Training Complete

[ornoth_cycling]

The training is over for this year. On this last weekend before the PMC, I managed to accumulate 67 miles on Saturday and 78 more on Sunday, and my knees were mostly good.

On the other hand, by the end of the weekend I was absolutely knackered. But hopefully undertraining will be the only real issue I have, and that’s is solved by just taking the ride very easy and having low expectations.

Since we’ve had good weather for several recent rides, I expect rain this year, and it worked out that Saturday’s ride, though hot and humid, included a fair share of precip. Good training, tho, and good timing, since I was planning on a thorough cleaning of the bike this week anyway.

The worst part of this weekend… is just really painful to even recall. Going up Lowell Road from Concord, I was on the front of a paceline when a car ran over a grey and white cat, who then fled into the bushes. I’m a very big cat person, so the sight really impacted me. I pulled—hard—the entire way to Carlisle, just so I wouldn’t have to converse with anybody afterward.

And then there’s this. I’m not a clumsy person, but for some reason things always seem to happen in the week leading up to the PMC. Scraped toenails, back problems, whatever. Well, Saturday evening I scalded my left hand pretty well opening a hot pot full of steam. It seems to be mostly better today, with minimal blistering, but for several hours yesterday it was just impossible to keep my hand out of cold water for more than 90 seconds. Gonna have to be more careful than usual this week, to avoid stupid things like that.

Look for the pre-ride email to come out in a couple days. And in five days I’ll be sitting in a Sturbridge hotel, watching the PMC opening ceremonies on NECN.