It’s been a contrasting couple of weeks. Wall to wall sunshine in the Canary Islands then back to the daily grind with some surprises
The day after The Tardebig-G I flew out to Fuerteventura for a week with Dan. Just me and him escaping and enjoying some time away together for a week. 30 degs every day. Too hot to cycle and I had Dan with me so I had to make sure where we stayed had a gym so I could do some work in there to try and stay fit (and sane lol) so that’s what I did.
We stayed for six nights so I booked 4hrs, one per day for 4 days in the gym as it was small and you had it and the air-con to yourself. My programme was simple. 2 x 20 mins on the bike with a 5 min walk/run on the treadmill and some core work in between. The core session was pinched from a session from my gym at home. A set of 10 leg raises, 10 Russian twists, 10 dead bugs and plank (30, 45 then 60 secs) x 3
The bike was basic and shit but it did have straps over the pedals for my feet so I could bump the resistance up. I ended up maxing it out and doing what was effectively 2 x 20 min climbs using the resistance to simulate a gradient. It felt about 8-10%. The only metric on the bike computer useful to me was cadence.
Day 1 and I give it some beans for the first 20 and nearly passed out it was so hot. The air-con wasn’t as good as I expected and was basically a cold fan so I had to move the bike in front of it for the 2nd 20 mins and every other ride. A good session though, I was knackered.
Day 2 my core was smarting and I had to turn the resistance down a bit to get warmed up on the first 20 mins on the bike.
Day 3 my core was wrecked so I did a bit more running on the treadmill instead and the 2nd 20 I decided to do some intervals. My cadence was averaging about 70-75 for the 20 mins so I decided to bump that up to 90 for a minute sprint and then take a minute off x 10. Quite nasty to be honest so I repeated it again on Day 4 and managed some core work again after a day off.
I got back the following Sunday morning about 2.30am so I didn’t ride Sunday and Monday I did a quick 30 min HIT session on the turbo and surprised myself how decent the legs felt. Breathing was a bit off but the legs were fine.
I had a mega busy week at work and went up to my parents in North Wales on Thursday and worked from there PM and Friday. Thursday was the warmest day of the week so I got out for dash after work and did my usual pilgrimage up the Great Orme the steep way the trams go and then around and down the seafront over the Little Orme to Rhos-on-Sea along the coast then home.
The steep climb up the Orme from the end of high street is always a good test and I didn’t fly up, I took it reasonably easy but my legs felt awesome. Loads of strength and power. I think the gym sessions on holiday actually improved my legs!
Cycling up the Orme during tourist season is always fun because it’s really busy and the looks and comments you get are like you’ve just climbed Everest or something.
It was another busy work day Friday but nice to do it somewhere else and get your drinks and lunch bought to you by your mom. Thanks mom. I was too tired to ride after so we all went out for a drink to Conwy Marina instead which was nice.
Saturday was originally the day I was supposed to be riding a 120km gravel event around Llyn Brenig and Llyn Alwen but that got postponed until October so I thought I’d take a spin out to Gwydyr Forest but it was raining AM so the day got flipped so we went out first then I rode PM.
I popped the bike on the car and drove the 8 miles to LLanwrst (didn’t have time to ride) and parked up with no real plan where I was going except into the forest. Earlier Sally and I had driven up through the forest to Llyn Gerionydd so I decided to go that way too but carry on over the top and down to Betws-y-coed.
The first climb that starts by Llanwrst Castle and goes up past the car park for MTB Trails is pretty relentless. It just goes on and on and when it eases it still kicks you with some short punch climbs. The weather had been on and off all day and on the top it was raining so I decided to put my cape on.
The descent was bit moist and potentially slippy so I kept my distance from the car in front until it met a van coming the other way and I had to snake in between the two. At the bottom is The Ugly House tucked away, aside the A5. I think its called ugly because it is. Built from what look like unsightly lumps of rock it’s a tourist attraction now for that reason. It’s a tea room but I didn’t have time to stop.
I dropped into a busy Betws-y-Coed and decided to head kind of back on my self but the other side of the river. The river was pretty full and the rapids raging.
As I began the climb back along the single track road another road to my right caught my eye. The sign said dead end so I decided to give it a go thinking the dead end probably just meant it became a forest road after a gate or something. I thought it would be short but it kept going on and on past beautiful streams but silent amongst the trees. Heaven to me. I eventually reached a couple of houses and thought that was it, just a long drive way for them but carried on past and further up until I crossed an MTB trail and eventually did get to the end and a gate. I went through and rode up a kind of broken track but ahead was a house and I could see nothing else so I think that actually was a private drive so I went back down to the MTB trail and rode back up and over Gwydyr Forest and picked up some fire roads I recognised and dropped back to the MTB trails car park and then back into Llanwrst to finish. Only a 75 min spin but I bagged some serious gradient. Then back home for tea and cake.
Today was a walk on the front at Penmaenmawr watching some hardy souls get changed and take a dip in the sea. Not for me thanks. Then back to Betws-y-Coed for a carvery with the folks and a 3hr drive home.
A couple of take homes.
- Shit gym equipment is better than no equipment
- You don’t have to ride every day to get fitter
- Working from not your home is great. Change is definitely good if you work like this
Adios until the next time.