Category Archive: Point North and Pedal

1. What’s your approach to riding in blustery conditions?

   November 21, 2015 10:57 pm Leave a Comment

   Finally, winter appears to have arrived in no uncertain terms after a gloriously mild autumn. All of a sudden there is water on the ground messing up my nice clean bike and the winds have picked up. I thought I was reasonably well prepared for the winter commutes to work but I had forgotten about the effect of higher winds when riding on the road, being reminded has not been very pleasant!

   

   Riding to work is one thing, but how do winds affect a long distance rider and what can be done to mitigate the effect of a stiff breeze in your face?

   There is a classic belief (at least it feels like that) amongst those planning to ride the UK End to End, that the start should be Land’s End to take advantage of the south westerlies that we more often than not get. The argument for this, I suspect, becomes much stronger in winter when wind speeds are higher and the logic is sound given that the average direction does indeed appear to be from the south west. However, this doesn’t help you much when you are riding from south to north and the wind decides to be a northerly!

   Winds, like hills, come and go so there is always the positive to be had in the knowledge that the wind will drop eventually and you can crack on. But what can you do in the meantime when each pedal stroke feels like an effort? Let’s assume that you have the optimum touring bike without deep dish aero wheels that capture the wind like a sale and look at what you can do to make life easier.

   Prepare in advance

   Most people will take a smart phone with them, it makes sense to stay in touch with people if you are out on your own, especially as some of the Cumbrian and Scottish roads are very remote. Have a look at the weather forecast for the next day and get an idea of what you might be in for, knowing takes a lot of the fear out of things.

   Eat well and ensure good hydration to prepare for the next day, we all know that horrible feeling when your energy reserve is exhausted, commonly known as the ‘bonk’. Riding in winds will use more energy compared to a still day.

   Clothing

   A big, flappy coat won’t help your cause much, over an 8 hour day the cumulative effect of it catching the wind will sap your strength and lesson the pleasure of the days riding (it is supposed to be fun, right?).

   Dress in layers to insulate against the cold and ensure that there are no exposed bits of skin where the wind can get in. Bib shorts are less than flattering for most of us but they do have a nice, high back which helps to keep that area warm even if your shirt rides up. Being warm gives you something less to worry about.

   Don’t let the wind chill make your hands and feet painfully cold. A decent pair of winter gloves and overshoes do a sterling job to keep extremities nice and warm. The only issue you will have is drying out your gloves when arriving at your destination, most are very waterproof on the outside but easily get wet on the inside with sweat.

   On a serious note regarding apparel, how visible are you to other road users? Cyclists are the first to complain about drivers who don’t give them enough space etc., etc. but was the cyclist giving the driver best chance to see them and their bike? Lights/hi viz/light coloured clothing?

   Manage your energy as you ride

   Eating well the night before won’t matter a jot if you shoot your bolt in the first hour. Take your time and accept that, for the same given amount of effort through the pedals, you will be slower on average overall on a windy day. Maybe drop a gear from your usual cruising ring and increase your pedal cadence, take regular breaks out of the wind and continue to eat and drink. Think about riding at a slower speed that can be sustained over the whole day.

   Mental Approach

   Break things down, think about riding to the next village or the next coffee shop, try not to think about the overall trip or your final destination for the day, it just makes things drag. Look around and enjoy the countryside you are riding through, this can take your mind off things and before you know where you are, it’s the last hill before the next stop.

   Try to avoid the temptation to keep an eye on your computer, time seems to go quicker that way and you won’t be continually disappointed by the speed data!

   If you are riding with other people, morale can suffer a bit on days like these. Try and remain cheerful, almost laugh in the face of adversity but remember that some might be suffering more than others. Work as a team and take turns at the front so people get a rest on those really breezy days.

   Safety

   Yes, have a good look around at the countryside and enjoy but try not to zone out so much that you end up playing chicken with a 38 tonner. Gusty winds can push you out into the road or into the ditch at the side; riding in conditions like this takes concentration, especially if your panniers are carrying extra weight. Be aware of natural wind breaks like hedges ending suddenly and subjecting you to a strong gust. If it’s really bad, consider canning the day and live to fight another, you won’t get a posthumous medal for pushing on regardless.

   Be as fit as you can be

   This is not just for cycling but for anything in life. There is no such thing as too fit. Your core muscles do a lot of work on the bike, their workload spirals upwards when you are trying to balance a laden tourer in strong winds. Everyone is different and fitness is a whole different blog, I’m just saying it’s good idea to consider exercise to supplement all of your riding.

   People adopt their own approach to cycling, the above isn’t meant to be prescriptive, just fuel the debate; I hope there is something useful in there somewhere! Feel free to comment constructively below and share for others to comment. The best thing about windy days in my opinion, is getting to your destination, sitting down with a pint or cup of tea and recounting that arduous day in the saddle with your mates. It’s a mid-life crisis thing?

   Further reading…..

   If you liked this blog please take a moment to check out my book describing the solo Land’s End to John O’Groats ride in 2012, all profit from sales to www.criduchat.org.uk

   Please click the cover image for the Kindle version or click here to order a paperback copy. Thank you!

