Problems

Over the last few weeks I’ve been having some little problems. Not major problems, but problems none the less, the kind of problem which has no major impact on my life but is still enough of a problem to play on my mind.

The first of my problems is with my training bike. I am fortunate enough to have a power meter to help me with my training which enables me to track exactly how much effort I am using at any particular time. However over the last few weeks I’ve noticed that the readings have been a bit peculiar. My average wattage seems to be slightly high compared to normal. At first I thought the power meter may just need zeroing but after resetting it a few times it appears that the readings were correct. I had heard that as the battery life decreases it can affect results as well. It’s recommended that the battery is replaced every two years so I just figured that it was due for a new battery and the readings would be back to normal. So I sent it off for a new battery but when it returned the reading were still high… problem unresolved!!!

My second problem is a problem which millions of people worry about all over the world, although most people would say that this particular problem is in no way relevant to me. The problem I’m talking about is weight. Over the last few months I’ve been training harder than ever, putting in plenty of time on the bike. Logic would dictate that all that training would result in weight loss. For some reason the opposite has happened. I appear to be weighing more than I was before Christmas. Don’t get me wrong I don’t suddenly resemble beer drinking, fast food eating slob but these are changes which are new to me. I have never put on weight while training hard so this left me looking for some answers….

The answers to my problems have started to come to me over the course of the last week. I’ve started training with a new group of local Cardiff riders in the last few weeks. Most of them are first category road riders training for premier calendar races, so are pretty damn quick. We normally ride at a fairly steady tempo and ride the climbs fairly hard. To my surprise I’ve found that I can stay with them on the climbs. In fact I can stay with them on the climbs and feel comfortable enough in lift the pace and put them in the hurt box!

It was after Wednesdays ride that I realised the answers to my problems. The power meter isn’t broken, neither are my scales for that matter! I’m just getting stronger and I’m beginning to grow some muscles. The training is beginning to pay off and my body is responding and trying to pedal harder for longer.

Hopefully this is a good sign for the looming season. The challenge for me now is to keep my enthusiasm under control and not get carried away with too much training before the races begin. In three weeks time I will begin to start turning some pedals in anger. Initially it will just be a few local road races and the University Mountain bike championships to get back in the swing of things before bigger races later in the year.

I’m really excited now… bring it on!