Be Realistic Ask the Impossible: A Sunday In Hell

It'll be a short post this week...  And not because of any Merckx-inspired Roubaix riding.  I'm sitting here with a hot toddy in hand having consumed little other than jelly babies and lucozade for the previous 48 hours...  I'm not indulging childhood whims, rather just struck down with the flu (I don't even think it's manflu, just straight up flu-at least since my gf's had it too she's more inclined to give it some credence...) 

So, having hammered the turbo last week in preparation for a good weekend's riding, I awoke on Saturday to torrential rain and the beginnings of feeling ill, so didn't go out thinking that the next day's ride doing a reccy of the Spring Onion Sportive route would be plenty punishing anyway.   Sunday, glands swollen, muscles achey and fever.  I wasn't going anywhere.... 

The thing is that if I was back in my childhood days I'd be happy as larry and coping marvelously with the prospect of not going to school and probably just getting on with the business of taking motors apart or setting things on fire.  Now I'm getting verily pissed off with being unable to train so I can haul myself up several big mountains for one day in July.  Who would have thought? 

Good news (?) is that I have got a spot for the Wiggle Dragon Ride in on June 5th (thanks Dave) and have yet another target in the diary to work towards for pre-Etape fitness checking.  At 200km and 3000ish metres of climbing it will also be my last big ride before the event proper and my first ever jaunt into Wales, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Brecon Beacons and Cardiff are like.  

Combined with the other sportives I'll be doing starting with the Spring Onion in March and the 12 week plan I've decided to draw up I am hoping that this will be enough to put me into gear once I get back on my feet again-there is only 20 weeks to go until the big day after all.  20!!!  Sounds like nothing...  I might ddrag my feeble bones back onto the turbo tomorrow after all.