Week 22 Weekly Summary

Not a very imaginative title but I couldn't think of anything else. It's been a busy week, what with domestic duties, training, and eating Easter Eggs.

On the domestic front, the boys are home from school for Easter but our daughter still had school to go to. She had a Samba concert on Tuesday that was really loud and fun. On Sunday I had to take No 2 son to Leeds (4.5 hours driving each way) to stay with a school pal for the night; they should be on the way to the airport as I write this for a week of rugby and football in Barcelona. They visit the Nou Camp on Friday, something he is really looking forward to.

Yes, I set aside my recent healthy diet to let some chocolate into my life. I was sort of good in that I had a Black's dark chocolate egg although I suspect that eating the whole egg in one sitting does not fit the 'healthy eating' style, and then added some Lindt milk chocolate to the mix. Delicious.

Training was OK this week; I had 2 rest days but managed just under 9 hours of training and 227km (140 miles) of cycling. The highlight was undoubtedly the ride I did with The Hussler on Easter Sunday. As I had to go to Leeds (see above) I thought I would throw my bike in the car and maybe take in some hills. I posted on the Club forum to see if there was any interest and Hussler was up for a ride. We met in Glossop just before 1600 and planned a route south to Chapel en le Frith before going through Winnets Pass, across the end of Derwent Water and then over Snake Pass. Although the sun was shining there was a bitterly cold wind blowing; not so noticeable at the lower levels but very noticeable higher up. On the run back to Glossop off the top of Snake Pass the wind was right in our face and with only track mitts on I was in very real danger of losing all feeling in my fingers. It was chuffin' freezing. We both thoroughly enjoyed the ride though. Hussler is looking very lean and is obviously fit; he left me for dead on the hills although I reckon the combination of his lack of body mass, his gucci Specialized Tarmac (as opposed to my alloy Scott complete with mudguards) and his relative youth (he is nearly 20 years younger than me) is a pretty good defence for me. I had one unnerving moment on the ride. Descending one of the first hills I experienced the rather scary 'speed wobble'. This has never happened on my Scott before and surpsied me somewhat. I had taken the rear tyre of the night before and the rim tape had become lose and was offset to one side; I didn't give this much thought at the time but reckon this caused the rear wheel to become unbalanced and whilst not noticeable at normal speeds it manifested itself when above 60kmh. Needless to say this resulted in some caution on the remaining descents and the wheel will be subjected to a strip down and refit of said rim tape. As to the ride, it was great. Hard, but great. The views are stunning and with snow still on the hills at the top of Snake Pass it reminded me just how ruggedly beautiful the British countryside can be. I would not recommend Winnets Pass though; we rode down the steep part (going from west to east) and the only thing it tests is your brakes. It's too steep (20%) and tight with too many cars and walkers to let everything hang out and just go for it (and goodness knows what speed might be obtainable if you survived). Some of the driving I experienced was also pretty shoddy. I honestly believe that had I been riding 46cm wide handlebars as opposed to the 42cm that I do, a couple of the cars would have hit me; they were that close.

Overall, another good week. Bank Holiday Monday will be another rest day and then it will be head down for some more steady miles. Let's hope the sun starts to shine soon, It is April after all.

Train smart folks.