Big training week
Total Rides: 19
Total Distance: 1,193 km
Total Ascent: 15,004 m
Well the rides and distances covered/ascended are starting to build up … and as they do my fitness increases and a bit more weight drops off! In theory this should make the riding easier, but one of the realities that you realise very early on is that the riding never get’s any easier. Basically, as you get fitter and stronger you end up riding more and going harder – it’s actually pretty hard to ride ‘within yourself’, as fitness improves you just push yourself harder!
One of the requirements for the rider assessment, is to complete 400km’s of riding in a seven day period. I’m pretty pleased as I managed to complete this with a cheeky extra solo ride this morning … petty good going as the weather for the last couple of weeks has been ordinary at best. When the weather’s really wild rides are cancelled; safety is at the forefront of every ride we do and even a modest amount of rain significantly increases the risk associated with riding a bike. In wet conditions road markings become slippery, visibility is reduced and you only need to hit a bit oil on a turn to end up on the deck. So in the circumstances, I’m pretty chuffed to have ticked off a 400km week.
This week I’m off the bike as I’m down in Victoria lending a hand with one of TDC’s shorter 4 day Country Tours. To be honest after 6 rides in 7 days it will be nice to be off the bike for a few days. One of the issues with amount of training we have to do for Signature Tour is that you get a bit ‘over’ riding … sometimes you find yourself riding when actually you would far rather be doing something else, so to be taking a break this week is no bad thing. When I get back there will only be 7 weeks left until the start of Tour and the training intensity will step up again – I’ll make the most of the break this week!
The picture below was taken at the end of our training ride on Saturday. As you can tell, the weather hadn’t been too good so we had to wrap up to try and get warm. So much for the Australian summer!
Keeping warm!
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