Carpe diem.

With less than 3 weeks to go before the big day, I had hoped that I would be bursting with vim and vigour. It's not quite happening like that at the moment. I think I'm suffering from overtraining, and need more rest and recuperation. It's frustrating, because I would like to be putting in a hard 7 days of hard hilly at the moment. But no. I need to heed the warning signs from my body. Good food, more rest, and gentle recovery rides only. It's not good for the psychological side of things either, because the self-doubt demons are burrowing into my brain.

One of the hardest factors during this Etape project has been the time constraints which face an old dad, who is trying to juggle wife, children, job, hobbies, etc plus a little bit of bike riding on the side. Luckily, I'm on leave next week, and I'm going to hopefully take it very easy. I'm desperate to get some bass fishing in.

The ghastly weather isn't helping. I know I need to be prepared to ride through any conditions, but we all prefer some hot sun on our backs. There is no doubt that a bit of good old fashioned British sun has a medicinal uplifting effect, even if we're all going to die of skin cancer.

Some of the patients I've been scanning at work have really been depressing this last week. Let me tell you all, count your blessings, make the most of your good health and live for the day. None of us know what's around the corner. Unless you've entered the Etape, in which case you know you face 9 hours or so of pain and suffering perched on a tiny hard saddle.

That's it. I need an early night.