Onwards and Upwards

After a wonderful warm and sunny weekend a couple of weeks ago, nature has gone into full swing and the usual crop of spring flowers are already brightening up the garden. That's probably why it snowed last week.... hopefully for the last time this winter. The poor weather forced my to go underground for a while for a spot of geocaching in a cave. It's lucky that I've lost a fair bit of weight recently, otherwise I would have got stuck crawling up the passage to the cache.... andI was on my own in the middle of no-where. Stupid I know.... and Fi has let me know that.... alot!

With still one week to go before my appointment with the cardiologist, I crossed a milestone this weekend in that I got out on my road bike for the first time since the heart attack. OK, I only did an hour and had to keep mainly on the flat in order not to run out of gears, but it felt great. You just can't beat a carbon fibre frame paired up with deep section carbon rims and skinny tyres pumped up to 12oPSI. The way things are going between the UCI and ASO I may yet have a chance to ride the Tour de France this year ;-))

In the past weeks I've managed between one and two hours a day exercise - mainly on the bike. I've been making a few excursions across the border to Germany and really can't explain why I haven't bothered going over there much in the past. I've found some great roads with great views and very little traffic. The only rough thing is that I really have to stick to the mountain bike for these longer rides as the hills really make it tricky with the pulse.

Today I managed nearly 60KM with a lot of climbing (just don't ask me how long I was out for). At one point my pulse krept up to 150BPM when my concentration was broken by another cyclist. I don't know how long he had been sitting behind me, but as soon as I noticed, the git jumped me without so much as a "Grüzi". Normally not a problem but he was on a carbon road bike.... Still on the next drag he started to come backwards quickly and judging by his over-shoulder glances was suffering like a dog. I started to real him in and then I glanced at my pulse monitor. Arse! Just wait until next time matey boy. And there will be a next time......