March 31st Is it spring yet?

You will all be waiting with baited breath for the result of the West Suton little League League Cup Final Result. My sons team took an early lead only to find themselves 2-1 down a little later in the game, they turned that around to 3-2 up with one minute to got - then disaster the opposition equalised outside of the run of play. The poor parents had to suffer another half hour of tense and close play only to see our team loose 4-3 in extra time.

My training has been intermittent. I didn't ride at all last weekend (March 29th/30th). After doing 150 miles the weekend before (March 23rd) and have only done one 2 hour session in the gym in the last fortnight.

My motivation is lacking at the moment. Other people in my group are off with various illnesses and injuries and things at home quite busy and quite tense. I am looking forward to getting away to the reccie weekend at the end of May because that will make it real and give an impetus to training. It will also give me an indication as to where the others really are (you can't hide your performance when riding up French mountains)

Someone asked my why the Etap has categories for racers, spotivers etc. You probably are not aware of them if you booked through Sports Tours but the company I got my entry through (www.Etape.org.uk) asked us what category we thought we were which influences our race numbers. Also if you look at your number on the Etap site you will see you have been categorised. I have no idea about the organisation for the Etap or why there are different categories as it doesn't seem to make one jot of difference to your start number as far as I can see. I just accept the number I get given because I can't influence it. I am not worried about the first 80 miles - just from there to the finish scares the life out of me.

At least it is getting lighter and warmer here in the UK (so I am told as our office has no windows that let in light, we do have great big picture windows which look out at the ground floor of a 42 storey building 10 feet away so we can't tell whether it is light, dark, sunny or rainy, all we see is the odd pigeon trapped until it rises out of the dark).

On Saturday March 22nd in the morning I did family stuff at the garden centre. We then went to Corridori, the bike shop in Banstead as I wanted to get some energy gels and other bits. Whilst we were there we ended up buying a bicycle (no, not for me unfortunately) for my son’s birthday. We got him a Specialized Rock Hopper. He just fitted on a small adult size but it is considerably lighter than his current bike. He doesn't know we got it and will be (hopefully pleasantly) surprised on his birthday.

As soon as we got home Big G rang me. He had popped into the cycle shop to pick up some bits and they told him I had just left. We then arranged to go out that afternoon. We did 51 miles fairly fast over Leith Hill, probably fastest G has done it on the Bianchi recently anyway (he has been faster on his Look 595 bike). I was really feeling it on my legs.

Sunday I did a 100 mile ride between Reading and Basingstoke and back, a big loop, with a friend and his mates that were raising money through sponsorship for a mate of theirs who has been disabled in an accident. I left the house at 5:30 AM and drove to Reading. There were three of them on aluminium or steel hybrids and me on my carbon racing bike. We set off at 7:15 am at between 14 and 15 mph. The first major stop was just under 6 hours later when we had covered 62 miles (100 km). We stopped at a pub for a roast dinner and treacle pudding and custard (energy food). We then proceeded to finish off the ride with the average speed dropping to 10 mph. The last 20 miles was a real struggle for them and at one point I wondered if they would finish, but energy gels and Ibuprofen (for the knee problems they were suffering) got them through. They did really well and finished the ride at 17:30 some 10 and a quarter hours after starting. The M4 on the way home was a nightmare and I didn't get home until after 8:00 PM. Big trouble with The Wife.

The week after was very busy. On the Monday I was out last night with Big G and a couple of old friends from Barclays Rowing Club. Thursday I drove up to Leicester with my son to see my daughter at university and to visit the National Space Center - bet you didn’t know the UK had one, I didn't! Friday night I was out at drink up for a secondee I have been buddying for the last 6 months. The wife is not happy at all with me being out so much, more negative brownie points. Really in the doghouse badly, desperately need some brownie points but can't see any opportunity this week.

Mothers Day? Was it March 23rd: Oops! It was Mothers Day on the Sunday March 23rd in the UK (different date from the US and Australian Mothers Day) and as I had not seen my mum for a long time I should really have been seeing my Mum and my wife rather than cycling around Berkshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire. Next year , maybe.