Thanks, welcome to the log. Having a big goal in mind like the TBP was very influential in me finally getting under 190 pounds. Now that I've accomplished my goal I miss having one. Still, I need to catch up on some other things that slid to the side while I was riding as much as I did. Maybe once I get caught up I'll come up with a good 2017 goal.

There are a number of cool bike rides in the UK. I almost pulled the trigger and did a sportive last time I was there but I didn't really have the time.

Yeah there seems to be a decent sportive culture here. Quite a few in my local area and hundreds nationwide.

If you were ever gonna do a sportive in the uk it would have to be the Fred Whitton. 120 miles and 4000m of climbing with grades up to 30%. (http://www.fredwhittonchallenge.co.uk/)

I'm still torn whether to do more time on the bike and other things to become more well rounded and able to enter more events like sportives, triathlons etc or whether to just put all my time into the fell running and become as good at that as I possibly can. I do love cycling when it's sunny and warm and calm but that's about 3 days per year here. Cycling in the wind and rain sucks.

That is one tough challenge. I took a look at the Strava segment for the Hardknot climb:
https://www.strava.com/segments/637403
Strava makes everything look gradual, but 1.6 miles at 12% is going to make a lot of people walk their bikes.

Presumably people come prepared with either strong legs or granny gears... I looked at the leaderboard and thought, OK, at my peak I can do about 330 watts for 10 minutes, what'll that get me. Not much I think because people doing it at 330 watts are taking longer than 10 minutes. So then I think, OK, 12 minutes at 300? Nope. 14 minutes at like 270? Maybe. 14 minutes to go 1.6 miles. Ouch.

There is really just nothing like that here. I wonder what grade the hill outside my office is. Granted, I do not have climbing gears on at all, but I can barely keep a cadence of 60 at well over 400 watts

OK it looks like the less steep portions of my climb are 12% and the steep parts get into the mid-20s. So now I don't feel too bad. I had assumed the worst part was 12ish.

https://www.strava.com/segments/719503?filter=overall

I always jump to the bottom of the leaderboard, because I figure I will be closer to that than the top, lol. Many people over an hour on that hill.
Of course, there is a big difference between hitting that hill while fresh or at the 95 mile mark of the Fred Whitton, with something like 8,000 feet of climbing behind you.

Yeah Hardknot is supposed to be a total bastard. I've never done it but have heard all about it. Apparently on the steepest parts you need to zigzag across the road to lessen the gradient and because it's so narrow, if you meet a car coming the other way you're pretty ****ed and then it's so steep it's almost impossible to get started again.

I have done a section of it, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th climbs (Honister, Newlands and Whinlatter), and just that was a tough as hell ride in itself. Can't imagine how your legs must feel after another 50 miles and with the hardest climbs yet to come.

Oh Jesus now I'm talking about it I kinda wanna do it....

Apparently I jinxed myself with my entry on 7/28 about the bike mart rides. I went on Saturday and did the 29 mile ride, and had no snap in my legs. I hung in there for about23 of the 29 miles but had to slow down and limp back to the car. MY best guess's about why I felt like I had nothing:
1. Did a workout Friday night including doing some sets on a leg press machine.
2. Heat. It is hot for everyone, but for some reason it seems like it is bothering me more this year in the past, relative to the other riders. Maybe getting old, lol.
3. Might have been a little dehydrated coming into the ride.

So, this doesn't bode all that well for me doing the 75 mile ride in PB time this coming Saturday. I still think I'll go down there and give it a go at my own tempo and see what happens.

I've been thinking about a heat to altitude comparison for cycling. This is just based on my own experience, nothing scientific. I would say <80º is sea level, i.e. the temperature doesn't make it any harder than it really is. I would say for every 2 degrees from 80 to 94degrees, add 500 feet of "altitude". So if you are at sea level, and it is 90º, it is the equivalent of 2500 feet. In my example, 94 would the equivalent of 3500 feet. After that, every 2 degrees is equal to 1000 feet of elevation. 100º would be 6500. 106 would be 9500 feet. 110º would be 11,500 feet.

I may be understating it a little at the high end, not sure.

May not be perfect, but I think it is in the ballpark.

It was really hot on the 6th of August, but I did give it a go. No chance at ridding fast for me, with it so hot. IT was 10 degrees hotter at every point than last year.

This past weekend was great. We had a "cold" front come through and with clouds and a little rain around it was 75 Saturday morning. Felt great.

Bump. I've been doing some random riding, just trying to stay in shape. Felt like crap this past 5 days, think I am allergic to ragweed. Either that or caught a cold. Think I'm on the recovery side. I need 13 miles to hit my 3000 mile this year goal, so I'm pretty sure I'll get there.
Gained about 5 pounds since TBP, going to get back over 190 if I'm not careful.

Current goals, keep riding, stay in shape and not get fat over the holidays.

