Bit of a toughie

Distance 40 miles     Av Sp 18.5mph     Av Cadence 99

Hoping for a relatively longer ride today to make up for the lack of miles recently. Just needed to wait for some decking to arrive which took longer than expected but was worth the wait as my back garden has needed doing for years. Anyway by lunch time it was still wet and damp so took out Jamis for a spin.  The trees in the fields opposite were swaying violently and put me off a little but I was desperate. Todays aim of the day was to spin as fast as possible and try to get it feeling as natural as possible which will take a bit of time. I never thought Id ever get used to my TT position but its second nature now.

Straight away I wondered why my legs weren't up to much today. I'd just had 3 days off from all exercise and ate myself silly so I should be motoring? There wasn't much choice but to pedal fast as there wasn't much power so had to compensate. Barely got out of the saddle which is highly unusual.  Pedalling so fast constantly makes me breathless and thought my heart rate would be higher. Kept getting tingling in my legs with the new technique but I was winning the fight with the wind.  Always in the little ring except for the big descent down Bacup Road. How I made it up there in the first place  is beyond my comprehension and at a reasonable rate, well, baffles.

The sun came out on the final drive for home and the leg speed was dropping or so I thought, the graph says otherwise. THe only other major problem I find with the improved cadence is that the saddle feels uncomfortable, I may have moved it too far forward so I can use the drops more easily. In the end I was happy with todays progress and average speed. Could easily have been a lot worse.

Just got confirmation that my 'winter' wheels have been built up and ready for shipping which are going to replace the bontager race lites where the spokes kept snapping so I ordered a wheelset with easy to source and replace fancy spokes.