Progress

When I started this blog I had my plan of increasing ride distance over the weeks the same as I did last year. Now its not like this is "wrong" given that it got me through the etape, but since I got my coach that idea completely vanished (and it seems generally accepted to not be the most efficient use of time). What that also means is I am finding it pretty hard to measure progress.

In turn this makes it pretty difficult for me to blog! I initially thought I'd say things like "compared to this time last year on a similar ride I feel better/worse" but that's not the case. The training is so completely different I have no benchmark for comparison. Sure I feel some differences when riding / climbing and I have described some of those here, but it all feels a bit wishy-washy to be honest. I am a person who likes clear numbers and data, and right now I don't really have any.

That may change soon though because the brilliant Fred Whitton ride is next weekend. I don't have any time goals for this, after all its really all about being able to get up Hardknott after 100 miles (and me being me I'd much rather say I didn't have to stop than say I got around 20 minutes quicker), but suffice to say I will NOT be attacking it like I have done on shorter rides this year! Also (and this I do feel strange about) it will be my first century of the year, in fact it will be the first time I've got close to that distance. Again this is so different to last year it is making me feel a little odd about things. This year I will be very pleased (and a lot quicker) if I can just avoid the mechanical problems (and near death) of last year.