The last time I wrote I planned on doing a 6hour ride the next day. Well….I did my 6hours but I don’t exactly know where! I got hopelessly lost. I did expect it. I thought I would end up with a 10hour day or something silly, so I took my address, 50euros, my phone, and 3 tubes. But maybe not the obvious….a map. But on the bright side I do know the roads now! By pure luck I got un-lost at 5hours 30mins done and ended up 30 mins from my house. Once, I knew this girl who always said (slightly cliché I know but never mind, she didn‘t say that, she said this) “What does not kill you will just make you stronger.” Maybe I’m supposed to be here……..
So enough of the superstitions. I have also been given my kit. I got the usual things, but its just so uncomfortable! As I write my shorts are still soaking in the sink of warm water in some attempt to make the chamois feel less like a plank of wood. Anyone who knows why I had to come home from Belgium last year also will know exactly why it is that I would like a comfy pair of shorts to race in!
This weekend I have just completed first my training camp. We stayed in Dinard about 5km from Saint Malo (a big ferry port where the overnight Portsmouth ferry docks). We rode there, and I did not understand my director the day before as I thought I was going to be driven there. So I turned up at the car park dressed in normal clothes and everyone else was in their kit ready to ride, a good start for me! So I had to get changed in the street in -2 degrees, which was fun for all concerned. We then rode to the digs and ate lunch. The afternoon was a hill session for 100km. It was hard but I earned the respect of my team-mates. Today (Sunday) was a 145km ride at a hard tempo home for lunch in the social centre where the meeting place for the team is. They were obviously impressed with me as they had a toast to, quote, “my for sure victories this year”. I was going to tell them not to give me bad luck but were not doing superstitions anymore………
My personal toast, without a charged glass I might add, here’s to a fantastic season the most important thing will be to remember “You make your own luck.”
