The View From Here - a blog

22/12/22 - Snow joke

It’s taken me a while to get round to writing this post. It’s but of a painful one for me and I’ve been consciously avoiding it. There’s been a serious cold snap with a serious amount of snow and ice and serious consequences for cycling.

I know, I know, if you have turbo – and I do – you keep calm and carry on cycling indoors. But I didn’t feel calm. Not at all. The week or so of freeze up reminded me a little too much of pandemic restrictions. In particular, it reminded me of early 2021 when I caught Covid while still unvaccinated. The illness itself hit me pretty hard and to add insult to injury I suffered post-viral fatigue for six weeks. During that time I was unable to exercise and became quite depressed, as I rely on physical activity for my sense of wellbeing. And my being, it took a nosedive, to say the least.

From that time I really have a massive appreciation of what people who’ve had long Covid have been going through. The inability to do, causes depression. Not just feeling down and depressed, but actual depression.

Once I was clear of the fever, I was left with a sore chest. As a lifelong asthmatic, this is worrying. As soon as the chest pain eased off, I got on the trainer. Nothing major. Just 15-20 minutes of easy pedaling. And I mean super easy, 130-140w, but my heart rate was much higher than it should be. The following day the chest pain would return and I’d be knocked out energy-wise. A few days would pass and the chest would improve gain and I’d try again with the same results. And repeat for six weeks. It took three of those super easy 15 minute sessions I a row without a reaction to feel confident enough to up it a little and get out on the road.

My fitness had taken a big hit, but I was so determined to get it back and enjoy every second on the bike. I added some midweek road miles to my schedule to regain my base and in about 8 weeks I was flying again. PBs followed that season at 10 and 25 mile time trials, I ran a 5 day spring training camp and completed the King Alfred’s Way over four days. 2021 way a good year for me in the end.

Last week, although still able do static bike training, that lockdown feeling started to resurface. I don’t like it. I like endorphins and I like structured training, but what I like most of all is getting out of the house, seeing some countryside and having a bit of an explore. It’s partly the challenge and partly just being somewhere different.

Initially I tried some Zone 2 virtual rides. It makes sense, right? A couple of hours chugging along building the base while gazing at some virtual scenery on the screen. I just didn’t have the heart for it. Maybe it was the knowledge that the freeze up was going to be going for a while and this felt terminally dull. New plan, for my next ride I took it up a level (or a zone in fact) and managed 70 mins in Zone 3. Not quite the 2 hours I’d planned, but something and I didn’t feel too bored. To be honest, whatever I tried on the turbo felt rubbish, because I was feeling trapped.

My usual week of cycling consists of three midweek turbo sessions (Tuesday-Thursday) and two or three gentle-paced commutes. Monday and Friday are rest days. Then at the weekend I usually I let rip and get out and about and do some longer rides. This is what I look forward to. In spring and summer there’ll be an event or race thrown in most weekends. It wasn’t until the rain which washed away the snow had passed that I ventured out. I took on the Radlett Revolution route and in spite of it being a little busy with motor traffic, I loved it. What a relief. Normal service has been resumed, as they say.

Now that the white out is done, I’m really looking forward to the Christmas break and getting out there on the bike. I’m even going to give the Rapha Festive 500 a go. I’ve actually never done it. I’ve planned my rides out and if anyone wants to join me, I’ve posted details on the forum thread here.

Merry Christmas, everyone.