You might remember that I announced 2014 to be my ‘recovery year’ a while back. True to my word, I’ve continued to drink beer (but quitting in a couple of days, I hear), eat a little bit too much (I think there’s a change coming in that dept., too) and to not really follow a structured training plan, like over the past 3 seasons.

I have been riding, don’t get me wrong, but just not nearly with as much discipline as before. I like it, I have to admit; that is until I get on a long climb with a skinny guy who has legs. I’m not happy about the results of my climbing at all this year so far, but here’s the beauty of all this: Training works.

My old crook of a karate sensei used to always tell us that ‘practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect’. Whether he knew what he was talking about or not, he was right. Consistent training with proper structure produces results that probably could not be gotten by fartlekking your way through a season, like I’m in the middle of doing now.

I will continue my wayward ways this season, but I will now get a little more serious about the weight, since it’s ‘weeks’, instead of ‘months’, till the Etape du Tour, and I’d still like to finish that thing.