   

2. EU VAT Legislation for digital products due to change 1st January 2015

   December 12, 2014 2:42 pm 1 Comment

   Things have been going nicely with e-book sales, I’ve even done some discounted promotions to boost turnover, and they have worked well. My outlook for the New Year was very positive; I was looking forward to promoting Point North & Pedal at cycling events and via social media, then the Amazon e-mail arrived about changes to the taxing of digital products in the EU.

   In a nutshell, the cost to UK customers who buy my e-book will go up by 17% from 1^st January 2015. I have no choice in this; the price structure will be changed automatically by Amazon. VAT was originally applied based on the seller’s country, in this case Amazon. As they have a registered office in Luxemburg, VAT was only 3%.  The EU have now changed things to ensure that VAT is applied based upon the buyers country of origin, in my case that would almost certainly be 20% on all sales given that most of my customers are from the UK.

   I have a dilemma now; do I reduce the price of my book to mitigate some of the increase or sit tight and see what happens?  Any reduction in cost will directly affect the royalties I receive meaning the charity ends up with less. I wanted this to be a simple way of raising money for a charity but the increasing red tape will make things a little more difficult to achieve sales. Fortunately for me, I am not trying to earn a wage through writing e-books….

   As I sell via Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, the administration is handled by on my behalf; I don’t have to worry about making sure the correct charges have been made based upon buyer’s country of origin. I feel for those who sell e-books directly from their own websites, not only are they responsible for implementing these new regulations, they will have to make significant changes to their on-line store front to cope with them. All of this will cost money to implement; small businesses and authors could well suffer as a result of implementing these new regulations. I guess time will tell.

   On a brighter note, don’t waste any more time, buy all the e-books you ever wanted now (including Point North & Pedal of course!) to avoid the tax hike in January! The other alternative is to buy a paperback copy, they are still VAT free (link below).

    

   Point North & Pedal

3. Finally, the Kindle version of Point North and Pedal is here!

   July 26, 2014 9:42 pm Leave a Comment

   I am now very happy to say that Point North and Pedal is now available for Kindle and can be found at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00M0FI46A/

   

   It has been an interesting process getting the book onto Amazon especially around the tax side of things. I outsourced the book formatting to make sure that the reading experience was of professional quality. I would have spent hours tinkering with the format trying to follow Amazon’s rules etc. but for the sake of a few quid it would have been time wasted.

   If you haven’t got around to purchasing a copy yet, have a look at the preview on Amazon and also have a look at the two excerpts on this website, links below:

   http://www.phil-cox.net/point-north-pedal/book-excerpt-1/

   http://www.phil-cox.net/point-north-pedal/book-excerpt/

   If you buy a paperback, all of the £6 cover price goes to the charity, if you download, approximately £2.38 is generated as a royalty. If you have already read the book, please consider leaving an honest review on Amazon, every click helps!

   For now, the novelty is still fresh and I am glued to my Amazon download report!

   Happy reading!

4. Indoor training has never been so good….

   May 29, 2014 8:32 am Leave a Comment

   A couple of months ago I was asked by my local gym about trialling a new kind of spin class specifically for improving cycling performance. The idea sounded interesting, I had a look at some drills that the magazines advocate to see what we might be in for and fed back in a positive way. The outcome was that 8 of us turned up on a wet Tuesday evening to try a sample session.

   Spin is great if you want to get really sweaty and improve lung fitness; it’s a class I enjoy because it is bike related so I feel I am getting benefit from the exercise. The new class focused more on extended intervals and pedalling drills. Up to this point, I had always been a pedal masher and so had not appreciated the finer points of pushing a pedal around in a circle. My left leg is definitely weaker so I tend to load this pedal a little more in an effort to drag it up to the right side standard.

   We started to look at the individual elements of a pedal stroke and practised them until my quads were complaining vociferously. The two biggest points for me were around ‘scraping’ the foot backwards at the bottom of the pedal stroke and imagining that I was throwing my knees over the handlebars. When you combine these elements you can see the wattage improve for the same given effort. We also practised pulling up from the bottom of the pedal stroke to deload the opposite pedal, this avoids working against yourself and sapping vital energy.

   Thoroughly warm now, we embarked on a simulated group ride where individuals would ‘take the front’ by increasing their power output (in watts) to a certain % of their approximate average power output over a 20 minute time trial. This was a little artificial because we hadn’t done the 20 minute test at this point, it was more proof of principle.

   The class split into 2 teams of 4, the leader for a 1 minute period would be working at 120% of his/her 20 minute average power with the 2^nd person at 100%, 3^rd person at 90% and fourth at 80% (the rest bit haha). Roles would then swap so the 2^nd person would become the lead and the former leader would drop to the number 4 spot to ‘rest’. When all riders had worked in each slot (4 minutes), the set would be repeated a further 2 times with no breaks in between.

   All in all a very enjoyable session and tough to boot. The main idea seems to be to get people working above their thresh hold pace for longer than they normally would; working in a team environment is definitely a good motivator and serves to help manage the inevitable pain. Leg strength is also developed with a lower cadence and higher gears, a little different to spin.

   Next blog post, the sufferfest that is the 20 minute time trial – establishing an average power output to use in training.

   Further reading…..

   If you liked this blog please take a moment to check out my book describing the solo Land’s End to John O’Groats ride in 2012, all profit from sales to www.criduchat.org.uk

   Please click the cover image for the Kindle version or click here to order a paperback copy. Thank you!