Real Life Rears Its Ugly Head

On Monday the training plan called for a 90 minute ride and I managed to squeeze in a two hour ride. (Lucky me.) The joys of a holiday Monday.

Tuesday the weather and family life were not fully cooperative. My wife Jane has come down with the flu and I spent most of the morning taking my two year-old daughter around the neighbourhood. A great break for Jane, but providing childcare really does put a dent in my riding schedule. (I know, I can hear the screams from here, "don't be such a selfish bastard".) In reality, Jane and I share childcare pretty evenly. At the moment I'm teaching four days a week, and so she is spending a bit more time looking after our daughter. But I had 9 months of parental leave when I was the primary caregiver. So I can change diapers with the best of them, and I know my way around the works of Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and Margaret Wise Brown (Goodnight Moon).

By the time I was ready to head to school the rain was coming in fits and starts. I don't mind arriving home wet, but as there is no shower at school, starting a class while cold and soaking wet tends not to make a great impression on students.

On Wednesday the weather was all over the map. I managed to avoid the rain going to school, but got caught in the rain coming home. If you commute by bike in Vancouver you had better be prepared for rain. In wet weather I ride with warm gloves, a waterproof/breathable jacket with pit zips, and over booties. Even with the best clothing, the reality is that eventually you are going to get wet. However, my commute is under 20 minutes and I make it home before I get completely soaked through.

And what awaits me when I get home. More strength exercises. How long can I hold "the plank"? How many times can I repeat before the muscles start to shriek? The exercises are miserable, but I know that they will help.

Back when I started rock climbing I scoffed at people doing exercises to improve their climbing. I thought that climbing was the best exercise to improve your climbing. Now I know better and recognize that off the rock, and off the bike, exercises will improve my strength and performance. Why it took me 30 years to learn this lesson I can only put down to pig headedness.

For Thursday I have two more time trials to do. A 4km and then a 1km. For the 1km the instructions from Cory at TCR are, "Hammer this one all out!" The forecast from Thursday morning is sunny and cool, +4C, so I should be able to get these done before the forecasted afternoon rain settles in.