Di2 loving! Plus late night training.

Week 4 was busy at work. A trip to Northern Sweden was planned on Tuesday and Wednesday, so squeezing in training around that meant for some early mornings and late nights.

Late nights are something you seem to get used to with kids. The ever decreasing time that you get to be an adult, and actually have quality time with your partner shrinks down to the time from when the kids go to bed, and when you go to bed. Then, when that time actually comes, all you seem to have the energy for is to lie on the sofa and watch TV together. Which, can be nice, but it's perhaps not the best setting for meaningful communication! :-)

A pretty tough week this week. Tuesday was an early morning, organising my trip, dropping off at day-care, and then a quick hill training session before heading off to the airport. The hill reps were supposed to be pretty long, which proves challenging here in Skåne. Finding a hill which takes 8 minutes to climb, but ideally within reasonably close cycling distance to home is impossible. So I have to ride a 5 minute hill, keep the power up over the top, and then turn around as quickly as possible to climb again to the highest point. Works pretty well apart from timing with traffic!

Wednesday's session ended up being pretty late in the evening. I had determined that the only time I would have time to squeeze it in was after coming home. My flights were luckily not delayed, so the plane landed in Copenhagen at 21:05, quickly through customs to jump on the 21:26 train, which luckily wasn't delayed either. Change at Hyllie due to the passport controls going on there in order to get the quickest train ride home, train arrived in Lund at 22:07. Ride home, say hi to Malin. Poke a head into the kid's rooms, then down to get changed. Out on the bike in the cold by 10:39. Have to say my legs felt pretty heavy for the first 20 minutes or so, but then the exercise was just what the doctor ordered, and I slept pretty well!

Onto Thursday, and decided to give Zwift a bashing this time. 2 x 20 sweet spot intervals was actually really good fun. Even when I got caught and passed by a race including my old mate Paul Hopkins (aka chicken legs). I sat with them for a bit until somebody attacked and they all disappeared. Must give one of these races a go some time, looks like a good laugh!

Getting into the swing of indoor training again now

Friday was a well needed rest day, before Saturday's MTB technique ride with the club. We had planned to do some technique drills on a specific course, but unfortunately they were hunting, so we were forced to find some alternative spots. Riding on 'spång', or bridges was first. Then onto some cornering technique, jumps and then a particularly tough off-camber corner with various line choices. Good to see so much progress by some of the kids. I've had a good couple of weeks on the Di2 now, and I can safely say I love it! It's like a good saddle when riding for me now, as in, I don't think about it. My hand/brain combo has got the hang of the lever positions, and I just shift without thought. Click the button, the shift happens. Sounds obvious, I know, but how often do you have to hold down the lever to get a downshift, or shift down again after an accidental double upshift. More than I thought apparently, as now I have the experience of Di2 I have noticed how nice it is to just click the button and know it will work directly. I like the light action of SRAM XX1, but one thing I did have a problem with was accidental double upshifts, for some reason. Hitting a bump just as I was carrying out an upshift and my thumb hopped off and on the lever again, leaving me in too high-a-gear. Only split seconds to put it right, but still thought going for something that should require no thought.

Sunday I had decided would be spent in the local park where we have had a few cross races. I was going to ride 3 x 15 sweet-spot intervals, so I thought it would work pretty well. It turned out to be a cracking session, just a little bit of mud on top of hard, frozen ground. Not too many people about in the cold, so I could ride pretty quick without risk of upsetting anybody. My reasons for wanting to do a CX session were the CX world championships was going on in Luxembourg, and I had also heard the tragic news of a friend in the UK who had lost his son only a week before. He and sons are/were very talented cross riders (and mountain bikers), and so a cross ride felt like a fitting tip of the hat to poor Charlie.

My CX01 - still my favourite bike at the moment!

#rideforcharlie

MTB, BMC For Sale & Planning

Week 3 turned out to be a busy week at work, at home, and training! The weekly puzzle to get Malin's training, my training, work, kids, and everything else squeezed in takes its toll. Especially when sleep is somewhat disturbed by a certain small human being. ;-)

Will sleep for milk....

