So in brief training is going well and to plan, with 2 months to go the start of the official racing season I am getting excited and eager to turn the pedals competitively once again in what seems like such a long time! My Christmas holiday's consisted of mainly revision and riding! Had a 10 day spell in France which was a nice way of escaping sub zero British Temperatures! Never have 10c temperatures felt so tropical!
This also consisted of doing the 'Vendange tardive' which translates to English as the 'late harvest' this is where the grapes have begun to become dehydrated as they are picked so late in the season resulting in a sweet wine which usually accompanies desert. Myself, Patrick Harris (Friend and Mechanic), Caroline Laker (Mum) and Greg Morley Smith (Step Dad) all embarked on helping the local farmers/wine growers! early morning rise and a coffee around the table and we were off! Nets were first taken of the vines (protecting them from insect infestation) then the grapes cut with care. Now grape picking may sound easy but running up and down a hill several times and being bent over all day certainly isn't as easy as it sounds. Any how we were treated to a huge meal, and enough alcohol to satisfy anyone's demand! However I had to decline as I needed a couple of hours in the saddle before darkness. Turns out the grapes we were picking sell for 20 euroes a bottle! and he sold 1200 of them! Sounds the business to be in!!! However maybe not so, a quick mention to my mum who works on various farms, 5 days a week doing an 8 till 6 shift, this is extremely physical work, which deserves credit, as you don't realise how labour intense farming is, So hats off to you mum and lots of respect for that!
Since returning to England temperature's have increased and..... I have a new toy ooo yes a Cycleops power meter. My reading whilst in France was 'training with power' written by Hunter Allen Phd. Its a very in depth book but at the same time very use full and its a necessity to gain an understanding of the figures and then being able to use them to aid future performance! However I will soon post some data from the WKO+ 3.0 software however certain tests still need to be undertaken, and then I will begin to post rides to twitter.
Well what else, in the past few days with Patrick I have visted Sigma Sport and GB cycles to get the final parts for the 2011 race bike and to finish of the TT bike. The TT bike is near complete, the sonic wheels are just being built with new Novatec Hubs, to replace the Broken sonic hubs! which are currently in the Hands of Andy Duffin (AD Cycles) who has done a brilliant job of building up my power tap into Ambrosio Excellight rims. Also I am waiting for a 14-25 Ultegra 6600 cassette from wiggle however due to Christmas I accept the delay! this will then be put on the FFWD 50mm Tubs on its arrival. However bikes atm are looking extremely smart and thanks Patrick for doing a great job in building them. (pictures coming soon).
So training is going well, revision could do with a little improvement, Seagulls are top by 6 points and bikes looking smart! Lets hope for a fantastic 2011.
Ciao for now
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