9 weeks to Iron Bike

After saying last week that I hadn't done much riding I certainly made up for it at the end of the week. When I last updated this blog, I was sat at my desk, thinking I hate the rain and I hate riding my bike in the rain. Guess what - the rain stopped that afternoon, I went out for 30 odd km on The Ridgeway and everything was right with the world again. That's the funny thing about being out on your bike - sometimes it can take you places you never expected. Away from the real world!

For the weekend we arranged some special punishment for ourselves. Two decent rides to get us used to that tired feeling that 8 days consecutive riding will give you. Saturday my mate Pete, my wife Amanda and I set out for a decent road ride taking in plenty of hills. Amanda rode with us for the first 75km; I'm not sure how as we weren't taking it easy. After passing by home, Pete and I headed off for more hills and 120 km in the bag at the end of the day. For Sunday's excitement, Pete and I headed off road to Goring. The point of the ride was more miles testing my Scott Genius, my back (which has been giving me grief) and do more of those back to back rides. I had meant to change saddles on the Scott as it had caused me to moan in my last post. Poor preparation leads to.... I forgot, basically. Anyway, the singletrack was surprisingly sticky for the time of year and I was comfortable in my gillet, mindful of not casting a clout as May wasn't out. 70Km in 3 hours 45 and job done.

This week is dominated by thought of the Gran Fondo Cymru at the weekend. 200 km, 3900 m of climbing and max gradient of 25% are the bits sticking in my mind. What does that mean for preparation? The plan was hill repeats on Tuesday, Time Trial on Thursday and rest and fitting a larger ratio for the rest of the week!