Wasgau Mtb Marathon

At last, out on my mtb again, and beautiful Goldener Oktober day too. Climbing has been a priority recently.

Drove down on Saturday eve in Brendan's camper van to avoid getting up at absurdly early hour. Ate (surprisingly good) dinner at the local hotel. As he was leaving on of the guests asked us if we'd done the marathon id the Wasgau mtb marathon, we said no, doing it in the morning, he said he'd alrewady done it, Rich & I said "Brendan?", Brendan said "Whoops!".

Enjoyable ride but disappointing course :-(

Afterwork mtb ride

Meant to mtb ride with Rafa & co from work at 5.30, but of course couldn't make it on time so tried to chase them down and ended up doing fairly high pace solo ride.

Hooray, my gears are finally working - shifting and indexing properly, and no punctures, unlike yesterday's ride.

Eumetsat-Ludwigshohe-Frankenstein-Bollenfaltor

TBD

Eppstein mtb marathon- sunday August 19th

Eppstein mtb marathon

Heh, heh I came third in M40, 20th overall in the short (33km) race.

A v good course, nice mixture of single-track, trails & schotter with some thought required on gear selection etc and keeping speed on corners - i.e. not your usual schotter warrior course. Also was well-marked and plenty of friendly marshalls. The chip-timing and immediate result print out was also excellent. Only niggle was that there was no Verflegung at the finish.

Did the short course 'cos I arrived too late to register for the long one - there's a lesson to be learnt there!

Pleased with my result and riding, especially considering I'm not particularly fit. Took it smooth and steady. Gears played up on the second lap which was annoying. Backache on second lap.

Drank 75oml long energy, a swig of water and one gel. Next time follow Pepe's tip and eat a gel at the start.

Hooray, the sun's out!

TBD:
Sun came out at last so got a few nice rides in. Lost a lot of fitness since June.

Cold & damp road rides

TBD - weather is horrible, waiting for forks to be repaired so just on the road bike if at all.

Les Gets - July 2007

Well, finally got round to writing something about July's Les Gets trip.

Had a v good time despite problems with my car on departure, so had to hire one.

Saturday:
Rode on Saleve at Geneva with Martina and Stuart. Did our old route from top of telepherique - ooh v difficult, struggled down the first section and soon had a unscheduled stop, sliding on stones on rock. Stuart crashed in the first 5m and Martina & Stuart walked the rest. Harder than I remember, seems like the rains have washed most of the soil away leaving loose rocks on rock. Soon got lost as often used to and couldn't find our nicest route. Ended up riding down the old railway track, horrible as ever, like riding on marbles. Hit the road and soon found the usual path crossing between the switchbacks. Arggh, no more soil, just big loose rocks on rocks - can't control the front wheel. Struggled down walking much, Martina agreed it used to be much nicer, Stuart not impressed with his baptism of fire. Bravely managed the nasty drop off onto the start of section two (Martina threatened to do it so I had to!) but soon had to bail again. Less loose rock on section three but no more confidence in front tyre (well it was only a Racing Ralph) so ended walking most of the rock section. We all got to Monnetiere relieved to still intact.
The first puncture of the week's at least ten punctures struck for no reason. Fixed it and rode up Petite Saleve. Managed the first technical section much to my surprise. Stuart suffering so skipped the final/top section and went straight for the superb downhill -yeehaaa - still fantastic, not as badly washed out as on Saleve. Too soon we were at the bottom and heading back into Geneve. Martina showed she's lost none of her blonde-on-a-bike form by riding across red lights and forcing the traffic to stop/avoid her!

Sunday in Les Gets - another babtism of fire:
For some bizarre, sadistic reason the Phils decided that we'd be best riding the Mt Cherie downhill to warm-up and introduce Luke, Stuart & John to the area. It was as tricky as ever with slippery mud and roots on the steep parts. First fall to Luke. I resolved to replace my uncontrollable Racing Ralph on the front, and did at lunchtime with a Conti kindly provided by PJ - much better. We all got to the bottom intact so did it again after lunch. Much better on the Conti so managed to ride it all clean until I punctured at the v steep part towards the bottom. Replaced the tube set off again and discovered that Luke had crashed heavily and damaged ligaments in his shoulder. This was a a big disappointment for Luke and all of us.

Monday:
Did the Morzine downhill I think? Lovely. So did it again, then headed up towards Avoriaz.

Tuesday:
Made it to Avoriaz, Stuart and I did the Fantasticable - fantastical, but not as scarey as I expected.

Wednesday:
Rode the Portes du Soleil circuit alone. TBC.

