Firstly Mayhem: Mleh. Quieter than last year, course was a bit dull too. Still, good company, pleasant BBQ, some drinking, some piss taking, and enough riding to counter the drinking and BBQ.
Secondly, a fitness test. The Monday after Mayhem, Caroline, Elliot and I went to visit Matt and Anth at Torq Fitness to have ourselves assessed. Somehow, we managed to spend ten hours there - blood lactate testing, threshold test (basically riding up a big hill at the point of vomiting) results discussion and lots of time to be reminded of training theory and ask lots and lots of questions. I really enjoyed the day and I can recommend it to anyone who is vaguely serious about training properly. I'd also improved my watts/kg by 30% since the last test, which I was quite pleased about.
Anyway, the real purpose of this post. This evening I went on a normal mountain bike ride on dry, dusty, local trails. I even found a section of flowy wooded singletrack that I just had to ride twice. Rides like this remind me why I've always thought mountain biking better than road biking. It's not better though, just different. I think road biking is more consistent, but mountain biking has more extremes - nailing some swoopy singletrack is a brilliant feeling, but trudging through the mud because your bike is clogged and you're cold and wet is worse than a road ride can ever be.
I've decided that July is mountain bike month, and August will be fun month. I've got a 12 hour solo at the end of each of them, but the August one will have less specific training ahead of it, and more specific enjoyment.
Roll on Summer.
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