So, this really is the one post that everyone should read (and in reality the reason behind all the others).....
As I have mentioned in earlier posts, both recently and way back in 2009, the Tour de Force is a charity event created by and for the William Wates Memorial Trust whose mission is to help the most disadvantaged young people keep away from a life of crime and violence and fulfil their potential. This is achieved by giving grants to charities that engage young people through the mediums of sport, arts and education.
We will all of course be raising as much money as possible for the William Wates Memorial Trust. In addition to this the Tour de Force team have been exceptionally kind and accommodating in letting a large number of riders riding in memory of Dan join up with their event and raise money independently for the Daniel Bagshaw Memorial Trust in addition to the William Wates Memorial Trust.
The Daniel Bagshaw Memorial Trust, amongst other things, will focus on raising money (1) for charities which raise awareness amongst the general public of cardiac risk in the young, and fund research into early diagnosis, and (2) to provide financial assistance/bursaries to talented school pupils in the Lancashire region where Dan grew up to help them to fulfil their potential.
Doing something in Dan’s memory is deeply personal to many of us and we all really hope that we can raise as much as possible to help a charity that is in its infancy and which promises to do fabulous things.
I now have a donations page up and running, which can be found here, for anyone that wishes to donate to this worthy cause. A portion of all money raised will, of course, also be going to the William Wates Memorial Trust.
Should you need any encouragement to sponsor me, bear the following in mind:
- I will be completing 7 full stages of the Tour de France in 7 days (that's every kilometre and every mountain pass)
- I will be riding over 1,000km across France
- I will spending the majority of that time cycling through the mountains in the Alps
- I will be doing the longest stage of the Tour de France (clocking in at 242km and ending at the summit of one of the most iconic and feared climbs in the Tours history)
- I have given up alcohol (this is not true, although those that have seen me get p*ssed on two pints will confirm I have at least cut back)
- I have been getting up at 5.30am most days of the week to train for 1-2 hours before work
- I will have spent, adding up all the hours, over 3 whole days on my turbo trainer (in just a rather fetching set of (almost see through) bib shorts, heart rate monitor and a full set of 80's sweatbands - Vicky loves this)
- I will be taking unpaid leave to do two intensive training camps in the Dolomites and the Ardennes (these are training camps, not holidays. Training camps.)
- I have been training in all weather in Hong Kong, sometimes even when the temperature has been below 10 Celsius
- I am covering the cost of the trip entirely myself (I even had to buy a very expensive new bike for the trip, in fact a lot of new kit has been 'necessary') and every penny raised will go directly to DMBT (and WWMT)
- Should I reach my target amount I will (most probably) shave my legs (those of you that have seen how hairy my legs are will appreciate that professional help will be required...)
Dig deep!
Back in December 2012, just days before my wedding day and in the midst of the final planning stages, I snuck off for the afternoon (Vicky was probably having some 'treatment' or another no doubt) to Le Beau Velo in Shoreditch for a clandestine meeting about a new bike. A last chance for a self-indulgent purchase before everything became 'ours'....?!
I had heard great things about Le Beau Velo and had been encouraged to speak to Mal (the extremely knowledgeable and passionate owner) about having a bike fitting with a view to having a custom built frame made. If I am honest, not a huge amount of encouragement was necessary.
Despite getting initially lost trying to find the place, as you'd expect, I was still a little early and after a brief introduction with Mal I was offered a coffee (although, shockingly for a Shoreditch establishment, of the instant variety) and made myself at home on the sofa whilst I watched the customer before me being put through his paces learning some new (painful) looking stretches on the workshop floor.
Following a quick chat with Mal about what type of bike I was looking for (a 'bike for life') and what type of riding I was hoping to do / get out of the bike (long distances, some climbing, all at a modest pace) I was then weighed and various parts of my body were measured and catalogued. Once done Mal snuck off to put together the ideal frame geometry for a person of my size and shape and with my stated aims, leaving me with Jo who would be assessing just how flexible I was. Pretty flexible in some aspects and very inflexible in others it turned out. It was also relatively apparent I had grown up playing rugby (despite having shed most of the bulk from my upper body).
