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.

Tour of Shenandoah:

I’m coming over to the US to do the Tour of Shenandoah with the Trek VW team. I’m really looking forward to the race. Usually this would be my kind of race, long point-to-point mountain stages. If only it were later in the year, and I could have spend some serious time in the Pyrenees riding my favorite climbs. Sadly that’s not the case… so I’m a little unsure about my fitness.

I’m really excited about the race. This is going to be one of the first times we have a clear leader, and everyone will have a clear job to do. This is more the kind of racing I like and look for. I don’t like racing for myself, that’s not how I think. I hope I’ll be strong enough to put my climbing experience to good use.

Thanks to Jeremiah Bishop for spending a LOT of time putting this composite team together and taking care of so many things.

Scott Gibbons:

Scott Gibbons has come and left. We had a great time riding and racing. We did a TimeTrial and a stage race. Scotts first few day here saw us ride in the rain and SNOW… only to get suntans a few days later. We did some great rides, Scott managed to crash every day he was here… well… almost… Scott saved it every time, but it was close. I don’t think a day went by without Scott either running into my rear wheel or going off the road into the ditch. See what happens when you mess around Scott.

The racing was good. We got to stand next to each other on the podium of the TT we did. Good start to the season for both of us. In the Stage race we did, we finished pretty much next to each other, and had fun doing Borat impressions. Pour French guys didn’t know what was going on. Scott has returned to the US and has been racing well. This is the second time he’s been over to race here in France, and he says racing here has taught him to be far more aggressive in the races back home, and see racing in a totally different light. Go for it Scott… attack! It’s better than sitting in the main field and finishing in anonymity.
Hope you can come back over here soon Scott!

1st 1st in 2005

Scott Gibbons and I went out to Carcassonne to do a Time trial, that was part of a team style duathlon sort of event.
The cold weather has started to move out now and today was a warm and sunny one.
The course was really hilly, with lots of STEEP climbs and lots of courners. It was very hard to ride the course on a Time Trial bike.

We ended the event by standing on the podium. Scott was 2nd, and I was 1st. It couldn’t have been a better finish with both of us so close to each other.

The event was a reassuring test for next week stage race (also very very hilly).

After the race we headed in to the old city of Carcassonne for some tourist activities. That means some visiting, photo taking, but mainly coffee drinking in the cafes.

Stuck in Airport.

Scott Gibbons finally got here today, after spending something like a 12 hour delay sitting in Amsterdam airport stuck by the snow.
It was a total nightmare trip for Scott.

To make things worse, his bike was even more delayed, and didn’t get here until a few days later.

Stuck in Airport.

Scott Gibbons finally got here today, after spending something like a 12 hour delay sitting in Amsterdam airport stuck by the snow.
It was a total nightmare trip for Scott.

To make things worse, his bike was even more delayed, and didn’t get here until a few days later.

Running away from a fake winter.

Well, winter plods on. Although I’m not sure you can really call it winter. We’ve had over a week’s worth of really nice weather. All the windows in the house are open, and it is so warm that I was even able to take a shower with the bathroom window open.

Sadly, I haven’t been able to make this most of the weather. I’ve been sick. I felt better for a couple of days mid week, but have now come down with something different. Add that to the fact that this is exam time… and the result is that my bikes are starting to gather dust.

I went on for a a few rides last week. I tried to ride alone as I really wasn’t feeling good and wanted to be able to come home if I felt bad. I was then talked into running a 10km race last Sunday. There were 240 people on the start line… it was hard and fast. The winter is ranked 5th in the world… or in France… I don’t remember, they’re runners, if there aren’t any wheels involved, it means little to me.

The big road races start soon, about a week after my last exam, so I’ll really out of shape and hating every minute of the race… I can’t wait. :-)

Well… I’d better go and stick my nose in some books, while the sun shines on others out hitting the blacktop.

Better late than never

Wooow.. how long has it been???

Sorry folks. I’ve been away in the UK for x-mas… and I’ve been sick for a little while.

I’ve also got a load of work that I’m getting behind on… so… I know… I really need to keep this thing up to date.
Sorry.

More soon

All the best to all of you.
Happy New Year.

Job at University?/Birthday Monday

Yep, today is my birthday… and to celebrate I have a full day of classes! Great stuff.
I did get an interesting offer from the head of the English Department today though. The University has offered me some lessons there… Giving lessons this is, not getting them.
So, I might be both a student and a teacher at the University in Albi, a bit of a strange situation, but it could be an interesting one. I’m not sure I’ll take the offer, but it is something to think about, and more to the point it is very flattering to be offered something like this. I guess I’m not such a muppet in their eyes as I am in yours! :-)

Now I need to go catch up on all this work I am so behind in… (oups)

Sunday Raceday

I awoke to a wet and cold Sunday morning today. Luckily there was an Elite Open Cyclocross race in Montauban. I say luckily because if it weren’t for a Cyclocross race I wouldn’t have ridden in this weather. It’s strange to see it wet after a few weeks of really nice weather.

