Why? oh Why?

Distance 47miles     Av Sp 17.9mph with some big climbs.

Why did I bother to go out to ride today. Maybe it was because I had taken a few hours the night before to get the best bike, 'Scottie' ready for a thrashing and didn't want to let her down. Maybe because  I have something(s) to aim for and don't want to let myself down.

The night before I barely got any sleep due to coughing, head aches, difficulty breathing that felt like my asthma had returned after a 15 year absence. I needed to go out! It was dry and wind was negligible although again it didn't feel like it. Once again the motivation thing came into play, I was sooo up for cycling hard and no idea why. I met the Rochdale Tri club at 10am and set off shortly afterwards. Four of us dwindled to 2 after 15mins as the two of us at the front wanted to keep a good pace. I led for 95% of the way, miraculously and powered up any climbs. An 18%er wasn't much of a hassle. This year I have done very little climbing compared to last year as Im concentrating on TT'ing  but I dont think Ive lost too much. THe only problem is that my lungs felt tight,cramped and at half capacity as I kept coughing up liquid and spluttering it out. I love climbing standing up but for the 3rd week in a row was unable to. Today though, sitting down, on a climb the power was there, as was a high cadence and a rhythm was easy to achieve.

The bike was amazing, shame about myself  not able to take full advantage. Super comfy and accelerates like a Ferrari.  Jamis with the same wheels feels sluggish compared. Ended up sprinting downhill into a fairly bad head wind to catch up a few cars  but took longer than expected  and I couldn't hold onto them once there. At that point my chest nearly exploded but still pushed on til home. Was very cold at home and it took a good 25mins under an extremely hot shower to stabilise.  Two days to recover until next round of commutes.