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Monday 10 September 2012

Still chilling out.....


  Still not doing much cycling really, still feeling a bit like I can’t be bothered to be honest.  I seem to be having a few anaemia issues again so I need to address that first really.  Sort of explains why the performances were tailing off quite dramatically towards the end of the season.

  However, Sue has been going out on her bike fairly regularly and I’ve been tagging along with her to keep her company.  We’ve got a nice quiet 14 and-a-bit mile route we do around Lound & Somerleyton and it’s amazing how much fitter she has got in just a few weeks.
  First time out we got round in about 1hr 20mins and Sue was half dead afterwards.  The other day we bombed round in 57 minutes fairly easily!  Amazing how quickly your fitness comes on when you start from scratch, it’s a great motivator – when you’ve been at it a while you have to claw at just tiny improvements, it can be a bit disheartening.

Sue's faithful steed!
  I’ve had one ‘training’ ride since packing in for 2012.  On Saturday I went out for a few hours fairly briskly (Av HR 135) out towards Bungay and looped back through Pakefield, Lowestoft, Oulton Broad, Lound & Bradwell along the middle part of the 1st stage of the Tour of Britain. There was a charity ride along the stage that day too and I expected to meet loads of cyclists but I think I was a bit too early for them. Still a pleasing number out and about though.
 Made me realize how many bits need replacing on the old Indestructible Training Bike though. It felt like a right old banger!!

The bombproof ITB!!!
  On Sunday the Tour proper came through the town.  We made a short walk up the road to Bradwell and perched ourselves on a sharp right hand bend near the doctors surgery (We ghoulishly hoped it might be a good spot for a pile up!!!)  An amazing number of spectators lined the route and it was a tremendous party atmosphere. No crashes fortunately!
  I wanted to catch the spectacle on film but didn't want to miss everything whilst farting about with the video camera so I perched it in a convenient hedge. Unfortunately, 'Hedge Cam'  didn't quite go according to plan....

  

So plan B was to velcro it to my hat.  Sort of worked but the aim was slightly off...





  We walked home and watched the stage live on the telly, including an appalling pile-up just outside the Showground!  I really enjoyed watching the riders on roads I know really well and ride on frequently. Made it all feel a bit more ‘real’.

  I’ve got a bit of a dilemma – turns out I’ve potentially won a couple of club awards for my 10 and 25 times.  They’re the fastest in the club this year.  It entails going to the club dinner and getting clapped and getting a trophy. Not sure that’s really me to be honest so I may not bother claiming them. At least that way they should go to an up-and-coming junior rider who would probably enjoy the occasion far more than me.  We’ll see.

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