Day 99\ Time is slipping by....

It's the eve of 100 days since taking up the reigns for this challenge. Looking at my numbers the first 9 weeks i am overall very pleased with. The objective was really just to 'Get Back in The Habit'. The habit of structured exercised, the habit of recording and progressing my training, the habit of  writing a blog, putting messages on Twitter and Facebore. The last 4 weeks however have been garbage, illness, weather, facilities, dubai, illness. The main positive is the double bought of sickness has got my weight down to 100kg!!!

the sum total of the last 4 weeks

Need to sit down and work out more precisely I'm going to manage training through Jan & Feb along with the financial costs costs associated with this challenge. So far its cost me a pair of shorts and a set of lights and a pump but i don't think that's going to last for long.

Day 94\ What is a lurgy_flu_fever_thing anyway....

The last few days or so i've had the LURGY or something that was a bit like a cross between a flu, a fever, and a badly upset stomach which made me think what is it anyway, i think i know but do i really?

Bird Flu_much worse than what i had

I basically had the flu or influenza to give it its proper name. The virus infects your lungs and upper airways causing chills, fever, general aches and pains loss of appetite, nausea, headaches and even a dry cough. So excluding the cough i had the full hit.

The virus itself is a type of airbourne RNA virus that comes in 3 variations A,B & conveniently C. We catch from inconsiderate people sneezing and coughing and not catching or considerate people hwo just don't know they have kissing..........

The body has  a number of responses to deal with viruses, the first of which is inflammation which involves lots of things that attract white blood cells to start with, which engulf the virus and cause the release of stress proteins called cytokines. The inflammation then continues and fever starts to kick in. Fever (also known as pyrexia or controlled hyperthermia) is characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of 36.5–37.5 °C (98–100 °F) due to an increase in the bodytemperature regulatory set-point.^[2] This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering. As a person's temperature increases, there is, in general, a feeling of cold despite an increasing body temperature. Once the new temperature is reached, there is a feeling of warmth. A fever is one of the body's immune responses that attempts to neutralize a bacterial or viral infection.

People with the flu are advised to get plenty of rest, drink plenty of liquids, avoid using alcohol and tobacco and, if necessary, take medications such as acetaminophen (paracetamol) to relieve the fever and muscle aches associated with the flu^[Medline]. I did right.


n.b. if you want to read the rest of the article that i didn't try and pretend was from wikipedia just go there

Day 93\ New programme.....

Right the new strength programme for the next few weeks is as follows

Movement Prep on the Plate followed by the following session


Exercise                   Reps                   Sets
Swimmer Pull            8                       2-3
Low Row                   8                       2-3 
Hip Press                  8                       2-3
Y & I Deltoid Flys     8                       2-3
Chest Press & Standing Roll Out     8(Alt. 16 total)       2-3
Atomic Push Up 1 Leg                     8  (ea)             2-3
Side Plank             5-10 (hold 10, rest 2 =1)         2-3
Body Saw to Pike         8                       2-3

Followed by abs & accupressure

Day 92\ Lurgified....

In a karmic week of payback, last weeks immense fun in Dubai has been paid back in full with being totally lurgified the last 4 days. It hasn't been pleasant. Managed two sessions last week, 40mins steady and on thursday my last activity 5x4min with 90s recovery. Practically another week of training lost, balls, and with heading back to the UK saturday i don't see me gaining much in the next couple of weeks....Objective has to be to get back to Italy weight Neutral!!!!!!!

The Dreaded Lurgy

Day 85\ Back on the wagon post Dubai....

Right had to get back on the bike today. The last two weeks training have been a complete load of spam. 2 weeks ago i struggled to get into it then some bad weather and my long awaited call up to go to the Dubai 7's which is absolutley brilliant. I wasn't quite sure what to expect if i'm honest but it exceeded everything. Met lots of old faces and some new old faces plus had the chance to play on no.1 pitch in front of 30,000 or so people. MAGIC. Would love to go back to without my sciatica and break into a jog when i'm playing. Didn't eat much drank far to much so got back on the bike today. 40mins at 143bpm. Good sweat on and not too taxing. Tidy.

can't quite believe i played here less than 48hrs ago

Day 79\ Weather Problems....

There has been some fairly brutal rain here the last week and i didn't get my long cycle done at the weekend. Overall last weeks training was good. Interval sessions good and gym was ok. With the Interval sessions now giving me some intensity in my training am going to shift the focus of the gym workouts from circuit type work to simple strength work. WIth the TRX i'll do this by progressing the difficulty of the exercises and the sequencing.

