Brian Chapman Memorial 600 (lots of silly mistakes)

Brian Chapman Memorial 600 was going to be my 20th Audax ride, in my baggage I have six 200km events, five 300, four 400, two 600 a PBP (1200km) and a LEL (1500). Funny enough this was the Audax ride I have made more mistakes.

The first one was what I decided to carry on the bike. They had forecasted sunny days for the whole weekend but cautious as I am I decided to carry my full all weather equipment. The bike weighted 16kg (I actually weighted the bike), but hey, I was ready for sudden snow storms...

This mistake is even bigger if you consider that the organizers offer a bag drop service. This is sending a bag with whatever you want to fill to a control that we would visit twice, in the kilometer 200 and again in the 400. This is very helpful. I was planning to stop for a sleep in the 400km mark so I packed in my bag a clean set of clothes, some energy bars and gels and everything I needed for a breakfast.

Why I decided to carry on the bike the lights and the clothes I was going to use during the night instead of putting then in the bag and getting them at the 200km mark is beyond me. Maybe is because I wanted to get a better training out of this ride...

Which leads me to another mistake, the pace I decided to take. My main objective of the year is the Quebrantahuesos, a 200km sportive in Spain, so I decided I wanted to rehearse the effort. What better way that riding all out for the first six and a half hours? which is about the time that will take me the Quebrantahuesos.

I rode all out for the first 180km. It took me exactly 6 hours, and that includes a quick stop in the first control. I was the third in that control. The first two were leaving when I was arriving and they were riding a light bike with tri-bars, probably with the intention of riding non-stop.

Training wise, it was fantastic. Not only was a good effort but also the numbers confirmed I was in good form. The problem was I still had ride 440km with about 6000m of climbing and I was tired, spent, empty.

Struggling was the name of the game now, it took me two hours to ride 47km, although 14 of them were uphill. Struggling I arrived to the control at the control at the 227km mark. Still that was my fastest Audax 200km to date, 227km in 8 hours 6 minutes.

Now this was a great stop. It was 14:00 and it is easy to image how hungry I was. This control is well catered so I ate enough to make my mother proud; including some of the food I had put in my bag. The thought of leaving the rain clothes didn't cross my mind so I departed with all the load in my bike. A shame I forgot to start the garmin...

To my discharge I'll say the garmin re-started itself when I plugged it to the charger, still I failed to realize it was not recording and what is most important it was not navigating.

You have to put yourself in my position. Tired, with your stomach full and still digesting, in a road that was not up, down or flat but a combination of everything, a route that I barely remember from last year and that I was following the route sheet...

And suddenly I was lost. It was at this point I realized the garmin was not recoding, it was off for about 90km!!!!! A quick look to the route sheet confirmed I had missed a right turn. In an Audax event you can take any route you want between controls so I faced the dilema of riding back something like 5 or 10 km to try to find the turn I have missed or trying to find an alternative route. I was riding north, generally speaking in the right direction, so got the mobile out and started Google Maps. Unfortunately there was no data reception in this spot. Luckily I'm a man full of resources, I saw a gas station, walked in, got one of those maps printed in papers, asked the shopgirl where we were and found a route to the next control. Easy, just have to follow the A487 to Menai Bridge, not as peaceful and beauty as the original route, but not longer either, good enough compromise considering the circumstances. I took the opportunity to buy a refreshment but I didn't bought the map...

Maybe it was the anger of getting lost, maybe I managed to recover a bit riding slowly for the last few hours or, most likely, it was the tail wind but I got some good speed riding to the 300km mark. Half way of the route and the numbers were still looking good. It was 18:45, I had ridden 327km in 12 hours 45 minutes. One hour twenty faster than my fastest Audax 300.

But now I was really, really tired again. The control at Menai Bridge is also managed and they offered baked potatoes with beans and cheese and rice pudding for dessert. I ate everything and added a ham sandwich and a few cookies. When I was about to leave I saw at the control table a cable. One of those cables that is used to power the garmin with the e-werk, one of those cables that it is important in these rides. And that was my cable. I had forgotten it there where I was checking in, I felt fortunate I saw it when I was leaving...

With my stomach full again I started to ride slowly. About 15-20 km/h slow, I was heading south now and what was a tail wind earlier it was now a head wind. That was one of those moments were you just have to relax and take it easy, there is no point in trying to push it.

