Chasing Trails (How I gave up stats and began to enjoy the ride).

There are two things I really enjoy about going out on the bike - specifically the mountain bike. The first is taking pictures of where I am - mostly trees it would seem.

Afan panoramarama

Cuckoo Wood Maidstone

Cannock Chase plus snow!

Sometimes I even take arty shots of the bike!

Ooooooh arty!

The second is a well publicized obsession with data. How far, how fast and how high. I think for mountain biking it is seeing how much I have pushed my body that day that I really liked. The 'oh look 40,000 ft elevation and 2000 km ridden at 6 mph average speed' kind of thing (although that would be a long painful ride). 

Most of this data though is useless, because unlike road, the terrain and weather play a massive role in the ride when it comes to mountain biking. However I have detailed before my growing displeasure at the way in which the 'values' of rides in terms of statistics have begun to replace the true value of a ride - the ride itself.

Which brings me to Saturdays ride. This time instead of going out with a GPS unit and going over old routes I went out with an OS map, Geoff and an idea of some trails based upon areas we used to run when we were trail marathon training. The rest was all down to exploring.

Good old OS maps!

A Geoff is not a requirement but I am sure he would not mind!

We are lucky in Maidstone in that the North Downs runs just outside of town. This is a stunning set of chalk hills that runs from Surrey to Dover. 

Naturally they are pretty fun to ride over, however often we end up riding the same routes - which are awesome - but for variety we headed out to pastures new. We did however stick to existing trails so we didn't get too lost and also so we couldn't be accused of trashing the environment.

The best part of all this is the finding of new trails, well ones that we haven't ridden before. 

Seriously it is surprising how much fun it is to go off and try to find something new. There is a sense of adventure and exploration tempered with the fact that unlike Scott, Shackleton and Feinnes the worst that could happen is binning your machine and maybe some bruising to pride and skin. Plus providing you don't go too 'off-piste' it is easy to turn around and go back the way you came from.

There was also the opportunity for some good old photography and enjoyment of the environment without having to worry/or worrying about lap times or segments. 

Trails? Trails?

There you are!

First Bluebell of the year! Oh and Geoff's full sus.

It is also worth noting that this exploration does not stop up and around the Downs, having bobbed about Cuckoo Wood a lot lately I have started finding extra trails and routes. This I think is the same for everyone, no matter where you are. There are trails in your local woods, areas where perhaps you over look because you might be focusing on the same segments and areas and not just 'exploring' the outdoor spaces near you.

That said the view is always amazing from the top of Bluebell Hill.

Now a few admissions. 

Firstly we knew the areas pretty well - although the exact area we explored was new to us we knew the surroundings pretty well. I wouldn't recommend exploring a totally new area without fully researching it first - you never know what sudden drops etc you might encounter (danger! danger!).

Secondly this area is well known and bridleways are all over it - which means we were in no danger of trespassing - something to consider when riding anywhere let alone areas you don't know about.

Thirdly we made sure that we gave walkers and runners a wide berth - specifically avoiding areas we knew to be popular with them. Common courtesy etc.  

Finally even though this was only timed in the sense that we knew when we left and arrived home I still had to look up the length of the route - sick I know - but I haven't worked out speeds or elevation (I am getting better). 

For those who wondered we cycled for 18 miles in total over 2 and a half hours. 

However as a ride it was much more. 

So yeah, all that aside I would recommend digging out an old map, looking at routes and going on an explore. You may not find loads of singletrack, you may not find some gnar downhill, however what you may find might surprise you and you are still out on your bike. 

Which surely is what it is all about?

Goodbye Stava, it's been nice.

Firstly the title is a tribute to this!

As a teacher I have seen the increase in a data driven approach to education. That is target grades, current grades, league tables, value added, etc. etc.

None of which, in real terms, seems to be a benefit to the students in my class. I will admit there is a strong argument to make that culpability and progress of students and teachers has to be measured. In fact I will concede that I can't see another way of rewarding students for their work outside of exams and whatever way you judge teacher performance would have to be linked to something that could be implemented nationally. However the free spirit inside of me who values the development of students as people as opposed to exam robots will still rile against it.

However I am also a massive hypocrite.