TRX Stuff

Day 73\ Wet feet..

After last weeks easy week i am feeling much fresher. Sunday went out on the bike and it started to pish down. It was amazing how with completely inappropriate equipment my hands and feet became really cold on the bike. It could also be said i'm just turning into a soft italian twat. Anyway that was Sunday 70mins on the bike and around 30km, monday gym, yesterday 12km + 5x4mins @ 160bpm with 60s recovery. Rest today, back into it tomorrow. Done.

Day 67\ 'My' composite guide to starting training for Lapinarello......

Right at last my composite guide for us 'Cycling Veneto Tourists'. I have stuck the 3 articles i found a few weeks back together and added some of my own so it should help us all crack on and not look a complete set of knobs next year.

Totally overdid things the last couple of weeks, after missing three days due to weather and touch of the lurgy felt the need to catch and this week it all cought up with me. Not least really poor sleep quality sun, mon & tues. However two regen sessions in  the gym a day off and then last night felt much better on the bike doing 6km warmup then 5x4mins started off taking 2mins rest but felt it was too long so changed ater rep 3 to a HR of 125 which was taking about 90s. Backed up this morning with a good TRX session;

Movement Prep on Vibration plate + Abs Side Plank & Superman (30s +10)x 3

then 3x8
Superman
Power-row
OH Bulgarian Squat
Power Press Up
Sprinter Start
Saw & Pike
Single Leg Squat

15mins accupressure

Nice Work.

Day 64\ Fatigue, Dehydration and the Immune System...

I am knackered. The last couple of weeks has seen my numbers shift along quite nicely with an increase in volume and intensity plus the inclusion of 1 big ride, for me,  a week. What has probably made the fatigue worst is that in reality i have actually done the last 2 weeks training in only 11 days not 14. Training is not addititive ie A+B+C+D+Rest ≠  A+B+Rest+D+C. As a result of missing 3 days at the start of the week 2 weeks ago i have done 11 sessions in 11 days with 2 days rest. Rather than maybe doing 14 sessions in 14 days with a rest day every 4th and 7th day. Alonside this the long cycle leaves me feeling really tired. I feel great that i've done it but it leaves me feeling pretty knacked.

I think part of this is Hydration or more precisely Dehydration. Riding the bike i don't think i realise how much fluid i'm losing because there is very little residual sweat in my top or shorts, because it's being wicked away by the movement of air while cycling but also because the air is cold and dry and I'm not working at a huge intensity. Alongside this I'm probably losing alot of fluid through Exhalation.

As a result i've woken up a couple of times the last week feeling quite rough with a sore head and during the day felt as though i was coming down with something. One of waters key roles in the body is to flush out toxins etc. A lack of water means there are more of these in the body and it is the immune systems responsibility to deal with them.

The Lurgy Attacks an Immune Cell

This is probably further compounded by the change in seasons and an increase in 'lurgy' instances. Putting my immune system under further pressure. Best way to deal with all this, is plan a bit better, eat a bit better and drink more.

Day 58\ Interval Training

Having for the past 6 weeks concentrated on getting into the habit of exercising again and, almost more importantly, making records of what i'm doing i'm now ready to kick on a bit with the introduction of some Interval Training. Very briefly Interval Training is comprised of short bouts of high intensity work interspersed with brief periods of recovery, the volume of work done and ratio of work to rest will determine what adaptations to training are obtained and when they are completed in the training calender.


When performing intervals cyclists have traditionally used Heart Rate information to determine training intensity. This has shifted in recent years to Power Output. As i have not had any testing done as yet and am reliant on a Heart Rate Monitor and will be using an old spinning bike for my Intervals i will be using the age old method of 'can i feel captain lactic?' and 'am i breathing out my arse yet?' to determine my work intensities. 


So tuesday sessions will comprise of the following for the next few weeks


17mins (6km) warmup
5x(4mins high intensity + 2min low intensity)
5 min cool down

'This program is supposed to increase your maximum oxygen consumption. It gives you 20 minutes at very high oxygen consumption, but it is not designed to be ridden to complete exhaustion. Your VO2 max may gain improvements even at a more comfortable pace. It is, however, still important to push yourself very hard during the intervals. In the resting periods you should maintain intensity at about 60% of VO2 max.' Says the man in the white jacked....

