18 mile loop – day 3/3

Whoo! Today was FOUL weather. Flood warnings all over the midlands. What a day to have my third 18 miler. Still, I learned in my last big cycling binge about ten years ago that the key is just to say “Oh, sod it” and go out anyway. Fortunately I still have my nice light waterproof trousers and my terribly fashionable waterproof overshoes from that period.

I know from experience that if you do set off in weather like this it’s oddly enjoyable. There’s a perverse sensation of being one of the few people truly experiencing the day in all its raw, face-stinging wonder. If you have decent kit you don’t actually get too wet – I’ve just stripped off my waterproof outer layer and my top and trousers are almost completely dry underneath.

I forgot to charge up the Garmin today, so I used ridewithgps on my iPhone – which turned out OK, but the embed looks a bit different – here it is:

The headline figure there is average speed 11.7 – that’s right between Monday and Tuesday’s speeds. So that’s pretty good! I was quite depressed yesterday that I felt so tired, both at the end of the ride and throughout the afternoon and evening. Today, I was much better on the ride itself and now I’m back I also feel fine – vaguely euphoric, which is more like I was on the Monday. I’ll see how I feel later.

I realised today that I was helped by the wind – it was in my face on the way out and behind me on the way back. It was the same on Monday – on Tuesday however it was the opposite, which explains why I was faster in the first half and found the last half so difficult. None of the three days has had particularly strong wind, but it’s been enough to notice each time.

Anyway – the headline result of this rough experiment is that I *CAN* cope with longish rides on a daily basis. I will no doubt have ups and downs throughout the trip but hopefully, especially if I keep doing training like this, I’ll be OK!

The traditional high speed video – with normal speed sections on the fun flooded bits!