CYCLING

July may be the month that most people consider as cycling's time to shine, but for me it's May! Well to be more specific, May while in England and the weather has turned to what I can only describe as a wetter, colder, windier version of what we call spring/summer. Basically in addition to my own personal daily races I come home in time to watch the final 20-50km of the Giro which is usually incredibly exciting (to watch)...I'm sure those racing it would use different words to describe there feelings towards the final 50 KM each day. Either way, fun to watch. After a nice little dinner and some relaxation the Tour of California pops up its live HD (and I mean HIGH DEF) coverage of the final 2 hours or so of the race. Now on one hand I am a true cycling fan at heart and really enjoy the excitement and agony you see in the race..the flip side of the coin is that I have raced the Tour of Cali on 2 occasions - 2010,2011 - and had a little success in each one (getting in a break...about as much as most domestic teams hope for). So, it's a bit bitter sweet to watch an event you've been part of in the past. Not to take anything away from from what I'm doing over here, I'm really enjoying the experience and the new races/racing on this side of the pond, I think I might just chalk this one up to a "the Grass is always greener" type situation. If I was racing in the US I would probably look at something like Tour de Haut Var and have similar feelings.

Speaking of Haut Var, when I look back that seems like AGES ago, I mean it was nearly 3 months ago but the memory from that first race has been archived well into the past. The thought of that though also made me realize that the season is now over the hump. I'm not in count down mode at this point but it seems crazy to think that we're half way through the season already. Looking back at the first part of the year I think there are a lot of things I can take away from it and positives I can draw from. Racing over here has truly opened my eyes and made me a better cyclist for sure (even if the results don't exactly reflect that) but I have to say the real perks to being here  are all the amazing places I've been able to see thus far, Southern France, Belgium  Paris, Girona, Majorca, All over England, Northern France...Planes, trains and automobiles...its been a great few months.

On the racing side of things the team has continued it's success domestically this past week with Lach and Rich Lang scoring 3rd&4th respectively at round 2 of the premier calendar and than the guys followed that up with a Win at round 1 of the prestigious Tour Series. The ball is certainly rolling now and I think with the guys we've got on the team we'll have no problem keeping that momentum going! In the theme of looking back to that first race I think I may have mentioned something about great things having simple beginnings....

Well, the rain seems to have subsided enough for me to sneak out the door and get some work done! Check back later next week for some exciting news....exciting to me anyways.

Rob

...aaand the good stuff...

I knew I could smell coffee roasting... disappointment of the century!

The young man after playing "footy" with a wine glass

Ah summer in Derby...that was a good couple days

R-E-C-

O-V-E-R-Y

all work and no play

yes, that little ball of spikes is a wild hedge hog...who happens to live in the hedges outside our door

Mexican Night, my 2nd favorite night of the week

Sometimes I have a room with a s view

it's no Prima Strada but it is tasty and the company was exceptional

5 hours on the bike not a drop..5 min ride to the store..soaked to the bone.

how most mornings start these days

GREEN

Sanctuary 

Proof I was in fact in a break in Cali...couple a nobodies...

Ramble on..

What a week!! So much to report on here!
...Well, actually, not really...and lets be honest it was an inevitability that I would eventually slip outside of 1 week between updates, it's not that I haven't been doing things and theres not much to say, well it's partly that but the hours on the bike have reached an all time high for the year and this leaving me rather fatigued in the evenings. It could also be due to the fact that I have whole heartedly adopted the french way of training and rarely start my rides before 11...It's fantastic! I get to sleep in (no alarm required) , have a casual breakfast and then when the weather is about to reach it's prime I roll out the door. Livin! The draw back however is that as I mentioned above, 4+ hours of riding and you're walking in the door near 5, a quick snack and shower followed usually by some type of lite meditation (comatosed on the couch), nows it's almost 7, another quick snack to up the energy for the journey to the store... because I didn't buy enough food the night before...After all that you're cooking dinner at 8:30, done a little after 9-9:30... peruse the interweb for a little while and bobs your uncle it's midnight and all those totally awesome ideas I had for the blog whilst out on said training ride have long since vanished like a dream after waking, lights out and the cycle repeats.

