Im Back...... Kind of!

This weekend was a bit of a big deal for me. I didn’t do a 100mile training ride or enter my first race of the season. My aim was a little more modest. On Saturday I went out for my first real ride for 3 ½ months since the accident. I was out for just over an hour and probably knocked up about 10 miles. Like I said, modest! The important thing is my back felt great. On the road it felt fine, even out of the saddle, I was completely pain free. I decided to go off road briefly on a bridleway and the bumps didn’t affect me at all. Unfortunately we have had near constant rain for the last week or so, so the last part of the bridleway was more like Vietnam than North Oxfordshire! After a lot of skidding about with a semi-slick small block 8 on the back I started to get a bit sore but as soon as I was back on the road all was well again.


I’m not under any illusions after this success. Although I didn’t get to the top of every hill coughing and spluttering with my lungs on fire there is still a long way to go before I will be ready to take my place on the start line of an Expert race.

Today I put in another hour on the turbo which was boring as hell compared to the previous days ride. I honestly don’t know how some guys manage to knock out 3+ hour sessions. I was bored to tears after half an hour! I am going to carry on my work on the turbo, and probably start introducing some higher intensity work later in the week as long as I don’t feel any bad effects. I will also increase the distance of real riding each weekend until I won’t be embarrassed on the Saturday club run.

This week I got my bike back from Tim at OxShox. A full season had taken its tole on the forks and shock I dropped them off for a full re-build. I think you get used to the compromised performance after a while so when they are back to working as new it is a revelation. Tim is a former motorsport suspension engineer, including a stint at Brawn GP, and he definitely seems to know his stuff. Check out his website (www.oxshox.com) for some of the services he offers.