Work, eat, ride, gym .. repeat.

Last week was a good 'speed' week, well it's all relative of course. I am not very fast.

The ride with Adrian & Andrew was quite a bit faster than my normal and I held up well because I have a few miles in the bank over recent months. The ride with Dick and Molly was reasonably steady too, except the bit where they turned right to go to Badgers for a pre-lunch coffee and I turned left for the climb back to Bo Peep car park along The Batch (below) to fetch the car. I had a bit of a sweat on when i got there and was panting like a bloodhound.

Monday was chores evening and Tuesday we went to the spin class - the first in a few weeks. I had a few left-over aches in the legs, but not sure why. I am not very scientific with my approach, I just ride my bike.

Wednesday I decided to cycle to the gym and then do the Body Pump class, followed by a Spin class. Molly would bring the car for the ride home - I'm not too worried about missing the return leg because it's mostly down hill. I had half an eye on last week's time of 34 minutes before I started, but after a few turns of the cranks I detected the slight soreness. Perhaps not today then .... I was surprised when I got there in 33 minutes. Not sure how, but pretty sure my timings are accurate enough for the purpose. Ah well, another unexpected bonus ! Pump felt hard and I was knackered after Spin.

We had three 'rest' days scheduled in - food preparation ready for friends coming to dinner, visit relatives, shopping (yuk), essential chores, private BBQ for the two of us and a game of (long overdue) golf - and then we are back on it for another week of rides, gym and work.

Cycle to the gym took the same 33 minutes, but I suffered from an overly relaxed start and despite some gurning in the latter stages, I couldn't make the time up. This is always the problem with training alone, you end up 'fit in your own world' but in no one else's. You have no partner who can push when you are at your lowest, and vice versa. Luckily I am a Gemini, so there are two of us and we both think we are fit. Body Pump class afterwards was good and I pushed quite hard with lots of extra weight - almost back to the level I was when doing this regularly, one little plus at least.

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We are still thrashing round the little road circuit from the house but it's not quite as easy now Molly is back to work. However, our speed and fitness is improving, and I often get the chance to do a second lap as my hair doesn't need so much attention after each ride.

Weight loss has stalled and I need to kick start it somehow. Stuck at 215lbs (plus or minus a bit) but I'm working on it. Perhaps it is time to wire up my jaw.

A couple of days go by and more failure .. I want a sub 30 minute local-loop before Colorado and felt good last night. Despite slowing for two horses and one pony and trap, I was doing well but got to the cut-off point for a single lap and knew I would miss the target by a whisker, so decided to go for the two-lap record. Round again and back to the cut-off point, looking good, but slowed down by cars being diverted from an accident which caused me to miss the lights. Waited 45 seconds for a light change, then pulled a face and burst some blood vessels all the way home; and rolled into the drive on 60min37sec. Bugger, bugger, bugger. Average speed 19mph - not bad for an old bloke on a mountain bike though. To put it into perspective it's the same average speed as the Tour's peleton on the final mountain stage last week and they rode for 5 hours 3 minutes, uphill and in the big ring !