me! Must be the effect of those fierce Glasgow inclines!

Moral: don't ride on 23/25 road tyres when the world is white, and enjoy all that extra rolling resistance of fatties!. Dahon Mu will accompany me the next few days in Norfolk.

Have managed to get one 3-4hr ride in each week by choosing the right day (benefits of self-employment - there have to be some up-sides!) and and sticking to fairly main roads. Last Tuesday it was Wetherby - Boroughbridge - Easingwold - home. Still pretty crunchy in places but just about stayed upright, and provided I completely avoided freewheeling I just about kept frostbite at bay! But it's not good - tail-ends of a cold I had a week before Christmas are still hanging around.

Other than that (as per post on Training forum) it's been heavy-duty turbo use. Leg-speed drills, threshold intervals, leg strength work. Keep the sessions structured and stop your mind wandering too much and an hour flies by. Go the whole hog into the sports psychology and you can be off on some mind-bending visual trip - it's been pretty strange around Holgate Towers the past month.

Was going to follow Robs route today (Would never go out via Stockton Lane in these conditions as the rods are never gritted after Stockton on Forest) but after Stammy Bridge I was following progressively narrowing tyre tyre tracks on the Buttercrambe road and as I was on a tight schedule anyway bailed out at Gally Gap crossroads and took the left turn for Howsham. I knew this would be far from an easy option with deep snow and icy ruts so just kept the speed right down - stayed upright but only just! Crossed the A64 at Barton Hill and the road back from Thornton Le Clay was ok with a bit of care. Did the same ride last Sunday with no problems.
Have done a few evenings of University/Badger Hill/Hull Road circuits - ok but been far from complacent and given the roads plenty or respect - plus a few turbos and a bit of running.

ClaireG wrote:ho ho! Not much of a silver lining eh?

Ho ho? Hi ho! (sorry, poor musical joke). Wot no Kraftwerk?
The sudden freeze has driven a coach and horses through my 'relax and take 5 days off over Christmas' plan by forcing me to take err.. 5 days off before Christmas - except for possibly the most terrifying ride of my life in London on the 21st, desperately trying to get back to King's Cross to catch my train home after an inch of snow had fallen in the time it took me to realise it was snowing, make my excuses, and get changed into cycling gear. With snow piling up on my specs, traffic crawling, slush everywhere and vans sliding in from all directions, I *just* managed to get to the platform with 3 minutes to spare only to be told 'Sorry mate, too late for a bike!'. They refused to let me board the train, despite ticket, cycle booking, and the rest. Way to go, East Coast...

I'm still holding out against the evils of turbo, so I grab any opportunity, even an hour's tempo pace in -1 degrees and light snow aroud the Selby bypass this afternoon. Did manage an A-road 50 miler to Holme-on-Spalding Moor on Wednesday. I swear every side road was full of ice and slush, so it was just me, my commuter bike (with 28mm treaded tyres, Willy!), a lot of woolly underwear and plenty of trucks for company.

Looking at the forecast, I can't help feeling next Saturday's rides will go the same way as last...
tom

I managed a good 63 miles on my own yesterday, I was only planning on doing 30, but I though with me going back to Manchester today, I should make it my first 100k ride of 2010, so as hard to keep motivated it was, I kept battling along, did about 2 laps of the same route really, was ok though, very cold!!!!!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/21508732

Aint going out here in mcr though, road is deadly outside my flat, all you hear every 10mins is cars reving like mad spinning away and almost failing to get up the slight incline. Only one has actually bottled it so far though and just slid down. I'm worring about what my cycle commute to college will be like on wednesday, I'll have to walk half of it!

Turbo is the last resort for me. Comes only just above sticking pins in my eyes. I've been managing to snatch odd rides on the MTB here and there, on and off road. Let the tyres down a little and it'll cling to all but the worst ice so flat lanes and forests are no problem. Certainly getting my money out of Gym membership at the moment though.

We were discussing our frustration last night when the weather forecast looked so depressing for this week. It's to a cyclist what no wind is to a sailor.

following Muzzies thoughts on the University.Badger hill route I decided on my return from the fruitless Saturday morning ride with Dr Dave to go back to the Sim Balk Lane/Bishopthorpe/Scarcroft Rd/Tadcaster rd circuit & did a 45K ride. With regards to all the comments on tyres I am still trying to think back to all those traditional winters in the sixties when this weather seemed to be the norm' but we still managed to get out to Huggate/Thixendale from Hull most weekends - but we were of course riding 27 x 1!/4 & on fixed, so maybe I should get out the 28 or 35 tyres & try the snow packed roads to keep up the mileage and see some of the fantastic winter scenery that is around at the moment.
Bernard

Bonnie Tyler 'Faster than the Speed of Light'

My ears are still ringing, she goes on a bit at the end eh?

Just dug out my old Guns n Roses and Aerosmith CDs (wow CDs remember those?) Set for at least a week more indoor training now.

PS - U + Ur Hand by P!NK is my power track of choice, have used it from my running days as a forced go for it song. It's great for picking the tempo up to near redline then having full on efforts for the chorus (warning - chorus at the end is longer) just hope the next track is a nice easy one and not Song 2 by Blur (as it was today)
Think I'm starting to develop a strange addiction to my rollers.

I'm with the "I'd rather be training indoors than broken" clan.

Mark I

Something of a sober warning:
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4835291 ... s_in_snow/
..accompanied by the predictable bickering in the comment section.
Thankfully she seems to be fine.