Wednesday 21 May 2014

It's been such a long time.

Any excuse for this, anyways it has been a long time since I last posted about anything - running, teaching or science.

I posted a few micro blogs during the Easter holiday but they don't really count and were mainly about my falling out of love with long distance running and my new fixation on cycling, and I think that is the issue.

In the past few months the following has changed;
  1. I have moved jobs to another school and have been staying late to make sure all of my work is done so that I have nothing to take home with me.
  2. I got a knee injury running the Three Forts Ultra and had to quit on mile 20/27. 
  3. I have been taking the fixed frame mountain bike out on the South Downs near where I live and riding the trails I have normally run as well as discovering a whole lot more. 
  4. I rode my first Sportive, loved it but haven't now been back on the road bike in 4 weeks.
So it's been pretty busy all in.

I have another Ultra Marathon coming up this weekend, the Ox and to be honest I don't think I am ready for it. I will still give it my all and should finish - knee injury withstanding - but to be honest I think this is my last shy at any real long distance. 

I love running, I really do but anything over 10 miles now just doesn't feel the same anymore. I think this boils down to the fact that I can go further and faster on a bike. A road bike especially but at the moment I am really enjoying the pleasure of exploring on, lets not mince words here, a pretty shit off road bike.

The Coventry Eagle was purchased off eBay for £20 last summer. The axle on the back wheel has slipped and had to be reset so that the wheel runs straight. It was condemned by Halfords and when I first took it out it was stuck in a single gear. I have since 'fixed' the gears so that now I have 8 - I seem to spend my time on limited geared bikes. It has old caliper breaks which provide minimal breaking - last time out I had to park into a tree as even with the breaks on full I was still accelerating and the tyres are deteriorating at the side wall.

However, despite or maybe because of all this 'character' the rides I am going on with the Eagle are some of the most fun I have had in a while.

There is also the added enjoyment of exploration, finding new lines and trails to go down and not being scared of having to turn back because the route isn't a perfect circle. 

The upshot of all this is that blogging has fallen by the wayside a little bit. I am sure there will be a time when I start blogging again more consistently but at the moment I don't think it will happen.