Tag Archives: cycling

The year (2014) in sports

2014 was a great year, not only because of the nice holidays we had (which I still need to blog about…), or the papers I published, but also because I did more sports than any year before (a total of 350 hours of cycling, running, and a tiny bit of hiking). Before jumping into numbers and figures, let me review the main events.

Cycling: First of all, I bought a mountain bike – which was even stolen and found once since then (thanks again to the police and the people who spotted the suspicious activity) -, but so far I have not ridden it as much as I planned to (only 261 km in 7 rides). But it is very nice to ride through the forest with it, so I am happy with the purchase in any case.

On the road bike, I had my longest ride ever (both distance and duration wise with 313 km in 10h 34m, see it on Strava for more), riding from home to the Belgian coast and back with several members of WTCOOL. Luckily, the route was totally flat… It was a great day, and we even had energy for a sprint along the channel around the 300 km mark. Crazy times :) I also had my heaviest week on the bike thanks to the holidays (a.k.a. training camp) on Mallorca with 962 kilometres, 9939 meters of elevation gain, and 34h 52m in the saddle, which meant that at the end of the week I was in the top 10 of Belgian Strava users! This of course made April my best month ever too (1532 km, 11371 m+, 53h 53m). Later through the year I participated in the 24 hours of Zolder (138 kilometres with a nearly 40 km/h average speed) and had a few nice organised rides in the Ardennes too (e.g., see picture above), with great company. All in all, this year saw me transforming from a lonely cyclist to a social cyclist. I still do solo rides, but it happens more and more often that I have someone else to ride with even at random times.

And then for the raw numbers:

Total distance: 8663 km
Total elevation gain: 45737 m
Total time: 301h 15m
Activity count: 108
Average speed: 28.8 km/h
Average heart rate: 152.5 bpm (max: 195 bpm)
Average cadence: 91 rpm

Here is a distribution of biking activities through the past years:

Of course the speed is pulled down a little by the mountain bike rides, but I am not making a full table for all activities here. Also it is clear that leading up to Mallorca I did a lot of training, then took it easier afterwards, and there is a big gap visible in May, since while I was observing in Chile, I did not do any sports… Looking at the geographical distribution, besides Belgium I also biked in Spain (Mallorca), and for a few kilometres in Holland. Here are the covered roads (zoomable version on Strava):

Running: This is the first time I am writing about running beyond simply mentioning it (if I remember correctly), but by now I can not avoid admitting it, that I am getting more and more fond of it. I never really liked running, and before I picked it up as cross training for the winter at the beginning of 2013, I actually literally hated it. I have never had trouble running after the ball (I played handball for three years during high school, than a few years of floorball during my University studies and the beginning of my PhD), but running just for the running itself was really never my thing. I remember participating in an organised run (probably 2 kilometers or even less) around the age 6 (and I guess that was my parents’ idea), but that was it. I always hated the yearly two Cooper tests (running for 12 minutes) in school, and in general, I never understood how can anyone enjoy this…

Then, as already many times with other physical activities before (long distance hiking, cycling), technology had a big part in making up my mind. (I just need a gadget, and then everything is all right.) During the last days of 2012 I decided, that I need something to do when the weather is just too miserable and/or it is too dark to go for a safe training ride. I needed something I can still keep track of (preferably on Garmin Connect/Strava), so I pretty much ‘decided’ I would like running from then on (or that at least I would do it for the training, even if it sucks – at least it takes less time and preparation for a similar effect than cycling). I bought a running GPS (Garmin Forerunner 210), some running shoes (Nike Zoom Structure+ 16), and then I started running. I started easy, following an online training plan, building up from 5k runs (short for 5 km runs, but runners fancy the short version for some reason) towards 14k, which I managed already after a little bit more than two months. Of course I had a generally very good physical condition because of the cycling, but normally an unexperienced runner should not raise the distance so fast, because it will lead to an almost certain injury. I still did not like running that much, but it was nice to be able to do some sports even in the snow (and that winter was snowy until very late). Then as soon as the snow melted, I also pretty much stopped, except for a run here and there (Sydney, Rhodes) on conferences. I did the same during the first two months of 2014, runs between 5 and 12 kilometers (also during holidays and work in Grenoble and Geneva), but as soon as the weather turned fine for cycling, I stopped again…

