Training Camp

So finally… I’ve seen a little sunshine. Not only has the past week been gorgeous in the UK (Saturday's monsoon in the surrey hills excluded) but I’ve even encountered 21°C while on my first training camp of the year in Spain. For the first time in months I could put on shorts, a short sleeved jersey and mitts without having to layer up the rest of the cycling clothes I own underneath just to stay marginally warm (Don’t mention this to the locals, they were still wrapped up in balaclavas!). The beginnings of my cyclist’s tan are just about apparent and I would say that summer is surely just round the corner.

I’m really lucky that my parents have a very handily located flat in Murcia which has some fantastic rides nearby with plenty of mountains to climb. It’s also the home of the Tour of Murcia, a five day stage race which this year was targeted by Team Sky and Radioshack as Tour preparation with Wiggins and Armstrong both in attendance. This was a great chance to get as close to professional racing as you are likely to. Being Spain there didn’t seem to be a great deal of security but plenty of opportunity to ogle at the bikes and catch a few words with Lance. Check out Wiggans' O symetric chain ring!

With the Tour of Murcia following some of our usual training routes it made me feel pretty inspired to clock up some miles in the legs. Even so much as to take my parents’ mountain bikes out on an incredibly windy day and do reps up the side of a mountain, just so we could get out on the bike and be sure not to be blown off the side of the road.

So now back in the UK and the miles are beginning to settle into my legs and the race season is creeping closer. I've spent a whole day stripping down my cervelo giving it a good clean and changing loads of parts (next time I pay a mechanic - 8 hours for one bike is not good value for money!) and it felt great to take it out for the first time this year. I'd say my excitment levels for racing are now pretty high :o)

Winter

Welcome to my new little project! I’ve never written a blog before or even kept a diary, apart from a few mostly angry scribblings when I was about 16, so this is all quite new to me. Where on earth to start?? I’m hoping that this will give me a chance to keep in touch and keep people updated on what’s going on in my year cycling and my move out to Belgium to try out European racing and the big unknown…

After the big freeze over Christmas and some panic in the Creswick household about whether we would have any food on the table for Christmas dinner or whether any of the family would actually be able to make it to the table, it seemed the New Year was off to a good start with three full days of relatively ice and snow free roads. Time for some rides! It was amazing to finally get back in the saddle in the great outdoors for a ride out into Surrey on New Years day and then to Windsor on the Saturday via Hillingdon to watch my boyfriend Stew race. I know it never ever gets warm at Minet Park, even in July, but when you anticipate the cold and wear every single item of clothing you own, being a spectator is pretty good fun.

Evidence that all good things come do to an end was loud and clear when the even bigger freeze was back with a vengeance. Cycling in a foot of snow? No thanks. This has really got me thinking about people in the more unlucky parts of the Northern Hemisphere, how do cyclists in Canada stay sane on the turbo day after day? There must be secrets to surviving winter banished to the indoors that I don’t know about.

Fortunately my boyfriend has an incredible stash of cycling DVDs that are somehow just the ticket for making me imagine in some small way that I’m out on the road and keeping me motivated on the turbo. I have absolutely no idea where this collection comes from or where the new titles appear from, but even so, they’re pretty useful. Saturday was the turn of ‘Hell on Wheels’ which followed the T-Mobile team around the 2003 tour de France. That Stew gets into these films perhaps more than most was very clear when halfway through, the DVD shows footage of the team car and a couple of riders tearing down the Tourmalet. Wheels are screeching, riders are holding on to the road by the skin of their teeth when suddenly, thinking he too was about to take the hairpin, Stew goes flying off his rollers! He’d turned the front wheel ‘into the bend’ and for a spilt second both of us thought he has fallen off the edge of the mountain – very amusing!

Over the weekend, I also went to a talk by Vin Denson organised by Redhill CC. It was the highlight of my weekend. I have recently read his book, 'The Full Cycle' and it was great to hear him talk about his experiences as a pro rider and he came across as such a nice man who really wanted to inspire young riders. I know I’m not a young rider but he definitely inspired me!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Cycle-Vincent-Denson/dp/1874739528

First Blog

So here is my first blog just to see how it looks. I'll be back soon with more!