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@dancing james
Due to back problems I have not been doing much riding this year - was under strict orders just to do the barest minimum I needed to for work.
Finally things have started to resolve themselves. Had made tentative plans to ride with @jb and @tom15xw today but they did a ride yesterday and Tom had suffered and JB decided to do hill reps today. My plan had been to join them on their second day of riding so they wouldn't have been feeling quite so fresh and chipper, was hoping that may count as an offset against by being fat, old and decrepit. So was sort of relieved yesterday to get a message that they were not going into Surrey today.
So I decided to use my new Garmin and let it decide on a route for me. This apparently demolishes the battery especially as I was not keen on the loops it kept suggesting with what sounded like too much climbing. Eventually it came up with one with under 300m of climb and I thought fuck it.
Much angst over what to wear, it's been so long since I have ridden I did not have a great deal of confidence in my ability to chose. I got it just right, 3/4 bibs and pro team jacket left me comfortable for the day, never too hot and never cold.
Set off and quickly discovered that the Garmin was taking me round the houses, it felt I came pretty close to actually circling where I live. In future I will tell the Garmin to find a loop from Hampton Court or similar rather than it sending me on a twisty turny route through residential roads that probably doubled the distance for me to get out of Kingston. I also need to mess around with the settings, probably not telling it to avoid main roads, but miss out unpaved paths.
Later in the day it took me along the Thames Path near Eton, most of it was fine - a gravel surface, though one section was very muddy and 25mm slick tyres were not the best. Was surprised by how many people needed a hardtail MTB for that section - one person even needed a full sus XC bike to pootle at 8mph. To be honest am not really a fan of sharing a path with pedestrians and dogs, too much unpredictability.
The past 4 months have just been about very gentle physio exercises, restorative yoga and pilates working on core strength. In a recent yoga session it was suggested to me that when I get pains in my back I need to engage the corresponding deep abdominal muscles at the front. I now seem to have the proprioception to manage this. What I noticed was that if I let my core go I would quickly get stabbing pains and aches, so much of today was spent applying yoga alignment principles to my cycling. Gentle engagement of bandas (abdominal locks) drawing shoulder blades in and down the spine, outward rotation of the upper arms (also working the triceps), whilst extending tailbone down, lifting the sternum up, extending chin rather than cranking neck up and back.
Something I am really having to work on in my cycling is not pushing too high a gear - neither knee has much cartilage left, and too much force causes my spine to twist and compress a bit. As such I decided to focus on spinning, aiming for about 95rpm as my moving cadence. Was pleasantly surprised to find an average cadence for the ride of 90rpm, and my knees are feeling grateful, no aches whilst pedalling or since I got home.
I thought I was doing a 50 mile loop - had not paid too much attention to the distance when choosing where to go - lack of climbing had been a greater priority, turned out I had chosen approx 65 miles. To be honest the route that was chosen for me was pretty dull, and on the way back it became apparent it was really making time by doubling me back and forth, to the point where I eventually decided just to head for home. This shaved 7 miles off my loop, but 7 miles of Brentford, Hounslow and Twickenham counts as pure junk miles.
Where I went was not important, it was just great to be out on a bike, listening to music, saying hello to pedestrians and other cyclists and making the most of the clear weather. There was a fun moment when a motorcyclist came up next to me, at first I was anxious - he was far too close, turns out he wanted to look at my Garmin to confirm how fast he thought I was going - at which point I got a huge thumbs up and he then sped off. Am now feeling deliciously achey, and a little rosy cheeked - must not forget suncream next time.
https://app.strava.com/activities/279663671
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/737834547