One year of cycling, with data
As part of my cycling effort I have tracked all my activities. Overall, this is about getting insight where possible to drive my fitness. The unfortunate side effect of cycling was that I just love to push myself on the bike and chase small gains. These can physical, mental or macro gains. So no matter the insight I wanted it tracked. As of the 18th January 2016 I had been doing this for one year solid so I thought it was time to look back at my data and see what I had done. My rides in 2015 averaged 3–4 times per week and generally I was hooked in to the benefits over all. This is now a feeling of dread when I miss days in the saddle.
If you have read my other posts I bang on about that ‘one ride’ that broke me and got me into cycling. Again. As a kid I was an avid mountain bike rider. Even did a few races ;) So the ride that got me hooked was a door to door loop through a local NSW haunt called Bobbin Head. You can ride this either clockwise or counter clockwise and by all accounts, having ridden it both ways, it seems that clockwise is the easier of the two although the climb is a bit harder to endure in my humble opinion.
The graphic on the left showcases this first ride. Just a few points to note for the data junkies. Different bike. Didn't capture the first 3 kms. Used the Strava app not my Garmin. Also, this was my first ride on a road bike as well as peddaling since I was a kid and it cooked me!
Now if we compare to the 1 year anniversary we can see the gians. Again, this was measured with a different set of tools but even with the marginal data point differences I did take the same route. To me the key points here are the average speed jump and overall ride time. Also they are the only comparable data points ;) Never the less I was happy to see such a big jump in efforts.
Overall there where a few segments that could be compared. I have starred them and use them as indicators as I have ridden this route as either a single ride or part of other rides 45 times. One segment is the a toll box to toll box segment which covers both the downhill and climb out (Jan 2015 @ 34:45 & Jan 2016 @ 19:26). I also track just the climb specifically (Jan 2015 @ 20:01 & Jan 2016 @ 10:22). Now I am not looking to take the KOM as I have no idea how I could possible achieve it. Well I do. I’d have to shave 2:30 off my climb time!!! Thats a lot of weight to lose and training to get that done and lets face it, I’m 38 years old and not looking to trim up to much more! I also have a job and kids so commitments are mixed. But I would be happy getting into the top 250 which means at least 1 minute shaved off the climb. So work to be done.
Looking back at 2015
2015 was full of rides. 181 to be exact. Now this was a mix of both road and trainer sessions in the pain cave. The start of 2015 was aimed at getting to a fun cycling event at the end of March called the Bobbin Head Cycling Classic and I had signed up for the 102km ride. This was to be my first Gran Fondo and I wanted to complete the ride so training was important. Once I had completed the event I had a what now moment and I turned my focus to training plans. I did 2 via TrainerRoad and then moved onto two others via SufferFest. These being the climbing and speed 3 week intensive sessions. I love SufferFest videos by the way. Far better when in the pain cave than just sitting there watching the clock and netflixs. You can see these sessions happening in May, June, July and October respectivly.
Looking at 2016
Looking ahead I am going to continue to my efforts. I am focused on gains where I can get them. I just need these school holidays to end so that I get back to my routine.