I posted a comment on Facebook yesterday reminding cyclist to be proud to be British. The girl’s have dominated the Downhill World Cup this year, we have two DH World Champions in Danny Hart and Manon Carpenter. Our girls have been nigh on as prolific on the road as have the men. Britain is ranked 6th in the UCI World rankings, Team Sky are 5th. We have the best Tri team in the world both men and women and we’ve had the no 1 BMXer for the last few years. And, not forgetting, we have the fasted man in road racing.
It was with absolute pride in my heart that I sat down to watch the Vuelta last night, I’d heard it was special. Chris Froome did not disappoint. Chris is rapidly becoming so Blue-Blooded-British that pretty soon we might even call him Scottish. He won! But to do so he pushed way beyond what he or any one around thought would be possible and in doing so he actually looked mortal. He looked like one of us. Spinning like madman as Juan Jose Cobo passed him and then as he sprinted off to win his bike and body were all over the place. Digging for something that wasn’t there. Awesome!
I set off this morning wanting an easy ride but the TV images of last night kept coming back to me. I climbed and got to the point that I needed a rest. I needed to sit down but the image of Chris came to me and instead of sitting I kicked and sprinted. With each hill I did the same. It really hurt. To get to the point that my legs were screaming and then to accelerate was painful but immensely satisfying. I don’t do any training, I just ride. I try to alternate hard and then easy but that is it. I know that some of you are following training schedules that’ll push you to exhaustion but not me. Today I got just a tiny taste of what training and trying hard is all about on my short little ride.
I had a great ride all thanks to Chris Froome. I know that I don’t ride like a pro but I can try to emulate them. I have spent a years copying what better riders do, and since the 2010 Tour I have been practicing climbing out of the saddle like Contador. Today, I didn’t need any practice to look even more ragged than Mr Froome, some things come naturally.
Can he make up 13 seconds on Cobo over the next few days?
Kit: I go on about this all the time, wear the right clothing. You should never be uncomfortably hot nor cold: ever. Just wear the right stuff. Today I had my Pearl Izumi Transferlite base layer, Endura FS260 Jetstream jersey and Endura FS260 shorts.
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