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.   
 
    

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