Final prep

Next week is the biggie. The Three Peaks has come around again. Last year i had to ride it without my dad for the first time in 6 attempts on account of him getting his face smashed by a curb (couresty of motorist mayhem).

Me, I've been properly concentrating on training - doing specific workouts on the way to work instead of just travelling from A to B. Of course, the training schedule has been shattered by the impending doom of redundancies and the sheer exhaustion which accompanies such uncertainties.

Still, on Saturday I went for a run to see how the knee is doing after I badly burnt the skin on my cables before smashing the knee between the top tube and bars leaving me with lovely purple-dappled bruises both sides of my knee bones. The knee held out for about half an hour of running then I started to limp so I walked back through Wootton Bassett at a moderate pace to get supermarket shopping and pop in to see the pet carere and organise for lenny to be looked after whilst we swan around in Yorkshire for a weekend next week.

As a result of the running, the race in Exeter today went really badly and I was resoundingly last. Appart from being exhausted and ready for a rest week, I was also having issues with breathing on account of the volumes of dust being kicked into the air.

Nervous of taking another spill onto the knee I rode cautiously. Although, as I caught up Gabbie Day (womens winner) and Andy Hargroves (junior winner) in the wood, I guess I wasn't riding that cautiously.

It's frustrating doing a national race at the low point in the training plan. I just have to trust the system that next week's rest will turn out to be everything I hope and that it does the business of leaving me feeling rested and hungry for exertion next week. It sure as hell doesn't feel that way now.

But the three peaks is a personal adventure and the atmosphere on the day is more than the weeks of prep and build-up put together. I need to file today under, "a part of the processes" and arrive at the office tomorrow and declare myself "unflappable".

I fear this is easier said than done but I will persevere.