Spring time blues

It's done nothing but rain this week, which is probably a good thing because I've been aching since Sunday.

I've also experienced saddle soreness (or should it be rawness?) for the first time. I must remember to slap on a big dollop of Udderly Smooth chamois cream before I ride. After a ride the damage is already done!

Anyway, today (Thursday) is the first day I've done any proper riding since the weekend's mammoth mileage. This week I commuted back and forth to work by bike but felt so sluggish. Like my tyres literally had slug slime on them, sticking me to the Tarmac. It was such an effort just to get some speed up.

However, today I stopped being pathetic and took the afternoon off work to go out for a ride with Pete. We'd planned to do my usual time trial route up to the Severn Bridge at race pace but, as I didn't have much of a sprint left in my legs and we spent most of the time chatting.

It also started hammering down with rain so the two of us trundled back to Bristol feeling pretty cold and dejected. I rapidly descended into 'big girl's blouse' mode again.

Still, I clocked 36 miles for a wet, cold Thursday afternoon, which seems pretty commendable now I think of it, sat in my warm house, with the heating on, with a cup of coffee, wearing slippers and a hoody...

It wasn't exactly the best day of cycling but it's more miles clocked up and more time spent in the saddle. Even my food wasn't exciting today (a bowl of Weetabix, Alpen and Frosties for breakfast and two ham and cheese sandwiches, two bananas and a cereal bar for lunch).

If my cycling clothes ever dry I'll be riding to Salisbury this Saturday and some other far flung destination on Sunday. Suggestions on a postcard please...

Wet, wet, wet

Rumour has it that cycling in weather similar to that which today and yesterday brought inspired Marti Pello and friends to coin their band name.

It properly honked down for the whole of my 30 miles after work on Friday and the final hour of today's ride.

Yesterday I took my usual route through Long Ashton, Wraxall, Clevedon, Portishead and back into Bristol via the Suspension Bridge.

The first 10 miles was a bit of a novelty. It's been a while since I rode in rain like that (being a bit of a fairweather cyclist - although who isn't?) and it was a bit more challenging. Steamed up glasses, rain stinging my face, inefficient braking. Lots more things to think about. Between miles 10 and 20 I realised that I was pretty wet. My new 3/4 length bib shorts, good as they are, allow rain to run down my calves and into my socks. After 20 miles my feet felt like barges in shoe rivers. The final 10 miles of that route are almost all uphill too. Soaking wet and going uphill. I must have looked pretty unhappy.

To keep my mind occupied (if not preoccupied) I tried to think of songs that had something to do with rain in the title. I came up with: Garbage - I'm only happy when it rains, Billie Myers (?) - Kiss the rain and Travis - Why does it always rain on me. It stopped me thinking about being wet anyway.

Today (Saturday) the weather looked better. I rode to Gloucester in record time (30 miles at 23mph stats fans) then turned left and realised which way the wind had been blowing. The next 20 miles following the River Severn were quite a slog through a moderate headwind. Then the rain started again. Light enough at first to make me think it was just a shower, then stupidly heavy for the remaining hour of my ride. I rode through Chepstow, trying not to think about the 1/2 mile climb out of the town, and then rode across the old Severn Bridge where the visibility was so bad that I couldn't make out the tops of the large suspension stanchions.

The image below is what I could see when I was riding on the Severn Bridge.



By the time I got home I'd been cycling in the rain for 20 miles and my toes were wrinkled like I'd been in the bath too long. I rode 75 miles today though, which I'm really pleased with.

Last night someone told me they liked reading about what I'd been eating. Katharine, this is for you! Today I ate two servings (approx 100 grams) of porridge with brown sugar for breakfast, a banana, two pieces of Golden Syrup cake and a cereal bar on the ride, a bowl of pasta and bobotie (pronounced bo-bo-tea; a great African mince dish that Helen makes), a bowl of cereal and a slice of bakewell tart when I got home, and now I'm off out for steak. The calorie counter on mapmyride told me I burnt 4880 calories. Expect hollow cheeks any day now...

Songs of the ride: Toxicity by System of a Down and Two of three ain't bad by Meatloaf. Somehow singing along to an 'oldie' really helps.

Late winter weather is very hard to judge

Today (Friday March 12) is five days after the half marathon. I think I finally stopped aching on Thursday. I did some gentle miles on the static bike at the gym on Tuesday and Thursday and rode 29 miles after work this evening. The first 20 miles were great until I hit the wall big time on the way home. It was as if all of a sudden the food in my stomach just evaporated. I struggled home very slowly over the last ten miles, getting very cold in the process.

After 15 miles I was planning to write about how much I enjoyed riding in the warmer, lighter evenings after work. After 25 those thoughts evaporated. Note to self: eat more and realise that it's not even spring yet.

Tomorrow I've got a 60 mile ride ahead of me before a night out in Cheltenham so I think it'll be an early Friday night. Maybe a cheeky bottle of red wine will be alright though...