The week started out ok after a rest day on Monday, and then some longer intervals on Tuesday. I thought I would try an old lap near to home on some gravel roads around a lake on the CX. I hadn't got all that far when I realised my plan might well fail. Halfway to the lakes I found a patch of ice, and had a lie-down. Landing on my knee on the hard ground was a little uncomfortable to say the least. But I continued anyway to the lakes, where I quickly realised that there was nowhere near enough grip to be putting any power down. So it was back home to the warmth of the basement, and an indoor session instead. I thought someone was trying to tell me something when I couldn't log into Zwift either, so had to program the Garmin in a hurry. Anyone else had some problems with the Zwift servers recently?

Wednesday was when the weekend and some hectic days caught up with me. Came home from work feeling like a zombie, and had a bit of a sore knee to boot. So I binned the planned training session, and sat on the sofa staring through the television feeling sorry for myself instead. To bed early....

Thursday was a different story, some positive temperatures over the last two days meant I could ride the winter road bike in fairly safe knowledge that I could pedal hard without losing grip. Also, the unplanned rest day, and an early night helped to give me that extra boost. That, and the added thought of losing a valuable session the day before meant I pushed on and had a good sweet-spot session. In fact, I really enjoyed it. The great feeling of pushing that little bit harder.

Friday was another rest day, then Saturday was an MTB technique session. This meant the chance to ride with mates off road again. Wii Hoo!! Myself, Tobias, Jonas, Tord and a chap called Alex that I'd not met before headed out to do some mixed, muddy technical trails. We did some of the tech sections that we usually do, plus some new ones. The jumps were really fun today, and following Tobias I cleared a few big jumps on the DH course that I wouldn't have dreamed of attempting a couple of years back. The wet and slippy nature of the trails meant that lots of cornering technique could be practiced for good measure. We had an absolute blast, with some frightening moments thrown in, right up until Tord snapped his seatpost after a dodgy landing. He pushed what was left of the post down into the frame, and then the remainder over the top, and continued with the saddle about 10cm too low! Ouch, sore knees! The seatpost was a cheap Chinese carbon affair, which he thinks was bought in about 2012. It's lasted pretty well, but remember kids, don't buy cheap copies! It hurts your bottom a lot if your seatpost breaks at the wrong time! Or bars..... Or frame!

After Saturday's ride Malin rode with some of the girls from the CC team, and then back to Sandra's for coffee and a sarnie. Lots of chat and planning for the upcoming season, I'm looking forward to working with these talented and driven individuals and seeing the results pour in!

Sunday turned out to be a long day with lots going on. Malin squeezed in her session in the afternoon, then I squeezed mine in to the evening. Some tempo work on the indoor trainer and Zwift.

Planning for Malin's training is taking shape, and I've now planned for her including our trip to Gran Canaria in February. Can't wait to go out and get some lovely sunny rides in. Just a break from the monotony of the grey Skåne winter will be nice. Will also be nice to get back out on my beautiful road bike. Can't wait!!

BMC Teammachine SLR02 - what a fantastic bike

While I'm writing, I am selling last years race bike now on Facebook and here: Happyride.se. Give me a call if you're interested. She's a beauty, will be a shame to see her go. But, the new one looks nice too. :-)

2016 BMC Fourstroke FS01 XX1 for sale. Mmmmmm, reeeeed

The new beauty, awaiting parts at Musette in Malmö

Ice, ice and a baby....

We've had a bit of a cold snap the last week or so, and a bit of snow too. Nothing drastic, just the usual 0,5mm that we get in Skåne. ;-) It's funny how people's frame of reference is so different from country to country. People here seem to think there are big problems with transport and that everyone panics whenever there is a small amount of snow, but I just laugh as everything seems to still work, we all have winter tyres so can still drive around, and everyone seems pretty calm. At least relative to my frame of reference from living in Southern England for 30-odd years!
I don't mind a bit of snow, it can be quite nice for the kids. But ideally if it's going to be around for a long time, I would want to be somewhere where one can make use of the snow, otherwise it just becomes a pain the the arse when trying to get around. My first winter in Sweden in 2010/2011 was a real eye opener. Snow in proper amounts from November 2010 through to Feb/Mar 2011. I did start to wonder what I'd let myself in for!

