Had an excellent Audax ride yesterday on the Triton. It was a 200km ride with a couple of really serious climbs and at a reasonable pace early on. Whilst I was on the Triton, the other two guys were on much faster rando bikes. The ride was out of Campbell Town in the middle of the state up into the Central Highlands past the Great Lakes. Very beautiful part of the world.
The amount of roadkill I am seeing at the moment is heartbreaking. Another two level devils yesterday, one of them a juvenile.
I wasn't feeling particularly good in the second half of yesterday's ride. Maybe just not eating enough of the right foods at the right time? Or maybe am still a little crook. I had also been stressing a bit about this ride in the lead up. Desperately wanting to go and do it but needing to balance riding with life. It was not a fun second half of the ride either, with a very strong head wind and persistent rain. I did go to some very dark places in the second half of the ride which made it a tough grind. It was good to be with the other guys who I suspect both suffered a fair bit more than I did. Really good guys too.
Not a crisis of confidence, maybe more a crisis of resolve. I definitely suffered from this in 2013 as well and back then it just passed. Some weeks were harder than others. A bit down now but in a weeks time I maybe flying. I am very much on track to be a lot stronger on the bike and with a bit of good fortune I will have a much smarter setup on the bike. It was more a case of when I was out there in the wind and rain not enjoying it, I was questioning why I would spend so much time effort and energy not to mention money to go out there and hurt so much. It brought back the wrong memories from 2013 and I know I could have been riding stronger, harder and faster yesterday.
Last time it was a guts ride from a very long way out. Too, tired, poor nutrition, etc. Just like every other rider out there, resolve was the only thing pushing me on, keeping me in the race. That will happen again next time, it just does. Do I want to embrace and love all that pain? It must surely be better than all the alternatives. Mind numbing monotony, boredom, slide into alcoholism and the willing choice of an early grave.
1,360km for the month? It is a very good amount given the poor base that I had but maybe disappointing given the strong start to the month. I am really aware that available sunlight and weather conditions deteriorate sharply from the end of Feb. I need to make February count and have a huge month. I hope it isn't too ambitious to aim for 2,000km for the month? If I get the opportunity to do the Bronte weekend will give me 400km, 4 lots of 4 commutes a week will give me 1,280, so I would only need to find another 320km in the other three weekends.
Am happy just to be accumulating kilometres at the moment. They are all good kilometres with a lot of climbing. I really need to sort the bike out very shortly as well. Am a fraction happier with the electronics and will run a cache battery in between the ewerk and the GPS. The big investment is going to be wheels and need to get this right.
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