It has been a while since I’ve posted how I’ve been getting on so I’ll try to give you a quick recap on how things have been going for me in the first part of 2019.
I now have 4 audax done in 4 months so the rrty in truly under way. The training has been lacking though due to family events and some mistimed poor weather.
After I done the January Audax I didn’t get any long spins in until I did the February audax. March started well and I done the Tara 200 but it was again in terrible weather conditions. And I only got one more spin in before I done the carlingford 300 in April.
I have less time now because the kids are getting a little older and they have their own activities, such as rugby and football. This means I’m back out cycling at 5am to get back in time. And admittedly, I’ve been a little lazy at times. I have missed a few cycles due to not planning properly in advance. These are the small things that mean I miss out on the odd cycle. Doesn’t sound like much but it all adds up. I have a 600 km cycle this year so I need all the time I can find to train.
Finding Time
Family life is time consuming and endurance cycling isn’t an ideal fit because of the hours needed to train and compete. But I feel with forward planning, compromises and openness with your partner it can be done.
For example, in the next 2 months I was planning on doing a 400km on the May bank holiday weekend, a 600km on the June bank holiday weekend and the Wicklow 200 the week after. Now, as good and lovely as my wife is, I think that would push her over the edge. So I made a few changes.
The beauty about audax is that you can do some of then as a permanent. That means you can do them whenever you like. So I’m planning on doing the 400 on the second week of May. The wicklow 200 can’t be moved so the is the second week June however I will still need to do an audax in June to keep my rrty attempt going so I’ll slip in a 200 km permanent before the end of the month. That just leaves my 600 to do for me to claim my super randonneur achievement.
I’d like to do it in July but we have holidays and a few other things on so I might have to do a 200 and do the 600 in August.
So as you can see it’s all about working together to make a plan that suits everyone. Sure she would prefer I didn’t do it at all but she know it’s important to me so she’s happy as long as family life isn’t upset too much.
Doing such distances alone can be daunting to some people but even during planned events I find myself alone after about 100km so there isn’t much difference for me. I will miss the craic you get from meeting others along the way but this is what I have to do or nothing at all.
Tyre Choice
Another thing I’ve been playing with this year is tyre choice. More specifically, tyre width. After having numb pinkies for nearly 2 months after the mile failte 1200 I wanted to see if wider tyre would be more comfortable without making me too slow. After going up to 32mm I’m now back to 28mm as they give the best of both the speed and comfort. I’ll make a more in depth post about this soon.
Changing Gear
I’ve also changed my rear cassette to a 11-32 from an 11-28. I had to change my derailleur for it to work but this was a lot cheaper than I thought. It got a 105 derailleur for just over 30 euro. This allows me to spin more while going up steep climbs which helps reduce fatigue on my muscles. I think this was a contributing factor for my injury last year.
That’s all for now. I’ll keep you posted on how things are going. I’m planning on posting my content on cycling advice rather than just cycling events. As soon as I find the time.