2023

The less said about 2023 the better. The shitshow that was my Six Days in the Dome has its own blog. Six weeks later I did the Gloucester 48 hour. In 2022, I had a decent run at the Gloucester 48 in a small field. This time the race was the 48 hour world championships with a large, international field. In the gap between the two races I only did one short run (to check that I could actually run) but was still fairly fit due to by my discovery of Zwifting. I was expecting that either the tendonitis would stop me fairly early, or that I'd be able to grind out a respectable (but nowhere near my PB) distance. What actually happened was a painfully slow 100 miles, with multiple massages, a half-way decent night's sleep in the middle and some very silly sunburn.



Zwift started as a way to keep fit while letting the tendonitis heal, but turned into a semi-addiction that got me through my dad's somewhat sudden death in the Autumn (which followed hot on the heels of the demise of our two elderly pet rabbits, Bob and Bat, in August). On two feet I'm rubbish at sprinting, but it turns out I'm alright at it on two wheels.

The best thing I did in 2023:

2024

is going to start with wrapping up some Zwift goals: 50,000m of climbing (to get a Tron bike) and ride evey route (all 148 of them). Hopefully, that won't take too many weeks, because then I'll need to get back to running for some unfinished business: the Pennine Bridleway Trail Challenge (which I DNSed in 2022 after testing positive for Covid on the morning of the race). And then, legs and fitness permitting, another go at six days in Viadal in August. But having been taught some salutary lessons by Six Days in the Dome I'm somewhat less gung-ho with my goals than last year: 400 miles will make me very happy.