EOY

After being away for over 5 months, it was quite a relief to finally be able to come home last month. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sit back and relax just yet as I had one more race to prepare for. This brought about a few problems. 

I was keen to catch up with friends that I had not seen in a while, which meant a lot of coffee shop rides, lunches and dinners were on the to do list, however, my coach had other ideas. My training schedule consisted of many long rides and lots of efforts so that I could hold on to the form that 3 months straight of racing had given me. I'm not gonna lie... motivation was low. 

While overseas, if I had a long ride to do, I would plan out a route and head off. I had no idea where I was and if I deviated from the planned route, I would just end up getting lost and have to ride for far longer than I had originally planned. This meant I had no choice but to do the training I was prescribed. 

Back home in Australia, I know all of the short cuts and back routes. So with low motivation, it is difficult to force myself to keep riding when I know that a left turn will take me home. It was also just as difficult to say no to an extra coffee, butter with my muffin or dessert with dinner.

Despite these first world problems, I'm now sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home from the last race of the season, the Tour of Hainan in China. For most of the teams at the race, it was the last of the season and the closing ceremony had a feeling of celebration in the air as most of the riders were keen to let their hair down. 

 

Most will return home to cold weather for a break from the bike to refresh the body, both physically and mentally. It is not possible to be focused on training and racing all season and then do it all over again without some rest. Your head will explode.

So how did I celebrate the end of the season?? Well, I just finished a large Double Whopper meal and there is a piece of cheesecake with my name on it. I am looking forward to going for a ride when I get home, but one where I don't have to do efforts or ride for hours on end. It's 3.8km from my house to the coffee shop and I think I will do a few laps of it in the next couple of weeks.