So. No more snow. But a return to the “normal” piddling down and howling gale meant that I still wasn’t able to get outdoors. An alternative plan therefore needed for my run today. Yep, you guessed it. The kitchen. Result – 25.05 mi in 01:14:29 hours at 20.18 mi/h. It was a fast flat run which I had decided on as I had been feeling a bit tired earlier in the day – so much so I feel asleep during the Liverpool vs Stoke game which, I was reliably informed, was probably the best course of action. I felt bloody marvellous on the “run” however, and could have gone on but for the lure of ham, potatoes and sprouts cooking away behind me getting too much to bear. That’s the trouble with kitchen rides – you are at the mercy of every delicious smell. The other day I developed a craving for marmalade because it was being made behind me, and I have never liked the stuff. Forgot the dang heart strap again. Just as well I’m not in danger of exploding. Right; shower, then on to MCL to see if I am still ahead of the one who must be kept ahead of at all costs. You know who you are! And I am! So far.

Well, that’s the end of the first week of indoor cycling and I’ve done 130 or so miles. That’s only another 290 to go to make the minimum target for the month (between 425 and 450 pcm is the target parameters). It’s getting not so knackering, and although I’m not anywhere near getting the best out of it, I’m very pleased with it so far. Have got a training wheel on order to complete the set. I’ll not bore you with details of every ride from now on, so expect weekly updates from now on unless something out of the ordinary occurs.

On an aside, I’m getting a bit fed up with the scenery so I think I’ll redecorate. How about wallpaper featuring rolling hills and other pretty landscapes. Or to really confuse myself, rolling waves on an open sea.

15.02 mi in 01:02:31 hours at 14.42 mi/h on taxc satori blue turbo trainer. Another snowfall put paid to any hope of getting out on to some real roads today so I embarked on a further world tour of the kitchen featuring today’s domestic appliance of choice – the hoover. The hoover got involved because of yesterday’s unfortunate incident of the towel in the dog’s water dish, so the bike ‘n’ Tacx combo got moved slightly further back in the room thus allowing said vacuum cleaning device to double as a towel rail. Today’s plan was different: instead of going for speed on a relatively flat surface, I attemtped to simulate a hillier ride by using the resistance settings. The idea is that setting 1 equates to grade/gradient 1, setting 2 = grade 2 and so on. It’s a bit looser than that in actual fact but Im still awaiting advice from an expert from a bike forum to give me the more exact calcs. So, the game plan was 5miles at setting (grade) 4; 5 miles at 2; 2 miles at 3; 2 miles at 4; 0.5miles at 5, then 0.5 at setting 2 to simulate a downhill sprint (well sort of) finish. Phew! The first 5 miles at 4 were OK but the last ones were hell. Ah well, practice makes perfect.

30.12 mi in 01:31:59 hours at 19.65 mi/h on taxc satori blue turbo trainer. Another expedition to the microwave and back, taking in the toaster, coffee machine and washing machine en route. 30.12 miles total (we have very large kitchen appliances) with only a couple of short stops for Gatorade and to rescue my towel from the dog’s dish. Forgot the darn heart strap again! Worked out that if you put the tension lever on the Tacx at various positions it equates to gradient (grade). Still to calculate the exact equivalence, but today I thought I’d do relatively flat ride and concentrate on speed. Seems to have worked. Pasta input followed and very nice it was too.

30.07 mi in 01:47:14 hours at 16.82 mi/h on the taxc satori blue turbo trainer. Another journey across the kitchen. jeez, I’ll be wearing a rut in the floor soon. Decided to up the ante slighty and go for a 30 miler. This is because the Johnstone Wheelers have the first of their first formal rides in three weeks time – this one is about 37 miles of hilly terrain. I’ve ridden part of it before when I was just starting out and did OK, but that was when there wasn’t anyone there to let down or in front of whom to make a tool of myself. I’m not promising myself I’ll go to the ride but it is a good target to set myself – 37 miles distance and a bit more resistance on the flywheel to simulate hills. But then again who knows: might even be back out on the road by then. I hope!

20.05 mi in 01:12:51 hours at 16.51 mi/h on the taxc satori blue turbo trainer. Another outing for the Tacx. Bit less knackering this time but still hard going. Will give it a couple more simple rides before even attempting the hill shots.

First “outing” for the Tacx satori turbo trainer on the route that I’ve now christened The Midegeskitchen. I’m bloody knackered – way more tiring than a normal ride and that without any real hills. Some interesting readings on the Garmin: average speed 14mph-ish which is fine, good healthy dose of calories used (fillet steak justified for dinner tonight), but according to the elevation, I spent a long time underground! There you go then – those who say I am a troglodyte may have a point. Also causing much amusement is the fact that my route map looks a bit like a splatted alien. As I said knackering, but hey it was fun and felt a lot more like a “real” ride than the spin bikes at the gym!

We have had snow on the ground now since December 21st 2009 – more snow than we’ve had for the past fifteen years put together I reckon. And, of course, it’s been below freezing so we are living on one enormous skating rink. Every time I look outside I fully expect to see Torvill and Dean Boleroing their way up Main Road. What it has meant is that it will be well nigh impossible to get the bike on the road until we have had a major thaw and some good west of Scotland rain to clear the muck away.

So, in the interim an emergency measure was needed if I was to make any headway on my target of 5000 miles before Hogmanay 2010. The result – yet another gadget to play with, this time in the shape of a Tacx Satori Blue turbo trainer.

I’ve been keeping an eye on these ever since I saw one being used at the gym by a girl who is a budding champion triathlete. I have previously viewed them as a bit of a gimmick (turbo trainers that is not triathletes), but she seemed to be making good use of it. Further investigation showed me that they have come a long way from the rickety devices of the past and so I decided to take the plunge. Not literally on this occasion.

So here is my bran’ noo toy – currently set up in the kitchen as it is way too cold in the garage where it will normally reside after I’ve negotiated a deal on repositioning a Honda Blackbird.

Right. Here we go! On yer bike Wallace!

The Midge's new toy

Buddy wonders if he'll be expected to run alongside

The shirt's off - no pain, no gain!

As the yella thing was back again minus its pals fog and ice, I lycrad up and toddled off down the Lochwinnoch track. The plan had been to do the full loop (minus the acrobatics of the last attempt) but I felt a bit sluggish so decided just to come back on the track rather than do the full loop. Dunno why I was sluggish – possibly the effects of my flu jags? Or doing too many spin classes (I did do a 2hours-plus session of gym yesterday). Average speed 13.4 but average cadence down at 76. Not disastrous but less good than I’m aiming for. Want to get to average speeds of 15+ over the Christmas break. Cadence hasn’t been too bad of late so as long as I keep it fairly constant around 75-85 just now I’ll be happy. Trip stats: 23.53 mi in 01:47:00 hours at 13.19 mi/h on Dolan Mythos.