There, but not back again, just yet

Wow, where to begin? How about last week? Well I took that pretty easy after a solid block of training and having one of the joys of cycling, a lot of saddle sore, centred on the left groin area, meanining I couldn't really train even if I wanted to. Also I had a new headset put in to my Dogma before I came over to France, however, as I did not recieve my bike back until Saturday afternoon I missed the regular Hog Hill race. Not to matter as the next day I made up for it by winning a round of the SERRL Winter Series on Sunday morning, it was a great race in awful conditions, a race that I'm pleased to say I won, giving me 2 victories for the year so far, check out British Cycling's report here:

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20130210-road-Road--Lawless-wins-SERRL-7-0

Unfortunately they got the name of the club I am riding for over here wrong, that's Union Cycliste Hennebont Lochrist by the way, but nevermind. Also on the same day there was the Perfs Pedal race where Fabio and Phil from Aprire raced, a great early season opener and here's British Cycling's media report of the race:

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20130210-road-Road--Bialoblocki-wins-Perfs-Pedal-Race-0

I would have done the Perfs race, but I didn't have time as straight after the race and watching England control Ireland I headed in a rented van courtsey of my Dad over to Battersea to meet up with Nick Mills (part of the Mills clan that live not too far away over in Baud and who are key to help setting up everything over in France). We then drove down to Portsmouth where we met Hamish and George and got the ferry to Caen. The overnight sleep on the ferry left much to be desired with the four of us sleeping in the same 8ft by 8ft by 4ft room, unfortunately for Nick he then had a further 200 miles to drive to our destination and his home, Baud. There we met the rest of the Mills family, a lovely bunch, had lunch and headed out on a little loop around the area and through where the three of us should be living.

The roads are gorgeous and quiet with motorists giving cyclists plenty of time and respect with the majority giving us right of way, even when they didn't have to! Anyway following the river down towards Hennebont out of the corner of my eye I spotted a young woman waving as she entered her barn. Now I'm not want to be rude so I enthusiastically waved back, but both Hamish and George failed to spot her and so both said that it was merely an apparition, placed there by my mind. With this banter going on we approached a T-junction when from our right a big boxer and Golden Retriever approached, the latter just barked a bit, but not too aggressively, but a s soon as the Boxer saw us, he set himself and was looking fierce. Hamish attempted to scare him off by shouting and it seemed to ork as he pelted into the garden of the house on our left, however this was not to be the end of it. We ttok the left at the junction going past the front of the house and all the dog had done was run into his house's garden to build up speed to cannon at us from the side. As he went to dive at me and George to tear us apart, guess what?

A Renault Clio smashed into him at 50mph.

He ran off yelping, but I do not know what happend to him as we have been back past the house and he is not seemingly there. The sound of the dog being hit by the car though still makes me gag.

That evening after the ride we met the team principal, Sebastien, a smashing fellow who sorted us three out with some kit and I have to say it is sweet. Afterwards I was taken to my accomadation and I am now living with Sebastien's mother-in-law, Marie, a lovely woman who has bent over backwards to make me feel welcome, I can't speak highly enough of her, for as soon as I arrived she was making sour pancakes with cherry tomatoes and sweetcorn in, delicious! The house is lovely too and so is the room, I am extremely lucky where I am living about a mile or so outside Hennebont, however, neither me nor Marie speak that much of each other's first languages. Cue a lot of funny moments that really should be part of a Fawlty Towers-esque sketch on UK Gold.

Since I've been here I've tried to speak as much French as possible and really throw myself into it all for I am not one to waste such a great oppurtunity and I am in a incredibly fortunate position and I know how many other people would just love to swap places with me so I don't want to do this any disservice.

My first race will be this Sunday, one that I am really looking forward to and is an inter-club race, all the local clubs up against each other, so bragging rights are definately up for grabs. Here are a few things that are intreseting about France and Brittany in particular, I will be adding to this list throughout my time here:

• Dogs are allowed to wonder, like dogs used to back in the '50s or earlier in Britain
• Cycling is a big sport over, my little village has two finish line permanently painted and a town like Baud for example has 5 cycling clubs.
• The French don't really do milk, juice, frozen food or sliced bread, instead it is cheese, fruit, fresh food and baguettes
• There are not many fences in places, even in towns, as due to French law, one can come up to 30metres to your house and not be trespassing.

Also here are some key reptitive phrases I having been using during my time here, 'je suis anglais', 'desole', 'je ne comprend pas' and 'bonjour, ca va?'. These will see you through any situation is repeated often enough.

Until next time stay safe ladies and gents