Consolidation

I'm very aware that L'Etape is just 6 weeks away. It's very difficult not to have a feeling of impending doom, rather like I used to feel all those years ago when important exams were approaching. There is a sense of low-grade anxiety, that it's all getting too late to effect any useful increase in ones fitness. It's getting too late to put in much long-distance groundwork, too late too build up any muscle, too late to grow some more myocardium or new juicy capilliaries. Plus, after what I felt was a really good performance in the HH100, I'm seriously worried that I've peaked too early. Can I reproduce that speed and endurance? It's hard not to succumb to the 'pressure' and just metaphorically ensconce oneself in the fug of a smokey bar every afternoon and drink a few pints of beer, roll home drunk, and sleep it off. Having said that, I had a few good mates who used this revision technique successfully for many years. Eh, Bains ? Flynn? Beech? Gallagher?

Of course , I haven't got where I am today by letting all the threads slip from my grasp in the final straight... Oh, there'll be no Devon Lochs here.

I actually have a sense of bringing it all together in these last few weeks. Consolidation sums up the process perfectly. (It also means something other than gas in your alveoli....usually pus/pneumonia, but don't worry about that).

So, on the equipment front, two or three important changes.

Obviously, I've mentioned the new (secondhand) wheels. Mavic Ksyrium ES's. I love them. Black and silver rims, black spokes except for one red one. The rear hub is reddy/orange. The front one has a carbon sleeve.

It went like this. At the HH100, the guy next to me turned up with a virtually brand new Roubaix S-Works just like mine apart from the wheels. I have to admit to a tinge of envy when I saw his Ksyriums because they looked absolutely trick (mine was equipped with Rovals) ... the colour scheme matched the frame so well. Who cares what they go like.....they looked fantastic. I asked him if they were any good and his reply was, 'I don't know, I haven't had the bike long enough to form an opinion.' At least he was honest.

On the previous Thursday, I had gone for a nice ride with a couple of guys who I have met through work, one of whom is an ex-pro cyclist. He was on an S-Works Tarmac. Obviously, he knows just a little more about bikes than I. I asked him if he thought I could improve my bike without spending a gazillion pounds, and he recommended changing the wheels. 'Wheels and tyres', actually. He rides for a team called F P Mailing and the team boss was selling a pair of nearly new Ksyriums ES's. Perhaps he could get them for me? Obviously, when I saw matey's wheels in the carpark, I wanted them. Nay, I had to have them. He also suggested using Michelin Pro2 tyres.

Anyway, a bit of emailing ensued, and then last week postie delivered my Mavics. They came equipped with a 12-23 Dura-Ace block and Continental GP4000 tyres. The latter seem to go really well, so I'll stick with 'em unless Jacko or Stoney tell me otherwise.

Do they make a difference I hear you ask. Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back? Definitely. They spin up better, they are stiffer, they track better through the corners. They just feel lighter, and more lively. Perhaps it's all in the mind? I don't think so. Obviously I will test them in a time-trial over my benchmark 20 mile route. And best of all, they are lookers.

I've made one other important change... I've reversed the stem so that it points up instead of down. It is a Bontrager XXX Lite 120mm with a 12degree angle. What an improvement! The effect is startling.... the bars are about two inches higher. I don't think it looks particularly good, but I've got a 47-year old back. Remember, L'Etape is not a sprint. I've been plagued with niggly low back pain for the last 3 months, especially after a couple of hours on the bike. The problem seems to be the SI (sacro-iliac) joints rather than the discs of the lower lumbar spine. Today I've done an 80-miler with virtually no pain. Cracked that one. By the way, one of you blog readers (I think nmcgann) suggested I try this mod many weeks ago, and so thanks to you...you know who you are.

There are quite a few other factors in my consolidation process, but I'll leave those until later. Suffice to say the most important thing.. my lack of experience of climbing proper mountains.. has also been addressed. I'm off to Montpellier next Tuesday for a 4 day jaunt with an old mate.

Does anyone else get the farty bottoms when they drink these recovery drinks?

It's a serious problem because I feel bloated and it interrupts my sleep. I guess the bowel is temporarily paralysed during the exercise , and then flooding it with a pint of complex carbs and protein is all a bit too much?