It’s all cycle-logical.  T-minus 18 days to launch.  Part 5: RPM vs BPM

“The sound of a car door opening in front of you is similar to the sound of a gun being cocked.”  Amy Webster

Cambridgeshire architecture

Steeple Morden, old Cambridgeshire fighter field memorial

If Sky are about the numbers, I'm more about the letters.  Story this week: ASBY BCN BFS FAO CPH BSL ALC NAP; all of which takes care of a lot of training.  Fortunately the last days off were productive, working on the repetitive four rides in four days principle, which wasn't that bad after all.

As of close of play today (Sunday) the weekly totaliser has just crept north of 2000km.  Here's a thought: if all 18 of us cross the line after four days we'll have have clocked up c.7000m or 11,200km.  So we're all due a bit of a shock; however, we have a general absence of work; morale and enthusiasm to help.  Which means two opposite things depending on how you read it.  No pun intended.

News this week.  Well the rosters have been published, which means it is going to happen.  I'll put it on my fridge door and wait for the inevitable changes.  Minor dig.

I did not realize until last week I’d be missing bonfire night when I signed up for this, clearly my internal calendar only runs a fortnight ahead.  I suspect it’s vicarious disappointment at not being able to take two small children to see some fireworks…come to mention it, the last thing this team needs is a child pyromaniac (that’d be me) with an excuse to hold his own early firework party…

Personally, the riding has been going fine and I haven’t despaired when it has been impractical, the rollers just come out of the garage instead.  It’s not quite the same thing, not being a heart-rate intervals guru, but it’ll do for now.  Assuming I am prepared to keep leaping off to attend to a two-year old when he decides he’s stuck/hungry/wants a ball rescuing.  Even after an hour outside, and that was only halfway, your back is steaming visibly and the condensation starts to bead everywhere.  That is the evil of a lot of sedentary flying being purged.  Then followed another hour of a spontaneous invention: rock sprintervals (you cycle to Planet Rock and pick your tempo according to the song they play).  This is akin to Russian Roulette as you have to hope they stay away from speed metal whilst you’re listening.  It’s the regime for those of us that don’t like being bound by anything formal and tend to wander itinerantly, but an excellent way to harness some aggression.  Try it, what stuck in my head…

Foreigner: Cold as Ice – very reminiscent of Eye of The Tiger, which is a classic pre-half-marathon anthem.  We can all respond to a Rocky connection.

Deep Purple: Child in Time - An eleven minute workout in itself, huge shades of light & dark and an insane guitar solo to work to.

Tom Petty: Running Down a Dream - A great Americana road anthem.  The best bit is the ascending guitar solo to inspire you to keep going.

Metallica: Master of Puppets.  You can see I’m wandering into dangerous tempo territory here…a song to inspire you to imagine hot-wiring a monster truck and taking on the last SMIDSY that nearly flattened you out there.  More BPM than RPM; that’s musical beats per minute rather than heartbeats.

Enough of this, it’s a rich seam to mine; I’d be out there with headphones in if I thought it was a good idea.  That’d be a bit too US Postal.

Stay upright & in one piece out there.