One good thing about doing a log, I remembered making this entry but wasn't really sure when (April) and I did not recall it had been occurring since November of 2015. I guess I'm at my one year anniversary of this pain, then. I have tried doing some of the stretches but not faithfully. The pain is now primarily from the top of the hip bone, I guess where my kidney would be, down to about where the hip joint is located on the side of my leg. The pain seems to get worse if I just sit, or just stand. Walking I may feel it but not that bad. There were certainly times this summer where I was not bothered by it, perhaps even a few weeks at a time, but the last couple of weeks have been pretty bad. I'm a little puzzled by who I should go see. I suppose an MRI might make some sense, rule out anything mechanical.
I'm sort of the opinion that if I go see a orthopedic surgeon they will find something to operate on, if I go to a chiropractor they will find something wrong with my back, etc.

Why not just go to a physio? If they're good, they shouldn't be invested in any one particular kind of treatment and should be able to give you an honest assessment. Just do your homework first and try to find out who the good honest ones are and who's just gonna try and sell you some orthotics or a course of acupuncture or something.

Looks like in the US you must get a referral to a reputable PT from another Doctor. I may try to make an appointment with DO that I took my father in law to. They should be fairly middle of the road as far as diagnoses and treatments.

So, I decided to make an appointment with a Chiropractor who was recommended to me by a friend. I should state that my opinion of the chiropractic profession ranges from skeptical to belief that it is almost quackery. I'm not totally sure why I've got such a negative opinion, I think in my youth I used to hear of people going and my parents scoffed at such a notion. Funny how that stuff gets ingrained.

Anyway, I did think that my issue is more of a muscular / nerve issue then anything wrong with the joint itself, so I decided to give it a try. They did some initial movement assessments and mine were mostly normal. I was a little stiffer on my right side. They then fixed up some heating pads on a massage bed, and attached a TENS unit to my lower back and hip area. They cranked up the TENS till I felt it tingle and I laid on my back with a box under my knees and the roller on the massage bed worked my spine. Felt pretty good. After about 20 minutes they unhooked me and we went to the ultrasound room. They put some gel on my lower back and worked with the ultrasound. Since you can't feel anything, hard to tell if that did much.
I then met with the doctor, everything else was done by assistant. He talked to me and I described the symptoms and he said it sounded like a nerve issue to him, but he had an x-ray done on my spine and hips. He said the x-rays looked normal aside from some arthritis on my spine. I suspect everyone "of a certain age" probably has some of that. After the x-ray he did an "adjustment" by manipulating my body and producing some cracking noises. He said one leg was longer than the other, so he needed to align my pelvis so he. Anyway, they recommended I do 2 treatments a week for 6 weeks. I'm not sure about that, but I will go once more on Thursday.
Results? My hip still has pain. It seems less but not sure if that is because I would like it to be less. My lower back had a lot more pain and stiffness in it that I knew, and after the treatment it feels better than I can recall. That is the main reason I am going back. I am hoping it truly is something pressing on a nerve that affect the hip, and these treatments will help.

I have now had three visits to the chiropractor. My hip pain is a lot better. It bothers me at times, but the pain is less and more localized, and there are times it doesn't hurt at all. At its worst it was pretty constant and widespread. One thing I believe is helping is I have been doing some stretches that I think are helping. Two in particular is a simple toe touch. I really feel that in my hamstrings and calves. I think they were very tight. When I started I could only get to slightly below mid calf, now I can get to the floor. The other stretch I like is a "supine figure 4".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysWFSNrmLws

I think I will have one more appointment before calling this one solved, but I like the improvement so far.

Bumping my log. Hasn't been a great start to the new year, I wrecked my car on Saturday. Technically my fault, as I rear ended someone, but they stopped on the downside of a single lane ramp around a downhill blind curve. I got a ticket, so add insult to car damage. Thankfully no injury. Car is totaled.

I've been debating:
A. Whether to start a new log with a new goal,
B. Track the new goal in this log
and
C. Is the goal even possible for me?

I think I should start with C. Pretty much all of my goals have just been endurance based. Finish a 100 mile ride. Finish a 120 mile mountainous ride. Things that can be done with some will and sticktoitiveness. The goal I am thinking about is a 5 hour century, namely the hotter than hell. This is speed based goal, obviously. I've ridden very few flat miles @ 20 mph, so 100 of them will be problematic. The reason I would pick the hotter than hell is because it is relatively close to where I live, pretty flat, and most importantly, they have a pace group I can buy my way into. For ~$200 you can join the pace group, and they do all they can to keep you in the group. You get a 30 minute earlier start, they have a van passing out bottles, and people setting the pace. If you can't keep up, too bad so sad for you.
This would be a 2018 goal, don't think there is anyway to get there this year. My best paced relatively long distance ride last year was the Collin Classic, 60 miles @ 15.7 MPH. That was on my own, very little drafting. My watt meter showed avg power of 122 watts, NP of 139 watts. The amount of uphill in this 60 miles was about the same as the whole 100 miles in Wichita Falls. I was trying to estimate how much power I need to be able to put out to stay in the draft with a group that fast. I looked on Strava and found some people that did last years ride, but none of them seemed to have a power meter.( I wish Strava would put a lighting bolt symbol next to activities with a power meter) Strava estimates an average of 194 watts for a couple of them, but not sure how useful that is. The bike speed calculator estimates 236 watts, but that sounds really high.
I think IF it can be done @ 150 watts average, and 180 NP I might have a shot. If I need to generate more than that I don't think I can get there.

