rainin' on mah pirayd

As I’m sure you have all seen, there is some rather bad weather going around. Parts of Switzerland and Austria are under feet and feet of water, there’s bad flooding all over the place. Well although my little home of Cadalen southern France is known for being bloody hot and the home drought conditions, we have also been suffering from this bad batch of weather. This last week has been crappy to say the least. We’ve had covered skies, and even a few drops of rain. Get this; a couple days ago I went out for a fast ride with Alphonce, we were wearing arm warmers… unheard of for this part of the world at this time of year. I must say I miss my melted roads, I like suffering from a permanent state of severe dehydration. It’s actually even drizzling right now as I type. So… as I’m sure you can guess, knowing me as you all do, I’ve been pretty demoralized this week and have had trouble getting out on the bike. I’ve also damaged my left shoulder a bit, so I can’t lift much and it hurts resting on the bars on anything longer than a 1 hour ride.

So apart from my hard and fast ride with my training buddy Alphonce on Sunday and a recovery ride yesterday, there isn’t much else to say… I’m not even sure if I’ll do my intervals today, going out in the rain just doesn’t appeal to me, sorry, but there is a good reason I hated England… hours and hours and hours on end of riding in the freezing cold British August rain has made me feel like I’ve had my fair share of rain riding to last me a lifetime.

Right… hopefully there’ll be more to tell y’all about next time.
Oh yeah, I hope you all followed Jeremiah Bishops recent exploits at the Snowshoe round of the NORBA MTB series, he’s kicking some big old ass and it’s good to see. Keep it up JB, the big BIG one is just around the corner.

Back to my ROOTS...

Sunday:
Today I went to do a Mountain Bike race. It started at the top of the Superbagnere ski resort in the high Pyrenees. Very hot, lots of Altitude… . It sucked-ass! The course was shit, mainly field crossings, some off camber singletrack that had a sheer drop on one side, (but a lot of climbing that was good) blah blah blah. I got hit by a tourist on the course going down an uphill section, he came round the corner and rode straight into me, the race lasted almost 3 hours, about 70% of the field didn't finish, I crashed twice = inflamed knee and inflamed ankle, finished 4th (but didn't know it) didn't hang around at the end and went straight home ie: missed out on some 4th place money.

Catching up.

This week I’ve been feeling a bit rough. My knee and ankle have been hurting. Tuesday I got in 4 hours again, with some TT intervals in the morning and a long ride in the evening, Intervals on Wednesday, Thursday it rained so I did 2 hours of intervals instead of my planned 3 or 4 hour ride. It’s been nice to have our visitor, I like having people around.

Sunday I did yet another Mountain Bike race. I don’t know what is happening to me but I’m getting slowly back into Mountain Bike racing. I say slowly because I suck at it now. I’m fairly fit so I can hold my own, but my technical riding is just plain embarrassing. So raced the Rialet MTB race. I came home a little disappointed, but I’m not sure why because I did quite well. I was 5th. Alphonce was 2nd, so that was really good to see him up there kicking some assio. There were some good riders there, including the Espoir women’s French National Champ who I think was 5th or something at worlds. I felt really bad because I had never heard of her. The day went well, I didn’t crash or anything, but I did notice I can hardly turn corners on my MTB, and I’m really slow when we hit technical stuff. (When I say really slow, I mean comparatively of course. I used to be a very technical and smooth rider…)

Thursday
Well yesterday I finished all the kitchen work. I did the plumbing, built a sink structure and work surface etc etc. Yesterday Pat and I went to the Sidobre to get some bits of black granit work surface to finish it all off. It’s been a lot of work, but I’m really happy with it. The kitchen now looks like a kitchen, where as before (as most of you know) it looked yucky and crap.

I’ve been feeling very tired this week, but still getting in my rides and intervals.. I’m guessing I’ll either flop this weekend and the tiredness will catch up with, maybe even as a cold; or I’ll pull through and feel really good… who knows.

This coming weekend I’m either doing a road race in the name of Jalabert, or a Mountain Bike race in the Pyrenees. As usual I can’t decide…

Visitors:
So… I’m waiting to see in this seasons (expected) revelation John Parks is going to come over to do some racing. If he does we’ll do some racing in northern France, the Pyrenees, some TTs etc.

