Hey Everyone,
Hope are all keeping fit and healthy.
Following last Sundays Dragon Ride this week has been a low volume / decent intensity week.
On Monday, I was very fatigued with a lot of lower back soreness. A superb massage from David Tabrizi at Cheltenham Holistic Health Centre really felt good - so good that I'm sure I nodded off on the bed! - but didn't cure the lower back stiffness.
A nice spin out on Tuesday night did the trick. I took the "training" bike out (how pro do I think I am - with a training bike?!) which has the compact 50/34 gearing. This enabled me to spin nicely and really loosened everything off.
The post-Dragon ride stiffness was slightly concerning but understandable - given the distance, the route and that it was only my 4th ride out on the Prince (53/39 gearing).
However, I will need to keep on top of my stretching & flexibility work in France to ensure the adaptation to the new gearing goes as smoothly as possible.
I'll also be un-afraid to use the inner ring whenever I feel tightness in my glutes & hamstrings coming on - theres no 'big ring" ego here - I'm more interested in riding well for the whole trip.
I took the Prince out on Wednesday night and she was making a few strange noises - I know I'm no bike mechanic but I know a good noise from a bad noise - so I took her into Echelon Cycles for a check-up on Friday morning.
The guys in Echelon are superb and really provide top service. They did a through review of the Prince, taking off the rear cassette, bottom bracket etc, and couldn't find anything wrong.
They gave me a lesson on the nuances between Shimano DA and Campag gearing - which was good to know - and particularly how Campag needs to bed in.
With my mind reassured, I took the Prince out on Saturday for a few hours - and she purred! In fact, she has never sounded better.
I just needed to get rid of any nagging doubts before my trip to France - I'm a real nervous Nerys when it comes to these things!
Speaking of Nervous Nerys - I've been reading about all the legendary climbs we have on our trip - and to be honest as fascinating as I find all the details - it is also playing with my mind!
So I've decided to park all of the reading, just ride what is in front of me, and then read all about what we did climb when we get back - otherwise I'm just going to create un-due stress.
For someone who considers themselves mentally strong - I am prone to letting little details or doubts pray on my mind.
On a more positive note, I had a great little run today. Just 45 minutes along my favourite riverside route - at a really nice pace which felt nice & loose. Its sessions like that which remind me why I love to run - I just felt free and alive!
Ok - so on that note - I'll let you go.
I'm off over to France on Friday so won't be posting next week - but will look to make up for it with trip summary the following week.
I'm also hoping to keep a video journal of the trip, capturing my thoughts & feelings as the days tick by, so will look to share this with you at some point.
As always, train hard, train smart.
Ciao
M.
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