With the choices being an indoor ride on Zwift doing one of the active recovery sessions via the FTP Builder program, or heading outdoors for something a little less structured but – potentially – more enjoyable, I opted for the latter and went for a jolly round Elswick and Great Ecclestone.
If anything I probably went just a tad too far today. Talking time-wise, rather than distance. I was at a fairly relaxed pace – using the Garmin Edge 530 to do a somewhat structured workout – using the constant bleeps and “over power” notifications to remind myself to rein it back in a bit.
Heading out into the country side was a nice break. I’d managed to get a couple of key items ticked off my todo list in the morning, so figured a well earned bicycle break would do me the world of good. Still, fully long sleeve and bib tights on as it really wasn’t warm outdoors.
Amazingly, for the first time I managed to get caught out in the rain. Yes, a true indoor cyclist up until this point. Never actually experienced the full joys of the British weather system whilst on the bike. That wasn’t fun.
I really need a lightweight jacket and, more importantly honestly, some sunglasses. There are, however, two issues here:
- Cost
- Shape / size of the sun gigs
Just like “regular” sun glasses, the big brand cycling sungigs are darned expensive. £100+ for a pair, and I can’t help but think most of that is going on the brand name. Oakley dokily.
Right now, being out of paid work, I can’t really justify such a whacking great expense.
But secondly, even if I could bring myself to splunk fat stacks on some eye protectors I really need to try them on first. I have a funny shape head that generally hates glasses. So I need to be double certain that I’m spending money on something that makes me look sexy af. Or, at the very least, not like a total goon.
Anyway, altogether an enjoyable ride out today. I managed to stop off and visit my grandparents grave, which was nicer than it sounds. And once out of Preston A-roads, the country side was lovely and quiet. Aside from a little too much gravel at one point, and a horrible cow poo covered road that made me take a detour, things were generally very much better than I imagine a session on Zwift would have been.
One last thing today: the treadmill and, hopefully, Zwift run pod are due tomorrow. I believe it’s totally free to run on Zwift (well, aside from the upfront cost of those two hardware items), so I’m still very much considering stopping my cycling sub and just using Zwift to run for a bit. And then switch over to maybe Rouvy, or the Suffer Fest and give that a whirl, instead. So bored of Zwift atm.
