If you spend any time listening to or watching the news lately, or literally talking to any Brit, you cannot help hearing about the impending heat wave. Typically people will moan that the UK is never hot. Or we never get a summer. That is total BS, it’s just most of these people never leave the house… or have very selective memories.
Anyway, it truly is about to get very hot. I hear some parts of the country (the sad London parts, boo-hoo) are going to see temperatures above 40c, which is a first for England. Always leading the country forward, those Southerners. More power to them.
Why am I harping on about the weather? Well, aside from also being a Brit, I knew I needed to give myself a proper ride out today ahead of probably taking it fairly easy over the next three days. It looks like I can get in a decent ride early doors tomorrow, and if I’m out before midday even Monday should be fine. But Tuesday… mercy, it’s >25c before 10am… oh mally.
What that all boils down to is why I gave myself a smashing today.
Wanting to keep off the main roads, but still stay on fairly flat and ideally continuous (no traffic lights / few junctions) roads I glued together two separate routes I usually take into one good effort.
Overall happy with this ride. It was definitely a good workout, never too hot and I felt fast in places. God alone knows how those guys do it at Tour de France speeds – 30kph is about my limit, which seems to be about their warm up pace. Nuts.
It seems like ages ago now since my last crash, and I think I can confidently say I’m in about the best form I’m going to be in at my late stage of life.
What this means is I think I need to do an FTP test, to properly set my targets and what not. I reckon all this outdoor riding won’t have done me any huge favours truthfully. The indoor stuff, whilst boring, is far more efficient. At least, that’s how it feels.
But there’s no way I’m doing an FTP test indoors over the next three days. So for now, it’s just a nice idea.
