Cycling in France



Home base : Sainte-Anne d'Auray

 It took a good few months training in the heart of the Cotswolds to get me to the stage where I felt confident about my level of fitness.I wanted to be able to ride and enjoy a week in France with my old 12 speed 1980s trusty Holdsworth road bike and keep up with the members of  Hull cycling club.

Given I was one of the youngest of the bunch, I hoped  my legs and general fitness would not leave me embarrased half way up the semi steep hills of Brittany in France. Fortunately for me, I took a dose of my own medicine an really put into practice the knowlege of my studies as a sports and remedial massage therapist. This really helped with my preparation and kept me injury free for the whole holiday. Not only was I able to climb those hills with relative ease but my recovery rate and readiness for the next days riding was fantastic.

I decided early on that I would change my diet, lose weight and really get fit for this week in France, given that I'm not far from 50 it was no bad thing! Out went the chocolate and snacks to make way for a simple but vitamin rich diet, of porridge, fresh fruit, fish etc. The only suppliments being garlic capsules and cod liver oil to lubricate the blood and joints.

My excess fat just seemed to fall off and I became trimmer from the additional exersise, my weight however stayed about the same trading fat for muscle tissue. I set my targets to be achievable and never failed to include the golden rule of warming up and then 10 mins stretching post exercise to keep those overtight muscles balanced.
I had expected to feel some joint pain, muscle ache or discomfort given my age and  level at which I was training, however the persistant stretching off paid off and I never suffered any exercise related injury.