Grain of Sand

My watch buzzes my sleepy body awake. It's 7:50 AM but almost no light seeps under the blind; the forecasted heavy rain has materialised in anger. Just 5 more precious minutes in the covers, then I'll get going. I make my way down to the kitchen to make some max-strength coffee. Having slept in till 10 AM over the weekend my sleep clock is screwed and yesterday's enthusiasm for going into the office is slowly evaporating. Why did I need to go? Ah yes my colleague from Ireland is due in; I'd better still go. Coffee in hand I head to the bathroom. Do I need a shower? Nah, I had one last night; no ones sitting near me at work. Let me just run some wax through my bed-head hair, spray on some deodorant, take my vitamin D pills, and pack my toothbrush to use in the work changing rooms. I go back to the dark bedroom, my wife slowly stirring awake, and open the wardrobe. Shirt? None are ironed. A smart t-shirt and jumper will do; it's raining anyway. I'm now out the hou...

 This piece was originally written in April 2022.  My wife and I finally made it to Romania for Orthodox Easter for the first time since Europe ground to a Covid ridden standstill March 2020. She hails from the North-Eastern corner of the country, the region of Moldova and grew up just after the fall of communism, first with her grandparents in the agricultural South of the region, then moved north at the age of six to live with her parents in the city of Iași, who were by that point were teaching at the University. Easter is without exception celebrated by the family in the South at the grandparent’s rural village of Vânători (hunters), with the matriarch, Mamaia, coordinating proceedings the throughout the weekend. This includes preparing the vegan for the fasting period before, preparing the homegrown chickens for the Sunday feast, baking the Cozonac (traditional Romanian marble loaf), getting the family to the local church before midnight, and preparing the candles to pla...

It's quite a bizarre sensation to read back through one's 'coming of age' blog posts. This stormy October evening I spun up blogspot and felt like I had opened the padlock to my old diary, my quite vanilla 'Catcher in the Rye' years, adapted to cyclists. While I don't consider myself a particularly public person, I was amazed by the consistent documentation of my thoughts and feelings through the major parts of my life at the time; 71 articles between July 2008 and June 2011 no less. Damn I was a disciplined teenager. I can't recollect when, but I made this blog and the partner bike-fit blog private at some point after 2012, presumably out of potential embarrassment of being a complete and utter saddo at University. In hindsight I can see the chances of an interested girl deciding that the blog was the final straw, after she had suffered through chat about aerospace engineering and cycling, was slim. Maybe I had been embarrassed about the lack of mention...

April 1 st marked the start of my work with cycle tours company GPM 10. I was looking forward to changing my focus away from competition for a time , and enjoying the less stressful and enjoyable routine of running training camps. I arrived on a balmy Friday evening in Majorca for 18 days of warm sun . First day - New bike , new kit, lightweights - bliss That first evening was particularly memorable because of the ludicrous amount of extremely expensive equipment lying on the lawn outside our suite. I was stunned speechless , and I've been exposed to my fair amount of bling kit after working at Cyclefit . There were pink Serotta Meivicis , green Serotta Meivicis , Serotta Ottrots , Indy fabs , Colnago C59s........ the list goes on. The pinnacle of this excess was on the 4 th day . One of the riders punctured Cipollini's lightweight wheels but didn't have to worry ; we rep...

As you may have guessed by my procrastination in blogging, I didn't win any races by the time I left Bilbao on March the 28 th . I had four more races, or opportunities, from the time of my last blog to enjoy the life of a full time racer. The first race took place in Villatuerta and was unlike any of my previous experiences. A strong crosswind shredded the peloton to pieces in the early stages, leaving a group of 25 riders to duke it out over the barren flatlands near Pamplona. I struggled as the only Koplad/Uni2 rider against eight from the potent Caja Rural squad. I scraped a 7 th place out of a chasing group. Given the conditions, it was no surprise that the winner was a lanky Dutchman called Van Geffen. And it is true, the Spaniards' abilty to ride in crosswinds definetly doesn't match their climbing skill..... The competition the following day was relatively uninteresting. It was a flat circuit so I was at the disposal of Argentine sprinter/roommate Diego Asis. Unf...

Although the current earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis in Japan is making cycling look pretty frivolous at the moment, everything keeps rolling along. It is nice to see Fumy Beppu, a Japanese rider on Team Radioshack, drumming up lots of support on twitter and also including a minutes silence before the start of the Tirreno- Adriactico stage. The disaster has been the only significant news that has reached me since I have been in semi-isolation here in Bizkaia, and it shook me out of the cycling bubble that I was/am slipping into. Between training, eating, racing, twitter, and talking with cyclists, there isn't much in my life at the moment that isn't related to two wheels. Today ( written Monday 14th ), I am making an excursion into Bilbao city centre. In the morning I visited the Custom4us headquarters in Arrigoriaga (www.custom4.us), and in the afternoon I am going shopping and sightseeing. Hopefully this will provide a mental and physical break from the all-consuming pressu...

Attempting to descend at speed- I need to practice I started my last race truly feeling like a British fourth cat. My legs were wallpaper white; this was their first time in the sun for 4 months. I also had some of that dreaded stubble. I couldn't shave as I have a mild skin infection that has resulted in small red marks over my legs, which would scar if I used a razor (trust me, I tried in vain last week). My shorts were ABOVE my weak tan line, and my legs weren't particularly defined. I know these aren't the correct things to be worrying about on the start line, but I couldn't help it when lined up against all those tanned legs. It didn't bother me too much once we started racing. The circuit required some pretty intense concentration as we raced up and down five kilometre climbs. I felt really privileged to be able to race those road with no cars, as it is rare opportunity for amateur racers (at least in Britain). The competition was only 100 kilometres as it wa...

Nothing is duller than reading someone's blow by blow account of a race, so in regard to my first race in the Basque Country, I will try to keep it brief and interesting! The weather in Soraluce was the same as most of Europe on Sunday, very wet and cold. I was dressed (as well as normal racing gear) in a long sleeve thermal under-vest, knee warmers, overshoes, and rain cape, but there were still the diehards out in shorts and jerseys. It was no surprise that I didn't see them at the finish. It was a relatively short U23 race at only 120 kilometres, however it finished with two, very steep, three kilometre climbs, with a summit finish. I was suffering terribly from nerves all morning and before the start. David Extebarria (directeur sportif and ex-pro), kept reminding me 'tranquilo, tranquilo...'. These worries soon disappeared when the race started as battling the cold took all my concentration. After shivering for 100 kilometres, I entered the first climb in the pelo...

Team Presentation I am writing this blog on the eve of what should be my second race, but will actually be my first. Today's planned season opener in Zumaia resulted in a DNS (did not start), due to my Spanish medical certificate being stuck in an office in Bilbao. Hopefully it will be resolved for the race tomorrow, otherwise I will be sorely disappointed. The largest reason for being in Spain is to race one of the best amateur circuits in the World, so it is incredibly frustrating to be standing on the sidelines. Apart from this hiccup, I have been extremely pleased with my time in the Basque country. The club (Koplad/Uni2) has been extremely welcome and the organisation is terrific. If only there was a similar system for young riders in Britain. I am living in a house with an Argentinian rider, which is paid for by the club and serves as a base for the riders who come from all over Spain. They arrive on Friday evening for the races, and return to University during the week. It ...