Training despite the cough cough, splutter splutter

Normally I have a great immune system. I work in a hospital and like all hospitals all over the world..they are great places to get sick..full of germs and .... sick people. But I have very rarely been off sick for illness' sake. I've been injured, have had days off for minor ops, have occasionally had a day off for a cold, but not for AGES have I been this sick for this long. Not since ~1956 and the Asian Flu epidemic in fact.

Not that I'm "sick" sick now..just suffering the after effects...with my sinuses working overtime..probably on penalty rates for the public holidays with a bonus for over production. And all this coughing must be working my abs incredibly!!! I've also lost my sense of taste..either that or the expensive fillet steak I ate yesterday while celebrating Alex's birthday was very bland, a bit like the supermarket carrot I ate the other day..right colour, right shape..no taste.

So my training has been of the mild variety...a bit of endurance at a mild/moderate pace and not too much stressing the system, but today I'm breaking out and am going to re-do Inverness Road to see if I can decrease the stoppage number from what I hope is an all time high of 7. Alex suggested I use his 12/26 instead of my 12/25 cassette..but I'm not wanting to give up that easily...only if my failure rate stays high. Yesterday's ride involved hooning down it, which was a blast until I punctured the rear tyre, which was not much fun although I got to prove my superior bike handling skills yet again and at least it was the rear and not the front.

This weekend I was supposed to be racing and I was also supposed to be trying out my beautiful new Blue TT bike

but sadly this was not to be for 2 reasons. Not only was I sick, but the suppliers overseas had shipped it without the Cane Creek headset. So despite the best endeavours of Ben and Glenda of bngsports (the Australian agents and all time good guys) it just was not meant to be. Hopefully all will be set for the Masters Nats in late April. The final set up will have a Corima four spoke and a Miche disc . Currently the four spoke has a track tyre on, so for the Nats I will be riding a Shamal and the Miche....one of the hidden problems for those of us riding both track and road champs when they're on the same week.

I'm also joining the throng and going the ceramic bearing route as a way of upgrading my road bike...if I can squeeze another season or two out of it, I'll buy a new bike just before I retire from paid employment..a steel one to last me the rest of my racing days!