My road bike had a mechanical so I got my time trial bike down from the loft. It has been up there since July 2016. It is the first time I have dusted a bicycle rather than clean it. If not cobwebs and dead spiders, it was covered with plenty of accumulated dust. Fortunately, after a quick clean and charging the electronic gears, it ran as good as new.
Riding a time trial bike can hurt parts of the body – that a road bike can’t reach. If you are unused to riding in a TT position, it is wise to break yourself in gently. But, I have been enjoying my newfound sense of freedom and had my heart on reaching Chipping Norton a good 60 mile round trip on undulating roads.
After slogging into a headwind for the first 30 miles, there was a light tailwind to push me along the return home. There is a great downhill run from Chipping Norton to Charlbury and then Islip. Apart from a few short climbs, you can get up a good speed with a TT bike and tailwind.
I stopped on one occasion to get some blackberries for food.
Recently I have been getting into eating more fruit. The best fruit is wild-grown organic produce you find yourself by the side of the road. You could pick these organic-wild-super-food blackberries, put in a plastic punnet and sell for £3 outside Waitrose. It is a good food because it is so resilient. None of this GM stuff. This is a survivor which manages to produce fruit no matter what happens to the climate or its environment. It’s centuries of adaption and survival give the food an accumulated strength. Well, this is what I tell myself anyway.
I had hoped that a daily 20-minute yoga routine would give me sufficient core strength to negate the need for training on a TT bike, and somehow I would be able to ride a TT bike as effortlessly as doing a one minuted headstand. Perhaps I secretly hoped that mastering a challenging yoga routine could be the marginal gain which would give a competitive advantage on any return to domestic racing. But, it seems that even yoga can’t make you sufficiently flexible for riding a TT bike for three hours. So if you don’t know your asanas from your mudras fear not, I doubt yoga will make it on to the list of marginal gains.
Even with aching back, it is tremendous fun to be able to remember the sensation of speed. It’s a good time of the year to be on the bike.
Good to hear that you’re getting out and about on the bikes.
Glad to see that you’re back out on the bike and enjoying it. Maybe this time next year you’ll be warming up for the Nationals – not too far away from you! Hope things continue to improve. See you at the top.
Please get some short cranks for your FAI!