A light dusting in Lund

We have a pretty good setup at home for indoor training now. So a bit of snow isn't really a problem for us, it's just a matter of facing the torture that is 'THE MONARK'.
Tuesday of week 2 2017 was an active recovery ride for 30 mins. On the trainer and listen to music, the time goes pretty quick. I always like to move around as much as possible, and usually sit down for 5 mins at around 80-100rpm, then stand for 2-3 mins down around 60rpm with the same power. I find it helps to keep you involved and stop your bottom from going to sleep.

Wednesday was more of the same with some upper base work. This time I connected up to Zwift to help the hour and ten go by a little quicker. Again, plenty of moving around to keep everything supplied with blood.... ;-)

Such a great invention, Zwift

Thursday was back to some intervals, felt like a long time ago last, after several weeks of base training. I took the train to work with my winter road bike, then cycled home. It was pretty cold and windy out, and there was still some snow left in Lund, although I knew that it was almost completely gone now in Landskrona. The intervals went pretty well for the most part, and I felt pretty strong. The only exception was riding through Hofterup where there was a lot of ice under a rail bridge which I found right in the middle of a 600W sprint!! I think the slip angle of the back wheel must have been about 30deg, and I did maybe 3-4 revs standing up with the back end sliding around before I reacted and sat down! New trousers needed after that one. Not so high power for that interval, but I think the heart rate was the highest of the 7 intervals!! Wow!

My retro MTB dressed as a winter road bike in the office, where else would I keep it?? ;-)

Onto Saturday, where I was going to be out braving the cold for 3 hours on the road for an aerobic coupling test. Others who have done these will know how mind-numbing it can be, but I just tried to concentrate on keeping warm, avoiding ice patches, and keeping my power as steady as possible, and as close to the middle of the zone as possible. Felt pretty tired after the test, but ended up actually quite enjoying it! It was frickin' cold though. Spent about 4 hours in the shower when I got back thawing out my hands and feet!

Sunday was this week's clear highlight. A ride on the MTB concentrating on technique - and with mates!! Tobias, Jonas and Tord had all agreed to come along. But in the end Tobbe had to pull out due to family commitments; a real shame as we usually have a great laugh and ride well together. Still nice to see and ride with Tord again though, it has been a while. Jonas, Tord and I rode some fantastic trails in Genarp, with technique being the focus right from the off with the car park resembling an ice rink!! The snow that has fallen in the last few weeks has now been compacted down under all the feet and tyres, and then frozen, then compacted, then frozen (and repeat) to give a sometimes surprisingly grippy, and sometimes surprisingly slippery surface. Steep ups with hairpins, steep downs with hairpins, jumps and general ice riding were the order of the day. Plus a good laugh of course. :-) We even rode some new (to me at least) trails built by another friend, we will call him 'Al, the trail Pixie' so that nobody gets in trouble. What a fantastic job he has done, great fun! Thumbs up Al. :-)

Riding with Tord reminded me of a race we did together a few years back. Must have been 2013. We'd ridden together quite a lot that winter, then rode an X-Cup test race organised by Jerker in the Ålstorp woods to kick the season off in March/April. It was the start of things to come for both of us, a hint at some strong results, at least in the local events. We both started pretty strong, and rode well together to pull a gap on the rest after about 2 laps. I remember having a smile on my face from ear-to-ear as we took it in turns to push the pace. Eventually we would be reeled in by the other guys for a tight finish, but it was a good hint at our form and of things to come later that year. A fun race that I will always remember fondly.

