Early summer appears to be in full swing now, with hot humid days being followed by thundery and wet evenings. Absolutely perfect time trialling weather if you don't have to do a hill climb. Five months after my heart attack and I'm really starting to turn the corner, both physically and emotionaly.
I have had to admit defeat on the hill climbing front since my cardiologist wants me to stick with the beta-blockers until the end of the year as a precaution to my resurgent enthusiasm for the bike. When I say "defeat", I mean that I have had a triple-chainset (30-42-52) fitted to my training bike so that I don't have to grind up hill in the 39x27 anymore.... that's what I found myself doing last weekend when I covered 1100m of climbing in just 65Km! There really are some ba**ard hills around here.
Still, five months on, I'm really starting to take some positives from my experiences:
1/ I've lost a lot of weight;
2/ My diet is really much more healthy;
3/ I've rediscovered the pleasure of riding a bike for company and fun (why did I spend all those years getting up at the crack of dawn just to ride up and down a traffic filled by-pass?);
4/ I've been in contact with a lot of friends that I haven't seen for years - I was contacted by Leigh who now lives in New York who has also had a heart attack in recent years;
5/ My work-life balance is (at the moment) under control;
And to cap it all, I rode a 40Km (25mile) TT in France this morning and actually won it! My time wasn't too bad either as I finished with 59min 32 secs including going wrong at the first turn. Even better, the trial started at 10AM and I only saw 3 cars on the course. Many thanks to "English Mike" (crouching in picture below) for organizing the event. Even better that it was free to ride and, being a bit cloak and dagger we had no numbers and no rules! I'm guessing that the Gendarmerie hadn't been informed either. The RTTC could learn something from that. So, this evening I'm chuffed to bits and really looking forward to my ride into the Black Forest tomorrow afternoon.
I have had to admit defeat on the hill climbing front since my cardiologist wants me to stick with the beta-blockers until the end of the year as a precaution to my resurgent enthusiasm for the bike. When I say "defeat", I mean that I have had a triple-chainset (30-42-52) fitted to my training bike so that I don't have to grind up hill in the 39x27 anymore.... that's what I found myself doing last weekend when I covered 1100m of climbing in just 65Km! There really are some ba**ard hills around here.
Still, five months on, I'm really starting to take some positives from my experiences:
1/ I've lost a lot of weight;
2/ My diet is really much more healthy;
3/ I've rediscovered the pleasure of riding a bike for company and fun (why did I spend all those years getting up at the crack of dawn just to ride up and down a traffic filled by-pass?);
4/ I've been in contact with a lot of friends that I haven't seen for years - I was contacted by Leigh who now lives in New York who has also had a heart attack in recent years;
5/ My work-life balance is (at the moment) under control;
And to cap it all, I rode a 40Km (25mile) TT in France this morning and actually won it! My time wasn't too bad either as I finished with 59min 32 secs including going wrong at the first turn. Even better, the trial started at 10AM and I only saw 3 cars on the course. Many thanks to "English Mike" (crouching in picture below) for organizing the event. Even better that it was free to ride and, being a bit cloak and dagger we had no numbers and no rules! I'm guessing that the Gendarmerie hadn't been informed either. The RTTC could learn something from that. So, this evening I'm chuffed to bits and really looking forward to my ride into the Black Forest tomorrow afternoon.
So the European Footie Champs starts in Basel next week. I see the BBC have got desperate and started a campaign along the lines of "Who are you going to support?"...... No decision for me. I'm sitting here in my Swiss football top. At least I'll be interested up until the quarter finals start ;-))
Hopp Schwiez!!!!!!
1 comment:
Your heart attack is a wake up call to people like me. You are fit and healthy and always cycling.. I have gotten larger and unhealthier and really ought to take better care of myself. Have a good summer!
Cousin Jamie in Thailand
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