March 7th 2010, Mawddach Goldrush day. The first MTB event of the year for me.
Last year I did it as part of a 3 man team so only did one lap but this year I had decided I ’should’ be able to do it solo and do all three laps on my own. The weather was gorgeous, blue skies, cool and little wind. I drove up to Coed y Brenin bright and early, registered, had a coffee in the Visitor Centre with Andy, James and the Martyn and then we headed off to get ready.
After the usual indecision about what to wear Martyn and I headed across to the start area. Martyn managed to get a puncture on the way there so we stopped to fix that and while I was waiting for him to do that I realised I had forgotten to put my timing chip on, so I had to make a quick dash back to the visitor centre, up the hill to the car and then all the back across to the start line. At least I was warmed up I suppose.
Mawddach Goldrush Route 2010
Martyn was waiting when I got back to the start line so we set off straight away. Martyn went off ahead of me and I followed him up the first climb. I half expected to see him head off into the distance, but we were both taking it easy and I kept up with him. The first little bit of singletrack downhill felt nice and again I kept up with Martyn. We then had a fire-road climb and Martyn pulled out a little lead over me. The route-markings weren’t that clear much of the time and there didn’t seem to be many marshalls around either so we weren’t entirely sure we were on the right track all the time, and on one corner on the fireroad Martyn carried straight on as there were no signs or marshalls, only to get a few yards down the track and be told it was the wrong way. I managed to avoid this mistake as I saw it happening in front of me and caught Martyn back up.
The course then headed uphill along a long fireroad climb. I stayed with Martyn for a bit but as I got warmed up and into a nice rhythm I left him behind me and continued on my way. At the top of the climb the route took us through the section known as ‘Heart of Darkness’ – which I have never liked, down the fireroad and then into ‘Snap, Crackle and Pop’. I was descending well, my bike felt good and I overtook quite a few people through these sections. We then climb back up to a section known as ‘Al’s Loop’ which felt fine, before going across the top on fireroads and down the descent known as ‘Rocky Horror Show’. I was flying on this descent, in my big gear and sprinting between the corners, then drifting on the loose gravel, jumping off the little rises and having a great time.
The next little climb felt OK, even though it was icey in a few places and then it was just a matter of a fireroad descent and then into the rocky sections of ‘Mantrap’, ‘Pins and Needles’ and the final berms into the start/finish arena. Again, the sign-posting in Pins and Needles wasn’t great and the course not very clear so I overshot a corner at one point, but I was feeling good and still riding fast.
Lap 1 completed in a time of 1hr 4 mins and onto lap 2. The lap was slightly different this time as we also had to do the section known as ‘R74′ in reverse which is a bit of a singletrack climb. I was still feeling good and overtook quite a few people along here, although on the long fireroad climb afterwards I was overtaken myself by the two leaders who were now on their 3rd lap (They had started before me though!).
Heart of Darkness which I never enjoy wasn’t much fun though as I came off on one of the rocky bends. No damage done though so I continued on my way. The sign-posting caught me out again on the climb to Al’s loop. A sign had fallen over and exposed a different sign pointing off to the right. I knew it was wrong but followed it anyway for a hundred yards or so before realising the error of my ways and returning to the proper course. I didn’t loose much time, probably 30 to 1 minute, but the sign-posting and marshalling really wasn’t very good.
By the time I got to Al’s loop which was about the 15 mile point I was beginning to slow down and start feeling it. I guess my normal rides are around 10-15 miles in length, so it was time for the extra distance to make itself felt. I was still OK though and it was mainly downhill from here to the start finish line and once again I was sprinting along the fireroad at the top and flying down the descents.
As I came into the finish area Matt Page overtook me to finish his 3rd and final lap and pulled off to the side just as I was starting my 3rd lap. I was now beginning to suffer and part of me wished I was in he position, but I wasn’t so I continued on my way. Lap two done in a time of 1 hr 13.
As I started the first climb, my legs started to cramp up a little. I could feel my inner thighs just about to cramp on every pedal revolution as if they were getting strange little electric shocks every time I pedalled. I knew it wouldn’t be long before they cramped up completely but pushed on through the pain.
