I've had a really solid week's training with five sessions all told with the aim of getting a solid three week block of sessions in before my first 25 tt in March. These consisted of three sweetspot trainerroad sessions, a chingang ride with KPRC and then a 50 miler today with Simon. The sweetspot sessions were all fine, if a little dull, being long intervals of between 12-20 minutes at 85% of ftp. The chaingang ride was hard with three of us out for the first time and had me well over threshold for a significant proportion and included the an enormous wood screw leaving the most enormous hole in my tyre on the warm down loop. Lee and Gavin were kind enough to wait while I changed it but the temperature dropped rapidly and obviously that meant I completely ballsed- up getting the new tube in.

An early start this morning to meet Simon and the plan was to go out and ride most of the G25/47 route which we will be racing on in two weeks' time. As we headed out to the A 29 and down to Broadbridge Heath, all was good and we were clipping along at a really good tempo effort and I have to say Iwas feeling really strong in the cold and windy conditions.  When we got back on to the A24 for the last five miles of the tt course I just ran out of gas and Simon pulled away effortlessly into the strengthening headwind, so I took the decision to knock it back, rather than going into the red to try to stay with him. It is dawning on me that I am getting older, and whether I like it or not I need to rest more and these relatively big weeks will take their toll. I can't keep burning my matches all the time.

First race of the season

As a way of getting me off the turbo and back into the real world I entered the Kingston Wheelers' Gil Jessop Sporting 14, a 14 mile (obviously) sporting time trial over two laps in Ripley. I find these sporting courses pretty tough; I have never ridden one that has made me think afterwards that I had really nailed it, usually because in the early season I have not laid a decent enough aerobic base during the winter. With my trainerroad sessions I have been hoping to remedy this and this was going to be my first test of this.

I decided on the argon with full deep section wheels as it was not a particularly steep course or climb. The roads were wet from a good soaking the night before but the morning was pretty dry. I just didn't feel on it on the first lap. My legs just felt heavy and The were well alight after just a few minutes' riding. Maybe a lack of a proper warm up or just not enough actual road riding on hills? Whatever it was, it was a rude introduction to the racing season, especially when my minute man caught me after only half a lap. The second lap was slightly better and I was really pushing hard over the last mile on the downhill section. A long 37, which on this course was decidedly average.

Over the next couple of days I started to feel more rough as a cold developed, which meant my week off for half term only saw me ride 3 times and feeling rough each time. The highlight was 40 miles out with Simon which included an ascent of Pebble Hill in Reigate, which left me absolutely in bits. I really hate that hill; I guess I should ride it a lot more.

I think I am now finally over my cold and I am going to attempt to get 3 really good weeks in before the next Sporting TT, focussing on sweetspot and threshold work. My other main focus is weight loss, with me currently at 73kgs I am a good 2kgs overweight and ideally, I should aim to get down below 70 kgs. I'm cutting out the rubbish, reducing my carbs, eating more fruit, drinking more water and upping my protein. Sounds simple, but I like a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar, so I think this is going to be tough.

Suffering

Where can I buy one?

A tough couple of weeks since my last post, with a bit of cold which left me feeling quite lethargic. I did the wise thing and kicked back a bit but last Sunday I went out with Simon and Dale for my first outdoor training ride in quite a while. The good was that I did a solid 60 miles, but I was left trailing in the boys' wake. IO had got up at 5:30am to be on the road by 6, so by the time I met them I already had and hour under my belt, but I just wasn't on it. Dale is super fast and Simon has been getting some solid miles in and I just was not able to keep up for most of it. I felt some relief when I turned off to head back home while they got their heads down and rode off to Worthing.

This week has been a little better. My trainerroad sessions are back on track and yesterday I had a particularly good 2 hour session that saw me hitting some really good numbers again, but this had the consequence of my legs being pretty battered for today's steady ride. I did a slow 40 miles with  lot of time spent in the small ring (I know it shouldn't make any difference, but it does, to my ego at least).

 I really could have done with one of those hidden motors that now seem to be finding their way into the pro peleton. I have to say, I share most people's incredulity at this. Drug doping to improve one's athletic ability seems almost acceptable. My take on it is that cycling is often about suffering. Even when it's going well, it is still bloody hard work. It's fairly rare that it ever feels easy, therefore I think one can argue that even if you are smacked up to your eyeballs on EPO, it is still going to hurt. This whole motor doping thing seems just, well, lazy! I mean properly bone-idle. I can't be bothered to pedal anymore, I think I'll use the motor.

Without the means, desire or inclination to cheat (in anyway, I might hasten to add) I am just going to have to continue to hurt in the good old fashioned way.