Kilo to go

OK, so it's only a bag of sugar, but for me it's a significant milestone.

I have, as I found out this morning, lost a whole kilogramme since my training began. This puts me down to a measly 77kg and an eighth of the way to my target of 70kg by July. I feel a bit leaner too and I could have sworn my jeans were easier to put on this morning.

Since I last updated this blog, I've put in four further stints in on the turbo trainer and have begun to build a hill into my commute home. It's a mere bump in the grand scheme of things, but it is a start. For those of you who know New Cross Gate, it's Pepys Road - two-thirds of a kilometre and rising from eight metres above sea level to a dizzying 45 metres. So around a five per cent incline, then. It feels way more than that on the lumbering workhorse and with a three-kilo full courier bag on my back.

In terms of turbo training, I'm grinding up the virtual hills still. Big chainring from five minutes into the session, 50-60 minutes of increasingly difficult gearing until I reach the smallest cog, a minute or two out of the saddle every 10 minutes, then a five-minute warm-down. In my mind's eye, I'm climbing a steadily rising gradient of around six or seven miles every night. In reality, it's not as simple as that. I have no wind resistance to contend with and I can control how fast or hard I pedal, two luxuries not commonly afforded one on genuine mountains. Grappling with some real hills is becoming more of a necessity as time draws on and that will mean some serious tyre changing or, more preferably, a new bike.

Speaking of which, I'm booked in for a free bike fitting on Thursday week. It's more than likely I'll buy my new steed from the shop when the time comes as they stock what I'm after, but it'll be good to get some expert advice on what size frame I should buy as well as a few hints on correct posture. If nothing else, it'll give me a few pointers on how to set up my current ride.

More pressing on my mind currently is tomorrow's appointment at the doctor's when I get to hear the results of the tests I underwent last week. I don't think there's too much up with me, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow.