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Team Cyclingnews.com - 2005

Team Journal Entry - April 18, 2005, by Leigh Palmer

Getting in the training miles

Hey everyone,

Over the past couple of months we've heard a lot of news from the Team Cyclingnews riders about races, life in the house and the challenges thrown up by trying to live and race as a young rider away from the sunny shores of home. What we haven't heard about, however, is the training we have to undertake to compete against some stiff competition.

I'll give you all a quick insight into Team Cyclingnews' training adventures...

Grrrrr…
Photo ©: Chris Fry
Click for larger image

At about eight in the morning, six of us packed our bikes in the van and headed off for a lovely trip to Houffalize, a 1.5 hour journey from our base here in Belgium. Everything was going pretty well until we hit some Belgium road works (not an unusual occurrence) along the way. Needless to say the drive took a little longer than expected, so we arive in Houffalize around 10 o'clock, find our regular carpark and get all kitted up for a six hour ride in the hills.

All spirts were high as we rolled out for a hot lap of the Ardennes; a quick loop through Germany and Luxembourg. Sven led the way as he had the local knowldge, and the rest of us followed like sheep. The ride was up and down the whole way with a lot of short climbs, and a couple up to 15 minutes long. We didn't ride any of the well known climbs, but Sven took us up as many hills as he could find until it was time to head back to the Cyclingnews van, quickly get changed, and try and make it home for Chris' physio appointment at 7pm.

Time to ride boys
Photo ©: Chris Fry
Click for larger image

It's not really exciting (that's reserved for race days), but it's what we do...just like going to the office to work in front of a computer or something like that. You've got to find ways of entertaining yourself for six hours; because even though the scenery can be fantastic and the riding challenging, it can also be pretty flat, with some dull rolling to get through. That's where it's great to have a whole bunch of blokes from back home and some great guys from 'Euro-land' to keep you from getting too bored when it can get that way.

Thanks for reading, and until next time, 'get it indiya'

Leigh


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