Cold Weather Training

Woke up this morning to find the temperature outside at -2°C. Luckily our workout time was delayed until Midday giving the sun an opportunity to rise and warm the air up a bit. I'd decided to cycle to the rendezvous at Aigleblanche - about 30 minutes by bike but mostly downhill - potentially freezing downhill.

Lesley still managing a smile after falling and badly hurting her collar bone

Overshoes, thick socks, wind-proof under helmet hat covering the ears, fleecy gloves, wind proofed leggings and three long sleeved layers on top with a wind-proofed  front. Surprisingly it worked. Only the exposed areas of the face were nipped by the cold. It helps being fresh and full of energy in the morning.

I was worried about the Achilles tendinitis that made even walking difficult a couple of days ago - but to my amazement there was absolutely no sign of it when cycling - even when pushing as hard as possible. Cross training is the answer to many problems in sport!  

I think today that I realised that any worries about a boring route are really due to being tired. If you are fresh then it's never boring - and I was fresh having spent several days resting and fuelling up by gobbling entire fruit cakes. Our route would be in the valley from close to Moutiers all the way to Albertville and then almost to Chambery - following the hilly North side of the valley on the way out. In total - including the ride to the rendezvous it was around 125km. The start was fairly relaxed but Lesley made a great effort and held on well to the group when the pace picked up. This route is great for small climbs which you can attack as if doing interval training. Having just finished David Millar's new book and realising the pain that elite riders live with I gave myself permission to hurt and not worry about it. Aside from a little pain in the upper right quads there was no real discomfort other than the mental strain of sustaining high power output at times. 

When we went through Albertville Richard had noticed that my dérailleur was badly misaligned so when we stopped at traffic lights he got of his bike, reached down and bent it back! I would never have dared to try that for fear of damaging the bike (snapping the carbon frame!) but he seemed to know that it is the replaceable aluminium lug that bends and is the source of the problem.  This of course knocked my gear selection off badly but cable adjuster knob at the front end of the frame had enough range to correct it.  The hills on the side of the scenic valley between Albertville and Chambery were excellent for pushing hard - because they are relatively short. This still accumulates to almost 1000m of climbing during the day despite most of the route being flat. Chris wanted to stop to take a photo of the vineyards (photo above) and unfortunately Lesley clipped his rear wheel as she looked across to the vineyards when Chris was slowing. Our photo stop became an accident scene and trun around point. We headed off to the nearest village for a warm up stop and hot drinks - meanwhile it was becoming clear that Lesley wasn't really fit for the long ride back  - at least 2 hours of pushing very hard.

Vineyards and snowy mountain tops

Our solution was for Lesley to jump on a train at the local station and get off within a few kilometres of the start point where her car was parked. Taxi fares were just stupidly expensive at 100 euros - while the train was only 8 euros. Richard had continued alone to his final destination in Chambery and we said goodbye to Lesley at the train station. The ride back to Albertville is very hard because it consists of very long straight flats on South side of the valley. We shared the lead and drafting to keep up a good speed and it was only after Albertville on the final leg that we both started to show signs of tiredness. Heading back up the valley towards Aigueblanche it is a gentle climb with a few undulations and although we were going strongly there were no really hard attacks like there had been earlier on. We were in the shade now with the sun dipping down behind the mountains so it didn't take long for the cold to start to creep up on us. 4hrs 35minutes on the bike were starting to wear me down now. Reaching Aigueblanche and the car park we were both surprised and concerned that Lesley's car was still there and no sign of her. She didn't have her telephone either - or any extra money! We had left her at the train station over 2 hours earlier and she should have been here by now. About five minutes after our arrival and just as we were formulating a rescue plan she appeared on her bike through the car park entrance - the train had been slow and a bit of an adventure in it's own right by all accounts. We hadn't expected to beat public transport on bikes over that distance though I did mention the possibility of it to Chris as we set off from the station. 

I'm anxious to hear how Lesley's shoulder progresses and hopefully it's only a bruise that will recover quickly. The workout was otherwise excellent and I think it's a route that will be visited quite a lot this winter.