Some musing..

..for a change. Typically I've dealt with results here and maybe some vague planning, but never much in the way of thinking about it. However, that's about to change.

I am currently in the situation that I actually know where I'm going to be for the next three years. While this sounds somewhat restricting, for me it is in fact rather liberating. t means that I can plan for longer term things, such as touring, training, holidays, etc. So, the question that I'm currently pondering is what to do with limited time resources to maximise what I can see on my bikes. I'll hopefully deal with shooting in a separate post, so those of you not interesting in cycling can look away now :D

Given my location in the middle of Europe, there are many options available to me. In general, the choices that appeal to me are:
touring; multi-day and long distance. Probably reasonably light, and should allow me to see a lot of different things;
Racing; this would be a lot of fun. However, it requires being a member of a club and learning a lot of etiquette, techniques and generally speaking in German, which isn't the best at the moment...
Audax; similar to touring, but long continuous distances, probably again with some light kit, but without having to think of a tent, sleeping bag etc.

Right now, the most appealing is the audax. Touring requires a large time investment for the same distance, though would be a lot easier to do. Audax, while challenging in terms of being on the bike for 22 hours in a given day, would be much more rewarding in terms of distance covered and where I could go. There are some places that are quite close, such as Salzberg (130 km), which are easy to get to. There are also some slightly further away places, such as Prague (350 km) and then there are some quite far away places such as Berlin (630 km). This is something that I think I would quite enjoy as it would allow me to leave after work on a Thursday or something and arrive at a city sometime on the Friday to enjoy it that night and the Saturday and then take a leisurely train home on the Sunday.

Right now, Salzberg should be pretty easy to do. I think nothing of heading out on a Sunday morning for a 120 km spin at a decent pace, with climbing involved, so if my only concern was getting there, I'd have no issues. When I introduce time constraints, and the possibility of cycling back the next day, it becomes a different story, but should still be quite doable.

The last issue which arises is what kind of training to do over the Winter. Each of the above situations will require slightly different approaches, apparently, so I'll have to start deciding now on what to do. Unfortunately, I know nothing. This shall have to be rectified. I also need to learn how to stick to a plan, so we'll see how that goes. This is all dependent on work not leaving me home after dark and half asleep, of course. Hrm.