I need a nap, even if my two year-old doesn’t

Ah the life of a parent. The battles with a two year-old can be epic. She does not want to have a nap, but I could sure do with one.

My daughter has now decided that she only needs one nap per day. In the past she could be counted on to go down for an hour or so in the morning and then another couple of hours in the early afternoon. Now, to badly use a quote from Dylan Thomas, she chooses to "rage against the dying of the light". So, instead of a child engaged in peaceful slumber I have to deal with a cranky toddler who is so tired she is falling down, yet refuses to put head to pillow.

And what effect does this have on my riding? Well, it puts a slight dent in it. A half hour bicycle commute on Monday and the same again today. Now, I know that I should not complain. I got in a nice ½ hour ride each day, the weather is lovely and the views were amazing. But I really need to be building my base and some longer rides will help. I'd hoped to put in an hour and half on both Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday will be more core exercises, and I may manage to get a longer ride in before school.

About a month to the first cross country race of the season. I'll be interested to see how I do. The old Giant NRS 1 will be pressed into service yet again. I'll be making a few minor changes. I'm continuing to take my tyre pressure down to find the sweet spot between traction and flats. I recently read an interesting research paper that showed that lower (Under 30 psi) tyre pressure is faster on every surface except pavement. In the past I've gone old school and ridden with 40-45 psi. While I rarely get a flat, my bike does tend to bounce around a bit in the rocky rooty single track. With slightly lower pressure I hope to gain more traction, increase my speed and still avoid flats.