Since I last penned a blog a lot
has happened, there have been a number of factors in me not really feeling like
writing things down and I will touch on them, however the new season
approaches, new goals have been set and training and life have continued.
So, I guess I should start with the end of last season, one of the targets of the year was to win the Yorkshire Cycling Federation League, the last race was the 2nd October and I needed a top 10 to secure the overall victory.
It is also worthy of note that this is known as a fast course and I was also hoping to break the 50min barrier for 25 miles. I had managed to stay fit(ish) and somehow avoided any illnesses that the cute, crawling, bio-hazard that is my daughter wished to bring home from nursery.
It was a cool morning and the start of the race had to be moved due to roadworks, this particular course normally starts atop a small hill, which give the obvious side effect of a flying start, moving it meant it would be slower, but not by much. My wife was also racing and was already out on the course as I began my warm up.
I set off, careful not to overdo it, I had been pretty good at pacing all year and wanted to maintain that logic and aim to finish strong, there was an odd element to this 25mile course in that it only had a single turn point, so it was 12miles or so out and 13 miles back.
Feeling pretty good I knew that the turn point was at around 12miles, so nothing to do expect keep the power down and focus on.... hang on, ive not seen anyone for a while... i haven't even seen any going to the other way.... *rap... ive somehow missed the turn.... I must have.... no... hang on theres another rider.... at which point I had lost a bit of speed and focus.
At the turn point I decided to take it easy, it was wet under some trees and I didnt fancy falling off, I could have pushed more but opt to stay upright which seemed reasonable.
The way back was a fast blast and I really enjoyed it, crossing the line in 50:30 a new PB and an average speed of 29.7mph, not bad going, I could have maybe managed a sub 50 without the loss of focus and dampness under the tress but it is likely that I would have still been the wrong side of it.
In the race I was 3rd, another solid result and one that gave me the overall title, job done.
Taking a step back from this, around a week before my dad had a heart attack, he has always been fit and healthy and it was very much a shock to the family. It turned out he had a failing heart valve this meant that blood was able to go the wrong way through his heart meaning he was breathless and generally weak. It is likely that this issue had been with him since birth but only as he aged had it become more pronounced and resulted in a heart attack.
So, we were all mindful that he would need open heart surgery to replace or repair the valve and that has its pressures, but worse was to come.
On the evening of the 2nd October my wife and I got a knock at the door from the police, my wifes dad had died suddenly, he had been out cycling and suffered, as it turns out, a massive cardiac event, this only 2 years after my wifes mum had died suddenly, it was a terrible shock and suddenly all of the other stuff outside of family didnt matter, hence I had no inclination to write anything down.
It was a tough few weeks and months, my dad spent nearly 2 months in hospital with various infections he picked up after surgery and we had to begin the process of sorting out my wifes dads estate.
My dad is now getting better he has good days and bad days but I feel very lucky and at the same time very unlucky, I would never have expected for my wife to have lost both parents in such circumstances so close together, it really shows the frailty of life and how it must be enjoyed, relished and grabbed by the balls.
People say time heals, but I don't entirely think it does, you learn to cope, accept and remember fondly those that have died, but the void that is left I dont think ever really heals, things are better but we also ebb and flow.
So, that pretty much brings us up to date, my wife has had her tonsils out and we have been suffering the joy of colds from nursery, luckily our daughter has been immune to all the bad stuff thats been going on and her happy face and constant demands are a very welcome distraction.
In terms of the new season, I have been training and I feel I am ready, I have a new bike courtesy of my good friends and top guys at York Cycleworks and some other go faster bits... so I am hoping 2017 will be even faster, we will find out in 3 weeks when I start my season back on the V910.
Thanks for Reading
Richard
