I Have A Dream...

Well ladies and gentlemen, Winter Training is upon us. Which means a few things around my house.

Firstly, I winter up the bike. New cables, chain, brake blocks and tyres. This year I've plumped for the Vittoria Pave CX tubs (Tubs in summer and winter, how Euro am I?!), I expect the extra 1mm of width will be a real boon if we have 3 weeks of snow and ice again this year... hemhem. I glued them onto some 1998 Campag Shamals I picked up off a guy at work, for £50. These wheels are still some of the best I've ridden, an utter bargain and, in reality, far too good for winter wheels. The only problem with them is the 9 speed freewheel body means I can't get into my bottom gear without the rear mech hitting the spokes. Just as well I'm not planning any climbing into my winter training.

Secondly, the Turbo Trainer comes back out and the Turbo Dungeon gets set up. I'm supplementing my Cycling DVD collection as I type and these and loud music are all that get me through 3 nights a week in the garage. I've invested in a big bloody fan too.

Finally, and here is where the dream comes in, I plan my calender for the year ahead. Having knocked road racing on the head, I need new challenges so this year, I will be looking mainly at Time Trials and Sportifs. However, I want to do a full hill climb season at the end of the year and finally pick up my cross bike and do some cross racing over the winter... Then comes the real challenge.

I have decided that in 2012, I'm going to take on the Flanders and Roubaix Sportif rides on consecutive weekends in my Belgians kit! I think I just want to see if it's possible to do the full distance of both and cope with the conditions/terrain. Hence the taking up cross. As it was blogging about training that first brought me into contact with the Belgians, I think I'll try and put regular updates on here through the winter and the season (if anyone is interested). Also, if anyone else is interested in taking on one or more of the rides... let me know.