The grass is greener

Sometimes life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it... Luckily, we're all expected to blog about training as well as racing - which is good because that's taken a back seat for the past few weeks! 

From one speculative CV sent came a phone call one hour later, an interview forty eight hours later and starting a new job seven days later. Fast forward several weeks and I find myself surrounded by concrete cows in apparently the fastest growing city in the UK, yet devoid of crowds of people and a weird absence of corner shops. At least the broadband is back and my Superfly is finally in one piece!

Lettings agents and landlords don't move at the same pace as everyone else though, so my ass and bank balance were saved by Nadine's Mum providing us both with somewhere to stay that was - at 20 miles as the crow flies - within striking distance of work. Which is why, while everyone else was talking about speedwork, tapering for the BMBRS and dusty singletrack, I found myself back in the bubble of my Exposure light, ploughing through the darkness of middle England collecting surplus base miles and blocks of threshold. 

Working six days a week, it's unsurprising how quickly the miles add up and how quickly I looked for variation. Fed up of wing mirrors skimming past your right ear? Try some one-legged pedalling drills and be amazed how much more space you get! Want to inadvertently annoy your fellow cycle commuters? Matt's 1 minute max, 1 minute recovery, repeat till failure session works a treat when they are trying to draft you... Preparing for a 24hr solo? Be on your feet all day, miss lunch, then ride home in a wobbly blur of fatigue and hunger. Want to show your good cyclist credentials? Actively seek out traffic lights to use for race start practice. Politely wait at every red light and pedestrian crossing, then pin it as soon as the lights turn amber! Feeling inspired by the Belgium Classics? 23mm slicks are completely inappropriate for most Sustrans routes, until a couple of hours of live streaming with foreign commentary and suddenly you are the king of the gravé :-)

Give them all a try - fingers crossed they've set me up for Enduro 6 this Sunday.

A big thankyou to parents and understanding girlfriends!

Another big thanks to BETD/Goldtec for pimping my ride and servicing my forks.

And thanks to XCracer.com, Gateway Cycles, Exposure Lights, Accelerade nutrition and Mt. Zoom components.

Advertise your business/event here »