the moment of truth?

salut!


Bienvenue from my 2nd week in France, a crucial one at that. Crucial as this week is the first big weekend of the French racing calendar.

This starts with La Melrandaise 1/2/3 race tomorrow, a 150 rider field affair over 120km or so, and then La Route de Bretonne on Sunday, around 150 riders and 160km. Intending to do both I have been told to think of it as a Premier Calendar event on the Saturday and practically a pro race on the Sunday, with teams such as Saur Sojan and Roubaix-Lille Metropole present.







So what have I done this week to prepare for such a weekend? Well after last Sunday's race I took Monday easy with a spin for just over an hour up and down the canal to ease my legs out from the day before, and as per usual it poured with rain throughout!

Tuesday, and feeling abit more recovered I set out to do a steady 3hrs with some 10-20 second sprints thrown in to, one, mix the ride up a bit, two, to work on my shoddy sprinting! Three, to stop me getting to cold in yes you guessed it rain again!

This brought me onto Wednesday, and after a morning spent cleaning the bike (a daily occurance at the moment) I headed out for an hour and a bit before meeting up with the team for a ride. Heading out and on cue the heavens opened. To be honest by now I don't even realise its raining I've had so much! Out to Bubry and round I put Lochrist into my Garmin and headed off for the 2pm meeting at my team mates house. Arriving at Lochrist I realised something wasn't quite right. The church I was intended to turn left at to my team mate's house had disappeared. Even the hopeful scoot round the block couldn't uncover it.

1:55pm and it dawned on me....I was in the wrong town! Luckily I managed to phone my team mate who told me it was Languidic we were meeting in, about 12km away! This then meant a "hack" was in order as I sprinted through Lochrist up a 1km hill and along a main road into Languidic!

Thankfully they had waited for The Stupid English Man (my words not theirs fortunately!) With 6 of us out we headed off and with banter flowing, all be it in fast French, we tapped along at a good pace in the rain towards Plouay and back to Pont Augan where they delivered me to my door! Clearly they didn't want to risk me getting lost again! 4hrs done and dusted I headed for a much needed warm shower.


So thats the training for the week done, a day off yesterday and an easy hour and a bit today before tomorrow's big test! Quite apprehensive but also excited about what's in store over the next couple of days. So early in the season to have two big races it will be a real test but definately one I'm ready to take on! Whether I get a result in one, both or neither it will be much needed race miles and will be a stepping stone to the rest of the season!

Wish me luck!


below is my race calendar for the next month:



 February



26th La Melrandaise race 1/2/3

27th La Route De Bretonne ELITE

March


6th Manche Atlantique ELITE
13th Baud-Moreac ELITE
20th La Fleche De Lochmine ELITE
27th Le Boucles Gegonnaises ELITE