marginal gains

If you’ve been following the cycling at the Olympic Games you might have heard talk of ‘marginal gains’; this is one of the reasons behind Team GB’s success at the velodrome and Teams Sky’s at the Tour de France.  A minor adjustment here, a minor tweak there and they all add up.  

Some might seem obvious - others bizarre; from shaving a few grams here and there off the weight of the bike, to Team Sky taking their own beds into the Hotels during the TdF.  (A decent night’s sleep can make a lot of difference …)

Anniemay is not immune from marginal gains.  She has a couple of big rides coming up in the next few months and is planning on using her new road bike.  It’s good, but not quite right yet.  So I’ve been doing a bit of fettling this morning.

The saddle is not quite in the right position; probably only a cm or so out, but those few cms can make all the difference over 50 miles or so.  I take measurements, she goes off for a test ride, I make adjustments, take more measurements,  more test rides, more adjustments .....  I might need to change bits; I have a ‘parts bin’ where I keep spares for this very eventuality.  It may take a few days, but we’ll get there in the end.  And she will have a comfortable end.

Marginal gains also work when recovering from hospital.  A walk in the woods yesterday, a trip to the shops for a paper and a proper cup of coffee today.  All minor everyday activities in the grand scheme of things; but each one adds up to a growing sense of ‘normality’.