Day 56\ First bigish ride.........

Ok so i did my first bigish ride on the 'STEED' yesterday, 40km, 1hr 41mins. I stopped for a few mins to take an early morning double espresso at Bar Centrale, Teolo.

Teolo, Padova

I was out on the road about 6:45, wired up to the U2 playlist from the concert in Rome and i have to say i really enjoyed it. I set of too quick i reckon and my legs were quite tight by the time i reached the climb into Teolo which was more challenging than expected. I probably wasn't helped by not eating since the night before either. However the rest and coffee seemed to sort things out. 40km in 102 mins av speed 23.5km/h. The journey back was spent dreaming of what it'll feel like on a tailor made road bike......reduced barse ache i hope. 

Day 54\ Some web trawling....

Now i have been trawling the net for some simple programmes and advice for training for 'Lapin' and the closest i can find is for a 'Century' - 100miles/160km - one programme courtesy of The maine cycling club puts the recomendations in of the previous plan in the shade but containing some good tips the other by Doug Katona has some excellent info for getting going, planing and also competing. Probably the best article is this one from Training4cyclists.com . Anyway stick the 3 together and i'd say it's a pretty good start.

Day 53\ KM's........

You may be able to see that day 50 has been updated with my weekly KM totals. This is slightly distorted by the type of bike i am riding which is why at the moment i am more concerned really with time in the saddle. However i have found some info on tacking a Century (100miles) which will need to be built into preperations for Lapin

Century Training Plan

Week	Length of Long Ride	Total Miles/Week
1	25 (40km)	55 (88km)
2	30 (48km)	65 (104km)
3	35 (56km)	73 (117km)
4	40 (64km)	81(130km)
5	45 (72km)	90 (144km)
6	50 (80km)	99 (159km)
7	57 (93.4km)	110 (176km)
8	65 (104km)	122 (196km)
9	50 (80)km	75 (120km)
10	Century Ride	Yeah!

I don't think a progression like this is feasabile give the ball knackering ability of the 'Steed' but it does give some goals to aim for.

Day 52\ Finding some intensity...at last

This morning i found some intensity in the Gym, for the first time in a long time. I go to the gym early doors and i can't say i'm over enthusiastic. To counter this i've stuck 6mins of cycling in at the begining of the session 3mins steady then 20s sprint 10s rest x 6 to get the HR up prior to using the TRX, and i have to say its working quite well. Here's what i'm getting up to in my Gymtime.....

Movement Prep on a Vibrating Plate 2 x 5ex, 30s each @ 30Hz (6mins)

Walk On Walk Off
Sit Back & Twist
Aductors
Sgl Leg Rm. Deadlift
Plank

Cycling (6mins)
3mins steady, 6x20s on 10s off

TRX-Prehab (6mins)
Y-Squat
W-Fly
Rev-Fly

TRX Circuit 2x10 ea exercise (10mins)

Row
Superman
Single Leg Squat
Atomic Press Up
Sprinter Start
Saw & Pike
Overhead Sprinter Squat

15 mins Accupressure

Job Done

Day 50\ More numbers more pissy weather

sun & mon dreadful weather. I still fall distinctly into the category of fair weather cyclist and as a result i didn't get a long run done this week. Leason to be learn't is if there is some sun on saturday move the ride and rest the next day.

      Week 1    Week 2    Week 3    Week 4    Week 5   Week 6
Time    299       245       150       240       260     295
WL      1592    1298        555       1307      1390    1097
M       1.63      1.79      0.55      0.9       1.07    1.21
Strain  2595      2324      307       1173      1494    1323
KM      70.6     15         0         72        51      61

So not a bad week, what is positive is that if i had't trained so poorly on the monday my average RPE would of been the best to date and the strain would of still been less than week 1. Nice...    

Day 46\ Getting there...

After possibly the worst training session ever on monday morning i have managed to rattle out 3 decent sessions the last 2 days. Back that up today with a cycle to the club tonight and gym tomorrow and this week will work out alright. Nutrition this week however is leaving a little to be desired........ Enjoying Vern Gambetta's Tweets

Day 43\ Intensity and pissy weather

The weather is pissy, i need to find some intensity in my gym sessions and i need to rattle out some time on the bike today and the weather is rank..............

Day 41\The numbers are in.....well the first lot....