Thursday:
Set off again to do the PdS circuitwith PJ but my fork packed in so had to bail. Just as well 'cos we had a huge storm at 15h00.

Friday:
Hired a Scott Nitrous and armour and ended up at Les Crosets with PJ. Could really fly on the fast sections with 180mm travel suspension - lovely! Speed is the secret but self-preservation instinct winning too often causing problems.

Conclusion
A good week, marred by Luke & John's injuries. Next time, stay in Morzine 'cos tired of missing the last lift and having to ride up to Les Gets. Also consider using fullys for the week, or at least body armour and full face helmet.

What happened to the summer?

Not been doing much, weather's been terrible, raining most days and it completely destroys my motivation. No spinning either due to Riccardo's departure, so in a bit of an an exercise desert.

Finally got my first & main order from GypzyBikes - it had been sitting for 2 weeks in Eumetsat goods-in. Replaced my broken spoke and realized I'd done something very stupid - I'd used a spot of superglue to hold the nipple on the screwdriver whilst poking it through the deep section rim - dohh! Of course this got in the threads and made it impossible to tighten or remove the spoke. Now know better and threaded it onto a piece of wire to avoid losing it in the rim. Rich's idea is even better - screw it onto the end of a spare spoke and poke it through the rim.

Great results for everybody (except me 'cos I wasn't interested and had Robbie with me anyway) at the ???? mtb marathon. Josie & Brendan came 1st and 3rd on the short circuit, and Pepe got 2nd on the mid circuit and Rich suffered on the long. V muddy course after all the rain.

Off to Les Gets on Friday eve, weather forecast is good, hopefully it'll hold.

Wednesday eve road ride

Planned to go spinning this eve but turned up at the gym and saw a group of normal looking people hanging around only to realise they were the spinning group. They told me Riccardo had gekundigt, or had been gekundigt, it wasn't clear. This is a shame, not much point in paying EUR65/month for nothing. Must see how I can get out of the contract trap.
Anyway made my excuses and left as the others went off to a bar with the intention on braving the cold and going out on my roadbike - still waiting for a replacement deraullier for Scotty - it seems to be lost in the post. My new Michelin Pro Comp arrived from Gypzybikes yesterday so I thought it would be prudent to put it on before my ride. Of course I did this and immediately got a flat through damaging the tube while changing the tyre - always the problem putting on v tight new road tyres.

Finally got everything sorted out and set off with not much more than an hour of daylight left. Soon stopped to put on my legwarmers. Already had arms and gillet - not very inspiring weather - cool, cloudy and windy, brrrr. Rode schnellstr, Frankenstein, then home. Couldn't get motivated to work hard, so didn't. Tried Brendan's idea and stayed seated for a lot of the way up Frankenstein. Didn't work at all for me and found it difficult to keep the power on. Stood occasionaly to get things going again. Took me 10:20, 30s slower than this year's best. However, it's not a fair comparison 'cos I couldn't be bothered really. Have to try again when I'm feeling strong.

Frankenstein & Stettbach - Wednesday eve roadride

Planned to do Frankenstein-Melibokus mtb circuit but late leaving work again so went out on the road. Came round the corner to start Frankenstein and who do I see but Brendan and Josie fiddling with the computers on their shiny new black bikes. Oh dear, these means I'll have to race Brendan to the top.
We got ourselves ready, said go, and off I went sprinting hard to get my heart-rate up to 90%. Brendan was way behind struggling to clip into his pedals as I finished the first corner and started to slow as I reached 90%. I sat briefly then stood as he came storming past on the second corner. He was soon about 30m in front, seated all the time. Then he eased a bit and stayed at the same distance til we were about way up when I slowly started to close in. I was wondering if he was fading off but he was still seated so didn't raise my hopes. I stayed out of the saddle (all the way to the top) but started to have problems with my gears jumping occasionally. As a result I rode one gear lower than before in 3rd for quite a lot of the time. Still slowly closing on him and changed to the big ring on the fast corner and caught and passed him after. For a few seconds I thought I had him beat, but he came back past me 50m before the top and I just didn't the have the energy/motivation to keep with him so arrived 2m behind him. Oh my god, I've been beaten by an over 40 :-( Maybe it's time to fix my unhealthy lifestyle - nah - he's just very good - especially teasing by pretending to be finished - or is it that his bike is about 3kg lighter than mine. Anyway best for this year at 9:46.
Josie arrived soon after with a new PB - probably be the fastest woman on her next (third) attempt. They drank my water - weren't carrying any of their own - no wonder I was slower! We rode down and towards Seeheim. Josie went home and Bren and I did Stettbach and he set offhome.I started Steigerts, changed my mind and headed back too, the usual way via Ober Beerbach, Muhltal and Bollenfaltor. Problems with my gearshift (deraulier probably needs a clean) but finished strongly up Bollenfaltor.

