Long and short of this one is I got caught out in the rain. I’m fairly sure I knew that rain was coming this afternoon – fortunately only a bit of drizzle, but nevertheless, a relentless and steady drizzle. Enough to keep me wet, cold, and wanting to get home.
However, this did help me put in a solid effort today.
I’d gone out with no definitive plan, other than knowing my route today was the reverse of my usual trip up to the very edge of Beacon Fell. This route is one I’ve done many times by now – both forward and reverse – and is a half and half route.
That is to say of the ~31km, the first 17km is up hill, and the rest is down hill. It’s quite nice in that it gives me an incentive to push until about 3/4’s of the ride is done, and then I feel I can take my foot off the gas, so to speak.
There were parts of this ride where I knew I was pushing myself. Largely this was because I was cold and wanted to get home. I’d gone out in bib shorts for the first time this year and was cold on the legs from the off.
But sometimes I find I start pushing and I don’t ease off. I didn’t realise just how hard I had pushed today until I saw the stats whilst writing this post.
3.0 w/kg or 202w average, 877 calories, 163bpm heart rate… those are true signs I was pushing pretty much throughout today. And all that said it never truly felt like a knackering ride.
What I actually put this down to was that for the vast, vast majority of this one my mind was not on the pedals / power readings. I was thinking about something wildly different, trying to solve a problem in my head, putting something back together in a bunch of different ways. Thankfully, I guess, I don’t actually remember seeing a car for the majority of the country side portion of the ride, or I might have had an accident.
Anyway, all being well I intend to do another ~40km outdoor ride tomorrow. Nothing crazy, and not at a breakneck pace, either. But if I can push 1k+ calories I’ll be happy with that.
The only other thing to report today is I have purchased my Manchester to Blackpool 2021 cycling ticket. It’s 100km – probably my first 100km ride, unless I manage to slip one in sooner. But I’m doing it as a group ride, so it won’t be at push-myself-pace. At least, I don’t think it will.
