I have to be a little careful with my training plan about being complacent for long distance.
In theory I should be consistent - steadily building up to big rides. Nothing to put me off the plan, moderate weekends lead to successful weeks. That's how I've been working...but this weekend I couldn't resist.
A brief window of good weather, an opening for my July bivi and a need to ride somewhere for a whole day.
Last weekend, a plan was hatched for a route I've been working on since last year. I originally did it from work, finishing at home and stayed out for 2 nights. This time I decided it was doable from home and back in with 1 night out and the same-ish distance. In credit to me, where last time I left at 5pm, this time I left at 12 pm (lunchtime), so basically I have shaved 19 hours off the time it took to do.
Self-congratulations aside, that is not what this post is about.
Big rides on the mountain bike are big rides on the body. They need accustoming to and that's not something I've been doing in my training plan to date. Whilst I'm not going to go out there and ride a full 550mile week in training, 60-70 km isn't good enough either. The last few weeks have shown that.
My bivi rides have been short, my day rides have been short. Punchy, but short. So yesterday all my contact points with the bike were in trouble by 6:30 pm. It didn't help that the last 25km are all on a railway line - so a long, slightly bumpy, sitting down slog.
My ass hurt on the saddle, my ass hurt to get up off the saddle and my ass hurt to sit back down again. This was slightly caused by it being at slightly at the wrong angle but also it's so very harsh and my bum has got so very soft. Changing the angle on the saddle isn't easy with my bag in place so when the saddle clamp came loose at the top of Saddleworth moor in the dark, I merely tightened it and rode on what I'd got instead of twiddling about to get things right. Perhaps that's what I should have done but it was soon bedtime and there wasn't really a problem until 19 hours later when things started to ache like hell.
My poor feet were suffering similar levels of hurt but for them there was no let up except for sitting on my sore arse and doing nothing with my feet. My feet hurt when I stood, when I sat, when they were clipped in, when they were on the flat side of my pedal (in fact I found, surprisingly, they hurt more on the flats than they did in the clips).
By the time I got into Wharncliffe Woods, I did most of the downhills sitting side-saddle on my bike with as little pressure on my feet as possible, which leads to the remaining contact point - hands / wrists.
Now I've got serious bling in the handlebar department so hands aren't ever really an issue for me so far and my wrists weren't screaming last night like everything else but this morning they ache and they're weak. I also admit that yesterday evening my arms and upper body were getting ready for a big long rest. On the railway trail I felt like ducking onto the aero position (except the ass wouldn't let me) and the closest respite I could manage was riding with the heels of my hand on the tips of the handlebars and my arms rotated outwards to get some respite from the normal pedalling position. This worked but after only 189km, getting up today and doing it again?... not so sure.
The only relief I can take is that, over the shorter distance, this ride is HARD. It's not quite Peak 200 hard or BB200-2019 hard but it's still fucking hilly. It doesn't quite have the bogs of the HT but it outstrips the elevation by 6m/km and due to Covid, there were probably as many rest stops as the average HT - one shop, one breakfast - the rest was carried.
So the point of this post is to remind me not to be complacent about the big ride.
To update my plan for training this out because without the big ride I'm not going to finish.
This thing isn't possible on some short, fast, hard, well thought out training rides - although they will hep, it needs big fat monsters in there to spoing my joints, batter my soft skin and harden my ligaments into something representing a distance machine.
When I train my body changes shape. Through lockdown my shoulders and back have weakened through less mountain bike miles. This morning I found dimples in my knees where muscles have tightened and maybe fat has gone from where it used to sit. I don't know and I don't care how aesthetic it is, I only care if it makes me go further - and possibly a little faster.
So there we are, reminder set down. Reconfiguring the training plan is a tomorrow job for when the brain works. Today, I have to sit at a desk and sound clever.
Pah!
No comments:
Post a Comment