Distance 45.5km. Frankenstein 9m46s.

Hattersheim marathon RTF

Marathon RTF:

• Distance: 202km (+10km from missed turn)
• Height gain: 2972m
• Time: 8h33m
• Av Speed: 27.8kph
• Calories: 5175 kcal.
• http://www.rc-hattersheim.de/giro_hattersheim.html
  

Enjoyed this last year so decided long ago that I'd do it again, unles I had a good excuse not to.

This time, dragged myself out of bed at 5 am. Was hoping to join the mass-start at 6 but this was optimistic and I saw a bunch of about 100 go past as I arrived. So took it easy and set off at 6:30. during the ride I was told that this wasn't a bad thing 'cos the mass-start is actually a race but without marshalls and with people who can't ride in a bunch. Hmm, would've been interesting! Must have been great for the flat bits before Feldberg. I guess it all falls to pieces then.

Ohh, this is too early for me. Not able to eat proper breakfast so early and kept yawning and couldn't get going until I hit the small steep hills before Feldeberg. Took it steady up Feldberg but still passed many.

Mainly rode alone, but rode with a guy, Gert, from PJ's Seeheim club for about 80km. Leading him most of the time 'cos he wanted to steady his pace 'cos he had ridden from Seeheim and was heading back by bike, to make it a 300km ride! I was feeling good and didn't care if he wanted to sit on my wheel and I didn't have to wait. I even added an extra 10km to our ride by missing a turning between kontrol 3 & 4- quite a nice downhill though!

Gert left me at kontrol 5 - to ride slowly while I fed more and then catch him up - but I discovered that I had a slow puncture in my rear tyre so lost 15 mins changing the tube. Tyre is worn out. Never saw Gert again, hope he made it.

As like last year I enjoyed the ride, but not as good as last year because we were plagued by headwinds (mainly from the south) this time. Had to keep the power on all but the steeper downhills to get a decent speed for the corners.

Anyway, I was pleased with my performance and recommend this great RTF.

Three Peaks road ride

Frankenstein, Steigerts, Melibokus and a couple of small rises in between: 70km, 1210hm, 26.2kph, 1870kcal.
Rode hard but comfortable - felt pretty good.
Frankenstein 9:54,hard, but not flat out. Standing nearly the way in 5th then 4th then 5th.

Road ride round the old Heinerman course

Two gentle short rides over the weekend (on Scottie between home and Muhltalbad with Robbie) still hadn't sorted my legs out from last Wednesday eve, it seemed. Too lazy yesterday even to swim more than 400m.
So dragged my sorry arse out tonight for a gentle ride to try and get my Kreislauf running again. Late leaving work and shopping so not much time so did the good old Heinerfest triathlon circuit from Ostbahnhof to Bollenfaltor via Rossdorf and Nieder Ramstadt and a bunch other places in between.
Once I got going I felt ok, but didn't push too hard. I think warm ups are becoming quite important to me - I seem to need to work extra hard to push myself up to another energy level at which I can then settle. This course is so hilly and bendy it's difficult to hold a steady pace - or it was today anyway. No wonder they've replaced it in the triathlon with a boring straightline flat route - what a shame, that's what made the Heinerman fun, now it's completely boring.

On the course I recorded 39.3km in 70min = 31.2kph av. About the same as my times from 12 years ago (used to aim for 32kph) not bad considering I wasn't flat out.

Frankenstein mtb

Hadn't expected to ride until Monday but Robbie visited a friend for the afternoon so I had an unexpected opportunity. Weather was beautiful so had to do it. Planned to do Frankenstein and then the B path to Seeheim and back. But soon found myself feeling pretty tired and useless so turned round at Berg Frankestein. Scotty didn't feel too good either - forks seemed to have lost their rebound damping (increased it but not much better) and gear shifting was bad - I need a new deraullieur(spring) - all from a bit of rain last weekend :-)




Anyway, rode the old route from by the Polizeiepraesidium on the O and red bar path (not via Ludwigshoehe) down to the mill - nettles and brambles are starting to encroach as usual. Took the steep short-cut at the base but this is not worth it now 'cos you have to get off to pass a fallen tree. On second thoughts it might just be rideable so must try it again. Cruised on up Frankers not feeling very strong or inspired but passed a couple of others so not totally crap.
Had quick faff at the top then down the steps and towards the Tube. A bit wobbly but managed to ride around the fallen tree which is now a little clearer. On to the Tube but steady, not vollgas! A lot of deep braking bumps which make it a bit uncomfortable. Rode right down to the base like the old-days. Headed wearily home.
Felt surprisingly tired, considering I'd felt so good on the road bike the night before. Maybe this eek's late nights are catching up on me, but also I believe I didn't really eat enough to recover well yesterday/this morning/lunchtime. I.e. only salad+feta, some bread and oats and milk for breakfast.

