Pre Race it was 2.5 degrees but warmed up nicely!

We rode the last 30km of the Tour of Flanders course the day before the race itself. As soon as I got on the overly crowded roads I knew it would be a race to remember.   More than 25,000 cyclists ride the 220km mens course on the Saturday over hills, down single track roads and over sections of cobbles up to 3km long.  There are bergs (hill climbs) scattered all through the course including the dreaded Murr, which is a steep single track cobbled climb where race fields are known to be obliterated in seconds. Cycling over the finsh section of the course gave us a good idea of what the race would be like the next day and I liked what I saw!

It’s hard to believe I’m once again back in Italy in the AIS team house. It feels as if I only left yesterday and the only real give away that it wasn’t just yesterday is the vast difference in the seasons. When I was here last June it was sunny and hot and we were complaining of not being able to sleep in our rooms at night as they were like saunas. This time round we have the heaters on, are sleeping under doonas at night and during the day are riding in our cold kit.

If you call yourself a true cyclist then you’ll probably find you have some sort of obsession with socks.  I’ve had this discussion with a few cycling mates and the obsession differs in many ways but it’s always there lurking just under the surface ready to pop out in some scary form. Cycling sock obsessions range from the need to co-ordinate socks with every piece of clothing or equipment, to the more severe obsession of needing to name and number each sock so they’ll identically match after each wash.! It’s a bad day when a cyclist loses a sock or the pure whiteness of the sock is ruined during washing and comes out grey.  However, cycling is all about image and real white cycling socks around 2 - 5  inches above the shoe (AND NO MORE) seem to be the only way to go.

The last Saturday in March may mean different things to a lot of people but for the 15 Lifecyle riders lining up in the famous blue & white strip it can mean only one thing……a trip to Christchurch, NZ for Le Race!

Jack, Alex and myself have been spending our time planning for the upcoming 24hour Mountain Bike Challenge on the 21st and 22nd of April. Held at the Kooralbyn Hotel Resort the 24hour has become an annual highlight for many on the Queensland Mountain Bike calendar.