A Knackered Feeling

For two days I rode twenty five kilometres, which, by my standards, are quite small rides. Today I rode with a group and for a while I was fine but then, when I climbed from Nyon towards Duillier I began to feel that I was fatigued. I slowed down and I couldn’t keep up with the group, or more accurately, the group had better acceleration and once you’re dropped you have to make more effort.

This is a group that I know rides hard, but more than riding hard, I think they’re fresher than me. I already had 50km from the last two days so I had some fatigue. The other difference is that I have been riding just 1000 kilometres this year so I don’t put out as much power as sometimes.

The other factor is that I should have carb loaded the night before. I had protein, which is good, but I was low on carbs. I considered having pasta for breakfast to build up my reserves but chose not to. That was a mistake.

The paradox is that the group wasn’t that much faster than me. It’s that I wasn’t accelerating as hard as them, so I was dropped. If I had sped up at the same speed the ride would have been comfortable.

Some people would say "if the group is too hard, find another one to ride with. I don’t think that way. When I hike I’m always at the front. I’m always comfortable. For once I’m the one that is struggling.

For me, this is a sign that I need to train harder, to get back up to a good level of fitness, especially to keep up. If I was fresher I would have struggled less.

The other factor is that I had a cold for two weeks, and in that time I lost a little fitness so I have to make it up. I would have gone for several rides within the last two weeks if I had felt up to it.

Despite saying that I felt weak and slow today I cycled over fifty kilometres at twenty four point seven kilometres per hour despite being hungry and fatigued. I got 20 achievements of which several personal records. In the end I think fatigue, and no breakfast played the biggest role. If I had eaten well, and not ridden twice in the days before, I would have been fine.

If I had achieved as much in a solo ride I would have counted it as a success. It was a success.