i suggest keeping the log. you can PM anklebreaker if you want to change the title of the thread (to reflect a new goal).
i like the goal.
rusty can probably help you with the estimate. but it's hard to estimate how much drafting will reduce the power needed because it depends how good you are at drafting and how good the group works together (as well as your position / cda that you can realistically keep for 5hours).

cycling in a tight group and really roling along while using the least amount of energy is a skill that needs time to develop. how many group rides do you do? (not many if i remember correctly).

anyway, here a 3 rides from strava with power meter from HHH100 in ~5 hours.

https://www.strava.com/activities/745531661
https://www.strava.com/activities/381683353/
https://www.strava.com/activities/380543388

without knowing their weight or size (or cda) or knowing if they rode alone or in a pack it's hard to get too much info out of it. but well, there you go anyway. (btw, as a trick: go into a segment of a HHH ride, click on leaderboard and there you can see the lightning bolt for all power meter users.)

Drafting in a group of 8 or more people helps a lot, probably 30% at least. In groups of 20 even more. I do a regular saturday ride that usually averages 20mph and my average power is usually around 150 watts. It's fairly flat, but not as flat as Dallas. I weigh 175 - weight matters less on flats but it still matters some.

A lot of my friends have power meters, I'm trying to think who of them did HnH that you might be able to look at.

On an unrelated note, I met Chris Carmichael last week. He came to speak at our club and we went on a ride with him the next day. I found out, also, that he was involved in a doping scandal where as a coach he injected youths with steroids, without their knowledge/understanding. So that's kinda sad/bad.

OK, here's from one of my friends. 190 watts actual, but he averaged 22.2mph, which is a LOT harder than 20. He also probably was on a TT bike though.
https://www.strava.com/activities/380219368

I can't find anyone else who did it with a power meter at 20mph. Strava's search feature really kinda sucks.

You know what though, I got a lot happier when I dumped speed or distance as a metric. I am all about hours and effort.

Aim for 150 watts for 5 hours and let the chips fall where they may.

For 5 hour efforts you are going to have to be on *top* of nutrition and hydration. Minor dehydration leads to huge drop offs in power and increased heart rate.

Thanks for the comments. Group riding, I do a Saturday group ride most Saturdays. I'm comfortable riding around in a pack. Obviously not at these speeds, but that would be part of my preparation, moving to the faster and longer groups from the bike shop rides. The pace group will be a large group, here is the group photo from last year:
https://www.facebook.com/HHHPaceGroup/

My plan would to try to get in the middle of the mass.

Tron, I used the segment trick when looking at riders who did the Triple Bypass, to see how fast and at what power they climbed some of the longer passes. Not sure why I didn't think to use it for the HHH.


I think for now I will act is if I am going for it next year, and reassess where I'm at toward the end of this season. I'll see if I can get to that 150 watt average, and as Rusty says see where everything falls.

So far this has been a less than stellar year. Saturday I did my group ride plus some, 40 miles in all, no issue. Went home, ate lunch, did a few chores, read a book for a while. Went to get up around 2 PM and the back part of my ankle and heel were sore. Did the ice and ibuprofen thing. Yesterday when I got up it's really sore on the bottom of my foot, towards the heel and arch area. Took it as easy as I could but did do some walking. Did the ice and ibuprofen thing. This morning I could barely walk. As the day has gone on it is a little better, but still pretty painful
Google tells me it is likely something call plantar fasciitis, or at least something wrong in that area. I've been reasonably uninjured the last 5 or 6 years, but this year between my hip and now this, not so lucky.

After thinking back on if I could have injured it somehow, there was a moment during my spin class on Thursday when I felt like I dipped my heel lower than normal while standing on the pedals. I remember having the thought at the time that I had stretched my Achilles tendon, but it didn't hurt at the time, or that evening or Friday. It didn't hurt until a few hours after my ride on Saturday. Perhaps I injured something there and it didn't show up until I used it again, not sure.

With regard to watts in group rides, it makes a huge difference to be in a a very large 'peloton' type group, on a flat road, in the midst of such a group 20 mph is probably under 150W. The downside is that crashing is more common and more serious when casual cyclists do large group rides.

Anyhow, hope you recover and complete your goals. Looking forward to a trip report.