Grit, Gravel and Glitches

This week started a bit pants — too much time stuck in traffic, not enough time exercising. The inspectors were in at work and the motorway was at a standstill. Three and a half hours travelling meant I was completely whacked by the time I got home. Grr.

The rest of the week, thankfully, was Zwift-flavoured. Tuesday kicked things off with my first Zwift cycle of the week — a workout that flirted with threshold at times. My calves protested a little, but my Garmin rewarded me with a VO₂ max reading back up to 49. Woo hoo!

I also had my ears tested on Tuesday. The verdict: normal hearing, though on the lower end of normal. They’ll retest me in two years, so I’ll keep an ear out for any changes (pun fully intended).

Zwift menace!

Wednesday… well, that was a menace day. I had a VO₂ workout planned on Zwift, cycled hard for 33 minutes — and then Zwift crashed. Boo. The dreaded “Zwift not responding” message appeared, apparently a symptom of an out-of-date graphics driver. I went to update it — only for the computer to smugly inform me it was already on the latest version. Hmm.

Things picked up on Thursday. A Zwift session that didn’t crash! A few hard efforts over FTP, but nothing too brutal.

Friday’s ride was all about cadence — spinning my legs faster than I spin my vinyl.

Saturday was a cracking day. I ticked off my 97th ParkRun and my 52nd at Arrow Valley, with a warm-up and cool-down thrown in. I came 107th out of 463 runners, finishing in 23:51 — my fastest time this year! 

Afterwards, I tested my new Muc-Off gloves and headed for a gravel spin, exploring some new trails. And to top it off, Ernie enjoyed a nice walk too.

Sunday was a well-earned rest day — apart from another stroll with Ernie, of course.

I’m now looking forward to and kinda plotting my 100th ParkRun, hopefully alongside Rachel J, who will also be celebrating her 100th. On the cycling front, there’s excitement brewing — my sister, Kimbo, has offered to buy me a bike shed for the garden. Adventure awaits!