R74 was hard work, but I did catch and overtake a few people on it, so although I was suffering, I figured everyone else was too. I hoped Martyn was as well, as the last thing I needed at the moment was for him to go sailing past me! At the bottom of the long climb I caught up with some guy and had a bit of a chat. he said he was feeling good, I was feeling terrible but we were climbing at the same pace. He did pull away from me at the very top into Heart of Darkness, which I took really cautiously anyway. I manged to catch him (and quite a few others) up on Snap Crackle and Pop though and pulled away from them all on the climb up to Al’s loop.
It was really hurting now. The twinges of cramp were non-stop and there was no power left. Everytime I had to put in a little extra effort to get up over a little rock or something my legs were in agony and I was just thinking about getting to the top and coasting home. If the terrain pointed upwards at all I was grabbing the granny ring just to keep my legs spinning and my bike moving forwards. If my legs had stopped I would never have got them going again. No sprinting on the descents this time, just keep it going to the end.
As I turned into Mantrap there is a little rock that needs some effort to get up over. As I tired to put down the power, my legs cramped up completely. The quad in my left leg locked out so I couldn’t bend that leg and my hamstring in my right leg cramped up meaning I couldn’t straighten that one. I just about managed to get off the bike but couldn’t move and had to stand there for a while trying to get my legs back into motion.
Eventually I got back on and the next few pedal revolutions were agony, but there was only about a mile and half to go and it was all down hill. I wasn’t going to stop now. My legs never really got going again but I managed to cross the line and after a rest waiting for Martyn to some in even managed to ride all the way back to the car.
My 3rd lap was done in a time of 1 hr 20, for a total time of 3hrs 37. I was pleased with that as I was expecting to be over 4 hours. Martyn came in at around the 4 hour mark, so I was pretty surprised to have beaten him as well.
The weather stayed perfect, I was pleased with my performance, although I do need to do some longer rides so that I’m used to the distance and I had a good day out. The course was tough, the organisation could have been better and with only 140 entrants I felt as though I was riding on my own much of the time.
Here’s a graph of the terrain and my heart rate.
Mawddach Goldrush 2010
Here are the stats from my GPS:
- Total Distance: 28.16 miles
- Total Climb: 5,142 feet
- Total Time: 3:37:54
- Average Speed: 7.8 mph
- Max Speed: 25.1 mph
- Average Heart Rate: 157 bpm
- Max Heart Rate: 172 bpm
Ouch!!! – Next up is the Dyfi Enduro.
With the Mawddach Goldrush looming on Sunday I’m now taking it easy for the second half of this week so that I’m fresh for it. I did however have to do some bike maintenance earlier this week and whilst at it did a wiper seal service on my forks and a rear shock air can service too.
So, yesterday I felt that the bike needed a bit of a shake down before Sunday so went for a ride around the Pendam Trail at Nant yr Arian. All felt fine with the bike, but I’m not getting any faster. Last time I did the Pendam Trail it took me 40 minutes and 42 seconds, which was pretty slow in comparison to my best ever of 37:22. Yesterday I was slower still at 41:05.
It was pretty windy out there which may not have helped, and I did go to circuits and swimfit the night before so wasn’t well rested. However, it doesn’t look like I will be breaking any records at the Mawddach Goldrush on Sunday!
Pendam Trail - March 3rd
After the first lap of the Pendam Trail I then went around the lake again and did some geocache maintenance on one of my Watery Wales 1 series of gecoaches before fiddling with the suspension settings on my bike and doing the Hippity Hop section again. A nice afternoon out in the hills, but I’m not as fast as I should be!
As well as signing up for the Dyfi Enduro 2010 yesterday I managed to get an entry for the Manx E2E, or to give it its full name the Isle of Man End 2 End Challenge.
It’s another Mountain Bike race, this time, as its name would suggest, from one end of the Isle of Man to the other. The course runs from the Point of Ayre at the northern tip of the Island to the Calf Sound at the Southernmost tip – about 75km in total. It isn’t until September so hopefully I’ll be a little fitter by then, but it should be a good day out on the bike. I won’t actually be racing of course, the idea for me is just to finish it and have a good time.
It’s also a good excuse for a long weekend on the Isle of Man.
Tuesdays seem to be my day of training at the moment, although I’m not sure that 3 session in a day is necessarily good thing.
I’ve just done a Turbo Trainer session that felt OK. Either I’m getting better or the calibration is a little out as I keep increasing the wattage for each session but still manage to complete them. I did my 1:1 minute intervals today which I haven’t done for about a month. Last time I did them I did the hard efforts at 360 Watts which had me working at 89% of my maximum (162bpm) and said I’d have to try them at 370 Watts next time.
