Tasmania: intro - a rest day

Today is a Rest day so I will take the opportunity to open this blog. You will notice that Rest is spelled with a capital "R". This is to distinguish a "Rest" day from "Training" in comparison with just a "sitting-around-on-one's-backside" day.

Having got the double quotes out of my system I will explain what is going on. A few months ago I signed up with Thompson Bike Tours for a six-day cycling holiday in the French Alps. Thompson advertise that they have a marquee at the top of the climbs, equipped with a beer fridge, smorgasbord and large screen TV to watch the Tour as it approaches. Sounds good to me - all I have to do is get up there.
  
Thompson bill this trip as being for "avid" climbers. I like the word avid. It implies more than being merely keen, enthusiastic or eager; it suggests that one is ardent, zealous or even fanatical. With an average daily distance of around 100+ kms and daily climb in excess of 2,000 metres it looks like being towards the more fervent end of the thesaurus. Thank Christ I didn't sign up for the "extreme" option.

Preparation for the ride is taking place in my hometown of Launceston in northern Tasmania. The typical options are an early-morning bunch ride down the Tamar River with the Coffee Crawlers or Dad's Army, or an after-work solo ride in the more undulating area to the south of Launceston. Once a week I try to do a longer ride; either  an 80+ km trip to Campbell Town, a climb up the 1,000 m escarpment of Poatina, or perhaps a longer mountain bike race or charity ride.

I should explain that I am not a long-term bike rider. I came to the sport more recently after several decades of gymnastics, soccer, rugby, ultra running, and orienteering. Eventually the knees said "no more", but are happy enough to turn the pedals around without undue discomfort. 

In three weeks I leave for an annual trip to Nice on the Cote d'Azur. This promises warmer weather than our frosty Launceston mornings, and a chance to train on the famous cols of Eze, Vence and Madone. Hopefully the local bike shop still has my Giant in the basement. Some oil on the chain, air in the tyres and we will be ready to roll!  

Wine

Yes, I know it's out of sync with training and the rest of the stuff but all work, no play, Jack, dull, boy, make etc. So this evening's drop with dinner was a couple of glasses of 2005 Oratoire St Martin Cairanne - Cuvee Pestige: big tannins the most noticeable feature, soft palate, blackberries, prunes and leather. Still needs a while.