Disappointment

I know that in races previously I have been dropped by the peloton, but everyhting has to be taken in context and considering this race, La Fleche de Locmine, was run on many of the same roads as last week's race and with a similarly quality field as last week, not only me, but many others were expecting a good performance today. There 160 riders today, but still I expected myself to be up there based on last week's performance and my upward rise in form to continue and get a top 30 at least. This was not to be, whilst George grabbed a great 9th place and Hamish finished around 56th, I got shot out the back of the peloton just before the finishing circuits where the pace then easied slightly, I tried getting back on for about 5km with another 3 riders with the peloton only about 150metres away, but we just couldn't bridge across, so after two fnishing circuits, I pulled up and got changed. I felt rubbish all day and climbed like a sloth through treacle, not a pleasent sight.

I am incredibly disappointed with myself, but you have to approach success and failure in the same way more or less and how else am I to learn without the odd bit of failure? You just have to anaylse the why's and how's then you are presented with an honest answer. Upon appraisal I failed into today's race because of my poor sleep over the past couple of days, not through any obvious fault of my own, but still the main issue that caused the poor performance I believe. The best way to recitfy this is to anaylse what I did last week in the build up to Le Circuit du Morbihan to produce a better performance as well as eat and drink. Fortunately I am in a position to do all of this and this is what my life concerns, nor am I embarking into the unknown and it will not cost my life, just for these facts of my existence here I am incredibly grateful, nor shall I waste these blessings. I say this knowing that for so many people even in everyday life the may not have the luxury of having what I have got in abundance as well as individuals in the past, at the moment I am reading Captain Scott's journal that he wrote during his ill-fated attempt on the South Pole. It is quite hard work particularly at the beginning, but I have found it so much easier to read since my arrival in France and it has become quite a source of comfort to me, knowing how he and his crew dealt with disasters and successes, how my own adventure pales into insignificance in comparison, as well as being armed with the knowledge that what I am doing, in the time I am doing it, will probably not result in a loss of life on my part (apologies if that latter is in bad taste and somewhat egotistical and selfish, but it is true and you too would feel the same reading the diary).

The race was 153kms long with 8 laps of an undulating circuit with a short finish climb after 100km from point A to B. I lasted 95km in the peloton, don't know average speed yet, very windy yet again, but the Sun held out for us.

There are many more races where I can turn my attention to and this weekend I am doing my first stage race over here, La Fleche d'Armor, 3 stages, 2 days, where hopefully I can put what I have learned to the test.

On another note, on the subject of noticeables, every town and most villages will have a Renault dealership, every town and most villages will have many over-sized florists, all the churches are either actually Gothic or are built to resemble Gothic architecture. As well I had the team presentation yesterday, which was good fun.

Hope you are well and au revoir

P.S. I urge you to read this article on this amazing young woman http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21703819