Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Result update

Ok, now the typing guy typed in my result! I'm officially clocked in at 3:03, which makes my average speed 33.1 km/h. Yay! I like the improvement.

Media appearances

I was recently informed that I made an appearance in the Tour de Helsinki 2008 video clip, and indeed, at 00:54, I got my one second of international internet famousness. Damn, I'm not content with that, I want more! Where's the 14 minutes and 59 seconds of my 15 minutes in the spotlight? I'm legally entitled to have it just like everyone else!

Ok, my ego is soothened somewhat by the fact that I appear in several pictures in this gallery of pictures from the Sveitsin-ajo. However, you might need the magnifying lense feature to see me. I'm the bloke in the Kraftwerk jersey that's coloured like the flag of France. Yes, the same one I wore in the TdH 2008. In case you're wondering, I do have another jersey as well, but as it is black, and my new bike is black, I didn't want to look like some bicycling ninja, or be called Blackie.

Oh yeah, and the results from the Sveitsin-ajo are being typed in as I'm writing this. The guy who's doing it hasn't gotten to yours truly yet at the moment. It's nice, however, that they're saving every now and then while typing. It's exciting to keep refreshing the browser and waiting for myself to appear.

It seems that the fastest group rode the distance in 2:37:54, i.e. some 27 minutes faster than me, or at the average speed of 38.4 km/h. Hmm... no, I'll never be able to do 100 km at that speed. It would take an insane amount of practice to do that. Perhaps, if I won the lottery, and I didn't have to work anymore, I could take the time to practice that much, but otherwise, there's not a possibility. Ok, if there's a 100 km downhill somewhere and there's a strong tailwind, then it's possible. But not in a real-world scenario.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Swiss mountains

Yesterday I participated in the Hyvinkään Sveitsin-ajo, a nearby bicycling event. I didn't have great expectations as I'd only managed to ride about 200 km this spring before the event. I thought that I'd just take it easy in the 32 km/h group. As it turned out, the group went faster than that, so I fell out of the group at some 20 km to go. Anyway, the event was great fun and I rode faster than ever before.

I noticed that I have some climbing abilities. There were some steep rises, which broke the group in pieces, but I didn't have as much trouble as some others did. If I hadn't stayed behind some riders who slowed down more than I wanted to, I'd probably have managed to stay in the group all the way. Actually, I kind of escaped a smaller group in a rise, and because of that I had to go the dullest part of the ride, some 10 km of flat road, against the wind, all by myself. A poor choice of tactic. Although, had there been more hills, I could probably have caught the 32 km/h group again.

It is, however, nice that there is some unexpected action in a ride like this. I guess it would be uneventful and kind of boring to just draft comfortably all the way. So, you get to ride faster than you would by yourself, but what's the point in that? It's much more rewarding to do some of the work yourself.

Distance: 101 km
Time: 3:04
Avg: 32.9 km/h

Friday, May 15, 2009

Infrequent exercise

My training programme for HCM and TdH, designed with scientific exactitude, has been blown to pieces, once again. First, I caught yet another cold. Must be the 3rd or 4th I'm going through this spring. Second, I've been so busy with other engagements that I haven't had time for training. Honest. Of course, I'd rather go bicycling on weekends and evenings, but when you're selling an apartment, there are a million things to be done, and the project takes from weeks to months.

However, exercise has been good on the few occasions that I've actually managed to do it. Two weeks ago, I ran a half marathon one morning. I just went running, the weather was good, the running flowed well, so I decided to run for two hours and see if that constitutes a half marathon. And it did, according to the non-scientific exactitude of Google Maps, the distance was about 22 km. If I run at the same speed, I'll do HCM in 4 hours.

Then, last week I bicycled to Kerava one morning to pick up a co-worker. It also went pretty nicely, even though the weather conditions were pretty far from ideal. Strong-ish wind and mediocre rain. On the way back my feet were soaked through and pretty much frozen solid. Now I'm beginning to see the point of shoe covers, must get a pair of those as soon as possible. I'm sure the coldness of the ride contributed to the cold I'm still suffering.

Last week there was a course on riding in a group, arranged by Hepo, but I couldn't participate because I was incapacitated by a massive hangover. The previous night, we went out celebrating with co-workers, and the night became rather long-winded and replete with various alcoholic beverages. I'm glad that there are only a couple of these events in a year, nowadays.

Damn, I really have to get back in discipline, exercise-wise.