Sunday morning, 8AM. I’m in the car park at Swinley Forest, wondering how the hell the weather can be this awesome now when two weeks ago it seemed lilke it would NEVER stop raining! Now, its dry, dusty and pretty bloody awesome, to be blunt.
Singlespeeding again. Seems like I don’t really use the Whyte PRST4 anymore, and I am seriously considering moving it on now – anyone want to make me an offer? (Email for details) I have exactly the same setup as last weeks Enduro race, so it should feel exactly the same. This week I’m with Mike (Billy Whiz), Steve (Squaddie) and Rich (Postie), and thats about the only difference. Except, even early on I’m finding it really hard going. Its still fun, but I’m not happy about having to puff so hard.
Its not my legs, they’re still pumping away and propelling me through the singletrack happily up and down hills.
Its not my lungs. Yes its harder getting UP the hills than down them, but no more so than usual, and I maintain that they grow gears when you only have one on the bike, so it gets easier over time.
Its just a general feeling of lethargy, of ……tiredness that won’t clear. Just feeling like I’ve been riding for a LOT further than I really have.
When we got back to the carpark, Postie checked his trip computer and I think he said 11 or 12 miles. 11 Miles was about 1 lap last week, and I did 33 Miles(ish) in 4and a bit hrs. We were out from (roughly) 8.30 AM to 11AM – 2 1/2 hours. Stop start riding, hard and fast one moment, stopped and chatting the next. Now I know the chatting takes time and thats nothing but good, riding’s about enjoying the company as much as eating miles, but thats 2/12 hrs to do what took me 1hr 20 last week and I feel KNACKERED!
Whats up with that?
Even after, I came home and fell asleep in front of the Turkish Grand Prix. I know, it wasn’t that interesting and I didn’t miss anything, but why the hell should I feel so tired.
I shall have to keep an eye on this and see what sort of pattern (if any) there is.
Plus side is I seem to be keeping post ride headaches at bay a bit better now. A bit of salt and a paracetemol after each ride, and make sure I’ve had something to eat before and, if required, during, makes me feel much better – Torq bars rule!
I am not medically qualified but have suffered a similar excessive tiredness problem at times. My first thoughts (which may be quite irrelevant) on reading this post were (a) Are you drinking enough while taking all this strenuous exercise and (b) when did you last have your blood pressure checked?
Thanks JW, but It was more of a rhetorical question. Blood pressure is fine and yes, I drank about of litre of drink while I was out, maybe a little more. It was pretty warm.
It was more of a ’sometimes its easier, sometimes its harder, what makes the difference’ type thread. Maybe I was just tired this week, I just know that sometimes I can have an absolute flyer and be really quick and others, with no noticable difference, I can be dog slow and knackered.
Being slow makes me less likely to crash, so I guess sometimes thats a good thing
M
Hi, just found your blog from searching on Google for Whyte PRST 4 and saw your comment about considering getting rid of it – I’ve currently got a PRST-1, but it needs some work on it so I need something else to ride while it’s being sorted out. What size is your PRST-4? If it’s the right size then I can make you an offer – my email is chris.cycling@fireice.net which will redirect to my Yahoo account. Oh and I live in Camberley and know Swinley Forest well. Hope to hear from you soon. Regards, Chris