HMMMM Training Begins

Ok so things have been a bit shakey on the health front since new years. Everyone in our apartment has been handing the flu around and unfortunately I was one of the last to get it. As such once the weather did finally clear enough for us to go riding I was still sick. Well the concrete pills have been taken and with the recent purchase by Rodrigo of a new Trek Session 8 we decided to spend the day shuttling the Portalegre Nats Track, He made it 50m before flipping over the bars on a road gap stepdown. Right first stack out of the way time to get down to some real riding. After sweeping the track to check for hazards we got straight back up to the top and started to speed things up a bit. The main issue I've had with this track is that we've only ever done 1-2 runs tops before calling it a day and therefore never really got into it.

It was also the first time doing Dh runs clipped in and I will admit I was a little apprehensive to begin with, I've always enjoyed being able to drop a foot when necessary and the ability to do so had really saved my bacon on the last ride down this track a few weeks ago. But having been riding around the tracks at work on the tight technical stuff has made a huge improvement in my balance and being clipped proved to be advantageous rather than a nuisance. And the only crash I had ended up being funny rather than painful and as usual was after those fateful words were uttered, Just one more run....oh shit.  

So thats the biking stuff out of the way now for the other stuff in the life of Bandit Racing. Yesterday Seb, Kurt, Rodrigo and I went over to Batalha to trade in his utterly rooted giant reign for a brand new Trek, that would have normally seemed ok as most people close to me will know I tend to get stuck for hours at the bike shop. But this trip was made even better by the fact that there is an utterly amazing church in the town. The detail was simply breathtaking and the sculpting of the stone and marble in the place must have taken several mens entire lifetimes.

Then with that gem of a church inspected we headed over to Tomar, and more specifically to the Convento de Christo( or Convent of Christ) Which history buffs will know happens to be the former headquarters for the Templar Knights of the Crusades. This place is fantastic, and we spent literally hours looking around the endless wonders of this cornerstone of military history. We had access to the top 3 levels of the place but as it was relatively evident if you were paying attention there were at least 3 more basement style levels we couldn't legally get to, and as curious as I was getting arrested was not going to be on the agenda.

Now our Sunday is drawing to a close and it's time to relax and just chill out with a couple of quiet drinks, do some maintenance on the bikes and start drawing up a training schedule. With only 4 and a half weeks till we fly out and not one race here before National Champs in Dunedin things are going to be tough and all I can do is to be as fit as possible.  

New Years In Spain

Ok so it's been a couple of weeks since my last update. And tonight's one will be brief as the hangover is not. We've finished building the first loop at Big Heads which offers a reasonably relentless climb of a tight twisty trail littered with rock, once you reach the top you are at the highest point on this side of the property. The trail then meanders across the top of the rock slab and into a cool techy trail down the slabs and with a few short alternative with various challenges to keep things interesting. The weather has been absolutely awful lately so we haven't been able to get in as much riding as we would like but we did manage to fit a quick blat around the trails at the compound in the rain on Thursday. It was quite good as most of the trails have been built in the summer so it was good to see where drainage would be needed. And a really good test for my new clip shoes and pedals, I've always been a little sceptical about riding in clips as I like to get my feet off when I need to, but I have to say the first impressions of riding with clips was certainly a good one, the extra control in the less than ideal conditions was amazing. Times when I would usually drop a foot for extra balance I found myself instead pedalling and finding more grip than usual. So the next few weeks will be spent riding on them every chance I get and starting the build up towards the New Zealand National Champs in Dunedin the week after I get home.

Well this is the 1st of January here In Portugal so yesterday we thought the best thing to do on new years eve here would be to leave :) so we packed up and went off to Badajoz (Badahos) in Spain. the architecture is superb and everywhere you look there is more history just waiting to be uncovered. But we weren't there for the history, we were there to party so a quick stop to find accommodation and pick up some beverages to get things going. Things kick off pretty late in Spain and there was little action on the streets till after eleven. Everything went off with several bangs and everyone had a ball.