Month Training: 61:15 hours – 40 hours on a bike (plus 9 hrs commute)

• Monthly Road Miles : 318 miles  
• Hours to date :   270 hours
• Mileage to date :   1786 miles

Global meteorologists have just declared January the warmest January since earth began. I suspect they will declare February a drought and issue hosepipe warnings. My forecast for Feb was that the weather would “probably” remain miserable. There was snow on the first of Feb and floods on the 28^th. In between, plagues of locusts, and frogs. I am sure I saw Noah this morning. 

Where did February go? A week in Spain with work and the training camp in Malaga (see separate blog) broke up the month but even so it felt like a short month. Significantly more training hours than January.  Riding intensity is higher (this means it hurts more) especially on the static bikes. Surprisingly, apart from riding in Malaga, I only rode one training ride outdoors in Feb. The turbo sets are getting easier to complete and doing a couple of big back 5/6 hours days to back days seems OK but this isn’t even the first 2 days of the RAAM. Swimming and running have almost entirely dropped off the training plan.

It was great to be with the Rapha Condor Team in Malaga. Supportive as they were, it would have been nice if they had lied and told us the RAAM looked easy, they didn’t.   

Planning for the RAAM is ramping up. The riders have it easy.  We pitch up, ride when we are told to, eat when we are told to and sleep when we are told to.  Somewhat mysteriously in the background a whole lot of stuff seems to be going on.  Cars are being hired, menus worked out, kit getting assembled for shipping, flights and hotels booked and I can only assume all manner of minutiae being sorted.  All we have to do is peddle. How hard can that be?

On top of this, the team are organising the 2^nd Hoedown for the 10^th July see www.hoedownatsundown.com. This is one of our major fundraising events (book now for friends and family!!).  We are hoping for over 300 people.  For the RAAM team it’s our end of event celebration / party but more importantly it is hopefully a big fund raiser for the Prostate Charity so, if you are around on July 10^th come along with friends and family.

I have also just read the RAAM rules, 55 pages of them. Guns are actively discouraged but alcohol results in instant disqualification. I have a nagging suspicion the rules would be the other way round in a European race! As the rules include rules on cheating, spying and sportsmanship I can’t help imagining the trip will be like something from Wacky Races. Our support team even look like the Ant Hill Mob

Just over 100 days to go till the start line on June 12. Sir Steve Redgrave is doing the RAAM this summer too. Fortunately in an 8 man team so not directly in competition. Still, this will be my first experience racing against a five time Olympic champion however indirectly!

Set up my Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/adamndenton so will hopefully manage to get some cash for Prostate Cancer. 

Crocus and snowdrops just out so spring must be on the way. The weather really can’t be as bad in March can it?

 The 3rd Shakedown is going to be based around my friend Anna's house in the small hamlet of Suze about one hours south west of Dijon.  Anna is charming, nutty and will do everything she can to help us and our little adventure.

The plan is that an advanced party of myself and Richie take my Car by fast Ferry from Portsmouth to Caen on the morning of Wed 28th April and drive with four bikes and as much kit as we can fit in the car to La Suze a journey of about 5 hours tops from Caen.

On Thursday morning we will unpack the Bikes and kit into the Large Barn.  That Thursday morning Hugo, Chris, Glyn and Mike will take the same route as we did 24hrs previously, hopefully arriving in La Suze before the sun sets.

Late that Thursday afternoon I will take the Mercedes to Dijon station to meet the remainder of the advance party, Nolly and Andy arriving by Eurostar.  Graham will drive from Paris and there we have it, the crew is assembled.  We will eat together at the house, preparing the meal ourselves and plot and plan for the arrival of the Team Cyclists the next day.

Friday morning the cyclist will be on Eurostar bright and early whist we busy ourselves with the build up to the forthcomming event.  The riders will be with us mid afternoon and straight into the event from that moment on we will be their care team.  The event will end on Sunday, a shower, super together a sleep and then we skatter to the four winds.

