Day 14 1/2 - Day off

When in Sudbury,  you visit the Big Nickel

Today is scheduled day off,  which I'm taking in Sudbury. I feel good and was tempted yesterday to just keep riding today, but there have been subtle signs that these days off are important.

When I settled in at Bala a few days ago, it was after a hot, hilly day of riding but I thought my body was holding up pretty well. Once I showered, I was set to grab some food and beer and check out the little town. 

I had the TV on while I was getting ready and noticed AMC had a Jaws marathon starting. I haven't seen the first one in a while so decided to watch a bit of it before heading out. I sat down just as Roy Scheider was deciding to close the beaches, I blinked, and all of the sudden Dennis Quaid was running Seaworld.

I didn't feel tired,  but somehow I had spontaneously blacked out for most of Jaws, all of Jaws 2, and part of Jaws 3. My body shut down for over 3 hours without so much as a warning.

Well, that's not true. There were definitely warnings,  but I hadn't been noticing them while I was riding,  which is why these days off are useful.  I've been thinking my legs feel fine,  but my knees and calves have been redlining for a while and I haven't really noticed until everything started loosening up today.

All of this probably wouldn't be an issue if I had properly trained before doing this tour - which I would highly recommend doing - but that's just not how I operate.

So for now, it's a balancing act between pushing harder than I should, and taking strategic days off to balance out.

I'm a firm believer in the value of duct tape on these tours, but this time around it's been gorilla glue and random pieces of plastic that have been keeping my phone, gps  and camera mounts together as uneven road conditions have snapped off critical pieces along the way

Now I feel fresh and ready for my 120km ride to Spanish tomorrow.