New Bike!

Finally got the new bike! A Gaint Defy 2.5 (£675 from pedalon), and they gave an axcellent service; the podium points scheme allowed me to get some new shoes, pedals and a trip computer too all included in the price!

Luckilly for me, we have accurate scales at work, so thought I'd let you all know - without pedals = 9.4Kg! Pretty light if you ask me, this is a size medium.

I'll let you know more once I've put some miles on it! Probably weighs about 9.9 kg with all the extras on it currently...

feck, another week gone already..

will post this weeks work at another point this weekend, but just wanted to say I got my new road bike! Very happy and hoping to take it on a maiden voyage tomorrow or sunday. Been working my arse off today (swimming a stupid distance after the spaghetti carbonara) and tidying the house a lot!

But, it's currently beer time...and I think I'm gonna be munching some more carbs / protein before the night is out! Just for the record, todays food intake consisted of:

Brekkie: Shreddies (actually Tesco malted wheats!) with a small handfull of raisins.

Mid morning: big apple, few dried banana chips (honey coated), 1/6th piece of quiche (tesco light choices), slice of beef (leftovers!). 3 cups of proper coffee!

Lunch: the carbonara! 1 egg, 1/2 pot double cream, fair amount of italian strong cheese, 1/3 pack of smoked streaky bacon, pasta. oh, and a cadburys caramel egg!
swim then myprotein recovery excess shake (90g), and a banana.

Tea: lamb, wedges and peppers (home made by the missus), not a lot though, so snacked on a few doritos and popcorn too! .. just rembered 1/2 a crunchie bar too!

And I'm still starving! mmmmmm..kebab? depends on the beer intake......and going for a curry tomorrow anyway!.........but still...

....so on to.... bike ride!

Tuesday 21 April

Nice weather, a little breezy but not ridiculous. Straight out on the roads after work at 5pm; up to my usual route, and the loop in question was the seasons best. Some good splits and didn't feel totally burnt out half way around! But then again, I did take a banana with me although I lost a chunk of it due to the poor state of our tarmac!
loop time = 68 mins 48 seconds, av heart rate = 159, av speed = 17.6 mph. Peak heart rate was strangely only 179!

Still, pleased with the ride and really wondering if last nights creatine boost helped at all?
The other reason it was questionably a quick time was because at that time of night, the traffic is pretty bad after the half way point, roadworks / traffic lights and generally not enough space for cars and bikes! So I did get slowed up somewhat and normally the best times are acheived early am whilst avoiding traffic!

Still, a hard ride = excuse to down another shake!

Wednesday - rested

Thursday 23rd April

Another session on the weights! Was going to do a little leg work to warm up, but thoguht better of it!
Similar to mondays sesh, only managed 9 reps on the last set of BP at 70 kg though!
Attempeted unweighted Chin-ups too, to see if there was any improvement after doing weighted ones, managed 14, 9 and 8.
Did delt raises in place of OH DB presses, which actaully felt a little easier than normal . Hammered the Biceps just for fun after the chin ups with a set of curls at 15.5kg, but realistically could have done a heavier weight!+ more shake :lol:Didn't want to overdo it due to the expected swim on:

Friday 24th April

Yes, its got to friday again! Finally! Still, we'll see if that creatine build up in the system has done anything too!
Well, to my annoyance, there were a lot of people in the pool - a mixture of adults, like me expecting all the kids to be back at school, however it's such a mixed up country, there are still some schools off and hence a higher than expected proportion of kids..

Still, after afew warm up lengths and another pee (not in the pool though ), managed to squeeze a good time out - 22 mins 5 secs, with splits at 5:57, 6:38, 6:51 and 2:38, very happy with that, especially as I was trying to dodge people and also had a couple of pauses (due to people in the way!) longer than I wanted. Which leads me to believe that the PB from last Saturday is very realistic.

And with such a good time (uninfluenced by alcohol), I believe there must be scope for a good improvement somewhere in the future..
...and again, another excuse to have another expensive recovery shake!
well, as far as the future is for now...lets just say I have a pint of Kronenberg in front of me.. (well half of one now! ).....

Not sure about cycling tomorrow yet, I'll see how I feel in the morning, but I think the weather is taking a turn for the worse so a lye-in may be due...
oh, and the impemding decision on buying myself a decent bike too... lets see how much I drink!