Tim Dingus and his new wife Beth will be arriving for their honeymoon on September 19th. That’ll be really fun and good to see them again.

In October we should have 3 people coming over to ride for a week. One of them is Rick Martinez… so those of you wondering “what’s happened to Rick” well I might be able to tell you in a little while. I’m not totally sure if they are coming over, but that’s the plan.

Oh… silly me, I forgot to mention some… we have some people coming for about a week I think arriving on Tuesday, and I think we have some old colleagues on Pat’s from England arriving some time in October… the usually Green visitor spree… I love it.
Anyone else wanna come over? :-)

Thursday

Yesterday I did hill rep intervals. 1 minute intervals at 500 watts, and 30 second hill sprints at over 600 watts. It hurt. But today I spent the morning doing some cleaning work as I have destroyed a big concrete structure in the kitchen. I’m going to redo the kitchen. This evening we have a friend coming for a few day to visit.
So I went out and met Stephane at the Café in Gaillac. We stopped and had a quick drink, then did that gorgeous (in both meanings of the word) Bruniquel loop with quite a bit of climbing. I did intervals on the hills and felt really good for the first time in bloody ages. When we got home to Gaillac, Steph went home, and I carried on to finish off with something 4.5 hours and 120k.

Tuesday August 2nd

Today I did some intervals in the morning, then went out for a ride in the evening with Stephane. The weather is nice, the days a warm (hot actually). It was a good day, I got in 4 hours.

Saturday

Yesterday I did nothing, had a day off the bike. I’m racing Sunday and the ace starts at the top of a Pyrenean ski resort.. that makes me a little nervous. It’s a Mountain Bike race, and once again I haven’t ridden the MTB in a long time… so I’m going back to my good old race preparation methods of a few years back: hard work during the week, followed by 2 easy days before the race. We’ll see how it goes.

I met Stephane again this morning for an easy spin to shake the legs out. I didn’t feel too good, but “tomorrow is the next day” as a wise man once said.. (hmmmm…..)
Until next time….

thursday

I’ve spent a couple of strange days. I’ve been feeling tired, and I’ve also been watching 2 guys I’ve been racing with for a few years do their first pro race with AG2R. Both are local guys. Some people are just really talented and exceptional in this sport, but I don’t believe these guys are. I’ve had a hard time seeing them get results in their first pro, when just a few weeks ago I was racing with them, and they are not exceptional. I’m really jealous. Even though I’ve decided to finish school, and I haven’t been training properly, I’m still jealous.

Anyway; today I went out for a ride with Stephane. I’ve spent the last 2 days doing intervals. It really hurt doing intervals after spending 3 weeks with Bikestyletours.com doing very long but also very low intercity rides. I met Stephane at the café in Gaillac, and we sat and had a coffee for a little while, watched the world go by etc. Then we got on the bikes and did my much loved Bruniquel loop where you ride along the tops of hills with great views, before plummeting down into the Aveyron gorges. It was a great sunny day. I did a bunch of 30second 450W intervals on the climbs and felt pretty good. Once we headed back into Gaillac after 80k, I left Stephane and prolonged the ride a little. So I did 4.5 hours, about 120k. I really enjoyed the ride and felt pretty good. It was one of those rides that you long for for months… the kind of ride that reminds you what riding should really be about: great views, good fun, good company etc.

Thursday

I’ve spent a couple of strange days. I’ve been feeling tired, and I’ve also been watching 2 guys I’ve been racing with for a few years do their first pro race with AG2R. Both are local guys. Some people are just really talented and exceptional in this sport, but I don’t believe these guys are. I’ve had a hard time seeing them get results in their first pro, when just a few weeks ago I was racing with them, and they are not exceptional. I’m really jealous. Even though I’ve decided to finish school, and I haven’t been training properly, I’m still jealous.

Anyway; today I went out for a ride with Stephane. I’ve spent the last 2 days doing intervals. It really hurt doing intervals after spending 3 weeks with Bikestyletours.com doing very long but also very low intercity rides. I met Stephane at the café in Gaillac, and we sat and had a coffee for a little while, watched the world go by etc. Then we got on the bikes and did my much loved Bruniquel loop where you ride along the tops of hills with great views, before plummeting down into the Aveyron gorges. It was a great sunny day. I did a bunch of 30second 450W intervals on the climbs and felt pretty good. Once we headed back into Gaillac after 80k, I left Stephane and prolonged the ride a little. So I did 4.5 hours, about 120k. I really enjoyed the ride and felt pretty good. It was one of those rides that you long for for months… the kind of ride that reminds you what riding should really be about: great views, good fun, good company etc.

