Today I did my first road bike ride of the year, putting in a 27k there-and-back ride just to blow the cobwebs off both myself and the bike. When I set off, I didn’t know how much I’d have in the tank energy-wise, so decided to play it safe with a nice rolling route that I could turn back on at any time should I run out of steam.
It turned out that I was feeling pretty good out there and I could probably have tackled my usual Glen Fruin training loop I did so many times last summer as I was building up the miles. The weather was perfect for riding, too – cool and dry with some sunny spells thrown in for good measure, and the light winds didn’t interfere too much at all. Shortly after I set off I did feel like I should maybe have been out on the mountain bike, but you don’t often see road biking conditions as ideal as this so early in the year.
When I got to the north gate of Clyde Submarine Base I decided to try the climb up the hill there rather than turning back. It took me a bunch of attempts before I conquered that one last year, so in the first 100 yards or so I was thinking it might be a bit premature to be doing it, but mindful that I really need to improve my climbing this year, I just got on with it. I wasn’t fast, but I got up it and I have to feel quite good about that considering it was my first ride of the year.
Given that there are only 11 weeks until the Bealach Beag, my first event of 2012, I really need to put some quality training in every weekend until the clocks go forward. After that I can double up a bit and do some week night training and rides home from work, too.