Back of my holiday now. Tan lines earned. Sunbed considered to keep it up. I’m refreshed and ready to get ready for the Summer and hopefully some more sun and a darker tan.
My next event is the rescheduled Mad March Hare Sportive on April 15th but my mind is now focussed on my solo cycling tour in May. Now the clocks have gone forward and the nights are lighter I need to up my mileage and lose some of the lbs I put on holiday.
I’ve started already. This week will be a 5 day straight cycling week. I normally have Mondays off and commute 4 days but this week I had the Monday off after getting back from my holiday so I banged in a solid 100 mins and another 2hrs+ yesterday. I’ll be commuting as normal the rest of the week.
Yesterday’s commute was with a single but loaded pannier and hurt by the end. Its clear I need to start training with weight and begin to consider what kit I’m taking to keep the weight down. I think its going to be physically very hard given the terrain I’ve planned. Beautiful but brutal. To add a little bit of stress my Garmin is playing up now. It’ll charge on USB but won’t connect to my PC and no maps are visible. Just waiting on a new USB cable to try that. Anyone got any ideas? Let me know
My commute yesterday included NCR5 via Icknield St from Storridge Lane to Redhill Lane via Weatheroak Hill. Holy shit. AVOID it on a road bike, it is f**king horrendous. It has been reduced to an MTB track its so bad, particularly the climb to the Peacock Pub.
Another event which has caught my eye is the Zwift Tour of Watopia (ToW) which starts on Sunday. 7 days, 7 stages. I thought I could do these on top of my commutes. If I finish I’ll be a Towie won’t I? Stage 3 incorporates the impending Zwift update which has a replica of Alpe d’Huez being added to the Watopia course called Alpe du Zwift. I’m quietly very excited about this update.
Tour of Watopia 2018 – 250KM (155 MILES) & 5010M (16, 437FT)
- Stage 1: Big Loop – April 1st or 2nd
- Distance: 42.8 km (26.6 mi) Elevation: 663 m (2175 ft)
- Stage 2: Road to Ruins – April 3rd or 4th
- Distance: 30 km (18.7 mi) Elevation: 275 m (905 ft)
- Stage 3: ???? – April 9th or 10th
- Distance: ??? Elevation: ???
- Stage 4: Figure 8 – April 11th or 12th
- Distance: 29.8 km (18.4 mi) Elevation gain: 234 m (770 ft)
- Stage 5: Three Sisters – April 13th or 14th
- Distance: 48.3 km (30.0 mi)Elevation: 896.7 m (2942 ft)
- Stage 6: Mountain 8 – April 19th or 20th
- Distance: 29.8 km (18.4 mi) Elevation gain: 234 m (770 ft)
- Stage 7: The Pretzel – April 21st or 22nd
- Distance: 72.2 km (44.9 mi) Elevation gain: 1,333 m (4,375 ft)
