Chasing the
sun.
At the end
of August I decided to finish racing for the season and took some time for a
good old rest. I’ve had a lot of fun racing this year and am happy to have
stepped it up a level, but I was oh so ready to make dog walking the peak of
physical activity for a short while.
After 3
weeks with no bike riding whatsoever it was time to get back on the bike
refreshed and ready to train. Or so I thought. A further 4 weeks of lugging my
off-season lard arse around the lanes of the Holme Valley each weekend and
making the short but somehow arduous commute to work during the week, I was
only just beginning to feel in tune with my body and bicycle again. But now I
am finally ready. I am hungry to train again. I want to ride more than is in
the training plan. This is a good sign.
There is a
renewed focus for next season. The team – Team 22 – is a fantastic group of
self-starting, ambitious, and talented young women. I am humbled to have been
given a ride and am very happy about the calendar and support.
Next week my
partner Russ, our child (ok puppy Goldendoodle) Baloo and myself are driving
the long journey to the Spanish Costa Blanca where we will be spending the
winter. There are a few reasons/ moments of enlightenment/excuses behind this:
1. We are not designed for the British
winter.
2. There is a very real possibility that
either/both of us will develop S.A.D. Seriously.
3. 9-5 with no windows could well be the
end of me.
4. I do not have to spend lunch breaks walking in the bleak rain.
5. We do not have to ride in sideways sleet for months on end.
6. There is another way.
7. In the near or maybe far future we
would like to make a permanent move to EspaƱa.
8. Maybe we will never again spend a
winter in the Grim North.
9. I say it again. The British winter is
soul destroying.
So we made the decision to take a
temporary break from work and live in Spain this winter and maybe for future
years of our life together. We do not know yet and will take opportunities as
they come.
So MEGA EXCITED is an understatement.
Our days will be spent playing with
Baloo on the beach, riding bikes, riding other bikes with knobbly tyres and
riding yet more bikes with strange low positions and wooooooshy wheels. There
will be training in the gym, surfing, yoga, meditation. There will be long
breakfasts, bakeries, time, drinks on the seafront. There will be a lot of hard
work and an equal amount of horizontal behaviour.
There are future plans. These will be
explored, researched, investigated, and thought through. We hope we can one day
live our dream and live and work in this beautiful region. We will see. For now
we just really really don’t want to be in the Grim North until the sun
reappears next spring :) Happy winter training to all.