So I loaded the CX bike into the car, drove down to Gaillac to pick up my friend Stephane (and ex-tri-athlete) who wanted to come and watch and headed for Montauban.

It was nice to see one of the FFC (French Cycling Federation) officials there who I know. He interviewed us at a race last year and has been looking out for Evolution Cycling and has been really friendly ever since. It was lucky because I had forgotten my Foreign Permission Letter that allows me to race in France, so technically I wasn’t allowed to race. He smoothed things over for me and I headed off to warm up on the trainer.

The race hard. There were some big name there, and some Cyclocross specialists. The guy who won is aiming to be selected for the World Championships, and has finished in the top 20 of all of this year’s National Cup races. Then there were some other names like Azmaker, Estadieu, the usual local ex-pros/big guns.

Seeing as I have had this bad back for the past week, I found that I had asthma warming up and couldn’t get rid of it. I was also on the last line of the starting grid because I haven’t done many of the rounds in the series. As usual they shot off really fast from the gun. The course is boring and mainly all flat. This kind of course really kills me, I catch people up on the technical stuff, but then I suffer on the flats.

Still it was nice to get out there and race. I really felt it in my legs afterwards though. There was another reason other than my back, Asthma and bad start position for me not doing too well (sounds like I am listing off excuses doesn’t it?!) I crossed the line (having sprinted it out with another guy) with a totally flat rear tire.

It’s all good. I need to do a load more CX races to get myself back into shape and force my body to work hard. Sadly there aren’t too many left this year…

Telethon

Saturday: Today is a special day; it is a national fund raising day for charity and medical research. The Village of Cadalen organizes a bike ride that goes around the area and gives out balloons, collects money etc. I did this ride a few years ago, and there were very happy to have me join them… in fact I gather from what people have told me, that they have been talking about it ever since. 2 years ago I didn’t make it as I was racing, last year I was laid up in bed sick… so this year I showed my face. They were once again really happy that I had turned up. It’s a very slow ride, but it’s fun. We stop at every village in the area, the Maire comes out, and they put on coffee and cakes in the village hall. It was a fun group of guys, with lots of joking, and of course the inevitable questions about racing, the season etc etc. Again people where out clearing woods and yards, burdening stuff etc, so the smells were magnificent. In the morning, the smells lingered in the misty morning air, as we plodded through the vineyards, past awakening houses and into sleepy towns. After a thousand coffees, lots of cake, something like 3 hours and 40km I was back home to do some shopping and usual boring life stuff. In the evening there were some things going on in the town hall… there was a demo of country dancing… “YEEEEHAAAA”. My buddy Stephane joined us and we spend the evening drinking wine and shooting the shit over a good meal!

My body works again

Friday: A perfect night’s sleep… now that my back is better I thought I should get back on the bike. So I did an easy ride this morning before going to class, then in the afternoon and spent an hour and half on the Time Trial bike to see how my body felt under a little pressure. It was a nice day out. In was in the 50s. In fact yesterday it was 60 degrees… not back for December!!! People were out cleaning their yards before the winter, and burning wood and weeds, so the air was filled with loads of beautiful smells of all kinds of different wood…

Crack that back Yo…

Thursday: Once again I had a terrible night’s sleep, and didn’t ride at all all day as my back was bad. However I did go to the Doc today who realigned me and my back felt much better from then on. Right after that I spend the afternoon in classes.

Back to pain.

Wednesday:

My back pain is getting so back that I haven’t slept properly for a few days now. I woke up late night with a terrible back pain and asthma attack. I had to get up in the middle of the night and try to crack my back. It’s bugging me so much that I can hardly even eat. I went to classes today without eating breakfast. I will try to sit on the trainer again today, but we’ll see. My Doc appointment is tomorrow, so hopefully from then on I’ll be “back on track” and able to ride properly once more.

Paper days

Sunday and Monday: I stayed in and tried to write a paper… I sat on the trainer in the basement Sunday, but otherwise I spend my time typing.

Monday I was in class all day, and Tuesday I split my time between classes and this paper again. Once more I sat on the trainer in the basement.

Sunday, bloody (boring) sunday

Today I stayed indoors most of the day as I have a paper to write for Wednesday. I got on the bike for a short interval session down in the basement.

