I've been getting a bit of grief lately from the Current Mrs Stock about my training. "A bit intense" she said and I was straight in on that: "you don't know it's intense. You're just assuming that." To be fair, I have at times been a little over the top so yes, I have a bit of previous. But just because I'm training, just because I'm taking it seriously, doesn't mean I'm being too "intense" does it? OK, OK, I suppose I have entered the ballot for "Escape from Alcatraz" triathlon, reputed to be one of the toughest in the world, but.... Well, anyway, it's only a ballot.
So, yes I suppose I have been tired a lot recently, and I suppose I have been going to to bed earlier and earlier but you know, I have a difficult job, and I have to get up early every day so that's reasonable isn't it? I have signed up with the high performance centre at the gym. And OK, I did spend last weekend at Santa Cruz doing a bootcamp but how can the missus tell me it's intense? She wasn't there! It was a bit tough, true, but I'm trying to shield the family from my efforts by doing most of my stuff just after work. Given that I am only now spending 10-15 minutes commuting instead of an hour or so, I still get home roughly when I would have in Manchester. And then I would go to run club, or down to the gym or whatever so where's the issue? Pretty smart though, my missus, and yes, I am trying fairly hard. But I'm also being smart. I'm taking swim coaching, cycling coaching, and I'm getting 1:1 conditioning sessions to build up my core which has always been weak. Anyway, to avoid further grief, I suggested a nice family day out, at China camp state park up in Marin County. A picnic, I thought, would be good. The family agreed eagerly. Sheila, the mother-in-law, was over the moon about such a lovely day out. As it happens, I've entered the Marin County Triathlon in November, so as luck would have it, I had an opportunity to recce the bike course. What an amazing coincidence.
The day got off to a good start, inasmuch as Jo (aka The Current Mrs Stock) failed in her part of our deal. I get up at 6:00 AM every day to go and earn a crust. I bring her a cup of tea every morning so that she can wake gradually and ease herself into the day. Saturdays, if I'm not racing, or running with the Golden Gate runners, or biking with the Breakaway Performance Centre guys, or doing a triathlon camp, well that's my lie in. Jo has to bring me a cup of tea. That's her side of the deal. Today she failed. Brilliant! I'm one up, even before I get out of bed. "I'm sorry" she said, when I got back into bed with two lovely cuppas. "It's supposed to be your special day" Ha! Drive the advantage home I thought. "Every day is special if it starts by sharing it with you," I responded . Great work! I do love her, and she is fab, and gorgeous, but I have to look after myself, you know?
So, I've got moral advantage, I'm going to get my ride in, and I'm going to get some good knowledge eof the bike course that I'll do in November. We packed everybody into the car, dogs in the back, bike on top (of the car, not the dogs), and away across the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County. Now, I love going across the bridge, partly because its a beautiful bridge and its engineering is an absolute wonder even 75+ years on from its completion. You can see the construction in such detail its only a short step away in your imagination from looking at the original line drawings. Its easy to imagine a conversation with Charles Ellis, the bridge's engineer, and I can't cross the bridge without thinking of him standing there, overseeing the work. You look at the cables and you think about the calculations about load, and about how when they held a celebration to mark an anniversary they closed the bridge to traffic and thousands of people walked onto it until the span began to flatten out! Everyone decided to get off then. Interestingly, few of them would have known that Charles never had an Engineering degree! Anyway, I love it for all of that, but mostly I love going over it because i have no front number plate on my car so the automatic toll can't charge me for going over. I can also jump red lights. It's not that I've become all lawless; I am just redressing the balance between me and California State. They gave me a $60 parking fine for being 1 minute late back to my meter, and had clearly targeted me, laying in wait for the meter to stop flashing green and flash red. OK, you wanna fight, you can have one. And so, I'm going around with no front plate, dodging fees, tolls and anything else until California and I are back in balance. Once justice has been served, I'll put my number plate on and become a law-abiding citizen again.
So - there we were, across the bridge and into San Rafael, along the coast to San Pablo bay. Once I'd installed the family happily at a table, I got my bike off the roofrack and headed out.
The roads were undulating and windy, which was great fun but the tribars were a bit of a handful on some of the deep gouges and ruts and I needed to be careful. Riding down on the tribars is a bit dangerous on roads like this. They are designed for flat, straight, smooth roads like you normally get on a time trial, but on roads like this they work against you. First, your hands are close together so the leverage isn't balanced out. Second, your whole body position is shifted forwards so that any impact at the front is exaggerated and what would be a slight wiggle on standard bars becomes a big side shift on tribars that can have you on the floor before you know its happened. But the advantages of the aero position make it worth a few risks, and I was enjoying the challenge. I had a great 90 minutes or so, checking out the course and getting a good training session in. When I got back Sheila and Jo were enjoying easy conversation and looking out over the bay, the dogs were lying in the shade, and everyone seemed happy. I had a quick swim in the bay to cool off, we finished the picnic (my picnic was mostly SIS Recovery drink) and set off for home. A good day out!
So, I've got moral advantage, I'm going to get my ride in, and I'm going to get some good knowledge eof the bike course that I'll do in November. We packed everybody into the car, dogs in the back, bike on top (of the car, not the dogs), and away across the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County. Now, I love going across the bridge, partly because its a beautiful bridge and its engineering is an absolute wonder even 75+ years on from its completion. You can see the construction in such detail its only a short step away in your imagination from looking at the original line drawings. Its easy to imagine a conversation with Charles Ellis, the bridge's engineer, and I can't cross the bridge without thinking of him standing there, overseeing the work. You look at the cables and you think about the calculations about load, and about how when they held a celebration to mark an anniversary they closed the bridge to traffic and thousands of people walked onto it until the span began to flatten out! Everyone decided to get off then. Interestingly, few of them would have known that Charles never had an Engineering degree! Anyway, I love it for all of that, but mostly I love going over it because i have no front number plate on my car so the automatic toll can't charge me for going over. I can also jump red lights. It's not that I've become all lawless; I am just redressing the balance between me and California State. They gave me a $60 parking fine for being 1 minute late back to my meter, and had clearly targeted me, laying in wait for the meter to stop flashing green and flash red. OK, you wanna fight, you can have one. And so, I'm going around with no front plate, dodging fees, tolls and anything else until California and I are back in balance. Once justice has been served, I'll put my number plate on and become a law-abiding citizen again.
So - there we were, across the bridge and into San Rafael, along the coast to San Pablo bay. Once I'd installed the family happily at a table, I got my bike off the roofrack and headed out.
The roads were undulating and windy, which was great fun but the tribars were a bit of a handful on some of the deep gouges and ruts and I needed to be careful. Riding down on the tribars is a bit dangerous on roads like this. They are designed for flat, straight, smooth roads like you normally get on a time trial, but on roads like this they work against you. First, your hands are close together so the leverage isn't balanced out. Second, your whole body position is shifted forwards so that any impact at the front is exaggerated and what would be a slight wiggle on standard bars becomes a big side shift on tribars that can have you on the floor before you know its happened. But the advantages of the aero position make it worth a few risks, and I was enjoying the challenge. I had a great 90 minutes or so, checking out the course and getting a good training session in. When I got back Sheila and Jo were enjoying easy conversation and looking out over the bay, the dogs were lying in the shade, and everyone seemed happy. I had a quick swim in the bay to cool off, we finished the picnic (my picnic was mostly SIS Recovery drink) and set off for home. A good day out!
