Pre-season Chat and the Tour de San Luis

My season kicks of in a few days at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina. I’ve never been to Latin America, so I’m a bit apprehensive – Brits aren’t the most popular in Argentina, but it’s probably just paranoia on my part.

I did my last preparatory test of the winter season yesterday. I did well, even managing to hit heart rates I haven’t reached in a couple of seasons, meaning I’m fit and fresh. I was surprised by the good test, I haven’t been obsessing about cycling as before and I am a bit more relaxed about it.

Maybe it was for not training with a heart rate monitor? About a month and a half ago the HR monitor broke, so I’ve been training on sensations alone. I know a lot of people will sneer at this, but it seems to work.

Or maybe it’s the running?  This year I did a lot of running, one of the benefits of dog ownership!

I love running and it was through running that I got involved in sport. I wasn’t bad at all, and got to the All-Ireland schools cross-country twice (42nd and 35th) and the All-Ireland schools fell running once (8th).

I started running barefoot, which is far easier than it sounds, and after a week or so I could run quite well barefoot. I’d run to the beach, swim out about 100m, then run back.

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to this season and I am very pleased that I decided to stay in cycling. I am very happy with our new club president, who really understands how to get things done, and so I feel absolutely obliged to do my best knowing that there is someone investing such a big effort in improving conditions for us in the team.

We have a new sponsor for this season. A winery called Carmim. They make a whole range of wines, the most famous are “Reguengos” and “Monsaraz”. Next time you’re at Off-licence, you know what to look for!

“Carmin” follow in a series of wineries in Portugal that have supported the “sport of the people”: “Raposeira” sponsored Sporting Lisbon at the time when Joaquim Agostinho was winning Voltas (Tours of Portugal) and stages in le Tour, and they also sponsored Porta da Revessa who had a very successful 2nd division team in the late nineties/early noughties.

So now to focus on the Tour de San Luis, that’s the next big adventure! I can’t wait.

I’m going to attempt to update this blog frequently throughout the race as well, so make sure to check in regularly.

Thanks for all the support,

Tomás