02/05/2011

Hey everyone hope you have been well. Everything has not gone too well here with this month nearly seeing me loose my job and all the stress that brings with it, going to be touch and go for another 12 months but I think things should be okay provided I don't mess up, which for me means just keep my head down and stay out of the way.

Right couple of things I want to send some healing vibes to my younger brother who had a nasty crash in Wales recently, his bike is pretty battered and his helmet is a multi part kit and the bruises on his body, well he was very very lucky, heal soon bro.
Next up I would like to make my fellow cyclist aware of a fairly new site and they have a podcast too.

http://cycling360media.com/

The podcast is run by several friends I share on twitter and it aims to help and guide performance orientated cyclists with tips on everything from coachingand training to racing and bike fit, the podcast is available direct from the site or via iTunes.

I was looking at the weather forecast today and according to the weather man April was the hottest on record for years, must admit it was nice and warm without being overly stuffy. This also had the effect of bringing spring on pretty hard and fast it was great to see the green returning to the trails and the flowers too.

Spring sadly has one downside....hay fever. I don't actually count myself as suffering from hay fever as my body has a way of dealing with it all in one go, every spring for about a week and a half I come down with hay fever and I feel very flu like, but for the rest of spring and summer it hardly effects me making being uncomfortable easier to bear.

With May being a new month I have decided to do the #gothedist challenge again, in April I set myself a goal of 130 miles but with all of the problems last month in the end I covered only 64 miles, still not bad though what I lacked in quantity I made up for in quality, this month I am hoping to combine the two qualities and reach the heady goal of 150 miles.
Recently I have been taking a look at my riding/training in general and looking for ways that I can improve and get more out of my riding and at the things that I am doing wrong and that which need attention, this is what I came up with.

1.  Hydration - I just don't drink enough both on and off the bike, while riding when I use a bottle but I feel changing to my Camelbak bladder to make it easier while riding at least.
2. Not making an effective use of my time - Right now I am training 3 times a week but almost never at weekends for some reason, even if i just trail hike I must start getting off my ass on days off and weekends
3. Stretching - I seriously need to stretch more or the past issues with my IT band will come back, it is already affecting the rotation of my leg and as a result I don't place my foot evenly along the pedal axle.
4. Food - with the increase in my riding I have allowed myself to eat more sugary foods and crap, got to cut it out.
5. Strength Session - I admit this is a weak point big time, I have failed totally to look after my upper body and core.

Well that's my mini list of things I think need attention right now and I will tackle them this month and try to form the habits now that will stand me in good stead come the tough winter months ahead.

Well in other news on the 1st we had another bike race down here in Plymouth over at Newnham a mixed format of an enduro and later a normal circuit race using a shorter lap, racing was fun as usual and it was great to see so many old friends over there.





That's all there is for now, my next blog I am hoping to have some more helmet cam footage/ride report also in a rare planed item I am going to do a section on what I carry when riding.