My condolences goes out to her family, friends, and fellow members in Bergen Cykleklubb.
My thoughts are with you!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Condolences
Tuesday afternoon a group from Bergen Cykleklubb was involved in a tragic accident where one of their riders died from her injuries.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Last long ride before Bergen - Voss
Today we did our last longer ride before Bergen - Voss 2012. We started out at Vågsbotn and rode to Gullbotn and back for a total of 58.8km.
I was going slightly to fast in the 10km before the climb from Trengereid to Gullbotn and my legs felt quite heavy as we started the climb. I decided to take it easy and so I let Terje and Beathe get away at their own speed and focused on keeping my heart-rate low, or as low as I could :), for the entire climb.
It took me 21 minutes to climb to the top of Gullbotn but as I arrived at the top I felt better then down at the beginning and I only lost 3-4 minutes compared to going closer to my maximum. This was a good reminder that I need to be careful during the race so that I do not push to hard in the climbs as I will not lose to much time anyway. I will most likely loos MUCH more time if I run out of juice halfway through Hardanger.
For the coming week I will only make one more short ride, Wednesday or Thursday, and I am now really looking forward to the race on Saturday :)
I was going slightly to fast in the 10km before the climb from Trengereid to Gullbotn and my legs felt quite heavy as we started the climb. I decided to take it easy and so I let Terje and Beathe get away at their own speed and focused on keeping my heart-rate low, or as low as I could :), for the entire climb.
It took me 21 minutes to climb to the top of Gullbotn but as I arrived at the top I felt better then down at the beginning and I only lost 3-4 minutes compared to going closer to my maximum. This was a good reminder that I need to be careful during the race so that I do not push to hard in the climbs as I will not lose to much time anyway. I will most likely loos MUCH more time if I run out of juice halfway through Hardanger.
For the coming week I will only make one more short ride, Wednesday or Thursday, and I am now really looking forward to the race on Saturday :)
Saturday, May 26, 2012
1 week left - New personal best on test ride around Manger
Today Beathe, Terje and myself set out trying to set a personal best on our test ride around Manger, starting at my house. My previous best was just prior to Bergen-Voss last year and was 1 hour 22 minutes giving an average speed of 24.3km/h on the 33.3 km ride. The weather was perfect today, slightly cloudy and 20 degree Celsius and no wind to talk about. Terje and Beathe arrived at 20:00 and all three were looking forward to the ride.
The three of us started out at a good pace but we where still caught up by another rider about 5km into the ride. He asked if he could join us and Beathe told him he could, but we might go to slow for him. However he decided to join us and with him taking the lead, the pace went up and it made it easier to keep an higher pace as well.
On the flats I can still out-ride Beathe but I stand no chance in the climbs, so in the climb up Lifjellet the three of them, Beathe, Terje and the rider with-no-name pulled ahead of me. Even So I set a new person best in the climb by 15 seconds doing it in 5:41.
Going down from Lifjellet towards Manger I was struggling to catch up on the trio ahead and did not catch up to them until we passed the gas station at Manger as they slowed down slightly to wait for me. Up from Manger we kept going at a much quicker pace then I though we would do, and although I was struggling to keep up with them in the small climbs I managed to get back to them in the descents.
As we got to the top of the last climb and only had the flats passing Austamarka left of the ride I knew I would set a very good personal best which gave me tons of extra energy and together with Terje and the rider-with-no-name taking the lead a third of the time each, we managed to keep a speed of 40+ km/h, which for me is maximum of what I can do on the flats at the moment.
As we turned off from the main road towards my house we waved goodbye to the rider-with-no-name and pulled up in front of the house with a finishing time of 1 hour 13 minutes and 30 seconds giving an average speed of 27.2km/h. This was 14 minutes and 30 second faster then my seasonal best and 8 minutes and 30 seconds faster then my personal best from last year and that was a VERY GOOD FEELING :)
Todays ride gave me a lot of confidence that I will be able to improve my finishing time for Bergen - Voss this year, and I am now really looking forward to the race on June 2nd. I will be crossing my fingers the we will get as good a weather as we did to day, and according to the forecast we might just get lucky :)
Today's ride also meant I passed 700km on the bike this season, which is 300km less then I hoped for but more then I did last season, so all in all I think I should still feel good about the amount of km I have managed to put in this spring.
