Post Race Recovery Ride

My week of riding has so far not gone to plan. I had expected to do a race yesterday morning, but having taken part in 3R Richmond UCI Hilly Race (D) on Monday, I ended up tweaking a muscle in the back of my right leg. Apparently it’s a calf muscle. I am none the wiser.

Bloody Richmond. Bane of my life.

I didn’t think riding on a sore leg was a good idea for yesterday, let alone racing on it, so I had an unexpected but enforced rest day.

For today’s ride, I was in two minds – either another rest day, or see how I got on with a low intensity workout I’ve done a few times before.

Seeing as there was no immediate pain, I figured a low resistance spin might be just the ticket.

In truth this workout – Week 3 Day 3 of Zwift’s 10-12 Week FTP Builder – is pretty boring.

It’s 6 repeats of 7 minutes at 140w, with 1 minute at 100w between each block.

I still sweat. But my heart rate stays below 130, which is nice.

I decided to see how far this workout would take me round the Zwift London Leith Hill route, one that I’ve done before and found very challenging as a free ride.

I have no idea of the time up the KOM, but I suspect (unlike me) it wasn’t too hot.

The biggest problem I had on this ride was with my bike’s gearing. It’s all messed up.

I’m going to need to spend some time in the mechanic bay trying to figure all of this out.

I have a good few problems to resolve at this point.

Firstly, I am struggling to get up from the little ring to the big ring. The amount of force I have to put on the lever to make the change is ridiculous.

Secondly, there are a variety of clicks and chaffing noises come from the rear cassette when in the lowest / hardest gear and in the little ring at the front.

Thirdly, I have phantom shifting in the big ring.

It’s all a big old mess.

All of these problems, I believe, are down to improper cable tension.

Unless, someone has been tinkering with my bike. Very possible, with the kids about.

In some ways I wish for a true stationary trainer. Surely, less hassle.

I was happy that the workout took me far enough to cover the climb and some of the descent. It finished before I got back to complete the loop, however.

After the workout completed, I wasn’t quite ready to come off the bike.

My leg had felt good enough, but I wondered about how it might feel under a little more exertion.

I decided to stay on and aim for 30km.

I put a couple of small efforts in and felt generally decent.

That said, I didn’t want to go too hard for risk of doing damage.

Overall though, not a bad session to get back on the bike.

Before I get back on I need to resolve all the gearing issues. They are annoying me too much at this point.

In the interim day (Tuesday) I had forgotten just how bad things were during the Richmond race. Need to address this before the century attempt. I’ve now scheduled that in for Sunday morning at 9.15, for which I’ve found a group ride aiming for the same. All good.

I’ve opted for an in-game kit change.

Swapped for the Tour of Watopia bike and a World Bicycle Relief jersey. Swankarooney.

Overall not the most thrilling of experiences I’ve ever had on Zwift, but good to be back on the bike all the same.

I’m not sure what tomorrow has in store. Zwift keep emailing me about events and rides to take part in. There’s also this Zwift academy thing that I haven’t looked into in any great depth.

I’m still pretty gutted about missing the race yesterday. But I have learned my lesson: don’t race before a race 🙂