Bank holiday Monday was back in Harpenden. I was considering sneaking an evening run when the text from Adrian arrived suggesting some bike sprints down by Redbourn. The boss gave the green light and I was off.
An easy warm up and chat with Adrian took us down to Redbourn and then onto the back road to Studham where would sprint/draft. The plan was 1 min on - 1 min off, 5 sets each. We were both focused on keeping the cadence in the 90-100 zone and also reminded each other to keep the feet light on the pedals.
I took the lead on set one, pushing 20mph fairly comfortably. Adrian took over and kept the pace the same. On my second stint I pushed it a bit and Adrian fell off the back. That was a shock and I had to slow to let him back. I returned to the 20mph speed and did an extra minute, then Adrian went back on and took us to Studham. He was knackered after a camping weekend in Kent-West Sussex.
We had a 10 minute break and then the return leg. We agreed to stay at 18.5-19.0mph for the return and then Adrian was off. I looked at the speedo and we were doing 22.5! I took over and kept the pace up, then it was back to Lazarus who maintained the pace. I was shocked but delighted that he was back. I took over for the final push to Redbourn and heard Adrian scream that round the next bend we'd have a straight run, he was right and so it was head down and full pelt. I reached 32.4mph before burning out. Unluckily Adrian hadn't been able to stay on my wheel for that bit.
We regained our breath going passed Redbourn and threw in one final sprint between the roundabouts. Adrian set off for the first half and it was a struggle to hang on, then he passed to me and it was a laboured push to the finish. I was so focused I missed that Adrian had fallen off immediately and so I was half way up the hill home when he caught up.
Brilliant bike session and possibly seeing the rewards of three intense sessions in Scotland.
On getting home I decided to throw in a run and see how the legs felt. Amazingly they were in the groove from the off and so I set off towards Southdown, then up over the top, down Crabtree Lane, along Coldharbour Lane and up passed the Red Cow, the Cemetry, St Gearges and home. During the run I was trying to keep the heart rate down, keep the cadence up and form good. I averaged 8.29 for 4 miles and felt as if I'd not been trying. All in all an encouraging day.
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