Today's ride also meant I passed 700km on the bike this season, which is 300km less then I hoped for but more then I did last season, so all in all I think I should still feel good about the amount of km I have managed to put in this spring.
Stats of today's ride: www.strava.com
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Slow and steady
Today it is only 2 weeks left until the Bergen - Voss race and I am starting to look forward to it now. As Janicke is in London this weekend it looked like it would be hard to get in the hours on the bike that I should put in, however, my parents are babysitting the kids today and tomorrow allowing me to get in two long rides this weekend :)
Today I did a shorter ride of 54.8km with an average speed of 23.1 kph, and i was quite happy with the ride. My average HR was probably a bit to high but I felt quite ok after the ride so even though it was a bit harder then I planed fro it was still a good ride.
Tomorrow morning the plan is to do a long ride together with Terje.
Stats for today's ride: http://app.strava.com/rides/8860326
Today I did a shorter ride of 54.8km with an average speed of 23.1 kph, and i was quite happy with the ride. My average HR was probably a bit to high but I felt quite ok after the ride so even though it was a bit harder then I planed fro it was still a good ride.
Tomorrow morning the plan is to do a long ride together with Terje.
Stats for today's ride: http://app.strava.com/rides/8860326
Back in business - 4x8 interval session
It was good to be "back in business" after a week and a half being ill and then to busy to put in the time needed on the bike.
Today Terje and I drove to Takvam and did 4x8 min intervals in the climb up to the roundabout at Trengereid, starting from outside the last tunnel. We did 3 intervals in this climb and then the forth interval up the small hill back towards Takvam. As this is a small 2min climb we keep pushing for 6 minutes on the flat part after the climb. I like this combination as we get a higher pace and cadence on the last interval which I feel help the restitution after the interval session.
The goal is to do each of the 3 intervals at the same speed, however, Terje and I where as usual to competitive pushing each other on the first two intervals, I beat him on the first one and he beat me on the second. However, we burned to much energy on the first two intervals causing the last interval to go a bit to slow. Next time we will hold back on the first interval and try to keep the same speed on all 3.
Today Terje and I drove to Takvam and did 4x8 min intervals in the climb up to the roundabout at Trengereid, starting from outside the last tunnel. We did 3 intervals in this climb and then the forth interval up the small hill back towards Takvam. As this is a small 2min climb we keep pushing for 6 minutes on the flat part after the climb. I like this combination as we get a higher pace and cadence on the last interval which I feel help the restitution after the interval session.
The goal is to do each of the 3 intervals at the same speed, however, Terje and I where as usual to competitive pushing each other on the first two intervals, I beat him on the first one and he beat me on the second. However, we burned to much energy on the first two intervals causing the last interval to go a bit to slow. Next time we will hold back on the first interval and try to keep the same speed on all 3.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Setting up the TacX Flow
I have been sick for the past 3-4 days and as the weather is cold and rainy I will wait a couple of days to go outside on the bike. So to still get some training done on the bike I have picked up the TacX Flow from storage and changed the tire on the bike and will do interval sessions on the TacX Flow for the next days before hopefully get a long ride with Terje on Sunday.
It will be interesting to see if the Strava WEB site will recognize my indoor session. It would be good to log teh heart rate zones during my intervals.
It will be interesting to see if the Strava WEB site will recognize my indoor session. It would be good to log teh heart rate zones during my intervals.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Around Manger - Season best
Today I went for a ride around Manger and the goal was to set a personal best for the season.
This however, was before I checked out the weather! After the first 10km I was in the middle of a snowstorm and I was already 4-5 minutes behind with an average HB 10 beats higher so I realized it would be hard to beat my previous best time giving the bad head wind.
As the road turns away from the Fjord, I got more protected from the wind and things started to feel a lot better although it was still snowing and quite cold. Approaching the climb up Lifjellet my legs felt quite good so I started the climb at a higher speed then I usually do, and I managed to keep the speed through the climb resulting in a new personal best 1min and 15 seconds quicker then my previous best.
