That's right I have even joined a Gym in Manchester near where I work. Essentially I get to pop down at lunchtimes to thrash myself to death for 30 minutes work up a good sweat, then go back to sitting behind a desk for the rest of the day usually with burning legs. I have been going to one or two of the Spin classes (for obvious cycling related reasons) as well as doing some general leg strength and cardiac work. I really do want to get fit enough to not get dropped by the peloton at the races I take part in.
On the side of racing so far this month I have taken part in one race that I really did badly in. In short I am not finding my form this season and I am struggling with racing on tired legs. When I turned up last week to race I rode around the first warm-up lap and my legs already felt like lead!
As I raced around the circuit I suffered for commuting to work by bike that day and the day before.
Each time I tried to find the power and the strength I was used too I just found nothing. It was literally like I was empty and even though I finished I hardly felt like I achieved.
For my race next week I will train up to the weekend then make sure I am well rested and get as much fuel in as possible. When I am up to speed I am more than capable of holding a wheel and keeping up with the pack. I just feel that I am doing myself no favours at the minute by not really resting prior to a race and burning my legs a bit before I need too.
I want to see positive results.
The Sergeant Major wants blood!!!
I am still doing endurance training of course which is my main aim as I going to be cycling 310 miles in 15 weeks time. That in the great scheme of things is really not a long time at all...
In an effort to up my endurance I cycled to Blackpool and back on the Saturday of the May bank holiday
that took just short of 7 hours and was actually a very nice ride indeed. Apart from my bike breaking in the last 8 miles, I suddenly found I couldn't change gear. The weather was really nice and I even got a cyclists tan. (check out my legs if you see me!!).
Sunday I had planned to do something more and rack up some big miles but instead ended up having to spend most of the day figuring out how I was going to fix my bike without spending any money. That involved luck more than judgement as it was just a cable that had jammed and needed replacing.
Lucky I carry a spare!
Monday I went to meet the family up near York.
This ride took me over familiar ground towards Holmfirth heading out through Stalybridge then east up the hill!
I don't see it as a hill any more, more just a bit of a rise that I may have to work at then a nice fast flat followed by a rapid descent down the other side.
Once I got into Holmfirth however I was in having to remember my route territory!
My aim was to head to Wakefield then head north to finally meet the A64 York road turn right then end up in Copmandsthorpe (great name) where the family were staying.
Heading out of Holmfirth wasn't a problem, I even played good Samaritan to a fellow cyclist that was having gear issues and needed to figure out how to tune his rear dérailleur on the fly. Thankfully as I built my bike I know how it works so I was able to help him out and get him moving again.
5 minutes later however I snapped my chain so had to put it back together at the side of the road. Did that chap stop to help after I helped him out??? No he just sailed on by and actually looked away as he did so!
Clearly not a real cyclist.....
Anyway much grumbling and about 5 minutes later I had put my chain together (turns out I hadn't clipped the speed links back correctly) I was off and heading towards a very grey Wakefield.
It did strike me that even on such a nice sunny day I rode into the town and it was just grey and drab.
Then yet another issue hit me!
Thankfully not a bike related one (she was still holding up nicely), more a direction related one, ergo a lack of road signs.
Coming to junctions towards the town centre and where the road signs were supposed to be stood pair after pair of grey rusting metal poles. No signs!!!
Clearly the local council decided that everyone has satnav so why bother with road signs... Thank goodness that :-
A I have worked as a driver in the area (all be a number of years ago) so I recognised some of the landmarks,
B I had spent some time memorising the route so I knew the general direction I needed to go in and
C I also have a satnav on my phone and had to eventually resort to this too. Time wasted but necessary.
Once out of Wakefield I crossed the M62 and it was like I had crossed into a different country!
The fields were yellow for as far as I could see. The roads were smooth and all the colour had returned after the dreary passage through Wakefield. I almost felt as I had taken a breath of really fresh air. I even felt lighter on my bike and full of energy.
The miles seemed to fly by as I headed first towards Oulton, Swillington and Garforth then the long road to Tadcaster.
I thought that this may be a long and painful ride after my previous efforts in the weekend but in actual fact I was really happy and enjoying the ride in what I can only describe as Gods countryside!
I arrived in Tadcaster all happy and even refreshed, I found the lovely little village to be really nice and somewhere I would like to visit as it had a proper country village about it!
Next came the A64 however, This in effect is a motorway with no hard shoulder. Thankfully I didn't have to resort to cycling on the road (I did think this would be close to suicide) as the road was really very busy and I didn't fancy mingling with metal travelling at 70+ Mph.
I had done a Google Maps recce to ensure there was a path next to the road at the very least. Otherwise I did also have an alternate route that I could take as a plan B!!!
Always important to have a Plan B when out on your own!
So after just short of 4 hours I reached Copmandsthorpe to find the village was having a fair in the best English village way. It turned into a lovely afternoon with the wife and kids eating hot dogs and contributing to the local charities! certainly a lovely atmosphere and a great find indeed!
What's planned next???
Well I will either be cycling too or more probably from Centre Parks near Carlisle back to Manchester. That will be about 120 miles and have a bit of a hill in the way as I go through the Lake District down the A6 all the way!
Between now and then I am racing still, getting some long commutes in where I can , plus and when I get chance I may even have to put in a few more long rides to places of interest.
I will just have to make it up as I go along to be honest, with the chaos that is family life I am not really able to follow a training schedule. Just keep knocking out the miles and hopefully get faster at the same time.
Great fun in the process! I will keep you posted
Cheers :)
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