Earth Wind & Mire

Riding has been a bit of a bummer since the imperial ton I rode last week. It's been a busy period at work, and I've felt tired on top of that. My legs feels like they're finishing a ride when I've only just set off and my breathing has been hard. I've now concluded that I've been ill or fighting off illness.
Another downer was the cancellation of my first race of the year. I was to have been racing at Weekley Woods near Kettering, but there had been an illegal rave on the land and the party goers have destroyed the place. It just means that now I'd have to go straight into the road season without a settling in race.
Furthermore the only chance I got to even look at my bike over the weekend was on a day of gale force winds and driving rain. Still I decided to go out. I drove myself to Stockgrove for an easy XC session, but arriving there it soon became clear it wasn't worth the effort and possibly even dangerous. So I had a token spin and went home.
My next ride was a two hour evening XC session with Nick. Again the ride was bloody hard, but after an hour I started to feel my old self again and didn't want to go home. That said I knew I was million miles from ready for the racing next week.
We had a great ride, one of those rides where you don't realize how hard every part of your body is working to stay upright and keep going in a straight line.
Just how hard the going was that night, was the fact that Nicks rear mech was ripped straight out of the frame!
Next on my get ready to race agenda is a 1 1/2 hour resistance turbo session, steady. And a 100km at the weekend again at under normal pace. Hopefully this will get me fresh for the first race rather than tired or ill..
However feeling like this I think my arse is going to be royally served back to me on a plate come Tuesday night.
I just have to remember that from now on I have eight solid months of racing ahead of me. Road and XC, then the cross season.
Still this sign cheered me right up Tuesday night, very So-Cal.

The 'F' word