Immediately next … once I got past the biomechanical issues, back out with some club members for a 50 mile ride to test out a route (it passed). Club 100 mile ride tomorrow. Ride Across Britain in about 5 weeks.

The general plan (because there has to be a plan!) is to take the next year ‘off’; not to stop riding but to not think about any multi-day stuff. The training for LEL has been hard work – not just physically, but in terms of the amount of time it takes up. Other stuff has had to drop by the wayside, and it’s been difficult to juggle. I want a year of enjoying club ride, doing some resistance work and some swimming, and some intervals etc on the turbo.

In other words, not doing nothing but just steady work on fitness etc, not so single-mindedly focussed on long long distances.

I have signed up to do Coast to Coast again because I like that ride: it’s well-organised, it’s gorgeous scenery, and it’s a one-day ride. It also gives me some focus; I do need a reason to get out and ride beyond it’s good for you sometimes.

This blog will continue as a record of rides, of training trial and error etc. I am – despite what it may look like from what I’ve said above! – musing about attempting LEL again in 2021. I think, however, that I need to get my speed up before I can really consider it. This year would always have been flirting with the time limits even if I hadn’t become ill. I think, on balance, I need to be able to ride comfortably at 2-3 mph more than I do now. The training for that – intervals, and tempo work – fits neatly with the ‘year off long-distance stuff’, and it’s another goal. We’ll see.