Evening Frankenstein fast hilly road ride

Nice shortish hilly cicuit: Schnellstr-Frankenstein-Seeheim-Stettbach-Steigerts-Kuralp-???-OberBeerbach-NiederBeerbach-NiederRamstadt-Bollenfaltor.
Schnellstr to Bollenfaltor 49km at 31.3kph. Total time 1h50.
Felt strong. Managed first sub 10min Frankenstein this year - just at 9:57! Out of the saddle most of the way up.
Went quite hard (but not max) up the other hills too.
Took me a long time to recover from this - see following posts. I don't think feta & salad & a couple of pieces of bread, 3 beers, cigs and 4 hours sleep was enough - I must be getting old :-(

Le Hohwald - Sunday road ride

Woke up Sunday morning with hangover and weather forecast of storms so decided to ride on road. PJ, Pepe, Rich & I on roadbikes and Brendan on his fully. I was faffing so the others set off without me to another hill Haut Koenigsbourg. We all got lost a bit on the way and I rode all the way alone and met them at the summit. Retraced the ride back. PJ & Rich dropped me on the last stage to Le Hohwald, but I wasn't trying (see pulse) - but didn't feel strong enough to try properly.
Nice ride, very scenic with all the Alsacw vineyards and pretty villages, but I would've preferred a bit longer. Next time ride upwards from Le Hohwald and make a circuit. It felt very strange assembling my bike and riding down the hill, without any sort of warm-up or test. Found myself a bit wobbly on the corners and couldn't really push the speed up.

Le Hohwald weekend - Saturday

Great weekend cycling at Le Hohwald, Vosges/Alsace. Many thanks to Nick for organising it all, a big shame he couldn't ride with us due to flue.

I drove down with PJ on Friday eve, most of the others drove down on Sat morning.
Nice easy going mtb ride with big group well-guided by Sean, PJ, Rich, Pepe, Brendan, Josie, Claus, Rodrigo, Yvonne, Darren & Simon.
First stage from Le Hohwald to the waterfall - long wait there while Rich took photos of his cassette - a sprocket had shattered and fallen off under the extreme forces created by his immense weight, power and inept shifting :-) Weather was misty and everything was very slippery making this rocky path quite a challenge to ride clean. I had my first off-bike excursion while doubling back to find Darren and Simon, but nobody saw so it's a big secret. Simon was suffering on this climb so he, Darren, Rodrigo & Yvonne took the road for a while.
Onwards and upwards to Champ de Feu (1060m), the highest point of the ride. A bit of a slog on the slippery, stony paths but nice anyway. Quick search for the computer I lost up here 13 years ago!
Nice downhill!! They're all great downhills here! Especially the last up and downhill I did even though it pissed down on the downhill. Only problem this day was the wet rock which kept speeds down and made everything twice as tricky.

To be continued .....

Up-coming RTF marathons

Couple of interesting roadmarathons are coming up. Really enjoyed Hattersheim marathon last year - some good downhills and nice to ride in the Taunus for a change.
Bensheim is close and should be hilly.
Mayen isn't in Pfalzerwald but 160km away, west of Koblenz.
Dannstadt is near Schwetzingen near Mannheim so might be in the Pfalz, but a bit short.
So probably do Hattersheim.

So	17. Juni		RTF	Bensheim	HES	44/77/120/152 Km
So	17. Juni	P	HC/RTF	Hattersheim	HES	44/71/113/151/205 Km

