Yes folks, I’m still here! Had a crazy month or so, hence the silence. Some of you may know that we were flooded out of our home last year… we (naively) chose to project manage the whole reconstruction / reinstating process ourselves. It’s been like a second job… but we’ve got back in. (Despite the carry on, it was probably worth doing it ourselves as many of our neighbours are still not back in – pros and cons!). So normal service is resumed…
There has also been a ‘third job’ going on all the while…. Yep, training. And training hard. I’m completely focused on my May Coast to Coast attempt and of course The Worlds is shaping up to be the race of my life. Many aspects of home life have been compromised due to our house situation, but my training has not (I missed one session over the move week…). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Charlotte’s support is incredible. (Soloists aint really solo).
The intense effort training sessions have been REALLY hard. I’ve not trained like this before and I won’t lie; it hurts like hell! But the initial shock is subsiding. At first I cowered before a session; now I can’t wait for the big efforts as I can feel myself getting stronger all the time. You can get used to anything…
So much good coaching advice tells us to cut out the dross hours and maximise the quality. My coach Will Newton is certainly applying this principle. Beside the physical benefits, it’s also worked really well with the chaos of the last few months. I remember discussing riding hours with Rob last year and we talked about ‘freeing up’ time for other aspects of life, rather than spending hour after hour on the bike. Recent events were not what I had planned freeing up time for back then…. but I’m sure glad I adopted this training strategy because I simply could not have done the regular 6, 7, 8 hr rides I was doing last year given the circumstances….. and I’m fully on it for my main challenges (as opposed to being de-motivated by ‘not having enough time’). Funny how things pan out!
In my backyard
- Rich Rothwell
- Hi Y'All. My name is Rich and I’m from The North. No silly, not that North; The other North. The one just under Scotland. Even though The North is still in the grip of an ice age it’s actually a great place to ride. The Lakes, Dales and Scottish borders are all a stone’s throw away and there are some quality trails squirreled away in Northumberland. Long distance is where it’s at for me. Way before I thought about racing, the desire to disappear deep into the mountains and woods burned bright. Thousands of wilderness miles later I entered my first solo endurance race. And loved it. But the silent lure of the backcountry is the real flame for this moth. Over the coming seasons I will be at Endurance Races Near You; come and say Hi. But I will also be very far away; diving down isolated valleys and slipping silently across the fells while others sleep. I want to share the fun, pain, passion, frustration, excitement, joy, anger, lunacy, frivolity and sincerity of long distance biking through this blog. Riding, racing, commuting, training, tinkering, plotting, planning and exploring. The consuming rhythm of an activity that transcends the label ‘sport’.
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