Hot hot hot

No WiFi in the hotel last night so this post will cover two days. Yesterday was HOT, my bike computer, which is German and therefore always accurate, said the average temperature on my ride was 39c, with the top temperature reaching 43c! No wonder I felt a little (read a lot) tired by the time I got back For reasons of 'Skypeing' home I didn't actually go out until 11.30am, mistake! My plan was to do 2 hours with a 'training' segment in the middle using one of my preferred canal rides with a little loop that I have used before to do some intervals, race simulation if you like. I've only raced 3 times this year so far so I feel I need to do something like this. The lap allows me a 2 minute interval, a 1 minute interval, a 20 second sprint and a 30 second sprint with a little rest in between. Up until I did 3 laps of that I had been feeling OK, a little jaded from the day before but basically OK and the heat wasn't bothering me. By the time I had finished the interval session the heat and everything else was bothering me and I still had 20+km to get home which turned out to be a real chore. However a cold shower and an hour on the bed with 3 bottles of isotonic drink bought some semblance of normality. Upon analysis the short intervals all yielded good numbers and the short sprints pushed over 1000 watts and I still had some to go, so all good. The only thing is, I did 3 short laps and that was OK but in my racing it will go like that for the whole race, that's where the challenge will lie. On the way back down the canal I did my good deed for the day, having been flagged down by a chap that had had a puncture, changed his tube but had no means of inflating it! Which seemed very odd to me, when I produced a C02 bottle he was non plussed! He spoke pretty good English so we had quite a good chat and he was off to ride The Marmotte the next day, I hope he doesn't puncture! he insisted on the ubiquitous 'selfie' and then I was on my way. It was pretty hot by this time so the canal path was pretty quiet so I don't know how long he'd been waiting for someone to come along. This probably a good point to mention Belgians/Europeans fixation on suntans. Just about every bike rider I see is wearing a sleeveless jersey if he is wearing one at all, I hate to think how the cancer statistics are growing here, no sign of slip, slap, slop or cover up here. I bought some more factor 50+ myself today, my pale winter skin needs all the help it can get. Today all I did was 90 a mins recovery ride, went out a little earlier, its been cooler today, there is some cloud cover so only reached 31c. I went off the beaten track today, or at least off my known routes and did about 70 of the 90 minutes out in the country basically following my nose in directions terms. I only had to back track once when the road I was on turned into a dirt track, it didn't look to bad but I only have race wheels with good tyres on so as interesting as it looked discretion for my equipment overruled. This afternoon it was off to the big bike shop in Aalst to try and fulfil some special clothing orders and pick up some more isotonic drink. I was lucky with the clothing which was just as well since July 1st is the start of Van Eycks big sale and by the weekend it will be like a plague of locusts has hit the place, good time for a bargain but not a particularly good shopping experience. I'm pleased to say that despite being tempted by all manner of goodies my own money stayed firmly in my wallet!