I caught a bit of a cold before I went to Canada. Sally was panicking because she was recovering from COVID and was praying I hadn’t got it because I would probably have had to have isolated when I got there but regular tests and a lack of COVID symptoms meant it was just a cold. That meant my last couple of planned rides, before I left, got sacked off. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I picked up another sniffle, same symptoms with a couple of days left of the holiday so any post-holiday rides have been ditched too not withstanding the jet lag giving me grief.
Today was my first ride for over three weeks. 31 Aug was my last ride. I can’t remember the last time I went that length of time without riding. Actually, it was probably the last time I went to Canada in 2019. Getting back on the bike is a bit of the unknown thrown in with a little dread of how bad or unfit you’ve become.
I went to bed last night at 10.30pm and didn’t sleep until probably 3am then woke at 11am. Decent sleep though, just out of sync. Still jet-lagged then FFS.
The ride went ok. I performed as I expected. Less power, felt the holiday weight gain, blowing out my arse on the hills but I managed a decent 20+ miles which told me where I was. I find when you have time off your fitness drops off quickly then the rate of loss tapers off a bit. I usually feel ok for x minutes, x depending on how long you have had off the bike, then the wheels begin to fall off. Today that was at about 45 mins into the ride.
I haven’t missed the shit british driving either. Two close passes today and shit off a horse rider which I’ll share because it’s rare and she was out of order, in my opinion.
Very early into my ride I was riding down a lane wide enough for probably two small cars to literally squeeze past each other, at best.. One of the corners is a very slightly downhill, quite blind right hand bend
I rounded the corner at my normal speed and was confronted by two horse riders dripping in hi viz. One tight on the inside and the one behind in the middle of the road if not slightly over to the left as I looked at it. I had no time to slow significantly, I could only roll and brake out to the left as far as I could. The rider shouted ‘…that was a bit silly!’ which initially incensed me so I shouted back ‘…good job I wasn’t a car then!’ which would have been a real problem for her given how fast drivers are and her road positioning on a blind bend on a horse. I thought fuck off you entitled bitch and considered having a ‘chat’ with her to point out her position but they were two women/girls and thought better of it. Didn’t need that shit. Tut.
Home. My chest was wheezy, my body ached in places it shouldn’t and I know I need to lose a bit of weight which should happen naturally now I’m back riding. Welcome back.