Right so amongst other things i have been making a note of my training time and a global rating of perceived exertion for each session. This is recommended by experts more expert than my inexpert self. By multiplying training time by the average of the GPE's gives the weekly training load. How monotonous all the training sessions are is calculated by dividing the mean daily load by the standard deviation on the mean daily load. This rating of monotony is then used to multiply the weekly load which gives us STRESS (Foster, 1998).

Why this is important can be demonstrated from my first 5 weeks of dabbling

          Week    Week 2    Week 3    Week 4    Week 5
Time  299       245          150           240         260
WL   1592    1298          555        1307       1390
M     1.63      1.79          0.55        0.9         1.07
Stress 2595      2324       307       1173       1494      

If we compare week 2 to week 5 we can see that despite training times and loads that are practically the same because there was greater variety in my training in week 5 the stress placed on my body is 36% less. Now if i had done my long cycle on saturday as i should of done my training time would of been 350 mins, 42% more than week 2, but the stress would only of been 9% greater. So now the importance of keeping a good record of training, reviewing it and planning what your going to do next should be more apparent.

Day 36 \ Need to get on top of things, Big Science 1st up monitoring....

Saturday marked a step forward with 90mins spent on the bike, 34km in total and 1150kcaland 6.5/10. The first 17km being covered in 40mins. Oddly when i turned round to come home the wind seemed to also change? Also i did manage to overtake a man on a racer, he was about 70 and using the lowest gear he had, it also didn't last long as he got me back a couple of km later. After about 50 mins the changes to the saddle were making no difference whatsoever and my barse was hurting also a little later i wasn't sure if it was just my inappropriate footware allowing my feet to get clod or in fact pins and needles from aforementioned barse ache. Time will tell.


Monitoring


Monitoring provides essential information for Athletes, Coaches and support teams regarding:

• Response to training load
• Impact of environmental conditions
• Effect of lifestyle factors
• Effects of travel and jet lag

In other words it provides us with a means by which to understand if we are getting what we want out of our training and preparations. Body weight and skinfolds represent the minimum for athlete follow up (Lac & Maso, 2004) and given the importance of body composition/power to weight in all sports, are therefore vital. Given the critical importance hydration and nutrition play in recovery and performance (Murray, 1998; Maughn et al., 2007) hydration will be added to this and the occasional food diary to keep my cake intake in check or as the geeks say, 'to provide qualitative information regarding calorie intake, food skews and bad habits (Lac & Maso, 2004). Hydration should be monitored and noted daily ideally at the same time each day with the aim of initiating exercise in euhydrated status (Galloway, 1999). This can be done on rising and pre-training if possible using a visual chart (Opptiger & Bartok, 2002). It's not definitive but is convenient.

Given the role of stress in the development of Overeaching and Unexplained Underperformance Syndrome, plus the need to balance stress and recovery for appropriate training adaptations to training (Selye, 1936) it would seem prudent to measure it. Therefore allowing heavy training yet minimizing the risks of OR and UPS and optimising adaptations

Foster (1998) provides a simple behavioural method for monitoring stress, strain and monotony. Training load is calculated as the product of session duration and Global RPE (In other words how hard was the session between 1-10). This takes into account the different effects of duration and intensity (Fry & Kraemer, 1997) and indices of Monotony (daily mean load/ standard deviation) and Strain (weekly load/monotony) can be calculated. It was found 84% of illnesses were found by a spike in training load, 77% through a spike in monotony and 89% in strain. This system has been utilised in Overreaching studies in both Rugby League and triathlon (Coutts et al., 2007a; Coutts et al., 2007b). Information can be calculated using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond) and compared with the incidence of illness, subjective feelings, mood states and Morning Heart Rate to assess tolerable training loads (Foster, 1998).

Right so now you know why i'm puting down how hard everything is......

Day 31 \ ‎Not much science going on.....

 ‎"you miss 100% of the shots you never take"

Wayne Gretzky

Didn't train yesterday as now the weathers changed if i don't get my session done early i struggle to get out and do it in the afternoon. However the lights are now sorted on 'the bike' so i have no excuse. Tonight's  session about 14km on the bike and 30mins TRX. Let's see how it goes.


Almost

20mins on bike / 20mins TRX then 90 mins later 15mins on the bike, 600kcal and i would rate it as a 4/10

Note to self: should of lowered saddle some time ago as 'Barse' is much less agitated.

