It has been a stop start season so after doing a good race, it was in keeping to get a virus which knocked me low. Even when the virus seemed to be over, it still left quite a feeling of fatigue and tiredness. It’s taken quite a while to get back in the swing of it. It knocks your confidence to get a virus like this. After the last race, I was inspired to make last minute entry for national 50, but two hours later – suffering from temperature, the long drive to Devon didn’t seem so appealing any more and the deadline passed.
Still the past two days have been quite good. I went north to Banbury yesterday for a 90 mile ride. There are a lot of quiet, quintessentially English villages to cycle through. Plenty of interesting place names, Hook Norton, Duns Tew Wroxton, Tadmarton if that is your thing. I think I ended up on part of the course for Banbury Star CC hardriders, though I avoided Sunrising hill.
The highlight of the ride was getting overtaken by a guy on an electric bike going uphill. As he came past, he said “Well, this is embarrassing”. I’m not sure whether he meant – it was embarrassing for me or embarassing for him.
Sometimes electric bikes are like a red rag to a bull and they have inspired the deepest interval of the day trying to stay on the back wheel. But, this was a steady ride and it seemed mildly amusing to get overtaken by an old man, on an upright sit up and beg style bike. Still, after a while, I rode away from him without trying, it wasn’t the most powerful electric motor. After that it was all plain sailing, plodding along at 19mph, 200 watts – a nice and steady 90 miles.