Off to a good start

3 nice rides to start the year and feeling good about the cycling. The cyclical nature of motivation is a bit interesting. When I am not very fit and not doing the cycling, it kind of nags in the back of the mind but doesn't necessarily happen. Once you are on that upwards curve where you can recognise that you may be getting a bit stronger and there is progress it is much easier to get out there.

I really enjoy the commute at the moment and just the commute is going to be a big part of the plan. I think I need to take advantage of good weather when I get it as it gets much more difficult with light and precipitation as summer recedes. I need some much longer rides in there as well but that will happen.

The commute today was on the Warbird instead of the Triton as when I wandered out at 5 this morning, the Triton had a flat and I couldn't be bothered fiddling around at that time of day. I have been hesitant about the Warbird for a commute as I have some really long tricky descending and I always thought the Triton handled that better. I suspect that I have been wrong on that as I was nearly half an hour faster on the Warbird and I suspect most of that time was descending much faster. I have always been a terrible descender but I am hoping that with the amount of descending I am doing just on the commutes, I am improving. I suspect I am getting better technically but the other thing I am aware of is my techniques disintegrates completely when fatigued which can periodically be an issue on the Divide.

Fantastic ride on the weekend up Ben Lomond. Shamelessly stealing my mates photos as they are much better than mine. Big climbing and good training for what I am going to do,, just a pity that I am as unfit at the moment as I am. I did enjoy the ride. The photo on the right is pretty much how I felt for much of the ride but just three rides and a couple of hundred pretty good kilometres on the bike later, I am feeling like I could enjoy things much more. I think a bit of an infection has been holding me back. I am very swollen and tender in the glands on the right hand side of the neck.

I am pretty happy that the other guys in the photo look nearly as beaten as I do.

How good are Benny's photos from the ride. I picked these two not just because they are of me but they best show what we were doing. I was in total self preservation mode by this stage. Somewhere in between getting the job done and hanging on grimly. About the only strength I have as a cyclist is being able to keep going at that steady pace for a reasonable amount of time.

 

This one is Johnny's photo. He is the maddest descender I have ever seen. Mountain biker and good guy.

I may have to be a bit careful about ramping up the kilometres too quickly. Maybe I will be okay with it with the base that I have over the last 5 or so years but there has just been no cycling at all for two months.

I should take some photos and write a bit of a summary of the commute for next time.