At this point I was a bit more optimistic regarding setting a new seasonal best on the course around Manger.
I past Manger after 47 minutes which was about 3 minutes behind schedule for a new best time. However, now I had the wind working in my favor and as I passed Lunde I had cached up and as I stopped outside at home the timer showed 1h 28min 40s almost 4 min quicker the my previous best.
I was hoping for a better time as I started out this morning, but given the windy weather I am happy with the time.
Hope it will not be as windy tomorrow when I plan to ride around Rolvsvågen with Terje.
Stats for the ride:
This however, was before I checked out the weather! After the first 10km I was in the middle of a snowstorm and I was already 4-5 minutes behind with an average HB 10 beats higher so I realized it would be hard to beat my previous best time giving the bad head wind.
As the road turns away from the Fjord, I got more protected from the wind and things started to feel a lot better although it was still snowing and quite cold. Approaching the climb up Lifjellet my legs felt quite good so I started the climb at a higher speed then I usually do, and I managed to keep the speed through the climb resulting in a new personal best 1min and 15 seconds quicker then my previous best.
At this point I was a bit more optimistic regarding setting a new seasonal best on the course around Manger.
I past Manger after 47 minutes which was about 3 minutes behind schedule for a new best time. However, now I had the wind working in my favor and as I passed Lunde I had cached up and as I stopped outside at home the timer showed 1h 28min 40s almost 4 min quicker the my previous best.
I was hoping for a better time as I started out this morning, but given the windy weather I am happy with the time.
Hope it will not be as windy tomorrow when I plan to ride around Rolvsvågen with Terje.
Stats for the ride:
Friday, May 4, 2012
New bike - Everest Racing Carbon Ultegra
After the crash last Sunday the costs for fixing the bike ended up being to high so I decided to buy a new bike. The old bike was 10 years old now so it might have been time for a change anyway.
One of Janickes coworkers suggested I should go to Sykkelsenteret downtown Bergen as they had a good offer for a full-carbon bike from Everest, their own brand. The carbon frame is built on the same factory as among others Hard Rocx and is virtually the same frame.
They set off plenty of time at Sykkelsenteret to go over the bike and to do a proper bike fitting. After just two short rides on the bike there is no doubt that my sitting position on the new bike felt much better then on the old bike. I will get back to this once I finish my first longer ride on the new bike.
I have just checked and the bike weighed in at 8.1kg fully equipped with bike computer, bottle cages, etc, which is a lot less then my old Cannondale. I am looking forward to my first longer ride on the new bike :)
Equipment:
One of Janickes coworkers suggested I should go to Sykkelsenteret downtown Bergen as they had a good offer for a full-carbon bike from Everest, their own brand. The carbon frame is built on the same factory as among others Hard Rocx and is virtually the same frame.
 |
| Everest Racing Carbon Ultegra |
The staff at Sykkelsenteret was as usual very friendly and helpful and it did not take long to convince me that the bike was a good buy especially as it was fully equipped with Shimano Ultegra 6700.
They set off plenty of time at Sykkelsenteret to go over the bike and to do a proper bike fitting. After just two short rides on the bike there is no doubt that my sitting position on the new bike felt much better then on the old bike. I will get back to this once I finish my first longer ride on the new bike.
I have just checked and the bike weighed in at 8.1kg fully equipped with bike computer, bottle cages, etc, which is a lot less then my old Cannondale. I am looking forward to my first longer ride on the new bike :)
Equipment:
| Frame | Everest Astro Carbon |
| Fork | Carbon Racing |
| Wheel-set | Mavic Aksium |
| Tires | Schwalbe Lugano 700x23c |
| Pedals | Not included (used my old pedals) |
| Crank | Shimano Ultegra 50-34 |
| Krans | Shimano Ultegra CS-6700 |
| Front Derailleur | Shimano Ultegra |
| Rear Derailleur | Shimano Ultegra |
| Bars | Ritchey Road Pro Logic II |
| Stem | Ritchey Road Pro 30D |
| Brakes | Shimano Ultegra |
| Break Levers | Shimano Ultegra |
| Seat | Ritchey Pro |
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