'It's getting better all the time', or using Strava's training log on the morning road bike commute.

Any excuse for a Beetles track first thing in the morning!

I want to write a post on bike porn and I keep putting it off because I feel I will end up becoming quite scathing on bike snobs and my love of vintage heavy frames will checker my writing. Not that my writing needs any excuse to be worse than normal but I think a more reasoned viewpoint might be needed.

Instead I am writing today about a trend of improvements I have noticed on my daily commute. Yes it is still fledgling and early days but there is a clear trend of speeding up (or misusing Strava!).

OK before we begin lets put a bit of context to this. I am a teacher and as such the amount of books, work, laptop, and food changes day to day depending on what I am doing post school day or how much I had done the night before. For instance this week I have done very little after school apart from plan my lessons because marking has not fully kicked in yet - plus I am pottering at home a lot (more on that later).

All of the above means the mass of my bike is changing day to day however there are days where it is heavier than others, although as my pace is increasing with each journey I don't think the weight of the bike is a factor (at this moment) for my speed to work. Now I am only looking at going to school as after school there are days where I have had a meeting or have had a busy day and am more tired than others (naturally affecting my performance!). The more scientifically accurate data to look at is the morning commute when I am refreshed and ready to smash out the ride in - that is similar base line.

Another more anecdotal factor to consider is that I am more used to the bike and the route in each day. However again there are mitigating factors to this - weather conditions each day affect how much I feel I can 'push' the bike, so far it has been bright and dry - no atmospheric issues to report! There is also an issue with traffic as I haven't encountered to much road traffic on my route. When I say too much I mean there is traffic, naturally, but there is not much that is slowing my progress to work too much. However the moments on the way home when a giant lorry is behind you itching to overtake and your a pedaling as hard as possible up a hill, well that isn't as fun as it could be. One thing I know that is making a difference is knowing the route better. Being able to judge when to sprint to get up a hill, knowing when I might need to coast to conserve a bit of energy or when a tight bend is approaching makes a huge difference to overall pace. However this familiarity is breeding full blown contempt with some of the roads - especially around the industrial estate I have to go through - which are horrific in places (broken tarmac, potholes etc).

Yet every time I finish and Strava presents me with my uploaded ride it is nice to see the little trophy appear with a series of PB's. Especially in the last few days where I have been riding single speed - just not changing gears. I especially like seeing the average speed increasing. From 22.7km/h to 23.7km/h to 25 km/h (first day single speed) to this mornings 26.2km/h effort.

Speaking about single speeds (this is the pottering bit), as it seems to be the appropriate moment. I have sold the Emmelle and am currently rebuilding a '72 Raleigh road bike (steel frame, decent nick, resprayed in bright yellow). The Raleigh I have decided will be a lightweight single speed bike, something I have read up on and seems to be a good choice as a winter training bike (though I am not going whole hog and making a fixie). Also my commute doesn't really need gears - only a couple of 'rises' nothing major, so the removal of the most problematic mechanical component makes sense.

I shall of  course continue to monitor my progress on Strava using their rather impressive training log and with any luck I can continue to get quicker and more importantly feel stronger/fitter in time for a proper assault on next years sportive season. With any luck the progress will continue to improve but obviously the law of diminishing returns will soon start to kick in.

Or something like that...

National Cycle to Work Day

...seems to have missed Maidstone.

I rode in this morning as part of the new, 'might as well ride as much as possible' however I saw only one other person riding this morning.

The weather was perfect for riding, a dry crisp morning. Not a cloud in the sky and a very good ambient temperature. The type of temperature that is cool when you start but not frigid. However I noticed on road.cc that today is national cycle to work day.

This is the first I have heard of this, there seems to have been organised events in Bristol (which I would have expected) and Manchester but other than that it doesn't seem to have been a very 'national' thing.

A fair few responses on the website show that people support cycling to work and a lot of people do commute to work by bike. However if this is truly national cycle to work day it doesn't appear to have been organised as a national event. I looked on the Sustrans website - a UK charity that arranges and organises cycle routes and is a big charity for safer riding - yet they have no information about national cycle to work day.

This isn't a moan but more a plea, if we are going to do an event like this then surely it needs to be organised en masse with all local councils on board and really pushing it.

Otherwise it will forever be an event that passes the majority by.

The daily commute by road bike.

OK so this is very early doors but a few quick things I have learnt from commuting by bike. Firstly that my gears are not quick 100% indexed meaning that they take a little to slot in.

This does not sound like too much of an issue but when your trying to get to work without anything breaking any odd sound can make you nervous.

Secondly I've learnt that I can't judge performance at all. I felt that going to work I was slower than when I'd biked the route previously. I felt a similar thing on the way home. However looking at Strava my speed and times were not too bad at all. Plus I even set a few new pbs on some segments.

In addition to those two things I know that some roads on my route are both rubbish and busy. Not a great combination. Also that extra filing cabinets are perfect places to stow your gear during the day!

I have also realised that some people are just knobs. A guy on a mountain bike was loudly breaking behind me while I slowed for a red light. He then pulled a wheely as he ran the red light and proceeded to ride on the pavement. Utter knob, and he wasn't wearing a helmet.

My rides can be found here and here.

The next step is to get this commute done regularly. I feel that this means the gym might have to take a hit this year.

That however isn't the end of the world though.

Swinley Forest Mountain Biking

I have half a day left until the dreaded return to school. The fact I am a teacher and this is a career choice does nothing to lesson the blow of the impending end of holidays. Holiday blues are very much a thing and very hard to shake.

One way is lots of food, drink and good company. That was the weekend and it was epic even if I did over indulge on Jura!

Another way is carpe diem with the time left. Yesterday I spent half the day in school arranging tables for the new term (rock and roll) and the other half of the day bumbling down the m25 with Geoff to hit Swinley Forest.

Geoff has ridden Swinely a few times and my mate Roy lives near there and keeps trying to get me to head over. I have to say I was very impressed.

The parking, whilst very busy, was also much cheaper than our local single track centre of Bedgebury running at £4 for the day. The blue route which seems to be the biggest and the basis of swinly is very good.

Now it is worth mentioning here that it rained on the way to Swinley (near Bracknell) and the blue route is mostly small pebbles in the ground. As a surface I hate it because you can feel the tires popping and skipping in a similar fashion to I can imagine pave feeling like.

However the added rain meant that it was very treacherous so whilst the blue route is not ridiculously fast it is very tricky with the wheels bouncing all over. Even more challenging when wet. Yet it is a very enjoyable and accessible blue route.

Where Swinley really seems to come to life is its red route. This is phenomenal and some of the best single track I have ridden. This includes the mountain centres in Wales too. One of the best things is there is a clear distinction between blue and red. Which is a bit of a bug bear if mine when places only really change grading due to length of track rather than difficulty.

On to the route.

It is fast, tight and challenging without ever feeling overly dangerous. It is very well designed and mixes flowing sections with tight twisty technical ones. As I said there isn't loads of danger but the angles of berms, the drops and narrow trees certainly get the pulse racing and keep you on your toes.

I had a great time and we blitzed it in just over 1hr30 meaning if you were inclined you could easily repeat it all in a morning or afternoon.

If you get the chance to head there I would certainly recommend it and of you find it too simple wait until there has been a bit of rain and go back.

The ride can be found here if you wish to look at it.