This might interest people

Fantastic! I bet somewhere in the back of that new fitter head, the racing bug has got to be biting. Try to squelch it before it ruins all the good you've done.

Signed,
One of the afflicted (I'm 40 and still dream of winning Flanders)🙂

YMCA said:

Fantastic! I bet somewhere in the back of that new fitter head, the racing bug has got to be biting. Try to squelch it before it ruins all the good you've done.

Signed,
One of the afflicted (I'm 40 and still dream of winning Flanders)🙂

It's biting YM : fear of crashing holds me back.

I am on the cusp of 40 and I dream too (more Milan-SanRemo in my case !!)

Very nice. Congratulations so far, and good luck!

limerickman said:

In hindsight I think that even if I don't reach my target, that my regime has made me healthier and fitter.

Setting challenges that help us as well as helping others pays double dividends. Nice work.

frenchyge said:

Very nice. Congratulations so far, and good luck!

Setting challenges that help us as well as helping others pays double dividends. Nice work.

thanks French,

I would recommend to people that if they can make the time, they should set themselves a target that is achievable and which they will stick to.

I am 100% convinced that exercise makes us all better, no matter how little/much we do.

My only regret is that I ever stopped racing.

Way to go, Limerickman!
Does this mean you're too big for the W200 jersey I sent last year?
Also on the cusp of 40,but parenthood has put a dent on my two wheeled activities...

disraeligears said:

Way to go, Limerickman!
Does this mean you're too big for the W200 jersey I sent last year?
Also on the cusp of 40,but parenthood has put a dent on my two wheeled activities...

That swap worked out well, didn't it Disraeli ?
How's that jersey I sent ya ?
the jersey you sent me is now too big !

How did you fair this year ?

HEY thats commendable stuff.

Theres nothing wrong with having goals as you already know. What I find the most interesting is that you say you have 9,603 miles completed and a short time to complete your total goal. Anyone else would have probably said Im not going to make it but you seem to have the winning spirit.

limerickman said:

At the start of 2005, I committed myself to trying to reach the target distance of 12,000 miles on the bike in one calendar year.

I set this target for a number of reasons :

1.Having done the 2004 Etape du Tour, I realised that I could get a hell of a lot fitter.
2.if I reach 12,000 mile distance by 31/12/05, I will raise a sizable amount of money for charity.
3.I attempted it because I wanted to see if I could bloody well do it.

I don't commute on my bike.
Therefore all mileage is accumulated by either training or taking part in events.
And the fact that I haven't raced in nearly 18 years, most of my mileage is from training.
(I do partake in long distance events - not races).

Having reached 9,603 miles to 14th Oct 2005, i still have some way to go but
here are some observations :

(a) my weight has reduced from 209 lbs to 186lbs since 01/01/05.
(b) my clothes sizes have dropped substantially : (34 inch waist size is down to 30inch : collar size is down also)
(c) I haven't suffered some much a sniffle (touchwood) since 01/01/05.
(d) my food intake has dropped - even though I'm exercising more.
(e) my resting heart rate 61 bpm has dropped to a consistent 48 bpm
(f) my blood pressure reading, which was 125/83 has dropped to 110/70 consistently.

The commitment to getting the miles in is difficult at times.
Time management and family life suffers but I am lucky that I am self employed.

In hindsight I think that even if I don't reach my target, that my regime has made me healthier and fitter.

Hi Limerickman,

That's quite a few miles you've put in already. You must be in great shape, I think by the time I finish this year I'll have done about 9,000 km. I'm curious, how do you think this volume of training has affected your competition performance?

-Bikeguy

bikeguy said:

Hi Limerickman,

That's quite a few miles you've put in already. You must be in great shape, I think by the time I finish this year I'll have done about 9,000 km. I'm curious, how do you think this volume of training has affected your competition performance?

-Bikeguy

I don't race and haven't raced for 18 years.

But I do keep data on long distance events that I take part in, year on year.

Here are some samples :

Limerick-Dublin : 220 kms (125 miles)
2004 : 8 hrs 17mins (cyclingtime)
2005 : 7 hrs 19 mins (cyclingtime)

Dublin-Cork : 275 Kms (170 miles)
2004 : 10 hrs 52mins (cyclingtime)
2005 : 9 hrs 21mins (cyclingtime)

Limerick-Waterford : 128 kms (78 miles)
2004 : 5hrs 8mins (cyclingtime)
2005 : 4hrs 11mins (cyclingtime)

In most cases, I have managed to shorten the length of time taken to cover
+100km (or +62 miles) in almost an hour quicker than last year, year on year.

In addition, after +100 miles distance, I am able to sustain the same average speed whereas before my speed would drop significantly as the distance progressed past 100 miles.

LIKESBIKES716 said:

HEY thats commendable stuff.

Theres nothing wrong with having goals as you already know. What I find the most interesting is that you say you have 9,603 miles completed and a short time to complete your total goal. Anyone else would have probably said Im not going to make it but you seem to have the winning spirit.

Well having come this far, I hope to go on to achieve the target that I set.

The important thing that people should take away from this thread is that they too can achieve their goal.
9000kms is a very very respectable distance, 716.
Well done.

LIKESBIKES716 said:

What I find the most interesting is that you say you have 9,603 miles completed and a short time to complete your total goal. Anyone else would have probably said Im not going to make it but you seem to have the winning spirit.

Actually if you divide out what he has done so far, he is averaging about 33.5 miles per day for the first 287 days of the year. With 78 days left, to reach 12,000 miles, he only has to average 30.7 miles per day for the rest of the year in order to make it. Seems to me like he is well on his way to me!

Great Job LMan...live strong! 😉 j/k

Hey Limerickman, great job!

