The one where I get back into it

The past few weeks have sucked to be honest. I’ve not really had much motivation for anything. Not in a bad mood sort of way, more like a ‘I’m tired’ sort of way. I look back and realise I’ve been pushing myself for ten months and needed to kick back.

My way of kicking back was to eat and drink stuff ‘not on the programme’. Every day would start the same. I’d get up and exercise then eat like a saint until 5pm, then I’d get hungry and start snacking. The snacks wouldn’t be healthy! Slowly this has caught up with me to the point that it seems like climbing a big wall to get back on it.

A few week back I discussed my current mindset on Facebook and a friend, Nigel, the same guy who took me on my first 100km ride back in June organised a ride. It was the best medicine for me.

So I turned up at the meeting place on my bike on a lovely sunny autumn day to find Nigel wasn’t alone. He had brought a new member of the club along for a ride too. Turns out that she is a British Cycling youth rider and boy does she ride fast! As we swept through Mickleover another rider, Martin, joined the ride. There was another group up ahead. What set out to be a small thing turned out to be a proper club run – my first for 6 years!

We passed through south Derbyshire and worked our way towards Leicestershire. The pace was a lot faster than I was used too and had my heart rate monitor beeping away like a checkout at Tesco! I also was struggling with my new saddle. I have used leather saddles for years and decided to go for a cambium saddle (rubber) – but I didn’t like it. It hurt. I also used my new winter bike. It was faster than my gravel bike I had been riding.

When we got to Loughborough we stopped at a cafe called the farm. It was nice and I had a Jacket Spud and beans. Something happened to me on that ride. I felt different. I felt like a ‘proper’ cyclist again. Being part of the club and riding with a group felt great. I’m sure Nigel had this planned all along.

When I got home I had been planning to have a chicken Kebab for tea however I swapped it for peri peri chicken. My mojo feels back again. On weds I weighed and my weight had gone up a little but I figured that was the previous weeks catching up on me.

I’m pretty frustrated tonight. The government have put us in zone 2, this means we can not mix households. Now I had plans Saturday, my friend was coming to work out at 6am in my new gym I had built in the garden. Gutted. Hope this doesn’t drag me down again.