17. Juni

RTF

Dannstadt

RLP

49/82/123 Km

Wed eve spinning

Weather was rubbish on Tuesday, I expected more on Wednesday so decided to spin instead of ride outside on Wednesday eve. Wednesday turned out nice and sunny but stuck to spinning plan anyway.
It didn't go well tonight. Plan was to do a 90min hill-climb at 85% with the occasional tempo increase to keep it interesting! My problems started as soon as the hill - I couldn't get the load high enough - I must be too strong for these bikes :o) - and had to fiddle about trying to get enough load on. This pissed me off a lot and it took me a long time to get the load right and settle down. Then the tempo increased and I went up to 90% for 5 or 6 mins then started to get bored with the music and demotivated. This was also v annoying 'cos I usually really enjoy the music. This time it was deep/progressive house which I find pretty dull and there wasn't enough bass/energy to keep me going so I slowed up and my motivation drained away. I ended up ignoring the music and doing my own 80-90% intervals with alternate high and low tempo. Finally the bass started pumping and the music sped up I managed to get my self going for the last 4 mins at 97%, which is pretty good - should definitely get a sub 10min Frankenstein if I can ride the last 4 mins at that rate. Just need a lot of bass to fuel me :o)
So a good session but didn't enjoy it much :0(

June MTB marathon dates from Rich

I'll be doing the 50km Rhens on the 10th and 62km Frammersbach on the 24th all going well.

Any takers?
Rich

Simon: Dunno which, if any, I'll do yet

====================================
Sunday 3rd June Bike Festival Willingen ( 210 Km away )

51km / 1244 HM
96KM / 2674 HM
123km / 3500 HM

http://www.bike-festival.de/willingen/
====================================
Sun 10th Jun Rhenser Rhein-Hunsrueck Marathon ( 135 km away , 120km autobahn)

Looks like a smaller marathon , ooh glory hunting !!

50km / unknown HM
100km / unknown HM

http://www.mtb-rhens.de/
====================================
17th June .. Kirchzarten !! ( 258km away , 248km on autobahn A5)

43km / 1040 HM
77km / 2000 HM
88km / 2300HM
116km / 3150 HM

http://www.ultra-bike.de/
====================================
Sun 17th June Rheingauer MTB Marathon ( 70km away .. )

Well it's close!

58km / 1350 HM

http://www.marathon.redpulse.de/
====================================
24 Jun Framersbach (110 km away)

Entry included a nice jersey last year. A very large field last year made for an excellent event. Nothing technical on the course

30km / 825 hm
62km / 1650hm
120km / 330hm

http://www.spessart-bike.de/

=====================================
Sat 30th June Kitz Alp Bike !!! ( long way away....)

Check out the Hoehen meter to distance ratio.. yum.

24 km / 800 Hm
45 km / 2.000 Hm
88 km / 3.800 Hm

http://www.top-six.com
=====================================

Darmstadt-Frankenstein road short circuit Thu 24th May

Still feeling a bit knackered from Monday eve's ride, plus a frustrating day at work, so had to force myself out to take advantage of the beautiful weather before my long weekend in Mallorca, without a bike (although I did take my shoes & pedals just in case!).

Just did my short Frankenstein circuit - i.e. down the Schnellstr and around to the Frankenstein hill-climb road, over the top, then home via Nieder Beerbach, Muhltahl and Bollenfaltor.

Didn't feel very energetic so took it easyish. Just about to ride up the hill and the Polar ran out of memory 'cos I'd forgotten to clear it. Cleared it and started again, by which time my pulse was right down. Started, rode hard, standing until the second bend, as usual, then decided to stay standing most of the way, like on Melibokus on Saturday. This seemed to work 'cos I managed it in 10m10s without really giving my all, until the last couple of minutes when I went over 90%. In contrast I rode up off-road on Monday at over 90% for most of the way. I reckon I can do a sub-10 if I try hard, but need to get a bit fitter to beat my PB 9m20s from 2004 - or a lighter bike :o)

On the way-down, discovered I'd broken a spoke in my front-wheel. Dunno when - on the climb? How on earth do you fix spokes on an aero wheel. The nipple is trapped inside and rattles which is maddening.

Well, after posting this I had a go at it and the nipple fell out and I discovered that the spoke wasn't broken at all - it had just come undone. Glued the nipple to a screwdriver and managed to replace it and the spoke. Hopefully it'll stay tight, otherwise need to buy some spoke-lock stuff.

Darmstadt Mtb Marathon :-) with Brendan , Mon 21st May

First time this year on the Darmstadt-Ludwigshoehe-Frankenstein-Felsberg-Melibokus-Jugenheim-Darmstadt circuit - with Brendan. 50km, at least 1050 hm