Day 29 \ Back in the saddle.....literally

Ok i admit it the first thing i should of done is buy a pair of cycling shorts, as they do seem to reduce the pain from a slightly too high saddle nudging into your barse. Tonight 26km, 823kcal, 65 mins, 5/10 and this morning i was 104kg. A couple more than i had hoped but i paid the price of not doing naff all in Rome.

Day 16 -28 \ Honeymoon . . . . . . .

Ok so i had planned to try and do a session every day i was in Spain and 3 while in Rome, that didn't quite happen but i did ok....in seville atleast. First day didn't do anything then managed 5 days on the bounce as follows

Thur 30th 16mins + 4 mins (20s\10s) + 10 mins Abdominals 6/10
Fri 1st 10mins 120bpm, 10mins 145bpm, 10mins 160bpm +10 mins core 6.5/10
Sat 2nd TRX - 30mins 6.5/10
Sun 3rd 40mins 12bpm + 5mins Core 4/10
Mon 4th 7mins + 3mins (20s\10s) 6mins + 3mins (20s\10s) + 10mins abdominals 6.5/10

Then it was all downhill from there although did do a couple of marathon walking days in Rome.

Day 15 \ Dull..

26km, 1hr 15mins, 105 bpm av hr, 700 kcal, 4.5/10.

Conclusion cobbles knacker your knackers

Done

Day 14 \ Some important info for all you hopefulls....

Ok this morning i got up reasonably early and did 45mins on the bike, 458Kcal, hr av 108bpm, 16km and a 4/10. It was glorious this morning and all the bikey people were out on the road, although i didn't work hard i at least felt i'd done something for myself and had earnt my cake and coffee if not the 22 different cakes i tasted after lunch for the mums 'bake off' at the rugby club. Anyhow despite a strong challenge from a simple sponge and an exceptional crostate the winner was a crunchy soft almond creation, mmmmm lovely.

Right some import information for all you hopefuls. Have a small tiny gear stuck on your front crank. in conversation with a friend who although not an active cyclist has some knowledge of these things recommends that for the novice rider a 3rd 'mountain bike-esq' cog is added to the front crank. Wise words indeed

Day 12 \ Thoughts for the day..

“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.”

Sir Edmund Hilary

Well lets here it for the ordinary chaps. Todays numbers  30mins TRX did the Armstrong Levi workout from yesterday with skipping and shoulder work for the warm up and some static holds afterwards. 350Kcals 6/10 115 bpm av hr. Right here is an interesting article for us all 'Riding a Granfondo' the author recommends not attempting one without 2000km of training. Now their are 42 weeks to go till kick off which means we need to start battering out 47.6km per week!!! Sounds like a walking day in wigan if you ask me........I think we can safely say it isn't going to be that easy.

Day 11 \ Strength training & the TRX...

Ok another day another bruising for the scrotum as they say! Cycled to Valsugana rugby club and back 35 mins and another 12km, plus 15mins flipping a tyre which helped me burn a total of 750kcal and i'd rate the session at about a 5.5

Ok next things next. Strength alongside appropriate monitoring is the foundation of athletic performance and anyone who says otherwise is a clown. And so it's going to be the foundation of my preparations for the Lapinarello. Now my prefered weapon of choice in these matters is an olympic bar and i shall come to the relevance of the triple extension to cycling in latter posts, unfortunately a bar some discs and a platform are difficult to come buy in my neck of the woods so my next selection is the TRX. Whole body movements, improved muscular coordination, metabolic improvements and core strength plus you can do killer sessions in 15-20mins and take the whole kaboodle with your carry on luggage. This is probably the best single piece of fitness equipment you can buy. I shall be posting my own workouts to Youtube but read this and have a go at the session.

http://community.fitnessanywhere.com/blog/2010/06/29/lance-levi-use-trx-to-prep-for-tour-de-france/

Day 10 \ Steel ball bag protector required...

although i'm sure Phil Collins the born again Man Utd fan could write a song about this i really want one. Another 71 mins on the bike split 50m and 21min, 1050kcals, 25.6km and 111bpm av hr and excluding ball pain i would rate it as  a 6 out of 10.

Day 9 \ The wheels have started to turn...

Ok we are up and running. Last night i rode to one of the clubs i'm coaching this season and then cycled back. 13km there about 14 on the way back.....don't ask. The good news was i actually quite enjoyed it despite at first riding liz's bike with the seat post cranked right up felt like a penny farthing. The narrow handlebars made the bike feel like i was riding along a tightrope and italian car drivers desire to be close to me aside i felt more comfortable after the two runs than i thought i would. All good i say as i think this bike will be fine to get out on the road and get my numbers up. Oh except that i'm hoping there will be some adaptation round my knackers, like my skin turns to steel.