I was then on the bike jig (a kind of fully adjustable stationary bike frame), that Mal had set up for my suggested geometry based the measurements taken and some feed back based on my flexibility. After some pedalling, some tinkering, a little more tinkering and then a bit more pedalling a final set up was decided and agreed upon.
Armed with a full set of measurements and the ideal geometry for a frame the discussion then moved to the most important part - what frame was I interested in. We discussed it a little, but I had done my homework and already had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted. Le Beau Velo carry frames from a relatively new Italian company called 'Legend' headed by Marco Bertoletti (with over 20 years of hand-building custom frames). I had recently read an article in Rouleur about the brand and the titanium range of bikes sounded absolutely awesome. It really was only a question of which frame (the Il Re; I wasn't a fan of the integrated carbon seatpost on the flagship model), whether I wanted mechanical or electronic shifting (mechanical given the more classic styling of the frame and the fact that the technology is still, relatively speaking, in its infancy) and whether or not the cabling should be internally routed (internally routed gave it a cleaner look I thought). Subtle, muted graphics were also decided on (if the factory was able to do it).
I came away from Le Beau Velo with a number of feelings: (i) I had been extremely well looked after (I spent the best part of 2.5 hours one-to-one with Mal and Jo) and that Mal and Jo were both really interested in helping me improve my cycling and get more enjoyment out of it and not to just push an expensive frame on me (I wouldn't hesitate to recommend heading down and getting a bike fit done), (ii) considerably poorer..., and (iii) wondering how I was going to be able to wait for 3-4 months for the frame to arrive in Hong Kong!
Last week the waiting finally ended and the bike arrived, fully built up in Hong Kong and, after ensuring there was no chance of rain, I headed out to take the bike for its maiden ride this weekend.
Firstly, the bike looks amazing! Secondly, it rides like a dream. A combination of fitting me perfectly (I didn't think there was an issue with my Cervelo, but the difference is noticable) and the titanium frame result in a really comfortable and responsive ride. The titanium really smooths out the road without sacrificing too much rigidity. It doesn't quite have the punch of a carbon bike when you're jumping out of the saddle, but in reality I am not prone to doing that often in any event.
Anyway, full details of the build are below along with some pictures.
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Frameset: 2013 Legend Il Re, Titanium (made to measure)
Handlebar: Deda Zero 100 aluminium 420mm c-c
Stem: Deda Zero 100 aluminium 100mm
Seatpost: Legend Titanium
Groupset: SRAM Force
Crankset: SRAM Force, 172.5mm, 50/34
Bottom bracket: GXP
Wheelset: Fast Forward F6R Carbon/Alloy Clincher (decals painstakingly removed)
Power meter: CycleOps Powertap Pro Hub (24H)
Cassette: PG1070, 12-28
Saddle: Fi'zi:k Arione R1 carbon rail
Pedals: Look Keo Blade Carbon Ti Pedals 12Nm Spring (Yellow)
Tyres: Continental Grand Prix 4 Season
Handlebar tape: Lizard Skin
Bottle cages: LifeLine Titanium
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I would say that it is pretty well know that I have a number of what can only be described as 'geeky' or 'nerdy' inclinations. It is for this reason that I love the numbers that my power meter spews at me during and after every ride.
Power, or more specifically the mighty "Watt", has become the focus of my training rides (I still enjoy the scenery and the taste of blood at the back of my throat, don't worry). Watts are the energy required to a move a mass a certain distance in a known time period i.e. me and my bike travelling along or up a road. The number that pops up on my bike computer essentially represents the force and speed at which I am pedalling the pedals on my bike.
Knowing this number, in real time and post-ride, removes most of the guesswork that goes into training and racing. Power meters allow you to test yourself regularly and establish a baseline from which to to focus your training and riding. As you will, hopefully, see below power meters can also provide highly accurate details about how your fitness is changing throughout the season.
See here for a better (and more complete) explanation of why you need a power meter...
But in order to save you from a long and boring post about 'critical power curves', 'functional threshold power', "circumferential velocity" I have tried to set out below my first three (and a bit) months of training this year in graphical format (click on them to make them bigger).
There are obviously a lot of (exciting) numbers behind these graphs, some of which I don't fully understand myself, so I will only briefly try to explain them. I have tried to keep it simple, probably at the expense of accuracy... However, if the graphs/charts are still incomprehensible, the rule of 'line going up = good' and 'line going down = bad' generally holds true. Thankfully the lines generally seem to be going up.... must be doing something right!
