This weekend is the last in a block of endurance training before I get a weekend to rest and recover. The plan was to do about 100km on Saturday with the Witney Grupetto and an 80km cyclocross sportive on Sunday. The RAF predicted a hard frost for Saturday morning so true to form, no frost in sight. We were out for about 4 hours in total covering nearly miles. The temperature never got above about 4 degrees but at least the rain stayed away and the regular climbs kept me reasonably warm. It seems the last week was popular for farmers wanting to spread shit all over the roads and we arrived at the coffee shop looking like we had just finished a Belgian classic rather than a gentle training ride. The pace was fairly relaxed for the majority of the ride which I was grateful for because I didn't want to take too much out of myself before Sunday's ride. The route will be on my garmin connect page once Emma comes home with my laptop!
To aid recovery from this ride I treated myself to the food of champions, a large fish and chips with mushy peas. To my mind you can't get a much better source of protein, carbs and oils for quick refueling between hard days in the saddle! Plus, I have to make the most of Emma being away because she doesn't like it!
This morning I had to set my alarm for 6.45 which is far too early for a Sunday morning in my opinion. Fortunately we were again treated to a frost free morning. Unfortunately we had a thick fog which was still hanging around when we arrived a Woodcote. I don't know what the actual temperature was but I know it was bloody freezing! One of those mornings when you're reluctant to leave the comfort of the car to stick your kit on and get on the bike! This is the first sportive I have done but the format is basically turn up, sign on and set off. No mass start, just have a chip fitted to your leg and roll over the timing mat and your time is logged. The route started out with a gentle road section before getting into a the real challenge. There were 3 or 4 road climbs and a couple of off road climbs. After the recent rain the roads were greasy but the off road sections were cut up and hard to ride, especially with the gears, or lack of, fitted to my borrowed cyclocross bike. My quads were burning at times when I was in a gear much harder than I would have liked, and I even thought about getting off and walking at one point! I didn't though! My legs fealt good despite the previous days ride and we dropped Robin just after the half way point. I rode with new team, mate Franck for the rest of the route. On the last climb my bike was so covered in mud the gears were slipping all over the place and I couldnt put any power through the pedals for fear of knoking my 'wotsits' on the stem!
One thing I found out during this ride is it is surprisingly fun descending flat out on singlerack on what is basically a road bike with lightly knobled tyres. Its even more fun overtaking people who are going so slowly they might as well be trying to stand still. We finished the ride in just under 3h30 and inside the gold standard time which I was pleased with considering the conditions and the fact we cruised the first half of the route before picking up the speed in the second half.
Since ordering the XTC 29er as my race bike last week I have been worrying that my back might not be able to cope with the change from full suspension. Because of this worry I was very pleased, and even surprised, that my back felt pretty good throughout the ride today. Maybe it will be up to the job after all but I am going to try to get a ride on a demo bike in a couple of weeks just to make sure I am happy with it.
To aid recovery from this ride I treated myself to the food of champions, a large fish and chips with mushy peas. To my mind you can't get a much better source of protein, carbs and oils for quick refueling between hard days in the saddle! Plus, I have to make the most of Emma being away because she doesn't like it!
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| Mud, glorious mud! |
One thing I found out during this ride is it is surprisingly fun descending flat out on singlerack on what is basically a road bike with lightly knobled tyres. Its even more fun overtaking people who are going so slowly they might as well be trying to stand still. We finished the ride in just under 3h30 and inside the gold standard time which I was pleased with considering the conditions and the fact we cruised the first half of the route before picking up the speed in the second half.
Since ordering the XTC 29er as my race bike last week I have been worrying that my back might not be able to cope with the change from full suspension. Because of this worry I was very pleased, and even surprised, that my back felt pretty good throughout the ride today. Maybe it will be up to the job after all but I am going to try to get a ride on a demo bike in a couple of weeks just to make sure I am happy with it.
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