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MONDAY 11th JAN

Firstly, I picked up my new aquisition from the LBS which had undergone headset fitting and fork chopping. I started to fit the other bits until I came to the cabling. I have chosen a Jagwire cable set and the outers seem to be made from so many layers that I just can't cut through with normal cable cutters. I have noticed Wiggle have a voucher deal too! New build is on hold for a while.

I wasn't sure if the Tri club had restarted their spin sessions again after the Christmas layoff but decided to go to Rochdale Leisure centre early to try and get on the public spin class, if not I could go in the gym. The front desk said the class was fully booked up but to try anyway as people sometimes dont turn up. There were 3 bikes free, then 2 more joined so I asked the instructor if it was ok to join it. She said yeah as the class started at 6.15pm and it was 6.15!! So i went out to get my gear and when I came back there were 5 more people trying to get on the bikes, 4 of whom had already paid cash a few days earlier! My gym membership allows me free access to these sessions. The official list wasn't checked and the others given refunds which I think is disgusting. I didn't mind at all that I wasn't on but if I had booked in advance and couldn't get on that would piss me off. At Middleton they routinely check the lists and shame the bike hoggers.

I went to the gym and thought I'd have a change and use the rowing machine. It used to be my favourite piece of apparatus until I kept getting injuries. I have since built up my core and back muscles so shouldn't suffer from any more niggles. Previously, my best times were 20 min 18 secs for 5000m and 7 mins 40 for 2000m and that was putting all my effort into it until totally exhausted. I thought I'd give a 2000m a whirl. I was taking it relatively easy and coasting to 1 min57/500m average. I have never felt in this good shape. After 2000m, in 7mins 48, I carried on to 5000m. I have always wanted to break the 2min/500m average barrier over 5000m. I was doing 27 strokes a minute which increased to 32 and 33 with 1000m to go. I felt I was going quicker and quicker and finished 5000m in 19mins 29 secs that average is about 1,57min/500m ( hows that for pacing!), very very comfortably. I still had loads of energy to go on the bike for 20 mins and then do the tri club spin session! I think eating lots but very healthily is giving me the energy to train everyday and still have the nutrition to repair and build muscles. The very long sleeps I have been having due to having 5 days off must also contribute.

The spin session was hard as usual as thats how I make it for myself. There was huge variation 2nite but what I seem to be improving at is increasing cadence. I must have been doing about 120-30 possibly more for about 5 mins at the end of a session. Admittedly the resistance was low which was the idea but my legs used to hate going over 110 and the motion was very jerky. It was totally different 2nite. Super smooth action with a balanced pull and push stroke, no aches or anything like that due to not being used to the fast pedalling. If you push too hard on a low resistance the fly wheel makes it feels like you are pedalling thin air and can become jerky as the pedalling goes out of sync. If I can pedal like this on a road bike I could do very well indeed. The music needs to change though, something with some words in it that I can sing to in my head.

I have got tickets for the 'Revolution' at the velodrome at the end of February. Should be fun. All the seating had sold out for January's event.Booked in for the velodrome again on Thursday, need that blue slip! I have also been looking at road race events for the forth coming season. The first is at the end of March in the North West area and there is a 3/4 cat race of over 50 miles!! Jesus, sounds really difficult. There are not many criteriums about but I might not be looking hard enough. I will be a cat 4 rider due to never having raced before, also need to get a full racing licence just in case I pick up some points. I now have 4 events to chose from on the 28-29th March. 1. Cheshire Cat, 2. Road Race, 3. some all day spinning convention,4. Training with Manchester/Stretford Wheelers in Mallorca. I know which one I would prefer!!! Just not sure how easy it is to get a bike across the water :P