France

Look what arrived in the post: That’s my international race license - just 51 days ’till Ironman France! Eeeek!
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Running last night in the universally crappy weather, I was listening to my iPod (also keeps the cold out of my ears - I don’t like ear ache!). It was the usual selection of songs for training, and just perfect to help me visualise the Ironman race. For big, long races like this, having...
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My thoughts… … that sea looks quite choppy, with a lot of people for me to get in the way of. I’d better hang back at the start or I’m going to get well and truly swum over! … those climbs in the first half of the bike course look pretty brutal. Also interesting to note...
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It’s that time of year when we kid ourselves that we can become better people by making New Year’s resolutions. Actually, we CAN become better people, but only making resolutions that are set up to succeed from the outset. No, I’m not talking about aiming low (the biggest risk of setting ourselves low...
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No, not the kind of French lesson that’s of questionable use . . . No, I’m assuming that you’ve got yourself off the quayside and on the ferry to France (or for that matter Quebec) and that you now want to hire a bike. But zut alors ! You don’t...
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I’ve been flat out busy, with hardly any time to do anything useful like ride a bike just for fun, or write much here. But I do have this little film to show - made from clips and bits and bobs from when I was on holiday oh so long ago: So is this a...
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If you read Algernond’s blog, you’ll probably be familiar with how irresponsible he is. Running with a chest infection, getting badgered into off-piste skiing and walking up to closed peaks, and stuff like this: The problem is that having spent a week hanging around with a reprobate like this, some of it’s bound to rub...
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On our last morning in the Alps, I took a short run down to La Tania to pop our last few post cards in the post box. I ran back up to the chalet along the open ski-runs, and did two good turns for the day: There’s a flat section from the village centre to...
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So I’m a bit late writing this up. You just wouldn’t believe how much work had piled up in the week we had away skiing. There were no ski lessons on Saturday, so Daughter and I heade off up the lifts & over the mountain to Courchevel 1850. It seems that in the week we’d...
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Going out for a run this evening was tough, but I made it. I ran around the now closed pistes that encircle La Tania - up the RED Moretta Blanch (steep - hands and knees for the last 100m or so), across the GREEN Plan Fontaine, and then down the BLUE Folyères. If I can...
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