Saturday, January 25, 2014

Plans for 2014

In terms of cycling goals 2013 was a year of disappointments. In June I didn't manage to ride my 200 mile route and then at the end of the year the weather conspired against me in a push for 4000 miles for the year. So some of this year's targets aren't too hard to guess.
But I do have a couple of others so here, in order of importance, they are:
  • 200 mile day - hopefully over the route set last year,
  • Weekend trip on the tandem to Edinburgh, or similar (e.g. Pitlochry),
  • 4000 road miles on the bikes (single and tandem). This does not include my little commutes,
  • Taking part in a beginner's duathlon; that's right, I'm going to try running!
On the way I intend to ride the No Fuss sportive in Glencoe again and some some longer routes in general. Looking back on last year's attempt I think the failure might have been in part to not quite getting enough long days in. 
My duathlon desire is the slightly way out one requiring a change of activity.  In the first 1/2 of the year I'll try a little running to put my toe in the water so to speak, but I'm not intending anything too strenuous. But you might see a little bit about running here too.
In the meantime I've been getting out on the road when I can; here's the the latest.

It was a pleasant ride until the rain started in anger, about 15 miles from home. Then it became unpleasant. I deliberately picked a route with quite a few of the local hills in it, to see how my fitness was. And despite having to use the granny gear on more slopes than I would have liked I didn't feel out of control anywhere and that was fine as the first test of the year.
Since this ride I've been in consultation with my trainer and we have some plans for some gym work to improve my threshold ability. Hopefully this will improve my climbing and general speed. More on this in another post, I think.