I think the biggest change came this autumn, when I started running again, but this time – beyond keeping my fitness level a bit higher during the winter – with some actual goals in mind: namely, running a half marathon, and participating in the annual end of year run in Leuven. Staring from October, I was running 2-3 times a week, first on La Palma at 2300 meters, then most often at work with my colleagues, mostly through the forest, and as my body get more and more used to the running, I started actually enjoying it. Since after one point I was not constantly suffering, I got time to just enjoy being outside, a bit more like how I enjoy cycling. Running is much nicer when your mind is not too busy about dying on the spot. Of course I run for the achievements, the feeling of accomplishment, the instant nirvana which a well executed run delivers. I feel exactly as it is written/drawn in one of the great Oatmeal comics here. (Of course this stands for cycling too.) And with the fun, and a new running GPS (Garmin Forerunner 920XT), the results also came: after raising the distance week by week, I ran my first half marathon on the 27th of November through the forest with two colleagues (it took a little bit longer than two hours, since one of the others were a bit sick, and we wanted to do it together, as we did all the training together). It was a great feeling to accomplish something new. Then soon afterwards I did a solo half marathon after work into the evening with a headlamp, where I improved my time to 01:51:29 (5:17/km), which is a nice PR for the future to improve on. Then after training even during the Christmas holidays in Budapest, I participated in the first running race since that Kids Run back in the previous Millennium: I ran the 12k Eindejaarscorrida of Leuven in -4°C, and finished 597th out of the 1965 participants. Not only is this a top 1/3 finish, but I also broke all my previous best times on 1 miles, 5 kilometers, and 10 kilometers with an average pace of 4:43/km. For me, this was a really amazing result, and I was extremely happy after the finish (but during the run too). I even ran home afterwards. It was indeed a great year of sports. I hope 2015 will not disappoint either!

The raw numbers:

Total distance: 456 km
Total elevation gain: 3917 m
Total time: 41h 29m
Activity count: 49
Average pace: 5:27/km
Average heart rate: 168.9 bpm (max: 197 bpm)
Average cadence: 180 spm

PRs:

400m: 00:01:30
1/2 Mile: 00:03:27
1 km: 00:04:19
1 mile: 00:07:04
5 km: 00:23:21
10 km: 00:47:01
15 km: 01:18:14
10 mile: 01:24:15
20 km: 01:45:39
Half Marathon: 01:51:29

Activity distribution for the previous years, and the map for this year around Leuven (not showing runs outside Belgium, for that, click here):

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24 hours of Zolder

Three years after participating in the 8 hours of Spa-Francorchamps, this year I decided to go for something longer, sunnier, and less hilly, thus I joined my cycling team (WTCOOL) for the 24 hours of Zolder. We competed in the category of teams with maximum 8 riders (although we were only 6), and I rode two sessions of ~2 hours, with the first starting at 5 on the morning… This also meant that I had to get up at 3 AM, after a good four hours of sleep. We had our own party-tent in the paddock, so between my rides I could sit down and relax, which was really cool. My first session took off before sunrise (which was a glorious, golden-orange impressionist scene over the misty circuit), and went on for almost exactly two hours with an average speed of 39.6 km/h. Then after two hours of resting (and sleeping) I was back in the saddle for another session.

By this time, both the temperature and the pace of the leading group had risen significantly, and as a consequence, after one hour and ten minutes, I could not keep up anymore. I should have really not done any work at the front of the peloton, but I felt really bad about sucking wheels all the time. Unluckily after finishing my last pull, when I decided to go to the very back of the group to recover a bit, I could not accelerate anymore when I arrived there and I was almost immediately dropped… A this point my average speed for the second session was already 41.0 km/h, and things got only worse in this group later on as the race got closer to its grand finale. I still went on in individual time-trial mode for twenty more minutes – trying to at least present the photographers with the perfect opportunity to make money out of my lonely suffering -, but I felt way too tired to complete my two hours, and asked for an early change half hour earlier than planned.

I got off my bike after 138 kilometres with a nearly 40 km/h average speed (details on Strava). At the end, we finished the race with 234 laps (936 km, 39 km/h, 24 hours), at the 49th position overall (out of 190 teams), or 28th in our category (out of 83 teams). This is a very nice result, and we were all very satisfied with it! Next year we will try with more people, and more sleep ;D

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Rule #6 // Free your mind and your legs will follow.

