The major update for Lee is no more trips to hospital and recovery continues. We've been walking a bit further and due to two 0.5 mile round trips to the pharmacy, Lee walked over a mile on Friday. Unfortunately the antibiotics she's taking for an infection on her trachy site seem to have knocked her for six! Even so she's eating well and sleeping well and still managing around the house. Lots of things to celebrate last week as Sam had his 16th birthday on the same day my Dad was 72. Its not normal family life yet but we're moving closer! Since starting to write this Lee and I enjoyed some laps of the garden path in bizarrely warm sunshine. Another thing to mention is the amazing kindness towards us from friends, family and people who barely know us! We continue to receive lovely gifts and people in the street have been so pleased to see Lee out and about!
On Monday we returned to coaching at KCC cyclones. I can't tell you how much I'd missed working with these kids. It was great to just run a simple session with a bit of a ride out with some skills practice thrown in.
I've carried on with my two for the price of one running sessions. I went one further on Thursday as Lee walked with us and waited on a bench whilst the dogs and I ran. Then we walked Lee home again. That's a lot of bang for the buck!
Also in the week I watched the GCN show. They did a feature on the minimum effort on training required to achieve a fitness gain. It was sold as only 30 seconds is necessary but the truth is that you need to do several 30 second efforts to get any benefit and surprise surprise its not one size fits all. The take home message remains that to achieve and maintain fitness you still need to put the hard yards in. However there is strong evidence that short HIIT sessions do lead to improvements. With that in mind I have set myself a goal. On any day that I do not manage an outdoor ride or run I am going to do at least 20 minutes on my rollers. That roller session will include intervals. Talking of rollers it was great to see former KCC Cyclone Ruby Isaac showing off her phenomenal roller skills on GCN.
On Saturday morning there was another chance for a group ride but with one thing and another I didn’t make it. I have to say I’m a little grateful because by all accounts it was freezing!!! The weather really is playing up right now. In Terry Pratchett’s book, the Wintersmith he describes an age old battle between the Wintersmith and the Summer Lady. Well for 2021 that battle has reached its peak! I was very cold on the dog walk this morning, lovely and warm in Wakerley Woods, then it hailed, freezing again in Corby Tesco car park in the snow and lovely and warm in my back garden just now! Four seasons in one day!!!
Today I headed back to Wakerley Woods having seen friends on Strava do the same. In previous visits I would have done a few laps of the Scartree Trail, a nice 4km blue grade loop. However the Scartree Trail is no more...well the Forestry Commission have removed the start and bits of the old trail have been obliterated by forestry work. Some of the trail remains and is rideable. Apart from that there now appears to be very loose rules! There's signage indicating you should stay out of certain areas but apart from that the place is open to the public.
This led me to explore a bit and discover that there are tonnes of fun trails in Wakerley. I also learned that the locals have a bit of a one way system, particularly for downhill and uphill sections but its not obvious. I also discovered the Badger trail. This bit of trails is fun with great features. Its not advertised, I found it because the same riders who explained the expected direction of travel, recommended it to me. I feel like I've rediscovered Wakerley Woods and will definitely be going back. From the Wakerley and Fineshade Facebook page it appears that The Forestry Commission needed to do some work. They were aware this work would harm the trails so Scartree was officially closed. As for cycling on the remaining trails, this is allowed. There are no funds to restore the Scartree Trail but they will allow it to be independently repaired. The FB group also advise rider behaviour will be monitored. So it appears its up to us! Ride responsibly and Wakerley remains open to cycling!!!
A bit of a quiet week in the world of elite cycling. The classics return with a bang next week with the Amstel Gold race.
That's it.
Happy Pedalling 😊
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