Kep Track and Back

Instead of boozing and listening to Cold Chisel on Australia Day (yesterday) I decided to take on (what I thought was) a 100km ride from Mundaring to Bakers Hill, along the Kep Track (Kep is the local Aboriginal word for water, and the track follows the water pipeline).

To keep me motivated, I invited a mate, Fabian, who is an absolute bike-riding animal. Left home at 0530, arrived in Mundaring by 0615, where I worked on stretching my left hamstring for about 10 minutes (this is undoubtedly the tightest muscle in my body, and needs a good stretch before I ride). Fabs turned up around 0645, and we hit the track. The Kep Track is generally considered an easy ride (minor gradients), but it is the length of the ride that tests you.

Rode to Wooroloo (25km, 1.5 hrs), took in some food and an energy gel, and then headed to Bakers Hill (17km, 1 hr). From Wooroloo to Bakers Hill, there was a section of track that is frequented by horses (lots of them), about 3km in length. Horses break up the track surface, and leave about a half inch divot each step. The dual suspension MTB could not keep up with the bumps, and all the jarring was transferrin via the seat into my lower back. VERY ANNOYING, but thankfully the track took a slight down slope on this section, so I was able to stand up and absorb some of the bumps in my legs (hmmm, don’t I have to return on the same track??).

Got to Bakers Hill, where we engulfed a couple of meat pies (very famous pie shop in “Bakers” Hill), and swallowed as much liquid as our bodies would allow (the temperature was climbing steadily, getting close to 30 deg C). I refilled the Gatorade bottle and the CamelBak bladder, and started back to Mundaring. A quick check of the Polar, and I had already ridden for 2.5 hours, with an average HR%Max of 78 – pretty good, and I was still feeling comfortable.

NOW, what I haven’t mentioned is that the Kep Track from Mundaring to Bakers Hill is slightly down-sloping, so we were able to keep a reasonable pace with reasonable exertion (remember, my HR%Max was 78). Heading back was a VERY different story. Slightly uphill, almost all the way.

Remember those horses hoof prints; well they are MURDER when you have to sit in the saddle and pedal through them.

Side point: would the world really miss horses if they were to suddenly disappear – I mean, do they serve any other ecological purpose, other than recreation???

By the time we got to Wooroloo, my back was starting to spasm. More food and another gel, and I felt a bit better, but then the leg cramps started. By this time, the temperature was starting to rise to the mid 30’s, and I was in a dark and nasty place (plus I had a pounding headache).

I was cursing everything around me, including the persistent little flies that were trying to drink the sweat and salt off my face. With a little bit of encouragement from Fabs (“c’mon buddy, move those legs” was his favourite), I managed to push through the cramps and blinding headache back to Mundaring. It was then that I looked down at the handlebar-mounted lie detector and it only said 85km – WTF (a reassessment of the map today reveals that number to be true – I had miscalculated the distance).

Another look at the metrics for the journey back from Bakers Hill and my average HR%Max was 89. Bloody hell, no wonder I was fugged on the way back. Nonetheless, we still managed to make it back in the same amount of time as getting out there (2.5 hours) so I was pleased that I was able to raise the effort level even with the extra obstacles on the way back (uphill, cramps, headache, heat, hoof divots, flies, etc, etc).

Blew a seal

"Hey, Polar Bear, have you been eating an icecream?"

"Nah, I just blew a seal..."

I was pedalling (hard) on the wind trainer this morning, and I suddenly got that sinking feeling, from the front of the bike. I have a look down and the fork is totally deflated, and there is fork oil all over the stanchions. Sh.t.... Talked to the boys at the LBS and they reckon it could be the air and oil seals. Bummer. Worst of all they say I have to get it sent to the east coast for repair. Bugger that. I called around a few bike shops, and it turns out Malaga Cycles can do the repair for me tomorrow. Fantastic. It'll probably cost me a couple hundred dollars to fix, but cheaper than a new fork, and best of all I'm not without a bike for the weekend.

