Sitting bike, but chairs mainly.

A week of mainly sitting on my ass listening to some dude drone on about something dreadfully dull, interrupted only by the odd class of something fun and actually interesting. As per everything in my life, it appears that even university is a world of extremes, either extremely dull, or extremely interesting. We only got one result back so far from that interminable spell of exams a little while ago, and it wasn’t good. It wasn’t disastrous, and it is in a subject that really isn’t my strong point… I think my French spelling let me down some, anyway…

So Thursday I got out on the bike finally to do some Simeon Green style training… if you don’t know what that is, it is a form of training dubbed “catch up training”. I always feel like I am behind everyone else who races, and I feel that every time I go out, it isn’t just to train, but to try and catch up. That’s a little unfair to myself and I think I need to get that thought out of my head. I’m generally doing a lot less riding than in the past, but I’m doing longer rides for this time of year and in the winter weather. Actually my asthma has improved over the past couple months, so I’m able to train better. I hope it lasts. So I got the new road bike out for only it’s second ride. In 4 degree weather I headed over to the beautiful town of Cordes that all of you who have been over know well (that’s the town with the cobbled climb). From there I rode on over Vaour


In the Aveyron valley, and headed back via the hills. A great ride with a fair bit of climbing, some great views enhanced by the snow still sitting by the site of the road on the more shaded sections.

After 3.5 hours I got home, took the TT bike out for a very short spin to check my position that I have been playing with (not happy, not more alterations) and then hit the weight bench. I somehow managed to smack my knee on the stem of the bike during a little sprint today, it hurt a bit… and then while lifting weights my knee made a rather scary noise a bit like material ripping. My legs really hurt on Friday. France's very own Stonehenge on the road to Vaour

Friday I did a little easy ride, spent some time working on my TT bike position, making sure everything was UCI legal etc.





Measuring up: fitting the bike into the UCI limits












Then I did some school work and finished off with a nice little trip to the movies.
Today (Saturday) I feel pretty rough. My back has been playing up again and my knee still hurts a bit. I’ll be heading out in the cold and wet weather for a 4 hour ride with a group in Albi today. I’ll start and see how my various body parts feel and take it from there.