A shock to the system

Sunday morning started badly when I woke myself up by banging my head against my bedside cabinet. It was a good thump and I found myself sporting a nice bruise that was thankfully covered just under my fringe.

A little later in the morning, I clambered on the scales for my second shock of the day. I was now weighing in at 74 kilos, 10 kilos or 22 pounds heavier than this time last year. I knew I'd gained some weight on my summer holiday and over the last few months, but I had expected to have lost a bit of weight since I got back. Not so.

To say I've been lapse on the bike this year is an understatement. I've been happy to spend time with the family, eat and drink what I wanted, and play too many online computer games rather than getting up early to cycle. The bike has been gathering dust in the garage with a couple of rides with Matt, Colette and Stephen in the early summer. These were rides where they'd had to wait around ten minutes at the top of each pass for me to arrive.

I found my cycle stuff and have now cycled each lunchtime on the last three days. I think I'm ready for some training now, although it's going to be an uphill battle. I could hardly walk up the stairs to get back to my desk after yesterday's 50 kilometre ride with the boys from HP.

I was actually scared to get back on the bike. Cycling is a tough sport and it takes a lot of time and dedication to feel good in the mountains. Monday, I rode to Murienette and suffered on the five hundred metre vertical climb to the village.

Tuesday, I rode along the bike path today listening to music. It was 30 degrees, sunny, and perfect for cycling. Snow Patrol, Iron Maiden and the Killers amongst others filled my head and it was great. I couldn't help thinking that the line 'I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier' from the Killer's song 'All these things that I've done' should have been 'I've got legs, but I'm not a cyclist.'

Now it's Thursday and I didn't cycle today, but I'm sat here with legs that still feel heavy and a backside that can still feel those kilometres. I have no excuse here as a two hour lunch break is part of life in France. At least I'm publicly stating that I'll get fit so now I have to.

Back to France

Monday the 22nd August was another grey day in my village of Vif, 18 kilometres south of Grenoble, but my wife had told me that it had been raining heavily in Grenoble. It was only later when reading the news on the BBC website that it became apparent how much it had rained in the Alps. Mudslides caused considerable damage around the village of Domene on the edge of the Belledonne, with gardens filled with mud and bridges washed away. Only 20 kilometres away in Vif, it hadn't even rained.

The above picture was taken from the http://news.bbc.co.uk website and shows the road in front of the bakery in Villard Bonnot. I guess they didn't have too many customers that afternoon.

Even though Lance Armstrong has left the sport, it seems that the French press is chasing him with doping allagations for the Tour de France in 1999. I am sure that the subject is not finished in the paper as they have also made comments about other samples that have tested positive for EPO.

On a more positive cycling note, this weekend was one of life's stepping stones for my daughter. It was the first time she had pedalled a bike, and for an hour she rode around in front of the house on her new bike. At the moment, she only uses her left leg but it's a start.

At two and a half, language must be a confusing thing to try and grasp. She spends three days a week with the nanny in French, and the rest of the time with us speaking English. Although we can understand her French, shes has come back speaking more English from two weeks in England and Wales on our summer holiday. Expressions like 'il est big', 'more de l'eau' and 'c'est un bird' are frequently now appearing in her vocabulary. It's as much a challenge for us to understand which language she's speaking as for her to say the words.

It won't be long however until she's correcting my bad French and asking why I speak French with a silly accent.