DAN MARTIN
Often among the pro peloton – and I’m a serial offender of this myself – you will hear people moaning about how little time we get to spend at home and how the commitments of a life spent as an international professional athlete mean we’re not only bounced from country to country to race but also increasingly continent to continent.
This winter, however, we settled into the relative normal life of being in one place – Girona – the place I call home, for an extended period of three months without the interruption of a trip to a training camp. I was content in this calming routine for two months before I had the sudden urge to just get out of there, have a change of scenery and, something I hadn’t realised I needed to do until I needed to do it, speak English!
Don’t get me wrong, we are fortunate to have a community of ex-pats in Girona and all my training partners, new Procycling diarist Tao
MY FINAL LEGITIMATE REASON TO VISIT DUBLIN WAS SO THAT I COULD TAKE A STROLL UP THE FINISHING STRAIGHT OF STAGE 3 OF THE GIRO
Geoghegan Hart included, are Anglophone, but I had always underestimated the significance of total immersion in a foreign country. Taking advantage of the faultless winter of training I’ve enjoyed so far, I headed to Dublin for what became a welcome psychological break. I’ve spent a lot of time in Ireland with family but never really stayed in Dublin city centre much, so this time I just wandered the streets of the city, exploring, learning my way round and finding out where to go for a good coffee or piece of cake. I hadn’t anticipated how relaxing it would be to just potter round and speak English and eventually returned to Girona mentally refreshed and ready to train harder than ever.
There was, however, a very important reason for my trip back – Cycle4life, the charity I am a patron of. I met up for a spot of brainstorming and also for the opening of a newly refurbished ward in Temple Street Children’s Hospital that we had contributed greatly towards. To have the opportunity to cut the ribbon on something that will make such a huge difference to the lives of so many really hit me quite hard emotionally, especially seeing the ward full and even chatting with some of the patients and parents.
I’ve written before about how much I enjoyed the fund raising event in 2013, and I’m already looking forward to this year’s event on 7 June. The buzz of the Giro d’Italia starting in Ireland a few weeks prior will hopefully make the event bigger than ever but also the prospect of having a break after the Giro (which finishes the weekend before) gives me a bright light at the end of what currently seems a long, long tunnel! Put it in your diary if you’re local. Dunboyne, just north of Dublin. I will be there and, fingers crossed, the sun will make an appearance as well this year!
My final legitimate reason to visit Dublin was so that I could take a stroll up the finishing straight of stage 3 of the Giro. It was strange knowing that the next time I’ll be in the city, I’ll have a number on my back and will be competing in a grand tour. I really hope that not only will it be a beautiful advert for a country I love, but also that the event will reveal the beauty of this sport to the Irish public. Personally, I think every rider should be handed a pint of Guinness as we cross the line… purely for recovery purposes of course.