Yesterday I went cycling with Mike and Mike. The challenge was a Tokai forrest/mountain trail. To say that it defeated me is quite an understatement, I was absolutely obliterated by the steep inclines. This was quite an eye-opener for me, I knew I was unfit, but this just pointed out how glaringly obvious it should have been to me.

We ended up cutting our excursion short, partly due to the heat, but mostly due to lack of energy to go further. So what took us 1h15 from start took us 8 minutes to get back down. I don’t think I reset my timer, so this includes about 10 minutes to fetch tickets and another 5-10 minutes for me to change a tube. Yes, as my luck would have it… I started the day with a puncture.

All in all it was a good experience and I’d definitely do it again, if only for the awesome return trip down the mountain. I must say, freewheeling 50kph downhill on gravel roads with your tyres chittering and sliding all over the place is really fun… though quite a bit scary. You’re definitely going to break something if you come off at that speed.

Next time I’ll be better prepared, perhaps not going in the hottest time of day would be a start, but also taking energy foods would be a good idea. I had plenty of water, so that wasn’t an issue, but I completely ran out of energy and my heart rate shot through the roof. During the hill climb (we only went up about 2.5km) I had a sustained heart rate of 180-190. My MHR is around 197, but I’ve only ever peaked 194bpm previously. Yesterday I think I peaked at 192, so I was in a fair amount of pain. No matter how easily I took it, my heart just couldn’t handle it. Ironically my muscles weren’t even tired, and I’m not even slightly stiff today; I guess gym has given me the strength, but definitely none of the endurance.

Well I’m going to go research how to get my heart rate down in cardio training, otherwise this problem is just going to repeat itself. Having been asthmatic since I was 7 and not doing any exercise till recently is definitely not helping.