Finally, a decent long ride in the legs. And without any pain or whatever to concern myself with. For all the lack of pain though I was caught out a bit by the tiredness. By about 30km I was really feeling it today. The last 20km were a total slog.
Perhaps plotting a 50km route was a bit of a brave idea. But anyway, I fully intended to take this one at a fairly relaxed pace. I didn’t have any targets in mind, but once underway I felt like I might be able to average around 2.8w/kg for the duration. So generally feeling considerably better than I have been over the last few weeks.
As below, I didn’t do too badly on this front.
The main thing is / was the total lack of chest tightness, any soreness in arms or chest, or really anything like that. Even that ache when taking a deep breath feels markedly better.
However, I will say that whatever I am making up for in health I have definitely lost in fitness.
Three weeks, give or take, off the bike and I definitely am paying the price.
Keeping up any kind of intensity, or even a high-ish cadence is a really struggle. I reckon many turbo sessions would be better suited to building back up most efficiently, but I’m loathed to lose out on this weekend. Especially as it’s predicted to be wonderfully warm and, if the clouds ever clear, quite sunny too.
My route today was largely flat. With just ~180m of elevation over 50km, that’s about as flat as it gets round here. Heading out towards the coast is definitely the flatter direction of travel for me.
The last time I went down these roads it was super sunny, and today was hot enough that I had to stop and take off my gilet. Long sleeve jersey and base layer were about spot on. The smell of the farms and countryside don’t quite come across in these pictures.
On the way back towards home I came across some delightful views of the fells.
Well, I stopped to take a photo and truth be told, my camera didn’t do it justice.
What did crack me up was when I went closer to the field – with the aim of cutting out the bushes mucking up the foreground – and found a lovely tyre pile swarming with flies. No wonder it stinks out there, it’s one big tip if you peel away the thin veneer.
Anyway yeah, all good.
50km, tons of calories burned, a lovely couple of hours out in the warmth and no work to worry about.
Can’t ask for much more than that.
Hoping for more of the same tomorrow. Need to plan out a route though.
