cycling

The post-rain weather today resulted in an exceptionally mild and exceedingly comfortable temperature this morning, almost to the point where I contemplated wearing a shirt with some sleeves. I quickly erased that nonsensical thought from my nonsensical brain and rushed out the door, only to find it was lightly drizzling. I walked down the steps to the street and pondered whether I should ride or just call it quits. The sky looked like hell was about to descend upon the city, so maybe a ride was not the wisest thing to do. But a wise man I am not, and I decided a ride, even a wet one, would be better than no ride at all.

Despite not feeling one hundred percent, and at full strength when I awoke this morning, almost to the extent I was slightly nauseous, I felt amazing out on the tarmac today. I was able to maintain high speeds for longer distances, and was consistently speeding through segments I normally have less energy when tackling. It is an interesting dichotomy, but somehow I brushed that annoying feeling aside and ended up really enjoying today's ride.

Since I failed to ride yesterday due to being abnormally tired, this morning I woke immediately at 4am and was bright eyed and bushy tailed. After hopping out of bed and taking care of the necessities, I jumped into my superhero cycling gear, downed 750ml of water for hydration, ate a very small bowl of oatmeal just to get some energy, and then headed out on the tarmac for an awesome ride. The temperature this morning was perfect, with little to no noticeable humidity, and an ever so slight yet comforting breeze.

It felt a bit peculiar riding for a second time in less than twenty-four hours, not really providing any convincing amount of recovery time for my body, but the weather was too comfortable to pass up. After awaking at 4:15am, for a split second I considered heading back in bed and using the recovery time as an excuse for not heading out. But I quickly brushed that nonsense aside and commenced my pre-ride ritual.

aining most of Wednesday, and throughout part of the late night, thus getting out on the tarmac was a gamble. Luckily it turned out the rain had stopped some hours ago, although death was looming above. I woke up at 5am with the intent to leave at 7am after an early morning weekly leadership meeting, which got suddenly cancelled 15 minute prior to game time. This was great news because it allowed me to sneak in a few extra kilometers, so I hopped on the Red Chameleon and headed out an hour earlier than expected.

Back in the saddle on Tuesday after taking a recovery day on Monday. Despite having a good nights sleep, even according to my Oura sleep tracker, I unfortunately felt sluggish during the first half of the ride but much better on the return. I still cannot put a finger on a specific reason for this behavior, but it is something happening rather frequently. Wonder what’s up?

Called this ride “prelude to hell” simply because today is going to be a hellaciously busy work day. I am basically on non-stop calls from 11am through to 9pm, with nary a break even to hit the bathroom. So I wanted to get some kilometers logged and fresh air consumed on this lovely Thursday morning before an early call, prior to to aptly named hell day kicking off.

Unfortunately was only able to get a quick ride on the tarmac this morning due to a number of early meetings, coupled with some out-of-the-blue pain in my left knee.