January Stats

I think I've had an excellent start to the year. 360 road miles plus an additional 3 hours 10 mins indoors on the rollers. I've been consistently riding 4/5 times per week and my longest ride is over 50 miles (and that was a hilly one).
Weight-wise, I've dropped from my heaviest of 93kg just after Christmas to 87.6kg! My posh frock zips up and I can see a difference when I look in the mirror. There are times when I'm hungry but the smaller meals spread over the day does seem to help. I'm just crossing my fingers that I can stay healthy and continue to be consistent in terms of my weight loss and my riding in the coming months.

On a rollers ride last week I had a bit of a scare when my HR started going up quite high - 165bpm. I have not seen any such HR since that time though and as usual, I'm watching it really carefully.

My Etape entry is now sorted. Doctors forms have been signed (at a price) and faxed to Cyclomundo. I also viewed the reconnaissance DVD last week - did they have shares in that nougat factory or what??? The route does look spectacularly beautiful and I relished hearing that Mike Cotty thought that it might be the best ever Etape.
The town of Montelimar looks very French and very lovely and I'm so excited about that whole aspect of the Etape trip. I hope they have a good patisserie selling custard stuffed pain au chocolat like Lourdes (I think it was Lourdes we stopped at on our drive back last time). That must be the best piece of pastry I ever tasted in my entire life. As we'll be staying on the campsite, we'll be responsible for our own breakfast this time round - I wonder if custard filled pain would cut it as a suitable pre-Etape meal?