Sunday 23 December 2012

Richmond Pre Christmas Spin

Another hard training ride in Richmond Park @ 08:00. Wasn't help that the overground trains not starting till 08:15hrs, so didn't really get there till nearer 09:00.

PAD: 23rd December 2012
The Legend waiting at the station

Met up with my training partner Mr. O at station and headed off to Richmond Park.
As always I have problems with this place with it's huge hills that seem to be getting bigger & bigger each time. Thankfully the temp was pretty mild compared to this week and no rain. Started out pretty good but the the hills started up and I didn't see much of Mr. O with his powerful legs accelerating him into to distance as my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest like in the aliens films.
Richmond Park Deer
Richmond Deer
Richmond Park Deer
Richmond Deer

Once again it was just me and the legend against the elements, this time the enemy was wind. May have been the windiest ride in Richmond to date for me which made it feel twice as hard.
After catching up Mr. O we had a little discussion about aerodynamics & wind resistance. From his work mate he passed on some words of wisdom about clothing to help cut this down to make me more aerodynamic which in turn make riding easier. I promptly said that his going to get me spending even more money on cycling clothing which until recently I had never truly considered.

Currently on shopping list is cycling pants with padding in. Also making sure I don't load myself up with unnecessary items that I don't need for training. Also doing more rides more often & upping my average speeds too, also making sure that for training rides I should wear as little as possible as I should be cycling for the most part so in turn keeping myself relativity warm in the process. So no more "Normal Clothing" s Mr.O puts it and more cycling type clothing but I'm not going so far to get into super tight lyrca, I don't think the world is truly ready to see me go that far.

I have slacked off of late in riding due to weather mostly but also with it being Christmas time is also pretty busy time but with Nocturne in a couple of weeks I need to get my game face on even though I don't know if I've actually been drawn yet.
Other than the Nocturne @ The London Bike Show in January there isn't much on the LBC riding calendar til April 2013. There is who ever alot of rides outside the LBC happening in May, June, July which are the big ones I have entered into.

I think future training rides we won't be in Richmond Park too often as its a hell of a long train journey for me to get to. Will be doing more rides around Hyde Park and other central London areas maybe even closer to my own area if I can find any.

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