Brendan said he wanted to break his 54min record from Eumetsat to Frankenstein. He rode like the clappers through the woods to HeidelbergLandstr and I tried to sit on his wheel. He's difficult to follow 'cos you can't see anything in front and he makes kamikaze attacks on pedestrians :-) Had to sprint to get back on his wheel after turns and pedestrians. I was wondering how/if I could keep up on the climbs then, just after sprinting over the bridge over the B3, I heard heavy breathing in front and knew he was starting to blow, hoho. Crossed Hdlbrgstr and started to climb towards Ludwigshohe and he grunted something and eased up. I moved to the front and rode up at a more comfortable pace - phew, that was relief! So I then made him suffer a bit the usual way through Bollenfaltor woods and down to the Mill. There are a few trees down so you have to jump off the bike, hoist it over the tree and jump back on as quick as poss, just like the old mtb races in the UK.
Riding up above the mill, met another mtber who was clearing the path - some tosser had tossed Sperrmull - a pram and furniture in the middle of nowehere. Unbelievable how thoughtless and stupid some people are.
Rode the pussy's route up Frankers (i.e. the schotterweg, instead of the steeper short-cut trail) and left B well behind. Got to the castle to find it had been invaded and occupied by the US army so couldn't get water. Time from Eumetsat was 56 mins, so no record broken. Waited 3m30s for Brendan - he must learn to pace himself! On the other hand I felt pretty strong all the way up, despite the tedium of the schottertrail. I prefer the shorter harder way - there are more changes in terrain to keep my mind occupied.
We set off from the castle at a more leisurely pace up to the top of the stony path. Now the fun begins! A bit uncomfortable on the stony path - first time this year - but no crashes or dabs for either of us. Then down the great downhill to Ober Beerbach. Path is quite tricky at speed at the top 'cos you have to ride on a 10cm ridge above the ruts. Shortcuts have been blocked. Then had to take avoiding action for a dropped bottle (now Brendan's) and a suicidal red squirrel, which luckily (for me and the squirrel) I didn't hit. If it had taken me out and I'd survived I would have had to finish it off with my bare hands in revenge - sometimes you've gotta show nature who's boss :-)
Chain-off as usual down-shifting and turning right for the short steep climb in Ober Beerbach.
Stopped at the restaurant at Steigerts (or is it Stettbach?) for water but they were closed and the outside tap was off. Onwards to Kuralp where we got water.
Then up the nasty climb to Felsberg. It's severely washed out now so requires concentration most of the way up. Slowed right down and took some deep breathes before the final push (metaphorically of course!) up the steep bit at the end. This had a nice solid surface and is now quite wide next to the steps so not so bad as it used to be. And now, big fun number two as we blasted along and down the singletrail towards Melibokus. I had two moments on this. First, I sensed a stick flick into my front wheel, but luckily the loud crack was the stick breaking as it was pushed onto the forks - so no high-speed over-the-bars exit. Second, as usual, overran the corners on the lower part into the loose sticks and stones and had to let B past. The final section to the bridge is now v scary because last summer's wash out has been replaced with loose stones, like a railway track, and my back wheel was skittering all over the place as I rode down as fast as poss. I seriously wondered if I'd punctured but it was just the loose stones.
Now a nice gentle cruise up Melibokus, quick water refill at the spring, and then the steep path to the top. Felt a bit wasted and dizzy on the path but did it ok. Noted that I felt much worse on this at heart-rate less than 90% than on Frankers with heartrate more than 90%. Presume I was on my fat metabolism by this time.
Had a look at the new steep path of the top and decided to take the wimpy way out - B crashed on it last time and I've not done it yet and we were just feeling wimpy anyway. Headed down the usual steep trail and I wimped out on this eventually. Brendan showed me how to do it with a great out-of-control run down the final 10m which he brilliantly and triumphantly survived while I grovelled about with foot out and finally walked the last bit - oh dear, I must practice and get good at this again. It seems that I find these v steep bits harder since I changed my fork and put the bars up. It doesn't make sense.
Next, down the N ridge at hyperspeed but Brendan left me behind until he had to stop quickly after running off the path. I'm always nervous on this bit - the semi-loose rocks and rubble are so unpredictable and a crash would be extremely painful. Onto the high-speed schotter, with the usual moments and then the nice single trail again and my Polar beeped at me furiously to remind me that it was full and I should have deleted old files - damn! So the profile and graphs stop near the end of the Melibokus downhill and omit the slog home.
We kept a pretty stiff pace down to Jugenheim, traverse to Seeheim and then hit the Bergstr for home. Lots of cute girls in Seeheim this eve! Brendan split for home at Malchen and I rode back to DA on the road at highish-speed - I still felt strong all the way.
Felt strong all the way round. Spinning and Saturday's training must have paid off. I think that I do really need to train hard (i.e. at high intensity) to get fast. The low/medium intensity stuff doesn't really work for me apart from burning fat maybe. But I did this ride on a bottle of weak long-energy and a cheese roll an hour beforehand without needing to feed so must be burning fat anyway.
A great ride, Brendan and I always have fun on this route.

