I think that my grandiose Tour du Mont Blanc plans are quickly going down the drain, which is not necessarily a bad thing given the state of my training program this month.

The graph above is what I’ve done in weekly hours (Nov-Apr) and what I am supposed to do (till July). The yawning gap in March was caused by a couple of weeks in which I had mysterious dizzy spells, followed by a period of me just feeling like I couldn’t be arsed. I was at a point of near-no-return and had to make a commitment to do some serious making up of time or looking around the apartment for more home improvement tasks. Luckily for me, President Macron has decided for me.

Last night we found out that the whole nation will be going into our 3rd lockdown. You won’t read this on any governmental website because they are officially refusing to use the word ‘confinement’ anymore, but that’s what it is, ‘lite’ or not.

This time it’s potentially shorter than the last two – 4 weeks – and cycling will be allowed within a 10km radius of home (1km last year). This is fine for short rides or hill repeats, but I can’t hit any actual climbs, of course. April was supposed to be a big month, with trips to Mont Ventoux and into the Cevennes to get those essential climbing miles in. That’s not going to happen now.

Am I disappointed? Not really. I don’t think I mentally had a TMB in me this year anyway. At least now I can focus on my new decorative-cork wall and picture-hanging projects. To finish on a high note, here’s a field of rapeseed north of Nimes.