Summary in numbers...
Firstly, a brief summary in numbers.
It seems that I have been out for 53 rides totalling 90hrs, covering a distance of 1,990km and gaining 20,000m in elevation. Apparently I was only actually moving for for 77.5hrs of that; so question what I did for the other 12.5hrs?! Clearly my snooze on the beach on Lantau was longer than I thought! An average speed of 25km/h is relatively respectable given the hilly nature of Hong Kong and normalised power (essentially a fancy weighted average) of 199W isn't bad too. All of this was done at an average of 72% 'intensity'...
There appears to have been a large amount of soft pedalling though - almost 38hrs of it spent at 'Active Recovery' levels of intensity or 45% of the time! I guess the frequent descents in Hong Kong have contributed to that. The number I care about most is the time spent at 'Threshold' (that is in the range around the highest average power or speed that I could maintain for one hour) - 11.5hrs or 14% is pretty good but with room to improve over the next few months.
Time and Distance
Still keeping it pretty simple, the above graph doesn't really require too much explanation. You can see that the majority of my rides have been around an hour in length - pretty much the time it takes to cycle up Mt Butler and the Peak or to do a good turbo session. Vicky and my ten day holiday sticks out too (more on that later). Hopefully these numbers will steadily increase over the next few months.
Power and Speed Trends
The above graph shows the average power and speed of all my individual rides. The larger points representing the 'best 25'. The graph doesn't take into account the length of the ride so the best 25 results for each are likely to represent the shorter, more intense rides with the lower values being the longer endurance rides. Two lines on an upward trend is progress.... in terms of power it represents an improvement from an average of 153W on 1 January to 197W on 11 April - a 29% improvement.
Critical Power Trend
We're moving into more geeky territory here. The above represents the best average power over a 60mins period during each ride, with the larger points representing the best 10. Again, the upward trend shows an improvement (165W to 207W, in fact - a 25% improvement) with the majority of the 'best' rides being the more recent.
Critical Power Curve
I promised it wouldn't get too nerdy and that I wouldn't be talking about 'critical power curves', sorry, this one is important...
The above graph essentially shows the maximum power output I have managed for a given interval of time over the course of 2013. The dashed red line is what I should theoretically be able to maintain for each period based on these results. Why's this helpful and why should I care? Well it helps me to establish just how hard I can pedal for a given period of time. For example, if I wanted to cycle at 333W for 20mins I would know I would have to cycle harder than I have so far this year. Conversely, 240W should be easy to maintain for 20mins (in fact, the curve tells me I have already held 240W for 52 mins this year).
From these you can establish 'zones' (e.g. 'active recovery', 'endurance', 'threshold') - the coloured shading above - and measure your effort over the course of a climb or ride to avoid exhausting yourself and blowing up.
[Note the sharp drop off in power at around 14-16 min - the climbs in Hong Kong take about this time - I basically just run out of road...]
Performace Management Chart
The last one, phew!
In essence the above graph shows my 'fitness' (and predicted fitness) up until 6 July and the start of the Tour de Force. Without too much detail (which I couldn't explain anyway), the green line represents my fitness levels (technically my, 'chronic training load'), the blue line my fatigue levels (or 'accute training load') and the black line represents that nebulous concept, 'form'.
A green line going upwards is a good sign of improving fitness, and we can see that it has been creeping up over the past 3 months. Long may that continue! Periods of intensive training obviously help push up the green line, but will cause a sharp increase in fatigue/blue line and have a negative impact on form/black line. As the Tour de Force approaches it will be important to ensure that I taper my training effectively to reduce the level of fatigue and increase my form, without losing too much of my fitness.
One interesting thing about the graph is the impact a 10 day holiday had on all three of the lines. Clearly a nice rest meant that I was less fatigued and as a result my form went up, but no activity at all meant that I lost almost 4 weeks of fitness - it will take a little while to get back into shape....
There are more, many more, graphs and figures to share but I will spare you for now. In summary though, the training is going well and I am enjoying monitoring it and planning sessions with the help of the power meter - a geek at heart.
Hopefully a more light hearted blog next time....
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