Winter Training Sessions
Training started Tuesday 1st November 7pm-8.30pm and has continued weekly thereafter at Hutchesons Grammar School. Come along!
Early Burd Rides Meeting 8.30am December!(Just to repeat this is not a typo it is 8 o'clock in the morning.) The meeting point for these rides is fixed at the Linthouse garage. The route will be decided on the day/on the hoof but will generally be a moderate to brisk 3 hour ride, hopefully getting faster as the racing season approaches. This is probably not the one to come to if you haven't done much cycling. Starts Saturday 19th November and weekly thereafter.
These 40-50 mile routes are meant to be easy to moderate paced rides. Each Sunday Club run will have a designated Ride Leader which will change week to week. The responsibility of the Ride Leader will be to look after new riders and the last rider on the road. Basically - no one will be left behind! Details of upcoming rides are posted on the table below with route details showing the full route. Please look out appropriate clothing for the day (we are probably into full winter gear now), buy and fit some mud guards, bring at least 2 spare tubes, a waterproof, tools for changing tyres, at least one bottle and food.
Sunday 18th December 10am Meeting Beanscene, Kelvingrove
Ride Leader: David Lang
Lang's Lanes
With a recent chest injury David doesn't want any major hills or rib-tickling jokes on his ride. While we can't guarantee the latter this ride has a good combination of shortish climbs and drags but the main feature is the quiet route.
The lanes around Eaglesham and Strathaven are almost empty of traffic and are perfect for easy Sunday rides. For the more adventurous out there, there are a number of add-on options too.
Starting from Beanscene, Kelvingrove with other southside meeting points too - Clarkston Toll etc. Contact David Lang if you intend to meet the bunch southside.
Numbers varied between 12 and 16 today (November 20th), hard work at the start with the Col de Crow and Le Top of World having to be conquered, then it was a glorious blast along the Stirling flats. Those that were still riding by 2pm got a good soaking for their troubles but fun was had by all. Ride from start to finish was 51 miles but many additional miles were added on by those that chose to ride out for it. Well done to all for attending.
First of the Saturday 8am runs today (19th November)saw Nicky, Mark, Kallen and Craig heading out along the clyde and turning in towards Bridge of Weir, on what was an undulating ride at a pleasant pace, with a good sociable atmosphere. Great to see Mark back out again. More of the same next week
A brace of 6 today (November 14th) on a great route chosen by Nicky, and a hilly course by all accounts. Gordon Russell is getting the miles in on these runs to train for his trans - France charity ride in the spring. It could be a long winter for him I fear! Chavaunne if you're still keen to get out cycling get in contact with us and we'll get Elaine Lowden our Ladies Captain to make contact.
World record of 19 out on the run today (November 6th) - check the GWCC facebook photos. Excellent day and some new keen faces
Seven out on today's (Sun 30th Oct) ride. Rolling roads, no punctures, and a disciplined bunch that kept an easy, steady October pace in dry but breezy conditions. Ride distance approximately 50miles - David Griffiths provided the ride data on his Garmin a day after coming 4th at the British University Hill Climb Champs. Knee warmers and three quarters were the order of the day - how much longer before the full thermals come out?!?!?
| Date | Start Point & Time | Description | Route Details | Ride Leader | GPS/Garmin Data |
| Sun 9th Oct | C'burn Toll 9:30 | Croftamie-Balloch loop | Route details | David G/Tommy Banks | |
| Sun 23rd Oct | Eastwood Toll 10am | Southside Extravaganza! | Route details | Craig Dick | Garmin data |
| Sun 30th Oct | Eastwood Toll 10am | Ayrshire Raid | Route details | Jamie Drever | Garmin data |
| Sun 6th Nov | Tron 10am | City centre starter | Route details | Craig Dick | |
| Sun 13th Nov | Anniesland Cross 10am | Over the Erskine Bridge! | Route details | Nicky Cronin | |
| Sun 20th Nov | Torrance Roundabout 10am | Northside! | Route details | Graeme Cockburn | |
| Sun 27th Nov | Anniesland X 10am | The paths less trodden | Route details | Jason Roberts | |
| Sun 4th Dec | TBC | TBC | Graeme Neagle | ||
| Sun 11th Dec | Byres Road | Tak me doon/hame! | Route details | David Griffiths | |
| Sun 18th Dec | Beanscene - Kelvingrove | Southside Lanes | Route details | David Lang |
Weights and conditioning training starts Tuesday 1st November Hutcheson's Grammar School 7pm-8.30pm:
The structure of the sessions until Christmas will be:
15mins warm up - there is CV stuff or if you arrive by bike then straight to the weights and limber up on them
Weights: approx 40 mins
Initially the emphasis is on and will always be on form, so light weights and higher reps, however as the sessions progress the aim is to increase the loads to about 80% of 1 rep max and lower the reps. The reason for this is we are trying to increase recruitment of muscle fibres, not increase size or do muscular endurance work in the gym.
5 Lifts
If anyone has other ideas as to what they want to do then that's fine by me - I'm not the instructor I'm just booking the hall and offering a program that appears to be in line with the current research in using weights in an endurance sport. The gym is there for us all and I think there is enough equipment to keep everyone amused.
After the weights session it's on to core work: 20mins or so of
Last 15mins or so is Stretching
A range of training and race equipment, including turbo trainers and rollers is also available for use.
Other Training Information:
From April to September the Club has a chaingang. Leaving from the Mallesheugh Inn carpark (Newton Mearns)at 7pm sharp to complete a 30 mile route down the A77 with a loop taking in Fenwick before rejoining the A77 back to the start point.
Coaching Weekends: Over the last three winters we have incorporated a training camp (Crianlarich, Peebles and Largs). The primary focus is to enable us to sharpen up our cycling skills under the watchful eyes of some the clubs most experienced members. It involves an overnight stay away at the weekend. It also helps to bring out riders aims and targets for the coming year and with a squad of 20+ racers, it certainly goes a long way to aid in team bonding.
An excellent basis for starting training is Cyclists Training Bible by Joe Friel.
Some sample Turbo / Roller sessions from the SCU Academy are available below:
Training - Goal Setting: Information HERE
Roller / Turbos Workouts Session 1
Roller / Turbos Workouts Session 2
Roller / Turbos Workouts Session 3
Roller / Turbos Workouts Session 4