Total distance approx 50km, at least 1050 hm, total time approx 3h40m. Not bad for an evening ride.

Outside on the mtb with Riccardo & Spinners - Sat 19th May

57km, 1300HM

Went out for some Saturday pm mtb training with Riccardo, Lars, Karl and Ami. A bit different from my normal mtb training! Rode on the road from Da to Auersbach, gradually winding up the pace. Then rode up the Melibokus road at a pretty high pace, until the Auerbacher Schloss/Melibokus split. Rested a bit then rode down (on the road :-( ) and then back up and then down, then up. Not really my idea of fun, especially on a mtb. So, problems with motivation, and the others were faster than me - Riccardo just leaves the rest of standing if he puts his mind to it. So after the third ascent decided to head on up Melibokus on a single-track and then home, but then remembered I had Riccardo's keys so went back down. I complained about preferring to use road-bike on road, mtb off-road, can't self-motivate to go at 100% on road on mtb cos too many gears, whereas have to go hard on road-bike just to turn the gear. Punishment for my insolence was to do the fourth ascent on the big ring. I didn't drop it below 4th because the chain was rubbing so had to do most of it standing. It worked though 'cos I was forced to work at a higher pulse rate. This worked and I knocked 15s of my time.
Then had cafe & kuchen at Auerbacherschloss, said farewells and left them going off-road (at last!!) but south, while I headed towards Melibokus on road (but couldn't be arsed to go to the top) and then down the usual north ridge blast towards Jugenheim , then high speed home on the road via Seeheim, Eberstadt. Polar switched off during feed break so no record of ride home :-(

Not really the sort of mtb training that works for me (might be pretty good on the road bike) but was nice to see how these guys are on the road (very good) and also good company, so will probably try to get them out on my style of marathon training - DA-Frankenstein-Felsburg-Melibokus-Frankenstein-DA. Or even a Pfalz circuit :-)

On uphills was annoyingly aware that the lock-out on my forks is not locking out much nowadays. Must check the air-pressue and get them serviced. They're also leaking a bit of oil.

Spinning - Wednesday 16th May

Usual spinning group with Ricardo. Running (@120rpm) pyramid intervals 3m, 4m, 5, 6, 7m. Then slow pedaling up to >90%, then straight back to running. Finished with 30s all-out speed/power intervals. Phew! Not feeling as tired as usual after, but sore legs, so must have been doing something right. Also surprised that I could run (i.e. pedal standing with no resistance) for 7 mins. Pedal technique must be improving but cadence was relatively low (120!!) and music was even better than most of the excellent music he uses; the final running interval was at more than 130 and much harder.

Can't get heart-rate to max, is it 'cos I'm fitter and max is lower or am I tired or what? Need to experiment outside on Frankenstein or somewhere, but weather really is pants at the mo. Hopefully will be better at the weekend. Would like to do another RTF but not in cool wet weather.

Wednesday eve Spinning Class

Well, the great weather's paused and it's back to the wet stuff, so back inside, instead of the great outdoors.
Usual class with Ricardo, this time with the focus of increasing aerobic threshold. To do this we did seated constant cadence (110 rpm) intervals (i.e. increase the load to get heart-rate up) upto 70%, 85%, 90%, repeated. Also running for about 1min between intervals, just to make it a bit harder!
Top music as usual, especially the funky house version of an 80's acid classic - damn, I've forgotten the name. I really find it makes a huge difference to my motivation and performance when the music's good. When it's really pumping it feels like I'm converting sonic energy directly to power - it really is like an extra energy source. I'll have to get a small mp3 player and try it outside.
Invited for regular long (>70km) mtb ride, every Saturday dep Fitness Co at midday.
Also invited, again, for the Eiger Challenge mtb marathon. 88km/3900m or 55km/2500m, gulp!

Schotten MTB Marathon

This was hard - i.e. fast! PJ & Rich beat me - if I'd realised Rich was in front I might have tried harder. Brendan was quick but lost time because of problems with his cassette. Pepe had a good ride (despite a crash!!),and Corby valiantly brought up the rear on his relatively heavy Kona.
Official web-page 2007 results 2006 results

Photos for sale Search for Schotten +race_no. Me 771, Brendan 703, PJ 737, Pepe 494, Rich 501, Corby 752.

Rich's pics

More to come ...

Simon: Why's your foot down Rich?

Rich: As you can see, I took a rather unconventional line. The normal way was just too easy.
The foot never went down, I just had to stick my leg out for balance because the way I did it was way more difficult and x-to-the-streme than you wusses!

