RICHMOND PARK
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Objective - 50 miles, practising drafting
Today will be a relatively easy one. The objective is to ride at least 50 miles/7 laps of Richmond Park, practising drafting and turntaking at the front, and adding some base miles to our training. I know Dirk went to a football game yesterday (and probably having a pint or two...) so it´s unlikely it will turn into a race this time. Having said that, I just helped him 
rebuild his bike with lighter wheels so I´m sure he´ll want to try them out in anger...The weather forecast did not look like a happy one though - heavy rain showers - and as predicted it is pissing down when my son comes to wake me for breakfast. As soon as they had come they also disappeared thoughand by the time I stepped out of the front door it was dry. Not quite sunny and warm, but dry at least!
At 09.30 I pull into the Roehampton Cafe carpark and meet up with the rest of the gang, all of them sipping coffees and munching on cakes inside. For a cafe so hugely popular with the usual crowd of road cyclists training in Richmond Park it is disappointing that park management haven´t yet figured out that cleats caked in mud don´t clip into pedals very well. High time they gravelled the outside area I´d say!
After some chat about the looming 2010 1000Miles Challenge and a brief visit by a chap who saved me from a long walk earlier that week (giving me a spare inner tube when I was stood in the sudden and pouring rain, unable to glue the patch on...) we set off.
Another important training exercise today was to improve pedalling cadence, aiming for a smooth spinning motion in the ideal range of 85-100 rpm (pedal revolutions per minute) which is much more efficient - and easier on the legs, especially the knees. It builds aerobic fitness and by chopping the distance into smaller chunks it also means less anaerobic power is required. And hey, learning to pedal like this turned Lance Armstrong from a racer to a race winner, and if it is good enough for him...
Richmond Park is a beautiful training ground for road cyclists as the circular route around the park has some steep hills, windy flats and fast descents. Traffic is also limited to a 20mph maximum speed, but, if truth be told, 90% of drivers do not adhere to it. I just cannot fathom why they need to go fast even here, a park full of people on bikes on the road, crossing deer and lots of kids. Sometimes I just wish I had a Police ID so I could ticket the lot of them. Anyway, I digress... Today was a good training ride. We complete the 7 laps with relative ease but we still need to work on our average speed as some are still too slow. However, we are all upbeat and really looking forward to more training rides before embarking on the BIG one on 22nd May 2010...
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