You see I am (and have spoken about this before) a massive Strava addict. Which basically is all of the things above but related to sport - league tables, performance measurements, improvements based upon data - all of which grinds against the notion of doing things to enjoy it.

That was fun, but how high/far/fast did I go?

Actually we could also throw in some of the 'attempts' at creating a edits/videos as well. Although I am still taking the camera out this weekend - mostly to take photos!

Trees!

However I have found that chasing segments, constantly looking at average speed, pursuing elevation gain has started to get in the way of my enjoyment of a ride. Especially when going off-road.

I am not a professional cyclist, I do not compete in races, I am not a member of a club. I literally ride because I enjoy it and like being outside.

So I have taken a decision to stop using Strava, to stop caring about how far, how fast, how much.

I have decided to reclaim the ride. To go and ride because the ride is fun and is a worthwhile pursuit on it's own. Yes I will still work out and try to improve core fitness - it makes sense for a holistic approach to fitness - however the emphasis will be more now on riding for riding's sake.

Well that's the idea. We will see how long it lasts for.

Love the ride?

Evening rides and other commitments.

An excellent article here got me thinking about riding to work and then extended rides home.

I will go back a second.

When I was committed more to riding than earning I would take a short, direct route to work and then ride home a longer more winding route. Often my route home would be roughly double the route in. This would give a nice ride to bookend my working day.

All done on skinny tires.

However lately I have been looking at maybe bringing the hardtail to work and then thrashing that back over the Kent Downs.

Or any off road I can find.

However the main issue with this idea is the fact that I have quite a lot of commitments after work on an evening - tutoring etc - plus the school calender throwing up late night finishes (parents evenings go on until 7).

I know that none of this will last and when the summer term rolls in the tutoring load gets lighter and the longer evenings will allow for more riding time.

However.

I am so impatient to get going. I took the BMX out briefly on Saturday and then followed up with the hardtail for another hour.

None of which, I am honest has fully satisfied me for the week ahead.

Maybe the answer is to ride much more at the weekend? Or to be more gnar? Or maybe to try somehow and squeeze extra rides in where I can.

I don't know, but I guess now it is getting brighter this is the time to try and find a solution.

Some how...

Taking a BMX off road.

The street I grew up on was fairly flat and straight which meant that we could ride our bikes up and down it safely. As we got older we were allowed to go round the 'corner' in the road and eventually down to the next street which was a cul-de-sac. 

Eventually we were allowed all of the way around the block. Which was exciting. 

All of this was on tarmac, none was on grass - we had a park although that was a place to ride too, not a place to ride at. 

Often we would race each other up and down the street however the bikes very much stayed on pavement/tarmac. When we got too big for our kiddie bikes and got 'mountain bikes' the closest they ever got to off road was country lanes, fire road and the occasional canal towpath. 

All of which means actively searching for off road is still fairly new too me. As in I have been 'proper' mountain biking (with actual mountains) for just over a year now. 

As such when I reminisced about my BMX - for paper round purposes - recently I got a lot of replies on forums about how people learnt to ride off road on one. People also talked about their development of skills that are useful/required/additional (depending on preference) to good off road cycling. 

So when I saw an advert on Gumtree for a BMX at a reasonable price I went for it. £20, happy days, turns out it was an ex student selling it which is very odd/weird. 

Yours for the cost of an round!

Naturally I was keen to get out and try the BMX off road properly but like all things in life I had to wait. 

And wait.

And wait.

Now during this time the p7 was in the bike shop being repaired. Coincidentally on the Saturday that I had planned to ride the BMX the p7 was fixed. 

So finally after picking up the p7 I headed out on the BMX. 

The ride can be viewed almost in its entirety here. Now the ride itself lasted a mammoth 25 minutes. 

Not deliberately but mostly due to the broken brake lever.

I LOVE fixing bikes...

However once I have sorted the brake lever and made the bike slightly safe again I intend to take it out once more. 

Not to practice jumps and manuals etc because I am just not skillful enough to do that, in fact the video footage always shows my 'epic' attempts at being nothing more than riding like it is a drop and surviving (must book a skills session). 

No the reason I will be going back out on the BMX again was because, even with the big crash, it was so much fun. When I got home and reviewed the GoPro footage all I could hear was myself giggling away.

