Miles and Miles

I had a weird ride last night. 4hrs on the road bike. It started with me failing to get my ipod to work, then spending nearly an hour trying to get my tyre off the rim, blistering my finger and splitting my thumb nail in the process. The ride itself was perculiar. Time just seemed to stand still. I wasn't bored at all, in fact the opposite. It was just like the seconds were 3 seconds long in 'normal' time.

And although I was never lost - and in fact always knew exactly where I was on the road - I just didn't recognise anything. It was like being on holiday. The sunset was beautiful and the air was sort of story-book misty and I just pedalled along at a hell of a lick just wonding what gorgeous planet I had woken up in.

I seemed to go miles. I might work out how far it was because I seemed to go so fast and so far. It was amazing. I crawled up the hill back to Rob's house at 9pm feeling strange but happy. I saw a fire-fly just as I was getting off my bike - which made my evening.

Today I have a rest day and puncture-fixing and chain-fixing practice. Not sure what bike I'm going to do it on though...

Then it's packing for Scotland - 3 days of rinsing trails with my beloved. Heaven!

x

Winner

Came 1st out of 1 at the Midlands XC.





result.





Not "Result!" you understand. Just "result".

Thought for the day - "I have a long way to go."

Whiskers

Miaooowwwwwwwwwwww...

Lost

Anyone who knows me knows I have the worst sense of direction imaginable. But I'm not bad with a map. So what sense was there launching myself on a 4 hour ride across Exmoor with no map?

None.

I ended up in Barnstaple rather than Woolacombe and had the climb from hell to get back to where I should have been. The ride took 5 hrs in stead of 4. Pretty tough - all into a head wind.

My body was fine. I hate being lost so my heart sunk a bit but as soon as I knew Rob wasn't cross with me I felt ok. We had a great few hours in Woolacombe looking at the sea, bimbling around, eating pancakes (made by a real Dutchman didn't you know) and just generally being daft. It was great.

The few days to follow have been far from great but sometimes you have to be on the cusp of total disaster to realise how lucky you are. I do.

So in a few weeks Rob and I will be moving to our new house in Portishead, complete with garage, spare room, marina and beautiful garden views. And peace. And I will read and write and generally be completely geeky as well as a superfit athlete.

Can't wait.

Getting tougher

I have come to the conclusion that I don't actually know what it's supposed to feel like to be in physical discomfort. I mean really hard physical duress from intense training. I can go fairly hard for a long time but when I'm pushing any harder than 'up a hill where I can see the top' my body slams its fist on the table and says 'no, this will not do'.

So my 2 x 20 this week was far more successful than last week. Well I finished it for a start. But it was decidedly uncomfortable. My heart rate hovered around the high 150s and threatened to tip into the terrible 160s a few times, ending on 161. So generally pretty tough (made tougher by my paranoia that I WASN'T going to make it again).

But when Rob does it, his legs spin at 100 rpm, his muscles go taught and he cannot breathe, let alone blow his nose, grumpily whisper requests for more water or contemplate the work that needs doing on the bike. I can. So quite honestly I don't think I'm trying hard enough.

I need to get to the point where I accept and embrace the pain as part of the training, not worry that it's hurting too much. I actually felt better when Rob said 'it's too easy for you, you're supposed to be crying for your mother'.

So, Mum, I hope you're on standby because next up is 240 watts for 40 minutes. Bring... it... on...

Choose an identity

If you leave a comment on someone's blog (not that you lot'd know because I never get any comments) it asks you to 'choose an identity'.

This made me chuckle and spit pumpkin seeds all over the carpet.

:)

Learning Curve

Today I failed.

I have been doing turbo sessions to try and boost my muscular endurance. Yesterday I was feeling a bit icky so I didn't do my recovery ride. Today I felt a bit better so climbed on the bike and started but from the word go felt odd and it was far harder than it should have been based on last week's attempt.

So I got to the point where I couldn't turn the pedals and crawled off, ashamed. I had only done half.

Rob said he was disappointed. Not because I'd stopped but because I'd got on the bike in the first place. Your health is everything. Without it, no amount of training is going to make you faster.

So now I'm in bed, laptop on, well, lap. I'm doing some PhD work today and will chill for 48 hours before even going near the pedals again. And if I ain't right, I ain't bikin'!

So have I learnt my lesson? Well I want to be a pro so I need to act like one. I'm eating right, dressing right and I've got to treat my body right.

Here endeth the lesson.