The wind and winter tyres are wearing me down. At least I hope that’s it. Perhaps I need to eat more? Either way I would have thought my legs would feel stronger by now, but as it is they feel weaker. It is difficult to remember what summer cycling was like with commute times of just over an hour, whereas now 1.5 hrs is the norm (quite quick actually). Is it just my winter tyres?

Any way, the fact that my front chain ring is now on it’s way out (“I’ve never broken a before!" is becoming a common phrase as I pile on stupid amounts of miles) it's got me thinking about dropping down my gear ratio again. When I got my new rear wheel that came with a 16T cog, as opposed to the 15T that the bike came with, it was a really noticeable difference on the hills. Not so much any more. I'm thinking of replacing the front chain ring with a 40T instead of the 42T that it is currently. That would take me from a 2.625 ratio to 2.5. Not a massive difference, but if I could be quicker on the hills that should make up for the slower speed on the flats. Think I'll have to give it a go.

Of course, if I change off the winter tyres before then I might find everything is ok again. Or if I change after I switch tyres I might find it’s too low a ratio and I’m spinning out too much. Hmmm… decisions…decisions…