MONDAY 30th June - 1 week to go

Miles last week 50 (50 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 6,300ft (2,000m)
Weight : 14st 7.0lbs (+2.0 lbs)
Body fat : 24.5% (0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

A week in sunny Mallorca celebrating 25th wedding anniversary. I had thought it would be a bit cheeky to take my bike, but Ros insisted! So I had a couple of great short but high rides over Soller (500m) and Orient (500m), with Ros picking me up afterwards for lunch. Mallorca really is a lovely island and perfect for cycling. We stayed at The Residentia, a beautiful hotel in Deia, a small town built into the mountainside by the sea. We were there for Spain v Russia in the semi finals of the European cup and watched it with a crowd of locals in a local bar - must say, they were all very subdued compared to pub crowds I have seen in UK...

Then back for Paul's stag night... not the best preparation for the Etape but there you go. Turns out we were staying in Southampton with a day trip across to the Isle of Wight. the round the island race was on (nearly 2000 boats!) so there was plenty of post race revelry to join in with. Here's a picture of us waiting for an hour outside a curry house.

Today (Monday) just been out to Box Hill where I did 8 repeats, 24miles and 3000 feet (900m). Felt good, though only 6-7% gradient good preparation for this week. Bike in for a service tomorrow, then off to Henley on Wednesday with a little ride Thursday morning before packing bike away.

So, only a week to go, worth having a round up of how I have been doing since the start of the year:

Weight - feeling great to have lost over 2 stone, however, still nearly a stone over my target of 13st 7lbs, going to notice that on the way up the hills.

Mileage - Well, I've done 2,408 miles since the start of the year which I think is a reasonable amount of training. Plus I have managed 121,400 feet (37,000m)! of climbing.