Preparations for a Raid

The course year is coming to an end. The first of 3 intense weeks has come and gone, the group is living under tension and it is gonna be hard for me to finish them.
We are preparing for a Raid; 5 days of tough riding, without support. The major goal is to start and finish as a group and, very important, in one piece. But 'the group' doesn't exist. A few of us are living in or near Nice and go home every night, one of us has a job to do and he has the permission to miss days and weeks....which I am starting to resent.
About 5 guys are staying in a little bungalow on a campsite, where I used to go, but I don't like the owner and I can no longer stay with these 5 guys....the tension is too big, the bullshit they're talking about too stupid and so I moved to another campground, where I'm happily living my life. Boy, it was so nice to be able to decompress at night. To make my own dinner at the time chosen by me and to get some studying and reading in as well. And then there are Antoine and Gaetan, who are sort of squatting on a parking lot, in one of those white converted vans.. They are the 'white van men' but I adore them and consider them my buddies.

We climbed the Turini last week; 24km. of climbing up to nearly 1800 mtr. A big one, my first, and it took me and them 2 hours. But, it will be the first mountain to climb when we start our raid on Monday the 26th. It's going to be tough, very tough, with a backpack on and the pressure of climbing this sucker of a mountain as one of three and the first 24 of 140 km of that day.
However, I did it and I did it in style and the guys were happy for me! Here they are on the Friday, before we can head back home for two days of well earned rest.

I must tell you about Collin and Joanna, an English couple whom I met in Sospel on Thursday. I recognised them as my neighbours on the campground. Because the spaces are big, 'neighbours' is slightly exegerated, but they were the closest by.
Anyway, Thursday night they invited me for dinner and a nice glas of wine. Excellent company.....good, honest meal and a few laughs. It was such a nice way to step out of the Sospel and the cycling circle that I wish to thank them through this entry. Thanks guys...and I do hope that we'll meet up again. Whether it's in Sospel or surroundings or in the UK. Even though the cycling circle will be my future, there is so much more and we tend to forget this, when we are encircled in the group-dynamics. "We" may not be the right thing.....I'd love to be slightly off the beaten track, even when the course dynamics demand total devotion. A lot of guys think, eat and sleep bike and stepping out of their environment is very, very neccessary for me. I believe that Antoine and Gaetan have similar attitudes...why we get along. So, the campground dinner with Collin and Joanna did just that. It allowed me to step out of the glas bowl and be me.....
In about 10 hours time I'll be back in Sospel for the second to none preparations. I'm tired.
I went for a ride last night and this morning. The new tire is enabling more grip and gives more stability down hill, but it's heavy uphill. This morning I went for another ride. Both were just one hour rides, but at 100%. The recovery was good enough this morning and that relieved me. My right leg is tight and tires quickly and I will have to manage this carefully.
See you later.