My first ride........

Right cycling is just a numbers game which is why i shall be regailing you with mine. Last night i cycled 27km in 1hr 11mins expending 1111 kcals and i would say out of 10 i would rate it as a 5. This morning i went to the canal and did 32mins with the TRX expending 340 kcals and i would rate it as 5.5/10. More about the ratings in a week or so.

Day 7 \ Bike PORN...

Today was significant on two counts 1. I managed to resolve the unusual valve size with a remarkably usual looking pump and adapter bought from a quite usual looking shop. 2. i went to the Biciexpo in Padova today.

team sky pinarello time trial bike....nice, even if there was a picture of that ginger wigwams next to it

A number of things jumped out at me...

1. the technology is incredible
2. you could lose a lot of money if you had it
3. why do cyclists think riding a bike is a license to dress like an arse
4. cyclists are a bit weird

After wandering around for a few hours i decided that i really like cars, scooters, motorbikes, watches, clothes, food, most things really, more than i like cycling and although it would be great to have a bike made exactly to your spec by someone such as Crisp Titanium, i really just want something comfortable that looks quite cool and rides better than either a Muddy Fox Courier or a Halfords Pathfinder. I could however spend lots of money with Cycleops which is sports science/technology heaven. There are more pics of my day here 

I did also find Lab3 who can do a bike fitting and VO2max /ramp tests and they're based in Padova and another shorter race in Tuscany a couple of months before hand so that's all a bonus. Anyway all in all a good day's work i'd say.

Day 5 \ Team formation...

Right first up not great news, it would appear that the ascent is actually a touch shorter than 1800m and not 1400m as reported yesterday doh!!!!!!! However the team is looking strong and i have been very pleased by the positive response from the 'select few'. As things stand the team is looking like this:

Allan
Funny Billy 'Head of Entertainment'
Even Funnier Alex 'Head of Pretty Ladies'
Smernicki 'Head of Poofy Behaviour'
Langton 'Legal Envoy'
Williams 'Custard Research Assistant'
French 'Head of Cigs n' Ale'

Alongside this there have also been mutterings from Kilbourn, so it is shaping up as a wedding reunion on Bikes minus birds!!!!!

Day 4 \ There was a sign....

Almost inevitably the tyre is still flat but the positive spin is that it's only flat on the bottom....boom boom. What with it being a rather odd size and the, at times random, opening hours of italian shops as yet no tyres have been turned in anger, not even in mild confusion. Added to that i have come down with some sort of hayfever/cold/flu type bug yesterday and have been struggling, so even if the tyres were as hard as supermans pants, nothing of significance would be happening.

For as long as i have liked bikes and machines and stuff, i have wanted a Bianchi, stupidly i rode past a bike shop last night after training and spotted this lovely, but it was lovelier with white tyres. It must be a sign.

it was a sign

Good news as there is a Bike Expo in Padova this weekend so perhaps could find some valuable contacts for the expedition, which is what it is. Plus and let's have 3 hips for this, the ascent in the big loop is ONLY 1400m, not 1800m. Piece of piss then, maybe i could use mums shopper with the Sturmey Archer 3speed!!!!!

Day 2 \ Positive thoughts.....

The 'Lapinarello' is not a big challenge, it is only a series of smaller far more manageable challenges and todays challenge is to try and get the tyres on Liz's bike blown up. This may seem very small and very easy but we are in Italy and it could take forever.......It is however very important and worth persevering with as i will not be allowed to use Liz's bike as my first 'Steel Horse' until it is done.

Day 1 \ In the begining......

there was a plan. Well more of a thought that i blurted out. Today marks the start of my preparations for next years Lapinarello and it is fair to say there is some work to do. Firstly the objective is to enter a Team and the invites will be out soon. Secondly i have never  cycled further than to the shops and lastly if i am going to do this theres no way i'm humphing 103kg's up an 1800m ascent, so the first goal is to shed 6kgs. It might not sound like much but for you i'll do the math. I have a lung capacity of about 5.5L with a bodyweight of 103kg's that gives me a VO2max of about 54 ml.kg-1.min-1. If i drop to 97kg that goes up to 57  ml.kg-1.min-1, an improvement of 5.5% and i haven't even sat on a bike yet. WINNER!!!!!