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A Busy Start to the Year

I thought I had better update my blog. George has been quite prolific recently, albeit he has been doing slightly more interesting stuff (Beijing World Cup). Not that what I have been doing is boring at all. As soon as I was back from Scotland I managed to get out for a 4 hour ride as there was no snow, but managed to crash on some ice and tear up my hip- luckily that was all I damaged. More turbo, rollers, and gym work till Lanzarote!

Next up was a training camp in Lanzarote. I went out with Joe Perrett, Pete Dibben, James Astbury, and Phil Peters. It was a great camp, and a far cry from other training camps I have done in Newport bombing up and down dual carriageways. I went out to build up my base so I did 40 hours mostly at around 130-150 BPM heart rate but with a few intervals mixed in. The weather was perfect and the roads varied and exciting.

It was also the first time I've been out clubbing- pretty embarrassing. We got back in at 4 after what the other guys said was a crap night (none of us could speak Spanish), but I couldn't really judge. I was designated driver so I just drank water and danced for a while- trying out stuff I saw James Brown doing on Youtube. The others enjoyed a few beers and snogging some Columbian girls- I won't say who.
When I got back I had a recovery week as I was coming to the end of my 6 week block. This timed in quite nicely as my best friend from America came to London, so we had a chance to catch up without me having to try and fit in 4 hours of training. It was a pleasant reminder of what is to be a normal teenager for a week. I had to do a ramp test at the end of the week though- a painful reminder of being a cyclist! My power was up by 20 watts, but I felt shocking and my HR max was 15 Bpm slower than last year. Not sure what was wrong but probably fatigue. Somehow I gained 1.4 kilos so am now 73. Body fat is still the same though.

Very exciting day last Friday, Team launch! It was seriously cool seeing all the kit, sponsors, and press. I picked up my new 'training' bike, a Look 585 Origin. It handles so nice and looks really old school with the traditional shaped frame. I'll get some pictures up soon.
Next up is the Nice training Camp down in Stephen Roche's Hotel! Hopefully I will be going al-right and be able to absorb the workload, and not simply fodder myself.

Regards

Sandy

p.s. Next Blog I think will be a 'day in the life of' video

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