The off season rest.

For twenty years now I have been really disciplined and taken two weeks at the end of every cycling season to do a bit of running and generally take a rest from the bike

This year we are almost half way through that break in training and riding and I am already climbing the walls

Don’t get me wrong. I fully understand that it’s important for both my mind and my body to do short 40 minute runs for a few weekends instead of longer bike rides. My family have already enjoyed a zoo trip with me instead of a zoo trip without me, so there are real benefits in a wider context.
It’s just that, even on a nice evening , running isn’t cycling, and it’s just  that running on a treadmill is even more dull and mind churningly tedious than riding a turbo. And that’s a fact. Having a bad cycling crash in the middle of the summer leading to a month in bandages and away from the bike could have given me the excuse to press on into the winter and ditch the gears for the single speed now...But its tradition and a break now usually means I am motivated to get through until the weather improves.

What makes this whole annual nonsense even more of a pickle is that for a few weeks leading up to it I am always desperate to put the Bianchi away and lace up my Decathlon own brand sneakers (as I believe the kids on the streets call them). Within one lap of the village I want back in the saddle.

I am going to stick with this plan though as I don’t think it can hurt to get a bit more all round fitness as opposed to rapidly moving legs and the makings of a darts players torso.  I will continue to tell myself that any last bits of daylight and fresh air before the weather properly fails us should be taken regardless of whether the exercise is on wheel or on foot.