Competitive streak?!?...

The way my average day pans out means I’ll walk through the workshop maybe 10+ times. Since the crash at brands it’s just been bits of bent & broken bike making each trip a bit distressing!

I’m not sure if all racers are the same but I kinda get attached to my race bikes, especially the good ones [but if a bikes not competitive we end up hardly even speaking!?!]. At this point I want to make clear this “relationship” isn’t in anyway filthy - like you might see on a channel five documentary...

Anyway... All the team including myself have been working very hard, repairing, bending parts straight, chasing new parts, and trying to raise support to get us back on track at Oulton.

When I’ve not been working hard – I’ve been focussing the frustration into training hard and by the end of last week I was starting to feel it.
On Sunday I decided to ease off a little, and go for a steady cycle. Nothing too hard, more a stretch of the legs. This was going fine and I’d been out for about 40 minutes until I saw a group of cyclists up ahead.
It wasn’t a conscious decision to chase after them, but I guess it was the competitive side in me [especially on 2-wheels] – an occupational hazard if you like.

Once I caught them I saw more ahead and went after them. This pattern repeated itself until I asked one of the cyclists what they were part of. It turned out to be a 400rider strong “sportive”, undeterred I ploughed on...
The alarm bells really should have started ringing when we left Yorkshire and went into Lancashire!

With only two half litre bottles of water for company the adrenaline eventually wore off and with another ascent of the Pennines to get home my legs were about as strong as fag ash when I eventually climbed off my bike - what was going to be a 20 mile cruise turned out to be a 60 odd mile sprint!

If the team budget could ever stretch to a therapist I think he/she work have their work cut out with plenty of hours on the Chaise lounge required!!

TT#21