Today I had my first taste of winter. Not that it was particularly cold out there, but there was something bleak and ominous about running the canal towpath in steady drizzle, in the hour before sunset.
It was a repeat of the bike-run-bike format. This aerobic sandwich works well, with the bike rides forming a decent warm-up and warm-down around the run. A total of 47 minutes on the bike and 56 minutes of running sounds admirably strenuous, but I must quickly confess that I took it very gently today. The cycling was a pleasant loosener, with the run being a deliberately steady and stately plod of just under 5 miles. And I mean deliberate. All I wanted to do was to keep moving and engage with the world beyond my window.
Good though it was to get away from my desk for a while, an outing earlier in the day, when it was brighter and drier, would have been more cheerful. The rain arrived in mid-afternoon, and is apparently here for the next couple of days. Heavy and blustery at first, it later softened to an apathetic sprinkle, and gave me the chance to get out. Not that I needed the rain to weaken. There’s much to be said for stripping off and immersing oneself in a high-density deluge. I suppose it was a combination of guilt about leaving my desk too early, and just not quite fancying a major dunk that restrained me. Perhaps it’s still a little too early in the season. I need to toughen up a bit. I used to harden conkers by dipping them in vinegar and storing them in a dark drawer for a while. Food for thought.
I’m not very good at riding a bike. I feel, and doubtless look, like a wobbly fat old man who hasn’t had his arse on a saddle for some decades. Why would that be? When I look behind me, even for a second, the front wheel veers off towards the middle of the road, and I have to totter back to the gutter, where I belong. Gears are a bit of a mystery. I seem to have 18 of them, though I use probably only 4. I can’t understand why anyone would need more than that. I live in fear of getting a puncture. I need to tool up.
But I’ve enjoyed being a cyclist again, after such a long time. I’ve managed 12½ hours in the saddle over the last month or so, and can sense that I’m less incompetent than I was at the start. I’ll try to maintain a bit of biking through the winter, especially to and from the gym, and as a running aperitif/digestif. Good cross-training, and commendably green.
