Yesterday I was due to take my bike across town about 20k to get a service at the local bike shop and get prepared for the race. I have been very anti riding outdoors recently, hating the traffic and the mass of humanity that this huge metropolis presents, but I knew I had to get this ride done. I decided to set out at around 3pm, reckoning it would be the quietest time on the roads.

 

The roads were not so bad and I quickly began to enjoy myself, so on a whim decided to take a detour along the river path about half way through the ride. This path has become more and more crowded with people over the years to the point it’s hard to ride freely but I was very pleasantly surprised to find it almost deserted. My original plan of a 10k jaunt soon became 50k of being down on the aerobars pushing hard. Once I rejoined the road my ” bikers high” persisted and I found myself racing the evening rush hour traffic up the hills, and the final 10k whizzed by in a haze of endorphins and sweat.

 

I was was quite shocked how good I felt, even more so when I went out for my evening run and absolutely killed the 7k, running my fastest for weeks, actually not wanting to stop!

 

This morning I was back to my lethargic self but I felt good knowing I had pushed hard and hit the heights the day before, hopefully I can produce the same energy and enthusiasm on race day!