"I just didn't have the legs today".
Often when a professional cyclist has a bad day, and the TV crews dash up to them and ask them what the hell went wrong, often you'll hear the cyclist reply that they just didn't have the legs. To us mortals that don't dedicate our lives to cycling, and just head out for little jollies in the countryside it's a weird thing. Surely a well trained athlete will not face such problems as "ooh my legs feel a bit tired".
But today I went there. Out for a group ride from Bath to Midsomer Norton and back to Bath. I'd been looking forward to it for ages. My time back on the bike has been a story of self-challenges. Will I be able to get to this place on the bike? Will I be able to get to that place? And a few weeks ago I knew that by October I wanted to be fit enough to ride this route, something that several months ago I would have laughed at the prospect of doing.
And because of all those mini challenges, because of the fact that I completed a 28 mile charity cycle ride the weekend before, because I had have been feeling the magical effects of cycling the last couple of hilly miles into work most days I was pretty confident I would fly around and enjoy it.
It didn't quite go to plan.
It wasn't the weather. I've cycled in worse. But a couple of miles in, traversing the hilly lanes of Somerset that I have got to know really well lately, I didn't feel right. Even minor inclines were requiring a lot of effort. I was shifting a lot lower than I would be expecting to for hills, and yet the legs still felt lumpy. Stiff. Tired.
I just didn't have the legs.
At the midway point we were about a mile from home. It just wasn't happening. When the group pulled up I explained that I was going to have to bail. Suddenly here I was, admitting defeat, suddenly knowing what it meant to not be "quite right" on one random day.
Maybe it was the illness I had that kept me off work for two days last week. But then I had cycled into work fine on my return. Maybe the usual breakfast just didn't have the same effects. I just didn't know what it was. But I knew I could sit down, grab a shower, and then get Lucie to give me a lift back into Bath to pick the car up.
The ride leaders were kind enough to offer to slow up some more, to pass on some energy drinks, but mentally I was done. I was near home, felt like crap, and I knew there were some hilly challenges yet to come. It was a lethal combination.
We pedalled off, I turned off to the left whilst the group carried on, and suddenly I was alone, annoyed with myself. Damn legs.
I pulled over again, took my rain jacket and gloves off and pedalled off slowly. Home was less than a mile away. And unbelievably I felt a million times better at the end of that diversion. Suddenly I felt right as rain again. I briefly stopped at home and then decided to continue. After all, I needed to pick the car up. So back onto the saddle and I carried on.
And I felt great.
I really don't know what it was all about. Maybe I'd just got too hot in the rain jacket and gloves. In keeping rain out there is a trade off that moisture can't get out. Maybe I'd just overcooked it in it. It wasn't put back on for the rest of the route. Lesson for the future.
As it happens, I even ended up doing a couple of miles more as I took a wrong turn. The second half of the route was hilly, but I quite happily got up them all with no problems. Legs fine, breathing normally. Not even out of breath.
RunKeeper is awesome for tracking my cycling and progress, but it doesn't always tell the whole story of a ride. Today's story is one of tired legs, internally being beyond frustrated, a respite and then feeling as if I could have cycled all day. Legs are funny things.
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