Oh, and here's a baby..... :-)

Albert trying out the spherovelo for the first time this week

2017

So, the first week of the new year is done and dusted. It went by in a flash as time seems to these days. Funny how people tell you stuff about having kids before you have them, but you brush it off and don't think about it till it happens. Time flies by at an alarming rate after leaving school and starting work. Then that alarming rate spirals out of control after you have kids. The other one that makes me laugh is how many people warned me how seemingly all your conversations with your partner revolve around poo. I thought people were just joking, but no. For the first 6 months of a child's life, the parents most common topic of conversation is apparently, SHIT. Ha ha ha!! :-)

Anyway, a relatively quiet week in terms of training. A rest week with some testing thrown in was planned. The calm before the storm as training starts to ramp up as the race season draws ever closer.

Monday was an active recovery ride. I decided to ride around Lund on the MTB and play with the settings and lever positioning on the Di2. By the end of the ride I felt like I had it pretty dialled, and wasn't shifting in the wrong direction all the time as I did on the first couple of rides. Being a small bloke, I have pretty small hands. So it's been a bit tricky to find a comfortable position for the shifter that doesn't mean dislocating my thumb in order to carry out a shift. I now have the shifter as close as I can to the brake lever, rotated quite a long way under the bar, and both plastic blocks on the levers in their outermost positions. I've tried the blocks all the way in, in the middle, all the way out and a mixture of the two. I've also tried swapping the action of the levers for an up/down shift, and have now settled on the lowest lever being a downshift (to a larger sprocket on the cassette). This lever is the easiest to access for me, so I was also wondering if it's possible to add a LH shifter, and then run the set-up in a SRAM E-Tap style with a downshift on the left shifter and an upshift on the right shifter using the lower lever on both sides. This seems intuitive to me, and works like a racing car with shifter paddles behind the steering wheel. Anyone tried that set up on Di2?

Tuesday was a 1 hour base ride. Again I chose to ride from home and in Lund on the MTB. This time I rode some more off road, and even tested a new hill (well, old hill in the other direction) for potential interval sessions later in the season. Again, I wanted to ride the MTB to try to become more familiar with the Di2, so that come race season the shifting is second nature. The hill was pretty good, even with a couple of switchbacks thrown in for good measure. Nice to be able to practice them.

Thursday's ride was supposed to be a test devised by coach Rob. The weather had turned pretty cold now, but I wanted to still try to complete the test outdoors. So I got dressed in 'not too much, not too little' as I knew the effort would keep me warm. Then I headed out on the winter road bike, but I had misjudged how cold it would be in the blustery wind. The Garmin was showing temperatures of -10degC, and it felt even colder when the wind blew. My hands froze after about 10 minutes, closely followed by my face, closely followed by the brake cables! The last ride on the winter road bike was a wet one, and it would appear that there was some moisture left in the cable inners which quickly froze in the freezing temps. The brakes were not a huge problem, as I could pull them on, and then they were frozen in against the rim. Pulling the calipers out again solved the problem, so I decided to continue further and try to get warm. Another 10 minutes into the ride I had lost gear shifting also..... That would be more of a problem while trying to complete a TT. Now a bit peeved I decided to call it a day outdoors, and retreated home to a warm basement to complete the session indoors instead. Something I knew would be tough due to the lack of indoor training recently. I seem to have a mental block training indoors, either getting bored, or concentrating too much on silly things like cadence and power, and then suffering. Some things I never think about while riding outdoors!

Saturday's ride would be a little more of a motivation boost. MTB in Skrylle with good friend Jonas. We drove up in light snow, with the temperature hovering around -2degC. So the trails were in fantastic condition! A light dusting of snow on hard ground meant for pretty good grip levels, apart from the few ice patches and slippery roots we found. I had one unplanned meeting with the ground on a snow covered exposed root, but otherwise the ride was one of those that leaves you with a big big smile on your frozen face. I am pleased to say that I didn't really think too much about the gears, which I think is a good sign that I am getting used to the Di2. I can only remember one wrong shift, but in the less harmful direction where I shifted down instead of up on a downhill.