I was riding at that pace for about an hour when two riders passed me. They were not riding that fast, but very soon they were well away. It was at that moment when I realized I had made just another mistake. I should have jumped on their wheel, I never miss an opportunity to suck a good wheel. What was I thinking?? This mistake costed me a 3 minutes effort at 289 watts to catch up with them. 3 minutes at 289 watts is not a huge effort but when done after 14 hours riding let me well empty again. When I got to the riders I used the little breath I had to ask if I could sit on their wheel and, of course, they said yes. I took the third spot in the convoy and enjoyed the free ride.

And I say free ride correctly. Riding solo before they passed me I was doing an average of 190 watts. Again, by all means not a huge effort, but plenty considering the circumstances. Sitting on their wheels I was doing 133 watts and riding faster. A huge improvement!!! A big mistake not to have jumped on their wheel earlier!!!

I couldn't take a single turn in the front. One of the riders was riding a fixie (yes, 600km with 8000m climb in a fixie, think twice before considering me crazy) and that meant whenever a climb came the pace put me to the limit again. This was more challenging than it looks at first sight. When I was sitting on their wheel I was riding very easily, with my heart rate dropping to 70-80ppm, and because was already dark and I was tired my body started to shut down. I was feeling really sleepy. And then a climb would appear and the rider in the fixie will keep his pace and I had to wake up and sprint to keep their wheel. On top of that my neck was hurting. When we made it to the control I had have enough for the day.

It was 22:45, I had ridden 419km in 16 hours and 45 minutes, an hour and five minutes faster than my fastest 400k Audax.

Had soup, pasta, rice pudding and chocolate milk in my second dinner of the day and went to had a shower before heading bed. It would have been nice not have made the mistake of failing to put in my bag a towel...

Sleeping and bed management is tricky. Around 150 riders and not that many beds means you can only get a bed for three hours. I was among the first in the control but getting to bed at 23:30 meant waking up at 2:30 which meant riding at 3:00 with still some night riding to do, which meant carrying extra load. So I figured an alternative plan. I was going to lay in a sofa and sleep for one hour and a half. At one I would ask for a bed, I was not going to have any problem to get one because it would be still early for most of the riders. That would mean to wake up at 4, start riding in day light at 4:30 and being able to leave some of the stuff in my bag.

I was not the only one with that idea. In the room there were about five or six riders already sleeping so I put my mobile in airplane mode so the alarm would not wake anyone (there was not reception anyway), set the alarm to 1:00 and fitted it between my bib short and my leg so the vibration would wake me up.

At 1:00 the alarm went off, I woke up, asked for a bed and was taken to a bed room. An still unused bed was there for me, lucky me. Got in bed and in less than a minute I was deep sleep again.

At 4:00 someone came and woke me up. My three hours were over and a rider was waiting for the bed. I woke up, got my things and realized I didn't have my mobile.

I didn't panic. It had to be in the sofa where I was sleeping.

I asked at the control and no one had returned a mobile. Went to the room where the sofa was but it was dark and there were riders sleeping all over the place. Couldn't find it.

Still didn't panic. Had my breakfast with the stuff I had put in my bug (they were not serving breakfast yet at the control, it was 4 am and they were still serving dinner to the riders that were arriving). Made some time to see if the room cleared a bit and I could give it another go.

Gave it another go and couldn't find it. Now I was starting to panic a bit. Emptied my bag, checked every corner and nothing. No sign of my mobile. Of course calling it would help, there was not signal in the control, but even if the rider had taken inadvertently the mobile with him and were in an area with signal, it wouldn't help, I had turn it in airplane mode!!!

5:30, I have been up for an hour and a half looking for my mobile. An hour and a half not sleeping, not resting, not riding, just looking for my mobile. I was really angry at myself. It was when I had the idea of writing this post.

But hey, they started to serve breakfast and the bacon smelled really well so I had my second breakfast, beans on toast with bacon, trying to reproduce my steps and what I did with the mobile.

No help, those minutes between sleeps were mainly black for me.

Got back to the bed room to check if the mobile was there. No help.

Waited until the rider that took the bed after me woke up to see if the mobile was in the bed. No help.

Went back to the room with the sofas and the sofa were I was sleeping was now empty so sat there and tried to remember what I have done with the f*** mobile.

And there I was thinking when a rider says "here is a mobile".

