The left thigh is still giving me pain so I’m probably not going to go racing tomorrow. As I’m away next week and helping out at a race the week after, this means my season is, in effect, over. I hope my thigh feels up to it tomorrow but I somehow doubt it.
The worst bit is the sense of frustration at not crossing a finishing line all season. OK I didn’t really do anything with the season until the Etape in July but, even so, it is now mid-September and I should have finished at least one race by now. OK a lap or two down but at least not a DNF?
Next season I intend to be riding and racing from the start: early-season races from February, Tour of Flanders 140km at the start of April, the Etape in July (UK or French version, possibly both if possible), Hillingdon series on Tuesday nights throughout the summer.
First though I’m off to the south of Spain to Alejando Valverde’s home town of Murcia where by best mate lives. We’re going to be going mountain-biking in the afternoons when he gets in from work, so I’ll get to discover how rusty my bike handling is on the rough stuff. Apparently one of the climbs were going up is one of Valverde’s training hills, not that I’ll be going up there fast enough for comparison.
I’m really looking forward to it as it’s a chance to just ride a bike for fun and go at our own pace. It’s not for training, commuting or racing; just for the fun of messing about on bikes for no particular reason. It’s something I haven’t done in a while although I’ve been thinking about getting a “fun bike”: something cheap, simple and purely for amusing myself with. Maybe a singlespeed MTB or BMX would be just the thing.
Then again maybe I should stop spending on bikes for a while – my latest thing is bidding for old Peugeot road bikes on ebay for a singlespeed/fixed project. If I can get one for 50 quid and build it up then I’ll be very happy indeed.