Flying Solo

I had a ride this morning. I haven't had a Thursday morning ride for ages, I am usually running, so this morning was a nice change. Very nice morning for a spot of cycling. Slightly overcast, nice temperature, light wind. All the best bits of this time of year.

Very busy out, I was surprised at just how many bikes and cycling groups were out and about. It felt like a Saturday morning. This city really is a bit bike mad.

I actually got a bit caught up in one of the groups for 10 minutes or so which was a bit of fun. It was one of those difficult situations where I caught them going up a hill, but once on the flat they were going too quick for me to be able to pass them and leave them behind, without frying myself anyway, which would have been a bit pointless. A small part of my brain noted that I could slow down and let them move away so that I wasn't riding with them. But a much bigger part of my brain struggles to deliberately let anyone ride away from me. So I stuck on their wheels for a little bit, even took a turn at the front. However, while I was riding with them, I had a little Daryl sitting on my shoulder saying 'getting injured from a crash while riding with a strange group two weeks before a race is a silly way to get a DNS'. And I had to admit that imaginary Daryl was right. I finally managed to get rid of the group when we hit another hill and I was able to get away from them. I could relax a bit after that.

When I lived in Darwin I did most of my rides solo and tended to ride with the squad on the weekends. Since I have moved down to Perth all my rides are solo. As I have got to know people down here I have had plenty of opportunities to ride with groups, alternatively, there are so many groups that you can just wait for one to come past and jump on. However, I have come to prefer to ride by myself. Part of that is the triathlete mentality which says, 'this is how I race and so this is how I should train'. To be honest that is a mentality that I subscribe to. I don't see a lot of point in sitting in a pack having a chat, even if the pack is ticking along at 40. I would much prefer to ride alone and push my own wind, even if it means riding a bit slower. But another reason for the solo riding is that I have come to quite like the quiet time. Just a bit of time where I can focus on what I am doing, or spend some time thinking about a race, or clearing my head after work. I have come to appreciate that aspect of riding solo.

One thing about siting in the group though was that it got my legs going at a good tempo early in the ride. Once I moved away from the group, the rest of the ride continued at a good pace. I had some intervals that went pretty okay. In the end it was a nice quick ride. The good conditions contributed to that as well.

Light run this afternoon. I will see how that one goes. I will probably do the run from the office, which works pretty well. The only downside to running from the office is that every direction is downhill. That means the 2nd half of those runs is uphill. As a result, even a light easy run tends to have a tough 2nd half. I will see how it goes.