Couldn't believe it. It was my mobile, there in a shelve. Someone should have found it and leave it there.

I had found the mobile but I was not happy. It was 6:30, I had lost two hours. Time to move on.

It was well into the day light and already warm so took off the leg and arm warmers, reflective gillet, long gloves and shoe covers. And instead of leaving them in the bag so they would be returned to the headquarters in a van I put them on the bike and I had to carried them for another 200km. Just another silly mistake...

And you know what, I forgot again to start the garmin!!!! A nightmare for a data geek like me!

When I realized I was shouting like crazy. Luckily there was no one around to hear me and in any case my swearing was in Spanish (which, by the way, is much better language for swearing).

First stage of the morning was only 65km long, it had two climbs but it was not a problem. I knew the route and I was "rested". I was riding a decent pace and passing lots of riders.

Unfortunately pain in the neck that I was feeling at the end of the previous day it was hurting again. That was unexpected, it took me a bit for surprise. I never had any of these pains in these rides. No pain in the knees, ankles, tendons, nothing.

Well if I'm completely honest, in the Severn Across 400 two weeks ago I finished with a just a bit of pain in the neck. Nothing serious but I remember relevant enough to worth a comment to Gavin.

By the time I arrived at the control I was hungry again so I took my third breakfast of the day; just couldn't resist the temptation of just another bacon sandwich.

When I got back to the bicycle I saw it. My handlebar was too low. It was in its normal/racing position, not in its audax position. That made sense. I had move the bicycle from audax setup to racing setup after the 200 and I had ridden with the handle bar in that position the 300, the 400 and almost 500km of this ride. No wonder my neck hurt. Funny enough in my list of advices for long distance rides [in Spanish] my advice number 9 is "make sure the geometry of your bike has not changed".

The only good thing about this mistake is that is easy to correct it. Put the handle bar in its audax positon (two separators up) and the pain in the neck mitigated almost immediately.

Not much happened for the rest of the ride. I was tired so I rode the last 160km in maintenance mode. Limiting the efforts to the bare minimum to keep me going. Still I made it to the final control at 18:10, which means 36 hours and 10 minutes for a ride of 642km. 50 minutes less than last year (and this year the ride was 17km longer than last year's). Not bad numbers.

As always I took a picture of my brevet when I finished. But this time I did the mistake of taking the picture before they put the final time on it. I even think the controller was telling me about it but my mind was already stimulated by the smell of fried bacon so the picture of the brevet goes without the final time on it.

And when I got to the car I saw this note on my car:

In my defense I have to say that even with the note in my hands I could not see the car was parked "in what is very clearly someone's garden" but after two days of mistakes I'm really happy they didn't call the police and had towed my car away. If that had happened I'm sure I have cried in desperation. There is a limit to the mistakes one can handle...

Take care
Javier Arias González

Oasts and Coast 300 2014

The second we started to ride, it started to rain. It was Gavin, a fellow Kingston Wheeler and me. Starting towards the end of the field, forty odd riders. We rode a good pace so we very quickly passed most of them.

The first café stop was at km 67.4 By that time we had been on the bike for around two hours and a half, we had climbed two decent hills and a bunch of tiny climbs all that in heavy rain and wind in the exposed areas. Normally I wouldn't stop so early in the ride but we were soaked and the idea of a hot chocolate was simply too tempting.

At this café is where finally I met Alex in person. He was arriving when we were about to leave and he was of the idea that it was too early to stop so decided to join us. Not for long though; in the first climb he pushed too hard for us so we let him go a bit later we caught him but very soon we drop him. That was the last time we saw him in the route.

It was still raining at times, we still had to climb two decent hills and another bunch of small climbs and we were still facing wind in the exposed sections until we made it to the point 120k where the flat section started.

A flat section, all exposed, all with head wind so I did the silly thing to do. I pushed and pushed trying to keep the same pace. The problem was I only had gasoline until km 140, around that point I blew up. I had nothing in the tank. My pace dropped so rapidly that Gavin knew I was struggling so he moved to the front and set the pace for me. It was hard to keep up with his pace, but he rescued me. I downed a gel and tried to ride as close to him as possible.

We made it to the control (154km) and there we met Chris, the rider that was in the front. We had lunch with him and another rider in blue jersey (I have seen him in several rides, but never got his name). I devoured my pasta salad and a piece of cake I got at the café. By the time I was ready to go Chris and the blue jersey rider were gone. "They are a puncture away" said Gavin.

