Still riding. In fact, still training and racing

Back here! But with some difficulty, I need to say. And I don't even have a good reason for this month long hiatus, I just haven't been able to sit down and write. I haven't taken many photographs also, and as they make up a good part of this blog, together with my treasured charts and graphs, I haven't been able to put posts together.

Never mind, this is about training and racing and I shall keep it like that until the BIG change happens but that's also a topic for later, much later. At the moment, it is training as well as I can and getting ready for the last two races of the year, the club road race championship and my first Masters National Championship race.

My training has changed a fair bit, mainly to match the type of courses we usually race on, flat with a flat finish or lumpy with a flat finish. Of course, learning how to train with the power meter has influenced things as well and I can say that lots of improvements have been noted. And I am not even concerned with the extra kilograms I am carrying at the moment... for a change!

Racing has been fun and I had a couple of good results. The club ITT result was one of them but it was a bit of a disappointment, also. I did win my division which was great but somehow was given the incorrect time. Some think it didn't matter because I won but they forget that a time trial is a race against the clock and they don't know I worked really hard to go faster than the previous years...

2009 - 51'22"

2010 - 51'35"

2011 - 52'30" (inaccurate)

Note: The interesting point is club officials accepted that some riders improved their time by almost 2' in two years but I couldn't even match my best on a faster bike...

Well, the hard training payed off elsewhere with a top ten, best ever result, in Warrick. The Cunningham Classic is a tough 96 km race and I have always struggled to hang on in the final kilometers but this year I lined up in good form and finished well. I could even had done better but I didn't see an early break get away. The team had a strong rider in it, trying to bridge across would just mess up his chances because a few strong riders got left behind as well. He finished second.

So, I have done a bit of work in the last seven weeks but it has been fun too with some good rides with Sandra and friends. Last, I have been getting assistance from a chiropractor and from a good massage therapist, that's going well and I believe it is all on track for October.

See you soon and Viva La Vuelta!!