Your riding shouldn't suffer too much, it's all about compromise with your partner. Mine has always been good at letting me keep my hobby, be it the gym or cycling in the evening, and in return at weekends, I'll take him out for the day if she needs some time off and let her chill out, or if there's an evening during the week then I'm happy to swap. But you saw how much I've ridden over the summer, it certainly wasn't lacking and nor should it for you. It's just difficult in Winter as I can only go out after 7 but that's fine with indoor training.
Thanks! Both of us are so overly excited but I'm sure that'll soon wear off through labour, fatigue & lack of sleep!
Life is full of compromises already and I'm pretty good at prioritising things but until now those priorities have mostly been under my control, this little bundle is coming along straight into priority #1! I think that's partly what scares me - everything is going to be compromised by him in some way. I've seen fairly steady but good progress with my riding & fitness over the last 3 years, it's going to be quite hard to see that taper off and maybe go backwards!
Well I wear padded shorts under my baggies on the mountain bike. As for training riders ... errr
Ahh, at least you've got some padding then! I wouldn't worry about baggies, the only real issues you'll face is them flapping more in the wind, holding more moisture, maybe rubbing more and other roadies looking down their nose at you!
Too late for training now! All you can do is fuel well and pace yourself for it! Depending how much enduro type riding you've done before (and of course speed) will determine how you cope with the time in the saddle. You're probably going to be seated for the majority of 4-5 hours, if you're not ridden for anywhere near that duration before you'll really need to pace it. Chamois cream (if you have it), changing position regularly, standing for relief, a large dose of HTFU and maybe some painkillers should see you through!
If you've done nothing like it before the excitement will help a lot, just don't go out too hard! Enjoy it, it's going to hurt like hell but remember everyone will be hurting, you'll build some strong bonds of friendship and when you get to that dark place push through! The feeling of accomplishment you'll get afterwards is well worth it!
