With a huge block of racing down the center of France, I have spent the last few days recovering with Courtney and her aunt and uncle, Bobbie and Bill, on the Cote de Azur. I am a world away from suffering through crashes, snow, crosswinds and mountains. Now I am just enjoying the time with family and catching up over some great dinners and wines. We have spent several nights in Monaco, Vence, Fayence and we will soon end our trip in Nice, but for now it is all about enjoying every minute of the day.

My training will get longer as the week progresses, but for now I have been filling my days with cooking classes and spa treatments, as well as just relaxing in the sun on our balcony. This morning the alarm sounded at an early hour of half past four, as we had to meet up with chef Jacques Chibois at his restaurant, La Bastide Saint Antoine, for a full day of following him around. We drove into Nice and joined him on his weekly food run through this massive market that is only reserved for professional chefs. It was amazing to see how much food Jacques needed to purchase to just get him through a few days. By the time the sun came up, we had filled an U-haul sized truck full of vegetables, fish, meat and even flowers.

Then, it was back up to Grasse where his restaurant is located to tour the grounds. Down in his wine cellar we browsed through over 20,000 bottles, some of which dated back to the 1800’s! Once we had a good feel of the restaurant we were seated at a small table in the middle of the kitchen and served a very large eight-course lunch. The food was amazing, but what made it the best meal I have ever had was being able to walk over and watch them put together each ingredient and knowing that we had picked it all out this morning.  With all of this accomplished before it was even two, we were all pretty cracked. So I have been staring at the mountains from our balcony ever since, and the sun has long disappeared. A very nice rest week I must say…

After finishing up the Volta ao Algarve with a fairly strong ride in the final time trail I am ready for what lies ahead. Spring has made its first appearance here in Girona, and my pale skin saw the sun for the first time this week. There is nothing quite like those first few warm days on the bike after a long a miserable winter. Those are the days when the hardest part is forcing yourself to turn your bike back towards home.

I feel my fitness is heading in the right direction now. After a rough start to the racing season, with two crashes, too many flat tires to count and the horrendous weather, I can say that the bad luck is behind me. Now I can look forward to performing well in Paris-Nice. I will spend this week in Girona working on some longer distances as there are many stages over 200 kilometers in Paris-Nice, and then next week I will head up to Nice with Courtney to meet up with some family and recon the last couple of stages. I can’t wait to see how it all goes. Much of my time lately has been spent daydreaming about wearing the white jersey after the prologue!