Incentivised training

Ever had "that feeling" which comes along when you've been on a longish ride and the pace has been interrupted by mechanicals or punctures? Yes, the one which goes along the lines of "oh sh*t I'm going to be late home..."

The beauty of riding in a bunch is that you can gain momentum from those around you.

The flip side is that when people drop off the back, or get a mechanical snag with their bike, etiquette and common sense dictates that you make sure your buddies are OK and not left stranded.

On the rather well attended Hitchin Nomads club run this morning, I got caught in a quandary whether  to "carry on" or "turn for home" given that there were a few delays which had adversely impacted the schedule.

I'd factored in plenty of time but the sands slipped through quicker than I'd expected. On the edge of Bedford, near Roxton it dawned on me that "yes, I should have bolted home from Northill fifteen minutes ago" so as to get back for my 1200 noon curfew. The Christmas decorations aren't going to get in to the loft by themselves and Sainsbury's will be bereft without my presence plus my wife dares to want to do some exercise of her own.

The only solution was a long blast along the main roads (including that darn A600) and back to home averaging around 20mph. My legs are sore after this improptu high tempo effort but at least I didn't lose (m)any Brownie points. It was a close run thing but good training nonetheless.

Training tip to improve speed work
Why not promise to be back home for a set time and then see how long you can dawdle along before you "chicken out"? It's like a primitive form of Russian Roulette. For group training get five other mates and see who doesn't get shot.

You may want to keep you helmet on though if you do have to face the music when you do get back home.

Where you'll be living, with your bikes, if you get this wrong - the dog house.