88, 140, 30.3, 0 - more data for Etape du Tour training

So in my quest to train smarter for the Etape du Tour, harder wasn't working out too well, I've invested in a better Garmin.

I don't really understand it if I'm honest. But what it does is allow me to do is get an awful lot more information both while I'm riding and to analyse afterwards.

Also, it matches my bike's colour scheme.

The numbers in the headline are my cadence, heart rate, speed and the road gradient read from the screen while I was riding today. So a pretty good cadence, a nicely controlled heart rate, a good cruising speed on a flat rode.

All of the data

It also allows better management of my gears. Better management of myself and my effort too.

My ride today took in Box Hill twice as part of a 95km "getting my mojo back" ride. The last time I rode up Box Hill I found an effort level I thought I could hold and went up in 9min 39s. Today I decided to hold my cadence at around 90, my heart rate at 180, and see what happened.

I rode my second-fastest time - 8min 27s - three seconds off my best, which was set a month before the Etape last year. A minute better than my next best time.

Now, as my previous blog post will tell you, I've not been training properly for the last week or two and hadn't exactly prepared properly the day before - drinking too much and eating and sleeping too little (although not catastrophically badly on any count).

But having the data to look at while on the bike to measure effort meant I could deliver a consistent power output without going into the red. And analyse afterwards too.

It means I can now see if there's something going right or wrong as well as get more information for comparison of segments (ie it might be slower, but now I have a heart rate comparison to see if there was a reason).

With a bit of luck, it should put me in a far better place to tackle the Pyrenees and cope while riding them in July.