Chapmans Peak, Western Cape, South Africa

1 Feb, Wind Trainer
23.5k’s

Well the February training has kicked off. I decided to put myself on the wind trainer to start things off and gauge where I’m at. The plan was for a one hour session and to take it easy and see where is took me. Now for those of you who have read the “Wind Trainer Blues” post you’ll get the idea that boredom  can take me.

Well I made three fatal error before I had even turned the pedals.

1. I kicked off the session at 4:30pm in a garage where the outside temperature was 30C (86F) and the humidity has been through the rood for days now.
2. I had a huge lunch about 4 hours before hand, not bad
3. The MRS arrived home and backed the car into the garage which sent the room temp up who knows how much.

That said there was no excuse for the following. Being the shy type tend to do my wind trainer sessions with the main garage door closed to keep the neighbours and adoring fans at bay! The session went sort of to plan, I pulled the pin around the 40min mark as I had been through a full 800ml water bottle and the heat was slowly getting the better of me. Although the pedestal fan was jacked up to the max setting there was not much relief. I took away a positive, the legs felt good but the lungs needed some time.
 

Feb 2, Road work
90.5k’s

A massive 12 hours after dismounting off the trainer the alarm was beeping, damn the weather report was wrong. The shattered showers they had predicted had not arrived yet. Rule of thumb… if the roads wet it’s back to bed, not this morning. It was cloudy but looked to be a good day. 5am and the kit was on, bottle filled and off down to the Matt, the tall dark hansom CAAD7 Training bike, the system six sleeps in if it looks like rain.

Today’s plan a gentle 60k’s solo roll was to be a gentle ride. Well after the first 10 or so k’s low and behold there is a bunch, the testosterone kicks and I’m on the back of a group of 7. 3 hours later I’m rolling back into home and the 60 had blown out to 90k’s. All round it was a good day in the saddle. It’s a long road back and the next few weeks are going to hurt.