I’m not sure what the Spring UK equivalent of an Indian summer (getting warm again mid UK Autumn/ Fall). Its ben unseasonably warm the last few days, it was 19deg C at 7pm this evening, it going back to norm or colder mid week (5 deg C overnight is forecast). It was still wind though and I went to test out another configuration of spacers. It seemed to hold ok unless I leant hard or subjected the bike to high torque from stationary in the high gear, then the wheel would twist and rub/ lock up, Ive got one more configuration to try. If that doesn’t work and I’ve not had a drink on the group ride :-/ I might take it to the shop tomorrow afternoon. This time to make the wind more manageable I cut down the Old A1 and inland to Caldecote and Folksworth. I think it was actually windier tonight so decision to avoid the exposed Holme Road was vindicated and through Caldecote and Folkworth I was freewheeling at speed. Looking at the local weather station the background wind was weaker but the gust were stronger.
A nice relaxed EB’s today, the highlight being when my mate sprinted off to go to a local shop I didn’t know existed, He came back later with Asparagus in his back pockets, it was a farm shop/ honesty box and the farm grows asparagus. It was a bit of a fresh start but it warmed up nicely and I gave in to the temptation of the Falcon Inn, Fotheringhay beer garden 
I only used up 2 of the 13 allocated by Strava Sauce though as I still had 12.7 miles to cycle home.
New fueling strategy!! I like it! 
Plan was to do 3h of zone 2 today as end of the recovery week before a 2 week VO2 block. But about 50m in wife called that the little one was throwing up and we still needed some stuff from the garden center so took a shorter route home and hammered the climb… Set a season best for 10 min with 343 watts which is 1watt under my all time best. Little one seems fit again may do another hour on the Trainer in the evening.
Listened to the Scottish football (soccer) and went for a test ride. I loaded up Carter meaning to do an hour but I decided on road to do it all into a strong SW wind (gusting up to 33 mph) and get blown home, from the Stukeley’s (just north of Huntingdon), Sod’s law the wind switched to a WSW and there was very little tail wind so I cut in land (Sawtry, Glatton, Washingley and Fotheringhay). I had thought about going further north but I decided I wanted to get home in the light so I could degrease and re drip wax the chain, and give the bike a general clean.
I think this last configuration of spacers in the disc wheel is OK. There was a bit of twisting in the worn drop outs but not enough to fowl the frame, just enough to skiff the brakes (I think I can increase the brake arm tension).
Love this add-on, I use it too. However, my preferred unit of measurement for energy expenditure is donuts, & I still haven’t tucked into any of the forty-four I earnt on one ride a couple of weeks ago. 
A local XC club race has shown me that it’s no longer necessary to associate outside rides in order to receive AI adaptations. Yay!
You just have to ride 35% of the time anaerobic, to see a 1 point jump in the VO2 Level
I’m going to continue ignoring the intervals.icu estimated ftp as it’s not proven on the trainer yet. And this way I get more regular positive reinforcement that it’s going up 
A nice recovery ride on the gravel bike today for me today. It was 95% off road on bridleways or shared path and I found my self near a cafe in Fletton near the town centre. I probably could have looped round through Fletton but I stuck to what I knew and doubled back on the off road route. It was supposed to cloud over but still hasn’t 3hours later so I went for some loops on the gravel paths in the estate.
For the first time this year the gravel bike is cleanish after a ride, so it can wait until after the Amstel Gold
Finally some real riding!
Setting some PRs. The one at the top was my focus, as I do it a lot.
City Creek Canyon, which I’m sure I ride up a bunch this year.
SS session done at the abandoned airfield. I always refer to the airfield as outdoor ERG mood. Hardly any excuse to not keep the power on.
This might be a type-o but I think it is great! Given some people’s strong opinions about erg and how it makes them feel, “mood” is perfect!.
Awesome ride and I’m jealous you have a safe, flat place that is free of cars for intervals. How far is the loop?
We went on cycling holidays to the Ticino. So nice to ride there. First tour was around the lake of Lugano.
We started the tour in Lugano and joined a national cycling route. It follows one street along the lake through beautiful villages and along the lakeshore full of villas.
Here we went up to a village where we visited an old church.
The cycling route went east to Chiasso and Como. This picture is from the way back on the dam which connects Chiasso with Melide.
Summary: distance 70km, altitude 500m, around 4 hours of riding.
Going by the changes in speed indicating headwind-tailwind, I’m going to put my guess in at a 5.5 km lap.
I’m also lucky to have a circuit that I can do long intervals on. But in a few days I’m going interstate for a month. Taking the bike but I don’t know what I’m going to do about sweetspot workouts. Might have to trade them out for threshold & endurance. I can always find a patch of road I can do the shorter threshold repeats on but the conditions for sweetspot are a fair bit harder to satisfy.
Yes a Type-o
Not sure about the loop. Takes around 8 minutes when doing SS. It always has a strong headwind on one of the straights. Never a crosswind. Even on days with no wind at all on the ride to the airfield, you will get a strong headwind for half of the circle 
Hains Point Hämmerfest
Washington, DC
First outside ride of the year! I hung in with the A group until the last two laps (27+ mph).
Rear brake is a little (ok … a lot) squishy, but the bike performed great otherwise.
The first two intervals were warmups, the last was cooldown.
View looking back at the Point while crossing over the 14th Street bridge heading into DC.
The next day we went to the countryside to visit villages and old churches (sorry, I’m posting this with a bit of delay).
The cycling route passed between green hills. We met many cyclists, but not much car traffic.
There were so many old churches, we had to stop quite often to take a look inside. It was a comfortable ride.
Also multiple of cats which demanded attention and cuddles.
Here we stopped in a village (Sonvico) for coffee and ate our lunch.
It started to get hotter and we had planned to climb Monte Bré as well. So we headed back the same way and turned to the climb.
It was getting 27°C, it had nearly no wind, there were some concerns if we should abort the mission because of the heat. We drank a lot of water (lots of wells to refill) and made it to the top. (Monte Bré is not that high, but some people were not used to the climbing and heat. Certain sections were on the steep side.)
The view on top shows the lake of Lugano (which has mutiple parts).
You can see the dam we rode the day before to Como (Italy).
The way home was a fast one. We were back on the centre in around 30 minutes.
Summary: distance 38km, altitude 942m, riding time 2:57 hours (and a lot of breaks).
Great pics! Thanks for sharing!
doing some race directing this weekend for Iowa Wind and Rock, brought the TT bike along and joined a local TT race tonight.
12k/7.4 mile, pan flat, out and back. Was the 2nd time I’ve been on the bike since crashing it at Silver State last September.
15mph wind out of the north(tailwind out, headwind back), mid 50’s. First time ever TT’ing something this short. Most of my racing is basically TT, but quite a lot longer.
Went really well I think. managed a nice negative split.
time was 18:20.5.
297w avg.
284 on the way out
306 on the way back.
32mph on the way out
20mph on the way back.
probably could have gone a bit harder but was a good first effort.
The last day was about the transition from Lugano to Bellinzona to catch the train home.
The first hour was a mild slope gaining some altitude. The tour went along a stream (Vedeggio).
There was even an outside museum.
At the end of the slope we joined a wide street which led down to the plain. The view while racing down with up to 70km/h was magnificent: One could see over the whole plain with Bellinzona on one side and the sun reflecting in the big Lago Maggiore on the other side. No photos because of security reasons.
Photos of the plain:
Bellinzona is full of castles - it is worth a visit.
Summary: distance 40.97km, altitude 398m, riding time 2:28 hours.
Cycling in Ticino: Strong recommendation, 10/10.