Weekly Review March 21st – 27th 2022

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Each week I try to review and reflect on my previous week on the bike. This allows me to see how my fitness and ability is progressing on a wider timescale than day to day. For previous weekly reviews please click here. 

A real up and down one this week.

On the high side I set a new PB outdoors, smashing the time trial route I took on Wednesday by a significant margin over previous attempts.

And then on Saturday I took a bad fall and appear to have broken or at least fractured my ribs. What a clown.

Here were this week’s rides:

We’ve been lucky in the last week or so with a decent spate of weather. Most days it has been above 16c, so plenty of outdoor riding on my dinner breaks was the order of the day.

That did mean I was cutting it fine to complete Stage 4 of this years Tour of Watopia.

Truthfully I don’t like the Jungle area of Zwift very much at all. And even with their ToW22 tweaks I think they have somehow made the route worse not better. That’s because they changed the road surface for the ride, and on the Tacx Neo the road feel simulation was akin to having your chain slip for 17km.

But I not only managed to get Stage 4 done and dusted, but also throw in a 30 minute outdoor effort after that. Not a bad lunch hour, all being told.

Wednesday was by far the most successful ride of the week.

On Tuesday I’d made the kind of mental promise (and also put it in writing on this blog) that I’d see if I could set a new PB on a route I call Churchtown Loop Around. It’s basically a TT-esque route in that there are no traffic lights, only one right hand junction, and it’s largely flat throughout.

Going out I knew I needed to keep above 30kph for the entire circuit in order to beat my previous best. But I absolutely smashed it. So much so that when I got back the Garmin gave me an FTP bump, which outdoors is a serious achievement for me.

But disregarding any of that, it was a belting workout.

Going into the weekend I was looking forward to a decent ride out of Saturday, and hopefully another albeit shorter effort on Sunday.

I’d planned out a route for Saturday which was around 50km with ~400m of climb thrown in. Nothing crazy – that’s less than 100m every 12km. The aim was simply to ride at a steady pace and take in the sun and the sights.

However, stupidity got the better of me. Well, stupidity and complacency.

Why stupid?

Well, for some reason I still haven’t figured out, I go out there like I have to go fast. If I’m not pushing myself, if my heart rate isn’t around 150-160bpm, and I’m not sitting at or above 200w, I feel like I’m not doing it right.

I mean, why? What the hell am I trying to prove, and to whom ?

What a moron.

Anyway, I totally over estimated both my bike handling and my own abilities as I came crashing down on Goosefoot Lane.

Looking at the NHS page for Broken or bruised ribs it does appear I have broken or bruised my ribs. Current status: pain.

I’m absolutely gutted.

Not only was I in the best physical form I have ever been in, I was also one stage away from completing the Tour of Watopia. It sounds stupid but I really want(ed) that virtual kit. Who knows why.

Can I still see that one out? I have no idea. It hurts me to breath, it hurts when I push off with my left leg… overall I just hurt right now. Will I be ‘fit enough’ to see it through, even on the shortest route, later this week? I have absolutely no idea. Time is the only healer in this instance.

Keep up the good work! Your training load is moving your fitness in the right direction. Be sure to plan recovery periods into your training to maintain your fitness level.

Garmin

I hadn’t planned in any recovery periods. No.

However I’m now on enforced recovery.

The NHS site says 3-6 weeks. I’ll be happy with 3.

For the next two weeks I suspect it will be incredibly light riding, and entirely indoors / turbo based.

My only goal for the week is to get that final stage of the ToW done.

Anything else is a bonus.

🤦‍♂️

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