“Needleless” back treatment…

I found a Doc to treat me yesterday evening. They gave me hundreds of little injections in my back. About an injection for every square cm of my back... the whole back, and even my neck got loads of injections… I handled it quite well considering I’m scared of needles (no wonder I suck at cycling)… after that they put my through a bunch of adjustments and I felt a bit better. I couldn’t get to sleep last night, and this morning my back was really stiff and after the treatment. So I’m not racing today of course. I’m sitting around trying not to move my back too much.

I’m also a bit sick. I seemed to get a bit sick just before come back home from the Bikestyle trip. That’s what happens when you share a bus with loads of people, move hotel every day etc etc. My lungs are full of phlegm and it feels remarkably like the thing I had about 3 weeks ago after that MTB race. Maybe if I could get some consistent training through the winter months, I could stay healthy during the season.. or maybe I just have a weak body.. I don’t know.

I’m going to go for an easy 1 hour spin and see how I feel… come home, enjoy a meal out on the balcony, and go out for another ride in the afternoon if I don’t feel too bad.Shit I hate this... I hate feeling like this.

good, or no good... ??

2 days in the Pyrenees was really good. However… although fun it wasn’t all great. The 1st day I got the there I went out on the MTB and got lost on the Aspin mountain.. then got caught in some rain as I had ridden down into the neighboring valley. I felt really shit on the bike, but I figured that was just due to the past 2 weeks of long rides. So on the second day I got up early, had breakfast and headed out on the road bike to do both sides of the Aspin followed by the Tourmalet. It was incredibly hot… I did both sides of the Aspin and started the Toumalet but soon realized it wasn’t a good idea. I was feeling really rough. It’s my back once again. The pain even on the bike was excruciating and it was a hindrance to my breathing. Once I got back to the tent, I realized just in how much pain I was. I had assumed it was the mountain hurting me. Unable to move, I lay down for most of the day with my lungs constantly wheezing with asthma. I didn’t sleep last night either.. not only was the breathing just too hard to sleep, but massive mountain thunder storms came down and flooded the tent… oh well. This morning I got up and packed everything up wet into the car. I’ll hang it out to dry over the next couple days. My first priority is finding a doctor to sort my back out. I was planning on racing the MTB tomorrow, but that looks very unlikely, unless I can find some that can treat me this afternoon… Ugh… such is life with my fucked up back… it’s been years, but I’m really starting to realize that I need to be careful.. if I can’t get some serious treatment I’m going to be bedridden in the next few years. Someone has already said I have the back of a 70 year old… Ugh

And he’s off again. Pyrenees training camp.

Right, it’s nice weather out there, so I’m taking my MTB and road bike with the power-tap and I’m going to spend a few days camping at the foot of the Aspin and the Tourmalet. I’ll probably do 2 rides a day, 1 MTB and 1 road.
When I was in that area about a week ago I told myself I really had to go back with the tent and the MTB, hang out, relax and ride some mean trails. So here I go… so long suckers………

Back in the game mate...

Well here we go… I’m back. I got back in yesterday afternoon, I flew from Paris to Toulouse, got home and went for a ride with Stephane. We did a nice little 2+ hour ride. I’m really really tired from all the riding we did with Bikestyletours.com. It was a great trip with some really cool people. I met lots of new people and have found out a lot more about Aussies. They are a great nation of people, nothing phases them, they don’t care, they roll with the punches, suck it up and laugh at everything. We had some great townsign sprints, great rides in the mountains and sadly, even a couple of crashes.

I’ve ridden 20 hours a week for the past two weeks. Lots of the rides were slow, but with the mountains they were still quite hard. I put in a LOT of hours in the saddle that’s for sure. Some of the rides were fast, with lots of accelerations etc. Some of the guys on the trips were ex-racers, some were current racers, and so there was a group that was really tearing it up on the incredibly hot roads of France.

I have just spent 3 days up north finishing in Paris (and many days in the mountains before that) where it was raining. So today was a bit of a shock to me when I awoke to some really REALLY hot weather. I did a recovery ride today, but it was so hot that even when there was a breeze, it was like air coming out of an oven… just bloody hot.