We rode slowly. Not only we were digesting our food but also we had to cross Flokestone and Dover, cycle lines shared with pedestrians didn't contribute to speed things up. Not to mention two step climbs that waken our lets.

By the time we were descenting onto Deal we saw Chris repairing a puncture on the left. We asked him if he needed help and as he said he was ok we carried on. Anyway the next control was very close and when we were about to leave he showed up.

From that moment we were three riding together. Still riding easy, chatting and enjoying the sun and the tail wind. It was difficult to believe how grim the conditions were in the morning and how nice the afternoon was. In fact when we made it to Macaris Ice Cream Parlour café (km 227) I ordered a white chocolate ice cream. I think I could afford the extra calories.

Around 10 minutes after us arrived another rider (I don't know his name but he was wearing a yellow jacket so he will be the yellow rider). He was ready to go when we were about to leave so the group of three became a group of four.

Fresh we were and started to pedal. Very soon, after 11 hours working my garmin said it was running low in battery. I stopped to plug it to my dynamo and told the others to carry on, I'd catch them up.

Plugged the GPS and started to pedal full speed without pressing the ok button in the GPS. The problem was I made it to a T intersection and that didn't make sense with the route sheet. Pressed ok in the GPS, looked at the map and figured I had to ride back. By the time I was on route I couldn't see them so I pressed on. And pushed, and pushed, and pushed. In one crossroad Gavin was waiting for me and said the other two were about 30 seconds ahead. He jumped on my wheel and I tried to close the gap. You know when you have a group that is so close that you are almost there but they are still so far away that you can't even shout at them and you push and you push and it seems the gap never closes and you are about to give up and you only keep pushing because you hate giving up. That was me.

Looking at the numbers it took me around 16km and 35 minutes to catch them, the last 13 minutes, the bit that did with Gavin in my wheel, I did an average of 250w Not bad for a chopper like me with 240km in the legs. Now, if I had recovered from the first part of the ride all was gone now. Got a wheel, downed a second gel and took it easy from there.

Luckily there were not surges. We were riding very well together, helping each other with the navigation and with the info controls. A bit of a chat here and there and the kilometers were passing

Still there was another point where I was about to crack. Gavin had stopped for some reason so I told the other two I would stop to wait for him. They kept going.

By the time Gavin appeared they were about a minute ahead of us and we were climbing. Gavin passed me, I tried to jump on his wheel but I couldn't make it. He was in the distance and I shouted "they are too far away we won't bridge the gap" but I think he didn't hear me so we kept pushing it a bit. It was the desire to not riding alone at this point what kept me going.

Chris and the rider in yellow should have eased quite a bit because despite all my struggling we eventually caught them. And that was nice, it gave us the opportunity to keep the group together.

And that was all. The ride finishes with a climb and have way through it the rider in yellow increased the pace with Chris on his wheel. I couldn't bother we were about 5k from the finish and was wasted.

We made it to the hq around 20:00 which means a 14 hours ride, including stops (12:13 riding). Not bad considering the weather in the first half.

The ride in Strava

Notes for future editions:

• You don't need to carry your own food in this event, the controls are set that way that you would stop at a café around 8 (km 67.4) for breakfast, around 12:30 (km 154.5) in another café for lunch and around 16:00 (km 227) for a afternoon snack to make it back to the HQ around 20:00. 
• Take your lunch at the café at km 154.5. You can get hot food and they were fast serving. It is pointless to delay lunch because the following two sections are too slow and the next control is in a small shop. You won't get another café until km 227 and those 72 km will take you more than three hours.
• Because after the café at km 154.5 the sections are slow (cycle lines, crossing Flokestone and Dover, riding the sea front, sharing part of the ride with pedestrians) take it easy to the next café (km 227) it'll give you the opportunity to digest your launch and recover your legs. From this point you will be able to push it again if your want.
• If you want to take this ride as a training ride all out from the start to the control at km 154.5. Have launch there. Take it easy until control 227 and all out again until the end. It will be plenty.

Mi entrevista en Bicisport

 

El amigo Agustín O. colabora con la revista BiciSport lleva la sección de ciclismo de larga distancia. Hace unas semanas se puso en contacto conmigo proponiéndome que le contestara a unas preguntas para incluir la entrevista en esa sección. Con todo el gusto del mundo le contesté lo mejor que pude a sus preguntas.

