The blues

I'm desperately trying to summon up some enthusiasm to train but it's proving hard. I'm definitely not firing on all cylinders which obviously doesn't help but even with that as an excuse/reason, I'm just not very good at the moment. I tried to kick-start some mojo by going out with Simon on Sunday around a lumpy and scenic route that we have ridden quite a bit in the past. It takes in a lot of short, steep climbs up Coldharbour, Holmbury Hill, Coombe Bottom and Crocknorth, and we normally finish with Boxhill. It is a very pretty route and normally this is enough to take my mind off any problems that I might be having but this time I just couldn't get into any form of rhythm when going uphill; constantly changing gear, my position on the bars and even stopping on a couple of occasions to remove or put on items of clothing, just as an excuse to stop. It was a solid 50 miles which normally would leave me with a happy glow, but I wheeled my bike into the garage when I got home and was glad to see the back of it.

The organiser of the SCCU Sporting 21 TT which I (barely) completed a couple of weeks back, was kind enough to send me a picture of my suffering. It made me realise that I need to lose some timber around my middle if I want to get a bit faster this season.



Suffering