I’m sticking to walking

Equipment malfunctions, what is the worst that can happen when walking? A hole in your sock, rip your shorts, your waterproof jacket turns out not to be waterproof after all?

None of these are likely put paid to a planned training session or a race, they may make it a slightly unpleasant experience, but none of them are terminal. Not like losing a pedal off your mountain bike, could you imagine….?

Well this is exactly what happened to me on Sunday morning and completely screwed up my exercise plans for the weekend, to say I was hacked off would be an understatement.

Me and my mate Brian had decided that the Manx Mountain Bike Club ‘Coast to Coast’ ride from Douglas to Peel on Sunday morning offered a really good opportunity to get out and do a good cardio workout, but as they were running a family section, we thought it would be a great chance for some of the kids to tag along too. There were a couple of routes planned, one via Archallagon plantation for the more experienced rider, and via the old railway lines for the novices and families. So as I had brought Archie along and Brian his eldest daughter Jess, we planned to take the railway line route. To be honest, it’s doubtful I could have managed the more experienced route as I am not the most enthusiastic cyclist. As it transpired, I couldn’t even manage the family/novice route as I got as far as the NSC perimeter track, and my right pedal snapped off rendering my bike about as useful as a handbrake in a canoe – dead handy.

I stopped to pick up the offending item, Brian continued on with the kids. As I limped my way on to the TT Access road, I saw they’d stopped a little up ahead. After a brief discussion, it was clear that my ride was over, but Archie was still keen to crack on so he went off with the others, and I said I would meet them in Peel. After calling virtually everyone in my mobile phone book, I realised that I wasn’t going to get a replacement bike in a hurry, so, as the other half of the family were swimming in Peel, I was stranded with a useless bike 7 miles from home, and 10 miles from my lift. Fortunately, as I trudged along

Peel Road

towards town, I was passed by 3 of my nieces in the car. I flagged them down, and they agreed to drop me to Peel to get the car from the swimming pool, and set about catching up with the riders. I chucked my bike over the hedge by Waltons, and off we went.

By the time I’d collected the car, rescued my bike, I managed to get a brief glimpse of them at the Raggett and a quick dash back to Peel meant I saw them finish – muddy but happy.

So, as this blog is entitled, I intend to stick to what I know best.

Since my last post, I have done a couple of good, short quick sessions. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get out on Friday night due to the high winds which, coupled with the dark and lack of pavements made it too dangerous, so I opted to do my 5 mile Baldrine loop on Saturday lunchtime when it was at least light. I hadn’t realised just how blustery it was, and the climb from Baldrine up to Conrhenny was into a strong headwind and was an absolute killer.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am aiming to get out 3 times a week for now, and so on Monday I had around 90 minutes to kill whilst Archie was at Cubs. I decided to do a timed 10k round the NSC perimeter. My best competitive time is a little over 65 minutes, and it is my aim to try and shave this to 62 minutes this year, and ultimately break the magic 60 minutes next winter. There’s a lot of work to be done between now and achieving that though. Anyway, I managed to do the distance as per my Garmin (which from now on will be referred to a ‘the magic watch’) in 63 mins 28 secs, so I’m moving in the right direction. To do this in competition I would be chuffed, so I’m looking forward to the next round of Winter League on Sunday, hopefully I can set a competitive PB.

I was really encouraged to see so many people out last night too, I counted now fewer than 25 hi-viz clad people on my way to the NSC, then there were at least a dozen more traipsing round the perimeter road. I just hope that these people don’t fall off the New Year’s resolution band wagon.

Finally, I said last post that I would explain what got me into walking, but I think I’ve waffled on enough tonight, so next post I’ll definitely do this.

Ed

Ps. 10 days and counting – not even a wobble!