Shake that body up!!

Two days before the big race, after almost two weeks of feeling a bit unwell and a day of travel. Today was time to shake it up a bit!

After an ok night, we had planned to cycle one lap of the route, all the way down to El Masnou, to check the profile and the state of the road. Well, first: it’s not flat everywhere!! There are three little sharp climbs close to Calella that we’ll tackle three times on Sunday that might need some pacing! Then, there’s the wind! Almost 30kph yesterday when we arrived, and 20kph in gusts today! It’s easy to go one way, but boy it takes your legs out the other way! Will have to be careful on Sunday!

I also caught the sun already an THAT is going to be tough! I’m glad I got my White long sleeves top for race day! Should be good along with a dollop of sunscreen!

After this small (72K still) bike ride in which Ellen did very well to stay tucked in behind me in the wind (no pointing here, seriously well done to the anxious ride she is still), we went to swim some of the swim course. Now, in the UK, races are done in lakes. And lakes lack two major things that the sea imposes: they’re not salty, and they don’t have waves!! Out swim was close to being compared to be the hull of a light craft in rough seas! Gobbling sea water and not knowing how to pass the waves at first! But we soon found our marks and done a solid 1.5K swim. Very tough though! Hopefully Sunday morning will be a bit more quiet! This has been followed by an extra 1/2h bike ride fir me to test the deep rims with the wind: all good and working fine! After a trip to the spa to get ourselves relaxed we finished our day with a nice dinner outside: octopus for Ellen, steak for me. Now time to get that vital rest in!!