Forgetting the World Cup and avoiding the Tour de France

When these two huge events come together in the same year, it can equate to sleepless nights, bad nutrition and higher intake of caffeine, flu's, ineffective training sessions and probably a decrease in productivity at work for weeks and weeks.

I tried, and will keep trying to avoid that this year. I missed the Brazil X Holland game (how convenient!!) although some kind of internal clock woke me up in the early hours of that morning. I chose to go back to sleep (even more convenient!!) as I had planned to be on the bike by 5:30 AM to meet riders from the team and do a couple of hours before the weekend's race.

The week had been quite solid with three rides (8.5 h) juggled with very early shifts at work. There were two high intensity sessions (Clear Mountain) in there which left me with sore legs and the need for an easy recovery ride before the weekend. A River Loop with Sandra and a bit of socialising around town kept me honest with my needs and bouncy enough to head to work later that day.

Racing for the weekend was the HPRW criterium at Nundah, which attracted more than 60 riders to battle the strong wind in a hour long race. The QSM Racing Team had a mixed group of riders (U17, Masters A and B, Elite B) in A grade, which in itself had riders from Elite class, Masters A and B, Elite B, down to the "sit in" type who enjoy watching the race from the back of the bunch and then having a go in a sprint for 15th or 20th place.

Gathering at Nundah

Preparation time

Donna and Sandra

We didn't start our race with a plan. The goal was to get some racing intensity in the legs and look after each other if required. Of course, we all did more than that. We were very active during the whole race, tried a few moves, covered everything we could and by doing that we kept our crafted sprinter, Adam, a little fresher to finish it off, which he did nicely.

My work

Sam and Adam on the money

Once more, my week ended with the Zupps ride. And again, I pulled out after one hour and one short effort. Then, one and a half hour to get home and spend a bit of time with Sandra who sneakily avoided getting out of bed earlier to a morning which I thought was the coldest this year so far (7 degrees at some spots).

Week Twenty Six: Build
Time: 17 h 50 min
Dist.: 482 km

And on the Tour the France... Well, last night I stayed up to watch it on SBS and managed to stay awake for most of it. I had a few snoozes and ended up missing the last 5 km and the crazy finish in Brussels. Recovery day today so I thought I would give it a shot but from now on, I will do my best not to watch it live and will just stick to highlights and watch videos on the Net (steephill/TdF). Healthier that way.

At least until they get to the Alps!