Training Log Archive: AC

Out on the roadie on a cool, grey, breezy morning. Headed out in the general direction I went yesterday and took a few roads that I vaguely remembered from when I was doing a lot more road cycling a few years ago including one through th Foret de Marly that was closed to cars. Very nice road although it deteriorated after about 8km and was quite broken up with lots of gravel patches. No dramas though and got through it fine. Quite an annoying side wind for most of the ride and only benefitted from it a few times when the road swung in the right direction. One particularly hard stretch at around 40km with a couple of km uphill into th wind. Finished well, but lega and back very tired now.

Back in Paris after a busy and tiring work trip to Istanbul, Ankara and Barcelona, followed by a frantic day in the office on Friday. Good to get out though on a cool and breezy morning. Headed out on the road bike (mtb still in the shop) past St Cloud and Vaucresson into the countryside north of Versailles. Nice riding through rolling farmland and small towns. The headwind on the way out didn't really bother me too badly and even had a patch around 30-35 km when was pedalling really well into the wind. Punctured just after that and, after a quick change, headed back at a rapid ace with a nice tailwind behind me. A couple of scary traffic moments coming past Roland Garros where people and cars were beginning to arrive already. Had to brake really hard on one occasion and locked the back wheel - good test of the brakes and they passed beautifully.

This kind of ride helps me to remember how lucky I am to live in this part of Paris with the countryside within an easy 12-14km ride away.

In Istanbul. In the hotel gym again, back on the stationary bike. Did a "hill" workout this time and watched the last hour of the Giro d'Italia, which just so happened to be a mountain top finish so quite exciting and distracting to watch. Good workout followed by a dip in the pool.

In Istanbul. Got onto the stationary bike in the well-equipped hotel gym. Did an hour's worth of 4 mins hard, 3 mins easy. Legs tired towards the end. Good training. Dived into th epool afterwards to cool down.

Short morning ride to loosen up from yesterday's ride. Legs pretty shot, but good to get out on a very pleasant and promising morning. Am on the road for the next 5 days so needed to sneak a last minute training in!

Out into the French countryside for a long ride with Jon from work, who conveniently has a country house between Chartres and Rambouillet. Lovely rolling farmland and quiet country roads to cycle on. Went out at a decent clip with the wind behind us, but then did struggle a bit coming back into the wind. Great afternoon for it with mostly sun but also big storm clouds looming (we did get a few drops of rain towards the end). TH e horizon out there is vast and it is a really spectacular landscape, if very rural. Kept getting glimpses of Chartres cathedral on the horizon - it just looms massively over the landscape. back quite sore at teh end - need to get my bike set-up checked and keep stretching and strengthening my lower back..

Up early enough this time to hook up with Jared Greenville, former Canberra A Grade cyclist who started work at OECD late last year. Good hard session around the hills just outside of Paris. Couldn't stick with Jared going up the longer hills, but kept up okay around the rest of the course although the pace was of course much higher than I would have been doing on my own. Finished up with a lap of Longchamp at a very decent clip. Very good ride - a few more of these and I will be almost ready for the Canberra cycling camp in a few weeks! Unfortunately am in Turkey and Spain for most of next week so won't manage to get a ride in until perhaps Friday morning.

C • good ride 1

With the mtb out of action, headed out on the roadie. Had planned to meet new guy from work who is a keen cyclist, but slept through alarm and missed him by 10 mins. Still went out for a good spin. Lovely morning and little traffic so went through St Cloud and Sevres, up and down hills, at a decent pace (for me at any rate).

Out on the MTB on a glorious sunny afternoon. Had planned to go for 2.5 or 3 hours, but had been going for about an hour when the bike started to handle like a whale with huge bounce in the rear wheel. Turns out the oil from the rear suspension unit had drained very quickly and was now all over the chainwheels and drive train. Murphy's law being what it was meant that I was a long way from home. So adjusted the rear suspension so that it was, ostensibly, at the minimum travel. But it still moved quite a lot so figured it wasn't really doing it any good continuing on the harder parts of the ride. Headed back home on the smoothest paths I could find so as to not stress the suspension or frame any further, but even so it was a very bouncy ride. Have to take it into the shop when I get back from Oslo on Wednesday - I suspect that this will be expensive!

Otherwise, the ride was okay. Legs and lower back quite stiff and sore from yesterday and have to do a lot more stretching on the back and legs.

Out early on the road bike. Cool grey morning but a holiday long weekend meant that the traffic was pretty light. Headed out to Versaille and then into the countryside. Turned around near Chateaufort and enjoyed the tailwind back home. Felt pretty tired on the way out but picked up on the way back. Good ride.

Another public holiday (May is great for holidays in France!) and headed out for a morning ride before the rain arrived. Headed over to Parc de St Cloud and had a very good ride taking in new tracks and lots of hills. After warming up settled into a good pace and felt surprisingly strong. From the far end of the Parc there is a nice long steady decline back down to the Seine - about 6km of trail and single track with some steep declines thrown in for good measure. Cruised back from the river. Nice ride. Now for pancakes (homemade of course :-)).

Evening ride down at Longchamp. Did a bit better this evening in terms of hanging on a bit longer to the passing peletons, in one case going for a whole lap and a bit. This is a seriously good workout, although not particularly family-friendly at this time of the evening :-(.

Took advantage of daylight saving and a lovely sunny warm evening (28 deg at 7pm!) to head down to Longchamp for a few laps. Good interval training as set a steady pace for a while then jumped onto passing peletons to try and hang for as long as possible before falling off the back. Not in great shape as couldn't hang on for a full lap, but a good workout nonetheless.

Windy but sunny and headed out to Parc de St Cloud and then across into Foret de Fausse Reposes. Hilly ride and legs feeling it by the end.

So, back on the bike for a while. Just as well that I like cycling and have a couple of nice bikes to ride and a few nice spots to ride in. And that the weather is getting better every day! Headed out on the road bike this afternoon - out past Boulogne Billancourt, Issy les Molinieux, Clamart and then got lost while heading towrds Versailles. Knew I was heading in roughly the right direction but was never really sure how far to go. But stumbled on the town eventually and then wandered back home. It was a pretty hilly ride, never fully in the countryside, but didn't get held up by traffic lights too much. It helped that it was a public holiday today (VE Day) so traffic was lighter.

Buggar. Got an MRI doeneon my right knee. Torn medial meniscus, badly worn (but not displaced) cartilege (= arthritis), tendonitis behind the knee. No wonder my knee hurts. Scheduled for an arthroscopie to repair the meniscus in early June. Time to get back on the bike for the next few months! Boo ...

C • ah bugger 6