After such a long and full on summer, I was looking forward to going home and relaxing with my family. Since I last wrote, I had my 2nd week in the Alps. We witnessed some snow that week, but nothing that stopped training; it just made the views more wow! The rides were just as savage, the climb up Col de Galibier being one of the memorable ones, where yes I blew, but I did reached the top. I was happy to sit feeling like I was on top of the world and wait for DS stef to come to the rescue. I’d pretty much dialled the climb up home by the end of the trip, but it always helped when Ian allowed me to have a caffine gel… then I’d float up!
We left the alps and drove back to Oudenaarde where I had a few days to rest before the mission back to Yorkshire. In this time I got to sample a few of the cafes in the area ready for next year, and catch up with a few friends. Me and Helen also carried on shopping for the essentials for their new house, this included fridge, washing machine and as of today, I think they may now have the luxury of watching TV again!
So last Wednesday I set off back to the UK, morale was high as I’d made the most amazing sandwich for on the ferry, so the 1st hour and half drive flew by. But then I ate the sandwich in the queue for the ferry and then morale slowly diminished from that point on. I hit the UK motorways and from then on it felt like an average 50 mph all the way home, and it seemed to take forever.
Since I’ve been back I have been bombarded with issues I have had to try my best to sort out. This was a bit of a shock seen as my main worry coming back was getting my hair cut as I was starting to resemble a cave-girl after not daring to get a Belgian hair cut. Basically it's back to uni time, but without the comforts of Halls of Residence. I visited my flat earlier this week to find that while I’d been away, the flat now didn’t have electricity, water or gas, as the bills had been ignored by my flatmate! Not exactly what I needed so I’ve been trying to sort this whilst also trying to make the small flat feel homely in any way, shape or form. I’ve genuinely wanted to pull my hair out as I have no experience at sorting any of this, but slowly but surely it all seems to be coming together now, and I should be moving in any day now.
As for bike riding, I’m having a few weeks off and I’m due to start riding again around the 4th October. In the meantime I’ve been dabbling in a bit of running. I knew it would be a shock to the system, but I didn’t think it would totally cripple me for a few days after… but today I’ve done my 4th run and I’m not in quite as much pain. I like to mix it up by picking the muddiest routes possible, which Sandie doesn’t appreciate when I bring it all in the house after. Must be the MTB’er in me.
Well the end of freshers' week awaits me, I’ll try to behave but at the end of the day… it is the off season!