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| Mt Blanc, Chamonix, France5 April 20032 weeks to go It's late afternoon on Saturday, 2 weeks before the trip. I've just returned from doing 56km/35 miles on the mountain bike. It was a hard cycle today. I live at 50m/165ft above sea level, and my turning point was North of me at 450m/1485ft. That's where I was having lunch. Unfortunately, a strong North-Easterly wind was blowing, making progress across open country terrain very hard going. I was using middle gears on my 24 gear bike, and I struggled to maintain 8kph/5mph. By the time I got to lunch, I was ready to come home, rather than push on for the 80km/50miles that I wanted to do. So far my training has gone reasonably well. I started the weekend after we booked the trip, starting light with a 19km/12mile cycle on the Saturday, with a 29km/18mile ride on the Sunday. These were on the road, but involved a lot of climbs. On an average week, I would also do something on Monday evenings for an hour, and 2 hours of stuff on Thursday evenings. Mainly fitness, around the gym, nothing too strenuous, a bit of upper body work as well to balance things out. I'm no expert on these things, but it seemed like a good idea to work the whole body. Week 2 was another cycle ride on Saturday of 35km/22miles. Sunday involved a short hike from 250m/825ft to 380m/1255ft and back again. Weeks 3 and 4 were spent ripping up the snow at resorts in Washington, USA, so I guess that sort of counts in a way. Some reasonable hikes were done, and a lot of fun was had. Oh, and the odd dump of snow :-) Week 5 was flying home, and the jet lag that that involves. Not much happened until the following weekend. Week 6 was an interesting ride. A bitter Easterly wind was blowing out of mainland Europe and the temperature was near freezing. Despite being sunny, there was ice on the ground. I still managed to clock up 38km/24miles though. Sunday's hike was just as windy and cold, but then that's what snowboard clothing is for. Week 7, sunny yet again, but another strong Easterly wind. The wind was actually blowing me up slight inclines in the road at 16kmh/10mph. And then I would have to cycle hard just to get downhill again. Nuts. Week 8 finally had very little wind. It was dry and slightly foggy, but it was a nice temperature. I clocked up 61km/38miles, and in the evening I was a vegetable. Still the next day I was all set for a hike, and did about 13km/8miles over rough terrain up and down hills. Managed an altitude of 471m/1555ft, which is hardly going to help me on Mt Blanc, but then we don't have massive peaks where I live. And so week 9 - today. The plan now is to have a relaxed hike tomorrow, nothing too strenuous, with normal stuff on Monday and Thursday. Next weekend will be a short and easy bike ride, with perhaps a hike on Sunday. A bit of training on Monday, and then Thursday I'll be driving up to Champ's. |