On my bike...

I went out for a three-hour cycle on Saturday with the lovely ladies and gents from the Glasgow Tri Club. It's my first weekend ride with them and I was a little nervous about how I'd cope. These are dedicated tri club members who get up early every most Saturday mornings to ride – while I tend to enjoy a nice lie-in!

But I know I must get some miles in my cycling thighs in preparation for the Etape, so I am now sacrificing my only lie-in of the week.

Meeting a couple of guys in my neighbourhood at 9am, we cycled for 30 mins out to Strathblane to meet the other eight or nine cyclists. Among all the men was super-tri lady, Kay, who I'd not seen for months. This meant we had lots to chat about, which had the added bonus of taking our minds off the cycling pain.

The route was quickly agreed - to Lennoxtown, over the infamous Crow Road, to Fintry, then Killearn and home to Bearsden. As a Crow Road newbie I had no idea what to expect, which was probably for the best. As some of the guys sped on ahead I stuck with Kay and tried to concentrate on the gossip, rather than the increasingly sore thigh muscles as we slowly but very surely ascended the long, long hill to the summit. After this hill the rest of the route could probably be called easy, except that my legs never really recovered from this muscle-zapping onslaught.

I needed to be home by noon prompt (Mr Outdoors was heading out and couldn't take Little Miss Outdoors) and I was trusting in Reliable Ross (a fabbie neighbour who introduced me to the tri club 3 years ago) for time-keeping. We did manage to cycle into our street with 5 minutes to spare but only because the last 5 miles were done at muscle ripping speed. Well, my muscles felt ripped, although Ross still looked pretty relaxed! That'll be because he rarely does lie-ins and usually cycles, runs and swims most weekends.

We clocked 38 miles, which was a job well done for me. Sadly I'm not exactly on track to break any speed records at the Etape. In fact I'll be lucky if I make it home at all...

PS One of the guys had a new bike gadget that records all sorts of wonderful data. His ride was a little shorter but this was pretty much our route. http://connect.garmin.com/player/2287681 I now have serious gadget envy.

Tri as I might....

I expect that for most normal people a Friday night down the pub would not include a long debate about whether to spend the next day mountain biking or road cycling. But thankfully I do not have normal friends – instead I have a whole bunch of pals who are up for a big adventure, even if they have had one too many glasses of white vino the night before.

And so, after much discussion, mulling over the merits of mountain biking versus road cycling on an icy, wintry February Saturday morning, it was finally, ever so finally, decided that Vicky, Jo PM, Ele and I would head out for a spot of relaxing road cycling.

What I'd managed to overlook was that this was "relaxing" according to World Champion Vicky (first by masses of minutes in the age-group 2008 World Triathlon Championships in Canada). I am sure that Vicky thought that the 3 hour trip around the wonderfully scenic Renfrewshire hills (with a cake a coffee stop at Lochwinnoch) was a doddle.

 

I imagine that both  Ele (I haven't drunk so much since New Year and now I've drunk too much all in one night Ele!) and Jo (just because I looked at the scales doesn't mean I'm going to think about my weight much Jo!) found the trip on the reasonable side of hard-going.

But due to weedling legs and an almost total lack of road cycling this winter I spent a lot of time being dropped on hills and struggling to keep up with the group on the flats. If nothing else the outing gave me a great big boot up my cycling pants. I need to get out on the road more – and quickly if I'm to survive the Etape in May.

The thing is though I really did enjoy the experience. I might not be as strong as these girls but they never made me feel like I was holding them up and when I was cycling as part of the group the chat was fun and lively. And now I have a target to aim for. Going out for a ride with people who are better than you (but also considerate) is great for honing your ambitions. Thanks girlie Tri girls.