Week 6 - 5.88% Faster

This week I have been struggling with the Heart Rate training, but I found a solution – changing gear.

Mondays ride was a lovely sunny bank holiday ride round my local Rushcliffe loop. It was to be a 2 hour Zone 2 ride. The first half of the ride is nice and hilly so I could push hard enough to get into The Zone! The second half runs along the side of the Trent and is dead flat and, as hard as I tried, I just couldn't get my HR high enough.

While I was mulling this over I was wondering if I was over-training, ill, tired, hot, or just rubbish!

But another solution came to me - change gear?

I run a fixed ratio of 34:14 on the Scandal which has evolved over the years from 32:16 steadily getting higher. So I ordered a 36t Surly Stainless Front Ring to replace my 34 - this should make me 5.88% faster. This should also push my HR higher and get me into The Zone!

Tuesdays night ride was a little better. A hilly route meant that I could push and keep well within zone 2.

I ordered the ring via eBay from www.koo-bikes.com and it arrived Wednesday morning. Excellent service! A little chainring drilling later and it was on ready for Thursday night ride.

I don't know if it was the emperor’s new clothes syndrome, but it felt faster and my HR was up just the right amount. I flew round in just over 2hrs :)




Fridays hill reps required 5x3mins AND 20mins at race pace (as fast as you can!). This was carried out on Carlton Hill which is just the right length for the hill reps then over to Arnold and back into town via the hilly Mansfield Road. The 20mins race pace was hard to keep up on the fixie. Just not enough hills round here!

Maybe the commuter needs a new rear cog...