That was an almighty shock to the system! My poor heart was leaping out of my chest from the gun trying to take its buddies, the lung twins, away to freedom as well. No idea where I placed today but I'm happy with the performance.
The past few weeks have been tough. The couriers, as usual, have been unrelentingly busy, requiring many miles of my legs leaving them numb by Friday afternoon. It's far from ideal to try and go racing at the weekend after that amount of training / miles at work! Getting up to Coed y Brenin for the Welsh XC Champs was a logistical battle; a tough and technical course greeted all who did make the trip. Unfortunately, not my best ride. A stunning start but then a double puncture left me mid pack and stuck in traffic. I made lots of errors, had plenty of crashes and was generally frustrated with myself! But it was a useful learning experience on how not to do a bike race!
I arrived back in Cardiff from North Wales completely SHATTERED. More tired than I've ever been. The next day I woke up with what felt like indigestion but within half an hour my head was in the loo doing some serious weight loss. I spent the rest of the week in bed, not eating, barely moving..
As quickly as my illness came, it went. My 'gentle' reintroduction to couriering was a week of not epic miles, but enough to leave that familiar drained, empty feeling come Friday afternoon. I slept in until almost three o'clock on Saturday but still saying 'ouch', 'oooh' and 'darn' walking down the stairs when I eventually peeled myself out of bed..
That brings us back to today. Not a top ten finish like I'd have otherwise hoped for, but a reasonable effort and no blowing up!
Si.
Simon Lingard | www.SimonLingard.co.uk | MTB XC Racer | Cardiff Cycle Couriers | Priority Express
