Each week I was trying to cram in about 250 kilometers riding which equates to about 10 hours. These hours were broken down in to several training sessions. Each of these spaced accordingly so there was enough time to enable adequate recovery. Then there was the eating, now I like my food generally, but I began to get fed up with what seemed like endless food consumption. It sometimes seemed I was the one being consumed by all the rigours and self-inflicted responsibilities to training.

On reflection I enjoyed but its nice it’s over. I can now get on a bike ride as hard or as easy as I like without worrying about getting the ‘best’ out of every pedal turn.

It also approaching the off-season so now I can focus on some other things. Yesterday I went swimming, today I explored some of the trails close to home on my mountain bike. Soon the winter gym sessions begin and as the nights draw in I also have this desire to go out running under the streetlights.

A good friend of mine back in the UK has recently tried competing in a few triathlons and seems to be getting a lot from it. Me being me looks on slightly envious, I can swim, I can run and I can definitely ride a bike, maybe I should give a triathlon a go?  I start wondering where that training manual is I was give a couple of years ago. I find it and skim through the pages. I start thinking about formulating a training plan. Then I reflect on the rigours of training which I’ve highlighted above. I think again, maybe not!

The weekends objective for me was to protect the 5th position I had gained during the Trophée National. It was always going to be tough as 2 of the riders below me were technically stronger than me and without some luck a great result and on the day would leap-frog me in the competion.  

The weekend was a rollercoaster in more ways than one. Initially my friend Graham had to pull out of the sportive due to suffering a hernia. Then en route descending a hill on a rough road the grass verge was littered with cyclists repairing punctures, then guess what happened???….. I joined them!  A few busy few minutes changing the inner tube and seeing two groups of cyclists pass me I was back on the road. Pumped up with adrenalin I chased hard to catch the last group which had passed me moments before. After a few minutes hard work I caught them and then ended up spending the most of the remaining event with these guys.

The group was relatively fast, but I knew it wasn’t as quick as the group I had been in before the puncture. Despite a lot of effort at the front and a few attacks I wasn’t able to entice anybody into the void ahead. The longer the race went on the bigger the gap would become and the more futile any attempt to break free became. I eventually resigned myself to working hard at the front with a few of the others toward the arrivée in Cabourg.

Although still feeling strong when we hit the last hill a few of us ended up going backwards. Maybe I should have saved something in reserve, because I could not do anything about it until we got back to flatter roads. I reeled a few guys back in the closing kilometers, but was a little bit peeved at my tactical ’balls up’ on that final climb.

So, enjoyable as the ride had been the puncture and balls up I thought any chance of glory was gone.  Therefore at the award ceremony I was not expecting the call to the podium to receive what seemed a hard earned, if a little ‘tacky’ Trophy they were handing out to all the top ten finishers.

However ,there is some ambiguity in the results. On the day I was credited with 5th place in the competion and this is true if you take the total points I accumulated in the 7 events. However on the BRS website they have credited me with 6th place based on the best of 5 events. Still either way I’m too concerned. As enjoyable as the event has been it has been a huge commitment. So in a way I’m glad it’s over now I can take life a little bit easier!

In the UFOLEP series I’m currently sitting in 5th position in my age category.  With just one race/sportive to go it is going to be tough to hold onto this. On Sunday I dug deep to gain as many points as possible, but unfortunately the 2 riders below me in the competion strengthened their overall positions too.

Despite a 32 point lead over them at the current time. Both riders have one ride in hand over me with both riders having the potential to gain 50 – 60 points each based on previous results. Thus my existing results could leave me trailing by 20 – 30 points.

However it’s not over yet, because only my best 5 results from the series count overall in the rankings. I therefore have the ability to purge my worse result so far (30 points). So all my focus will be on producing the best result possible on the day and reducing the chance of being leap froged in the competion.

So all the focus now is getting prepared for the next sportive in Normandy on the 19th of September. Allons-y!

Ok so I’m chuffed to bits but it going to be tough to maintain. The top 3 are in a league of their own, again 4th position is pretty safe if he turns up for the other events. Below me there are 2 riders who have accrued almost as many points as me but by only participating in 2 events to date. If they continue to participate things will be tricky.

The good news is there is nearly 7 weeks to build my form before the next event at La Vercours-Drome having looked at the circuit and the mountainous route I will need a shed load of form!!

Well part 2 of the Trophee National didnt go as well as part 1. I picked up some sort of virus in the run up to La Limo which took its toll. Having ridden La Pierre Jodet after just recovering from a cold to get another was the last I really wanted. So instead of taking some positive physical and mental gain from the first event I just took a cold.

Having said that on the morning of the ride I felt Ok. It didn’t last! I was hoping to finish between 5  and 5.25 hours, not today.

I rolled in at 5 hours 35 minutes and 57th place in my age cat. The good news is that I only lost one place in the ongoing Trophy National competition.

This weekend its part 3 of the competition aka ‘La Marmotte d’Olt’  . This is the first of three Mountain stages, nearly 2500 meters of climbing with an 11 km section of ascent at an average of 6% gradient. Let hope we don’t have a heat wave again.