Intervals galore and some good wine.

Saturday: Today I got up and rode intervals again in the basement. I felt much better. Although my back is still really killing me and I can feel it is totally blocked up, it didn’t seem to bother me too much on the bike. I have a doctor’s appointment next Thursday, so I’m really looking forward to getting my back taken care of.

After the intervals I went into Gaillac to do some shopping and stuff, but the weather was great. Sunny and warm for this time of year. So once I got home I figured I really should get out on the bike. I knew I didn’t have much time, as it would get dark soon. So I took my Time Trial bike out and did my usual Time Trial test. That way I knew I’d get a ride in, even if it was short, and I thought be interesting to see how I react to a hard effort. I reacted well, my back didn’t bother me too much and I did a personal best on the “course”. Not bad for this time of year. It was promising and made me feel a lot better about myself as a whole.



Fete du Primeur; quit your wineing


Now comes the fun. Sat evening was the village party to celebrate the arrival of the Gaillac 2005 primeur wine. It’s a big meal where the whole village gets together to eat, and drink/compare wine. What’s interesting about these Fetes is that all primeur wine is made from Gamay grapes. So for people like myself who know nothing about wine, it puts things on a level playing field to enable me to compare the different Domaines. This is something I have never understood about the US. People over there choose their wine by the grape. You go to a restaurant or even a supper market, and wines are categorized according to the grape type. I’ve never been able to choose a wine in the US. The grape type is irrelevant. It is the Domaine, the earth, the process, the region of the country, the position of the vines on a hill (top of the hill or bottom) etc etc that makes the difference. And what a difference it makes!
Anyway… it was fun, good food, good wine, good company, but a late night…
Aller, vive the vin du Gaillacois, on veras si il est bon le 2004. (Hic)

Back problems: Wed Thu Fri

Wednesday looked like a good day for my usual 2 hour ride between classes. However my back had been blocked for a couple days and was really affecting my breathing. On the bike I wasn’t able to breathe well at all, my back was killing me and I had a lot of pain in one of my legs as well. I still got in my 2 hour ride, but at about 26 kph, which is pathetic. I suffered the entire time, and felt really bad after the ride. This back pain has also been stopping me from sleeping properly.

Thursday: my back was still really bad, and I didn’t touch the bike at all. Actually I did touch the bike, I touched them all as I made the most of the sunny weather to wash pretty much every single one of my bikes.

Friday: I rode intervals indoors on the trainer. Sometimes a harder effort forces my lungs to put pressure on my back and loosen thing up a bit. That isn’t something I like to try out on the road, I would rather try that in the safety of my own house. That way if I feel really bad, I can get off the bike. I didn’t feel too bad, and was able to complete my interval session, but I sure didn’t feel good either.

Subway pro cycling team

What a hard week
Monday and Tuesday were my usual class and weight lifting days.
Tuesday I received an offer from the US based Subway Pro cycling team. However the offer wasn’t great, and with only 48 hours to make a decision I ended up having to refuse the offer. Not an easy thing to do! By Signing with Subway I would have also had to find another job to enable me to live in the US. Obviously I didn’t have enough time to really sort that out. So right now, things are really not looking good for me next year. I have no idea what I’m going to do and who I’m going to race for. As a last resort I will stay in France and race for a Canadian/French team called Limoux based down near Carcassonne, but obviously I would much rather find a ride for next year. Something with more support; that would enable to me to live someplace new, do new and different races, and allow me to gain more experience both on and off the bike.

Hot and Cold.

Sunday

Well, cold and hot actually. This morning I went for a 2 hour road ride with Alphonce in the freezing cold weather. There was frost on the group as we trundled through to Albi and back via the other side of the river past Castelneau to Levis. The sky was blue and the sun was out, so the temperature quickly warmed up from the 2 degrees (Celsius!) on our morning ride, to a happy 17 degrees (over 60F) for our afternoon MTB ride. In the afternoon we rode for 1 and a half hours through the woods at Sivens. The only down side was that it was so warm, that every man and his dog (literally) had come out to stand in the middle of the trails and act all surprised every time they saw another walker, dog or person on a bike. I hate dogs. They are so annoying and needy… always in the way too. Anyway… come to think of it, when I’m on the mountain bike, I hate anything or anyone that isn’t BEHIND me. :-)

The ride was good. I felt good on the MTB, which was a bit of a surprise because I felt really really tired this morning on the road bike. I was also unable to eat anything all day… very strange for me! I had a good breakfast, but could make myself eat in time for the afternoon ride... so I didn’t, but I held out.
Tomorrow is back to a full day of classes and no riding.