Friday, July 31, 2009
K-capital Challenge round 1 and other pains
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
National Champs review
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Post race update
Thanks to Arek for the photos!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Still alive
Ok, tearing myself away from the PS3 to write this post :)
I have to say that the old mountain biking has gotten de-prioritised over the past couple of weeks in favour of work, house extension and the arrival of the baby. It's getting quite tricky to have time for all these various things, but one can only do one's best :)
I have been managing to cycle to work a bit. 3 times last week and twice this week. I really don't think I could manage 5 days in a row though - maybe it’s just the very warm, humid weather we're having at the moment, but after the 3rd day, I'm spent. I've also managed to lose more weight than I'm comfortable with loosing - down to 74kg's now. I had a 34ish waist at the start of the year, I'm heading to 30 right now! Defo not good, and will be working hard to get that weight back on - no matter how many pizza's and deserts it takes.
Another factor in the cycling is I'm not bringing all my clothes with me on the cycle. Before I was stocking everything up in work and just bringing me and a few bits in my pockets. But I've bought a North Face Borealis which is my new favourite thing at the moment and was only €40 in the North Face outlet shop in Kildare Village! So that's another few kg's I'm lumping around with me too. I'm taking the Giant a lot to work these days - really liking the acceleration and lightness (relative to the BeOne), but there is an annoying squeak coming from the rear wheel that has stumped the Cycle Superstore, but I'm dropping it back in today for them to take another look. It’s probably no effect on the bike, but its seriously effecting and annoying me.
So, 3 spins into work last week, and on Sunday I did a couple of hours blast in Glending, which was tough. Monday, Tuesday of this week was work commute, and last night was up in Glending but was more just to tap around. But I'm been off the bike for 4 days and my legs feel pretty dead. In general I feel pretty run down. Sleeping is tough with the weather we're having at the moment, but I think its also to do with poor eating habits over the past couple of weeks. With work so busy I've been skipping lunch a lot - just going for a sambo usually. I hope work eased off this week and I can get back to normal patterns. But it may be too late as I'm getting a sore throath right now, so a cold may be on the way.
Went out to Djouce today in the lashing rain to try out the nps course. It's pretty tough - lots of tough, technical single-track with very little let up, or even places to get a drink apart from the main fireroad, but you've only maybe 200 metres there. Some of the new sections were getting badly cut up today as there were a lot of people out pre-riding, so things could be tough come race time. The forecast is for the weather to improve later on the in the week so it might dry out some bit. I hope to get out again later in the week (providing I'm not in bed sick), to give it another lash.
Might try cycling into work on Tuesday and then a few sessions in Glending/Djouce up to the weekend - depending on how I feel.
Still no sign of my replacement Garmin – will hold off giving out until Monday though. Mind you, it’s nice to have one less thing to find before going for a cycle!