Yes I still have to work on selfies!

So even if I look ridiculous, even if the crashes are surprisingly painful, I will be back out trundling along on the BMX off road, Giggling away and loving every second of it.

Which is totally narwhal! (Did I use that right?)

So this happened...

Having spoken to some people on a mountain bike forum about the bikes that we all wish we still had I decided my BMX was the bike I missed the most.

A quick scout in gumtree saw one locally for sale cheaply. So I plumped for it.

Turns out it was an ex students bike his parents were making him sell.

So I now own a BMX.

Awesome.

Work till you're dead, the morning commute.

First the good news! My bike parts arrive today so at least I can begin to get it rebuilt (hooray!). Hopefully my jinx of breaking bikes is now at an end and I can get back riding.

                                    
                                                       Hope I don't break another one!

Which is the point, really. I sat in the car from 7:15 - 7:50 to do a 20 minute commute this morning (normal commuting time and in traffic), actually the commute takes 20-25 minutes by bike depending on how 'fresh' I feel. Before anyone asks I can't commute by bike (road) at the moment due to tutoring commitments after school. However as I sat in mental traffic I wish I was on the bike again.

This was my view this morning.

Not happy, also managed to forget my beard today.

Traffic was so bad I even caught Geoff.

In fact that is what get's me through the days at the moment. The next ride. work is well work but apparently there are plans to raise the pensionable age from 68 to 70. Even the much vaunted early retirement that teachers used to enjoy is gone now, replaced with heavy sanctions if you retire early - meaning a huge loss in pension.

I do enjoy my job, but I can't see myself still in a classroom at 70.

Would you want a 70 year old teaching your children science?

Didn't think so.

All makes everything as bit of a damp squib to be honest, which is exactly reflected in the weather.

Still being out on the trails would be awesome.

Wet and grim out there, still better than in here!

 Just to finish, a blast on the exercise bike does not count!

Missing the trails.

As I sit in a coffee shop having a healthy brunch before heading home to finish marking coursework I can't help but be jealous of Geoff.

He is off to Swinley forest this morning for a blast around the awesome trails there.

I am stuck ordering parts and waiting on delivery before attempting to fix my stricken bike.

I thought road biking would fix the need to be on two wheels. I thought that throwing myself back into the world of skinny tyres and Lycra would satisfy me.

I was wrong.

As I sit in jeans, converse and lumberjack shirt with my non-ironic beard and thick rimmed glasses (had both before hipsters) I feel every inch a frustrated XCer.

Which I guess is because I am. So much so that I was tempted to switch the wheels of the hardtail onto the spare road bike I have in the garden and have an old school blast around my local wood just to satisfy my needs.

Actually that doesn't sound too bad an idea...

In all seriousness though I do need to get this coursework marked today - attempts at being a professional teacher.

Maybe tomorrow though?

The use of a bike log and looking at data.

I have read and seen in lots of articles and videos the importance of keeping a bike log. For those who don't know what that is this is a record of rides, distances, speed, conditions and terrain.

The idea is that you can map your rides and training and if you have a bad time in the saddle remind yourself of how much better you can ride and conversely if you have a ride that is an absolute worldy then you can quickly see how much you have progressed.

I have never really used one much to be honest apart from occasionally using Strava's training log to casually glimpse at how much I have or haven't improved or gone faster/slower etc.

Having one of those days where I am sat at a screen for a while I thought I would make a little .xl spreadsheet to see how my performance has improved in the past year of cycling on the road (I am ignoring mountain biking as there are too many variations with speed and distance besides mountain biking is about more than going longer and faster - IMO).

I kind of wish I hadn't done this though as the results are a little depressing.

As you can see two things stand out. Firstly that my average distance has not really changed much (sportives and one off rides aside) Which means that I am pretty much limiting myself to the same distance of ride every time. 

Secondly my pace just has not improved really. It has hovered around the 22-24 km/h zone.

In fact the average distance of my rides in the last calendar year is 55 km. If I remove the one off and sportive rides that drops down to 50.6 km as an average ride length. Pace wise the sportive in a group does not make a difference to my average speed. With the sportive included it is 22.7 km/h with that removed it stands at 22.5 km/h.

