Volta ao Alentejo, British Championships this weekend!

I apologize for not writing in so long, or updating you on what happened at the volta ao Alentejo: Just that my gamble paid, I did not get more sick and I got an excellent block of "training" in. The other stories from the Volta are that there is something amiss with the team: We were the only Portuguese professional team not to win anything. In a couple of weeks I will post the whole story.

Tomorrow I am headed for Newcastle. The British Championships are on Sunday at 13:30. It's a huge stressfest for me, as these solo excursions don't come cheap. And everything needs to go according to plan, or else it's a train wreck, with one problem following another. So, - lets hope!- there are no Icelandic volcanoes erupting, that they do not break my bike on the plan and that the other 1M things that can go wrong, don't. My aim is to finish the race in the top 20, like last year. It seems lame, but it is an excellent result for one racing unsupported.

I am doing a weeks study at Uni right after the Championships and that's adding a little pressure! But it's necessary to develop the academic side of my person, as well as the sporting side. Because you can't race a bike for ever.

Volta ao Alentejo

So I'm not 100%, but I did a test run yesterday and feel apt to race. I climbed at a reasonable rate: 190m in 6:50m on my final "test". I am so far behind on training however, I really want to race and race well. I rested well from my flu, so now it's time to put the hammer down and improve.

Volta ao Alentejo starts tomorrow!

A hard month...

So after running my problems through my mind over and over and not finding a solution, it finally clicked in a conversation with my boss ~"I am expected do the work, I want to do the work correctly and well" I said; it just rolled of my tongue... And it was then that it clicked. I have been unhappy because I have been down on form. I was training heavily while I had some virus which manifested itself mainly as sinusitis.

In this period I blamed everything and everyone, I was thinking how I should give up cycling, how others don't help or listen: But never getting closure on the problem, never finding the solution. I have been performing well in other areas of life like academia and other little project I have, but I was still mulling things over and being negative.

The problem is, I love cycling, I love my weekends away "fighting in the arena". Sure my poor mood the past few weeks budded from money worries, but those worries were that I may not be able to do what I love for a living. Sure I frustrated that when we do race against the big teams, we do so well. Yet we spend half our time racing amateur races. But my mood is linked to my form.

Realizing this was a huge weight of my shoulders. I hope I recover well and race excellently, especially at the Volta a Portugal where I want to help bring my team to victory.

A very bad weekend...

Some times it happens, some times thing just don't go well. In my case I have a few low spots every year where I just feel crap. This year has been all the tougher!

We had a pair of races, the Memorial Bruno Neves, in honour of the cyclist that died during the Classica Amarante in 2008. The other was a wierd little stage race around and about a town called Oliveira de Azemeis.

The first race I felt a bit off, but got stuck in as best I could and attacked when necessary. About two hours into the race the heavens opened and it started hailing. I hate the cold and could feel my legs becoming less responsive. A team mate who was in the break fell and we had an obligation to attack. So we did.

Later the race rolled along compact under control by the Barbot team. Given the stormy weather and the oily roads there were many falls... Just my team had three. The last of these was me! I hit the deck hard. I fell on to my Gluteus which was full extended as my knee was was up as I was cornering. This really hurt. I've had my fair share of injury and this one, while just a bruise left me in a lot of pain, so much so I didn't continue in the race. Had I wanted to continue, however by bike was in two separate pieces, so it would not have been possible, since there was no spare.

The next day was a little stage race snaking round a very built up county. I was feeling terrible and should not have started. Not least because the bike that was prepared for me this day was completely ill-fitting. A blocked eustachian tube left me feeling dizzy and with nausea. Needless to say, I didn't complete this race either.

With that awful experience past, I have been training harder than ever. I've received my calendar for the next few months and it is excellent. I am really motivated now to do my absolute best.