Be Realistic Ask The Impossible: Painting the Town Red

This week flashed by yet again and saw me moved from the shed into my new digs which is a delight in itself (no garden path strewn with dog poo to negotiate when going to bed) even if it has mean yet more tumult and distraction...

Most of my training this week has been strength and flexibilty orientated... i.e cleaning several years of accumulated grime from the dirty sod that has just moved out during the week (this is the first time I've seen a ceiling so visibly dirty I've had to mop it), and then spending most of the weekend re-decorating the whole flat....  Still, a good upper body and lower back workout.  At least that's how I marketed it to myself.  Very necessary though and I now have a lovely sparkly flat that me and my girlfriend peacefully.   Or as peaceful as it can be if the half the living room is filled by bikes and associated detritus.

It was a windy weekend to be sure but I did manage to get some training in doing hill sprints on Saturday, as following Brighton I am frankly sh1t scared of them.  Folks living on hills in London must be slightly bemused by the daily sight of cyclists flogging themselves up the road repeatedly until, if like me, they go visibly scarlet and look like they are about to keel over.   I suppose its just one of the quirkier facts of life that estate agents will never think to tell you about lycra clad men frequenting your street for masochistic rituals lest it make you fear for your children, but I think the real danger is posed by the seemingly omnipresent contrary boutique mummys dooring you with their BMW 4x4's when struggling to deposit their investments in the child seat.  Forty minutes of struggling over that molehill was enough to leave me a panting spectacle at the side of the road, much to the amusement of several more limber looking roadies obviously finishing off their early Sunday runs.

I had planned on getting up early on Sunday to go out with a local cycle club... of which there are surprisingly many-but a lack of organisation and a crick in my neck conspired with the wind to put me off and I ended up staying in bed for an extra hour then getting stuck back into the decorating.   Apart from naturally being a bit shy, I'm not feeling immensely confident about my fitness at the moment and can't decide if I want a more race-orientated club or something more casual at the moment either so I'm perhaps best getting doing some more solo training till I settle on a club anyway.  Still, imperatives aside I need to be doing more.  Now.

So, decorating and wind over with and I'm hoping to get a good ride in tomorrow, even if its just laps of Regents park...