If we are being hypercritical then you can see that my early speeds are slightly slower than my current speeds. The average speed of my first 4 rides was 21.7 km/h against the average speed of my last 4 rides being 23.4 km/h,

There is a slight bias here too in that these rides are only the ones over 25 km. This means that any rides in that time frame that are below this (commuting) are not included. Commuting rides in my opinion while good time on the bike are not worth comparing with unladen weekend rides.

So what does this mean in 'real terms'. Well firstly we now have a benchmark to compare my current training against. Secondly I need a bike computer so I can keep an eye on my pace on the bike. Thirdly I need to ride longer and harder.

Finally I need to use this as a tool for improvement and not as a way to beat myself up. 

Oh and one last thing, the new bike ride marks the switch from my trusty Raleigh Scorpio (20+ years old steel frame) to a Boardman Road Team Carbon (full carbon fibre and brand new). Interesting how there is a slight increase in pace but not as much as I would have expected to see...

Maybe it isn't all about the bike (#4) after all?

Spring is in the air and training is shaping up for the road ahead.

Once again I have not blogged in a long time. Mostly due to time, a little bit due to not having anything to say. Some people may argue that I never really have much to say. They would be being mean.

Anyway with spring just around the corner I figured it was about time to write up some of what I have been up to during the long dark winter months. Mostly as an aide memoir for my training but also just to share what I have been doing.

Firstly I have been out riding my mountain bike a lot. Mostly because of the reason below:

Mostly though because I got a GoPro for Christmas. Naturally this has been taken out everywhere and lots of videos and photos have been taken with it.

 Mostly of muddy rides or bikes. 

Or of the sky following yet another bail. 

Some to show that even Geoff has to walk some times.

Sometimes to show how stunning the scenery on a ride can be.

Or to get arty with how muddy a bike can get.

Some times even for none biking things.

Or just to making various videos of rides, visits, biking holidays, crashes or attempted edits. Sometimes with success, sometimes with little success at all. However it has all been fun. Which riding should be. It does mean I have neglected my road bike a lot - apart from a few big rides over the Christmas period. However as this article from Dave Smith shows it all counts as cross training right?

Training brings me to my second point - the first being my mountain biking and amateur film making in case you hadn't noticed!

Anyway with spring around the corner and the Spring Classics already started it is time for my training to ramp back up. I have downloaded a few phone apps (very tech savvy) 10 daily exercises and 7 minute yoga to support my time on the bike. I have also had a look at nutrition and signing up to the excellent bicycling.com has meant that I got a mini .pdf recipe book. The reason for all this? Well mostly because I have identified a few sportives I really want to be fully prepared for. Also there is a little bit of turning 30 that is in the back of my mind. Mostly though I just want to be stronger and more comfortable on the bike. 

Training my core and including some yoga as well as some regular none bike exercises will only help with that. Naturally I will feed back on any improvement I make (or don't).

My aim this spring/summer is to be out on some serious rides - 100km+ - which means ensuring that not only my legs and lungs but my core and calorie intake is as good as it could be. I am not aiming to suddenly be flying along at 30kmph average speed or trying to shed much more from my 6'2 and 86kg frame. However I am trying to be as good as I can be at the sport I love. 

Which surely is what this is all about?

p.s.

Before I sign off a few additional things firstly I have been playing around with Sisu. This allows you to turn your workout data into unique artwork (my data from last year is below). I really like this and there is something really pleasing about seeing your year reduced to a cool looking infographic.

...sure I rode more last year!

Another website I have been using is veloviewer this tracks the type of activity, the distance, pace etc and gives you a score based on other people riding (or running your routes). It feeds the competitive gremlin in me although I have used up all the free uploads I can and so my score is now capped - which is annoying.  

Finally I have started using Strava's route builder (in beta form) to plan routes home from work and the occasional weekend ride. There is no greater feeling than exploring a new route to shake up a ride. Obviously it is always nice to ride familiar routes but as the old adage goes 'familiarity breeds contempt' so finding a new alternative routes always helps keep things fresh.

Well unless you make an arse of it and end up on a potholed road in the rain.

Which isn't great.

Ever.