What kind of saddle are you riding?

Having reached 9,603 miles to 14th Oct 2005, i still have some way to go but
here are some observations :

(a) my weight has reduced from 209 lbs to 186lbs since 01/01/05.
(b) my clothes sizes have dropped substantially : (34 inch waist size is down to 30inch : collar size is down also)
(c) I haven't suffered some much a sniffle (touchwood) since 01/01/05.
(d) my food intake has dropped - even though I'm exercising more.
(e) my resting heart rate 61 bpm has dropped to a consistent 48 bpm
(f) my blood pressure reading, which was 125/83 has dropped to 110/70 consistently.

And to think there's always room for another Guinness!

bikeguy said:

Hi Limerickman,

That's quite a few miles you've put in already. You must be in great shape, I think by the time I finish this year I'll have done about 9,000 km. I'm curious, how do you think this volume of training has affected your competition performance?

-Bikeguy

To provide another data point, and perspective. When I returned to cycling in 2001 (early retirement and some 30+ years of being a runner, rather than the cat3 cyclist I was around 1970) I ended up riding about 11,000+ miles, a distance I repeated the next year. At that point I resumed racing. About 2 years ago I switched from "riding lots" (the old Merckx quote) to structured training, and dropped the annual mileage to about 8500-9000 miles, but with much more interval work. My racing is probably better on the lower mileage/more intensity schedule, certainly no worse. (Since I ride mostly road races and criteriums, rather than TTs, it is hard to get an absolute gauge on performance improvement; subjectively the same national-class riders in my age group continue to beat me, but I'm now always there for the final sprint. The problem is that it is difficult to say how much of this is training, and how much is simply more experience and knowing my competition.) This should not detract from Limerickguy's original purpose of praising the benefits of having goals, and certainly the health benefits of riding a lot. It simply says that if your goal is racing success, reducing mileage and working on specific intensities works as well, if not better than, huge mileage. (And of course mileage is relative, there are racers posting on these boards who put in 12,000 miles a year with all the intensity that I can muster for my lower mileage, let alone professionals who rack up 20,000 miles in a year at intensities the vast majority of us can't even reach for short intervals.)

Great work, Limerickman. Not just on the miles, per se, but on the added health benifits. What a great bonus for doing all the work, eh? Not too shabby at all.

Did you keep track of your heart rate while doing this? Or are you one of those power meter guys that I can never understand what the heck they are talking about? 😉 If the former, I'd be curious as to where you spent the bulk of those miles. What was a typical week in the life of Limerickman?

tri4fun said:

And to think there's always room for another Guinness!

It could all be an effort to make more romm for Guinness !!!!!!!!!
(there goes message 6,000).

Yahhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooooooo

txags92 said:

Actually if you divide out what he has done so far, he is averaging about 33.5 miles per day for the first 287 days of the year. With 78 days left, to reach 12,000 miles, he only has to average 30.7 miles per day for the rest of the year in order to make it. Seems to me like he is well on his way to me!

Great Job LMan...live strong! 😉 j/k

......and now you have it.
If people do a little each day - every day - the distance quickly adds up.
And that might be the reason why people seem daunted, because they look at the sum and not the parts that make up the sum.

Livestrong !

Doctor Morbius said:

Great work, Limerickman. Not just on the miles, per se, but on the added health benifits. What a great bonus for doing all the work, eh? Not too shabby at all.

Did you keep track of your heart rate while doing this? Or are you one of those power meter guys that I can never understand what the heck they are talking about? 😉 If the former, I'd be curious as to where you spent the bulk of those miles. What was a typical week in the life of Limerickman?

Thanks Doc and I know you're a man who trains seriously so let me see can I answer your questions.

I never use a heart monitor, Doc.
Call me old fashioned but when I used race we never had technology like that.
I know that people swear by them and even some of my old cronies use them now and they swear by them too.
I do intend to purchase one and train within the zone as they say to maximise
the benefit.

I have a very simple computer : it has distance, cadence, calories, gear ratio.
I knwo from my former days the gear ratio that feels most comfortable for me
are 42x15, 42x17.
I can pedal away all day on those ratios on what could be termed to be rolling routes (gradual steady climbs).
If the gradient really goes up, I gear back to 42x19, 42x21, 42x23 and ultimately 42x25.

I try to keep my cadence at 90-96 rpm throughout my spin.
And that is the key to cycling.
Years ago I had an old coach who taught me this lesson and it stayed with me since (the same man coached Stephen Roche/Paul Kimmage/Martin Earley - not that I would ever claim to be, even within 100 miles of these guys abilities).
He said "fellas can pedal 54x12 for an hour and then they're bolloxed, the really good cyclist can cycle 42X?? and pedal all day".
And that's the truth.
Get your cadence right - and build your fitness to maintain a high cadence.

I usually cycle outdoor (I know you're a rollers man) and I only resort to rollers if there is snow outside or if I am really really pressed for time.
(I couldn't use the rollers for more than one hour - boredom sets in).

I couldn't tell you what my wattage/power output is (although I did test it once and was at 250w for 4 hour spin).

I hope this helps.

BTW : I presume you got back on the bike - a few months back you were getting disheartened as far as I recall ?
Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Proper results come slowly - bit by bit and (unfortunately) as you get older
the slower the results are.
But don't get down, just keep plugging away.

Those are some long rides that you've done, Limerickman. 275 km is out of my range right now, I would have to stop and rest several hours to complete such a journey. I seem to have decent TT power, but my long distance efforts are currently pretty much [censored] right now. Any ride over 3 hrs and I end up feeling pretty bad for the day, plus I have to remember to down a load of salt, mag and potassium or I get hamstring cramps that can put me out of riding commission for a few days.

-Bikeguy