After arriving back to Belgium from Chile, first of all I had to make sure that I can handle the group ride I planned for the coming Sunday (besides adjusting back to the Central European time zone, which was actually not so bad: I woke up at 5:30 on the morning, and had to fight falling asleep at around 8 on the evening for a few days only). Since the decision that I would have to plan and guide the Sunday ride of the 25th of May was already made during the first weeks of the year, I had already planned a great, and quite difficult route before I knew that I would need to go to Chile for three weeks just before the ride in question. So after I arrived home, I had only three days to get my s**t together by strictly following what is written in Rule #5.

When I got back on my bike for the first time, that was really weird. During the first pedal strokes my body was saying: “What is this feeling, what is happening?”, then for 2 kilometres it was like “I am so strong, I am totally invincible, I am barely pedalling and look at me, I am flying!”, which somewhere around kilometre 2.01 turned into heavy breathing, a loss of speed, and the realisation that I am totally out of shape. Yep. Three weeks without any activity (more intense than walking a little bit here and there) had a huge effect on my physical condition. And not a positive one. Anyway, I biked to Mechelen and back (60 km), then on the next day I did a reconnaissance of the ride planned for Sunday, but before arriving to the real climbs, I suddenly felt so tired, that I had to skip the most difficult kilometres. I arrived home dead tired with only 80 km in my legs… Luckily an easy Saturday gave me enough rest, and on Sunday morning I actually felt surprisingly good before the ride. It was a real success, with beautiful sunny weather and lots of participants (~16), despite the elections being held on the same day. You can see the elevation profile of the ride below, with the more significant climbs (summing up to a total elevation gain of ~1000 m) marked.

Although the ride was ‘only’ ~100 km, I did an extra 30 km along the channel towards Mechelen, which meant that I arrived home (again) dead tired… But this extra effort was necessary, as I had a very special entry for the following Sunday in my calendar: Leuven – Knokke – Leuven, a ride spanning over more than 300 kilometres – something I could not participate in last year because I was abroad on a conference somewhere. I have to admit that when back on Friday I had to skip parts of the reconnaissance ride and go home with only 80 kilometres, I was doubting a little bit if I am really in a shape good enough for such an epic day. And with that thought, we arrive to the title of this post.

So here is deal: if you have the fitness level to bike 100 km, you can (in most of the cases) also do 300 km (and even more). Beyond one point, it is not about the physical condition anymore, but the mental approach. The way you prepare psychologically is as important as the kilometres you spend training week-by-week on the road or the trainer. And remember, your mind is your ally but also your worst enemy. Thoughts like ‘what if I can not make it’ should be left home, buried deep in a drawer, because should you encounter them in the saddle, they will break you faster than a long stretch of cobbles would. I think it is important to think about the route (days) before the ride itself, to simply get your mind used to the idea that you will ride 10 hours or 300 kilometres the next day. I find that it is this approach what really makes a huge difference. This also explains why it is much easier to go for a 150 km ride than to go for 100 km, then continue for another extra 50 which was not planned in advance.

And to say something about the ride to Knokke and back: I really enjoyed it, and both the 10.5 hours in the saddle and the distance of 312 kilometres are new personal records for me. We were lucky with the weather, not too cold, not too warm, not too much wind, and not too much sun – ideal. Also, riding with a big group meant that I could save a lot of energy by staying inside the peloton, rolling along at 30 km/h without any effort. I admit that it is not really nice that I did not spend much time in front, but after not biking for three weeks, I just wanted to make sure I survive the day… This resulted in an average heart rate of 133 bpm, which is pretty much the lowest average I ever had on a group ride… It was a really beautiful day on the bike :)

Although right after the ride I felt more or less perfectly fine, the coming days brought some discomfort, meaning that even if I stuffed myself full with food, I felt hungry, but if I ate more, I just felt sick… When this feeling went away I was happy to get back on the bike again.

Free your mind and your legs will follow…

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Cycling holidays (a.k.a. training camp) on Mallorca

It might sound a bit strange, but the goal behind all my training this year (so far) was to get myself into a good shape for the upcoming cycling holidays. While most of my cycling buddies (and here I mean those who are also taking part in amateur – but quite serious – competitions, known as the toeristenkoersen) went to Mallorca to put the last hundreds of kilometres into their legs before the competition season stars, I went there knowing that this might easily be the week where my season peaks (since now, two weeks later, I am not going to be able to train for almost a full month), so I wanted to be in top shape.