I’m going to try an MTB race this weekend I think, then some road next weekend… we’ll see what kind of shape I’m in. I’ve got a good base now, but I’m sure I need intervals etc.

Right.. “off to bed hey, get an early night hey mate” as Pat Jonkers would say..

SHREWWWS and roots MTB racing.

Sunday I did the Midi Libre MTB race in the Gard area of France. It was a return to my roots… remember… roots… shrews…?! No? Well, you had to be a part of the Subaru MTB series with me back in 1999. Oh well.

So I was up at 4am to get to the race over in the middle of noplace in the Seveen something region of France. It was a big race (I found out once I got there)… I was just going to ride around with my buddy Alphonce. So, there were some good guys there, guys from Lapierre, Maxxis etc. I guess some of the guys who didn’t want to go to the World Cup in Canada. There were 170 of us on the start line. Wow, for an MTB race… and that’s just in my category. Seeing as the race was part of a series, I had to start way back on the start line as it was my first race. It was one big loop, and get this, it was such a hard race, that it took us almost 3.5 hours to do the 45km loop!!! Anyway, I surprised myself and managed to finish 12th. I was very happy with myself. Maybe I should put the result down to my careful choice of equipment. I got my bike loaded with all the aerodynamic advantages I could… I used spinergy wheels.. etc… OK fine, so I went down to the basement before the race and pulled up my dusty MTB, it just so happened to have those wheels on it… great, they are heavy and it was a very VERY hilly course. Duh!
Maybe I’ll start MTB racing again….

My thoughts go out to Jeremiah who flatted while in 4th place at the Canada World Cup on Sunday…. That’s gotta suck!!! I’m gonna be looking out for the big man himself at the next round this coming weekend… lets all hope he has a flawless ride and pulls of the result he deserves! He’s obviously in good shape, so… Go JB.
If JB stopped fucking around on his MTB though, I bet he could save himself some serious electricity bills with the watts that bastard puts out! Hook his turbo-trainer up to a capacitor… use his wheel as a fan to cool the house down… ecologically sound Bishop housing.
Have I been drinking?

hoooooooooo..........

Shit me… Have I mentioned it’s hot over here…?!

Summer Plans

So… I’m trying to figure out my summer. Right now it looks like I’ll be working following the Tour in July, then coming back home and doing the Ronde du Gard Elite stage race here in France in August. It’s a 5 day event… but it’s a French style stage race… none of your crits or circuit race bullshit! J It’s 5 days of 130kms per day… in a hilly area of France… and in bloody HOT weather… OUCH.
Then it looks like I will be going to the US where I will do the Virginia State Time Trial Championships as well as the MABRA Time Trial Championships. This will be interesting as my thing is more short Time Trials. These are both 40k TTs. Although our road races are longer here, our TTs are shorter, so it’ll be interesting to see how I do. It looks like I will only arrive in the US 2 days before the TTs (they are back to back Sat, Sun) so the jetlag will no doubt have an effect. Then it looks like there is a small chance that I might do the Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont, and then the Univest Grand Prix, a UCI event in Pennsylvania.
Of course the main reason for my going back to the US is for Tim’s wedding.. yep.. that’s right.. the “drunk” is getting married… “who’da thunk it.” J
So.. that’s the plan for now… of course I’ll probably change my plans a hundred times between now and August, but that’s normal… some things never change.

July

I will be away again in July, working for Bikestyletours.com during the Tour de France. I have to get myself and my bike up to Paris for the 8th. I’m looking forwards to riding around and sharing this great riding country with the people on the bikestyletours.com trips. It should be a great TDF… I can’t wait!

Grounded

My thoughts go out to Greg who’s lying at home with a dislocated arm that he sustained upon his return from Airbus training a few weeks ago. Poor Greg is going to be housebound during the Tour de France… I’m sure we all feel really bad for the poor guy. We’ll be thinking of you there Greg, sitting in front of OLN, watching the Tour with a big old Belgian Beer in your one good hand. Maybe we should all come round in case you need to change the volume on the TV and your hand is already filled with a beer bottle.

Sadly Greg is unable to ride his beautiful carbon Lemond bike however… It’s Ok Greg.. I’ll put in the miles for you. :-) (well.. actually I think John Parks is putting in the miles for all of us!)