Simon: I'm 50s down on last year :-(
But then I did ride it with my brakes on :-) and didn't get a decent wheel to follow on the fast stuff in the middle.
I preferred this year's course, seemed less Schotter than last year, thanks to the hurricane I presume. However, it was a bit too dusty and bumpy, and the other riders went too fast for it to be really great :-)

PJ: From what the chap was saying at the start , the course was altered a bit because of various tree suicides.... and it was harder as a result... probaly at least 50 seconds harder..

Corby: Let that be a lesson to the 21 people whose butts I kicked not to be messin! ;^)
Not to mention the fact that I "beat" the winner of the 90km race by almost a full 13min...
On the plus side legs feel fine so I guess ski touring did help.

Pfaelzerwald MTB Route 5 - 1st May

Tried out the Pfaelzerwald MTB Park route 5, with PJ & Pepe. Nice route, good intro to Pfalz but signs were a pain to find sometimes. My Pfalz routes have more single-track :-)

Full route info at Pfaelzerwald MTB Park

Biblis RTF Sat 28th April

The beautiful weather made it an easy decision to have a go at the Biblis RTF. This was the first longish ride of the year and normally these things are a bit cool & wet but this time it was warm and sunny with no chance of rain - it didn't rain at all in Da in April. So decided to do longest course (150km) PJ and I decided to start as late as possible at 9am - we need our beauty sleep! Rich & Pepe also did it, starting about 20mins before us, and Rupert starting at the crack of dawn, I think.

Pictures are from http://radfahrerverein-biblis.de/rvb/radtouren/rtf/weschnitz.htm#

PJ & I set off at about 9:10 at a gentle pace, to let Phil warm up. Very few others, most had already started so nobody to chase down and make us go too fast. Cruised along to Bensheim a bit too slow for me but PJ kept same cadence & gearing up towards Lindenfels so I was soon working too hard and had to get him to slow down. Nevertheless, quickly came to 1st control. Ate half a banana & continued on our way. Lovely downhill through and after Lindenfels, only marred by having to slow a bit for a Dutch Volvo on the corners.

Joined by a young German runner in Assos kit on the way to control 2. We seemd to get there really quickly. Ate another half banana and headed onwards. Felt strong and towed PJ, Assos and a couple of others on the flat for a while. Also preferred to be in front of PJ on the climbs to stop him going too fast :-) and keep the pace steady. One of the other guys took over from me on the front in a town on our climb to the 520m point. He quickly picked up the pace with PJ on his wheel. I was working hard to keep up and felt Assos man dropping off my wheel. The other German came up from the back and told his mate to slow down, and told me he knows the climb well and likes to have some fun on it. Soon after we waved goobye to Assos as he took the shorter course, as planned, at Kreidacherhoehe.

I was on the front again on the next bit of a climb, then dropped to the back just before the downhill - I don't think I realised we were just about to start a really sweet downhill - from Siedelsbrunn. Quickly passed one of the Germans who was pretty slow on the corners and relaxed behind PJ & the other German looking for some overtaking options. Luckily there weren't any 'cos the next thing I felt was the air coming out of my back tyre and I shouted & stopped. All 3 kindly stopped for me & we sent theGermans on their way, and put my spare tube in. Couldn't find an obvious cause for the flat. I remembered that I'd slow-flatted on my previous ride, so was a bit worried because I had only one tube and no puncture kit. PJ had a puncture kit, hopefully I wouldn't need it (my aero rims need long valve stems so a standard tube won't fit).

Set off again & briefly stopped after 500m - the Germans were stopped with a flat! A couple of kms later I flatted again and road on the flat through a village and stopped opposite a one stop store. Investigated cause of flat & realised that it the rim-tape had moved slightly partially exposing a spoke hole. Mended the punctures while PJ did a brilliant repair to the rim tape by taping over the rim tape with Sellotape bought in the store opposite. He told me that he always tapes his rims with Sellotape - brilliant!

Note to self: get a valve extension and another spare tube.

Finally set off again but we both had problems getting a good pace again after the total of 54 mins stoppage for both punctures. I also had to fiddle with and finally restart my Polar 'cos the heartand speed monitors had switched themselves off during the long stop.

Anyway, the rest of the ride was event free. Unfortunately for him, PJ never got back on the pace. I felt strong and led the last 20km? on the flat from Heppenheim to Biblis into an energy-sapping headwind as hard as I could, wondering where the hell was Biblis.

First post

Decided to give this a try to record bike rides and stuff and tie it in with photo posting. So here we go....