Autumn and Phase 2

Knockburn Loch

A very quick blast on the roadie this morning - 1000ft ascent & just over an hours riding. The forecast was for more rain (please god no!) but this morning the sun was splitting the sky so I took off on my favourite hill road after dropping Jnr at Nursery. Was rewarded at the top of Nine Stanes with the tail end of a cloud inversion over Strachan and Banchory and yes, I'm still loving hillage. The winding hill roads that I/we prefer to ride on (the alternative, the A93 is suicide) though stunningly beautiful at this time of year, are devillishly slippy and I could feel the tyres offering to slide away on a couple of corners so maybe it is time to swap the focus more towards mountainbiking unless the roads are really dry. Though the problem is more one of tyres versus slimy leaves/frost/grit, I've been having some problems with my brakes too but on recommendation of the lanky, tall, fast one (James :) at Ullapool, I have purchased and just received a set of Kool Stop (salmons) which are apparently - now how was this put again - "In the wet they work like Shimano in the dry & in the dry they work like they should". Sounds good to me!

I stopped in by Knockburn too - its my local triathlon training facility and is unbelieveably beautiful. You really do have to go there to get the full effect but imagine a [man made] loch with an island in the middle, in the middle of nowhere surrounded by hills, forests and heather and moorland  - thats it in the top photo. Imagine the peace and quiet on a morning like this morning - just the sound of your breathing and the occasional buzzard mewing high overhead.

Partial inversion, Scolty hill from Nine Stanes - Lochton

JB sent me my training plan for the next 8 weeks last night. Its to get me back to decent times for 5k in time for the duathlon in a couple months. Apparently she's not worried about my cycling as I'm strong but my running er.....yup...well I knew that LOL! I've never been able to balance two [or three] things at once. Its always been cycling or running or swimming so when I'm strong at one thing, I lapse with the others. I've been almost 100% focused on the roadie since April & I admit the running has taken a back seat so its great having someone to guide me - ok tell me :) - what I should be doing for how long, when and why. She also sent me an annual overview with my focus' for each month from now on as we enter Phase 2 (dum dum duuuuuuuum) and we're tweaking that over lunch on sunday before heading out on a long, slow one (probably on mountainbikes judging my horrific weather forecast) with the rest of the Gurls. Looking forward to it! Theres something about frost on the grass in the morning that makes a girl want to get her offroad kit on :)