Warp 9 to Waterford

Today is a lovely* day of rest that the legs certainly needed.

*lovely is synonymous with exposure to bacon


Playlist : None - Watching Giro d'Italia coverage
Distance today: 0.00 km 
Total: 1871 km


I'm currently sat on the couch with my feet up, laptop abiding by its name, watching the live Eurosport coverage of the Giro d'Italia; the Giro has been quite exciting so far, and today is upping the game after the latest changes to the general classification rankings that occurred after yesterday's time trials, so I'm really enjoying the coverage, perfectly suits a rest day that's for sure. 

This post should hopefully cover my trip to Waterford in a decent amount of detail; hopefully you can glean a fraction of the excitement and fun I enjoyed from it. 

Friday's adventure was far beyond what I've previously done. My longest distance to date had been a total of 84 km in one day, that was the day I first bought my Scott road bike. You'll recall I was completely destroyed from that endeavour.. I've been consistent with distance in the last two months, averaging 135 km a week mostly from the commute, then the recreational cycle. I had one week of only half that, which lowered the average of course, but that was due to the problems with the rear wheel I was having - "Holy spokes Batman!!"

The distance to Waterford on the N25 is roughly 120-130 km; quite accurate too since my odometer recorded my front wheel covering 129.87 km by the time I landed at Emma's house. I wasn't daunted by the distance, I was confident that my efforts of staying consistent with my commute, and the addition of my evening cycles, would have built up enough endurance in my legs to keep going. I wasn't wrong. 

Thursday saw me keeping check of what I was eating, I needed to make sure I wasn't going to be having anything that I'd need to be dealing with while on the bike, nothing bloating or too rough. I ate well. Friday morning I woke at my usual 6:50, had my insulin, metformin, and enjoyed a larger breakfast than normal. Porridge, toast, and coffee. Slow release, carbs, and caffeine, sorted. 

All prepared - Rain jacket strapped to saddle bag. 

Nutrition on the bike is just as important as before and after, for a diabetic however, I'm pretty confident it is more important on the bike than off due to the use of my glycogen stores for climbs and the intense parts of the ride. My snacks for the trip were simple but effective. I had a 750ml bottle of water on the down tube, a 750ml bottle of Lucozade sport on the seat tube, and the food in my jersey. The food I brought consisted of two bananas, four fruit bars (Nature Valley & Benefit), my dextrose tablets (always have these, not just for cycling), and the free Powergel Shot sweets that wiggle.co.uk gave me with one of my orders. 

The bars where horrible. Off the bike I enjoy them, on the bike they tasted so bad, I just didn't have the stomach for them. Should have gone with plain flavours like oat instead of going with peanut butter and summer fruits. I ate half of each of those flavours and just pocketed them again; I'd get food elsewhere. 

I ate a powergel shot every thirty minutes or so, there is 9 in the pack so they'd last quite a while and keep my sugar levels nice and steady; the problem for me regarding blood sugar, is that the earlier part of a ride is usually more intense and you end up using more of your sugar stores for energy than your fat stores. Of course this means that when you're cycling to lose weight you have to try and keep a much more steady pace throughout so that you don't end up using your sugar stores and do instead use your fat stores. I was fortunate however that the N25 out of Cork was very flat and I had a mild tailwind; I was averaging about 36 km/h for over an hour. Didn't have any issue with my blood sugar, even though my legs where spinning and I was powering along. Thanks wind.

I had originally planned to have a piece of food every hour; I suspected I'd average 25 km/h and would be on the road for 6 hours. Four bars, two bananas, six items of food for six hours. Instead I based it on distance. I was making such great pace that I had a banana after about 40 km, and hoped to have the other at maybe 80 km, leaving the same distance roughly till I was at Emma's, where there were bananas! Oh, in case you're not familiar, bananas are great because they help prevent cramping. Muscles like potassium it seems, taste buds like bananas anyway too! 

Yes we eat on the bike, there isn't any need to stop just to open food or a banana. The only time I'd stop to eat is if I wanted to check my blood sugar, which I did at 40 km. It was all good. Got myself comfortable in my shoes and shorts at the break, jumped back on and motored on with a banana hanging out of my mouth, possibly to the amusement of the drivers dropping all their kids to school.

My shoes where fantastic, but I think my socks where slightly too thin. I had to stop a few times at the side of the road to fix that feeling where you sock has gone between two toes. Very annoying when your pedalling is so consistent and you really notice the feeling every single stroke. I even turned them inside out and swapped feet (they are padded and foot specific); no luck, didn't really make much of a difference, however, loosening the shoe straps did make them last longer between fixing. I'll probably just need to wear two pairs of socks perhaps, or use the thicker ones I have for longer distances. 

The bike held up perfectly. After having the spoke issues with the back wheel, I was worried one might snap again, what with that being the pattern of things once one breaks. Capwell Cycles however, did an absolutely brilliant job on the back wheel, I even phoned them when I arrived to let them know the wheel held up for the 130 km and not a single issue. It stayed true, I was delighted, as were Capwell Cycles. 

Not only did the wheel stay true from just the distance, but it stayed true while descending before Dungarvan at 70+ km/h. My lords that was scary; in the most exciting and adrenaline fuelled way. I loved it, it was so fast, I'd never done anything like it. The fastest I'd gone before was about 60 km/h down through Glounthaune into Glanmire. This was something else entirely. I had the entire hard shoulder to myself, and frankly I could have used the road itself because I was after exceeding the speed limit anyway. I looked something like this, probably a little bit funnier though: 

This wasn't my only descent of the day like this, before getting into Waterford city, there is a gorgeous "new" motorway. Still the N25 but the road is fantastic. It goes up and down like there's no tomorrow, so you're climbing to enjoy it. However, the dip that you go down just before the city was breathtaking; literally, I don't think I was breathing. If you thought 70 km/h was fast. Try 80 km/h. I looked down at my odometer and it reported 84 km/h. Effortlessly I might add. This was simply me and the bike using gravity to our advantage, and boy did it pay off. 