El resultado ha sido publicado en el número 5 de la revista (Abril 2014). Por cuestiones de espacio la entrevista no se publicó entera por lo que copio y pego aquí las preguntas y respuestas completas.

Conocemos a Javier Arias desde hace muchos años. Este ciclista, aficionado al ultrafondo,  que es metódico, calculador y sobre todo buena persona en el amplio sentido de la palabra, poco a poco va incorporando en su currículum pequeños-grandes logros que llaman la atención del cualquier observador.

Javier, cuéntanos, ¿en qué pruebas has participado en los últimos años? ¿cómo han sido los resultados desde el punto de vista deportivo y también desde el punto de vista humano?

Dos son los tipos de pruebas en las que he participado en los últimos años. La Quebrantahuesos y los eventos de larga distancia. De estos últimos destacaría los 1.200 kilómetros de la Paris-Brest-Paris de 2011 y los 1.400 kilómetros de la Londres-Edimburgo-Londres en Agosto de 2013. 

Desde el punto de vista deportivo los resultados no han estado mal. En la Quebrantahuesos me planteo mejorar mi tiempo año a año; hasta ahora siempre he podido hacerlo, razón más que suficiente para estar contento. En los eventos de larga distancia no me planteo resultados desde el punto de vista deportivo, para mi se trata de vivir experiencias maravillosas sobre la bicicleta. Atravesar un país de norte a sur acompañado de amigos, conocer gente con tu misma pasión, compartir camino con ellos (casi siempre chupando rueda) es algo que une, que se queda grabado.

En este año he probado a competir en carreras ciclistas. En Inglaterra son muy populares. En un radio de una hora desde yo vivo hay cuatro circuitos que todos los fines de semana organizan carreras ciclistas. Son circuitos cerrados al tráfico y las carreras están organizadas por categorías. De momento los resultados no son muy buenos que se diga (dos quintos en trece carreras) pero estoy aprendiendo con rapidez.

¿Vas a volver a participar en esas mismas pruebas? Si tu respuesta es afirmativa ¿qué objetivos te planteas en las mismas?

Si, sin duda. Ya tengo plaza para la Quebrantahuesos de 2014 y mi objetivo será bajar el tiempo del año pasado (6:44:56). No será fácil, pero por ganas de intentarlo no se va a quedar.

En larga distancia haré una serie Super Randoneur (una prueba de 200km, otra de 300, otra de 400 y una de 600) y participaré en la Ronde Aliénor d'Aquitaine, una prueba de 1.200 kilómetros que se celebrará en Francia en el mes de Julio.

Me gustaría seguir corriendo a lo largo de este año; tengo como objetivo ganar una carrera y subir a tercera categoría.

¿Hay otros retos en lo que aún no hayas participado pero que llamen tu atención en la actualidad?

Muchísimos. Soy un glotón de los eventos ciclistas. Cuando me entero de un evento ciclista siempre me dan ganas de participar. En Enero, cuando planifico el año, siempre tengo una lista enorme de eventos en los que quiero participar. Luego, con todo el dolor de mi corazón, empiezo a tachar eventos. Este no puedo por trabajo, este por familia, este se me escapa del presupuesto, para este no me quedan vacaciones, etc, etc. Aun así la lista final es una carta a los reyes magos ciclistas que a final de año no siempre se cumple completamente.

De entre los eventos que tengo en la lista de espera están las cicloturistas europeas. La Marmotte, la Etape del Tour, la Maratona y las que replican las clásicas de primavera (Lieja-Bastonge-Lieja, Tour de Flandes, etc). También le tengo el ojo echado a la Cape Argus en sudafrica, pero estando tan lejos no se yo... 

En larga distancia me gustaría ir probando otros países; los 1.600 km de la Mille Miglia en Italia, por ejemplo. Distancias más largas como la Race Across America o contrarelojes del tipo las 24 horas de Le Mans. 

Sabemos que eres ingeniero y que trabajas en una de las principales empresas del planeta relacionada con el mundo de Internet, de hecho en los últimos años vives en Inglaterra ¿es fácil compatibilizar un trabajo como el tuyo con el ciclismo de larga distancia?  o ,dicho de otra forma, ¿tu actividad profesional influye en la manera de plantearte  tu afición?, ¿la condiciona?, ¿la beneficia o sencillamente buscas la forma de hacerlo todo compatible...?

