RELIABILTY RIDE

I learned a lot today, thanks to two very experienced and accommodating riders from Ratae Road Club, Leicester.

I arrived at the start of the reliability ride in Wigston and as I signed on I managed to get talking to a guy who after a few words undertook to look after me on my first foray into the real world of cycling. Peter Moss and his friends Brian and Grant were planning to do the same ride as I and at a slowish pace as Brian was recovering from injury.

Having signed in we were split into groups of 8 briefed and set off at intervals, to stop interfering with the traffic too much. We moved off out of Hinkley and were very soon into the countryside to the south and west of Leicester.

The course was rolling rather than too testing but as we cycled I was able to watch the others and see how they used their gears so that they just maintained a steady cadence no matter what the road was doing.

After a while Peter explained to me how the different gear ratios worked and demonstrated how using the smaller front ring and the whole rear cassette was much more comfortable at our pace, he also explained about chain wear, lube and a number of other things as we rode along, finally he helped me tweak the gears to see if we could sort the changing problems I was having…it was all much simpler seeing it in action.

The ride itself went well, the slower pace, we averaged 12mph rather than my previous 15mph on training, was much more sustainable and my heart rate never crept above 150 which meant it was much more comfortable. After 45 miles I felt as if I could have easily gone on a bit further, I think this is the sort of pace I will need to aim for on the longer runs in Canada.

Towards the end my shoulders and neck were beginning to get quite stiff so I need to keep up the strength work but my legs held out well and the hills we did go up were ok in the lower gears.

Next week I am back to solo training on the turbo and then another three hour run on Sunday.

Onwards and upwards!!!