 
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Team Sharp4Prostate decamp to Malaga for a weeks warm weather training at ‘with’ the Rapha Condor Sharp team. 

• Training hours: 16 hours on a bike plus 5hr stretching and core
• Road Miles : 249 miles / 401km
• Climb :   6499m / 21332ft

The history of professional sport is littered with tales of sponsors and owners who like to get a bit more involved with the day to day running of their investments than perhaps they ought. Many a manager has walked from his post amid accusations that the chairman was picking the team and in cycling, on at least one occasion, the sponsor got the dubious honour of deciding who finished first second and third in one of the monuments of the sport. So it’s nice when you have a sponsor who comes along and says to the riders and staff at Rapha Condor Sharp “Could you give me a few pointers?“.

That’s pretty much the story of how a group from Sharp came to be out on the road this week with the professionals in Malaga where, in preparation for their forthcoming participation in the race across America or RAAM, they’ve been putting in the miles, testing logistics and learning from the riders and staff in an effort to make those vital percentage gains that will see them make it from coast to coast in the US later this year.

The point of their participation in this epic event (should you need a reason to try and ride from one side of the United States to the other in around a week) is to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Charity, a worthy cause and one that we are proud to support. If you want to show your support for this awesome undertaking, head to www.sharp4prostate.org or if you’re motivated to have a go at something yourself, why not take a look at the Tour Rides this year. We’ll be there with the team and Paul and his RAAM group from Sharp.

Wait for it, day 5 dawned just the same as day 4! Today we had a cunning plan and we hit the internet to look at the weather in the Malaga region. we were here to ride and we could ride to the weather.
The plan was agreed, we would ride out to Malaga and then hit the coast road. We started off well and got lost in the first 2km, after that it was plain sailing.
We had a good solid ride into Malaga via the motorway, Karl having a close chat with a Spanish lorry, and met up with the support vehicle by the port. From there we time trialled 50k up the coast road, only briefly stopping to pick Dans gloves off the floor that he had thrown down (not gauntlets) in his frustration at a lack of coffee. Fully refreshed we decided there was only one thing for it..we headed back in the direction from whence we came. Richie joined us for the home stretch and we where through and off all the way back into the city centre, only stopping once the Garmin had registered over 150k. Once it had we climbed into the support van and drove back to the complex, the body closed down for the day. We had some debates about the route of the ride whilst were on the ride. It was not the best dynamic and we agreed to resolve it for the remainder of the camp
We had great weather on the coast, the sun came out to play and we felt for the first time that there was something about this Spanish thing after all.
Stetching and Sauna, lots of food, beer and cycling talk all followed in that order.
   
    

Day 4 dawned with a monsoon greeting us as we woke up..a monsoon of biblical proportion that was clearly going to make riding first thing difficult. What do the pros do when they are on a training camp and they cannot ride? they only go out for 3 hours!
We made the decision to wait to see if the weather got better in the afternoon and we did a gym session in the morning. Couple of hours solid workout (more stretching) and then a decision to go for a blast in the afternoon.
The weather was still rubbish so we decided to go out for a couple of hours with Richie and Marco joining us. This casual ride turned into a fully fledged town centre crit as we decided that an impromptu circuit of a hilly town was good for us..one circuit I could understand, but 3? There really is something wrong with middle ageed cyclists when they are let loose.
The ride ended with another hunt for glory as we rode the last 8km on the rivet with no man giving an inch (until we were all knackered in the last kilometre). We invented yet another finishing line and no one was sure of who actually crossed which line first, so everyone was happy.   
this was followed by yet more stretching and the obligatory sauna (we are even beginning to speak Turkish). 
the patternof the day followed with us all gazing at the athletic bodies of the pro team and then piling our plates with food in a vain attempt to try and recover from out efforts. Karl is worried that he will actually go home heavier and has taken to wearing a frown when he visits the scales at the gym. I find its easier not to visit the scales and then you can stay happy in blissful ignorance..as long as you feel fitter!
The evening rolls on with our daily session of Andy's corner, where Andy V regales us with tales of racing and team insight. We are all engrossed with little smiles on our faces, some parts of us thinking we are real cyclists on a real training camp. Still, we can but dream, time for bed.   
 
