After our first rest day here in Girona, things really changed. The riders did not sleep well because of a ferocious thunderstorm. During the night, doors were banging, chairs were shifting to and fro and windows were slamming. We found out later it was the strongest storm to hit Spain in 12 years! The wind eased up a little in the morning, so we went out for a session. We had to take different roads though because several were completely blocked by uprooted and fallen trees (pictured above).
Nonetheless, we did the 2.5 hour session as planned but it wasn’t easy riding in 60 km/hr winds. During the afternoon session, we learned a lot. The main thing we found out is that our new time trialer – Bradley Wiggins – is incredibly fast when he goes full speed. A few of our riders need to train more behind the motor to get used to his pace!
Sunday we did an easy endurance ride. One of us crashed on the descent and landed on his back on the side of the road. Luckily, it had no consequences for the Qatar team in Qatar. It was Matt the Chiropractor who had more guts than skill. Fortunately he only bruised his neck a little, solid as he is.
Tomorrow the crew heads for Qatar where they will put all their preparations to the test.
