Barry

Coincidentally the Etape du Tour may be starting in the next village over, 3 days after they arrive and the Tour de France itself just happens to be passing during the second week of their family holidays. Whilst there may have been 46 candles on Pats last birthday cake, his body bears more physical resemblance to that of a 28 year old who does a little physical activity. They were always curious about new roads to explore and training techniques to try out and the latest piece of new equipment, as they are today. I have often been in groups with 2 generations of a number of families training together and occasionally been in a group with 3 generations of the same family all training together.

Put simply, if your breathing is under pressure but your legs are ok change into a harder gear and if your breathing is fine but your legs are on fire change into an easier gear. I often do a 4 in 4 out exercise for 10 minutes where you breathe in for 4 seconds focusing on your belly and chest and then breath out of 4 seconds. Another good breathing exercise is box breathing where you breathe in for 4, hold for 4, breath out for 4 and hold for another 4, before starting all over again. In simple terms a bit of focus on your breathing off the bike will make you feel more relaxed and less stressed, whilst on the bike it will tell you what gear to use and improve your performance by between 5 – 8 % as you reap the rewards of the work you do off the bike.

To do this wear a good base layer and then also were arm warmers under your Winter jacket and leg warmers under your winter bib tights. The secret was to tape the top with insulating tape to stop any water getting in from above and then to also use duct tape on the top of the over shoe to stop any water getting in there too. * Latex gloves inside your normal cycling gloves can help to help to keep your hands warm on cold wet days. Whatever happens don’t let a cold or wet morning stop you from getting out there and enjoying a spin on your bike.

On paper a basic, just above entry level road bike, but as I found out again today, you don’t need to spend a huge amount of money to have a lot of fun on a bike. I was on a road bike but wishing that I was on a mountain bike so that I could get in there off road. The Contend is not a mountain bike, or a cyclocross bike or a gravel bike. Half way up, now in daylight, I came to a point where an entrance into the wood looked smoother than the ‘tarmac’ road, so on this bike I found myself doing something that I never even considered on any other road bike and turned right into the wood.