Respect to those who ride through British winters
It’s January, which means it’s time for pro cyclists across the world to get that little more serious. With training camps and the race season rapidly approaching, it’s important to be fit – but not too fit. Most pros have been training seriously since the start of November, but there is a little more leeway over the Christmas period. The start of the calendar year often means it’s time to shut up the social shop and get pedalling.
I headed back to the family home in Grimsby for Christmas. It was good to be back, relinquish all my responsibilities as an adult, consume my body weight in chocolate and see the family.
It’s rare that I spend much time at home anymore and even rarer that I train at home. My biggest block in the UK is usually over off-season, which coincides with me not riding my bike. Being back over Christmas meant I had to train.
Training back on home roads makes me nostalgic. There’s something special about riding on roads where you fell in love with the sport that you now do as a day job. What once seemed like a mountain is now a mere speed bump and around every corner there is a memory.
My internal GPS system is never more accurate than when I’m in Lincolnshire; countless hours of training over the years has ensured that I know pretty much every lane.
While it is lovely to be back, nostalgia wears off quickly when you’re freezing cold. Boxing Day was a prime example. I had at least five hours to complete – pouring rain and temperatures hardly above freezing, it was a day for ducks. Arriving back home, sodden and shivering, with hardly any feeling in my hands or feet, I realised it was time to go back to Girona. No, I haven’t gone soft. I can do the cold, wet rides if I must. I just prefer not to.