March 23: Week 7 wrapup

It’s hard week, the last week of the 4 week block. There’s something every day: Monday is regular strength training, Tuesday has a cycling fitness test, Wednesday is personal training, Thursday and Friday are both normal ride classes but they have to be at 7am because of evening appointments. I am looking forward to some days off.

The Tuesday test measures peak output over 1 minute, and average output over 5 and 20 minutes. I only care about average output over 8-10 hours! But I did nevertheless push hard during the tests. The wattage/kilo numbers went up since last time - not a surprise, given how much time I’ve spent training recently. I also got weighed and the surprising news is that I’m 5% lighter. Guess that one-pack wasn’t pure muscle after all.

Some new bike things arrived this week. I’ve got a new bottle holder, which is basically a bag with a plastic ring at the top so it holds its shape well enough to put a bottle in. It was unpleasantly expensive. I’m not convinced it’s a great solution - but it’s not pure evil so it’s already an improvement. It wants to sit next to the stem so the cellphone will have to move.

I picked up front and back lights. They have an internal rechargeable battery and a USB socket, a very neat solution. Also a helmet: this weekend I’ll be riding around hills in wild and distant lands (well, Belgium) and it's high time I got one and got used to it. It’s white and unstylish and I overpaid for it and I hope I don’t ever need it.

Tent and battery have also arrived; I just need a sleeping bag and I’ll have the full set of camping gear. Then we’ll find if it all fits into the panniers.

Still haven’t fitted those new tyres… and I need to get some clothes for rain and cold.

35 days left to departure.