Day Fourteen: ready to start training again and The 2009 Pro Season Video

Lets call it two weeks, given and taken a few hours, since my last ride. It is not certain but that could have been my last ride for 2009 as well.

Admittedly, at times like this, I wish I was a professional cyclist and would get a text, an e-mail or a phone call from the director sportif giving me orders to get on the bike, or plane, to meet the team for a training ride or race in a foreign country.

However, it's not like that. Like most, as much as I still dream of a life resembling that of a pro cyclist, it is not going to happen. I am OK with that, as long as I can keep putting the 300, and the occasional 400 kilometers in a week on the bike.

These last two weeks have been interesting to say the least. I have experienced tinglings and aches like never before. Some fairly intense, I don't mind, but some quite odd. I say odd because they don't seem to be directly related to the injuries I suffered from my bizarre encounter with the motor vehicle.

So, having to get a medical statement from my GP (insurance business), I took the opportunity to ask him a few questions regarding the symptoms I am still experiencing. The answers, apart from the clinical terms, were pretty much in line with what I already guessed and discussed with a couple of friends:

"Mate, you were hit by a car. Your whole body is suffering the consequences of that. I am surprised you didn't break a leg and I consider you lucky for having landed on your head and not have become..."

OK, I got the picture and walked out with my piece of paper feeling relieved. I have nothing to worry about, it is going to be a matter of time, that's all! Meanwhile, I can start to put together a plan for 2010 and can even do some research on what exercises (core and legs) I can do while laying still on my back.

I am content with my short 2009 season and the results I attained with the very short preparation I had. Certainly, something to keep in mind when designing training programs, another pursuit of mine.

My training can start now!


The 2009 Pro Season

On the Pro level it has been a great year. Apart from the drug scandals and accidents, all part of the sport, we watched some great races and some great champions.

The purist, and old, will keep saying that it isn't how it used to be, or "when I was the world champion...", which is well-founded, but it is also important for us to acknowledge the champions of today and encourage the champions of tomorrow. And that is in all levels of our sport.

The video below, does just that. It does it in a uncorrupted style, which I like, as it does not distinguish riders by the bike they ride or the country they were born in.

In my view, that's pure cycling! My friend John Flynn would say:

"It's a beautiful thing!"

Keep riding!