A week without Cake

Total distance this week: 221km 

Time in saddle: 10hrs 2 minutes

Number of cakes eaten: None (woo!) Though did eat an entire Blackcurrant fool on saturday night
This weeks album of choice: Trance Anthems (Dave Pearce 2010) again

 
Monday dawned and I rolled over back to sleep to wake in a panic at 7.45am, waaaay to late to cycle, waaaaay to late to catch the bus and so spent £12 on a taxi to work. This goes against every principle I hold dear but the main principle it forces me to renege on is never get in a taxi driven by a speed freak Slovenian OAP. I got to work, grateful to be alive.

Tuesday dawned and I rolled over back to sleep and woke about 2 hours later not giving two hoots as it was my sanctioned Day Off this week! Woo yeah!!! So I spent it drinking and having sex and drugs and living a rock n' roll lifestyle and going out on my roadie and doing a million km's. Or, closer to reality, I did three loads of washing, watched four episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar with Jnr (who I decided should also have a day off from 'work'), discussed at great length the merits of cucumber in tuna sandwiches with said offspring, caught up with the Giro (d'Italia...not the DHSS kind), paid some bills and did some housework and then played in the greenhouse. I also got a surprise email from a local organisation who want to use one of my photos for a promotional calendar. N came home at 3pm and ran me to hospital for my endoscopy (all clear hurrah!) and then to GP for summat else. We went for coffee at 'La Chocolatière' & it snowed an awful lot! The hills are again white and I dug out all my winter cycling kit again. I should have known it would snow as I ordered a new pair of bib shorts..

Wednesday didn't dawn at all. It just sort of snorted, sat on my bladder at 3.40am and made me wake up and then wouldn't let me go back to sleep. Gave in at 5.30am, got up and rode in to work via my new hill-seeking route (35.27km), fixed a few bikes, had a laugh and ate no cake. I am on a strict, nutritionally complete diet - when I say nutritionally complete, what I mean is I'm avoiding cake :). This is not to lose weight but to make sure I'm eating minimal amount of crap. I don't want to get run down and miss this summer! I rode home in the bitterly cold sunshine feeling happy and alive, especially as my recent hill work seems to have actually worked as not only did I get the The Hill on the way in in one go without rising once AND without having to reinsert my lungs but I managed the other side on way home (steeper, longer). I did however eat my way through three quarters of a tonne of chilli con carne as soon as I walked in the door at home.

Thursday I got very wet cycling in and out of work via the hilly route and was asleep on the living room floor by 7.30pm, woke at 10pm, spoke to N for oooh about 3 mins then went to bed and slept right through. I felt slow though (I was technically too, 1kph slower overall than previous day) but well, better than nowt I guess! Probably should have taken Friday as a rest day but.....

Friday dawned sunny and cold - my favourite biking weather so took the mountain bike in & out and got a good hour and a half off road which was nice for a change. Fitted a longer stem and new handlebars to it as well. Friday is also bacon roll day which is always nice :) Bike Boss left for 10 Under the Ben late afternoon and I admit to a twinge of jealousy as he and his partner (for the race) waved and disappeared in the camper van into the distance leaving Bike Boss Son and I in the shop.

Saturday I was at work. It was largely uneventful though mates popped in for a visit and to buy a bike and we sold about a thousand spare inner tubes to folk heading down to the Etape. Evening was spent with friends round for dinner and I got to bed in the wee small hours after one too many nineties rock ballads.

Today (Sunday) I headed out the door after lunch and meandered my way to Ballater via the South Deeside and then up Queens view, down to Coull, through Kincardine O' Neil, back to Aboyne to visit my mate then straight home via A93. 125km/678m ascent round trip in glorious sunshine! Happy! I was testing out my new bib shorts and summer shoes/Look Keo Sprint combo and I can report (happily, sooo happily) that I do not have an excruciatingly sore arse tonight and the ventilation holes in my shoes do actually make your feet feel nice and no, they're not just a gimmick. Mates husband is a serious roadie (by serious I mean his commute is 70 mile round trip including the Cairn O'Mount both ways but he's refreshingly down to earth and agrees that the effect of saving 100g on a front mech (and £150 from your wallet) can also be achieved by losing 100g of body weight by not eating that pie..) and is a great source of info about training and nutrition and so he's suggested after much discussion that I move from a 7 day training plan to a 10 day plan..makes sense..should relieve some of the panic when the very rigid 7 day plan is disrupted by fate/work/illness/tiredness. I'm going to structure the 10 days a bit more efficiently too and focus on a particular aim instead of trying to improve at everything at once. I'll not bore you with the details though (today...)

Well that's it for this week. Sorry it reads like a diary entry but struggling for time this weekend. Have Molly (the bosses Spaniel) staying with us and she's pleading with me to take her for walk. I shall then mostly be diving body and soul into a syrup sponge pudding.

Happy riding folks, have a great week.