Could do better??

No riding on Saturday, I needed to let my eyes settle down, which worked out perfectly considering it snowed on and off throughout the day. At least we’re having a proper winter I suppose. I did get a lovely visit from my mum and Pete and I also managed to get out and visit friends and sprogs (I was a teeny bit clucky).
Sunday was a gorgeous day again. Perfectly clear with only the slightest of icy breezes to chill my extremities. It was roadie time. I decided to head out to Lincoln and pick up a friend for a wee ride out to Tai Tapu. It’s a nice round 30km ride on the flat. My lungs weren’t feeling too fantastic so I decided to take it easy and just cruised the whole ride. It was good to have someone to talk to, but I do find it mentally tougher riding with someone. I really enjoy the long solitary ride where I don’t have to chat. I can let my mind wander down strange and interesting paths and I can go where ever I want and at whatever speed I feel like.
It was a nice easy ride for an hour, but by the end of it I didn’t feel like I’d done much. Which is why in the afternoon Pete and I headed out to Bottlelake and I took Betty for a proper ride. My lungs were still struggling with this singlespeeding lark, but they were greatly improved on the previous adventure and I managed to get round the whole inner loop and up all the nasty wee hills. And it was fun. In fact my teeth were hurting from all the grinning I was doing as the cold air rushed past. Pete had a good ride too and we both got back to the car-park happy and tired (well I was tired). So in the end I managed to get 2 good hours of riding in.
Monday was a gentle day with just the short commute to work each way. My eyes were a bit drier being at work, but seem to be settling down fine. Oh and my new eyes are brilliant for riding in the forest. Today I had my fitness assessment at the gym. It was not good. My fitness has actually decreased since I started going there. I’m not too upset though as I suspect my results were impacted by my lung capacity being a bit rubbish at the moment. If anything this has inspired me to try harder. I’ve got a really hard and painful new weights programme which I really like and is definitely going to help my core and upper body strength lots. So I need to ride more. More riding the long way to work and maybe a few lunchtime rides thrown in as well. I’m currently sitting around 5 hours riding a week so I really would like to double that over the coming month. That’s my short term goal so we’ll see how that goes. It still seems strange to me that I’m beginning to really enjoy the gym and I’m surprised how much I love riding my road bike. Nothing beats my mountain bike for grin factor though, even my single speed.