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Well, there has been a distinct lack of posting around these 'ere parts - for one reason - there has been a distinct lack of riding! The main reason for this has been the weather - every time I've ridden this year, I've gotten the beginnings of a cold about three days later - I've prevented most of them taking hold through a combination of echinacea tablets and sauna sessions, but whenever they have taken hold, they've prevented me from getting to the gym for the three weekly sessions that I've been aiming for - not good.
So I've basically blown out riding for what has now been about 6 weeks. In that time I've continued my gym sessions, with two personal training sessions a week, which has done wonders for my fitness - I can't wait to get out on the bike and see the benefits. I've also been on holiday to Gran Canaria, where I tried to make up for the seven straight nights of drinking vodka and seven straight days of eating a full English breaky ; )with a few sessions in the hotel gym - these weren't anywhere near the usual intensity though.
I've just sent off my cheque for entry to the Randonnee, but there are a few changes over last year. Firstly, I'm doing the June event (with Will and his mate Ross - there may be a few more of us though), instead of the July one - this means that training will take up less of my Summer, important as a single lad ; ) Secondly, there will have been a lot less on-bike training in the lead-up - we'd already been training for two months by this time last year.
Other differences are that I (a) know I can do it and (b) know how long I've done it in before - this information has led to my goal of taking 2.5 hours off of my time from last year - I'm aiming for 12 hours.
To help with this, I'll be maintaining my three gym sessions a week, and am starting to draw up a training plan - starting with a 40 miler in the form of the Brighton to Eastbourne stretch of the South Downs Way, this weekend (weather permitting). I'll be ramping my distance up by about 10 miles each week, along with a Shoreham --> Guildford --> Shoreham ride (73 miles) at some point too. I'll be needing some new equipment for this, including a new Camelbak with a decent 3lt bladder and judging by the weather so far this year, a waterproof jacket!
In other news, I'm incredibly disappointed with my treatment of the new bike - I treated the Dawg as if it was made of gold for three years, and although the Primo is now my pride and joy, I didn't clean her up until a few days after the last ride - now half of the drive train has rust on it. I kind of guessed that this would be the case with the chain, so bought a new one yesterday - it's a SRAM 991 which I got for £20, and fitted last night. I am going to endeavour to keep her in tip top shape from now on - starting with a service which I may stretch to this month (I'm having my new scooter serviced tomorrow so I'll need to see how much that costs first).
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