Ask any road cyclist whether they'd be prepared to sacrifice an hour in bed for lighter evenings and nicer weather - you'd get a resounding "yes". Riding out today on a 50 mile loop north of Warrington, getting up an hour earlier due to the clocks going forward, was an easy sacrifice to make. The weather was lovely.
We'd picked a lovely route north of Warrington, with a constant ascent for the first 15 miles or so, rolling for the next 25, a short sharp climb at around 40 miles and a 10 mile descent home.
Stopping at Rufford Marina, to sit outside with the sun shining, we all had happy grins on our face, helped along by a wide selection of cakes.
I took my Dolan Ares out today (aka "The Unicorn"), it was an absolute dream to ride, just purred along and I'm really looking forward to spend many more miles on it, now the weather is improving.
My fitness has definitely taken a step forward. Without a doubt, I'm the best I've ever been on the bike (relative to my start point) but still have tonnes of capacity for improvement. I think I'm in that middle bit now of not being "new" anymore, but perhaps being "intermediate."
My next challenge is how to move on from here. I still need to lose some weight, bring my body fat percentage down, however I think I may need something more structued to move me on. Plenty to think about. Still with lighter evenings, it gives plenty of opportunity.
First off though, I'll be implementing the advice of Chris Tasker who recently wrote this excellent guest blog about intervals.
Photo courtesy of Rick at CycleSportPhoto's.com.
If only the weather in my part of the world was more cooperative. We had a great group ride yesterday. Today wasn't bad but the temperature was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit below average! And the forecast for this upcoming week looks more like February than March.
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