So, this time I started at 370 Watts but that felt too easy so I increased the wattage with each rep until I was at 400 Watts which felt sufficiently difficult. So after a 15 minute warm up I did
- 1 minute @ 370 Watts, 1 minute @ 120 Watts
- 1 minute @ 380 Watts, 1 minute @ 120 Watts
- 1 minute @ 390 Watts, 1 minute @ 120 Watts
- 1 minute @ 400 Watts, 1 minute @ 120 Watts
- 1 minute @ 400 Watts, 1 minute @ 120 Watts
- 1 minute @ 400 Watts, 1 minute @ 120 Watts
- 1 minute @ 400 Watts, 1 minute @ 120 Watts
Followed by a warm down.
The 400 Watt intervals were pretty hard, getting my heart rate up to a maximum of 166bpm on the last one (92%), but I can’t believe I’ve really improved that much in one month. I’m not complaining if I have, and I guess I’ll have to try all 7 reps at 400 Watts next time.
I’m not sure how my legs will feel at circuit training followed by swimfit tonight though.
Heart Rate from todays Turbo Trainer Interval Session
I didn’t think I’d be able to do that!
Yesterday, despite still having a bit of a cold, I did my 3:2 minute intervals workout on the turbo trainer. Last time I did this workout on Feb 1st I did the hard efforts at 280 Watts and wrote:
My legs were feeling it come the end, but it does seem as though I’m improving. Just in time for some races throughout the summer. It does mean I will have to increase the wattage to 290 Watts next time, which I sure will start to hurt!
So, true to my word, I increased the wattage to 290 Watts yesterday and thought I would struggle. Once again though I completed all seven repetitions and it wasn’t too bad. you know what that means… 300 Watts next time.
My heart rate did peak a little higher than last time (158 bpm rather than 155 bpm), but that is nowhere near my maximum, so hopefully I’ll at least get close to completing it at 300 Watts. Maybe I am improving for real.
Turbo Trainer Workout
I’ve had a bit of a cold lately, it’s nothing too bad just a sore throat, headache and bunged up a bit, but considering what happened last time I exercised whilst ill I’ve been taking it easy.
Last time I ended up getting pericarditis and spending several days on the cardiac ward at Bronglais Hospital. A good enough incentive not to do the same again but doing nothing is next to impossible. I haven’t been swimming or to circuits and I’ve missed out on a night MTB ride, but I mist admit to having done a couple of fairly easy Turbo Trainer sessions. I’m sure the odd recovery style session on the Turbo Trainer can’t do me too much harm. I hope not anyway.
Hopefully the cold will clear up soon so that I can get back into some training ready for the Mawddach Goldrush. Otherwise I’m going to be struggling to get round.
Only one month to go until the Mawddach Goldrush so I thought I’d better get some longer rides in. That was the plan for Saturday, but the surf was going off so I had to go for a surf at Ynyslas first. The surf turned out to be pretty much as good as it gets here, but I still had a ride to do so I was soon out of the sea and heading off for the hills.
The Mawddach Goldrush is a 3 lap race with each lap being about 10 miles in length. According to my GPS readings from last year (where I did a single lap as part of a team) the climb involved in that 10 miles was 1185 feet. So, the total for all 3 laps should be around 30 miles with 3500 or so feet of climbing.
My route today went from the sea along the flat roads across Borth Bog to Tre-Ddol. A nice 4 mile warm up and then straight up the beast of a climb behind Tre-Ddol. It is always a struggle but my legs felt tired today so I was pleased to even make it up without having to get off my bike. It really is quite steep mind you, just take a look at the topography on the graph below and the steepness of that first hill.
Today's Training Ride
After the initial climb I headed off towards Artists Valley and as you can see it leveled off for a while before I had what is essentially a 6 mile climb up through Artist’s Valley. This is always quite a slog and today was no different. The conditions however were perfect, no wind, not too warm, sunny and with great views down the valley to the Dyfi Estuary. I eventually made it to the top and then headed off down the MX trails towards the mines and then along some more MX trails through the forest to the Nant y Moch road. From here I looped back up once again to the high point above Angler’s Retreat before dropping back down into Artists Valley via ‘Al’s Descent ‘ which was riding really well. The bottom part of the descent wasn’t great though as it had been pretty cut up by recent forestry work.