En ese sentido tengo mucha suerte. Yo voy a trabajar en bici casi todos los días, 26 kilómetros de ida y otros tantos de vuelta. En el edificio de la empresa tenemos un parking vigilado para las bicicletas, taquillas para dejar la ropa y duchas; lo cual viene muy bien si tenemos en cuenta lo mucho que llueve en Londres.

También tengo la suerte de que mi trabajo es relativamente fácil de compatibilizar con la bicicleta, me paso muchas horas delante del ordenador y yo me lo tomo como un descanso a nivel físico. Es más yo creo que la bicicleta me beneficia en mi trabajo. Yo no tomo cafeína, pero cuando por las mañanas me siento delante del ordenador después de una hora de bici tengo la mente fresca y despejada. 

Luego, al salir de trabajar, la hora de bici hasta casa me sirve para desconectar. Multitud de veces me he puesto a pedalear con la cabeza llena de pensamientos relacionados con el trabajo y cuando he llegado a casa había desconectado completamente. Por no mencionar la de veces que he resuelto un problema del trabajo a partir de una idea que se me ha cruzado mientras pedaleaba. Definitivamente montar en bici me es beneficioso en mi trabajo.

¿Qué nos podrías decir del mundo randonneur de las islas británicas?¿Qué te llama la atención?

Lo grande, variado y bien organizado que es el mundo randonneur en el Reino Unido. Audax UK, tiene más de 5.000 miembros, organiza más de 200 eventos de larga distancia al año y edita su propia revista, Arrivee, dedicada exclusivamente al ciclismo de larga distancia. En el calendario te puedes encontrar desde eventos de iniciación de 100 kilómetros a la joya de la corona que es la London-Edimburgo-London distribuidos a lo largo y ancho del país.

También me llamó la atención lo aficionados que son al registro de resultados, clasificaciones y rankings. En la página de Audax UK están registrados todos los eventos completados por sus miembros y existen rankings para todo tipo de variables, número de kilómetros rodados, número de eventos participados, metros de desnivel subidos, etc. 

Por último la fidelidad casi religiosa a determinadas marcas. Brooks para los sillines, Carradice para las bolsas, SON para los dinamos de buje, etc. Las marcas clásicas de larga distancia tienen un gran mercado en el Reino Unido.

Tu blog (www.unbiciorejon.com) cuenta de forma detallada tu quehacer ciclista; Javier ¿por qué escribes?,¿para quién?, ¿acaso tus estupendas crónicas forman parte de algo? ¿de qué?

Empecé a escribir porque cuando iba en bici se me ocurría que lo que acababa de pasar era digno de ser contado. Que Jorge me había ganado un spint en la señal de no se que pueblo, que el abuelito me llevó a rueda toda la mañana, que había subido al Angliru, etc. Escribir la crónica de la salida en bici se convirtió en una forma de contarles a los amigos como había vivido yo la salida.

Por otro lado el ejercicio de escribir me sirve tanto para reflexionar sobre la salida como para revivirla y fijarla en la memoria. Curiosamente me gusta leer de vez en cuando crónicas de salidas de hace años. Me asombra lo mucho que he evolucionado como ciclista y como escritor en poco tiempo.

Si tuvieras que recomendarle a un lector una de tus magníficas crónicas, ¿cuál le recomendarías?

A mi la que más me gusta es en la que cuento mi pedigree ciclista (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2013/03/mi-pedigree-como-ciclista.html) porque es una confesión sincera de la poca relación que he tenido a lo largo de mi vida con el ciclismo. Me parece gracioso que con esa falta de pedigree ahora sea tan aficionado a la bicicleta.

También me gusta mucho mi crónica de mi primera Quebrantahuesos (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2010/06/quebrantahuesos-mi-primera-experienca.html) porque fue una aventura épica, seguramente mi mejor día en la bicicleta.

Que me meo (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2008/04/que-me-meo-o-el-caf-en-tielmes-no-saba.html) me parece graciosa por lo absurdo de la situación. 

Por último mi crónica de la Paris-Brest-Paris (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2011/12/paris-brest-paris-1200-kilometros-en.html) por lo mucho que me costó escribirla y lo impresionante de la experiencia.

¿Cómo entrenas? ¿Tienes algún plan o metodología? ¿Cómo es? Cuéntanos...

