Where does this go...

Following on from last time I remain off work with little contact and glad of it in some ways. I had been informed that I would be referred to Occupational Health. Whether this has happened or not I don't know as I have not heard from them. I am not really surprised (sigh!). I have come to expect little else from work.

Cycling, on the other hand is something I am in control of to a great extent. I can choose whether to go out on the bike and when I go out I can choose where I go and how far. I have a stock of routes varying from short ones which can be tackled when I have a spare 20 or 30 minutes to longer routes which are usually planned in advanced (they are all mapped here). This is something that I need at the moment and control is the word that carries the greatest meaning at a time when I feel that I have lost the ability to control what happens.

When out on the bike I find the space and time to think about what went wrong and led to me going off work. Alternatively I can get into the cycling zone and NOT think about work or anything else other that how I am doing in terms of fitness, how the bike is running and just enjoying the scenery (that is, when I can get enough breath into my lungs to think about anything at all!).  I suspect that when I am in the zone my mind is working through other matters at a different level, and with the assistance of the positive mental effects of exercise I tend to feel better after a good ride.

Arthur 2 Times route detail.

I was somewhat thwarted yesterday by my own silly mistake. I intended to do this route (Arthur 2 Times), varying it by starting from Denbigh instead of Cilcain and joining the route at the marked point. I took a wrong road resulting in me getting lost and retracing my steps. Because of this I ran out of time and came home instead of completing the ride. Whilst the ride was enjoyable and the weather was fine even if a bit cold and the scenery of the Clwyds is stunning as always I found that I felt defeated, which at the moment is not pleasant or helpful. It was my own mistake. There is nobody else to blame as I was completely in control of circumstances and should have been paying more attention to what I was doing or printed the route map and taken it with me. Nothing like planning at times like this.

That was yesterday and I cannot let things like this affect me as much as they seem to. I will try again, maybe today if I get my finger out and organise myself. Oh well, I can hear the ironing calling...