the latest from sim over in the south of france. you can email sim here: simjetlag@wanadoo.fr
Yes, it's a tough life being a pro cyclist.
As I drove back from Belgium after covering a few small local Belgian races (Flanders, Roubaix), I stopped off in a tiny airport in Rodez to pic up Navigator's Pro Darren Lill.
The Navigators are in Europe, and Darren was going to be basing himself in Cadalen, (Chez moi) for a fair portion of his European campaign. He'd had a fairly stressful time with lots of traveling, health issues and crashes.
On our first day home we had to go for UCI blood test for Darren. But after that most of the week was spent ridding around the french countryside, sitting on the balcony and drinking beer.
Yep, it's a great life... those guys have it SO easy... nothing but fun and glory. Oh but wait... Darren was out there everyday doing 7 hour rides, 5 hour recovery rides and sometimes coming home so tired after hard interval he almost collapsed.
Then it was off to a Stage race in Germany... Darren came home with the most aggressive jersey, but after following Milram's leadout train for a week and being pushed around by a tall Pettacchi Darren (who was wearing the best climber's jersey) missed out on the king of the mountains final GC by only 2 points.
The disappointment once he got home was evident... Nothing a few days of beers, DVD intervals and recovery couldn't sort out. And lets not forget some good Cadalen homemade jam... that Darren seemed to tuck into as soon as he got in the door from training.
Ok, let go over this whole Pro cycling glory thing. The Nav boys only have 1 bike in Europe, so every trip is a baggage/bike haul nightmare.
After a few days he was back on a plane to northern france for a rainy and windy 4 Days of Dunkirk (where things got ugly), then it's off to Germany for another week long race. The day after the race finishes he flies to London, before traveling up to Birmingham where he rejoins his wife... the next day they are off AGAIN to the US this time. The scary thing is that that is what life is like day in and day out for these guys. When do they train you may ask? In the winter.. once the season starts... well....
Sim