troops. I was to be honest up against the ropes, two of my teammates had crashed out and another stopped, so it was down to me to salvage some honor for the pope?s first XV. The circuit though was just slightly too tight for my particular center of gravity and I pushed the old balance envelope a little too far once again, coming down with a bang and a clatter in front of a healthy sized crowd. All of whom remained remarkably indifferent to my plight, not like the Italians, who fight to be first over to pick you up and be more involved in the bike race. I think to be fair one helpful soul pointed out the bunch were coming round again rather fast and I should continue my cursing of Finland where I would be less of an obstruction to the rest of the race.

So now I'm back on English soil having returned to
Italy just long enough for everyone in Sansepolcro to get a glimpse of my new and quite dramatic wounds. So good in fact were my injuries that I could've lived like a Roman for weeks. All the food and attention I could have dreamt of, people offering to cook, clean, and do my shopping. I even had a delicious looking coconut desert made for me but never got the chance to profit from all this sympathy (or taste the desert) as I decided I couldn't face training on my lonesome round
Umbria anymore and jumped ship back to the
U.K. This may sound like lunacy to some people, given that summer has arrived properly in Italy and it's cold enough to still see my breath when training over here, but I think I'm starting to know what I'm doing these days and in my wealth of experience sometimes you're best off getting away from everything and everyone to enable you to get yourself that little bit faster. Then of course it'll be straight back to the glamorous lifestyle of an Italian pro.

In honor of what could be summer, if say the temperature round here raises by 10 degrees or so and it stops bleedin' raining on me after four and a half of my six hour rides, here is a few summer tunes for the playlist...

Rudy a message to you - The Specials:

Rock Steady - No doubt

Rudie can't fail - The Clash

Babyface - u2

Crazy about you - Whiskeytown

Long time coming - The Delays

But I feel good ­- Groove Armada

Tom Southam

Note from Roadcycling.com: Congratulations to Tom for his second position at the recent British National Road Race championship.  Well done Tom from everybody at Roadcycling.com.