From Lake Como to Alpe d’Heuz

A bit slow on the blogging front but i actually didn’t really get a chance to sit down at write a report about my cycling sojourn in the mountains.

Over the course of the week, we covered 750km. I arrived into Como on Sat 9th July. We stayed in Como until Thursday arvo. A typical day in Como

- Up at 7am for breakfast
- On the bike by 8am
- 2 -3 tough climbs (ranging from 500m to 1200m climbs (gradient 5% to 12%) Even manage tough Giro climbs Mortirolo.
- Back at around 1-2pm
- Get some good Italian food into us and watch the tour with some beers)

The next 3 days were spent in the Alps, tackling some of the toughest mountains they could thrown at us (Col De Cuvery, Col de Porte, Col de la Morte) and of course the now legendary Alpe d’Heuz (21 hairpin climb). On the final day, we encountered torrential rain which made cycling pretty difficult especially on the descents. I had a pretty bad fall in Lake Como on day 1 and didn’t enjoy going down (but was helped by Clarky who provided some great tips on how to descend quickly)
At the bottom of the Alpe d’Heuz, all riders were timed to see how quickly they’d get to the summit, there was a lot of trash talk earlier in the week. I surprised myself getting to the top in 71 mins. All week, I was middle of the pack on the climbs so i surprised a few of the riders coming home 3rd out of 26 riders. Dave Clark was first in 64/65 mins, Dave Robb came home in 69 mins...Dave Clark actually timed himself the day before in 47 mins (obviously without 130km in the legs and no wind or rain). I am really looking forward to going back and timing myself up that beautiful hill.

Suffice to say this is one of the best holidays I’ve had in a long time and am likely (if the good wife allows) make this annual event.

Got back to Ireland on the 18th July and caught up with family, friends and sank plenty of the black stuff. I actually got a bit of running in but on the evidence of today’s HuRT session (8 reps on Argle street) it will take a few weeks to get my running legs back.

Finally congrats to Cadel, you don't realise how tough it is until you tackle some of the those mountains....

Hand over the $200

Well the much talked about head to head between myself and COnway turned out to be a non-event as both of us ran very poorly. I was flat from the start and it didn't help with auld TImmy appearing all over the course with his camera. Conway ran 37:30 and I was a minute behind him. Suffered a relapse of the manful and decided to rest up today and watch events unfold in the Gold COast from the computer.
In the 10k on the SAturday, Master Sweeney and JOno Fenton ran very well, on Sunday, as anticipated auld TImmy ran over the top of Enda to run 1:17 (now as an Irishman I really wanted Enda to smash TImmy but the auld bugger is difficult to beat at the moment).
The marathon which always has a special place in my heart produced some interesting performances. The majority of the HuRTS blew up in the second half (Quentin, Rich P, BInfield, Ray Wareham). English Andy was relatively even with a 2.41 but the run of the day goes to Tom Highnam with a super 2:36. For a debut marathon this is an amazing run and it's even better when you check his splits out...it was very even. To be honest I don't mind handing over $200 for a guy who puts in the training and fronts up on the day with a performance like that!

Thoughts turn to Gold Coast

Well well, you don't really need me to update as 'the voice of reason' aka Enda and Triple T (3T) - Trash Talk Timmy keeps everyone informed of my lack of training over the last two weeks.
With a dodgy ankle & the flu in the last week, my prep for tomorrow's race has been far from ideal. The good wife was away last weekend but I did get an opportunity to get out on Sat for a 400 session (8 by 400 in 75 secs off 1 min) and on Sunday I got out for a 20k run thanks to Chalks looking after the kids. On Monday I didn't feel the best with the manflu returning.
As reported on Enda's blog, I ran a 3k time trial on Wednesday. If I ran sub 10 mins, I would go to the Gold Coast...well i ran 10.16 so I am now fronting up to Homebush for a classic head to head against the best racer on the planet Mr Conway. I had a strategy off-site yesterday but got out for a easy 5k followed by some strides. Today i just went for an easy 8k. On form, I should be around 90 secs behind Conway but I'm hoping form book goes out the window and I outsprint him to put another $20 in Tom's back pocket.
Tom will need it as it's extremely likely he will lose a lot of cash in the Gold Coast. I'm not going to predict any time as Tom and Timmy's times are pretty close to what i think everyone will run but i do think Tucks will run over the top of Lara. Best of luck to everyone up there and please look after Timmy on Sunday arvo as we all know what he's like when he starts drinking at 11am in the morning.