My journey from cycling mediocrity to, well, slightly less cycling mediocrity
So I'm less than 2 weeks in, and I reckon I've made a promising start.
Last week I rode 109km with 750m of vertical.
This week I've ridden 108km with 379m of vertical. And I am planning a hill ride tomorrow.
Not epic numbers, but given I only managed 990km in over 6 months, two 100k weeks on the bounce isn't a bad start
Follow me on Strava here
So here's an idea of my current cycling and phsiycal status. Consider it my baseline:
Age: 46
Height: 175cm
Weight: 103kg
Riding so far this year: 990km
All time cycling: 36100km
At 103kegs, standing 5 foot 9, it's fair to say there's some weight to be lost.
Not nearly enough km ridden this year. That's the first obvious port of call in tying to improve. TITS - time in the saddle.
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I started riding road with Dulwich Hill Cycle Club in Sydney. As a beginner I joined the Saturday Slowies ride out from Marrickville to Centennial Park (where we did a few laps) and then back. From there I stepped up to the Waterfall ride, a rolling 76 km ride from Marrickville to Waterfall and back (no massive climbs but there was 500 m of vertical on the trip). Initially I rode with a bunch that aimed to average 25 kph, then several months later stepped up to the 28 kms group (the 28s). There were two more advanced groups - the middies (who average around 31 kph) and the fasties (who averaged 35+).
I never progressed beyond the 28s. So very middle of the road. Just to give people perspective, there were probably about 40 regulars spread across the middies and fasties. I was though one of the stronger regular 28s. I think once, very tongue in cheek, I was described as the hardman of the 28s. A backhanded compliment at best. It's a bit like being the second toughest in the infants.
I quite like the term though - it screams mediocrity. Hence the blog name.
So I'm a cyclist. One of those lycra-clad middle age yobs you see swanning around at the coffee shop on a Saturday morning, who should be a lot more self concscious, but for some reason isn't.
I'm not though a great cyclist. A 40 km ride at moderate speed (say, 30kph) on flat terrain is a pretty decent hitout for me. A bloody far cry from the Tour de France. They might sound like impressive numbers to a non cyclist, but they're not. Decent at best.
It's not a complex formula to get better - I need to ride more often, ride harder terrain, ride further, and ride faster. If I do that, I'll lose weight, get fitter, which will in turn accelerate my improvement.
And I've decided to get fitter, faster & lose weight. I want to start racing. Club Racing. D-grade. Still a bloody far cry from the Tour de France, but significantly better than where I am today.
It's hard to quantify how much better they are, but I do have some rather handy benchmarks. My local cycle club, Townsville Cycle Club (based in North Queensland, Australia) last weekend ran their biggest road event of the year: The Tiny Mountain Brewery - Tour of the North. The tour (for D-grade) consisted of 4 stages: a flat prologue (7.5km), a 40km road race (on rolling terrain), a 20 minute crit (flat), and an ascent of Castle Hill (a local climb of 2.5km averaging 7.5%). So I've got times for the prologue, the road race and the hill climb.
My goal. To win the 2022 Tiny Mountain Brewery - Tour of the North D-grade. This blog is tracking my journey.
So where does the name Hardman of 28s come from?
I started riding road with Dulwich Hill Cycle Club in Sydney. As a beginner I joined the Saturday Slowies ride out from Marrickville to Centennial Park (where we did a few laps) and then back. From there I stepped up to the Waterfall ride, a rolling 76 km ride from Marrickville to Waterfall and back (no massive climbs but there was 500 m of vertical on the trip). Initially I rode with a bunch that aimed to average 25 kph, then several months later stepped up to the 28 kms group (the 28s). There were two more advanced groups - the middies (who average around 32 kph) and the fasties (who averaged 35+).
I never progressed beyond the 28s. So very middle of the road. Just to give people perspective, there were probably about 40 regulars spread across the middies and fasties. I was though one of the stronger regular 28s. I think once, very tongue in cheek, I was described as the hardman of the 28s. A backhanded compliment at best. It's a bit like being the second toughest in the infants.
I quite like the term though - it screams mediocrity. Hence the blog name.
