2013 Goals and January 2013 Cycle Update

I haven’t written about the crash I had at the end of 2012. I’m not sure why really I just never got round to it. I feel it’s a bit late now to tell the story in any detail but I do feel it’s relevant to mention it in relation to my January update and a revised goals for 2013.

On the 30th December I had one of those stupid low speed offs. I twisted as I fell and the left hand side of my back hit a tree. I was winded for a few minutes but once I had regained my composure I felt fine to carry on riding. The worst I was expecting in the morning was a mild bruise. Fast forward to the 2nd of January and I roll over in bed to the sound of something cracking. Within a few minutes I was in agony and hyperventilating on the bedroom floor. I made it to hospital and was told that I had probably broken a rib. As if this wasn’t enough, later that week I had some further complications. This involved another trip to A&E this time in an ambulance, ECG machines, enough blood tests that I felt like a wine box, a night in hospital, a chest infection and being on my way to kidney failure. WOW.

The pain has been considerable but I’m feeling much better now. I think I have possibly had a little relapse today after a sneezing fit but fingers crossed that is just some superficial pain today and I’ll be back on the path I was on by tomorrow. All this has meant that I haven’t even sat on a bike in 2013, let alone have anything to report in terms of actual cycling.

The one bit of fettling I have done was to swap out the Mary Bar on the rigid and replace with a Salsa Bend 2. I now have this bar on both of my bikes and I’m hoping that this means I’ll be more happy to ride the rigid/hardtail off road again. Although I have really liked commuting with the Mary bar I found it very twitchy off road. This meant I had only used that bike for road duties which is shame. I felt it was a betrayal of some kind which I had to put right. Clearly changing a handle bar should not have been a big deal, but after rounding out the bolt on the pinch clamp of the gear shifter it became a much bigger job.

Goals for 2013

My mental list had been slightly different to what is below. I have been forced into modifying what I had hoped to do this year as some of those goals were now simply unachievable.

• I want to explore more this year. I don’t want to get caught up in doing the same routes time and time again. I’m planning on finding a bunch of new routes to ride as well as trying to throw in some variety on my established routes.
  One of my personal rules for night riding has been to never do a route that you need a map for. It’s hard to see the map in the dark and even if you can it’s even harder to see the land marks. I have just invested in a Garmin Edge 800 which I think will make it far easier to navigate at night. Hopefully this means I won’t feel so locked into doing the routes I know and I can vary where I’m riding more.
• I would like to get a road bike at some point this year and start riding with my dad. He’s an old roady and sure he’s got plenty of riding years left in him but I feel I need to make a firm intention to spend time riding with him before he does get to old.
• I would like to do 10 bike packing trips this year. These can range from an evening ride with one night away through to multi-day trips round the Cairngorms. Got a few on my mental list but just as long as I get out that’s what matters.
• I would like to do a session of hill sprints once a week. My endurance is fairly good but I want to improve my general leg speed/strength as my VO2 max.
• I’m going to GPS record every ride I do this year. I used to be more interested in “stats”, average speed, heart rates, ascent distance etc. etc. and I want a piece of that action. The Garmin Edge 800 will allow me to consolidate a number of devices, which is likely to make me more inclined to bother in the first place.