thing I do remember from Outdoor Education is that you should never drink alcohol when you are frozen to the bone. Maybe the science has changed since my school days and I just haven?t caught up yet. Or maybe it is just like much of the French cycling logic - ?Old Wives? Tales?.

The one thing that I won?t ever miss about Pro-cycling when I retire is the lack of solidarity that exists among the riders when it comes to standing up collectively against Race Organisers and Team Directors. The bottom line was that we didn't have to put ourselves through those kinds of conditions. Most riders didn't want to race, feeling that the snow, sleet and ice made racing too dangerous. The weather conditions not only compromised road safety but also our physical well-being. Unfortunately there are always those 10 or so guys who won't go with the majority, making our ?united front? a dismally weak one giving our collective voice next to no sound. From my point of view, this is one of the reasons why cycling has never progressed from the blue collar professional sport that it is and always has been.

Anyway, back to my form and racing. The extremes through which I?ve put body through over the last three weeks have made it difficult to get a good improvement in form. The only thing that I?m trying to do for the moment is to stick with it and just try to get through without getting sick.

Julian