I
have just returned from a 4 week holiday in Denia, Spain, where I
went intending to do some winter cycling. The trouble is that out of
27 cycling days, I managed to ride on only 12 of them. The rest of
the time I was ill with a severe cold and a feverish chest infection
– even on some of my 12 cycling days I was too ill to ride far. All
in all, it was a fairly hopeless trip.
I
wasn't alone, almost everyone in the hotel was ill to some extent.
Every part of the place resounded to the sound of coughing for the
whole time I was there, like a constant drone of background noise. I
kept thinking I was in a hospital, but I would imagine that in a
hospital hygiene would have been exemplary; in the hotel, there were
opportunities for contagion everywhere, particularly in the buffet-style food hall.
I
knew almost as soon as I arrived that my chances of escaping
infection were slim. Of around 59 people in my cycling group, at
least 50 of us were ill. Of the other guests, almost all of them
elderly, illness seemed to be so common as to be acceptable; I was
astonished and appalled in equal measure by the attitude of the Saga
holiday representatives by the considerable efforts they made to
distance themselves from any responsibility whatsoever for blame,
despite the fact that many mitigating procedures could have been, but
were not, introduced.
It's
given me cause to think about my little targets. I was born without
the competitive gene, though setting targets for myself seems to be
in my blood. It's a trait which can motivate me to exercise when I
don't feel like it, and that can be a good thing. But it's also a
trait I can use to beat myself up when things don't go according to
plan. After this holiday, during which I cycled just over a third of
the miles I planned, I am struggling to find anything positive about
my time away on which to base a “good” memory, though the
wonderful friendship of quite a few new friends is an obvious
highlight.
I
will go again to Spain, after all it is not the country that I blame
for my rotten holiday and it is a beautiful country. The Costa Blanca
region has to be one of the best locations in Europe for winter
cycling (the many professional teams that base their winter camps
there bear witness to this) and the mild weather provides crystal
clear light to emphasise the drama of the mountainous scenery. I just
need to find a different place to stay, and a way to avoid illness.
Now
that I am back in the UK, meanwhile, I need to get some miles in to
prepare myself for my summer cycling calendar – too bad I will need
to do this in bad weather! |
| Paul takes me for tea on one of my 15 non-cycling days! |