Empecé a “entrenar” en el año 2011. La revista Ciclismo a Fondo publicó un artículo de Chema Argueas sobre entrenamiento con rodillo. Me compre un Tacx I-magic y entrené ese año siguiendo el plan de Chema. 

En el año 2012 me compré el libro de Chema Arguedas, Planifica tus pedaladas, me lo leí y decidí ponerlo en práctica.

A principios de 2013 me compré un medidor de potencia y el libro Training and Racing with a Power Meter (Entrenando y compitieno con un medidor de potencia). Desde entonces planifico todos mis entrenamientos en base a potencia. 

Me encanta analizar los datos de cada salida en bici, tengo registradas en un documento todas las salidas en bicicleta de mi vida. Para analizar las salidas en bici y los entrenamientos uso el WKO+ de TrainingPekas y GoldenCheetah.

Yo soy muy metódico y disciplinado con los entrenamientos. Rara vez la pereza me vence a la hora de hacer una sesión de entrenamiento y no me cuesta nada mantenerme en las zonas de trabajo que tengo planificadas. No se la de veces que me podría haber picado con otro ciclista, siempre de buen rollo, y no caí en la tentación por no salirme de las zonas de entrenamiento.

¿Qué bicicleta usas? ¿Cómo es? 

Tengo una única bici de carretera, una Cannondale Synapse del año 2009. Es una gran bicicleta, ligera y cómoda, lo cual es importante para las largas distancias. 

La bicicleta la uso en dos configuraciones. La primera es la bici tal cual la compré, la segunda es la que yo llamo la Brevetera (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2011/06/la-brevetera.html) que es la configuración de la bicicleta para larga distancia. En esta configuración le monto a la bici los guardabarros, un portabultos y le pongo la rueda delantera con un dinamo de buje para alimentar la luz de la bicicleta. Se trata de adecuar la bicicleta a las necesidades de los eventos de larga distancia.

Javier , ¿por qué larga distancia?

Porque me gusta mucho montar en bici. La larga distancia es el tipo de prueba que me permite estar más horas montando en bici.

A cuidarse
Javier Arias González

My sixth race at Preston Park

Saturday 9:00 pm. Everything ready for my second audax of the year, The Dean 300km. Last look at my twitter before going to bed and I see this twit

My first thought was "What is that crazy guy doing riding The Dean the day before is meant to be?". My second thought was "Because The Dean is happening tomorrow, right?". And I went and checked, and it turned out The Dean was actually on Saturday!!!

Cool! I had blew up all my cycling plans for the following months (it is not that easy to re-schedule a 300km ride in my already tight calendar). What can I do? Lets go racing. A quick look at the races for today gave the a straight answer, if you want to race today Preston Park again will have to be. Instead 300km I'll ride 30km. Not quite the same, but, hey, I didn't have to wake up at 3:30!!!

Number 1 should be reserved to those that have won at least one race. I haven't

I didn't have to wake up at 3:30 but still I had to wake up one hour earlier to change the bike setup (remove lights, e-werk, mudguards, rack, tyre in the rear wheel, change front wheel and remove handle bag), I can't afford to give the other riders that much of an advantage carrying all that stuff.

Nice day today in Brighton which means lots of riders, some of them faces that I could recognize but to be honest I couldn't tell if they were strong riders or not. Anyway I didn't care, my plan was simple. The wind was not that strong so look out for promising breakaways and try to jump on them, otherwise wait for the likely bunch sprint and try to get it better this time.

And so I did. Well positioned and alert but hidden in the fifth to tenth position in the bunch, a few riders tried to when solo, but I thought they had no chance so I waited for others to bring them back. Apart for some spikes in the pace it felt easy to keep up with it. 

There was one effort that brought me well into the red zone when I jumped into a group that were trying to get away with 20 minutes to go. A solo effort wouldn't make it, a two riders effort, being me one of the riders, would have little chance, but a four or five riders breakaway was another history so I didn't want to miss it. 

Sadly it didn't stick; I guess everyone had the same thought I had. So a bunch sprint was going to be; again.

Fifth, again, as you can see in the picture above; but this time very happy with how I sprinted. My wife had sent me a message reminding me not to stop sprinting until I have crossed the line and I took that as an order. 

The graph below is rather surprising. I thought my maximum heart rate was 184, or at least that is the highest I have seen in the last two years, but today I hit 199. Can I go back to being 21 years old?

