Team Cycling Plus – Malcolm Ratcliffe
khodgins | Blog, Cycling Plus | 06/09/2010 14:12pm
Team Cycling Plus will be updating you each week with the highs and lows of their training as part of the team. Both Malcolm and the Millook recover from the Etape Hibernia…
Team member – Malcolm Ratcliffe
Malcolm from Erdington is determined to shed some of his 17stone before his 45th birthday this October. To do this he hopes to take his cycling to the next level with Team Cycling Plus, by extending his 10-20mile rides, and include a sportive or two in his season. As well as losing weight, his goals include regularly commuting the 10miles to work and doing a London to Paris charity ride.
A week on from Etape Hibernia and it was back to normality. Time to recover from the cycling exertions of the weekend and time to review a new training plan from coach Ben and work on the ‘diet’ suggestions from my dietitian Renee. As well as my training I’ve been working on my wife Tracy’s training for her upcoming half marathons, the first at the Great North Run in September and then the EDF Birmingham Half Marathon in October. I think she has the harder task!
Just to make sure everything was back in working order after my Irish trip I decided to return to my nemesis, the spin class. Lead out by our instructor Steve we set off and it was soon apparent my last experience of this static torture was no different. I have to conclude that I can’t have a fast twitch muscle fibre in my body as I struggled to keep pace with the music, never mind the rest of the class. That, or there is a technique to riding these static monsters that is as different from pedalling a road bike as taking a donkey ride at the seaside is to riding in the Grand National. Suffice to say, after 45 minutes of sweat and toil I would gladly have signed up for Etape du Tour there and then in order to avoid another session of spin.
Saturday, and at last a spare half hour to unpack the Verenti from it’s travel bag and rebuild it. Grease applied liberally to allen bolts and pedals and voila the Millook looked good as new, well at least like a bike again. Then kit on and out the door for a quick 20 miles to ensure the bike was in full working order. Well it was me who had rebuilt it!!
Although my average heart rate has not dramatically improved recently I seem to be able to clock on at a faster rate of knots without bouncing into the red zone. This is also apparent in my average speed, which also continues to creep up, and now hovers around the 17mph mark on a regular basis. Dropping under 16 stone no doubt helps both these numbers and although I’m not quite double digit kilo numbers, another kilo to go, I’m sure that an improvement in training consistency and diet focus over the coming weeks will show improved results.
Signed up for the last two 2010 Sky Rides in London and Birmingham on Sunday 5th and 12th September. Have volunteered to help guide a ride in from the London suburbs but have left it a bit late so may just end up joining a group in. Birmingham will see family Ratcliffe, and any friends I can cajole to join us, out on the roads of the city enjoying a day out. If you fancy a stress free ride on closed roads then sign up, come along and say hello.
Who are Team Cycling Plus?
Team Cycling Plus powered by Verenti are readers Andy Ward, Kay Bowen, Malcolm Ratcliffe and Sam Shaw. We’ll be following them in the magazine for the next few months as they train towards their personal cycling goals under the guidance of Team Wiggle’s Ben Simmons and we will be publishing their weekly trials and tribulations here too. For regular updates check our Twitter page and the Team Cycling Plus Facebook page.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 6th, 2010 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Blog, Cycling Plus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