Sheep

That's pretty much it these days, last week I set the high mark for riding this year...a seemingly low 23 hours... I'm pretty happy with that too, given 2 days were under 2 hours and the weekend was a race. A race you say? Yes last weekend was the kick off to the UK premier calendar series. Basically the UK's version of the NRC but with no stage races, all circuit races. Well, that's not entirely true, the weekend was a "stage race" 2 road races (120 &170km) It was almost strange to race for such a short amount of time...after all most of what I've done this year has been in the 180-200km range and peppered with World tour guys. This was a nice change! To attack and actually do damage...well at least just to my self! If you're wondering about all the ins and outs of how the race was won check out the report on it here at  VELO UK or try cycling weekly....I think we even made some Eurosport highlights! I would like to point out a few things I found strange for elite level racing...warming up on the turbo trainer...Yes I know it was a fast paced start and on the first day it was uphill straight away...but really?! Come on guys...if the race is over 30mins you'll probably be ok...

Another things that has been an added bonus fromt this great weather break we've had is that I've been able to both venture out in bare legs and also venture further into the peaks and lanes with out risk of death from exposure...a reality I faced back in March! In the last 2 weeks I think I have ridden on nearly 85% new roads, while it has been super cool and kept the training fun a lite - in structure only, theres nothing lite about the amount of short steep climbs or "berges" here...FML, some of my ride profiles look like the inside of a sharks mouth! After a few days of smashing(being smashed by) the peaks I have also REALLY come to appreciate the easy days here, even found a little peice of heaven, a bike path that reminds me of The Goose...the irony here is that for the most part I can't stand riding the goose when I'm home yet here it's the part of my ride I look forward to the most...could just be that while on the trail theres little to no chance a car will try and "teach me a lesson". Yes, it's true, even over here the home of the Tour DE France champion himself there are still plenty of people whole feel it's their public duty to educate cyclist's on where/how they should ride their bikes...although taking your pet for a walk on the highway is perfectly acceptable..

Pass slow and wide

A few pics that should have gone with the last post from Tro Bro...good memories

Just some of the planning need to pull things off

Assemble the minion!

Apparently Eric was concerned about bonking...i thought this only happened in Tri's

D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S

DIDDO

Being famous doesn't come without its obligations

first attempt at a photo bomb..you get the idea

Stone cold killer

Scenery

I wish this sign had been at the bottom...

Scenery 

Smoke stack on stilts...engineers do explain

British dining leaves little to the imagination...hmmm

Down but not out! Team-mate of the year Alex Blaine!

Durham 

Scenery 

Scenery

that's a lot of rocks

Scenery

6hrs later...

just another day at the beach

prepping for Tro Bro 2014

deep in thought

Who does this?!! Best room mate ever!

I leave you with this...

Enjoy

Rob

Coffee and beer

Good day all.
Just like a quality american cycling magazine I'm given you the hottest stories in my world as they happen...or at least how I recount them happening...2 weeks after the fact...hopefully with equal entertainment value but probably at the cost of spelling and grammer purity.
Anyways, you've made ti this far so, where to begin? Story of my life I suppose.

Well, I'm back in Derby now after an amazing (near) month away training and racing in the warm sun of Spain and France. Looking ahead on the calendar it would appear that I will be kickin it here for some time now as our UK season really gets underway...before I go into whats coming up next I'll give a quick recap of the past 10 days or so.

I think last time I checked in I was just getting ready to push the pedals around for Tro Bro Leon, that has since come and gone and what an amazing race! I truly hope I get to come back and do it again next year...I imagine it to be like Roubaix but...FUN...ya... I'd also like to say a HUGE thanks you to all the friends and family of Eric and Alex for coming out and playing a HUGE role in our teams race for glory - these people volunteered their days to come and stand in the cold for hours, holding bottles and wheels at the end of EVERY SINGLE gravel section! Simply incredible - with out them many of use would have been down and out well before things really got going... so, THANK YOU or i guess since you probably won't understand any of this, Merci.

After TBL was done and in the books we ended off our little Euro trip with an amazing meal hosted at the restaurant where Virginie has been working the past few summers, apparently its quite the tourist hot spot..and after the meal we had I can see why. Delicious and a prefect way to and solid few weeks of racing.

Fast forward a week and a bit and I'm back in Derby. Took a couple days off to give my bidy a chance to kick what could have proved to be a rather nasty infection (as evidence by our other teammates Marko, Lach and later on T MO) but after that its been back to the grind. Last weekend was the Cicle Classic, the UK's Big one day UCI race of the year and one I had high hopes of performing in...sadly I did not get the opportunity to take the start...fret not, I've been able to use the form for something equally as satisfy, bagging some precious Strava KOMs - ego inflated. check!

