Thursday, November 19, 2009
Easy Does It!
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Colin Griffiths
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1:06 PM
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Monday, November 16, 2009
Mountain Bike Ride MTB From Blair Atholl ~ The Disappointing Munro

The track exits from the woods onto open wilderness
After very heavy rain the day before the morning sky promised good things. I cycled away from the car park and up through glades of beech, sycamore, larch and pine. Beneath my tyres was a carpet of bronzed beech leaves with brilliant yellow sycamore leaves in stark contrast. The sound of my bike flushed a woodcock out of the undergrowth and I watched it fly up the hill. Once on the open moorland track, I felt a sense of awe at the huge open space of heathland stretching out in front of me. It was all uphill, but with a steady gradient and on a good surface of compacted gravel and hard earth. This was such a contrast to the outing that I’d had the previous week to Am Bastier on Skye: there were no terrifying and vertiginous drops, no need for total concentration where a careless step and subsequent slip would without doubt have been fatal. Bleak heather clad moors of Athol’s hills replaced bleak rock and knife-edge ridges of Skye’s Cuillin Mountains. Here, a sense of solitude and an engagement with nature was easy to realise.

Uphill for a few miles with remote but easy cycling
The track stretched out in front and to my left the burn, still full of white water, rushed downwards. There were plenty of red grouse around and I was constantly being scolded. The sunlight played it’s symphony of light on the land and white clouds still hung to areas of higher ground. After approximately 5 miles, the track rounded a corner and there before me was a large herd of red deer. I counted at least 40 animals then gave up as I began to see more and more against the dark vegetation. Stags were both up and down the hill and the glen reverberated with the deep, from the pit of their stomach roars. The deer, having been spooked by my presence moved swiftly across the extremely deep heather to a safer place from where they could monitor my much slower progress.

Allt Scheicheachan bothy, a mile of rougher track still to cycle
I soon reached the bothy at Allt Scheicheachan and stopped to have a nose around. It was very tidy, with stone flagged floors, a cast iron hearth, tables and bunks. It was a diminutive building amidst a wild landscape. This was supposed to be where I should leave the bike, but after a dash through a rather deep ford and having still maintaining dry feet, I continued to cycle up alongside the burn almost to the head of the glen from whence I proceeded on foot. There had been a thickening of the cloud and the bright sunshine was showing less and less. As I reached the plateau, a golden eagle flying low and almost dawdling flew right over the top of me. As it enjoyed a couple of typical "tumbles" through the air I could clearly see by it’s wing markings that it was an adolescent. I watched it make way over the mountain and out of sight.
The deep heathers were soon replaced by sub-arctic tundra type dwarf varieties, only a couple of inches high, interspersed by incredibly clean looking lichens, and amongst the short ochre grasses, bright green, yellow and brilliant red mosses. It was truly wonderful tapestry of colours and textures. As I neared the summit, which by now was veiled by thin cloud, the rock changed to rounded granite boulders and the path was typically Cairngorm type grit. A mountain hare, upright on it’s hind legs watched me approach then made off though the boulders. A large group of ptarmigan, whistling as they do, casually moved along close by, virtually indistinguishable by means of their plumage against the grey rocks.

Lunchtime view, dull weather but a myriad of subtle hues and tones
After a quick look at the summit’s shelter cairn I descended back out of the cloud and found a good rock upon which to sit whilst I ate my lunch. The views south, west and north over the Highlands were superb as the low light levels revealed the landscape as subtle tones of greys, browns and mauves. I heard a loud rattling sound across the moor and there was another herd of deer with two stags locking antlers, one of them soon distancing itself from the other who proceeded to roar for some time.
After unlocking my bike I set off back to the bothy. A hen harrier rose up out of the heather and as I rounded each bend we had a game of chase with the bird perching then flying on a bit further. It was an easy ride back along the track as I hardly had to press on the pedals, the sun had gone for good but the cloud had risen again and I felt smug about having enjoyed the best of the day. When I got back to the car I realised that my rear light had fallen off somewhere along the way. I hope “Mr Disappointed” found it, I’m sure it would have made his day!
Posted by
Colin Griffiths
at
7:20 PM
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Saturday, November 14, 2009
Velocimage #24 ~ The Wall
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Colin Griffiths
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9:13 AM
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Labels: Photographic
Friday, November 13, 2009
Threshold and Sweet Spot
Posted by
Colin Griffiths
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10:18 AM
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Labels: Power Testing, Training Sweet Spot, Training Threshold
Thursday, November 12, 2009
I Love My Performance Management Chart!
Yes, I really do like my Performance Management Chart. In 2007 I rode 11,000 miles, in 2008 10,000 miles and this year I'll end up doing even less. I used to obsessively make myself ride at least 200 miles week in and week out and felt guilty if I didn't manage it. All that has changed now as using a power meter has given me better metrics with which to monitor my training load. I've learnt that training load measured in terms of miles does not equate to higher sustainable power levels and hence better results in competition. At this time of the year, as far as being fit for next year's racing is concerned, "getting lots of miles in" is not going to help. This year my best FTP was 3% higher than in 2008 and I have ridden my bike less. A major target for next year should be to get it even higher by building on what I've learnt in training this year.
Posted by
Colin Griffiths
at
3:24 PM
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Labels: WKO PMC and Planning
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Shorter Lap Length ~ Chung Test #7
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Colin Griffiths
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12:30 PM
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Labels: Chung Tests
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Un-ewe-sual Traffic Jam
I had a "pottering around off the bike type of day" yesterday, and will do every weekend until at least Christmas. I did some much needed maintenance on my mountain bike. Whilst in Scotland, none of the gears had worked very well and when I stripped down the cables it became apparent that the "outers" were badly corroded. My rear hydraulic brake had also needed bleeding which took a while. After alternating between tapping the brake body lightly, pumping and squeezing the brake lever whilst opening the bleed screw for about 30 minutes I finally managed to get all the air out of the system. I'm just waiting for some new brake shoes to arrive from Ebay and I'll be all set for some more off-road riding over Christmas. I also ordered some outer gear cable too. I found out that you can buy Jagwire 4 and 5mm diameter cable by the metre at a much lower price than you pay for the precut kits of cable.
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Colin Griffiths
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6:11 PM
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