50 k's

I dragged my ass out of bed at quarter to 6 yesterday morning so I could get in an early ride before the heat of the day set in (the temperature reached a maximum of 43.7 degrees C). There was also a fairly consistent wind of about 25 km/h coming from the east. My aim was to string 2 of my normal rides together, to make a 50 km loop. I first rode West past Lake Monger, then Lake Herdsman, then down Hale Road to the coast. I then turned South and rode past City Beach to Swanbourne, then I turned East (yes into the wind unfortunately) then rode past Claremont Showgrounds, Subiaco and Northbridge, until I got to Burswood. I then turned back West to ride along the South Perth foreshore to the Narrows Bridge, then finally turned North to head back home, via Parliament House. All up, about 2.5 hours in the saddle, and almost exactly 50 km. I averaged 77 HR%Max, with a peak of 89% (there were a couple of small hills into the wind that really pushed me). I was very happy at the end of the ride that I felt so good – minor leg soreness, but nothing long-lasting. Most of all I was very happy that I had managed to stay hydrated – I drank almost 3 litres of fluid in 2.5 hours (2 litres of water and 750 ml of Gatorade), plus a good glug of water as soon as I got home. My fitness is definitely improving, which is very good. The next challenge will be a 100 km ride along the Kep Track, from Mundaring to Bakers Hill, return.

Spinning

I have recently (in the past 6 months) discovered the fantastic-ness of spinning (sorry for making up that word, but I couldn't think of another more suitable one). Spinning is simply pedalling at high revolutions, or cadence (in my opinion, anything above 80 RPM is spinning).

Why spin? Well, I'm sure there is a lot of physiological science to it, but I have found that if you spin the pedals at high cadence, you actually use less energy than "mashing" the pedals. In general, this means selecting a lower gear, and aiming to keep at the same speed as if you were in a higher gear.

I have recently purchased a heart rate monitor (in the last month), and interestingly I find that my heart rate is about 10% higher if I'm "mashing" the pedals, rather than spinning. I'm told that when you spin, you are adding less pressure to the pedals on each revolution. The amount of pressure you exert on the pedals directly correlates to the amount of oxygen your leg muscles require to be pumped from your heart/lungs, and this corresponds to your heart rate.

So, all this means that high gear mashing means you maintain a higher heart rate, and therefore tire quicker than if you are low gear spinning (especially noticable over longer distances, say > 50km).

Another intersting thing I have noticed is that maintaining deep breathing generally keeps your heart rate lower than shallow breathing (when working at the same intensity). I guess this is because there is more oxygen feeding the muscles, which in turn puts less pressure on your heart to pump more oxygen.

Who'd of thought there was so much science to riding a bike (I secretly love it!!).

Night riding

Well, looks like I am about to join the fraternity of night riders. I have long wanted to ride at night with my mates, but the prohibitive cost of a decent set of lights deterred my interest. It is pretty hard to justify to the wife an outlay of $400+ for something that keeps me away from home more.

Lo and behold, my old favourite bike-gear-website Chain Reaction Cycles have done it again - this time they've extracted a mere $95 from me for a set of NiteFlux lights (VisionStick). These little beauties have a 15 watt halogen AND a 4 watt LED, with 2 batteries, plus handlebar and helmet mounts (all for less than a hundy). How good is that? Ironically, this is an Australian company, and it is cheaper to buy their products from a UK website, than from their own website.

I know that I am not doing the Australian mountain bike industry any favours by purchasing my goodies overseas, but when you can get it for a quarter of the price overseas, why wouldn't you? I am not that altruistic that I need to feel "good about myself" by buying my stuff on home soil.

Interval training

I recently borrowed a book from a triathelete mate of mine, which sets out a 24 week program for competing in an "ironman" tri. No chance of me doing that, but there is a great section relating to riding, which goes into depth on interval training.

I've never attempted "intervals" before, but I borrowed another mates wind trainer (called a "turbo trainer" in the book) and have selected a set of intervals from the book, and am getting into them. So far I have done 4 sessions, spread over 2 weeks (don't want to overdo it - sarc) and I already feel stronger on the bike. As well as the intervals, I'm also doing 50-70km per week on a combination of road and dirt, as well as a couple of gym sessions. I'd dearly love to do all my training on dirt, but seeing as I don't have vast amounts of time available to me, I do about 2/3 of this on road (I love slicks on my mountain bike - it goes like the wind, and looks great too).

Bring on the Karri Cup in February.

42 Degrees

That is how hot it is predicted for this Sunday, and I was planning in putting in my first 100km ride as part of my training for the Karri Cup in late February. Not likely if it's going to be that hot!!

I think I'll keep it to an early morning ride ~50k's, maybe taking in the coastal ride, then around the bridges in Perth. That will still give me a few kays under the belt, and hopefully keep me from baking int he heat.