The last couple days

Well here we are again.. it’s summer! The weather is blisteringly hot… the roads are melting and my bike tires are dragging tar back into the house after every ride. I’m getting through litres and liters of water a day, and the sunscreen has become as vital as the air we breath.

I thought that once I had finished with school, I would have a lot more time to catch up with this sort of stuff.. but that hasn’t been the case.

Yesterday I went out on an MTB ride in the morning (I’m racing the MTB Midi Libre this weekend) and I discovered a stunning view. After riding through a bunch of fields, I found myself on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the Tarn, with a view that covered everything from Albi to Gaillac. In the distance I could see the heat hazed Mazamet Black mountains. I couldn’t see the Pyrenees though, it was too hot.

So after my MTB ride, I came home and had lunch on the balcony. Even though I sat in the shade (of course) it was a sweat fest of a lunch. Then I relaxed a little bit with a coffee to digest, before heading out for a 50k ride on my time trial bike in the afternoon. I chose a hilly loop as I wanted to really get a feel for the TT bike on hills (it sucks). So I headed out in possibly the hottest weather we’ve had yet, with only one water bottle. I did the hilly ride in 1h30, but when I got home I actually got a little scared. I was in a bit of a state. My body wasn’t reacting too well to the effort and fatigue from the ride in such heat… I think I pushed a bit too hard considering I was already tired and obviously dehydrated… still.. it was fun and a cool ride. So to cool off, I went over to hang out in a friend’s swimming pool in the evening.

After a stifling night, I woke up this morning feeling crappy. I’ve consumed VAST quantities of fluids since yesterday evening. It’s stupid hot again, and I’m about to head out for a ride. I was planning on doing my very hilly 100k loop, but seeing as there are no places to stop and get water on that loop, I’m going to do a different one.

Dead Tired. Need rest.

Well here we go again. The seriously hot weather is back. I love it.. it’s so hot you can’t do anything.

After 2 straight weeks of intervals, TT intervals, uphill sprint intervals and motorpacing, I rode Plateau de Beille and col du Chioula with my buddy Alphonce on Friday. I was so so tired. The intervals really took their toll. I was totally totally dead Friday evening. Yesterday I did 2 hours easy, and now today I’m heading down to the mountains again to watch the Route du Sud (where TIAA-Creff are racing) but mainly to ride the Col du Portillon with Stephane. Depending on how he feels, we might do it twice, and we might add the col de Peyresourde. After that I think will force myself to take 2 much needed and deserved recovery days.

Next week I plan on going down to Limoux for a couple days, and hanging out with James Hewitt, a British cyclist racing for the Bouygues Telecom development team Castelsarasin. We’ll hang out, drink coffee, and ride a little… but we’ll mainly do some relaxing and “battery recharging”.
So until next time.. A bientot.

still alive?

woahoooo.. it's about time I updated this thing!!!
I've busy as a .... erm.. well.. I've been busy! University, training, racing... drinking coffee... you know how it is!

Rick MArtinez emerged the other day... so it was good to hear from him...

Ok, I'll try and keep this thing unpdated a little more...

Later y'all
Grim Seen

Return to the USA countdown.

Only a few day before I jump onto a plan with my beloved bike to leave some quality Michelin rubber on the roads of Virginia. The weather here has turned a bit crap, and it is chilly and wet again. It’s OK though, I’ve been getting in some big rides, so I was planning on a slightly easier week anyway. I’ll also be doing the Carlo Dolan Crit on the 17th in the US. I’m looking forward to getting into the US peleton again. I hate Crits, but it’ll be good for me. It will be interesting to see how I feel, racing just 2 days after getting off the plane.
Sunday I am doing a 140k race down in the foothills of the Pyrenees. I was looking forward to this, but they are calling for snow and rain. I need to race, and I really want to race. I also really want to get in a couple of longish races, but I don’t want to crash and risk messing up my trip. If anything goes wrong, I’ll only have 3 days to recover. So my plan is to sit in and get some miles, I’ll pull out after 100k if it is too hairy… ie: if I see 4 or 5 crashes by the 100k point, I’ll get in the car. (I say that now, but I’m when it comes down to it, I’ll really think “Oh good, I’m staying in, 5 crashes means less people…”)

Stay Tuned.