The road to Waterford wasn't as flat as the Cork side of things suggested however. I knew I'd have to climb out past Youghal to get to the top by An Rinn and enjoy the huge descent to Dungarvan, but I didn't realise it was so long. It wasn't too steep, just long.  The same was true right after the lovely descent. It started climbing again, not steeply, just for ages. This climb didn't end with an awesome steep descent, instead it had a steady low gradient descent that I was able to mostly coast and recover during. 

Please enjoy this panorama of the border of Waterford and Cork respectively.

Everyone says that you get to enjoy the 'fresh air' when you're out cycling. I'm guessing they've not been passing many of the farms that are on the roadside of the N25. Holy crap, I was climbing and I knew I was getting higher, it was getting colder, I could see my breath, even in the sun, and boom, there it was, the powerful scent of farming. Bleugh.. That lasted long enough. It sure made the climbing more of a priority; must.. get.. away.. from... manure.. 

Before Dungarvan there is a little shop/petrol station that has toilets, so that made the journey all the better. No need to try any awkward roadside piddles, not that I imagine I'd need to pee much since all the water I was drinking was being lost through sweat. 

Back to the route. The route is fantastic though, because you almost always have a hefty hard shoulder to enjoy, and not one covered in debris or a terrible road surface. The only times you don't have it are on part of a climb that's part of a speed check so cars aren't much of a problem anyway. A couple of trucks did fly past quite close and their back draft shook the bike a little, few wobbles here and there. Nothing that would take you off the road however. 

I took a short 5 minute break near the top of a long climb where I found an entrance to some private home that had a really nice pebbled road up to. I just parked the bike against the wall and lay down on the pebbles for a while, shoes off for a bit. I laid down and had some water. It was nice. But breaks don't last long, you need to get back on the bike as soon as you're refreshed; it makes a huge difference. You really get the energy back quickly after a climb. 

I stopped in Dungarvan to buy more Lucozade and was approached by a 70 year old man asking about cycling. He'd had a hip replaced and was looking to build muscle back in the area. So after a bit of a talk he said he's going to go price a spinning machine. Delighted. Onward to Mc Donalds! 

Unclipped and strolled into Mc Donalds with the bike, propped it up against the bins and went up to order, asked if I could keep the bike inside and they were fine with it, she seemed to enjoy the look about me, bit of a smirk the whole time. I brought the bike in and had a Burger and Twisty fries! I joked with them that I probably would have used the drive-thru otherwise. Apparently they have people coming through that on horseback sometimes. What the hell Waterford? 

That was to be my last stop of the day till the city. It was too, which was nice. I got to enjoy some solid roads and decent rolling hills. Motored on toward the city, enjoyed the terrifying 80 km/h descent and through the business parks of Waterford. I took a wrong turn however and ended up going through the city centre itself rather than straight out to Emma's. 

What happened next was purely by chance. Having taken the wrong turn and having to navigate the city to get to Emma's, I found myself climbing a hill similar to Patrick's Hill, so I unclipped and started walking up because the traffic was too much for me to keep a pace safely. Suddenly a car pulls in, just as I was about to cross an intersection. Oh, it was Emma! She had been out to pick up stuff during her break and was coming back that way! How convenient! House key in tow, onward up the hill off to the house while she finishes work. I had asked what the "flattest" way to get back would be and she said that staying with the road would be the straightest. Didn't quite answer the question and sure enough, the hill continued on and was quite the climb. Crafty woman tiring me out so she could look after me later! 

Cycled to hers, popped by my dear friends Avila and Noel's on the way but they were out, Emma's is just around the corner from them so I pedalled on. Got in, 129.7 km later and it was hitting me, I was tired. Yeah, Emma's room is on the third floor.. So many stairs for legs that really didn't want to do anything else. Couldn't remember how to turn the heating on in the house for the shower so endured a cold shower to get clean me down.

Got dressed with the spare clothes that Emma picked up for me, what a darling, and went downstairs to pass out on the kitchen couch. I must have fallen asleep because she was home in no time at all, suddenly I found myself being cooked for, while enjoying a cup of tea and a blanket. That meal was tremendous. Bacon, egg, sausage, beans, toast, what more could you want? 

Enjoyed a proper warm shower, and then we were off back to Cork. Wheels off, bike into the boot, happy out. Driving back was when I came to realise just how much of a gradient some of the hills actually were. They didn't feel as tough, but they looked it. I'm getting better I suppose, and the more weight that I'll lose from this will contribute to an easier, stronger time. Basically went straight to bed when I got home, tried to catch up with the Giro d'Italia footage from the day, but decided to leave it for Saturday at work. 

I managed to commute out to work the following day, on my Giant of course. I could feel in the legs I didn't have much strength, but they weren't sore until I was off the bike. Walking was stiff, they weren't really cooperating with me much. However, once I was pedalling they were fine, different muscle groups I guess. 

Since today is my rest day, they've not done much. I'll know tomorrow how I really feel, if the weather is nice I might take a spin to Kinsale and back. Roughly a 60 km round trip I think, maybe less from my house. 

I'm going to need to wrap this post up I guess, but first I'd like to take the chance to remember friends, family, and lost ones. It may not be Derrynane, but I enjoyed blue skies the whole way to Waterford, thinking of the Roe family, Stratton and Langford!

Thank you Emma for looking after me so diligently. I couldn't have done it without you. 

My next few posts might cover mechanical, the 'joys' of commuting, and my plans. Stay tuned, stay classy.