As the Pro peleton gets ready for the Tour de France by racing National Champs, I'm getting ready for the Tour by lying in bed and drinking coffee. I've had a fairly good batch of racing recently, and I must admit I'm feeling really really worn out.
A few weeks ago I was very happy to ride off the front on the final climb to claim the Pyrenees Championships. After that I got wear my new jersey as Champion in a stage race near Lourdes. This was a pretty cool stage race with some mean stages. The Time Trial stage was rolling for the most part, but finished up the first KM of Hautacam. I was happy with 7th place in the TT stage. Another stage went up over the Col du Soulor and then finished up the climb to Cauteret. I was well placed up the Soulor in the 6 man lead group after bridging up to them about half way up the climb. Then I lost it on the very wet descent with dodgy crabon rim breaking and never got back on. I also cracked on the final climb to the finish in Cauteret. But I was still 11th overall so that wasn't too bad. As a recovery ride the day after the tour I rode up Hautacam to see what all the fuss was about. Hmm.... recovery hey?!?
Then last week I did a stage race near Bezier. On paper it wasn't a hard stage race and I had planned to focus on he the Time Trial stage and hoped to go for the King of the Moutains jersey. The TT stage I managed, but the Mountains jersey... well.. I never even saw it. The first stage was actually very hard. There was a small group off the front when I went off on a short steep climb in the final 6 or 7 km and took one other
person with me. So I was 8th on that stage. The Time Trial stage went well as I rode to 3rd place on my beloved TT bike. The Mountain stage went a bit wrong and we really screwed it up as a team. Spend the day chasing. I eventually cracked on the last climb of the day. I just about managed to hang on and took the group sprint for the line. It was a long uphill drag to the finish. I don't actually know where I or we as a team finished on the final stage or in the overall. I'll post that when I find out. But overall it was a fairly good showing.
A few weeks ago I was very happy to ride off the front on the final climb to claim the Pyrenees Championships. After that I got wear my new jersey as Champion in a stage race near Lourdes. This was a pretty cool stage race with some mean stages. The Time Trial stage was rolling for the most part, but finished up the first KM of Hautacam. I was happy with 7th place in the TT stage. Another stage went up over the Col du Soulor and then finished up the climb to Cauteret. I was well placed up the Soulor in the 6 man lead group after bridging up to them about half way up the climb. Then I lost it on the very wet descent with dodgy crabon rim breaking and never got back on. I also cracked on the final climb to the finish in Cauteret. But I was still 11th overall so that wasn't too bad. As a recovery ride the day after the tour I rode up Hautacam to see what all the fuss was about. Hmm.... recovery hey?!?
Then last week I did a stage race near Bezier. On paper it wasn't a hard stage race and I had planned to focus on he the Time Trial stage and hoped to go for the King of the Moutains jersey. The TT stage I managed, but the Mountains jersey... well.. I never even saw it. The first stage was actually very hard. There was a small group off the front when I went off on a short steep climb in the final 6 or 7 km and took one other
person with me. So I was 8th on that stage. The Time Trial stage went well as I rode to 3rd place on my beloved TT bike. The Mountain stage went a bit wrong and we really screwed it up as a team. Spend the day chasing. I eventually cracked on the last climb of the day. I just about managed to hang on and took the group sprint for the line. It was a long uphill drag to the finish. I don't actually know where I or we as a team finished on the final stage or in the overall. I'll post that when I find out. But overall it was a fairly good showing.Yep, there are fat guys in France too...
So now I am trying to recover a little. Before the Tour near Bezier I was exhausted and spent the week feeling terrible. I did well in the Tour but I think the fatigue has accumulated and I want to make sure I am well rested for the Tour trip with Bikestyle. The trips are actually very demanding. The riding, although usually fairly slow, is long hours on the bike. The start times are early and the nights are usually late. OK fine, so they are late because you hang out at the Bar drinking beer with everyone... yeah yeah.. tough life. :-)
Weather has been shit here. So I'm going to wait for the sunny parts of the day and go for some medium length easy rides. Ohhh... time for more coffee.
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