I then carried on down through Artists Valley. With 20 miles under by tyres I was now beginning to feel pretty tired so even the small climbs up through the woods were pretty hard. Thankfully though from here on it was just a matter of two little climbs and then a descent back to the flat roads to the sea. The final 4 miles along the flat were OK, but I was certainly glad that I didn’t have another hill to climb.
The total distance was 28 miles with 3108 feet of climbing. Not quite as far or as much climbing as the Mawddach Goldrush and quite a lot of it was on the road so I’m still going to be struggling this time next month. Hopefully a couple more longish rides will get me in better shape for it though.
Back at home after a bath and some dinner and my legs are pretty tired, my knee hurts and my back is sore. I think I’ll take it easy tomorrow, but with only 1 month left I need to get some training in!
The trouble with trying ti get fit is that it can become a little more than a habit and become an obsession. You end up trying to do more in order to improve, but in the end just do too much. Resting is very much an important part of any training schedule and after last night MTB ride I think today and tomorrow will be rest days for me.
I felt tired from the start and I guess that isn’t surprising. The day before I did a turbo trainer session in the afternoon, followed by a circuit training session and a swimfit session. Then, on top of all that I didn’t sleep very well, only managing to fall asleep for an hour or so on Tuesday night. I then met Dave in Penrhyncoch for a long ride last night. We started off with a long ride up the Bont Goch climb and it wasn’t long before I realised that my legs weren’t up to it. I was soon lagging behind Dave who seemed to be more spritely than usual!
I made it to the top where we met Dan and we headed off through the mist and fog around the Summit Trail. Dan isn’t quite up to speed at the moment either, so at least I had someone behind me on the leg-burner climb, but Dan headed off home after that leaving me trying to keep up with Dave again.
We came back down from Nant yr Arian via Cymsymlog which although a descent does have quite a bit of pedalling along the flats and little rises so even that was hard work but at least I managed to put it in a big gear and keep up. The battery on my lights then died so I had to stick with Dave’s wheel for the last half mile or so in order to see where I was going.
As you can see, it was a fairly hilly 20 miles.
Last nights ride
A good ride, but I’m not sure how useful it was as I was just plodding around doing my best to keep going. Time for a rest day today and maybe some yoga in preparation for a nice long steady ride over the weekend.
I’m enjoying this and seem to be getting better.
I did the same workout as last week, 3:2 minute intervals on the turbo trainer. Last week I did them at 270 Watts with the final one at 280 Watts and my heart rate hit 164bpm on the last one. This week I increased the wattage to 280 Watts and expected to struggle. The first repetition did feel quite hard and I still thought I might struggle come the end, but as I got into it they seemed to stay relatively easy. So much so that I increased the wattage to 290 Watts on the last one. Despite that my heart rate only peaked at 155 Watts.
My legs were feeling it come the end, but it does seem as though I’m improving. Just in time for some races throughout the summer. It does mean I will have to increase the wattage to 290 Watts next time, which I sure will start to hurt!
Nice steady interval workout
It looks as though my hard work on the turbo trainer may be paying off as I seem to be making some improvements.
I did my 1 minute interval session yesterday, where after a warm up I try to do 7 repetitions of 1 minute hard and 1 minute easy. After a little bit of experimentation over a few weeks I found my limits and could just about do these with the hard effort at 350 Watts. I have since done a few of these at 350 Watts, which normally gets my heart rate up to around 90-95% of my theoretical maximum.
Last time I did them on January 19th they felt a little easier and heart rate was only 89% of its maximum so today was the day to increase the output to 360 Watts. I had tried them at 360 Watts before and failed miserably. On that occasion I only managed 5 repetitions, but today was different. In fact, although the last one did feel quite tough it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I managed all 7 reps and with a maximum heart rate of 162bpm I was still only working at 89% of my maximum.
This may all sound very encouraging and it looks as though there are signs of improvement, but it also means that I should try them at 370 Watts next time. I don’t think I’ll be able to complete all 7 reps at that power output, but it has to be worth a go.
I felt quite good at circuits and in the pool on Tuesday too, so maybe I’m just having a good couple of days – We’ll see how I fare in the real world on my night MTB ride tonight.
Heart rate from todays Turbo Trainer workout