The last few weeks has certanily provided no shortage of highs and lows and I have no doubts that trend will continue...all good though, legs are happy and the sun is shining and if that fails I hear Nice is nice this time of year...road trip anyone???

Rob
-oh, this post has nothing to do with either coffee nor beer other than I have confused both during this publication

Vive La France

Well...
The road keeps on keepin on I suppose. Last weeks little picture bomb seems like an eternity ago, and so it should... Last week I was doing the final edit on some picture form beautiful Girona form the confort and relaxation of Chateau Berthou in sunny Hyeres FR, and now (3 Buses, 4 Trains, 1 Plane, 3 Hotels, 4 days of racing and more then a  couple long days in the Peugeot) I'm in the blustery North of France getting ready to take on the parcours of Tro Bro Leon this Sunday.

It was great to come back to Erics again and I was instantly reminded why I like it there so much. The French, like the spanish have a very relaxed may of life. Ie, no riding before 10 (or noon ost days) and thats is right up my ally. It also happens that both Eric and Virginie enjoy the finer things in life as much as I've come to...a nice cup of joe to start off the day, good food, great wine at night and always chased with some delicious homemade dessert. That's Livin!

It wasn't all vacation while I was there though I did manage to sneak in some training and managed to find some absolutely amazing road with breath taking scenery. The area around Hyeres/Toulon is not "mountainous" by definition but it is far from flat! With no shortage of climbs between 45min-1hr long, I had exactly what I was looking for on this little "get fit quick" journey and slowly but surly I was feeling the oh so foreign sensation come back into my body, my form was slowly coming out of hibernation  ABOUT TIME.

My time at Erics came to an end on Thursday morning when WE were planning to begin the trek of Planes-trains-and automobiles up to the Champagne - Ardenne region of France(near the Belgium border) to meet up with the rest of the crew for Curcuit des Ardennes. I say because when I woke in the morning I found that Eric would not be joining me for the journey, in fact the only thing he would join that day would be the inside of the bathroom and the toilet bowl. Shrimps 1 - Eric 0.
 I'll save you nitty gritty the details of the trip but I can honestly say it will be a tall order for me to travel anywhere in Europe again with a cardboard bike box...also I NEED to learn French! Believe it or not that bould make traveling France(and Belgium) MUCH easier! Wow would have thought??

Believe it or not this is all you need to get from Hyeres to Charlesville  via Brussels

The racing over the past week had gone really well for both the team and my self wit nearly every member achieving some sort of result or having a good ride at some point. Great for moral to say the least! Huge props go out to Mr. Lachlan Norris for winning(actually smashing is a better description) the KOM competition at Ardennes. He won a stuffed boar.

The highlight of this week other then riding in the break at Paris - Camambert would have ot be a toss up between the feast we were treated to with the Berthou Family (Eric is From Brest) last night or the amount of fun we had pre riding the Tro Bro course today! Both were awesome for different reason I suppose...either way you cut it - it's been a great stay here in France and I look forward to capping it all of this weekend at Tro Bro Leon.

Fingers crossed the Canadian luck strikes again....

Rob

...A few highlights from the last 10 days

Odd french tomatoes

Restaurant cat (Fergus this ones for you)

Out on the town with Eric , Virginie and frinds Patrick and Emanuele (apologies for spelling!)

Toulon form atop Mt. Feron

Thats where I wanted to go....

...and thats where I was

abandoned something or another station

the decent from here easily made the climb worth while

not just for San Fran harbour anymore

"FLIGHT"

throw the ball! Please throw the ball!! throw it! THROW IT!

to all those in Saskatchewan...sorry...

 

...ya...

and this was when the weather was "good"

very cool

where I wasn't, Derbyville

-Check escargot off the list of cuisines to have

getting wasted at what ever this game was...I think he was cheating...

training hard...or hardly training?

Zoom, Zoom. TTT.

Yo..

Huh?

ya..cool.

Our new french mates in the worlds smallest roomed hotel

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Riding in breakaways in the rain and cold makes for a tired (dirty) young man

dirt in the ears...thats a first...

No problem.....

really, I swear we all get along really well! honest. 

this guy didn't get the memo on low tide.