This was the first proper off road ride on the bike since Christian had carried out a service on the fork and rear shock too. Amazing how much difference some new seals and oil can make to the suspension performance! The bike felt smooth and plush again just like when it was new. Remember to take care of your suspension! A relatively inexpensive service on the fork and shock is still a lot cheaper than a new item, or spares for neglected parts. A good way to keep track of your parts in available in Strava in 'Bikes'. You can keep track of how long your bike has ridden, and therefore when it's time for a service. Check the manufacturer's recommendation for service intervals, and stick to it! They are there for a reason. Musette in Malmö or CykelCity in Lund can help out with the service.


Onto some tougher weeks now!

Di2 first ride & Base

Week 52, the last week of 2016. What a year! Lots of ups and downs, injuries, illness, punctures, wins, podiums, personal bests, and lots of fun!

Training this week was to be all base. Building up from 1 1/2 hours on Monday to 3 hours on Saturday with rest days on Wednesday and Sunday. With the kid's grandparents still around we managed to get a few rides in on our own this week. Monday Hilda was with them, so Malin and I rode together with Albert in the trailer, meaning if I towed then we were a tad more evenly matched. A good sign was that Malin found it a bit slow, she's starting to get some form back finally.

Tuesday was supposed to be 2 hours, but we had planned to ride MTB in Genarp while my folks took the kids to a flea market and cafe, and my lil' sis Becky would ride with us. She found it a bit tough going, so the 2 hours became just over an hour. But the trails were dry and riding well, so we had fun anyway. Also a first test for the XT Di2 that had now been fitted to my training bike.

Poor Becky didn't know what she had let herself in for. :-)

Thursday 2 hours was with both kids and both trailers this time. The weather was miserable, cold, windy and rainy. A testament to our Thule Chariot Cheetahs was how warm and dry both kids were after the 2 hours were up. Malin and I were both freezing cold and wet through, Hilda didn't want to get out when we got home as she was so 'comfy and warm'. :-)

Friday's ride allowed Malin and I to ride MTB together for the first time in over a year! It was great fun. Malin fed Albert one last time while in cycle kit, and we then rode directly from home to maximise our time on the bikes. This means a bit of tarmac in town, and then some gravel road bashing, but it's well worth it when arriving at the trails in Skrylle. We rode a lap of the course and were amazed at how well it was riding. The trails were pretty beaten up last winter with lots of traffic and newly laid singletrack, but this year after some much needed trail maintenance the ground was pretty dry and drained well. We had a great time riding together and found a good flow on the techy trails. Malin got better and better as the time went on, and both of us felt like we could have ridden another couple of laps, but our time was up. Back home to feed the little monster. :-)

Saturday I would be riding alone, I had thought about going to watch the Musette New Year's cross, and maybe even racing. But after a 'tough' night, I was not really up to riding a head-wind all the way to Malmö to race, and then ride home. So I decided instead to get the train to Malmö and then ride home. I arrived in time to see the start and then cheered everybody on in the usual sarcastic CX style (Sorry Christian ;-) ). Then it was time to warm up with an extended ride home. My plan was to ride out from Sibbarp to 'Mormor's' house near Hyllie, then the normal route to the meeting point of Onsdagsspurten (Blomsterkiosken). Then I would pick up on the Onsdasspurten route until the road to Bara - where I would head to Genarp, then home via Björnstorp, Torna Hällestad & Dalby. My plan was however to be slightly altered when it took me an hour and a half to find my way to somewhere near my original reference point.... All the streets in Malmö look the same. ;-P The cold weather also took it's toll on the Garmin, and the battery died before I got home. The hour in the cold watching the race must have been the killer, although the battery life is definitely worse on the 520 than on my old 500. Even with the Bluetooth function turned off!

Yes, Phille is wearing shorts and a short-sleeved jersey..... Nutter.

So, two rides on the new Di2. Thoughts? Took some time to work out how to adjust the shifting without instructions, but once I did, the shifting was smooth. Although a little slower than I was expecting it to be. I want to spend some time to get the ergonomics right, and play a little with the settings next. More to come on my findings!

Remember kids, BMC bikes are fast!