The train never comes back

This song reminds me that there is so much about the past that I can not change. You can't change, only learn, make it better.

A bit like the Joker Sportive that I rode at the weekend. Jennifer has written a great review as usual, and now two days later I know why I was so rubbish and so much worse than last year. My lungs again, not going to bore you with it, but what is probably a very minor sniffle has triggered my asthma again and my lung capacity is back at 75% of my normal.

So my riding time of 5 hours 36 minutes for the 75 miles was 47 minutes slower than last year.  And the total time was about an hour longer too, indicating more faffing and stopping for breath.

So it's a bit like back to square one again, I think that I've pushed it a bit too far, I did 163 miles last week, most of them in pretty cold, dry, windy, dusty, salty conditions. On top of the 80 on Exmoor on the previous weekend.

I got up Gold Hill though, took this at the top:

And got all four jokers in my usual KBO fashion:

 

So with the White Horse Challenge looming in just over ten days I think it's going to be unlikely that I'll be fit enough to ride at my best, or even as well as in 2010 when I did 5 hours 41 minutes. I need to let go of the sub five hour goal for another year! Step forward Martyn, you can be the protected rider!

 



I think that it's most important to realise what you have got at times like these, rather than concentrate on those things you never had or wish you could have back. So, in that spirit, my legs are OK, the bike works and the company was brilliant. The lungs? Well, I'll have to develop a Plan B.