With just over a week of holiday left before I go back to University, I wake up to a message from my friends at Blanca Bikes saying they had a room free, the easyjet sale flashes up on my mobile, the forecast is for snow at home, and a box of lovely new Saint Piran kit lands on my door step.
The cycling gods were speaking to me!
It can be a slog training through the winter in the UK. So, given the chance to ride on the dry, smooth roads of Spain in the warm, should never be dismissed if at all possible.
That's not to say it's a breeze out here. Within 24 hours of getting here, 2 of my training partners have been taken out of the game for a week. A crash in a local race and an unlucky collision with a car left them both a bit sore, but luckily, nothing more serious than that.
Bike racing can be hard, alongside the risks of injury are the hours and hours of training that every racer puts in day after day through the winter.
But let's face it... being given the chance to live this life is an absolute privilege. So while you will occasionally hear me complaining that I'm exhausted, sore, and struggling to fit the training in.... I do get it, I'm sitting in the sun writing this when most folk are back at work, hoping to get a glimpse of daylight before the weekend. I'm so lucky to be doing what I'm doing, which is why I continue to put everything I can into it.....
But it will be nice when the summer comes.
Adiós until then.
Finn