    

Day 3: Sunday dawned pretty miserable: so much so that some of the RCS team supporters who were also out here, booked an early flight home the next day! Not built from granite, more like shifting sand.
We took the van across the mountain range to Marbella to the start of the climb. 20 minutes later and I wished I was back in the van as we got stuck into the foothills of what we later learned was a 25k climb. We probably climbed it too hard, driven by early camp enthusiasm and an act of stupidity by yours truly (trying to climb on the front the whole way: I really should know at my age). we made it safely over the top and descended into Pozzaro where we lost Dan at a traffic island...we are really good at that sort of thing. 5k later he was back with us and we started to climb back over the mountain to El Burgo (not the Spanish home town of our beloved Race Director). We had to do this whilst avoiding Marcos increasingly daring attempts to capture film from a mini camera..ultimately this consisted of him placing the camera in the middle of the road, urging us to ride as close to  it as we could whilst avoiding the oncoming traffic. He got really friendly waves from the local drivers as they showed their appreciation for his art.
Arriving in El Burgo we decided a coffee was in order and stupidly thought we could purchase one at the local bar. However we had activated our cloaking devices and therefore could not be seen by the waitresses we were standing in front of for 15 minutes. Only one thing for it, get in the van and drive to another bar.
Fully coffeed up (this can never be truly said of Richie, but can be absolutely said of Marco) we dragged our bodies out of the van, onto the bikes and blasted back for 30k.  
Total for the day was approx 107k.
More stretching and a sauna followed (spot the pattern) followed by too much to eat in the canteen.
Tomorrow was another day and we were all beginning to feel slightly sore...
         

Day 2 dawned pretty miserably. Still raining as we stumbled into breakfast at 8am. We were due out on the road around 10 and we began the daily routine that a training camp delivers by finishing breakfast and then getting ready to ride.
Andy V took us out on an out and back route through some dodgy roadworks (think Paris Roubaix) to Coin and then over undulating road (where Andy treated us to the mechanics elbow) to a river crossing before climbing back to the road to the complex. this is where local knowaledge kicked in as he stole the obligatory sprint finish by declaring where the line was once he had crossed it having jumped the group after sitting in for the last 8k. A true racer, we had to accept defeat and learn our lesson.
86k in the bag and a session of stretching (honest Mike) and a sauna followed. Dinner was a welcome sign and over indulgence probably followed (a pattern beginning to develop)..this is the major problem of combining hunger and self service! 
Couple of beers later and we were back in our rooms reasonably early ready for a big day on Sunday. We had foolishly agreed to do a big climb recommended by John H (early camp enthusiasm) and we were praying for good weather!   
  

Friday 12th: Arrived in one piece (team and the bikes). Met at the airport by John H and Andy (Directeur Sportive and soigneur respectively for Rapha Condor Sharp (RCS) , picked up the rental van and where at the complex by 4.30pm. Bikes were efficiently built by Richie and uneffieciently helped by the riders.

Marco had all the logistics under control but sadly not the weather and it started to hammer down as soon as we arrived.

Quick session in the gym with Dan and Karl and then dinner in the self service cafeteria (more of this later). Couple of beers later and we had agreed to go out with the team mechanic Andy Verrall for a ride in the morning, just to break us in gently! we are already feeling old and unfit compared to the RCS riders, but probably an unfair comparison as we will not bridge the gap in one week!

I am sharing with Dan and rather than sleep in a duoble bed we agree its probably better if he takes the sofa bed in the lounge!

Day one over.