BTW is there any price for placing 5th most of the times? Four out of five times I have placed (if I include the Kingston Wheelers 4th cat championship) I came 5th.

Now I have an additional objective for the year. To win a race! 

It will have to wait at least until July now that I had to readjust my Audax calendar and my training for the Quebrantahuesos, but there is plenty of time from July to the end of the year.

Take care
Javier Arias González

Man of Kent 200

[I'll try to keep it short because I'm tired ;-)]

Third year in a raw that I ride Man of Kent 200 as my first Audax of the year. This ride is mostly flat so it is perfect for getting the body used to long distance after six months of not riding anything "long".

8:00 and we are sent off. Very quickly I found myself in the front group. A guy passed me and disappeared up the road, I looked back and there were like six riders on my wheel. No trace of Gavin and Dominic, the other two Wheelers that were riding the event. I kept pedalling at my own pace.

Around Km 28 (I think) we were about to catch the guy in the front. A red traffic light made the task easier. I looked back and recognized Stuart among the riders (we rode together part of the Oats and Coats 300 last year; on that ride he talk me into racing; he is the non-Wheeler more responsible for me trying racing) When the traffic light turned green, he was in the front, Stuart and myself on his wheel chatting and the rest of the riders on our wheel. A hill appeared and the rider that was in the front dropped that quickly that I had to manoeuvre to don't run over him. Not sure why riders push themselves that hard at the beginning of a 200 if they are not that fit.

We arrived to the first control (50k) and there where nobody there. Stuart and myself decided to keep it going. Three other riders came with use.

Second control (79km) was in a café. The three riders decided to stop for a coffee. Stuart and I decided to keep it going.

Not much happened. We were riding fairly hard, sometimes taking turns; which is probably a sacrilege in an Audax event but, hey, we had head wind!!

We kept it going and only stopped at the control that was at km 176. A quick coffee and a banana and back to the road.

We arrived to the head quarters at 16:05, 5 minutes more than 8 hours in total. Not bad, the second pair of riders arrived 30 minutes later and the next riders an hour later, including Gavin that did great in his second 200k

Rice pudding as recovery meal

Great ride, lucky with the weather (we only had a four showers, two of them with hail), nice riding with Stuart and happy with the power 218, which is 6.8% more than last year (204). Good start of the Audax season.

The ride in Strava

Take care
Javier Arias González

My fifth race at Preston Park

The plan was simple, wait for the last lap and sprint with half a lap to go. Win!

Somehow I was convinced that I was going to win this race. Just had to wait patiently all the race for the final sprint.

I was well positioned, but not riding that well. Twice I was called out for not holding my line and twice they were probably right (I had the chance to apologize to the TCC rider during the race, I'm not sure who was the other one).

With two to go a rider in my left got our handlebars tangled. He complained loudly but I think it was his fault. Anyway, luckily we both managed to solve the situation and keep pedalling.

In the final sprint I found myself out of the top positions, sprinting for the seventh. I actually found the time to count them.

And counting them I saw some more riders passing me in the last meters

I had a whole lap to blame myself for such terrible sprint.

When I met my wife at the HQ she was clear "everyone passed you because you stop sprinting too early"; and I know she was right.

My daughter told me I did tenth but I know I was eleventh. Instead of sprinting I was counting and I also counted the four that passed me!!

Still, looking at the numbers it was my hardest, fastest, race and sprint in Preston Park, but I was told there is no price for good numbers.

Will have to do a bit better next time chopper.

The race in Strava

[edit 19/3/2014]
The results are out and it seems my daughter was right and I can't count :-)

Take care
Javier Arias González

Desde San Francisco a Google en bicicleta

Trabajadores de Google hace años que organizan el sf2g (San Francisco to Google). O lo que es lo mismo, 67km de bicicleta para ir desde San Francisco hasta las oficinas centrales de Google.

La iniciativa se ha hecho tan popular que existe una web pública http://sf2g.com/ y ahora se forman pelotones ciclistas de trabajadores de un montón de empresas de Sillicon Valley haciendo distintos recorridos y a distintas velocidades.

Incluso del CFO (el director financiero) de Google, Patrick Pichette, se une a estas rutas.

Foto de Seth Sternberg

Lo de los googlers y el ciclismo es para hacérnoslo mirar...

A cuidarse
Javier Arias González