Lancespotting part 2

Absolutely the last post on this theme, for obvious 'sad b******' accusations.

Anyway, as i thought would happen bumped into Lance earlier today on Els Angels. Well, i was decending to Madremanya and he was heading up, putting in a fair amount of effort and pedalling a very high cadence. He was actually on the wrong side of the road and so moved out the way as i was descending, and then gave me a wave! Great stuff that, you're lucky to get a nod of most punters these days, especially from 3rd division pros, and then the six-time TdF winner, in the middle of Tour prep and a hard hill effort, lifts his hand off the bar to give you a wave. I'll buy him a beer next time in town.

Looking back, its been a quick 2/3 years since the 'bundy' Lanarkshire chain-gang were laughing at me for having hairy legs.

Sunday lancespotting

The man is back in town. Heading to church yesterday morning and Mr. Armstrong brushes past my mother (who's over visiting) on the bike, in the cobbled centre of town. Looked in decent shape. Would much prefer to bump into him 'on the road' right enough. Nevertheless, still inspiring stuff.

Angels for lunch

lovely.

seems like the first day of spring today - good buzz at the university and on the streets. took advantage to head up Els Angels during my lunch break - first timed steady effort this year, to set the benchmark as I head towards peak fitness. From the roundabout to the Angel: 27.33.

Ramble on. . .

Just finished the Led Zeppelin biog. Hammer of the Gods, hence the title, plus there's no main theme to this post - just a collection of thoughts.

First, the weather - again! if anyone has wondered what happened to the weather.com magnet on the main macstrong site i removed it due to some problems that visitors to the site were experiencing. Many of you it seems, have computers which don't like emergent pop-ups - so the magnet is gone, and soon to be replaced by a collection of links for you to check Girona weather. .

. . . which incidentally is the best in Spain! seriously thought, its been a bit cool over the past week or two but again, the rest of Spain has been hit hard with snow and generally crap weather. Again it amazed me - Girona seems to possess a sheltered character with very little precipitation (proximity to Pyrenees?) with even Barcelona getting some snow.

So took advantage of this with the Girona 'toughcamp' over the last week, getting in some serious quality. Passed some areas for the first time, including the loop to Olot, the town of Besalu and the simply breathtaking Castellfollet de Roca. Also found a great climb to Sant Marti Sacalm - 800m altitude and 693m net climbing, similar to many of the Basque 'puertas'.

Got a runner from Fife AC here at the moment and expecting a self-guided biking group from Aberdeen here on Saturday - self-guided means i'm just doing airport transfers, hotel bookings, and general Girona advice and route suggestions.

On the camp front, summer running camps have been announced for July and i'm very close to announcing details of a summer biking camp which will have a Catalan cycletour included.

stay tuned.

PS: i'm looking for some races for the running camps and, given the Catalans love for naturism, i found the naturists 10k!! anyone fancy it? maybe just to watch?