Rocky Montage

Thank fuck, it’s nearly time to throw my leg over a bike. My back is nearly fixed and (I hope) I can start riding indoors again this weekend. I feel like I’ll be starting from scratch. I’ve put weight on and nearly two months of no riding (except 20 mins on NYD) means my fitness has a good chance of being zero. I don’t think it’s going to be a very pleasant experience initially but it does give me something to focus on.

Additionally I have the challenge of building up my core to protect my back too, so an episode like this never happens again. I tentatively sat on my situp bench this morning and did 20 crunches. A bit of a twinge when I got off, just to remind me how delicate my back is, but it felt ok. I just need to start easy and build everything up slowly which is completely counterintuitive for me btw.

So the plan is to start with 20 mins light pedalling. Nothing heavy and then begin to add 5 mins a day upto an hour then knock it back timewise but add some power. I’ll do this until I can do 40-50 mins @ 190W then I think I’ll be ready for some riding outdoors. Road first then some light offroad down the line.

…..cue the Rocky training montage. Getting stronger!!!

Meanwhile, I’ve not hidden the fact that playing darts has kept me sane while off the bike. My darts game has improved quite a bit over the last 6 months. I registered my 25th 180 in an online match yesterday and spent a lot of time last weekend trying every combo of dart weight, shape, shaft length and flight type I had to try and finally nail my setup. After a rough patch where I just felt like I was getting worse every throw, it’s actually paid dividends.

I’ve realised I need a scalloped shape dart (a dip/taper mid-barrel) for grip as they kept slipping when I threw. 25 grams not 26 and only big, standard flights and a longer shaft work for me too.

Testing done, I took these to a trial for a local darts team being setup, at the weekend, and I think I held my own. Sunday night I met a bunch of lads in my local social club who are setting up a B team to start in Div 3 of the local Darts League which starts end of Feb. We’re all around the same sort of level and it will be a nice social on a Monday night. The home games are projected onto a big screen in the bar too just so everyone can see you miss, so no pressure! It will scratch my competitive itch and hopefully playing better players will improve my game too. Can’t wait to get started.

For now I’m trying to temper my ethusiasm to ride too much too soon but as soon as I’m back in the groove I’ll fill you in

Adios for now