Have had a few days off, so thought I might try to catch this up with the dregs of 2013
Turbo: haven't used it since mid-December, as there's no need when I'm not working. It was set up with GoldenCheetah so I did an 20 mins FTP test on 18/12 which gave me 329w. Kind of a shame that it's not proper calibrated power as I wouldn't complain about 4.5W/kg

Anyway now to see if I can get that up a little bit (VP is useless as a comparative against other riders but is reportedly good for repeatability for the same rider on the same turbo).
Then a few easy rides before seeing out the year with the Festive 500. I was going to do it on my fixie (hah!) but thankfully thought better of it.
24/12
140km Mandubia
Got of to a bad start. Having put crudcatchers on the Pego, the front one started to rub on the tyre after about 10 minutes. COuldn't sort it, and assumed it would stop on its own. It didn't, and it rubbed for the next five hours. First 3 hours were draining, raining and into a strong south wind and generally uphill, avg of 24kmh. Almost turned round and went home the same way but stuck in to the top of Mandubia, after which the gradient and tailwind gave me a 30kmh avg. Hard day.
25/12
150km Azpirotz Donestebe
Almost 6 hours and a lousy 26kmh average. Wind not as strong but day before had left me out of fight. Torrential rain at Leitza, so the big downhill was sketchy and I was frozen (though ambient was not too cold) from then on. Last hour nauseous and fed up, but more than halfway through the challenge.
Three days of holiday in Bordeaux followed (banned from taking the bike!), where I picked up a stomach bug. Water in the hotel went off for maintenance or something, I got up and took a drink in the dark and got a couple of mouthfulls of brown sludge. Cue a day in bed with a fever and cold sweats.
29/12
100km Urraki
An easy ride as I didn't feel great and was missing energy stores. On the climb to Urraki I couldn't keep an effort together for more than a minute, and my HR was elevated anyway. Had a couple of loops to add on in case I felt better but never did, so got home with 108km left for the challenge.
30/12
120km Biarritz etc.
Worst ride of the lot, and mainly for the drivers, deja vu from about 3 weeks ago. First one objected to me asking him to back off from tailgating me on a roundabout. Tried to ram me twice, but as usual declined my invitation to stop and chat. Good thing, as I think I would have taken his head off with my frame pump. Not very vegan of me. Barely a km later a French driver ran me close, gesticulating towards the cycle path. The logic defies me - to care about the well being of a cyclist so much you're prepared to run them down in the road. Never mind, passed 108km to get the Festive 500 in the bag.
31/12
50km Igeldo x2 Aia
Beautiful evening ride, got over the top of Igeldo just in time for the sun disappearing. 10 mins off my summer pace on the same circuit, but not bothered.
Yet to ride in 2014, might try tomorrow, but feeling generally run down and get the feeling I carried the same thing right over the holidays.
Lezaeta farmhouse on Christmas day

Last sunset of 2013

"No se deja de pedalear cuando se envejece.
Se envejece cuando se deja de pedalear"