I was out everyday for the first week in super weather. The only problem I had was the road quality - which was crap to be honest. Towards the end of the first week my rear wheel developed a squeak which I put down to spokes getting loose (the exact same thing happened to me last year on the same roads). A local bike shop sorted me out, but 30 minutes into the next spin the squeaks were back. I decided I put the road bike through enough torture and switched over to the Cube. I only put in about 300kms' at an easy pace, but I felt it helped a little.
The weather deteriorated in the second week, but I still got out 3 or 4 times. There is a walking trail near the rented house which was super steep for about 200 metres, so most days I did an hour or so going up and down. Again, I was not killing myself, just getting the lungs and heart working again.
Despite all the cycling I still managed to put some weight on - there was plenty of good food and alcohol - it was a holiday after all! I also managed to break the Garmin. I had it on the road bike leaning against a wall when a gust blew it over. Normally the Garmin would be safe sitting on the stem, and the handlebar or crank taking the impact of the fall, but there happened to be a flower box right in the path of the Garmin and it took the full force. Its pretty much unrepairable but Garmin are going to replace it with a new one for €119 (its only £65 to replace it in the UK - rip off republic?!?!).
So that was it - got back on Saturday, just in time for the MAD hosted NPS race held up in 3 rock. It was a really challenging course, mixing some old and new singletrack with some fire road. After leaving the Start/finish area there was a short doubletrack climb up to the fireroad, which brought you up to the ariel's, into t-connector and a new and improved Rock and Roll. From there it was a challenging climb back up to the fire road on forest single track and rocky, sandy trails. I really enjoyed that bit. It was a scary sprint back down the fireroad before entering the new singletrack (Quack) which was good fun before hitting the start/finish line.
Things settled down quickly once we got onto the fireroad climb and I eased off a little after remembering that this was my first race in 2 months and a serious injury! So I tapped along to t-connector and for the rest of the first lap just kept the bike and me moving. The second lap I got in with a WORC rider and Luke Manning (IMBRC). The WORCie was ahead of me and was handy enough on the fireroads, but had serious problems
I had a couple of tumbles - I cycled into a traffic cone when I was drafting up the fireroad - I split myself laughing, and came off in a big way in Rock and Roll which left a nasty gash in my knee.
The bike also took a hit on the chainstay - a nasty one too probably caused by a rock getting thrown up onto it on the fireroad. It think the carbon is ok, but can't be sure. Will get someone to take a look at it before the next race.
Overall though the race was a sucess for me. I woke up this morning with no extra pain in my knee and all other muscles just with the normal pain levels. Its 3 odd weeks to the last round hosted by Epic in Djouce, so I'll start to get back into proper training again this week. The nationals are a week later, which I think is what I'll be aiming to do my best in.
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