Saturday, January 23, 2010

A rough ride...

Hello there. Yes, I'm back, to tell you about my second ride of 2010. Yup, you read that correctly. Life getting in the way of things (actually, more like work, but the impact is the same) and cutting out my riding.

So, today I went riding with two of my good friends. And it wasn't pretty.

About 80 kilometers, on roads as flat as a pancake (the two biggest inclines were less than a km each). A sunny (finally, we have had miserable rainy weather here for what seems like weeks) but rather chilly day (temperature around 4 C when I left the house at 8:30-ish). But hey, no worries, a day of relaxed riding, shooting the breeze with friends and nothing to worry about. Right?

No.

I was in trouble right away, struggling to keep up with a relaxed pace (50x17 or thereabouts). And simply shelled of the back as soon as there was any incline at all.
Not even a pleasant slice of pie and great caffè espresso were able to help.

Oh well. I guess it can only get better...

On a more positive note, one of my friends was out on his first ride on his new bike - he just purchased an immaculate Colnago C-50 with full Record 10 speed. No paint, simple carbon fiber look. Fantastic looking, and (so he tells us) a joy to ride. Comfy, fast descender (not twitchy at all) and an all round solid performer.

Almost made me jealous, but I have my Cervelo R3, after all...

In any event, a bad day of riding is still waaaaaay better than a good day in the office, so I am content. Let us see what tomorrow brings. Hope you all had a more pleasant day out than I!

5 comments:

  1. Don't you just hate it when a bike ride becomes unpleasant? Struggling for every pedal stroke, all you want to do is turn around and go home, but you can't.. because your mates are watching and you'd never hear the end of it!

    At least you got pie for your troubles.

    I don't need to tell you what you already know (but I'll tell you anyway) - you'll get back in the swing of things as soon as you spend more time in the saddle. And what's this crap about work getting in the way of riding? GET YOUR PRIORITIES RIGHT, MATE!!!!

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  2. LOL. Mea culpa, mea culpa. I will get my priorities straight!

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  3. Yeah - almost all of us take some time off in the winter. Or at least cut down the mileage. Some years are worse then other for me. Add in the holidays and family related fun - it's amazing we get any riding in at all.

    It all comes back though, after a few weeks of regular riding, you start to feel good again.

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  4. I understand the work getting in the way bit a little too much!

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  5. Yes. I have been very remiss about my blog... c'est la vie so far this year!

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