Hill Reps and Bonking

Unfortunately there's been no racing this week, the MK Bowl is closed for a concert. So unfortunately there will be no race report tomorrow, and although there was a TT available, after yesterday's hard ride I feel I need a rest day.

Elevation Gain - Ivinghoe Beacon Followed by Eleven Tom's.

The week kicked off with the inaugural hill-rep club ride. On which I was the sole rider. It was a good ride in the end, I put in eleven (ten plus one for luck) repeats of 'Tom's Hill', a short but steep climb in Aldbury, near Tring. I chose Tom's as it's the closest thing locally to the Alps, in terms of gradient and style. The hill itself winds upwards for about 900 metres, before a hairpin right-turn, the summit is then another 50 metres up the road. Not wanting to exhaust myself to soon, the first few repeats were at a steady pace, I picked up the pace up in the middle before inevitably slowing towards the end. It was quite nice surprise to find that I'm not the only one with a taste for the hills; another rider by the name of Mark, I think? Was there also. He was using Tom's as training for the Alps later this year, lucky bugger!

I had only brought a single gel with me, which I'd consumed after the seventh rep. On the way home with about 7 miles to go, I bonked. Now, if you've never heard of the term before or you've never experienced 'The Bonk' then you probably don't know what I mean. 'Bonking' is a term used by cyclists to describe completely draining your body of energy. It results in the rider becoming very weary, usually very disorientated and it becomes extremely difficult to pedal. Bonking differs greatly from 'Cracking', which is when your muscles give out and the pain experienced from a hard effort becomes too much, this can usually be rectified simply by stopping or slowing down and taking a few minutes to recover and allow the lactic acid to subside. Bonking occurs when your body uses up the entirety of it glycogen supply and the only when to prevent it is to take in more energy.

Even more Alpine in the snow.

The issue most cyclist encounter is that your body can only process a certain amount of energy, usually about 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour. More often than not, when you're training hard, you're actually burning more energy than your body can process. So even if you down energy gels, you will inevitably run out, the best way to avoid it is to pre-loaded your body with energy. This is why some professional athletes choose to carbo-load, ensuring their body had plenty of glycogen before the start of an event. Normally when you bonk the best option is to find a cafe or shop and buy something sugary, taking half an hour or so to recover and let your body process the food. I had no such luxury however, as it was quickly getting dark and I had no light to guide me home. I made it back with about 10 minutes to spare before it got to the point where I would have felt uncomfortable riding without lights.

It's hard to explain what it feels like to run completely dry, but never before have I had to lie on the floor immediately after walking through the front door. Still, lesson learnt, and I wont be making that mistake again...at least not for a while.

Time Xpresso 4 Pedals - Review

The pedals are not showing many signs of wear after 700km.

The Time Xpresso 4s are Time's mid/low range pedals. I've had them since April now so I think it's about time I wrote a review (no pun intended).

Before buying the 4s I actually purchased a set of the Xpresso 8 pedals, which are a higher end model. However upon arriving home, I quickly realised that buying white pedals may not have been such a good idea. So I held of using them and returned to the shop two days later to exchange the 8s for the 4s. The difference between the two models is negligible in my opinion. I think the weight difference is something in the region of 12g, so unless your bike is made of feathers it's not really going to be noticeable. The only other difference, is the size of the bearing, apparently bigger is better.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the cleats.

The 4s go for around £50, and considering they're made from precious, precious carbon, that's not bad at all. I've only done about 700km on them so far but they've been great. The biggest difference I've noticed in the upgrade from the Shimano SPDs to the Time Xpressos is the fact that the Time Xpressos hold my feet much tighter and give them less room to shift around. This is one of the biggest factors that convinced me to upgrade. The only issue I have experienced is that, the cleats, despite the fact I do very little walking in my cycling shoes, have almost worn out completely. In the year and a half that I had the SPDs I never once replaced the cleats, but I expect I'll have to replace these ones before long. As you can see from the photos the rubber on the cleats has worn out fairly rapidly, leaving the bare plastic exposed.

The rubber has worn away quickly, exposing the plastic

The open design with the Time Xpressos is great, I thought this might weaken them somewhat and shorten their life span, but so far there are no signs of the pedals themselves wearing out. It means it's quick and easy to engage them, particularly useful when pulling away from a busy junction. There's no tension adjustment with these pedals as they work much like a mouse trap however this hasn't proved to be a problem.

Overall I'm very happy with the Time Xpresso 4s and I can certainly recommend them to anyone looking to upgrade and take the step up from entry level SPDs. I'll keep you posted on the cleat-front, so we'll see how long they actually last



I'd be interested to hear your opinion if you have tried Time pedals, and particularly how the measure up to other brands. 

Race Day.

I'd left something at home, again. It wasn't the money this time, it was my race number. Thankfully they let me race anyway*. Although I hadn't been for two weeks I was feeling good and thought it might be my first chance to pick up some points.

I had a position midway up the bunch for the first few laps, trying to conserve energy. But after rubbing hands with the guy next to me it was quickly abandoned in favour of one closer to the front. It was a pretty nervy race yesterday, a lot of swerving, and shouts of 'hold your bloody line!'. I like to stick to the inside of the course, that way I know where my line is.

I held a good position for most of the race, James on my left came second overall.

I was able to hold my position in the bunch fairly well throughout, and stayed within the front ten most of the way round. Then (near) disaster struck, as we approached the bell lap one of the riders to my right swerved suddenly towards me. Our handlebars locked and for what felt like minutes we were jostling around trying not to fall, my front wheel came up and I thought 'this is it, your first ever crash, you're going down Wilf. Prepare yourself'. I'm not sure how, but I managed to stay upright. It did mean I lost a lot of places though, and I think several guys behind had to brake hard, one guy went into the grass and had to abandon the race with just a lap to go. I didn't manage to make my way back to the front on the last lap, and although I must have gained about twenty places in the sprint I was too far back to be in contention. 

The Milton Keynes Bowl, courtesy of Google.

James Barlow, who also rides for LBRCC placed second overall, despite his claims of 'not feeling too good'. And good races were run from the other LBRCC guys: Neil and Gareth, who handled my little tussle well, skilfully avoiding running into the back of me, I'm very grateful for that!

In the end I was glad that both me and my bike were unharmed, if a little shaken up. As for losing my position, there's always next time. 

Strava profile for the race.

*After the hiccups of Wednesday and yesterday, I've decided to write out a race day list which is pinned to my bag. Never again shall I forget!