Well, things are coming together for the race. My injured leg is hurting less (but still hurting – under ice at this very moment), my food is going to be there in time for me to pick it up, and the bike’s all packed for flying. Without using drops, I’m going to have to carry . . . → Read More: Music to get me pedalling again
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It was a couple of weeks ago now, but back on February 7, I went out to Imatra for the Finnish Winter Swimming Championships. It was a completely ridiculous distance to travel in order to swim two 25m races but I’d always wanted to go to Finland and their competition was the inspiration for Tooting . . . → Read More: Finnish Winter Swimming Champs One week until the Iditarod and things aren’t looking as organised as they were a while ago… First my seatpost bolt snaps on a training ride so I have to go home and swap seatposts before carrying on. At least I managed to do that and fight the gremlins saying “Go home now, eat cake . . . → Read More: Stumbling towards the start line Another lovely company has been nice enough to help me out with training for and riding the Iditarod… Goodridge! They make steel braided brake hoses and brake pads. Since brake pads are one of my biggest training costs and Goodridge are my first choice brand that’s great news. I had already specced their hoses for . . . → Read More: More help for the race… Goodridge To quote Bill Merchant, nutrition on the Iditarod trail is about “Fat, fat, and more fat“. A reasonable estimate of expenditure on the trail is 8000 calories per day (an adult male’s recommended intake is 2500 per day in normal conditions), so high fat and calorie dense foods are needed. Roughly speaking: fat is 9 . . . → Read More: Food Well, there was an awful lot of waiting, but the monster has finally arrived. On Friday afternoon and with many thanks to Cycle Care, I took ownership of my Pugsley. Then, life being life, I couldn’t even put the grips and pedals on until Monday. Saturday was 10 hours of training on the bike, and . . . → Read More: Enter The Pug Lobster gloves seem like the perfect balance of finger grouping for warmth vs dexterity to ride. There is a problem, though. You can do this: But you can’t do this: And sometimes the second one is essential. Like when you hear some raging metalcore. Oh, and these ones don’t leave room for chemical handwarmers making . . . → Read More: Lobsters are cool but… 3 days in Wales and 3 sea swims to help acclimatise for the competitions to come. Cold water swimming is such a weird thing… In a lot of ways it’s just awful. Pain in the arches of your feet as the water first hits you, then shock as the water gets up to crotch height. . . . → Read More: Rhossili is so bracing; NYT Well, the Bikemagic article about the Alaska training school is up. Go read it here. And today’s training ride? 1 snapped chain. 1 standing in water over ankles incident. 85km distance, 2030m climbing, 6h45m time. Completely battered body. Well, my first ride back from Alaska was interesting. The first few metres riding down my road were terrifying… were my tyres always this skinny, was the steering always this fast? I reached the end of my road and nearly popped my eyeballs out as I touched the brakes… Clearly, this wasn’t quite the same . . . → Read More: After Alaska |
