A week to go

We’re driving to Austria next Thursday, so the countdown has definitely begun. Final prep in terms of making sure bikes are fully serviced and functioning smoothly, spares are bought, kit lists are compared and agreed upon, there’s even talk of a supermarket-run to buy the all-important fuel for riding (and road-tripping).

I’ve been in London, Switzerland and Holland either jogging or Boris-biking to maintain some semblance of final training, while Ross has been in Devon battling with last-minute mechanical catastrophes with both bikes, so reduced to quad-mangling singlespeed work to keep up his momentum. It’ll all be fine when we finally get on the road. Or we’ll forget a whole heap of things. Or most likely a combination of the two….

You can still follow us both on Twitter (@chrisgrundberg and @rosslovell), Instagram (@grundbch and @rosslovell) or Strava (athletes/580435 and athletes/1226751).

Can’t wait for next week.

Time

Lots of pithy phrases and quotes available to sum up the fact that there’s rarely enough time to do everything, and it’s easy to get distracted. Take it as read that that’s what happened last year. Went from a very Merry Christmas, via a hugely enjoyable Cape Epic, a soul-enriching Two Oceans Marathon, to an equal-parts excellent and torrid Ironman South Africa. A fairly eventful June/July/August (to say the least..I’ll leave the details to Jessica), and before we knew it we were travelling to the UK for Christmas, and back to SA with a heap of extra luggage (including wedding presents and a second hand buggy).
So….2014? Well not one to shy away from a challenge, have we ever got one lined up for July.
Will put a more detailed description up in due course, but suffice to say it involves some of the most famous cols in the Alps, a 200km mountain bike race in Austria, and a return to one of the best endurance road races we’ve found – the Tour du Month Blanc (all 330 beautiful and hilly kilometres of it, non-stop).
Oh, and later in the year? SA mountain bike race Wine2Whales, and a build-up for the SA half-ironman and full Ironman again in 2015. And did someone say a return to the Cape Epic..? Possibly on the cards…
First thing’s first – the Alps are calling.