Doesn't time fly, when your having fun.

Time flies....

Time flies when your having fun they say, and it so does. When I booked to fly down to Nice and to stay in Beaulieu on the French coast with Justin I thought in my head “blimey, thats a long time.” As always when I am here over 2 weeks have gone by and I am only a couple of days from having to head back to reality. Of course it will be good to see people, but that comes with the lack of opportunity to ride outdoor with my extremely select conditions I like to ride in, and being bloody cold most of the time too is rather miserable.

Pretty Beaulieu Sur Mer.

So looking back on the last 16 days in respects to training, how has it gone? Well I think back to when I came out, I had not been on the road for months on a bike. I had not done more than 2 hrs at one time sat on a bike either. So I just aimed to get some miles in. Initially you think to yourself, “right if I can ride every other day for say 3 hrs that would be good.” As any athletes think you soon forget that and do your ride for 3 hrs, then want to repeat it, then want to up that, then do it again, then its sunny for the 5th day in a row and you try to make the most of it and so on and so forth! I certainly have to say I have done this a little bit. In a way I could say I have done too much, the knee has been really good for the first 10 days but the last couple I have had a few little aches and pains going on. I have had these before but each time you curse yourself for doing too much for too long. I guess that is the small issue with not having a coach and having someone standing behind you holding you back when all you want to do it more and more.

Having said all this I am even now in a much better position than I was 3 weeks ago. I am looking forward to having my treatment team of Charlie and Laurence see how my muscles are and then we can move on and reassess what to do next. I am due out here again very soon so not too long of the chilly and wetter UK to tolerate.

Myself and three others from the local club GS Henley have entered the Giro Sardegna or Tour of Sardinia. We all did this event last year and really enjoyed it, we enjoyed the change of lovely weather for the week we were there, enjoyed the racing (not the downhill bits so much myself), and enjoyed the price which is incredibly cheap for what you get. This year with my training being possibly 3 months behind where I was last year I have entered with no real goals. Last year I went for some tough “training”, and the chance to see how I faired early in the year with some good competition. We were given a course in 2014 which had a few climbs which suited me and I ended up coming 9th in the GC (general classification). This year I would like to be able to purely complete each day without any knee issues and if I am able to be competitive in any way that would be a huge bonus.

The 2015 race is again over 6 stages, our hosts have moved the event to the north of the island which seems to be a little less hilly. They again have offered the race (6 stages, one being an individual TT and one a summit finish), accommodation, ALL food (and I believe wine too) for around £540 (dependant on the exchange rate you get. Truly awesome value. We have also found flights for less than £150 return including bike boxes. They also offer three events, the Grand Giro, the Medio Giro and also a more of a social sportive ride for those who do not fancy the hussle and bussle of racing and would like to get a good look at this beautiful country.

me being brave and not going any deeper....

So the count down starts for my first competitive outing of the year. With my weight now in a better place it will be interesting (if I am fit enough) to see how I climb on the few mountains they have in this years race.

Thanks as always to those who have taken time to read and find all of my grammar and spelling mistakes. :-)

Happy training.