This post should really be titled “Christmas and the Lack of Training”. I started off with all good intentions by registering for the Rapha Festive 500. This involves riding 500 km between Christmas Eve and New Years Eve; basically 50 miles a day for 8 days. I managed to complete the challenge last year so thought I’d try again this year. So much for my good intentions. A bout of food poisoning (eating out and not my Mother’s cooking I hasten to add) on the evening before Christmas Eve put paid to my plans for a 100 km ride round the Aylesbury Vale (fairly flat compared to the Chilterns) on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day – no chance this year (the weather was pretty horrible as well), and Boxing Day involved driving back to Cardiff.
Cardiff escaped most of the snow in Christmas week, however, the ice was a different matter. Bambi on ice had nothing on me when I stepped outside on Thursday – my shortest ride ever, not even making it to the end of the road. Better safe than sorry tucked up at home rather than risking the ice on the Vale of Glamorgan lanes. By this stage completing 300 km let alone 500 km was going to be difficult and lethargy took over! The next excuses were the near gale force winds blowing through on Friday and Saturday plus a fair bit of rain. Yes, I tend to be a fair weather cyclist and prefer not to start riding if it is pouring with rain. If you ever read David Millar’s excellent book “The Racer” you’ll find that even the pros find excuses for putting off training (see page 11 – well worth a read).
I did manage an indoor ride on my new Tacx Neo smart trainer with a virtual ride round London on Zwift (more about this in a post later in 2018). I don’t think the distance
counts towards the Festive 500! The last ride today (New Years Eve) involved a trip out into the Vale of Glamorgan dodging the train showers until the last 10 minutes of the ride. Total distance outside over Christmas, around 160 km.
On the bright side, I don’t have any injuries so I can look forward to building on the fitness in early 2018. Although I completed the Festive 500 in 2016 I ended up aggravating both Achilles tendons and was unable to ride for a couple of months.
If you’ve been reading my posts, Happy New Year and I’m looking forward to the Ride Across Britain Challenge in September.
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Riding from Pasties to Haggis 