Base 2 Brick Part 1

This is my last active week in my Base 2 training period - next week (oh joy!) is recovery week, where I shall be lounging around, drinking piña coladas and notching up a mere 6.5 hours of training.

To celebrate, I opted to do a brick session - bike followed immediately by a run.

The bike ride was great - I went up the route of the Great North Bike Ride for 30 or so miles to Alnmouth & back. It was a lovely day for a ride - still a bit chilly, but bright and clear, and I had some of Wife’s flapjacks to keep me going. Actually, I had a little more than that:

• 3 litres of fluids - High5 Zero. Take a drink every ten minutes.
• Banana at 50 minutes
• Flapjack square at 1:40 and 2:30
• Mini Mars Bars at 3:00 & 3:20
• A 90 cal gel at 3:35

*Burp*

There were only two down sides to the ride. Firstly, just like last year’s Great North Bike Ride, the wind was from the South. Not terribly strong, but that five-mile uphill stretch from Amble to Widdrington was just as much of a bitch as it was last August. My average speed on the ride out was 18.3 mph, and for the overall journey, 16.8mph, so I figure that on the return I was averaging just 15.3mph. That’s a big drop.

Secondly, just after Ashington, I rode from sunlight into the shade of a building, and didn’t see a pothole until I was pretty much on top of it. I tried bunny-hopping, but didn’t get the rear wheel over . . . and got myself a snakebite puncture . I could tell that the tube was going to be a right-off when I couldn’t inflate it to find the puncture (the air was leaking out faster than I could put it in!), but thankfully in addition to a puncture repair kit, I had a spare tube with me. Oh, and as far as I can see, there’s no actual damage to the wheel rim.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 03/07/2010
• Time: 12:38:08
• Total Time: 3:57:00.00
• Calories: 3462
• Distance: 66.2 miles
• Average Speed: 16.76 mph

Filed under: Ashington, Bike Culture, Cycle, Weather