Cycling update

I know I should have running in there, but I haven't had the time or motivation for any over the last while. My cycling week has increased a fair bit, not leaving me with much energy for high intensity stuff over the weekend.

As I was saying a while back, I'm doing a German course in Munich at the moment, which I'm cycling in and out to, giving me a daily total of around 35 km on the fixie, 4 days a week for roughly 150 or so there. The average speed is quite low, on account of having to travel through the city itself and being hampered by other cyclists/traffic lights. On the way back out though, I've been starting to push a bit harder. I know that once I clear the city, going at around 33 km/hr or so should get me back to Garching without having to stop at any lights. I've not quite gotten the full ~8km run, but hopefully soon :)

On a related note, it's getting dark in the evenings. Very dark. My front torch just isn't cutting it, so I'm gonna need to start looking at something a bit beefier. Given the nature of my commute and that it takes in open road, something to see with, rather than just be seen, will be required, which will probably mean spending money :( If I move into Munich at any point though, this will be money well spent and used!

I also got out for a niceish spin on Sunday. 75 km, with a nice bit of speed built up at the end. Mostly kept the last 15 km or so in the mid to high 30s, which is pretty good going (for me), especially after a substantial, eh, warm up :P I think this regular fixie thing is starting to pay off, especially in terms of my pedalling technique and working well at higher cadences.

I've been reading a bit on ultra-light touring and coming up with some ideas for using as a light touring bag. My in-sy should be (finally) on the way, so that'll serve well as a starting bag. Packing light and keeping the weight down will be top of my list. It shouldn't be too hard given that I won't be carrying a tent or medical supplies for my shorter trips to Austria and the like. I am planning ahead to next Summer, though, and thinking of some fast touring through different parts of Europe and possibly some camping, if I can work something out that will allow me to use the road bike. It's not certain, but given my light weight, anything up to 15 kg of extra bulk should be well tolerable, if I can attach it correctly. We shall see. That's a nice bit into the future :)