A few years ago I probably would have said, that I did a quite amazing amount of training leading up to Mallorca, but now, having many friends both in real life and on Strava who are at least as crazy about road cycling as I am, and who might have twice as many kilometres in the saddle by the end of the year, now I can only say that I did a quite respectable amount of training, but nothing exceptional. Time changes your perspective… Also, everything is relative. If you look at people who do not race, then this mileage is very good. It’s just that I know, that to be able to keep up with the best amateurs and race, I would need to train twice as much as I do, and I just don’t think I could do that and still enjoy it. And at the end, that is what matters to me.

I want to be able to keep up with the stronger guys, but I must respect my boundaries. The key is finding the right balance between how good I wish I was, and how good I can be without an overwhelming training load. Especially that training is not only physical, but also a psychological challenge. It is not easy to go out every day, in bad weather, alone against the strong wind, especially when in the middle of February you feel weak (or, to be honest, you feel like a piece of crap), and to skip the afternoon snacks just to loose those two extra kilos after Christmas. It is mentally difficult. Telling yourself day after day, that you put yourself through all this pain to be good somewhen in the future (no pain no gain, as we all know) – which at that very moment in the middle of February seems extremely far away. Planning your days such that you make time between work and family for training, in one way or another, is not trivial. But then, after many cold and dark winter rides spent swearing into the headwind, usually around mid March, when it finally becomes warm enough to go out in shorts (even if with the extra protection of arm and leg warmers) for an intensive ride, you start to feel strong. And that ride, that ride is worth training for. Because after that ride you start to believe that you can do this, that given three more weeks of training you will kick ass. And that’s always a nice feeling. (Long transatlantic flights are good for letting your mind go.)

So this year, we (a few people from WTCOOL – my local cycling team – and some girlfriends, most importantly Clio of course) spent a week on Mallorca with the Fred Rompelberg Cycling team. In practice this meant that around a hundred cyclists occupied a significant amount of the Grupotel Taurus Park, and each day we had group rides to choose from matching our individual fitness levels. Also, there were rental bikes provided on spot (Isaac Graviton Ultegra), so we did not need to go through the hassle of travelling with our own ones. After the first five days, based on the ridden kilometres, they gave the title of kilometre-king and kilometre-queen to the most worthy riders, which came with a small trophy too. I can already tell you, that the author of this post brought home a shared (with another Peter from WTCOOL) kilometre-king title! So how did that happen?

For this achievement, we – first of all – always went with the fastest group (the speed group, or the fast tour group), and if the daily distance was less that 150 kilometres, then we (Peter and I) did a bit of extra. Then on Wednesday – which, by the way, was supposed to be the rest day – we did over 200 kilometres over a scenic route I planned across the island all the way to the northeastern cliffs. And to have a nice ending, on Saturday we did another 150 kilometres, which had more elevation gain than any other ride before. So actually the two hardest rides were the ones we made for ourselves. Although in terms of intensity, the first day was quite brutal. Then we went with a speed group of only 5 people, and thanks to the low number of riders, the crazy pace, and my rear brake rubbing for a half hour, we were all happy the next day to join the larger tour group instead… This training volume and intensity combined meant that we had to eat every evening as much as possible, which turned our dinners into quite a struggle too… (Same goes for the breakfasts…)

In terms of form, I did well, although there were a few guys (especially Peter) who were better (especially climbers). But I was in the top 5, and I was very much satisfied with that. I finished the week with 962 kilometres, 9939 meters of elevation gain, and 34h 52m in the saddle, which if by far my best week on the road bike ever. At the end of the week, I was in the top 10 of Belgian Strava users! This of course made this April my best month on the bike too (1532 km, 11371 m+, 53h 53m).

We know that all nice things must come to an end, but when we arrived home we encountered something worse than expected. While we were on Mallorca, some people broke into our storage room in the basement, and stole our mountain bikes… (We got to know this from a mail in our mailbox – you can imagine how we felt: just arriving home, putting down our luggage, and reading our post…) Luckily it turned out, that thanks to someone reporting suspicious activity during the night when all of this happened, the police caught the bad guys, and had our bikes waiting for us to collect at the police station. So everything ended relatively well, the bikes were more or less unhurt, and soon we will have more secure doors installed (which by the way we have already ordered before all of this happened). As one would say in Hungarian: “Itt sincs kolbászból a kerítés“…

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CUBE LTD 29

Let me unveil my new mountain bike, a CUBE LTD 29. This was my birthday present from myself, and I have to say I must know myself very well, because it made me very happy :) I hope to have the first ride with it tomorrow. Wish me luck!

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