They say that moving house is one of the most stressful events in life. I’m not sure whether that’s really the case (getting chased by tigers, being in a plane crash and agreeing to a ridiculous cycle ride in which people have died etc.. are less likely but surely more stressful). However a house move is certainly hard work and time consuming. This has been the reason for my relative silence over the last few weeks but more importantly it has impinged on my training targets over the last couple of weeks. It had been 13 days since i spun my wheels in anger (or at all for that matter) until today when I got out for a short spin on a sunny, but blustery Wiltshire morning.
However, all is not lost! While I have missed out a bit in late April / early May I have the luxury of another 7 weeks of training uninterrupted by the requirement to attend paid employment. A 2 year break from the glamorous world of Supermarket accountancy feels good and over the next few weeks my new life of “practice” retirement coupled with extreme property refurbishment will start to become the norm and as my own boss (sort of) I can work my “job” around my training rather than vice versa..... that’s the plan for now anyway.
While many good things will come out of my return to the South West of England, I shall certainly miss my cycling buddies who have proved to be great company and motivation on our regular jaunts. What’s more they have even been reading my blog, but have complained vociferously about the fact that they seem to be overlooked in my ramblings. While the purpose of this blog is to share my state of mind and level of preparation for a major European Sportive, that excuse falls on deaf ears. So here goes chaps.... what I shall miss about you guys?
Dave – your expert knowledge of all things cycling, your route planning, leadership and your witty banter
Brian – your well honed skills to always ride at the back of the bunch, your scepticism of Dave’s route finding & distance estimating capability and your witty banter
Al – your laughter, your unbridled enthusiasm that it will all be OK in the end, your ability to talk non-stop for 70 miles and still really say nothing and your witty banter
While my Sat Nav is going to be providing me with accurate and varied routes in my new home, Garmin have yet to produce a device that talks random bollocks for 5 hours, tells crap Jokes for 70 miles and complains incessantly when the route is 15 miles longer than published...
However, this is much more “a bientot” than “au revoir” as in 6 days time we will all be meeting up again at some ridiculously early time in the heart of God’s Own Country to take part in the Etape du Dales ... 112 miles up hill and down dale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales (3500 metres of up to be precise). We are riding as part of a gang of nine, 3 of which will be joining Al and I in the Alps in July. This will be the first real test of whether the training that I have put in so far this year is going to stand me in good stead for La Marmotte. Hence, Maurice has decided not to make an appearance in this week’s blog but he will report back next week once the ride is over.
While I may have taken the idea of tapering training rides to the extreme, up until the house move, things were going well. Longer, harder rides were more of a feature than in previous months as we benefitted from some glorious weather in April. While this has been great it has led to a new concern about the challenge we face in July – the heat. I find that about twenty degrees is just about right, however, thirty degrees plus is a reality. I am taking the ostrich approach to this little problem at the moment while Al has decided he will put his turbo trainer in his sitting room in front of a roaring fire with a few bin liners on to get the “feel” of it a bit.
April’s stats were actually pretty good .... a few long hilly rides of over 70 miles each and one century ride – my first ever!
During April I managed to ride 489 miles, climbing over 10,000 metres and subjected my backside to 30 hours in the saddle. If I cheat (just a tiny bit) and divide this by 4 to get my weekly averages then I am pretty pleased with progress:-
Target Actual
Ave weekly mileage 115 122
Ave weekly ride time 7 hrs 7 ½ hrs
Ave weekly ascent 2,500m 2,618m
Big rides 2 4
While this is great news, it is now 9th May and I have clocked up precisely 30 miles and just over an hour and a half in the saddle.... watch this space for signs of improvement / despair (and mood sensing rodents!).
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