Back in business

Something which has really stuck in my mind is from speaking to Mitchy and Drew a while back about the importance of 'mental recovery'. It sounds corny but I've come to realise lately that your mind needs recovery from demanding cognitive and emotional things, in exactly the same way that your body does after a strenuous bout of training.


I usually work at uni 4 days a week up to probably 10hrs a day, then work 2 days a week at the bike shop, which leaves only a Saturday for free time. But even that is filled with so much 'stuff' that I often feel like I never stop. Last week I recognised that I really needed a day off asap or else things would go pear shaped. So I scheduled a day off. Today was the day.


I decided to use it to go for a 'proper' training ride, something I haven't had time to do for a while now. It's been almost 2 months since I've done a ride over 80km. No wonder the form had been going backwards.

Although the motivation was there before I set out, I also felt like it was a lost cause because training has been so sporadic lately, and that I should be elsewhere doing something else more productive. But I forced myself out the door and promised myself not to turn around until I got to the top of Kinglake. I knew that today was not only about doing some decent training, but also to clear my head.

And what a pearler of a day it was. The sun was out and hardly a breath of wind. It was also a good chance to get back on the Look after it had been to the doctors for a broken rear dropout after a small stack over a month ago.


The view from near the top of the Kinglake climb was postcard quality today.

Fido and I had a sprint match along his patch. He won convincingly, but he did have the home track advantage.


I thought the ride home would be a struggle due to the minimal km's lately, but I felt surprisingly fresh the whole way back.

Now to keep this motivation up and get the form back for Dirty Deeds Cyclocross round 2 on the 25th July.

Ciao for now, stage 5 is about to start. Hmm, will I make it to the finish? Unlikely..