Many of you will know from my lack of posts that I’ve currently lost my cycling mojo. I believe the TCR aftermath and my physiological willingness to want to almost avoid cycling in order to focus attention on things I couldn’t whilst training. In a mist of this there’s a few other reasons why I’m out of it and not enjoying time on the bike and those reasons are due to my own errors, a few of which I thought I’d share.
A bike fit is more important then the bike itself
Before the TCR was even considered I was rolling around on a super light Scott CR1 Pro. It felt great, fast and fun, weather on a long ride or just a chain gang. As much as the components played a large part in the ‘fast and fun’ aspect it was also the fact I’d had a bike fit. I’ve not had a bike feel as comfortable as that. During the TCR I had my custom build setup up specific to riding with luggage and tri-bars. On arrival home, having boxed my bike up and mucked about with the seat post, changing pedals and saddle, the setup once again all wrong and something I haven’t amended which has hindered my comfort on the bike!
Have something to work towards
Having to works towards mean you commit that little bit extra. The TCR was such a crazy challenge that I had to devote quite a hefty amount of time towards it, which in retrospect to my current situation, there’s no surprise that I’ve taken a back seat for a while! But nows the time to change that perspective and stop using it as an excuse and find something to commit too.
I’ve been toying with the idea of doing the Rapha MCR – LND ride which after the TCR should be right up my street and a really good objective to work towards particularly due to the charitable aspect too.
Adventure else where
I’m absolutely sick of my current commuting routes. I’ve done every road 20km out of Leeds a million times and I’m utterly board of them all. Some roads don’t get old I’ll admit that, but those roads are often too far to get too before the working day begins. We’re just coming out of the bad weather and (hopfully sometime soon) in to the spring/summer over lap which warrants longer rides after work, something I’m aiming to take advantage of when it gets a bit warmer!
Stop eating crappy food
You are what you eat right? Well I’m not quite a pizza just yet but I’m not far off…
Before and during the TCR my apetite was colossal. Unfortunitly when I came back from my adventures my old training milaged had stopped but my food intake was just the same and I wasn’t all that willing to fight it. 8KG’s later I’m not the 34″ waist I was before the race, although it’s something I know I’ve worked on before and have already started making efforts to battle my enormous apetite.
One things straight… Pizza’s don’t help.
Try a knew riding style
Due to my current ‘lull’ with road cycling I was looking for opportunities to try a knew style of riding out. My pal Tom had said I was welcome to try his full sus out for a while as he was testing a load of other bikes out. A while ago I had a Orange Crush hard tail, a great spec and all around fun bike to ride. It never seemed enough though, some the trails I rode on seemed a bit much for a had tail and thus I never gelled with it and inevitably sold it. I always wanted to see what the difference between full sus and hard tail was so it’s come at really good time.
I’ve also never had any experience on a 29er too so I’m pretty excited about playing around on this!
The more I think about it the more I realise how important it is to mix it up some times with something different. I ride my road bike just about everyday, it’s my main mode of transport so it’s no wonder I’ve grown a little tired of it.