So after a few days on the trainer I decided to try and do a few road rides. The plan is to ride off the road on a bike path, mostly, get myself back to controlling the bike while spinning the legs over (which is easier said than done sometimes).
These rides will be less than an hour and nice and easy. It will be just as much about getting used to handling the bike as much as anything else. I actually like the cooks river bike path for getting used to handling. You can take it nice and slow, there are skinny points and lots of turns and stop starts.
I am always happy to turn around when/if anything isn’t feeling great as it just isn’t worth pushing it.
So I passed the test. I passed my self-imposed test of getting 2 of these cruisy outdoors rides done. I had very minimal issues over the ride.
I did however wake up a little sore up through my upper back which I can only think is stabilising (probably a little too much) as I ride. Even after just 2 hour rides I feel much better on the bike and everything is coming back. The power is still well down but again I am still not worrying about that.
So now I plan on testing myself with a longer ride on the weekend (aiming for 3 hours).
Hopefully that will go OK. I feel like getting longer rides in is extremely important. It may create some fatigue but the training benefits of riding for a few hours. I find it’s a good little kick-start to your endurance. You can work on the top end plenty but you need the odd longer ride to push up the bottom end too. I also love the feeling of pushing yourself.
If all goes OK with the longer ride I will do something easier on Sunday then next week I will try and do some intensity during the week before something longer again on the weekend.