The Anti-Strava

I had an experience today, which can only be described as 'feeling shit first thing in a morning right before a big ride'. My head just wasn't into the ride, which is a first for me, and I had a slight nervousness when I thought about the hills I was going to encounter on my ride. Again, not like me. I may not be the fastest up hills, but I get up 'em as best I can and I ride for the challenges they give me.  

After I had texted the bike geek to inform him of my slackness, I went back to bed (and proceeded to wake up at 10am, lazy arse!!!). Not only was the lie in something I'm not accustomed to, being an early riser regardless of whether I'm riding or not, but it gave me chance to think, while I was laying in bed coming round from my slumber!

The conclusion I came to was twofold. Firstly I have a virus, still, and it's pissing me off because it saps my energy, fills me full of flem and mucous and clogs my lungs up. This is no good when trying to get up otley west chevin, unless I want to do it in a time only slightly faster than my 94 year old grandma could do! The second conclusion I came to was that part of my reticence to ride was strava related. I use the app whenever I ride to find out how I am doing with my segments, to prove to myself I'm getting faster, riding further, and to keep tabs on how much riding I am doing over a given period and compare that to previous time periods. I bombed on last weeks ride because of the virus and my times were shit, I didn't want to repeat that today, hence the reluctance to ride and endure shit strava segments 2 weeks running.

The trigger which made me realise the stupidity in the second conclusion above, was an article about just this topic in this months cyclist magazine. It made me smile at how idiotic I had been to become so dependent on strava, at the expense of a ride. So, no more strava for me. I may keep tabs on my distances in the app by manually adding distances in, but purely so I don't forget when I last trained, but I am not using the gps function, I won't be recording my segments real time, and I don't give a shit if I get up otley west chevin a minute slower than I did last week. If I ride it, it's fun and I do it the best way I can, full gas at the time, whatever that means, that's my main goal from now on.

So, call me the anti-strava if you like, I couldn't give a shit. I'm a road cyclist, for fun, for fitness, for social, but that is all. Segments? Keep 'em!!!

My holy grail right now

I have a 27km loop I do when I only have an hour or so to ride. It takes in the half mile long, 19% (at its peak) Kearby cliff that I keep going on about. It's not long or arduous in relative terms, but on a quick hour loop it's a nice leg burner for a few minutes half way round and for that reason I enjoy the challenge. Also mentally, it helps me elsewhere when I hit a 14% or a 16% climb, knowing that I have ridden steeper on my staple hour loop. Anyway, when I started riding this loop about 6 or 8 months ago I did the 27km in about 1 hour 15 mins. I've since got it down to 1 hour 3 mins, and as the subject of this blog suggests, my holy grail is to get sub 1 hour.

I've done a few 1 hour 5 and some 1 hour 7's since, but those last few minutes being knocked off my time are alluding me thus far. I know the areas where I can knock time off my ride, but somehow when I am there on the road at the time, I give it full gas and still end up a few minutes outside the target. 

Being able to climb at speed, out of the saddle up steep hills is something I dont have in my arsenal and I've written about this before. I think I need to finally crack this once and for all if I am going to go sub 1 hour.

I'll keep you posted, hoping to give it another crack tonight.

Life is what you make of it

This blog is not entirely about cycling, but it's my blog after all so I am allowing myself this one post which is partially off topic! Bear with me!

I have various interests in my life, some of them business, some of them personal. Cycling is my release that keeps me in shape, fit and healthy and crosses both my personal and business life. Being self employed I have a number of disparate business ventures I am working on or involved with. One main one which pays the bills and pays for my sons new cricket whites, or my daughters ballet lessons, and a few personal passions which I hope one day will become revenue generating businesses in their own right. 

I have an entrepreneurial mind which prevents me from standing still and settling for a 9-5 office job and no more, so while I am out cycling I often find myself thinking about business ideas! Some of them may go nowhere, most of them are bugger all to do with cycling, but all of them help keep my mind active while at the same time taking my mind of the pain my legs are enduring! 

If you're interested in my business ventures I can bore you with my plans for hours. My mate the bike geek and myself often spend hours on the road swapping tales of our various plans and ideas, it's what keeps life interesting. Right?

I am very happy with my lot, don't get me wrong. I don't get on the bike as often as I would like right now, but I do try and manage 2 or 3 rides a week totalling 100km or more as my staple. Any more is a bonus at the moment and will hopefully be increased in the summer as I get closer to the 193 km stage one tdf ride I'm doing for Alzheimer's in July. Work wise, I am very lucky. My cycling keeps me fit but also helps keep the stresses of work at bay, which allows me to be mentally active from before dawn to well into the evening every day. My cycling has knocked 2 hours of my sleep, I've said that before. I use the time getting up early to either go for a bike ride, naturally, or if not then I am working on some business idea or other. More on that to come I hope.

Some words of wisdom I've picked up or been told along the way - life is what you make of it, don't settle, be happy, ride your bike as much as poss, eat healthy, drink plenty of water, be mindful of what is right in front of you, don't lose sight of where you are right now at the expense of what you might want to achieve in the future. 

That is all.