One week down….Seven to go!
Four months ago a group of three; Sam Henning, Charles Page and I sat down at The Teapot Tea Shop Café in Maidenhead and came up with an idea to take our training abroad. If we wanted to train seriously then we would need to get away from the rain, the wind and the dark! An adventure was required to get ourselves out of our comfort zones (the ones provided by our parents, not the training ones!?) and improve all aspects of our training from the types of Roads, the Climate and find some more testing Altitude. Four months of working at Cycle Right had allowed me to get some cash together and during this time I got organised for this adventure we are now on with Sam and Charles.
Calp in Spain our destination; a big villa our accommodation; and the unknown our inspiration!
The first step was an early morning trip for Sam and me to Luton through the rain and wind and definitely in the dark at 3.10am. Charles joined us a few days later. A flight to Alicante and then a bus to Calp with our suitcases and bike boxes was the first bit on our new foreign soil.
That already seems a distant memory. We have arrived and feel very much part of the cycling world here on the coast.
The training has been hard and the climbs are massive. Back home in the UK round where I live finding an eight minute climb is hard. The most commonly used climb here is called Col de Rates which can give me about three times the duration - just under 20 mins!
My overall training regime is consistent with before Christmas but there are few breaks or alterations to deal with the weather – here I can just plug away consistently. It is very rare that I have need sessions to be shortened. Out here there is no need for a turbo trainer and no bad weather.
This week I put in 380 miles on the bike and climbed three times the height of Mont Fuji! (maybe next stop could be Japan!). This first week is by far my biggest ever week on a bike . Along the way I had a few experiences from almost sliding out while following the world tour hitters Quickstep Floors; to carrying a free Pro Cofidis water bottle 2 hours from the top of a climb all the way home – a treasured gift such is the tight budget I am on.
Over the next two weeks I have much of the same planned. The big thing on the horizon is a ride from Calp to Valencia - 146 miles in one day. It’s going to hurt at between 8 and 9 hours on the bike.
Looking forward to see what this coming week has in store for me, and looking forward to many people that are coming out to see us, join in the endurance and the fun along the way.