Making the decision to come training in the south of France was quite risky, considering the amount of snowfall the Pyrenees have had thus far. But today I arrived in the village of Galan, 40 odd miles from the famous town of Lourdes, to stay with my coach Steve Hall at his Allant Cycling Holidays place.
The weather for ages has been rubbish. Steve informed me, "It's been wet constantly and on Monday we had
a snow storm!" However, I was pleasantly surprised to be putting my trusted Cervelo together in just
my T-shirt, and tracksuit bottoms.
We hit the road shortly after for roughly 2 hours, feeling very warm and dry with the sun shinning. The landscape
is lovely, and it's so nice to just go out of the door in warmer weather, ride, and get some good climbing in.
I am here until Wednesday, and will be writing about my training experience everyday. Sunday we have
a 100k event, then Monday (a first for me) we are off up into the mountains to try some cross-country skiing as a fun rest day.
Here's hoping the weather will stay in our favour and the sun will keep shining. I will get some much-needed Holy water from Lourdes
and if the forecast is to be believed, temperatures are set to get as high as 16 degrees on Sunday.
Iona at Peterborough Crit
