Wednesday night I linked up all the hills in the Bathgate Alpes to focus on getting my climbing muscles into shape. 600 metres of climbing and loved every minute of it! Great, I thought, 2 days to recover until Saturday's long ride.
So yesterday came the shocking realisation that I am not Wonder Woman. My plan was to do 85 miles in the Scottish Borders. I didn't feel particularly strong from the off and had to admit I wasn't enjoying the first stretch. I felt knackered and looked that computer and realised I had only completed 10 miles. Pulling myself together I took in the scenery, felt the warmth of the sunshine and tried to feel a bit more positive. I had just began feeling a bit happier when some stupid woman let her ankle biting mutt chase my bike. She just looked at me like a gormless idiot while I yelled at her dog to get away. Well at least it got my speed up but didn't put me in a good frame of mind.
Then I got overtaken by someone!!! I must apologise to the poor guy who went passed just as I was clearing my nose on the roadside (and probably him - oops!). Not very ladylike I know but he didn't seem phased by it (but oddly took off pretty quick after saying hello). I continued my battle of the wills and made a deal that if I got to Clovenfords with an average speed over more than 22 kph and an average HR less than 140 I would do the planned 85 miles. However, as I struggled over the last small climb I realised that I was not being sensible. If someone else was looking at the situation objectively I would be advised to not over do it as I would just pay in the long run. Plan B - stop for a coffee at Clovenfords and cut the ride short.
So I went all continental and stopped for a latte in the sun. It was so nice to sit in the sun, in a short sleeve top and feel warm. I felt a lot happier after deciding to do the shorter route. Buoyed by my dose of caffeine I headed off to Innerleithen. Another impromptu speed session happened when I caught up with a bunch of mountain bikers at the lights for a single lane bridge. As they pulled out in front of me I had no choice but to go on the outside of them to avoid a collision. I caught the lights as they changed and sped off from the lights, but one of the guys took umbrage and kept on my tail. I always treat this section as a bit of a time trial effort as it is dead flat, so wasn't really trying to race him, honestly! OK maybe I was racing him just a little bit. But near the end I was definitely racing him and left him for dead!!!
Back on the continental theme. I was in the Pyrenees last year and stayed at this weird village that had life size puppets everywhere. Well when I pulled up to take off a layer in Innerleithen I was reminded of that village when I saw this lot looking out of the window.
That just left the final climb to get back to the starting point. And what a climb it was! Beautiful constant gradient for the first 30 minutes, then a drop of 50 or so metres and then it's up again for another 15 minutes before the best descent ever. So managed 50 miles, 1050 metres of climbing. I had done what the books say which is to pick up where you left off when coming back from illness. I hope I have made the right decision and will catch up with the training plan in the next few weeks. And I leave you with this image of my alter ego....
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