See, nowadays the Three Peaks Cyclo-cross marks the end of the adventure riding season for me - where I pack away my long distance mountain biking and get out cyclo-cross with its skinny bike and short Sunday bursts. With such a great, long adventure season of biking this year, I really needed a transition season more than ever. In past years I've not bothered. I've just struggled out of the 3 Peaks and into doing my local 'cross race, occasionally a National Trophy (although I can never get excited about Derby).
This year I allowed myself two weeks of doing whatever the devil I liked. Fortunately I have liked doing some 50-60 miles rides. Although they don't necessarily count as epic effort, they have been enough to link one season seamlessly to the next with a bit of a break to massage my brain and enough effort to keep the legs alive.
My peak fitness dropped off towards the end of the distance season as the fatigue drained in and the effort drained out... but that's fine, that's what transition periods are for.
We agreed on a 60 mile averagely hilly ride today as a compromise to the (Alpe d'Huez) training monster I was advocating. Due to dampness and rain and TSK forgetting that its autumn so not bringing appropriate clothing, we cut it a little shorter than we'd planned although ended up winding around some lovely lanes to get home. That clocked us in at 61.25 mile and a respectable 1500m of climbing. It was the same length ride we had in our heads anyway (though with half the Up of the AdH route).
We both agreed that this was the limit of our current fitness as we limped our way home. This gives us an excellent baseline to work on and fortunately just happens to match my training plan.
We talked about our plans for next years events. I've seen other people get burned and bomb out of big events like this in their first year. I've been worried about burning out too soon until TSK asked if I wanted to do the Solstice ride again (December 16th ish). He pointed out that if I do burn out by December I have plenty of time to recover and turn it around in time for the event. I realised, all of a sudden, we used to do Audaxes all the time - December, June, March, that's just what life was until Triathlon started to get in the way. Y'know what? Life can be that way again.
I only took one photo when I got back to the village. It was a kind of ridey day. It was also kind of windy which makes me glad I've put narrower bars on my new bike and there won't be a Carradice when I'm in Ireland. It proves I need to go places, ride more interesting routes, take some pictures of new people. Rides aren't just about going faster and higher and further. They're about going further afield - both physically and mentally and I can't wait.
It was a waiting for dinner to be bought photo. An, "I regret not getting my camera out earlier" kind of photo and also an "insignificance of social media" photo... because the less I twittle the more I ride and that can only be a good thing. I'm keeping a diary in addition (supplement) to the blog as sometimes it's nicer to write on paper with a fountain pen. Flylillypad encouraged me to sketch in it too... or doodle - whichever. It's a great idea that I love.
For the record though, here's what today looked like.
TSK has taken to the bath. I have a to-do list that looks like this:
- Pay credit card bill
- Package ride up into palletable chunks
- Plan audax season
- Tidy loft for yoga
- Clear spare room for Beckster training weekend.
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