Le Tour Challenge 2007

With the weather improving and the clocks going forward, we’re concentrating hard on increasing mileage, day after day.  Last weekend Mick did a run up from Tewksbury through the Cotswolds to Kenilworth and then out through the lanes towards Northampton.  Sean went out in the hiils in Monmouthshire followed by a 5 hour session on the MTB.  We both got out 4 days after work, once together, in our local lanes for a couple of hours taking advantage of the extra light. The plan is to build this up to a daily afternoon 50 mile session.

Beautiful weather today and we rode with Nick, a regular training mate of Sean’s.  Went out through Newport, Cwmbran, via the hilly lanes over to Tintern and stopped for a brilliant pizza sized teacake before heading home back over the hills via Usk.  Well, that would have plan…  The bottom bracket of Mick’s shiny new Pinarello, only freshly built up, loosened and started to unscrew.  With the crank arms  now hitting the chain stays, couldn’t go on with about 4 to run to Usk.  After stopping briefly by the gliding club, Sean was inspired use an inner tube as a tow and Mick suffered the indignity of being pulled into town like a lemon, much to the locals’ amusement, to be bailed out with a lift home.  Maybe this could be the way ahead…     

Having had a gentle spin yesterday to ease back into training, we went out together for 60 miles through the Vale of Glamorgan, most of the first half into the teeth of a 35 mph westerly wind.  We both seem to have recovered pretty well from our respective ailments and got along at a comfortable pace we felt we could have kept at for hours more.  With the days getting longer the focus now is to work towards building a consistent daily mileage base to ready ourselves for the challenge of getting up and riding every day for 9 days on end. Weather looks like its getting icy for a couple of days so back to the turbo trainers…  

Not been a good week for either of us.  Mick’s knee has been swollen for 5 days after an interval session on the turbo-trainer and had to take it easy to avoid repeat of 5 week lay-off required last year when foolishly thought best thing was to attempt to train through it.  Sean’s been riding hard but has come down with a cold that’s really sapped his energy.  We’re both looking at resuming normal service training this weekend…

Mick’s now back now from a 2 week holiday to Australia.  Training program took a bit of a back seat for a bit to catching up with family, chilling out and eating and drinking too much.  Got a couple of nice fast rides in the sunon Beach Road down towards Frankston and back on lovely Cannondale Six13 kindly loaned by brother in law.  Have to get back into the steady training routine again and work some of the excesses off.  Meanwhile, Sean’s been charging on fearlessly in the rain both on the road on on the trails.  He’s happy to have dropped to a weight under 13 stone for the first time in years.